Hi, My Name is Kev and I'm a Coffee-holic ("Hi, Kev.")

Stay with me here; the first part of the story has nothing to do with coffee, but it gets there eventually:

I've been fighting allergies for about a week now. I could go on a rant about how the new medicine the allergy doctor gave me in March isn't working very well, despite being twice the price of the old stuff...but nahh, that's all the ranting I'll do on that for now. At any rate, the coughing fits hit their peak right in the middle of Jose' Feghali's performance at the Founders Day Concert...ack. I was nearly in tears trying to hold it in and restrict my coughing only to the loud spots in the performance.

Then on Monday night I started getting this awful headache, and it never totally went away, even when I woke up the next morning. I don't usually get sinus headaches that badly, so I was trying to figure out what the deal was. Then it hit me: *slaps forehead* "D'oh! I never had my coffee yesterday!"

OK, so I've known since undergrad school that I was probably at least somewhat clinically addicted to caffeine--at least that was the suspicion of my saxophone professor. I also have known for a while that I'm not the same person if I don't have my coffee before my 7:30 lessons every morning. But I never suspected that, by skipping a single day, I'd actually have the headache that wouldn't quit.

And it's not like I didn't have caffeine at all on Monday. I went to Chipotle for lunch and Boston Market for dinner, and had ample amounts of Dr Pepper at both meals...but still the monster headache. So evidently I'm addicted specifically to the caffeine in coffee. Weird.

So when I got up yesterday, with the headache still raging, I was happy to be in suburbia and not on some remote Alaskan outpost. Fortunately, I'm not a total coffee snob. I won't just drink anything you put in front of me, but it doesn't have to be Starbucks; I'm also fine with the coffee at Exxon On the Run (nee Tigermarket) convenience stores, one of which is near my house. I got my blessed cup o' java, picked up some Tylenol Sinus at Tom Thumb and made my way back home. Sure enough, problem solved; the headache went away and hasn't returned. That's right, an 89-cent cup of coffee and a $4.99 box of Tylenol did better for my overall condition than my $80 nasal spray from the doctor. Ugh.

So it's not like you'll see me checking into Coffeeholics Anonymous anytime soon. If that's what fuels my daily flight, so be it. Who would ever think, though, that Lady Coffee would be such a demanding mistress that I would be punished for missing but a single day. Don't worry, m'lady, it won't happen again for a long time.