Opus 2011-99, Senile Taste Buds

I have crossed a depressing threshold.  I am now drinking my coffee black.  That is not the depressing part.  What troubles me is that I am enjoying it.

A little background.  I used to teach science.  Since I found it boring I managed to switch to history.  One of the units was on the human body and I learned that as we get older our taste buds begin to die.  This explains why my parents were able to eat liver without feelings of nausea.  The last to go are the ones that taste sweet.  This explains why old people like candy.

Like many people I started drinking coffee to stay awake to study all night in college.  I loaded it with cream and sugar.  Not bad.  Then I came to the place where I was concerned about too much sugar and I went to coffee with cream.  I tried it black a few times but could not handle it. 

Recently I began to get serious about having diabetes.  One of the things necessary is losing weight.  I decided to cut out the cream in my coffee.  On a typical day that would save me at least 160 calories.  What scared me was that after the initial shock, I found the taste acceptable.  That means my taste buds are dying.  That means I am getting old.

I hope my brain cells are more resilient.

RIP taste buds.

homo unius libri