I thought I'd better do a quick update in case anyone's worried that my caffeine abstinence has killed me, or in in case anyone's actually reading. I'm now onto day five of my caffeine seige, and I must admit I feel pretty good. I think I'm over the lack of caffeine now, although it's still taking me a good while longer to properly wake up in the mornings. The thing I miss the most is a nice hot drink to warm me up, so I have been experimenting with alternatives. As I mentioned in an earlier post (I think), I tried some Rooibos tea which isn't too pleasant, but I'm starting to warm to it. It looks like tea, it's warm, it just doesn't quite have that lovely tea taste but it will do until Monday. I also tried some lemon and ginger tea which I found somewhat deceptive, it smelt like Lemsip (other hot lemon drinks are available), it looked like Lemsip, but it tasted like a squirt of lemon juice in hot water. I concluded that they must put a lot of sugar in Lemsip, which is probably half the reason it makes you feel good. Hot chocolate is my other hot beverage of choice, but if I drank it with the enthusiasm that I embrace tea with I'd be dead and thirsty. I find it's a bit like eating a chocolate bar, and when I'm trying to wash down a chocolate bar, it really isn't pleasant. So the winner is Rooibos tea, which was a phrase I thought I'd never use.
All in all, I actually feel healthier, and surprisingly, more awake without caffeine. This must have something to do with caffeine perking you up for a limited amount of time, so if you neglect to top up your levels you ultimately crash and feel exhausted. Another habit I've had to get out of this week is eating bananas after lunch. I found out that when you eat a banana with any milk product, the tryptophan in the banana mixes with something in the milk (some sort of protein no doubt), and forms melatonin, which makes you sleepy. So for the past few years I've been having a banana after lunch with a cup of tea, and then wondering why I end up having an afternoon nap. Well now you know.
Friday, 5 March 2010
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Boston Tea Party
Just to clarify, I'm not technically giving up tea for the week, but rather caffeine. Thus I am allowing myself to sample some of the alternative teas out there, provided they are caffeine free. So yesterday I tucked into Rooibos tea, which admittedly I only bought because the packaging was excellent. It's pretty disgusting, it promises all the sweet tastes and smells of "ordinary" tea, but in fact packs a floral punch. This is a lie actually, as it packs no punch whatsoever, being caffeine free and all. In all fairness it tastes okay, there's just no sudden alertness once the last drop is hungrily slurped from the bottom of the mug. But for a week I suppose it will do as an alternative. Worryingly I still have a slight headache, but I'm thinking now this is more to do with the plethora of colds that seem to pass my way these days as opposed to caffeine withdrawal. Right, back to my water...
Monday, 1 March 2010
All Work and No Tea Makes Joe a Dull Boy
Today my girlfriend and I have decided to give up caffeine for a week. To us this is quite a big deal, being devout tea worshippers ourselves. But we thought it would be interesting to “kick the habit” for a week, mostly just to see if we could. Today is day one, and so far it has been hard work. To put it in perspective, I drink a lot of tea, at least 10 cups a day minimum. I can’t remember ever not having one in the morning to wake me up, so today was a real shock to the system. The train journey into university this morning involved a lot of daydreaming and stumbling around, and I am genuinely struggling to concentrate. In fact right at this minute I should be chipping away at a rather large project which needs to be completed by the end of next month, but I keep writing a sentence and then finding something else to do, my attention span has definitely waned. My usual solution when I’m struggling to concentrate is to go and make a cup of tea. It’s quite bizarre, as I’m well aware that I drink too much tea and I am addicted to the caffeine within, but to suddenly give it up does make me feel different, less composed, less ready to take on the world. This isn’t me moaning by the way, merely a way of me documenting the week so I’ll have something to remember it by when I binge myself to bits on caffeine next Monday…
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Things That Annoy Me Part One
I fear that the majority of my blogs will inevitably involve life's little foibles, but, despite being a fairly positive person, I find it much easier (and more enjoyable) to rant on about things I dislike as opposed to gushing over the things I enjoy. So, today I will be looking at the four types of mobile music fans, and why I despise at least three of them.
