I have this dream... Someday, I'm going to impliment it... I'm saving up money already... So far, I have roughly $27.00.
My dream is this... There will be, in whatever town I happen to be living in, a fantastic little coffeehouse. Nothing big, nothing pretentious, just a little place with a medium-sized downstairs and a loft. My coffeehouse will serve only two kinds of coffee... The regular stuff that B&O Espresso sells, and New Mexico Coffee Company's vanilla hazenut.
The kicker is: my coffeehouse will be open 24 hours a day.
It will play boring music during the day. It will play jazz and blues and weird "world music" at night.
(Have you ever noticed how "world music" always means "Irish music"? What *I* mean is like, Afghani music, and Kenyan music, and lots of crazy stuff nobody's ever heard before... I mean, Irish music's cool and all, but...)
There will be a computer plug-in spot at every table, in case somebody's doing work that requires a laptop. Otherwise, you can buy college-ruled notebook paper for five cents a sheet. Pens will be fifty cents, and cool pens will be available for a little bit more. It'll sell envelopes and stamps at standard post office prices. There will also be a table for office supplies: staplers, three-hole punch, scissors, etc. To keep the ambience of the coffeehouse, however, you'd have to go across the street to make copies or print things out.
There would be a fireplace on the first floor, with a big old rug in front of it, and a bar across from the fireplace. To keep people from being nuts, or throwing up, or whatever, there'd be a two drink maximum, for everybody. This would be strictly enforced. Oh, and anybody, of any age, could come in, as long as "minors" just had coffee or juice or something.
All over the coffeehouse, there would be nifty, retro-style ashtrays; those standing ones with the legs.
And, of course, the curtains on the first floor would be blue velvet; the ones in the loft would be red velvet. The entire place would be outlined with blue, purple, and white Christmas lights, all year round.
The place would sell food, too, but it would be primarily a coffeehouse. You could get a blackened chicken sandwich, Buffalo wings, french fries, and/or a hummus bagel for those folks who refuse to eat animals. Not that my coffeehouse would be one of those hippie-dippy "no-meat" places -- far from it -- but you have to admit, vegetarians are often quite interesting.
You can buy a cup of coffee, a little pot of coffee, or a big pot of coffee. The cup would be a buck, the little pot would be five bucks, and the big pot would be ten bucks. No free refills. I know, it seems expensive, but ya gotta keep a place running somehow, right? Oh, and a pool table. A buck a game. Sorry.
There would be all sort of board games, tons of cool books, a shelf of local 'zines, and a bulletin board (outlined in Christmas lights, of course), for people to post notices. But if you posted a notice, it would have to be something very important. It couldn't just be business card, or a get-rich-quick scheme; it would have to be a play, or a music events, or something. Also, three nights a week, there would be live music instead of CDs. Finally, local musicians could have their demo CDs played for free a couple of times a day, more if the staff liked it, and customers could buy copies. ALL profit would go to the bands.
Of course, my coffeehouse would be on a major bus line. There would be an always-working pay telephone (25 cents; none of this 65-cent bullshit). It would be easily accessible to anybody.
Finally, the whole atmosphere of the coffeehouse would encourage activities between people. Oh, I know, I said people could come and sit there with their laptops... That fine. But so often, it seems like people go into coffeehouse, get coffee, sit down, and leave ten minutes later. They didn't DO anything while they were there, and they didn't TALK to anybody while they were there, and being in that coffeehouse did nothing at all for them. I think, every time somebody goes into this coffeehouse, they should leave WITH something... You should leave having finished a poem. Or, hell, having started one. Or having made a new friend. Or having met up with an old friend. Or something. It would be a little tiny community. Every time you left, you'd be a little bit different. Hopefully, a little bit better.
The only problem is, my $27.00 also has to go toward Jake's and my wedding, my personal library, and one of those flying backpacks for Jake.
You: Flying backpacks?
Me: Hey, Jake, what do you call those flying backpacks again?
Jake: "Jetpacks?
[Jake wants a flying backpack someday... And, for whatever stupid reason, I did promise I'd get him one somepday, if ever I could...]
Anyway, it may be awhile before I can afford to open this coffeehouse... But here at Wet Cleanup, my imaginary coffeehouse is open 24/7.
Yay.
~Helena*
PS -- And of course, a very happy birthday to Brian today, and to Louise tomorrow. Both of you freaky Gemini folks may have a free pot of coffee, with a sweet little ribbon on top, courtesy of Helena's imaginary coffeehouse, and Wet Cleanup. Love, Helena*