Wide Awake

My new crack.

I'm telling you - I'm not an addict. I can quit anytime. I just need a little sip - something to take the edge off. I'm under a lot of pressure right now...

5 years ago - I gave up soda.

A friend of mine from college - Doug - was staying with us. Doug had just come back in the area and was working at a production company and was staying in our extra room till he found a place to live.

At the time - he was mainlining Mountain Dew whenever he got the chance.

He decided to go off soda for a bit.

At this time - I was traveling a lot and producing and Directing for Discovery. And I had a normal 3-4 can of original Coke a day habit - that would dramatically jump to 5-6 a day if I was shooting.

And this was a habit that had been in place since high school. I love Coke. I love to drink Coke. If I could bathe in Coke - I would.

So - being the radically impulsive person I was - I decided to quit pop. Altogether. Right then and there.

And I did.

For about a month - I had massive migranes. Every time I saw a pizza and had to ask for water to drink - I broke out in a cold sweat.

But I survived. And 5 years later - I'm still dry - but desperately looking for any excuse to go back. When Vanilla Coke came out I almost wet myself - but have somehow stayed somewhat strong.

Exception.

A couple years back I switched to another drug. Sweet Tea. I would drink a large Chic-fil-A Sweet Tea and get so hopped up I'd bounce my leg straight through the floor.

And then - when I started driving back and forth across the country to raise money for the movie - I would drink a red bull - which tasted like cow piss - but it kept me awake.

Red Bull graduated to Sobe adrenaline to Full Throttle.

Never more than a couple times a week - and usually just to keep me awake.

Which brings me to yesterday.

I went back to SF - really just to meet with my boss and tell her what I was proposing in my big meeting today. I waited for two days - and finally - when I was supposed to be getting a cab at 2:30 - she called me in at ten till two.

I am making my big pitch on how we handle China today. I wanted to talk with her about my approach before I do it - so I'm not going too far out on a limb. It was a great talk - but I had to run out of the office - straight to a cab - straight to the airport - straight to the rental car place - straight to checking in at the hotel -

And by then it was 9:00. And after getting up at 4 on Wednesday to fly to SF - and after all the travel of the last three weeks...

I was sleepy. And I still had to take my 10 pages of notes on the plan and put them into some coherent draft.

So before I got on the plane - I found that at the Oakland airport - they sell Full Throttle. So I pounded one before the flight.

And after going through the trouble of getting my bags and the car and fighting the traffic all the way to the hotel - I grabbed one more - standing in the express lane of the grocery store behind 10 others.

Back at the room - had to call the wife before midnight her time.

Finally sat down with the Full Throttle at 9:30 and jumped into my report.

And wow. Everything flowed together. Three weeks of facts and processes gelled nicely into a fine document.

Whether or not they follow my plan - it is clearly laid out and seems logical.

By midnight I lay down.

Trouble is - I am not going to sleep.

I'm sure sometime between 12 and when I finally got up at 5 after checking the clock at least 50 times during the night that I did get some sleep - I'm just not sure when.

So I'm going into the office to print things out and make my report at 10.

Problem is - I'm a little sleepy...And low on energy...

Any idea what might perk me up?