Sure love my morning cup…

 I generally start my day with a cup of coffee.By no means am I a morning person, and there is nothing like that freshly brewed first cup to get my day started.I wouldn’t consider myself a caffeine addict.I grew up drinking 2 to 3 cups a day:a cup in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night before bed (preferably with some freshly baked bakery bread or  pan de agua  – https://www.google.com/#q=pan+de+agua ).

These days I have my morning cup, and occasionally I may have a second cup later in the day or evening. I recently read in some article, in some paper on my cell phone, that the second cup helps prevent adult diabetes. Maybe, who knows? I “phone” read for the vocabulary and the pictures more so than for the content.

 I digress, back to the coffee; I love the taste, and I drink it for the taste.If I don’t have my morning cup, other than feeling a lil’ groggier, I don’t get headaches or any other withdrawal symptoms.I like to think it makes me more alert in the morning.I like to think it helps me stay awake on those late Saturday evenings when the UFC ( http://www.ufc.com/ ) main event doesn’t start until after midnight, and chances are I won’t make it to bed till 1am, if I’m not staying up later to watch the post-fight presser.What I do know is I enjoy it.Sure do.It’s my second favorite drink, distant second.Water holds the top spot; whole nuther’ topic though (intentional slang since I believe we don’t spend most days listening to proper English).

 Now, on those mornings when, for whatever reason, I can’t find my freshly brewed, or slightly reheated, or McDonald’s vanilla iced, my back-up method for coping with the morning grogginess is interpreting.Once I get the first case of the morning under my belt the grogginess is gone, my mind is alert and racing: thinking about word choices, my notes, self-critique, what to work on between cases, etc…After that first case, I’m wired, no coffee necessary.I’m “red’ to go”, as Wanda would say, for those folks who remember In Living Color ( https://www.google.com/#q=wanda+in+living+color ).I’m ready for a next case, and a next one, and a next one…

I pretty sure I’m not the only interpreter who feels a certain euphoria each time they perform. There’s a certain amount of thrill in finding the right word combinations, and delivering them properly while keeping emotions at bay. It’s the thrill which keeps me coming back for more. It’s the reason I’d rather be busy going from case to case, for that matter, the reason why 11 years later, I’m still on this journey.

I am beginning to wonder whether the thrill will ever go away. Sometimes there is a bit or monotony in doing the same things over and over again: wake up, go to work, interpret some cases, go home to rest for a bit and prepare to do it all over again the next day. So far the thrill is there, and hopefully like coffee, I’ll always want some more.

What keeps you doing what you do?