Midol made me do it

I had a weird afternoon, and I blame Midol. No really. It is spring break this week and some of the regulars have been pestering me earlier in the day, which is sometimes entertaining (like when 15 year old J spent much of yesterday telling me about the sci fi novel he has been brainstorming ideas for since he was 12 - a novel that sounds so complex that I predict it may be either epic in size or more preferably divided into a trilogy) and sometimes not (like when D came in and told me about his newfound love of burning himself with just the right combination of ice and salt) and sometimes easily combined with other more stimulating activities such as texting my actor boy (like when J2 or M was in and I could easily sustain a conversation with them in person, my actor boy on my cell phone, and occasionally a work email or two). Ah the joy of multi-tasking. But today in the morning I was particularly grumpy after yet another night of limited sleep, some mind numbingly painful cramps and a general dislike of taking a bus to work that is frequently full of little children, and so while I was out doing errands for a library program I purchased some extra strength Midol to take after lunch.

Did you know that Midol has 60 mg of caffeine in addition to 500 mg of acetaminophen (and 15 mg of pyrilamine maleate, whatever the fuck that is) per single dose, 120 mg X 1000 if you take the suggested 2?

I certainly didn't.

And for someone like myself who doesn't drink coffee or Jolt Cola (and does have tea but not in massive amounts at a time) , apparently this amount can have an affect similar to an intravenous shot of espresso, multiplied by about 6. Or maybe it was the combination of being tired with the caffeine . Who knows. Either way I felt a little high for much of the afternoon, had a couple conversations on gmail I don't really recall, spent a couple hours helping an education student do her homework assignment so that I could ultimately get the contact info for her prof and schmooze with her to potentially increase my chances of one day teaching children's lit at the college level, tried to become a crazy groupie and get my father to email a woman my mother used to know whose children are both musicians and touring together across Canada, performing in a city near me tomorrow for a sold out show, that I clearly won't be able to go to but thought I would at least try to get free tickets for, did some unofficial counselling of my 42 year old co worker to help advise her on a nervous breakdown that has been coming for 13 years and is just now rearing its ugly head (I don't really remember what I told her but recall imparting some wisdom on her as she gave me a ride home), and working my ass off for a bit on Eli to the point that when I clambered off I practically fell over.

So either I had an extra burst of energy that lasted for about 4 and half hours or the Midol are to blame (or to thank). Granted some of those things I may have done without the pills - like turning an annoying situation (of the needy education student that wanted me to do her homework for her) into one that works positively for me and hopefully gaining contact with her professor, a woman who is respected in the field of children's lit and library studies and who could potentially be a PhD supervisor or just all around good person to know - but feeling like I was on hyper-speed and not remembering some conversations is the rather distressing part. I am still a little jittery, 9 hours after taking the pills.

Or at least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.