Queen For A Day!

I had an enormous (exciting) shock earlier in the week, when I received a phone call from a lady named Kym, telling me I had won a full day pamper package competition that I had entered into on Facebook quite a few weeks ago, and had totally forgotten about.  Not that I enter many competitions, mind you.  I'm one of those poor sods who simply doesn't win things, these days as much from the fact I don't enter hardly any competitions.. after all, one can only handle so much disappointment!  But this particular entry was a special one that I simply couldn't let slip by, and it was all to do with the timing of it.  OK, the pampering ran a close second.

The winner of the competition would receive a full day's pampering and indulgence on 5 December.  That was the clincher.  Because 5 December to me personally means a hell of a lot of things.  It's my mother's birthday.  And then it's the day my mother passed away in a car accident.  Miserable memories, happy memories, and seven years of coping with this particular day each year as it rolled around inexorably, as it does.  So before Mum passed away, it had always been a lovely day to spend with her, to take her out, to indulge in good food and laughs, and then watch her get tipsy on the tiny bit of wine it took.  Fun times.

The last seven years has been about remembering the things we can longer do, and longing to have another dream of her (I've had two since she died, both very memorable and real).  Mother's Day is sort of similar, and I deal with that by being in the ocean because nature heals all.  But the day she was born and the day she also died - well, that's more personal, and also harder to deal with.  I still go to the beach, and always cry a bit.  I try and keep busy as well.  And I'm always glad when the day is done, for another year.  I'm not sure if Mum was being considerate by dying on the same day she was born, but it does give me one less memorial date to suffer through in the calendar year.  Thanks Mum.  It certainly makes you very unique, but we knew that!

So this year was now going to be different, because how I would spend the day would be radically different.  In fact, I'd never ever spent a whole day like that, ever!.  So of course it's worthy of a good blog, so here it is!

I work up early as usual, showered, and defuzzed my legs even more than usual, because I didn't want the poor masseuse combing through my hairy legs with her fingernails.  OK, I'm not that bad.  So I combed my wet hair, looked in the mirror at my almost half a century year old face, and wondered what on earth anyone can do with that!  Well, I was about to see.  So I didn't bother with makeup, knowing the facial was going to be taking it all off anyway, and not that I wear much at all anyhow.  It's just too damn hot here, and plus I'm always in the water.  My skin has the texture of an expensive handbag these days, and all is right in my world, hehehe

I felt I should wear a dress for the photo shoot which would happen at the end of the day, because I'd apparently be looking so glam and so unlike myself, I might as well go the whole hog and not be myself... So I slipped on a dress I'd had for a little while and never worn, and then tried to get used to the idea.  I almost got there.. and then my daughter woke up and glanced at me as she was walking to the bathroom.  "Oh... what's that?" with a disinterested sideways glance, and then she disappeared.  I called a little anxiously after her, "It's a dress, honey.  What do you think?"  No answer.  "What do you think?"  Still no answer.  Sigh.  I go back to the mirror and look at myself searchingly.  I see a woman who's no longer young.  Scrap that.  A woman who no longer LOOKS young.  Raggedy looking wet hair dripping down my neck, a non descript blonde with dark roots.  Well I hope they're dark.  They're probably grey.

The dress is colourful and cheery, and makes me look, to my way of thinking, quite the opposite.  I don't think it's going to get a run today.  Then Nicolle emerges again, glances at me and says, "Are you gonna wear that?"  I guess that, as one would say, was my A-ha moment.  A-ha, this dress looks crap on me.  I glance at my watch; 15 minutes before I need to leave.  Just enough time, I'm thinking, as the dress gets pulled over my head and thrown into a corner, and I reach for something more "Me."

This turns out to be a pair of 3/4 length pants in a dark khaki, a white singlet top with a black lacy overtop, and my clunky black sandals.  A-ha.  Better.  No makeup or hair to do, so I simply grab my bag that I'd prepared earlier, and flee out the door before Nicolle can say anything else to have me doing another costume change, but this time with only 5 minutes to go.  I'm on my way!

