Monday, January 24, 2011

It’s all about the circumstances…


When I’m at home, weak coffee in a Styrofoam cup tastes like… weak coffee. And I don’t even have any Styrofoam cups at my house. In short, it’s not good.

When I’m at the YMCA, weak coffee in a Styrofoam cup tastes like accomplishment. It tastes like “hey, way to actually GO to the gym this time” mixed with muscle fatigue. It doesn’t taste so bad, really.

When I’m traveling from gig to gig, as I am right now, weak coffee in a Styrofoam cup (most likely pumped or poured from a carafe in the lobby of a two star hotel) tastes like adventure. It tastes like renewed independence and the thrill of actually making a living as a musician. Occasionally, if left on the burner for too long, it has a hint of homesickness. Sometimes when the lid doesn’t fit quite right I miss my pillow (you know, the good one) or having dinner with friends at a place I know well. It can't all be good.

But then, I take another sip. And another. By now the coffee has found a home in the cupholder beside the driver’s seat, and I am on my way. That’s when, homesickness aside, I remember how much I do love weak, crappy hotel coffee in a Styrofoam* cup, with that unmistakable flavor of “where next?” that Starbucks has never quite mastered.

*Of course, I’d prefer a paper cup. Styrofoam is the devil. Somebody tell the hotels and the folks at the Y.

6 comments:

Laura Riley said...

Who the hell drinks coffee at the gym?!

I think coffee in a real mug at my house between gigs will taste the best.

indigo_wolf said...

+1 to befuddlement about coffee at the gym.

Diners (oh Waffle House, I do miss you), truck stops, bars at closing, grange halls, ghost road restaurants & cafes where you share tables with strangers, folk venues, back porch (the dog lives to make me spill my coffee), etc. are all fair game.

With all the coffee drinking... no coffee travel mug?

Kateklim said...

Ah. They have coffee on hand for when you leave :)

Texhawk said...

By the way, you would not have the snow problems if you were touring in TEXAS! :)

indigo_wolf said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
indigo_wolf said...

Pfiffle.... Dallas, TX... $5K+ in hail damage. Outright replacement of hood and trunk lids. Only place I have snow surfed on the skid plate of my car. Company wide (Irving, TX) announcement that everyone had to get to the parking lot because ice had formed under their car wheels and cars parked on the incline in the lot were on the move (sans driver)...woo hoo.

On the other hand, it's hard not to miss places with names like Sneaky Pete's (where your dining companion might be a duck), The Point After, Deep Ellum (just fun to say), the White Elephant Saloon, the Lynx (whimsical bartenders), the Magic Time Machine Restaurant. Plus... ya just gotta love vintage movie theaters with fish on the ceiling... whimper... getting all misty-eyed now.