Cuckoo for Coffee Cup (or Why I Read Bad Books)
Today I fogot my coffee mug with freshly brewed coffee at home.
I did the thing any rational human being would do.
I bought coffee on my way to work.
Why?
Because I need coffee–just like a lab rat needs crack…or experimental drugs.
Yes, my friends. Coffee is my drug of choice and I need precisely one cup in my system every morning or things get too real–just like the following people (replace Snickers with coffee).
Today, my options for coffee were the following: Starbucks or McDonalds. As I’ve been MickeyDing it a bit much of late, I thought I’d diversify my investment by patronizing the Evil Coffee Empire as people affectionately refer to it.
For those of you who hate the Big S, I must tell you if it were up to me I’d stop by my favorite neighborhood coffee shop and order a cappuccino without sugar (good coffee doesn’t need sugar). But my life revolves around my commute, so Starbucks it was.
Needless to say, I was punished severely for my poor judgment.
Why is it that I keep falling for the old “Starbucks is on my way to work” trap?!
WHY!!
Einstein, I believe once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result and I was definitely cuckoo for coffee cup this morning.
Forgive my brain but it ran out of fuel.
I think I’m still trying to process the awful taste that my taste buds were relaying. I swear my cup of drip coffee tasted like the illegitimate child of burnt plastic and boiled vodka sprinkled with cigarette ashes.
But I can’t really blame Starbucks can I. I mean I knew this coffee wasn’t my cup of tea, but I went for it anyway. Starbucks is great if:
- You want a decent designer brew. They are especially handy in Podunky places where they might not have a big chain store for miles but they have a Starbucks to fulfill your soy latte needs.
- You feel like having a sugar rush at 7 am.
- You get a nice coupon or gift certificate.
- You want to look cool, busy, and imporant in the morning (“Out of my way woman on a mission–Can’t you see I’m rushing with a STARBUCKS CUP IN HAND! Hold the elevator peasant!”)
- You need a great travel mug for your home brewed drip coffee so you never have to be without some great drip coffee (especially if your coworkers don’t drink coffee). In fact, I have one of those.
This whole coffee episode reminds me of my other addiction (*ahem* books, of course) and the sort of insanity that brings with it.
Like when I pick up a book by the some author I’ve read before and not liked, decide to read another book, and hope that magically I’ll like this author. I used to think that I could never run into a book I wouldn’t like but I have been proven wrong. Prime example.
The Nanny Diaries.
Now hear me out. I know that there are lots of readers that love this book and catapulted it to fame and the big screen via Scarlett Johansson and Alicia Keys. However, I just never got the appeal. I stopped in the middle of the book called it a day. But several years later picked up the sequel in hopes that I’d like this…
I gave up after the 1st chapter, flipped to the back, and promptly returned it to the library. I’m just glad I never bought it!
I know it’s a matter of taste–much like coffee.
Some people like their coffee beans roasted, others toasted. Blah, blah.
But these little episodes make me realize more and more that sometimes I can’t rely on the palates of the masses.
Something so obvious, but that I forget because I want to roll with the masses.
Have you ever been a literary contrarian? Did you ever read a book everyone else liked but you just didn’t get?
**Side Note: This BusinessWeek article might prove a point. Apparently, there are many others that don’t like Starbucks coffee. So perhaps sometimes the masses secretly hate things and/or are lying. Just a thought**
