For that extra kick

Monday morning finds me mixing teaspoons full of Don Pedro Instant with the cups of freshly brewed coffee poured from my carafe. I’ve no idea what pure Don Pedro Instant tastes like, and hope to God I never have to find out, but it is pretty effective at giving an extra kick to the morning joe.

Thursday’s breakfast

Cheeseburgers, liberally dosed with Valentina hot sauce, and washed down with strong black coffee. A breakfast of champions!

It should be noted that the 1/4 lb. hamburger patties from HEB that I’m using now are noticeably bigger than the ones from Walmart that I used to use. Even after cooking down. That’s interesting.

is wishing…

…my brain cells would hurry up and wake up, I’ve got a mountain of chess games waiting for me and I can’t work on them with my brain half-zombied from last night’s sleep. C’mon coffee, help me out here!

Strange coffee

Last night’s dream was long, vividly clear, and smoothly (though strangely) segued through three main parts.

In my dream…

1st part:
I was brewing myself some coffee in the kitchen of a house in which I’ve never lived. I almost bought the house once, though. It was showed me by a realtor decades ago and, for a short while, I considered making an offer on it.

When I poured out the coffee from the glass carafe, it was a pale yellow color, almost as if I’d only put a tiny bit of ground coffee into the machine. This was a surprise, since the coffee I make is always very strong, stronger than most people like.

Since I was in a hurry and was planning to take the coffee with me in a traveling cup, I looked in the kitchen cabinet for some instant to mix in with the extremely weak though hot stuff I’d just poured. What I found on the shelf was the instant coffee I expected in its store-bought jar. And there was something unexpected, too. There was a large test tube filled with what appeared to be instant coffee crystals.

Looking closely at the crystals in the test tube, I could see no difference between them and what was in the jar. And they smelled the same. So I decided to pour the “mystery” coffee into my cup and see what happened. To my surprise the coffee, if that’s what it was, started bubbling and foaming like something you’d see in a cartoon, the foam spilling out over the top of the cup. Woh!

Since I was short on time, I decided to take the strange brew with me.

2nd part:
The next part of the dream found me walking along the sidewalk of Fourth Street, near the IU main campus in Bloomington, IN. It was late afternoon, and apparently some festivities were underway.

All the little restaurants had placed extra chairs and tables out front of their establishments, bistro style. This made for some very close quarters, and I had difficulty navigating my way along, trying to avoid bumping into folks as they sat eating.

And the coffee cup I carried was still bubbling and foaming. Everybody seemed just as surprised at that as I was.

3rd part:
Someone called to me from the big front porch of a chapter house belonging to one of the campus fraternities.

Walking up the steps I shook hands with the guys at the railing then made my way over to the friend who’d hollered at me. We chatted for a bit, then he started telling me about a common house called the “Cowboy Palace.” He was convinced I should move there. I wasn’t so convinced (he was always giving me unsolicited advice) but I listened anyway.

Then, during a lull in our conversation, I took a deep breath, leaned back and…

…woke up.

M&M cookies and coffee

The dream from which I woke today was both gratifying and frustrating.

In this dream…

I was waiting for a bus in Bloomington, IN, when I realized two things: i.) it would be several minutes before the bus arrived, and 2.) I was standing across the street from a bakery that used to be one of my favorites. So the decision was made to step into the bakery and order a snack to take with me.

When I walked into the bakery I was greeted with happy smiles, back slaps from the regulars there, and, “Hi, how’ve you been?” like I was some favorite, seldom-seen family member or something. That was both surprising and satisfying.

Standing at the counter I ordered some M&M cookies and a lerge coffee to go. The boy behind the counter bagged the cookies quickly and set them in front of me and walked over to the coffee machine. Taking a quick bite from one of the soft, chewy cookies, I knew I’d ordered wisely.

“Oh, here,” said the shop owner, “let me heat those up for you.” And she took the sack from me and stuck it in a small microwave oven.

Some small talk with the regulars and employees followed as I stood there at the counter waiting for my coffee and the return of my cookies. And a few minutes passed. And I still stood there, waiting for my coffee and the return of my cookies. The situation was becoming frustrating.

Worried that I might miss my bus I quickly checked the time…

…by opening my eyes and looking at my bedside clock. And I realized I was waking up.