NaBloPoMo: Gum vampire

I'm a gum chewer. Always have been. Gum was my candy of choice as a kid. I'd take any spare change I could scrounge up, walk down to Dutch Maid, and buy as much Apple Super Bubble as I could. (I'm actually pretty sure that stuff causes cancer. I bought a big bin of it a few years ago, as a present to myself, and I had to throw most of it away; it was stashed in our pantry and no matter what container I shoved it in, or how many layers of Ziploc separated it from the rest of us, we could still smell it.) I find myself chewing more and more gum these days, as I'm writing The Dissertation. I'd go through a pack a day, I'm sure, if I let myself. I'm like a gum vampire. It takes very little time for me to chew all the flavor out of a stick of gum, and then inevitably I'm left wanting more. I think it must be a bit like smoking. Go with me on this. My dad quit smoking years ago, after being a smoker for most of his life. He still says that when he's working on something, he feels like he needs a cigarette in his hand in order to concentrate. I think it's like that with me and gum. So there you go: you want this dissertation finished? Get me gum for Christmas.