It was a warm, balmy afternoon. We had parked a couple of meters away from the bank’s entrance, in a spot shaded by a leafy tree. I had opted to wait in the car while Mark transacted some business inside, as I was sleepy and the thought of dozing off in the bank’s lobby didn’t appeal to either my sense of decorum or comfort. So there I was instead, in the car’s passenger seat with my seatbelt still on, nodding off as an Alanis song played softly on the stereo.
I sensed more than saw a movement to my left. I opened my half-closed eyes a little wider, and looked on with mild interest as a little old lady got out of her car. She was stooped at the shoulders, and had wispy grey hair that blew away from her face in the slight breeze. She had on a yellow jacket, a pair of thick stockings that couldn’t hide her varicose veins, and black leather shoes with thick soles. She toddled up the path to the bank with a very unsteady gait, with two yellow bags slung on her left arm.
Having been raised by a loving grandma, I was overcome with a strong urge to jump out of the car, run towards the little old lady, and open the bank’s door for her.
But before I could even unfasten my seatbelt, she had already resolutely made her way to the door. With one strong, sure movement, she pushed one side of the heavy glass swinging door open, and was swallowed up into the tinted coolness of the lobby, away from sight, away from my slow-legged good intentions.
Posted under People-watching
my morning cup of coffee
I chanced upon National Geographic’s January 2005 issue while waiting for Mark to pick me up from work one morning a few days ago.
The cover immediately drew my attention amidst all the other back-issue magazines in the lobby for good reason: it was a steaming cup of hot coffee with a delicate heart-shaped froth of cream.
The article delved deeply into the phenomenon of modern man’s seemingly-universal love of coffee and other caffeinated drinks. Early on, the article says:
“Scientists have developed various theories to explain caffeine’s “wake-promoting” power. The consensus today focuses on the drug’s interference with adenosine, a chemical in the body that acts as a natural sleeping pill.
Caffeine blocks the hypnotic effect of adenosine and keeps us from falling asleep. Since caffeine has also been shown to enhance mood and increase alertness in moderate amounts, it’s a potent potion for students and scholars stuck in the lab at three in the morning. Paul Erdős, the Hungarian mathematician who often worked his equations around the clock, is known for saying that “a mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.”"
Photographer Bob Sacha, who took the gorgeous photos that accompanied the article, observes in National Geographic’s online multimedia special “What’s the Buzz” that:
“People don’t drink coffee or tea or chocolate just for the flavor, but more and more these days they drink it for the buzz.”
So, I guess the next time I take that first sip of rich, hot, velvety coffee, it will not only be appropriate for me to sigh in pleasure and say “mmm…yummy…”, but also “mmm….buzzzz…”
Heh.
Posted under Navel-Gazing , Photography
