Life In The Monsoon Season

Ahhhh, the fun time of summer, and the monsoon season. I sit here waiting for a delivery from UPS, our delivery angel is named Bobby, he is such a trooper, he goes all over this place, on non-existent roads in that big brown delivery van, places where I would be afraid to go in the Bug. He really cares about his job and the people whom he delivers to. I do not know exactly where he will deliver this time, the Country Store is not open during the week any more, that used to be the place where Bobby would deliver my stuff, he can also take it to the main headquarters of the community, but that is typically pretty far for me to go, he has been known to drive by my place and honk, an act of faith as our place is not really marked in any way, we have no street numbers posted, so I keep hitting refresh on the UPS tracking page and listening for Bobby in his thunder truck, you can hear him coming for quite a ways before he gets here.

What is in this alleged package you ask? Brain pills. Potential smart pills, whatever you want to call it. I like 5 Hour Energy drinks, but don't always have them around, I wanted to know what ingredient(s) were responsible for my alert, good feelings I have when ingesting this drink. I know it's not the caffeine, (gasp you say!), I have taken other supplements that contained caffeine, and it had little to no effect on me, I know it's not the mega-vitamins, I can get that from my Emergencee packets, nope that wasn't it. After reading the ingredient list, I discovered something I have not taken (alone) before, it's called Citicoline. Wiki says:

Citicoline (INN), also known as cytidine diphosphate-choline (CDP-Choline) and cytidine 5'-diphosphocholine is a psychostimulant/nootropic. It is an intermediate in the generation of phosphatidylcholine from choline.

Studies suggest that CDP-choline supplements increase dopamine receptor densities, and suggest that CDP-choline supplementation can ameliorate memory impairment caused by environmental conditions. Preliminary research at Harvard found that citicoline supplements help improve focus and mental energy and may possibly be useful in the treatment of attention deficit disorder. Citicoline has also been shown to elevate ACTH independent of CRH levels and to amplify the release of other HPA axis hormones such as LH, FSH, GH and TSH in response to hypothalamic releasing factors. These effects on HPA hormone levels may be beneficial for some individuals but, may have undesirable effects in those with medical conditions featuring ACTH or cortisol hypersecretion including, but not limited to, PCOS, type II diabetes and major depressive disorder.

So we will see what happens after I receive my bottle of citicoline, I'm hoping that is the magic ingredient in 5-Hour Energy that gets my brain going, makes me more focused and upbeat. I order citicoline capsules as well as Health Dropz Formula, this not only contains citicoline, it also contains vitamin B6 plus four scientifically tested brain support nutrients: Rhodiola rosea DMAE Huperzine A (an extract from Chinese club moss). I also ordered Ginkgo Biloba and DMAE by itself, I will try each thing separately to see which one gives me the biggest effect, I already know what Ginkgo does for me, my father takes it religiously, his doctors have told him that he has the cleanest arteries in spite of the fact that (at the time) he had high cholesterol, he now that under control with his diet, but he credits the Ginkgo for keeping his arteries clean, can't argue with success. DMAE is also good for brains, and I just read that it has to potential for life extension. It seems that Ginkgo is often paired with DMAE, so it should work together just fine, that combined with the citicoline, should make me a super brain.

Why not just continue taking 5-Hour Energy if it works so well you ask? It's simple, remember the thing that 5-Hour Energy advertises so heavily, the part about no crash later because it contains no sugar, well they have to sweeten it with something, and that something is sucralose, aka Splenda. Now it is just 2 ounces total for one 5-Hour Energy drink, but the fact that it contains this poison, and they still do not know the long term consequences of ingesting this poison, plus the fact that they have found that it causes all sorts of problems, including brain/thinking problems, (the very thing I am trying to stop!), it's high time to re-evaluate what I am taking. I do not knowingly consume artificially sweetened anything, with the exception of this one thing, and that is not a daily thing, maybe once or twice a week at most, so if I can cut out this toxin, I will be all the better for it. I did contact the 5-Hour Energy company, I praised their product, but asked if they would consider carrying a less toxic version made with Zylotol or one of the other less toxic sweeteners. They replied and said they were coming out with a version that contains stevia as the sweetener. YEAH! But until then, I will be cutting back on the 5-Hour Energy drinks, not that I take all that many to begin with. If it turns out that citicoline is the magic ingredient, I may be able to bypass the energy drink all together.

Now to the story of the monsoon season, a few days ago, we had a very localized, very hard rain/hail storm. It appears to have only affected our valley, and affect it, it did! I was gone at the time, I was across the neighborhood and could see the storm. I knew I would have to come home on the alternate, higher, rougher road, the one that bypasses the slimy, car-eating muck pit of an S-curve just before my place. On the way over the alternate road, I noticed a couple of seemingly abandoned vehicles, one car and one truck on the side of the road. That is not a good thing to see out here, it usually means a long walk over not so friendly roads for someone. I found out that they got a ride home, which is a good thing, they wouldn't have made it in their vehicle. The road had been completely washed out, past my place there is essentially no road.

When I got home, I found that our neighbor's bridge had been damaged by a couple of trees and lots of debris that jammed into the bridge. It took out one of the rails completely, left a couple of inches of mud on the top of the bridge. It was quite a mess, and made the bridge impassable. PB got to work right away and had that mess all but cleared away by the time the sun went down. I went around with the video camera and documented the mess. Watch and enjoy, enjoy the fact that this isn't your mess LOL! There are 12 short videos, they will play one after another



BTW, Shay, I am supposed to be going into town on Friday, unless everything falls apart, I should be able to get your book in the mail, thanks for being so patient!


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