My first stop is at Sunshine Beach, a little cafe called The Deck.  My host Kym is there, and she's looking very polished in a navy dress with white polka dots (why do they called them polka dots anyway, why not just dots for heaven's sake; and why do I wonder about such stupid shit anyway!) and she's wearing red patent shoes which look really funky to walk in, and a matching red belt.  She's beautifully made up and groomed, and I of course am not.  And I know she is the lady I am meeting, by the big red basket sitting on the table beside her, resplendent with interesting looking girly gifts.  It can only be her, and I guess that basket can only be for me!  I can feel a big grin already splitting my face wide open; I'm feeling like the kid in the candy store already.

So we sit down, order our coffees, and start chatting.  Kym is very easy to talk to, and we natter away easily, and enjoy those delicious aromatic coffees on that sunny big deck overlooking the park, with the waves of Sunshine Beach foaming away just beyond.  It's a lovely spot, and it's already quite warm.  A year ago, I would have been quite intimidated by meeting someone who looked so professional and polished, being the diamond in the rough that I am.  But it's amazing how different it is when you're operating from a positive mind space, because suddenly there are no limits as to what you can do, or who you can relate to!  It didn't hurt too that Kym was very down to earth, and great fun!

After running through the agenda for the day, and inspecting that glorious basket (mmm there's even chocolates in there) it's time to get to my first appointment, which is with Melanie at Sunrise Beauty.  Melanie operates a home business, and she greets us at the door of her sunny townhouse with a big friendly smile and greeting.  She then leads me into her treatment room, which is warmly decorated in sunny tones, and is quite the prettiest  massage venue I've ever attended.  It's time to strip off and envelop myself in those big fluffy towels, and then she comes back in and starts the massage.  We chat a little, and it's great.  Not an annoying endless stream of mindless conversation to fill a silent space, or any stony silences.  There's lovely relaxing music in the background, and I feel myself sinking further and further into sublime bliss as the massage goes on.  After a while, it's time to flip over, and we gradually slip into the facial part of the treatment.  Melanie tells me what she's using at each phase, but I'm off with the fairies by now, and can only tell you there was a bamboo scrubby something or other, not its technical title by the way!   In between waiting for masks to set and the like, she's giving me head massages or other attentions.  At no time did she apply something and then just wander off while I lay there waiting; she kept the momentum going, and even somehow managed to slip in a new set of eyebrows for me!

So after enjoying over two hours with her, and feeling incredibly soft and silky and totally rejuvenated, Kym was back to take me on to our next adventure, which was the Rose Room Cafe on the Noosa River for lunch, and to meet with my stylist, Amanda, for a consultation on, well, style (or my lack thereof!).

We were greeted by Amanda from iAM Styling on the deck of the Rose Room, and she looked very smiley and welcoming and, well, stylish... and after a couple of photos, it was time to sit down, order up, and then start talking - you guessed it - styling!

After a quick fun quiz on my style savvy, it was confirmed that I was a "comfy" dresser who was also a bit "eclectic".  Hmm, must be that funky zebra skin thingy I bought the other week that's tipped me over from plain boring to borderline interesting, but anyhow it saved me from the scarily dull label of Mrs Comfy Dresser. But the whole thing was so much fun, laughs, and even some useful tips that I took away with me.  I now know how to focus people's attention on the bits I want them to notice.  OK, the zebra skin thingy might get a run yet, cos you sure can't help noticing that!

Amanda and I also had a giggle about the fact that she was wearing a dress but had almost worn 3/4 length pants and a singlet top, but changed her mind at the last minute and put on the dress... while I did the exact opposite.  Her dress was very similar to the dress I hadn't worn.  It was obviously the Universe's way of ensuring we didn't get confused, and start fighting over who was in fact the stylist.

The food at the Rose Room was divine, as was the pineapple punch.  The chocolate brownie that we shared was to die for, and its creator Deb came up and gave me a big congratulatory hug for winning a competition that she originally brought to my attention on Facebook.  It takes a lovely soul to do that, and I hope she remembers me for her next batch of brownies, because they truly are the best I've ever had!  Thanks Deb!

While I was eating and styling away with Amanda, Kym my lovely hostess was off checking out the parking situation, and making sure I didn't score a parking ticket to dampen my joy.  Nothing was too much trouble for her, and the hardest thing for me was just to thank, and accept, accept, accept today... whew!  She then came back and made sure we placed my car in the right spot for the afternoon session, which would be what turned out to be a long haul at the hairdressers for cut, colour and full makeup.  This wasn't going to be a minor service; this was a damn overhaul!

