wide awake

this morning, against my better judgement, i gave in and bought a bottle of starbucks mocha frappuccino. ick. i don't do well with coffee. after a summer in boston of coffee overindulgence, i kicked the habit and have been clean ever since. chai, yes. diet coke, yes. sudafed, sometimes (for sinus issues). coffee, no. i get the shakes, my pupils dialate funny, and while i focus well, some people say it's a little too much me, too fast for them.

my mom and sister both drink coffee, and i remember growing up, my mom had to have at least one cup in the morning. black, too. and if she didn't, it just wasn't a pretty sight (she was pretty, but just irritable!). i also have recollections of my dad mixing me half coffee, half hot cocoa drinks (i still don't know what was so bad about just drinking hot chocolate, but that's a whole other story). they tasted good, but the alertness was just too much for me. anyway, for some reason, i never got hooked on the whole coffee craze. perhaps it was the fear of coffee breath or the bitter taste or the fear it would stunt my growth (vertically) even more.

but i gave in this morning. it's a big work week, and today i'm working on about 5 hours sleep. why, you might ask? or perhaps you won't. well, i kept having trouble falling asleep last night, and around midnight, when my mind was finally calming down and tumbling into a dream state, i heard "mew mew mew" coming from the back door. alphie, who had been curled up under my arm, purring with abandon, perked up, all alert. at first i thought it was one of our building mates' cats, but this was a "mew" like no other. opening the back door, i came face to face (and bed head to bed head) with my neighbor, who also looked like he had done the same thing. "mew mew mew." there at our feet was this adorable medium-haired tabby, just staring at us. the four-legged friend turned out to be the "lost cat" from 3 buildings down, elliot. after some discussion, it was decided that i would return the cat to it's rightful owner. with 8 legs following me to and fro, i threw on a jacket, grabbed some flip flops, and carried elliot home.

now, i had met elliot's neighbor recently when he moved in, and again when he was posting "lost" signs on anything that even remotely resembeled a wall, scaffold, post, or tree (yes, we do have trees in the city). he's a nice fellow, and i knew that he would be relieved that elliot was ok (as he had just been neutered on saturday). but this was midnight. on a monday.

right. so holding the purring kitty in my arms, we scampered down the street, rang the doorbell, pounded on the door, and a few minutes later, our neighbor appeared. in only his boxer briefs. and nothing else. in the end, returning the sweet kitty and then chatting with a mostly naked, good looking, very likely gay man in the middle of the night made up for the disruption of my sleep patterns (or lack thereof). so bring on the coffee. but just for today. promise.