Far away places...

Another day, another cup of coffee....

Something, Something to break up the mundane day of work. Anything, I search.
It's always interesting to talk to those people who have come here from out of town. A man came in today from a good thousand miles away, just to meet with someone on business, and they decided, the local place to meet in this little town would be here, at our shop. I try to make a good impression of the place and the people in mount holly, and hope not too many of the strange ones wander in. So maybe when he goes back home it will be "I remember that nice little shop in NC.." instead of "wow, that crazy guy...", and I can always wish for "This coffee is so amazing I'd pay anything to have it shipped to me once a month!" Here's to wishful thinking, cheers.

I have some friends that have had the opportunity to take jobs in new far away places, places I'd love to go and start over, and I would be lying if I didn't say I was a little jealous. I guess I will just comfort myself with thinking about my up and coming vacation with the love of my life. I haven't gotten to spend that much time without having to work every day, ever. So it is defiantly something I look forward to. The more you look forward to things tho, it seems, the slower the come about. Another thing that seems to be a heavy influence for the changes in my life, is that after working so closely with my mom and seeing her family, and hearing the older generation that comes in here, I realize, after 40, it really seems to be all down hill. Under no exaggeration, there isn't a day that goes by that someone isn't sick, in the hospital, or dead. When your exposed to those types of things and made to live around that worry and concern your perspective on things tends to change drastically. When you see things through that light, you can also assume why people seem to act the way they do. Some people deal with life in very different ways, I suppose our reaction to stress and worry is very different and often never rational.

I know this is a little off topic, and my train of thought escapes most people, but all I can say for that is, I write between customers so, sometimes, more than other times, theres long pauses with plenty of time to think between paragraphs. Another subject that has been haunting me for the past few months is the truth of religion. I grew up very much a southern baptist, my parents always insisted on us attending church regularly when we were children. When we got old enough, of course we had the option of going or not, but it was still met with seething looks if we didn't attend. In the course of my church going experience I have been to some wonderful Churches and met some amazing, 100% real people in love with God (Pastor Max!!! FTW!!). One draw back that bothers me seems to be the fact that, as much as we try to deny it, after our separation from the catholic Church, we seem to carry with us many 'traditional' teachings that I cannot track down in the Bible itself. I would like to think that everything we hear on a Sunday is somehow based only on the truth of what was written, but we have picked up certain teachings through the years that are what we as a community would like placed in practice as 'moral actions' for one reason or another. The more I study and read on my own the more little things I discover like this. The truth may not be exactly what I grew up on. Harmless things? Sure, but for me the truth is something worth knowing no matter what it may be.

I'm ok, Your [not] ok.

I thought that one possible subject for this blog would be my job. After all, being a barista in a small town seems to be comprable being a bartender. The fact that your behind a counter serving drinks, overwhelms people with the urge to tell you strange facts about themselves. There are plenty of stories to be had from the people in this town. Most are very rural stories full of local color.

An Interesting fact about this town is that the longer I work here the more people I meet that most people would term 'crazy.' I'm not really sure what it is about this town or maybe just this shop that attracts them, but I have regulars that tell me about everything from, how they plan to become immortal to how they built a bike (you know, the kind to pedal) that can fly. So please believe me when I say I'm not going out on a limb to say these regulars are a little off.

We also have the collection of strange but sane customers. Well not so much customers... well alright not customers at all. People ranging from crack addicts to just plain weird. They either just come in here to use and abuse our Internet access or to do odd jobs for a little cash to get that crack rock. Oddly enough all these people have one thing in common. 98% of the time I cant understand a single word they say. They may as well be speaking Russian, there's one imparticular that I play charades with, and another that we all have taken up the strategy of 'smile and nod' for. I suppose it is safe to assume that the 'downtown' area of small towns is no longer a quaint and quiet place to run a business. Well, quiet as far as business goes, yes I'll subscribe to that, however, It's quite dramatic. Everyone knows what everyone else is doing or the latest gossip about Mr. Hinkleberry up the street and his new dog. This being the town that it is, I would not be in the least bit surprised if Mr. Hinkleberry's dog talked, or was an immortal guru....that flys....

The only regularly sane customers that I get are, oddly enough, the after school kids, usually around 12-13 years of age. I guess they just have not been exposed to the water here long enough to actually loose all touch with their reasoning powers. That being said, I urge you children, use protection when dealing with people in this town, your mental wellness is at steak.