The playlist at the coffeehouse included Isaac Hayes’ “Shaft.” I nearly hared the lyrics with my Facebook friends, but realized that some of the words might be words and phrases have a different meaning today. Ah, well, it is all about context.
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A guy who looks exactly like David Crosby just came into empresso. … Or maybe it IS David Crosby.
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The educational system in this country is letting down a lot of people. A guy in empresso just now commented on my hat – Boston Red Sox cap – and I said that I had grown up in New England.
“Oh, really! I’ve heard there’s a lot of great music in the UK.”
“No, I grew up in NEW England. Not the UK.”
“What’s the difference?”
“New England. It’s made up of the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.”
“Oh …”
For crying out loud, people! New England and the Atlantic states are the R&D labs for this experiment called the United States of America. It is a hugely important part of this country.
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The hot temperatures mean I’ve switched to iced green tea. Doesn’t have the same punch as coffee. Ah, well. …
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Stockton, you never fail to dazzle and amaze. … A man in his 60s or 70s just walked into the coffeehouse wearing a very short skirt. And, no, it in no way resembled a kilt. … He looks a little bit like Walter Matthau.
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A teen girl at the coffeehouse has on shiny silver sneakers with silver wings. Seriously. I would not lie about silvery winged sneakers.
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Free WiFi at the coffeehouse does you little good if you have a short in your power cord. Thanks HP.
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The infant daughter of the empresso owners is quite vocal today. One of the baristas thinks the red-haired child is trying to talk Mom into getting moving because she’s bouncing in her chair.
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I’m at the coffeehouse and outside on the patio is a young woman – she has to be in her very late teens or early 20s. She must be a student-athlete at one of the local colleges because she appears very fit and she is wearing a T-shirt with writing on the back about teammates and how they have your back. The T-shirt sleeves are tied back like woman athletes do occasionally. Her hair is tied back, her fingernails are polished with a wild bluish color, and her lips move as she’s reading a book, almost as if it is in a foreign language and she wants to hear it as much as read it. Her right leg is pumping up and down as if she’s nervous or anxious. I know this isn’t PC, but she is a cutie.
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A slight bit of weirdness in the coffeehouse the past two days. Yesterday, on my semi-regular fitness walk, I tripped slightly on a cracked sidewalk and a fellow walking out of the park shared a laugh about it and said something such as “Well, I’m not the only one who is not perfect.”
He then proceeded to tell me – for at least five minutes – about the recent surge in crime in the neighborhood surrounding American Legion Park in central Stockton, Calif.
I had never seen the guy before, but I saw him again later at the coffeehouse, which is a pretty healthy walk from American Legion Park.
And then today I went to the bank to deposit a check and spotted a guy in line. I envied him for the nice green tropical shirt he was wearing.
Later in the morning he happened to come into espresso for a beverage.
Just weird that sort of thing happened two days running. I wonder who I might see for the first – and second – time tomorrow.
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Three different people in the span of an hour have brought their dogs into the coffeehouse, including a Chihuahua with the heart of a Rottweiler. I love dogs, yes, I do. But not with my coffee.
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“Burn, burn, burn, that ring of fire, that ring of fire. …” The baristas at empresso are playing a little Johnny Cash for background music. Cool.
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You gotta love it when the barista starts your drink even before you’ve made it across the parking lot and into the coffeehouse. Thank you Exotic Java!
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A youth in the coffeehouse earlier today dressed in a fine suit, shirt, tie, and polished shoes. Handsome kid who seemed to be very respectful of the adult he was with and willing to engage in conversation with the man I suspect was some sort of mentor. We need more kids willing to wear suits and more mentors willing to take them to the coffeehouse for hot chocolate.
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I was sitting in Exotic Java and a guy came in wearing shoes with Velcro and he wasn’t a toddler or 65 or older. Is that legal in California?!
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I have no intentions of messing with the barista who just served me a Red Eye. She has a tattoo of Dirty Harry on one bicep and a skull in tophat on the other. She may be the toughest 90-lb. woman I have seen in quite a while.
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Is there an upper age limit for pieced lips? There is a woman at the next table – she’s wearing fashionable glasses that make her look like a teacher or HR specialist – and she has a loop in her pierced lower lip. I’m terrible at guessing ages, but she has to be in her late 20s to mid-30s. Should she be thinking of getting rid of that thing? And would the hole heal?
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This is for my newspaper and graphic designer friends. There’s a guy sitting in the coffeehouse wearing a Fresno State Graphic Design Club T-shirt. And on the back it reads: “We dream RGB. We bleed CMYK.” Only graphic designers and the people who love ’em will get it and grin to themselves. And photographers, too, I suspect.
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A pretty young woman came into the coffeehouse to study a bit ago. She’s wearing a short skirt that exposes her lovely long legs and a strapless top that exposes her lovely shoulders and a butterfly tattoo between her shoulder blades. Aww, thank goodness it’s summer again.
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A woman at the next table – she comes in fairly often and usually meets a friend – has glanced at me a couple of times. I wonder if I have food in my teeth.
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Letters From Away 