I have never learned to drink coffee. I think it has a taste akin to perhaps what a rat's ass would taste like. I know that in the grand scheme of things, not liking coffee is a good thing, because you know, that shit will kill you. Seriously. What was that Johns Hopkins study where they found that you were like 50% more likely to keel over from a heart attack if you drink coffee or something like that? Remember that? Yikes, right? So I know that staying coffee-free is not a bad thing. Still, I admit that I do feel, well, kind of left out when it comes to coffee. Maybe it's because I live in a coffee-crazed city, maybe it's because everyone I know drinks coffee, maybe it's because it smells so damn good. I don't know what it is.
During breaks at work, all of my co-workers trek over to all the nearby cafes to get their coffee fix. I don't need a coffee fix, but yet, I use my break time to trek over to a cafe too. Sometimes I buy a tea, sometimes I don't buy anything. But I walk my ass over there. Just because I am caving to peer pressure, I guess. It just seems like the thing to do. A few months ago, as I was strolling down the sidewalk, I looked down and noticed this.
That's a band-aid. A used band-aid, stuck to the sidewalk. Gross. I live in a pretty clean city. I mean, for a city. It's not like the water running down the gutters is crystal clear and ready for bottling or anything, but compared to most cities, mine is quite trash-free. So the band-aid sort of stands out when you're walking by it. I first noticed the band-aid a few months ago. MONTHS. And you know what? It's still there. I walk by the band-aid every damn day, over and over again. I'm sure as hell not going to be the one to pick it up, unless someone has a HazMat suit they want to lend me. But someone. Please. Pick it up! It's driving me crazy. Day after day with the band-aid! You'd think I have bigger things to worry about. Turns out, I don't.
In non-band-aid news (there's something you don't say every day), I give you my long distance conversation with Nordic Boy last night.
Me: Hey, what are you doing?
Nordic Boy: Just waiting for my last appointment to show up.
Me: Ok, well call me when you get back to the hotel tonight.
Nordic Boy: What are you doing?
Me: ...Actually, I'm not doing anything. Literally.
Nordic Boy: Not reading? Not watching tv?
Me: Nope. I was just sitting here. Thinking, I guess. But not really. Just spacing out.
Nordic Boy: In a good way?
Me: No, in a bored way.
Nordic Boy: Aw. That's not good. When I call you when I get back to the hotel, have something figured out by then ok?
Me: Are you giving me an assignment?
Nordic Boy: Well, yeah. You've got about an hour. I'm going to call you back, and you're going to be doing something, and you're not going to be bored.
Me: Are you life-coaching me right now? I feel like I'm being life-coached.
Nordic Boy: Go do something!
I never came up with anything that exciting. Maybe I should have gone and said hello to the band-aid. So reliable, it is. Always there for me.
Kiss the rings, I'm out.
Librarian Girl
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Coffee, Band-Aids, and Boredom
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Librarianwonder.blogspot.com by Pop Culture Librarian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
15 comments:
eeewwww! Used band-aids are almost top of my list of gross-outs. It would be even worse if it was in a pool.
So.... you won't touch it, but you'll... pause in your trash-free city and take a picture of it? teehee
[And you know, the world is hurting so maybe THAT'S why no one's taken it off.]
(word verification today is: yznis.... it makes me feel very naughty :)
Worse than used plasters (sorry I can't use the word 'band aid', it's just not natural) is used hair bobbles (I don't know if this is going to translate, maybe I should quit while I'm ahead?) With hair stuck on them. Left by the sink in public bathrooms. Yuck yuck yuck and BARF!
What is the term for hair bobbles over there btw? I'm all intrigued now.
Next time your co-workers force you to trek on over to the coffee shop, why not share with them the following:
Coffee puts the system under the strain of metabolizing a deadly acid-forming drug, depositing its insoluble cellulose, which cements the wall of the liver, causing this vital organ to swell to twice its proper size. In addition, coffee is heavily sprayed. (Ninety-two pesticides are applied to its leaves.) Diuretic properties of caffeine cause potassium and other minerals to be flushed from the body.
