I went to starbucks today to get a large regular just like I do every morning on my way to the car. I might need the caffiene in order to remember where I put the Volvo, but I may never know that for sure ; there is no time to fuck around with an experiment like that on a regular morning and on a Saturday or Sunday its not worth it. This morning the girl behind the counter called me darling twice then she offered me a complimentary sandwich. Very politely and with lots of obvious graciousness I declined the sandwich, but I wonder now as I'm sitting on a three person swing for 129.99 why this morning would be different than all others. For one, I arrived at my caffiene dealer at 7.30, while I usually get there at 8. Maybe by 8 all of her darlings are used up and her sandwiches are too. Maybe starbucks likes to give their good customers a free sandwich once in a while and I was due for mine. Does the Starbucks employee manual require a certain amount of darlings everyday? Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't washed my hair that helped me find favor in her eyes. Whatever it was, it made my morning no less than 25 percent better. I gloated as I tore open the Splenda. The person with whom I shared the coffee preparation station had surely overheard the Starbucks lady's offer. Today I was the king of Starbucks and she was my queen. I was relaxed as I whirled the milk and sugar substitute around with the wooden wand until the molecules of both were indistiguishable from the coffee without a centrifuge and a powerful electron microscope and then like John Wayne prior to his great inner fecal build up, I mosied out of starbucks and on to 81st Street a champion.
Another strange occurance...I saw a very large chasidic fellow on the corner of 47th and new utrecht in brooklyn photographing the broad side of a building. He was very intent in what he was doing and took many photographs. He was also smoking a cigarette. There are certain non profit organizations that travel the boroughs looking for illeagly zoned apartments which take away from the already very much depleted manufacturing space and raise the prices of apartments for low income workers. They are very inconspicous when they do their photographing and maybe he was one of them, but I doubt it. It is more likely that he works for the landlord and he suspected that there was something fishy going on which would allow the landlord to evict the tenant or that the large chasidic fellow worked for a commercial real estate firm and the current tenants lease was coming due.
I also found myself is a bodega where bets are taken on numbers in Vegas. In the back there is a large screen tv (19 inches) with numbers constantly changing on the screen. I like being in those places, they make me feel comfortable. I feel comfortable when there is a slight tinge of uncomfortability. Like in a new relationship when you don't exactly know how the other person feels about you or like a job where something could go wrong at any minute but you are mostly sure that you'll be able to handle it if it does.
I have a meeting in 5 minutes with a kosher products vendor. That's why I'm in brooklyn now. I just had a meeting too with another one. I've been sitting on this swing in the middle of the store for an hour now. By the time mr x gets here, I will be very tired and ready to go to sleep, I'm almost ready now.
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