Chekhov's Mistress

Assimilated Addictions and Other Thoughts for a Friday Afternoon

by Bud Parr

I drink espresso every day.


Except for yesterday.


I am an addict.


I was incoherent and in pain.


Now that I am at the frail age of forty, I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked at how overwhelmed I was after a day – actually several days of weak coffee and one and half with none – of no caffeine. But the fact of my addiction only occurred to me when I went to a Starbucks and drank one of those Venti’s and immediately felt better.


According to a source on the Web (Starbucks Coffee Caffeine Content) who claims his information came from the ubiquitous coffee giant, there are generally 480 milligrams of caffeine in a Venti, which is 20 ounces. I typically drink four to five double espressos every day, occasionally more but rarely less. According to Illy, the Italian coffee company, each of those doubles has 120 milligrams of caffeine (their figure is based on a single and I’m doubling it), which means I’m getting about 600 milligrams every day, which is probably enough to kill a laboratory rat.


That’s not much; rats are small and you sir are not, you say. True; according to the source mentioned above, it would take well over 100 double espressos to write “La Morte de Bud.” And there are worse things. I come from a long line of drinkers, not boozers necessarily or entirely, but good solid drinkers nonetheless. Luckily, I’m a moderate drinker by temperament, now that drinking for me is no longer synonymous with lifestyle. And perhaps that’s it; I’m a part of the coffee generation. Like the children of immigrants who assimilate into their family’s new culture and eventually lose their mother tongue, I’ve watered down my ancestral addiction, passed on so carefully (for there were no jewels or distinguished propensities for military courage or wealth making to hand down).


The sound of the coffee grinder is one that my son has been familiar with nearly since birth and he is already fascinated by the odd looking machine he’s not allowed to touch on the kitchen counter. Will this be the legacy of addiction I give to him?

***


Well, you can see the above is about all that I’m capable of and please excuse me if I’ve not returned your email.


I did find myself at Labyrinth Books today taking advantage of their Spring clearance sale. Amazing, I thought, that I could still want more books as the TBR pile practically doubled from BEA, but I did pick up Frank Bidart’s latest book of poems, Stardust, which encompasses a movement of poems – as it is described – that includes Music Like Dirt (a chapbook that was a finalist for the Pulitzer) and The Third Hour of the Night, the latter of which appeared in Poetry Magazine and I happen to love. I also picked up a few other $2.98 gems.


And speaking of Poetry Magazine, I recently mentioned their redesigned Website and magazine, and stumbled upon the company that put all that beauty together, WinterHouse Studio. I bring up Winterhouse because they are a publisher (Winterhouse Editions) too and they maintain a Weblog, the DesignObserver, that looks interesting.


In the comments section here, I found Jeffrey Yamaguchi’s BookMouth, with a lot of interviews and articles.


So a couple of items for the feed-reader. Lastly, for an entirely different view (one jaded with experience, I suppose) of BEA coverage, see this article at the Observer (Bibliophiles Romp in Chelsea; Book Editors Tell Sad Tales, by Sheelah Kolhatkar, 10-June-05). Link via BookDwarf.


So, I feel as though I haven’t read anything outside of a Website in a while and am seeking balance. Should be back to normal next week though, and word has it that things at 400 Windmills should be warming up after a brief lull as we move into part two of our Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha. And by the way, I have no intention of giving up espresso or my addiction to book buying.


Thanks, and have a good night.


Read widely, think well, and write often

posted June 10, 2005

comments

Well, did you really want medals after all? I think your book addiction is a much healthier one, though wealth would help to feed it, non?

Did you want to join in Mr. Waggish’s quiz, BTW - see my latest post for the lowdown. I’m looking forward to your gently caffeinated reply.

    – genevieve (06/11  at  04:25 AM)


i am in search of the perfect home espresso machine...since you drink/make a few during the course of the day...what kind of machine do you use?

thanks.

    – s. kolbe (06/14  at  11:20 AM)


You should try http://www.wholelattelove.com/. I got my machine fairly cheap through illy, which I think is illy.com or illusa.com

    – bud Parr (06/14  at  09:10 PM)


Page 1 of 1 pages of comments

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

This site employs rank-denial and other anti-spam measures.
Your link here will do nothing for your rankings or traffic. Off-topic comments will be deleted.




Next entry: Adam Travis Interview with Frank Bidart at Bookslut
Previous entry: Book Bloggers Publishers and Reviewers: A Final Word On BookExpo 2005

« Back to main

About this Post




Barack Obama Logo