We arrived at River Terrace Hair Studio also on the Noosa River, a very funky upstairs salon with a very charming view straight across to the water.  I was introduced to Lisa and her daughter Emma, and then after a little bit of discussion and clever guidance from Lisa, the old tired locks started to fall.. and fall.. and fall.  There was way more hair on the floor than on my head, and oh it felt good!  Then my hair was washed and dried, and you could see how good the style was going to look, even before the colour.  And then I had roughly 176,549 foils applied to my head, ok maybe not quite that many, then got to sit under what looked like a spaceship orbiting around my head (but which was in fact a dryer) and then it was time to wash it all away, and dry and style and fluff me into the incredibly pampered creature I was fast becoming...

Meanwhile my photographer Melanie McNiven had arrived, and she ended up having to wait for quite some time while I was fluffed and buffed, and whilst Emma then worked her makeup magic on me.  The end result was a very natural but polished look.  Meg Ryan I wasn't, but I sure liked what I was seeing!

The next and final thing to do was get some great photography happening down on the riverfront, and then I really felt like I was getting the star treatment, playing up to the camera, and enjoying lots of different locations along the river.  My lovely friend Denise had come to the hair salon, so she joined in with the photography fun along the river, and we even managed a besties shot that I'll treasure forever... and it was then time to say farewell to the wonderful Kym who had made this day possible for me, and also to Melanie our very creative photographer.  I'd been rubbed and buffed and preened and fluffed, and now it was time to fly the coop for an exciting evening.  My day wasn't over yet!

Denise then drove me down to main beach for the sunset, after stopping on the way to collect a cool six pack of my favorite, and we then walked over towards Little Cove beach where I'd scattered Mum's remaining ashes some months ago now, and there we cracked open beers, enjoyed a breathtaking sunset, and drank to my amazing and gorgeous mother, who would have been out enjoying the waves, just as she always did in life.  Here's to you, Mum! And here's to the most beautiful soul restoring place on this planet, that we are so lucky to enjoy each and every day of our lives here, and here's to the most amazing friends that I'm so privileged to have in my life, both here today and elsewhere.  Cheers, cheers, cheers!

And still my day's not over yet!

After picking up my car down at the river, I collected my daughter some dinner (not one drive-thru takeaway, but two, as my girl deserved a Mackers frappe with her Red Rooster chicken of course) and then went home to deliver said dinner, freshen up (not that I needed too much of that!) and then I was being whisked away to a gorgeous steak and seafood dinner back down on the river with my special friend, Vic, who carefully told me how gorgeous and young I looked (carefully because as he said, it's always dangerous telling women they look better and younger, in case they then feel that previously they looked older and worse!)  Dinner was stunning, and I felt stunning..and incredibly spoilt!  And then it was down to Hastings Street for some Nitrogenie ice cream to finish off with, and admire the incredible light show that Noosa has put on this year for us all to enjoy.  OK, we even stopped to take photos like a pair of awestruck tourists, because it just begged for that.  Then it was time to head home, and call it a day...

Just because you've not spoilt yourself in years, doesn't mean you ought never do it.  And just because someone you love has passed on, doesn't make them dead.  They still live in your memory, and in a thousand little visions and insights you have, especially on these sorts of days.  My mother was alive in every ripple in that ocean, with the sun setting across Laguna Bay, to the tune of a funky pink and golden speckled sky.  Mum was saying to me I deserved this day.  So did all those nearest and dearest to me.  So I'm going to accept that for myself, not just for this day, but going forward, and from hereon I declare 5 December to be a most special day on my calendar, one which is going to be filled with great things, good cheer, and much happiness.  It started with this day.  The path is always there, sometimes you just need an angel guiding you in the best way forward.

My heartfelt gratitude to Kym, genius and shareshop extraordinnaire, and all round amazing person, with the coolest red shoes ever!  Thank you to Melanie of Sunrise Hair and Beauty, you reawakened the joys of being spoilt again in a person who'd truly forgotten that side of things.  I'll be back to see you soon, with daughter in tow!  Thank you to Amanda of iAM Styling, such a fun lunch filled with clever styling tips, and thanks for sharing your brownie with me too, glad I could help! To the crew at Noosa Terrace Hair Studio, Lisa and Emma, you both rock, and so does your studio!  To Melanie McNiven, guru of all things photographic, thank you for the fun and inventive shoot, I really was queen for a day!  And to my dearest buddy Denise, what more can I say but I love you more than any words here are ever going to express, you know it, and we get to live the dream up here together every day of our lives and are truly blessed.  To my gorgeous dream child Nicolle, love you most of all, and thank you for your very un-teenage patience on this, my ultimate indulgence day, and especially going into the evening as well, so I could end the day by enjoying a lovely dinner with a very special man.. Vic, thank you for joining in making this day so perfectly wonderful!

