duck-shaped pain

18 December 2001
Slight Improvement

I've been complaining a lot lately. You may have not noticed it, but it's true. Me = bitch, whine, wheedle.

Not everything is bad, though. One or two things are good. Like, I get next week off (after one strenuous week at work). The big box discount store down several roads from me is now open 24 hours. Sure, I don't stay up as late as I used to, but anything open 24 hours can't help but warm the cockles of my heart. And -- best of all -- the place once known as Horrible Coffee has now been upgraded, to Acceptable Coffee.

I mentioned the place a week or so ago. (Actually, I've mentioned it a lot of times, that was just the most recent.) And not in a complimentary way. To recap: it used to suck. Suck donkeys, suck hay bales, suck whatever didn't need sucking. Bad coffee, terrible atmosphere, inattentive staff. Then someone bought the place. Remodeled it a bit. Changed the menu, ridding it of the chaff, the novelty drinks and some misspellings. Put in a fireplace and took out the old sad black futon.

I visited it a few weeks ago to see how it had changed. On my first visit, I was quite the critic. I wrote a lengthy entry in my paper journal about everything that was wrong with the place. How the "improvements" really made the place less accommodating than it was before. The sort of rant that anyone with a sense of irrational indignation and a couple read-throughs of The Great Good Place could come up with. Ha! I thought. I'll show this place!

Of course, I've been back almost every day since. [1]

The coffee is cheap (a dollar for a very strong americano -- the one I had on the first time I went in was sort of flaccid, but I have learned since that it was an unfortunate fluke), the big chairs are comfortable, and there are actually people there -- an essential element that other coffee shops in town seem to be missing at most times of the day. A rush at breakfast, a horde at lunch, barely a soul at any other hour. But Acceptable Coffee seems to be packing them in, comparatively. There are handfuls of people there (it's not a very big place) every time I go in, and some of the same people are there every day, which is a good sign. It seems to be picking up steam, which is about as good a thing as I can hope for right now. Sure, it's not the greatest coffee shop I've ever been in, but it's the best one possible under the circumstances. And it's right next to school, which will be handy beginning next month. Now, if they were only open later� [2]


[1] If they were open on Sundays, it would have been every day.

[2] Open until 7 on weekdays, 9 or 10 on weekends. Which seems sad until you realize that they're open much later than any of the other coffee shops, except for Denny's or the coffee bar at the big chain bookstore.

previous | next



the past + the future


also, see here.

newest
older
random entry
about me
links
guestbook
email
host
wishlist


www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from hypothetical wren. Make you own badge here.