A Pack A Day • 20 May 2008

Thinks are so weird here.

I am looking for a vice. Something about a little oral-fixative input seems to help me, and this is no time for undoing the primal reasons for that.

Up for consideration:

1. Gum
2. Decaf

Gum: Pros: fresh breath, totally enjoyable, nobody will see me in my office, I’m probably clenching anyway. Cons: low class and immature, jaw tension, sugar or aspartame (and creates a taste for extreme sweetness), I can’t eat just one piece (or just three, for that matter: I’m a pack-a-day gum chewer).

Decaf: Pros: it actually settles my stomach, approval from professors who see me sharing their addiction, non-verbal in-group bonding with fellow afflictees in line at the café, easier for me to kick than gum because I don’t truly like it. Cons: Rotgut. Drugs. Coffee breath.

Leaning toward Vice Number One. But taking suggestions.

Back to the regularly-scheduled physical turn the next time I check in here. I would like to revise what I said about EPB before the body knows it too well for the mind to say why.