Lastly thank you Noosa, for being that special magical place we call home Xooxxx

Volunteering Pets For Life Program

It's funny how there is a shift in our priorities as we get older.  When I was in my 20s or 30s, volunteering was something that seemed almost for the clinically insane.  What?  You devote your precious time to working for nothing??  No matter what the cause or how worthy it might be, it's all about that money, honey!  Volunteering is for people who can't get a REAL job!

Or so I thought...

I had been pondering the idea of volunteering for some time now.  And yes, I am gainfully employed, and my hours are indeed short.  Especially since I moved to Noosa, because there is always something exciting to do around here, and all year round at that.  But I guess I feel so privileged to live in a place like this, when so few can and do, that the pressing to "give something back" has gone from a silent little murmur of someday, to an insistent scream of Do It, and Now!

I guess it's simple.  When you're operating from a happy place in your life, you can't help but want to give something back!  It's a great position and mindset to be in.

So here I am.  As usual, in just about everything I do these days, I allow the Universe to show me the way.  Because I find that since I started living this philosophy, it always does do just that.  What I'm not meant to do, doesn't present itself no matter how hard I push at it.  And what I'm meant to do, just slips on to my radar, presents itself, I follow and explore it a little way, and then it becomes solid, possible, meaningful, and clearly my next path and adventure.

So it was with Pets For Life.

An article in our local paper quite a few weeks ago now about this program, had me jumping straight for the phone, before I could tear out the article and put it somewhere on my desk "to do" even.  I just did it.  Picked up the phone.  Talked to a lovely lady named Jodie.  Arranged an appointment to chat about it.  Chat we did.  Sign up I did.  And yesterday I had my first training day which was at the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge at Sippy Creek.

I whizzed the 50Ks or so in my open top black toy car, the Cazhowmobile, which is like driving a very fast slot car, so tiny it is, and yet so insistently fast!  The sun was blazing.  It was going to be a hot one, 31 they said.  And it's only the 10th day of Spring.  I was sunscreened up, lip balmed, hatted, and so damn alive!  And I was there in no time!

The place is set out on acreage just off the Bruce Highway, and one of the first things that struck me were the gardens, tropical, vibrant, alive with scent and colour.  Gorgeous parrots doing their raucous morning shenanigans.  And the dogs.  Barking, barking, barking!  But it wasn't a sad place, like many of these types of places are.  It felt positive, energetic, happy.  Possibly because I, and as it turned out, MANY others, were there to do a very positive thing.

There were about 30 of us, from all walks of life.  Many were older, had the time on their hands, so to speak.  None the less worthy, because here they are, wanting to make a difference.  And there were those like me, still working, but wanting to do the same.  There were a few that weren't able to work a "real job" for whatever reason, beautiful souls who also wanted to make a difference to our wonderful world.

The morning sped by.  After we had been name tagged, introduced to each other and to our course conveners, we started with a dog handling session with Abby, who turned out to be the Guru of All Creatures Canine.  In fact I'd go one further, with her attitude and zest and joy, I don't think there would be much she couldn't handle.  She showed us dog behaviours, body language, and teaching the dogs in a kindly but no-nonsense way that we could all understand readily.  She chose her "victims" from the pool of doggies at that shelter, specifically selected her actors to play certain roles and display certain behaviours, so we could see firsthand what a dog looks like when he's just curious, alert, stressed, passive, submissive, or simply ready to tear you limb from limb!  The four-legged "actors" did role play together, only for them it wasn't role play; they were simply following their doggy instincts.  It was Abby's job to show us all how to manage and control the controllable. It was a fascinating education that I felt so privileged to be a part of.

Having taken dogs to puppy school in the past, even had a "dog whisperer" come to our house to deal with our "problem dog" I can categorically say that the world at large has it entirely wrong with regard to our glorious pooches.  There are no problem dogs.  There are problem owners who create them.  And they can also be uncreated.  You just have to know the right way.

