04 December 2013

Hot Chocolate: a strange blessing for my dissertation

Although it took some time, I received an official pass for the VU University Theology department early this past fall. The pass is my key to getting into the closed-off section where "my computer" is. At the same time, it is also my means for getting free drinks from the vending machine.

It took me one cup of tea from the machine to realize that it was much wiser to make one's own. My section has its electric kettle and tea pot.

It took me about a month of drinking coffee from the machine to realize that it was horrible. It's actually not bad with sugar, especially the espresso, latte and cappucino variations. As I don't like drinking coffee without sugar, but would prefer not to have regular white sugar, I tried drinking it when I added my own less processed sugar to it. I don't drink coffee from the machine anymore. My section also has its own private coffee maker, which I sometimes also participate in drinking from.

It took me about a month of drinking hot chocolate from the machine to become addicted to it. At first, it seemed inappropriate to be drinking hot chocolate at work. But since I didn't drink the coffee or tea, what was I supposed to do? I do try to keep it to 2 cups a day (drinking water and tea the rest of the time).

On the bright side, my love of hot chocolate is significant enough that it motivates me to bike to the university - almost daily and even through rain. The bike ride helps me stay a bit more in shape and compensates for the extra calories from the hot chocolate. Furthermore, I tend to get less distracted when I'm working on the computers there, which is good for writing.

Hot chocolate has thus become a strange blessing: it has started to play an active role in helping me work better and harder on my dissertation.

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