I used to go to Starbucks every morning or another coffee shop if it wasn't Starbucks. I've realized this probably wasn't the best thing for me though as I have a heart condition. I have an irregular heartbeat and the amount of caffeine I was drinking probably wasn't the best thing. I recently saw my doctor and she told me it won't be too long from now (2 years tops) until I have heart surgery. It is obviously not something I like to think about so I usually don't even talk about it as well. The surgery will likely involve getting one of my valves replaced with a mechanical valve. I've know all my life that it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when. I won't be much different from the Terminator at that point except you should still be able to understand what I'm saying.
Getting up for work in the mornings have been tougher without coffee, I must admit. In the last 2 weeks though, I've only ended up drinking coffee twice which I think is a big improvement. I also haven't had any soda over that time frame. Sometimes if I want that feeling of drinking a soda then I just end up buying a sparkling water. However, I will not drink decaf coffee.
When I first started doing stand-up comedy, I would drink 1 or 2 red bulls before I did a set. I don't have any reason to that anymore. Even on days when I am tired, I always get a natural adrenaline rush before going on stage.
Robin Williams had a similar heart surgery about 3 years ago and he still has loads of energy. I would have never guessed him to have had a heart problem in the first place - he discusses the surgery a bit in this clip -
I think what I'm looking forward to the most is having another scar. Back in 1994, when I had surgery on my stomach, I ended up with a cool looking scar. I hope the next one is just as good. Unlike that surgery, I hope they don't do any extra work while they are in there. (When I had stomach surgery for my gall bladder, the doctor just decided to take out my appendix too with no warning.)
There is probably some material that I get from this whole experience too (like Robin did) so that's a good thing.
While we are on the subject of my heart - I had a show Monday in San Francisco in which my current manager at my day job attended with her boyfriend and another friend. Well, actually, my manager's last day at work was today.
I had been doing a bit recently where I talk about my manager and how attractive I thought she is and how I did a background check on her (by that, I meant checking the back of her hand to see no ring). I knew that dating the manager at your job is frowned upon so I talked about getting her in trouble so she'd get fired but then having another job lined up for her already so I would look like a hero and she could still buy me stuff....
Now that she was at one of my shows, I asked myself, "Do I do this bit as I have been lately?" I started to go through the bit and said "She's fuckin hot" but then I stopped myself because I felt bad for the boyfriend. I had met him right before the show and he seemed like a cool guy and I didn't want him to kick my ass. Surprisingly, after the show, the boyfriend and her both told me they wanted to hear the whole bit. I didn't share it though. If they read this blog by some chance then they'll know a little more. We all ended up going to a bar after the show for a quick drink and I actually ended up talking more to her boyfriend than anyone else. We mainly talked about baseball...I guess he knew the way to my heart.
Good job staying off the caffeine, have you ever thought about how much money you spend at starbucks per year? That could be another good reason to stop buying coffee. I didn't know that about Robin Williams, he is always one of my favorites in stand up and the man can act (see Good Will Hunting).
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