Following on from that, we did a tour of the shelter with Jodie.  Despite her asking us to stick together and listen, of course there are always some randoms who can't, but I just couldn't get enough of what these amazing people had to tell me.  I literally followed her around (like a dog!) and waited for more!

There were all sorts of dogs there of course, in all types of enclosures.  Runs, bigger runs, huge shady yards filled with toys.  Happy, well kept dogs.  I didn't see or smell even a dog turd anywhere.  Volunteers, walking, playing, training dogs in the runs.  Everyone smiling.  Those dogs looked happier to be there than most I have seen in life.  There was lots of building going on, for new runs, new extensions.  A new vet area.  A special "surrender" area with its own entrance, so people having to relinquish their much loved pets for their own sad situations, could have some privacy when doing so, and not be judged by anybody.

No dogs are ever put down at this glorious Doggy Heaven; the only exception being if they are ill and cannot be saved, or are in pain.  All dogs are worked with, retrained, cared for.  They are first vaccinated, desexed, microchipped, and then the repair process begins.  They start off with the best food money can buy, to give them a great start and get them healthy.  Many arrive in a run down condition, as roughly 70% that come into the shelter are unclaimed.  The other 30% are surrender animals who at least have a history, and are generally in better condition.  But all dogs receive that caring start on the road to a new furever home.  Dogs come in who have been tortured, or who have brain injuries.  Like Misty, a gorgeous white but big bitza pup, who was doing her weird cantering and head twirling action which resulted from some sort of neurological disorder, Jodie told us.  She was being worked with by her handlers and the vets, who are hoping to resolve her condition and find a lovely special home for her.  For a very special doggy.

The fact that these animals are valued, worked with, cared for, each and every one of them, and not purely a number on death row with time and life ticking away for them, speaks volumes about why the place feels so very positive and is a joy to be there, and part of.  I think of some of the dreary soulless and hopeless places that I had visited in my time in Melbourne, when the dogs looked at you with dead eyes, shivering on cold wet concrete, stepping in their faeces, howling their last few days away.  And I know the people who work in those shelters are also caring souls who do their very best.  But you come away from those places feeling very, very sad for all the animals you can't "save."

These dogs are already saved.  In fact, one dog, a big golden lab X, Brandy, has been back there three times, simply because she hasn't been able to settle anywhere else but at that shelter!  She has lived there on and off for two and a half years now, is a shelter pet, and is smiling at us from ear to ear.  Bless her little doggy heart!

Following on from that, we did the "human handling component" which involved talking about the participants in the scheme, what our role as volunteers is, and how to manage the human behaviour which arises as a result of what we're doing.  Interesting talk about boundaries and how to set them, and what we are wanting to create in our new and very important roles.  We also covered the uglies of administration matters, insurances, and I guess in our litigious society, that one is a no-brainer.  Even so far as what to do if a participant dies, or their pet dies, or we do!  Well, that last one is pretty easy.

There was then a glorious lunch (following on from the lovely morning tea which was real coffee and tea, Arnotts cream biscuits and a lovely fruit selection for the more healthily inclined - which just happens to be ME these days.  (But on this occasion I gave the biccies a run instead).  Lunch was the most amazing breads, spreads and dips, lots of cold meats, salads, sundried tomatoes, and one of the best fresh fruit salads I've seen in years, and which I had to keep going back for more.  It didn't matter; there was enough to feed about 100 rather than 30.  Then as a parting gift, we were asked to line up, and we received more paperwork, a Pets For Life baseball cap (cool as!) and a $20 fuel card for taking the time to come and spend the best morning I've had in ages.  It truly was the icing on the best cake I've not eaten in years!

And I just can't wait to get started!

Pets For Life is a volunteer program which was started four years ago on the Sunshine Coast, in conjunction with the animal shelter, when it was noted that many of the surrendered animal incidents were occurring because the elderly could no longer care for their beloved pets properly in their own homes.   This is a shattering and tragic reality for those in our world who are elderly and virtually alone, bar for their precious pets, when their health starts to fail and they then must relinquish their pet.  Generally these people don't last long after that, and if they do, their soul has died in the process anyway.  So a Pets For Life volunteer, having been trained up in managing dogs (and their owners to some extent) will visit an elderly person in their home at agreed times per week, walk their dog, help them with their animal, whether it be feeding, grooming, washing the dog, brushing the cat, cleaning a litter tray or a birdcage.  Whatever it takes to keep the animal safe and cared for, and the owner confident that their animal is still being looked after properly.  In the process of course, there is a cup of tea with the owner perhaps and a chat, which helps keeps the elderly person who may be very isolated, connected to our society, and their further needs can be identified by their volunteer, and help sourced for them through our facilitators.  It's just a no-brainer!  It keeps the elderly and their pets together, keeps more pets out of shelters, and gives the elderly a caring connection to the world.

