Mostly Random Thoughts

I'm in Albany at Uncommon Grounds. It is insanely busy. The line has been out the door since I got here about an hour and a half ago. I'm lucky to have a seat that is near an outlet or else I'd be somewhere else. But, I like Uncommon Grounds, even if it is pretty common for it to be busy.

I had a chocolate mocha (the don't do white chocolate mochas here?!?!) and a bagel and I am stricken with the coffee jitters... yes, the coffee jitters after just one coffee!

Last night I had hung out with a friend who was literally shaking like a leaf and talking non-stop a million miles an hour. As she paced back and forth like a rocket on a leash, she explained that a friend of hers -- who works at a Starbucks -- had given her a triple shot of espresso on top of regular coffee. The sheer amount of caffeine that she in jested is illegal in most states and is the typical dose to energize a sleepy elephant.

My friend did not eventually erupt, or spontaneously explode as expected, but the experience of hanging out with her was quite intense and required a lot of walking fast.

You should need a permit to give out a coffee with that much caffeine...

Two nights ago was open mic as usual. I hosted and it was a pretty good night. Although, the list was quite long and so I kind of rushed through the first 15 or so introductions and didn't really get a chance to engage with the audience. Later on, I realized that it wasn't going to be as late as I had thought earlier, so I slowed things down some and became my usual engaging self. And I had fun. I played, Walls by Tom Petty to open up the night and closed things down with a very low-key version of John Mellencamp's Lonely 'Ol Night. Maurizio inspired me to play the low-key version. At the end of the night, there was only a handful of people hanging around. Maurizio took the opportunity to play a couple of very low-key tunes. It was an intense quiet (if that makes any sense) and it was wonderful. I did my best to channel that in my performance of Lonely 'Ol Night.

Being that this is a coffee place located right near a college, there are A LOT of groups of college chicks coming in. Which means that I am in a sea of sweatpants and Ugg (spelling) boots. It's disturbing... and making me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I feel like if a bomb went off in here right now, and no one survived that the world wouldn't really mind that much... Some might be sad at the loss of Uncommon Grounds... and Caffe Lena will be short one host, but life will otherwise go on... and there will be less sweatpants and Ugg boots (oh, yeah, and those over sized sunglasses) than there were before.

Shame on Uncommon Grounds for allowing such people in their otherwise hipster establishment. Currently the sweatpants to plaid shirt ratio is not in my favor...

And on that note... I'm outta here.