Well, put it this way Joanna: Caffeine addiction doesn't need two support
newsgroups for fellow sufferers to commune with each other. And sharing the
burden certainly makes coping with the addiction more pleasureable.

Furthermore, it also brings the lost members back into the fold, and surely that
can't be a bad thing! In other words, it's good to hear from you again.
Two-year-old meltdown? Been there, done that. Better you than me. But you
need a calmative, & with another cup of coffee you just sit there & stew about
all that went wrong during the day. Watering your orchids is far more
therapeutic. Enjoy them.

On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:37:48 GMT, "J Fortuna"
wrote:

Kathy's comment in the WOC thread "If anyone who thinks growing orchids
*isn't* an addiction hasn't answered the Call of the Vendors." made me think
of my efforts to battle addictions.

I bought only one new orchid in 2007, which is huge progress considering
that there used to be a time when I would _need_ to buy orchids every month,
and I couldn't ever buy just one at a time (had to be two or three or four).
Alas, when visiting a relative the other weekend I started to persuade her
that next time we visit I will buy her an orchid, she seemed reluctant, not
wanting the additional burden of having to take care of it, but I tried to
press the case that an orchid wouldn't be any burden at all (one orchid
isn't, but whoever stops at one? I did not tell her that.). And just this
evening I was just thinking that if the miltaniopsis reflowers again this
year, I will have to buy more of those, and how I have been neglecting to
visit Al's Orchid Greenhouse, and after all that is not very polite to Al
who does not deserve that. So I fear I may be heading for a relapse. :-(

I have just begun trying to get myself off of caffeine. So far, not very
successfully. I don't think I will be able to go a year with only one coffee
(shudder), so far I seem to be having trouble with one coffee per day. I
poured myself a second mug as soon as I got into the office yesterday on
autopilot, and as soon as the mug was full, I noticed, but by then it was
too late, couldn't waste a perfectly good mug of coffee by pouring it out
after all, could I? And then today, the major tantrum/meltdown of my
two-year old at the shopping mall made me drink a second cup later in the
day (just had to). When we got home the watering of orchids soothed my
nerves, and it did not seem like a burden after all, and surely another one
or two wouldn't make any noticeable difference in the watering burden,
right?

So I guess orchid addiction is easier to hold in check than caffeine
addiction, or maybe not? Is orchid addiction just a form of shopoholism? Or
maybe orchids give out some undetectable but irresistible addictive
substance that sinks in through our pores, and reprograms our DNA to whisper
"Buy more orchids. Buy more orchids. Buy more orchids."

Joanna

Dave Gillingham
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