The program which started at the southern end of the sunny coast, has now spread all the way up to the top end where I am, and hence my opportunity to be part of this fantastic group.  Oh yes please!!  It has now also received government funding to keep it going, and let's hope it can spread even further in the near future.

Thanks to Jodie for introducing me to the program, you rock!  Thanks to Abby for showing me that there really aren't incompatible dogs, just clueless owners who can learn, and then teach those dogs as well!  Tomas, thank you for making what would be the otherwise dull admin side of things an absolute scream of laughter from beginning to end.. and I don't think anyone wanted the morning to end!  And thanks to all the amazing people that keep that shelter rolling, because it gives us all, humans and dogs included, hopes of a better and happier world.

See you soon.  I'll be back for another training day soon (and for the free lunch of course, Tomas).  I'll be the chick with the crazy hair and the PFL hat! Xoxxx

Sugar, the Root of All Evil

Over the last few months, I have managed to lose about 14 kilograms, which is no mean feat at age 49.  Or at any age for that matter!  My strategy, and it actually worked this time, has been to follow Dr Michael Moseley's 5:2 Diet Strategy, which involves five days a week eating what you normally would, and two days of calorie restriction to the tune of 500 calories a day for women, or 600 for men.  It's not starvation, but sometimes it feels like it! 

The other strategy which seemed to come to me naturally as I progressed through the first and toughest couple of weeks, was to drop as much sugar out of my diet as possible.  This came about purely because on the days of severe caloric restriction, you couldn't do otherwise, unless you were happy to subsist on one iced doughnut for the entire day, and nothing else...

I preferred to spend my allowance on wholesome foods that gave me much more bang for my limited buck.  So I'd start the day with Helga's soy and linseed bread which although calorie dense, also had some serious substance and helped keep me feeling satisfied longer.  I'd top that with a slice of tasty cheese, just for a sense of normality, and then one or two coffees would accompany that.  Now if I stuck to my usual 3 sugars in a coffee ritual, there would pretty much go my calories for the day.  So I've managed to shave them down to one sugar each, and low fat milk.  At first the restricted sugar made the coffees taste awful; now I am so used to it, I reckon I could almost do away with sugar entirely.  Well, maybe!

So that breakfast would leave a couple of hundred calories for the remainder of the day, and that usually would end up being a cup a soup for lunch, and then a big leafy salad at dinner time with low fat dressing, and including some legumes for substance.  All in all, about as sugar free as you can get, and very, very healthy.  Especially compared to my previous diet of chocolate every day, the aforesaid 3 sugared full fat coffees, as well as lots of pasta and bread through the day.

The last couple of days, sugar seems to be sneaking its way back into my life in the form of a few small chocolate treats, biscuits, things like that.  Suddenly I feel out of control again.  And my mood is terrible.  I've noted that my daughter's diet, which seems to consist of thickly coated Nutella toast for breakfast, heaps of sweet biscuits after school, and then whatever else we might have, such as chocolate, also affects her mood.  At least I hope it's the sugar, because I can take some steps with that.  I feel like she and I are fighting most of the time now (she's nearly 14!) and I am left wondering if it's purely the terrible teens, or if the sugar is wreaking some silent and sinister havoc on hers and my moods.  Certainly I feel very short tempered with her lately, and I think I'm worse since I started imbibing the sweet stuff again.  So I'm now on a mission to eliminate it as completely as possible, both from my diet, and severely restrict my daughter's intake as well.  Stay tuned.

Sugar really is an unnecessary part of anyone's diet, and should be restricted to extremely small quantities, if at all.  Empty calories, mood swings, nothing good comes from it, except that temporary spike of energy you get from it, followed closely by a whopping big downer where the only solution is to ... reach for more sugar.
Not this little black duck!

(to be continued)