1. The Conscientious Commuter. I'd like to think that myself and the majority of my friends fall into this category. These people keep their headphones at a reasonable level on public transport and are listening to music for their own pleasure, not to prove to everyone else how "gangsta" they are. They generally have a decent pair of headphones and one of the larger iPods as they actually care about music. I like these people, these people can stay.
2. The Bad Leaker. People who fall into this category seem to have a penchant for bad dance music. They also they refuse to have any bass on anything, simply insisting that their music has as much treble as is humanly possible so that when they are blasting out god awful happy hardcore on their tinny, low quality headphones, everyone on the bus/train can tap along and count down the seconds until their prayers for a sudden crash are answered at 180bpm. Crikey, that was a little extreme, not sure where that came came from. Anyway, they're incredibly annoying, and when everyone else can hear your music over their own, it's time to take a good long look at your life.
3. The Trendy Twat. This particular breed has only sprung up in the last few months, and I blame Urban Outfitters. This involves people who wear the big, over the head, stereo headphones. Now, I don't actually have a problem with this per se, if I didn't look like a pretentious prick in mine I'd gladly wear them out and about (instead they are saved purely for home use). My problem is that these people clearly don't care about sound quality, the majority of them are wearing them over ironic Davy Crockett hats. I swear most of them aren't even listening to music, they've just seen an episode of Nathan Barley and decided "That's the look for me!". Almost everyone in Birmingham has a pair, and they're all exactly the same. The photo to your left is a fine example of the sort of moron I'm talking about.
4. The Modern Day Boom Boxer. I came across this breed the other day. A clearly drunk lady and gent (this was at 11:00am) sat in the 6 seater area on the train and proceeded to blast out reggae as loud as their tiny portable speakers would allow. What annoys me about these people is that they somewhat arrogantly assume everyone on the train wants to listen to their music, and in fact enjoys their conversation being interrupted. Well I for one don't. Unfortunately, no one ever says anything to these people, myself included, so we're stuck with some wannabe DJ polluting our public transport with their sub-par noise.
So there you have it, I can't think of any more types of mobile music listeners at this current moment so I'll leave it there. If you fall into any categories beyond number one, please feel quite quite ashamed of yourself.
1. The Conscientious Commuter. I'd like to think that myself and the majority of my friends fall into this category. These people keep their headphones at a reasonable level on public transport and are listening to music for their own pleasure, not to prove to everyone else how "gangsta" they are. They generally have a decent pair of headphones and one of the larger iPods as they actually care about music. I like these people, these people can stay.
2. The Bad Leaker. People who fall into this category seem to have a penchant for bad dance music. They also they refuse to have any bass on anything, simply insisting that their music has as much treble as is humanly possible so that when they are blasting out god awful happy hardcore on their tinny, low quality headphones, everyone on the bus/train can tap along and count down the seconds until their prayers for a sudden crash are answered at 180bpm. Crikey, that was a little extreme, not sure where that came came from. Anyway, they're incredibly annoying, and when everyone else can hear your music over their own, it's time to take a good long look at your life.
3. The Trendy Twat. This particular breed has only sprung up in the last few months, and I blame Urban Outfitters. This involves people who wear the big, over the head, stereo headphones. Now, I don't actually have a problem with this per se, if I didn't look like a pretentious prick in mine I'd gladly wear them out and about (instead they are saved purely for home use). My problem is that these people clearly don't care about sound quality, the majority of them are wearing them over ironic Davy Crockett hats. I swear most of them aren't even listening to music, they've just seen an episode of Nathan Barley and decided "That's the look for me!". Almost everyone in Birmingham has a pair, and they're all exactly the same. The photo to your left is a fine example of the sort of moron I'm talking about.
4. The Modern Day Boom Boxer. I came across this breed the other day. A clearly drunk lady and gent (this was at 11:00am) sat in the 6 seater area on the train and proceeded to blast out reggae as loud as their tiny portable speakers would allow. What annoys me about these people is that they somewhat arrogantly assume everyone on the train wants to listen to their music, and in fact enjoys their conversation being interrupted. Well I for one don't. Unfortunately, no one ever says anything to these people, myself included, so we're stuck with some wannabe DJ polluting our public transport with their sub-par noise.
So there you have it, I can't think of any more types of mobile music listeners at this current moment so I'll leave it there. If you fall into any categories beyond number one, please feel quite quite ashamed of yourself.
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