Saturday, September 1, 2012

The Social Life



Lately, I've decided to become much more socialable and outgoing. This is a healthy idea. People are social animals, after all. I got lucky when I bumped into one of my former art students at the used bookstore. For a decade he's been joining a group of older guys for breakfast each Saturday at a German deli, and he invited me to participate. I gave it a go a few weeks ago, and had a good time.

From there, I followed one member of the group over to his weekday haunt of Starbucks, earlier this week. The sense of community in this particular Starbucks location is robust. I've been meeting all sorts of interesting people from the neighborhood since Monday, and these folks (mainly over 50 years old) all hang out, chat with each other, and even do things together, away from the coffee shop. It's much like that old TV show, Cheers -- where everyone knows your name. These folks don't just order their coffee, slurp it down in solitude, and leave -- they visit, often for hours at a time, especially on Saturdays. They even leave and come back later in the day.

I've long nurtured the idea of being part of a "cafe society," and it looks like I've found the perfect place to have some warm social contact and discuss ideas. Since I don't booze it up in bars, this is an excellent alternative. Then it's off to work -- or on with my day!

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