So, I'm still in the tropics, also known as the land of Unbelievably Crappy Dialup Access. Honestly, it's amazing I ever managed to get any work done at all when all I had was a modem.

My activity for the last two days has been an attempt to give up caffeine. I've been worried for a while that my poor short-term memory, trembling hands and general scatter-brainedness are signs of an actual addiction to caffeine, so that conversation on Slashdot and all the associated horror-stories of caffeine addiction were a spur to action. So I quit cold-turkey as of nearly 48 hours ago. Lo and behold, last night I had the number one symptom people described as caffeine withdrawal: an extreme headache, the like of which I've not had for years. I took some anacin for the headache -- it contains caffeine in addition to the painkiller, so it worked a treat -- and tonight (so far) I've not needed any, although right now I can sense the beginnings of a headache coming on. I'm not sure whether to head it off with a single pill now, or to try and tough it out. Apparently after the first three days I have at least a week of irregular sleep habits to look forward to (good thing I'm on vacation, huh?) before things settle down, although some people (I think they were a lot more severely addicted than I am) have complained it took months.

As for positive effects... I dunno. I've certainly had the most creative/productive day I've had in months today, but that could just be coincidence. And I think my hands are steadier, though I could just be imagining that too. We'll see if I'm suddenly Mr. Genius all of next week, or if it was just a one-off.

Either way, hopefully add caffeine to the list of Drugs I'm Better Off Without. It's not like I'm sanctimonious about drug use or anything -- it's just that caffeine seems to be depleting my quality of life, just like the others are reputed to, so I'll get rid of it and hopefully things will be better for me. This just reinforces my conviction that our bodies are just big chemical factories, and like any chemical process, they can be tweaked for better results. Now I can be geeky about my health as well! Your boredom will know no bounds.

Oh, and happy 2004, of course, but it's not like it's the first time you've heard that.