casualties of an unexpected decaffeination

I don't know how many casualties there were. It's been a good 3 days, I'd say, and the toll has definitely been on the rise.

I was at the bank, the nail salon, the school -- twice. There's a good 6 innocent bystanders right there. Then I completely ignored direct requests from a couple of friends for visits, IM-flamed others, and even burned off a few emails I probably should've recalled -- if that recall feature actually worked.

And somewhere in there, I even managed to snub a new neighbor, piss off the mailman, and yell the dogs so far back into their houses that they didn't even come out when I called them for guilt-treats later.

But it wasn't until I'd barked at the kids for like the 15th time in an hour and Saia, smart girl that she is, finally called me on it, that I realized the mounting pile of victims had hit its peak and just had to stop.

But what the hell? Where do I start? It's not like I was PMSing. No full moon from what I could tell. No less sleep than usual the night before. And yes, her girlfriend is still in town, but I swallow that whole, down deep inside, where only hypnotherapists dare to go. And then I saw it. The 12-pack of Diet Dr. Peppers I'd been tearing through the last two days was not the new one with cherry, like I thought. It was not only cherry-less (go ahead, just try to crack a joke with me today), but the damned thing was freaking caffeine-free!!