Changed My Mind

I had a nice little piece ready to go pondering on the reading habits of our President. But, I've decided to scrap that idea. (The premise was that as I was watching a documentary about the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, I wondered aloud if perhaps President Bush had ever read the book. My dad said it depresses him to think about what the President has or has not read. I was going to contend that I found the prospect funny. I've changed my mind.)

Not for the obvious reason, though. (Ok, maybe a little for that reason. That being I would be buried alive under "conservative" backlash.)

No, the reason I decided to change my mind was that a new subject occurred to me ... At about seven thirty this morning. I know seven thirty in the morning doesn't sound all that early to a lot of you out there. It is, however, if your routine sees you in bed by four thirty most days.

I know exactly what it was that woke me up so early.

I took dad and his wife and my little half-sister out to dinner last night. (I don't know how much of the country Cracker Barrel serves, but if there is one near you, I recommend it.) That was the first time I'd had a sit down dinner at a restaurant in what seems like forever (three months still seems like forever, but years seem to fly by the older I get. Go figure.)

I had forgotten that some places offer free refills of soft drinks.

Soft drinks. That's a combination of words I'd rank just ahead of "compassionate conservative" as being misleading. Yesterday, I drank what would normally have been a two day supply of cola in one sitting. That was three glasses, and I'm thinking they would have been about 20 ounces each. If I'd had that much beer, the effects would have worn off a lot faster, and I think they would not have been so profound.

I felt my heart racing for a couple of hours after the fact. I had trouble getting to sleep, even though I was tired. And I woke up after about three hours, and couldn't get back to sleep until about ten this morning.

I'll be trying to lay off the sodas now ... Definitely. That's going to be hard, though. There's no support group for that. No treatment programs. Nothing.

Trust me ... If such things existed, I'd enroll myself!