An homage to a perfect cup of prose

Back in the digital dark ages, before everyone posted their diaries, shopping lists, and trips to Kogi up for their friends and acquaintances, there was a cool little site called Fray. And that's the version I mean too; if you go to fray.com now, it's similar but not quite as open. Good for them, but at least the old version is still there.

The Fray concept was, well, basically a multi-user blog. But regulated for quality. True stories by people who can tell them. In other words, it was totally awesome. Definitely take a look.

A few of my favorites there are Letterman on Acid and Lost. But my favorite - no surprise - for the lines here alone was a little ditty called Perfect Cup of Coffee by Alexis Massie:

Coffee is an elixir, the one drug that is both utterly legal and
utterly acceptable. I've been drinking a pot or two of this stuff
for twelve years. Coffee is a lifestyle that is so omnipresent that
we don't even notice it. People that don't drink coffee are weird.

It's true. People that don't drink coffee are weird. Like people who never get tired, or sarcastic, or sad. They cannot be trusted. Because no one is without weakness. Some people just fake it better than others.

And because somewhere between your weaknesses and your passions is why you do the thing you do. People who cover that up constantly are either lying to you, lying to themselves, or both. Sounds dangerous either way.

Better to drink another imperfect cup.

Take a look at Fray some time while you do. New or old, I think it's great stuff.

Love for Randy the Ram

Finally saw Oscar sleeper The Wrestler last night. Tremendous movie. Sad and honest, but filled with the beauty that only comes from a life long passion.

So certainly I don't want to pay short shrift to the true meaningful messages of the film -- in the end you really only have the life you created. Would you rather have the one thing you've been obsessively passionate about, or the many human parts of life you missed? One particularly cool tenet of the movie is that Randy clearly drove his path, and still can. He's not invincible and far from perfect, but he's driving the bus of his life and can even steer it significantly if he chooses. Unlike many others in the world, he's never really whipped around by the random impact of life. As one of the co-stars says, "like always, I'm the heel and you're the face." People want him to have whatever he chooses. He just needs to make the choice.

While significantly less important in the grand scheme, I was extremely taken by the deli counter scenes. Scenes where he's demeaned, amused, confident, and finally self-destructive. I love the wry approach he picks up to making the best of an otherwise belittling situation. He's a showman, and a wonderful one.

But beyond that, it entirely reminds me that people -- in this case the customers -- have these few weird places in life to show their ass, and the deli counter seems to be one. There is little as frightening as a bitchy little old lady at the deli counter in a New Jersey Stop & Shop. You know she doesn't pull that attitude anywhere else but at the deli, in her car, and probably at the DMV. Why should the deli man take the brunt of your years of attitude?

But when a sales counter like that is humming, it's a show, and a fun one. It only takes one person to crack a joke about the chicken breasts. So I figure we all get to drive the bus a bit, at least on the tone of the situation. Best to enjoy the moment.

Spectacular Coffee Art

I can't go too far here without pointing out where I "stole" the excellent coffee cup mosaic for my profile. The site is: www.justcoffeeart.com. Click the gallery button and enjoy the show. Beautiful work.

I'll try to find some more as we move along here. Of course if you haven't seen it yet -- and this seems unlikely for any serious coffee fans -- go to YouTube.com and type in "coffee art" to see fun & games with espresso and foam. Some definitely ranks as amazing. All of it's coffee. So at least you can think tasty thoughts if the artistic side doesn't work for you.

Sleep. Get some.

I find it pretty ironic here that I work on sleep aids. It's not that I don't like them or use them, sure, they hit the spot. But it's not like I'll be popping up in the morning and making eggs for you. Mornings suck. No amount of drug or nature is going to change that.

In fact, as coffee lovers, let's be honest. The first cup of coffee is merely functional. It's not pleasurable as much as it is like coming up for air. I need air. It gets me moving. But that first cup can't make me fly, so the attachment is more thanks or relief than joy. Apparently this is the emotion New Yorkers feel when they win the world series. Just relieved it won't be another year of pain. I wouldn't know, I'm from Baltimore and L.A. The emotions we feel about baseball are, "fucking Angelos" (Peter that is) and "fucking Manny" respectively. Though it sounds funny to say SoCal people feel emotions about baseball. Really it feels like lying. Mostly they just don't.

I'm sure I've had a few really good first morning cups. So that would generally be home-brewed, drip (like my blood shot eyes can do anything else that early), and lately Peet's with sugary creamer. Preferably cools off a few minutes. Sometimes my wife makes it. That's where the thanks feeling comes in. Like, thanks for my heroin needle dear... she's looking out for me. Even though she only drinks tea.

Today's tally, a weak and watery 2.
- resort restaurant and 7-11.

no shots yet

No reason to start now. Yada yada.