Here is a list of foods and activities I do not ever plan to give up (even if I’m someday forced to eat them in moderation):

– salt
– sitting down
– coffee
– refined sugar as it occurs in baked goods
– sunshine
– red wine

When I lived abroad, in Russia, it was hard to come by decent coffee. All the Nescafe commercials had semi-nude women in them, suggesting that it was a luxury product. Given that my coffee intake took a radical hit for those few months, I thought perhaps I’d have kicked my caffeine habit.

Instead, upon arrival at the Frankfurt airport (where we had our layover on the way home) a friend and I sat down in a cafe, where we ordered grilled cheese sandwiches and a cup of black coffee. I have never felt physically fitter in my life.

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In other, more self-promotional news, I’m a finalist in the Esquire/Aspen Writers’ Foundation Short Short Story contest. It’s exciting stuff! And oddly, the exercise (writing a 78 word story) is probably not so different from crafting a comic.