Baristas forever

An old man leaves a coffee shop. The barista calls out, "Jim? You leaving?" & he raises his cup in salute as he keeps walking. When he came in, she talked about how they were all filled up & his usual table wasn't available. He expressed a little distress that he'd forgot to bring something in for her & she said, "Don't worry about it. You'll be here tomorrow." She told him about a show she'd recently watched, about the worst plane crash ever. (Apparently he's got a fascination for disasters.) He's in some stage or other of disconnecting from this life, but this coffee shop, this barista, are a point of connection. Hurray for him. Hurray for her. Baristas forever!

Zach's friend didn't hear back from the Knoxville car guy, so that ebay deal is a no-deal. I will be content with connecting with Zach by phone & email & warm fuzzy thoughts for the nonce. It's a good thing I didn't go see Nick; he & his Skritter dudes spent about 1 hour NOT working during the period I would have been there. (The content of the non-working hour? Guitar Hero.)

I have a playdate with a new friend (she's a publisher I met at the Mark Strand reading) today at 4:03. Will be fun to talk with her about art & words & creativity in general.

Last night I watched Patch Adams which is based on the true story of one of the first doctors to really use humor & laughter as major components of healing. (You can check out the continuing real life exploits out at patchadams.org if you wish.) It was partly filmed in Asheville! Very uplifting. Gesundheit!

I'm refining my mission statement. Currently it is:

To be an actively contagious example of
joy & peace & creativity.

I'll probably come up with an even better statement soon, but why wait for even better?

Blog alternative:
158. Refine your mission statement.