Get the real scoop on coffee at www.CaffeineAwareness.org
And if you drink decaf you wont want to miss this special FREE report on the Dangers of Decaf available at www.soyfee.com
How about the lovely study that just came out saying that women over the age of 65 who drink 3 cups of coffee per day....have improved memory function.
Then there was the study/ies that claim that coffee leeches calcium from your precious bones and drinking it is like killing yourself a little bit every day.
Medically speaking (or pop-culture medically speaking) - nobody agrees about coffee. And anonymous/spammy mcspam from spamtown: what the hell isn't sprayed with pesticides? Give me hardcore, Journal of New England or its equivalent published studies, please.
Used band-aids are the epitome of nasty. Since it's been there for so long, I can't help but wonder if the litter-bug who left it there sees it everyday and has a mental battle with him/herself:
"Dang, that band-aid is still there. Should I pick it up? If I pick it up, people will think it's my band-aid. I don't want people to think that!" And then he/she just keeps on walking.
OK, I seriously thought I was the only one who noticed things like this.
There have been two plasters stuck X wise on the sidewalk since before snow fell here last year. I think they are permanently a part of the walk now.
In a sad way, I like to know they are always there - its a form of consistency. I have been tempted to scrape it up with the toe of my loafer - but now, they are a part of something else.
And I do look everyday to see if they are still there. Just like checking the nest near the river where I walk on my lunch. I always look to see if the bird nest is still there, and lived in. If anyone saw me peeking around like that in the hedge, under a bridge, they'd think I was nuts. But I like seeing that.
xo,
WDL
You know you're Indy if you drink tea.
:)
I'm just saying. And used band aids in pools, Megan? ack!
LOL. I do drink coffee, but I hear you and the following I've done things like that occasionally. The band-aid is groody. Just keep walking don't my eye contact.
i moved to a seattle suburb in the 10th grade and remember being taken to starbucks for the first time and learning how to order a coffee. i do it so infrequently that i still order the same damn thing i was taught to order that day. it's good not to be a caffeine addict, methinks. although i do use the stuff as necessary on those days when i absolutely must have a pick-me-up.
my boy called last night from his out-of-town-on-business trip while i was making dinner. he said i was so loud it sounded like i was working on a construction project!
I swear I saw that same band-aid in a bar the other day. It was a seedy place where all the used people go.
I was just trying to get quarters.
Oh coffee. Say what you will about it, but right now it's getting me through the end of my graduate school career. And considering I don't smoke or drink alcohol, I have to rely on the fact that my body will allow me this one vice.
And bandaids are GROSS! For your sake, I wish it at least had some fun cartoon characters on it or something...
Maybe there's a hidden camera somewhere watching to see if someone will ever pick up the band-aid...Hey, it could happen...
You don't drink coffee? I was never allowed to as a kid - I actually only started drinking it when I was in my 20's. I think I'd take down a busload of nuns for coffee. Seriously.
There's a starburst (i think it's tropical--it's purple) that has been sitting on the front walkway of my apartment building for the last few days. I should have just picked it up when it was in the wrapper but now it's just a pile of goo and I'm going to stay away from that.
Definitely not as gross as a bandaid.
I. Don't. Drink. Coffee. Either! And I totally feel like an outsider too! It DOES smell good! And the sheer IDEA of it totally appeals to me. But no, I don't like it in any way, shape, or form. No amount of sugar, milk, flavoring, or fancy words will make me like it. Yes, it is a good thing since I know people who spend at least $5 a day on their coffee addiction, so I'm saving money and staying healthy. But! I have no crutch, and that sucks. When I'm tired in the morning? Nothing there to pick me up. Exhausted driving late at night? Just music and a slap to the face to keep me focused.
No coffee = my own willpower and really, that's just not fair.
Post a Comment