research
Today has been a stretch for me. It began with my alarm not going off, me sitting straight up in bed 90 minutes beyond my intended launch time and muttering the first word that came to my mind in the moment. It wasn’t a word that, most generally, one would imagine coming from the lips of a pastor on a Monday morning at 7:15. It was my word nonetheless . I really wasn’t bothered by it, as it seemed to fit the moment. I did feel bad that it was the word that my wife also woke up with seeing as she has no problem with 7:15am. In any event, this was the day I was dealt and I am handling it appropriately. I’m taking a break from it.
So I’m at Starbucks on the beach at 1:30pm instead and I must tell you that it is a totally different experience, in case you were wondering. The mornings here are peaceful, with the possible exception of seniors who can congregate occasionally, and the occasional 2 year old that waddles around in pj’s. This afternoon is living proof of our economic demise as a culture, at least in this town. No one works here, in Seattle I mean. It’s job security if you’re a barista, although I don’t know for the life of me where the money comes from to pay for $5 lattes from people who don’t work. This place is packed out with working age people. To be fair, I’m also here, and passers by might think the same of me. The difference is that I am in fact working…at least I tell myself this anyway. I am in the midst of a sociological study that I’m sure I’ll be able to use for illustrative material somewhere down the road. So I’m here researching. Yeah, that’s it! I’m doing research.
Here are my preliminary findings……..people don’t work here. At least they don’t appear to, unless they get paid to wander, to stroll, to chat, to drink coffee. Wait a minute, I had one of those jobs. It was a union job. Anyway, it’s a very interesting place to people watch. I’m doing fashion research for a future episode of “What not to Wear”. This store alone could fill an entire season, and yes I’m sure it would include me. The only reason I avoid that spotlight is that I have an amazing wife who combines incredible taste with an ability to ask well timed rhetorical questions like “are you wearing that?”. “Actually, no, I was just checking to see if this still fits me so that I have an outfit the first day that I get past your radar.” I could web cam this place and you’d have the stereotypical Seattle fashion runway. This afternoon we have the pajama pants girl. We have the socks and sandals guy, with shorts for added emphasis. We have hoodies. We have fleece everywhere; fleece being, of course, the official fabric of Seattle.
All of these observations are wearing me out. I’m beginning to remember what I’m normally doing when I’m not researching down here at 2 in the afternoon. It’s nap time. The only thing better than waking at 5:30am is napping at 2pm. Today it seems that I have struck out on both ends. I’ve now seen how the other half lives and it’s not so impressive. From now on I’ll leave the research to the experts.
So I’m at Starbucks on the beach at 1:30pm instead and I must tell you that it is a totally different experience, in case you were wondering. The mornings here are peaceful, with the possible exception of seniors who can congregate occasionally, and the occasional 2 year old that waddles around in pj’s. This afternoon is living proof of our economic demise as a culture, at least in this town. No one works here, in Seattle I mean. It’s job security if you’re a barista, although I don’t know for the life of me where the money comes from to pay for $5 lattes from people who don’t work. This place is packed out with working age people. To be fair, I’m also here, and passers by might think the same of me. The difference is that I am in fact working…at least I tell myself this anyway. I am in the midst of a sociological study that I’m sure I’ll be able to use for illustrative material somewhere down the road. So I’m here researching. Yeah, that’s it! I’m doing research.
Here are my preliminary findings……..people don’t work here. At least they don’t appear to, unless they get paid to wander, to stroll, to chat, to drink coffee. Wait a minute, I had one of those jobs. It was a union job. Anyway, it’s a very interesting place to people watch. I’m doing fashion research for a future episode of “What not to Wear”. This store alone could fill an entire season, and yes I’m sure it would include me. The only reason I avoid that spotlight is that I have an amazing wife who combines incredible taste with an ability to ask well timed rhetorical questions like “are you wearing that?”. “Actually, no, I was just checking to see if this still fits me so that I have an outfit the first day that I get past your radar.” I could web cam this place and you’d have the stereotypical Seattle fashion runway. This afternoon we have the pajama pants girl. We have the socks and sandals guy, with shorts for added emphasis. We have hoodies. We have fleece everywhere; fleece being, of course, the official fabric of Seattle.
All of these observations are wearing me out. I’m beginning to remember what I’m normally doing when I’m not researching down here at 2 in the afternoon. It’s nap time. The only thing better than waking at 5:30am is napping at 2pm. Today it seems that I have struck out on both ends. I’ve now seen how the other half lives and it’s not so impressive. From now on I’ll leave the research to the experts.
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