Coffee Culture, and Clarity

One of my favorite pastimes is to look around and try to determine who is thecoolest person in the room is. I played out this little game often at Blue Sky Cafe and Coffee House when I lived in Athens. I remember one morning in particular.
I arrived there about six a.m. as I often did with my newspaper and sketchbook to organize my day over a cappuccino and a few too many cigarettes.I took a table by the window with my coffee and proceeded to stare mindlessly at my sketch book for fifteen minuets. It was apparent that the muse was not with me. I turn to the paper, hoping for inspiration or at least amusement. It too, fails me. All the news was either rather dull or over my head, possibly both. Regardless it was not enough to hold my attention so I moved on to planning my day. I opened and glanced over my planner. I didn’t actually have anything at all to do today. Nothing. It was near Christmas so life in Athens was slow. Most of the students and faculty of The University were gone. The town and the campus were empty, half closed really. During the holidays, entertainment is a rare beast in Athens and boredom, a plague.
I am fortunate however. It honestly doesn’t take much to entertain me and people watching is better than cable with a free “Skinamax” subscription. I take a sip of my drink and look around at my surroundings and “surroundees”.
I observed a 20-something coolio trendy hipster, with a fictional band tee shirt. He is pierced, polished and sporting the signature dust bunny beard on his chin. There is also an as-yet un-produced screenwriter sitting in the corner staring at a four-year-old script-in-progress on his laptop. It’s a script that still has fewer words in it than his latte order. To top the list of usual suspects there is the heavily perfumed blond sorority chick with her tag along Mary Ann friend, I guess Janean Garofalo had the day off. Both of whom are talking into her cell phone as if they are trying to be heard over a fucking chainsaw.
As I observed my fellow coffee culture consumers I realized with some pride that I could honestly say I was the coolest person in the immediate proximity. My ego was checked however, when I looked out the window and caught the eye of the Guatemalan landscaper trimming the hedges outside, obviously wondering what kind of schmuck I was to pay three dollars and seventy five cents plus tip for a cup of coffee.