Shirtless and Lonely on a Cold Friday Night

I have a Coke addiction. The soda, not the drug. It's a tough one to battle when you live in my house, because we never have soda here. I guess that's for my own good, but it doesn't stop me from stopping at Wawa for a soda almost every night before work starts.

I think the nightly Wawa stop is the source of my troubles. A lot of times we don't have any food that I can eat in a hurry that will keep me satisfied through my shift. When I get hungry, I get cranky, so sufficient sustenance is a necessity. So I stop at Wawa. Sometimes I get a Tastycake pie, but usually I get one of their pre-made chicken wraps, which are actually pretty good. But of course, I need a drink to go along with it.

I thought I needed caffiene to keep me awake on the ride to work, since a lot of times I'd find myself struggling to keep my eyes open on I-95. However, I've since realized that drinking any beverage at all will keep me awake while I'm drinking it. I'd drink water, since it's healthy and all, but I have an ethics issue with paying money for water. It should be illegal. So I don't get water. The next problem is that a 20 oz. bottle of anything isn't going to last me until I get to work, and I might find myself dozing off because I've got nothing to do while I drive. This is unfortunate, because the next size up from a 20 oz. soda is a 1 liter soda. I never finish by the time I get to work, because 1 liter is far too much soda to drink in one sitting. I could get iced tea, but there's an even bigger disparity there between the 16 oz. and the 32 oz (which is equal to one liter).

So I drink almost a liter of soda almost every night--sometimes I switch it up to a Diet Lemonade Tea--and now I'm addicted. I got sick of Mountain Dew, and I guess it's less addictive than Coke. So now I drink Coke almost any chance I get. Diet is out of the question for two reasons: 1) It's nasty, and 2) They don't carry it in the 1 Liter size at the Wawa.

Coke is an evil product. It tastes great and all, but there are so many side effects. First, there's the addiction that comes along with it. Secondly, that first sip will inevitably result in an overload of carbonation. And finally, something I figured out today, is that the reason you're always thirsty after you drink Coke is that they load it up with sodium. Normally you'd wonder why someone would mix salt with sugar, but when it comes to commercial products, we tend to accept that something's in there for a good reason. Unfortunately for Coca-Cola, I had no Coke left after I finished drinking it, and I had to drink some water.

But that doesn't change the fact that I could really go for a Coke right now.