The Coffeehouse

i'm taking a break from studying for my TWO exams tomorrow...i was thinking..about what you ask? just stuff..like mr. eye-candy (i forgot to bring my applesaucy snack and instead of seeing him ten, or even the normal two times on wednesday, i saw him ONCE..talk about getting jinxed)..coffee (yes my dear, although i may forget about you sometimes, know this: we have a dependency relationship which will not be ending anytime soon...i assure you )..how much i hated my prof..LET ME TELL YOU, just HOW MUCH i HATE my prof....i gave him 1's and 2's on his course evaluation..not hateful enough? i spent the first ten minutes of my final exam cursing and wishing death upon him...i also sleep in his class to express my dislike..he is also very boring and the phrase "invasive species" has a certain lullaby-ish ring to it, so really, maybe my sleeping is not an expression of dislike, but a compliment to his talented ability and skill to put people to sleep...i guess i must stay awake then..

i thought about my prof for a split second, then i did a double-take on the coffee thought....because it reminded my of a story of betrayal..

once upon a time two days ago, while i was working away in my room (i might have been blogging actually :p) my mom comes in..all nice and sweet, offering assistance and asking if i was hungry (i love mommy, she is so considerate!)..and we start a convo of some sort, can't remember..then all of the sudden, she pops the question: "what do you think of decaf?"

me : huh..what?

mom: you know, decaf coffee?

me :  that is not real coffee...decaf is some tasteless ugly filthy drink without caffeine!

mom: well yes, it is coffee without caffeine, but maybe we should try..

me : that is not real coffee! decaf is for old people who sleep early and people with bladder problems..this family has neither, therefore, the answer is NO...

mom: but, but...

me: no buts and or ifs, caffeine is good for you..it is an endorphin, it is what makes the world go round...i have put my foot down on this issue, as i DO have the authority and jurisdiction over coffee-related issues...

mom: okay fine whatever...do you need anything else sweety? no? okay then, may God be with you and help you on your studies...

me: thnx..i love you mom!

hmmm..okay, so maybe thats not how it went exactly..but those were the undertones of the convo..see my mom is a health nut..organic food, lots of fiber, homeopathic rememdies etc...caffeine is in that grey area, and due to her beliefs, i cannot blame her for wanting to try an alternative to caffeinated coffee..but my God, i felt betrayed! why is my mom trying to keep me away from the one thing i love?! its like saying "let's try chestnut coffee"..no, let's not..regular coffee is working for me thank you very much, and it does not have adverse effects on my health..my joints ache because of dehydration, and my migrain is because of convos like these..i love you caffeinated coffee, pls dont leave me!

i am so tired..tuesdays are always like that..i'm always rushing from one class to the next, followed by meetings and rendevouz ALL DAY..from like 9 am to 10 pm....but today, i was mostly rendevouzing..bad decision i know, but then again, i'm a pro at them..

so it's sad that this is kinda the highlight of my day..writing in my blog..oh wait!! NO NO..the highlight of my day was seeing mr. eye-candy FIVE times today instead of the usual one time during my class on tuesdays..and i was eating applesauce WITH granola..and i usually dont eat that stuff at school..coincidence?? i think not! i will bring applesauce with granola tomorrow to school to quintuple the times i see mr. eye-candy tomorrow..which is two, therefore i will see him a total of TEN times tomorrow..i'm so excited..must wear pretty clothes...power heels?

i am so sleepy..i am reaching that dangerous time of the stress-fest where you sleep for less than 4 hours every night, get "ulcers" (nicer way of saying "i've got gas"..never divulge that you have gas, it will only lead to endless bean and cheese-cutting statements..however, if you've managed to spill the beans (get it? BEANS!) and put yourself in an awkward situation, threaten your friends to cut individual cheese pieces!)..i've also reached that stage where i sleep/dream with my eyes open and manage to wake up with my face less than an inch away from whatever document i was working on..like now for example..i need to get some sleep!

my beau won..i did not..ah well, he should have the upperhand in something

in other news, i had my final exam today for the best class in the whole wide worrlldd: environmental politics..i love it so much that (and this is the part where you might say "freak-o", my friends do..) i feel like clapping at the end of every class...really...my prof is amazing...he's cute like a munchkin and a thought provoker...let me TELL YOU, i killed that exam..having the questions beforehand didnt hurt either, but it was such a good exam, i felt like clapping in the end as well...and now its so sad, the year is over (this is the last week of classes) and although i'll probably still see many of the same people in my classes next year, it won't be the same..i hate endings...(for anyone who knows me personally, you can stop reading NOW..)..i also hate parting with eye-candy..tomorrow and wednesday will be the last two classes i will have with mr. eye-candy who is so special to me because of his "sweetness"...very very "sweet"...but i think he will be following the same study path as me, so all will be well again in september.....

do we even have a relationship for him to have the upperhand?!   

ahhhh!!! i found the cutest..no really, the CUTEST coffee poem..it's about a cat :D

source: http://greymattermeltingpot.blogspot.com

Coffee Cat

I'm a really hyper kitty
I'm a very jumpy cat
I lapped up a pot of coffee
And I'm hallucinating rats
So I pounce on every shadow
And bounce off of all the walls
I climbed up here on the curtains
And I fear that I might
- - *thunk!*

ahhhh! whoever wrote this deserves an award...

right now, i'm writing about ecological modernization, that is restructuring the economy so that it lies along environmental lines...i say, that's a start, but why not just get rid of the whole self-destructive economy altogether..we should be focusing our energies on a revolution, not evolution..evolution is too unpredictable, and too slow for my liking, by the time our economy evolves to the point of being ecologically modernized, we might just not HAVE an environment to think about..am i right?(read:you are so right)..you see, we aquarians, we look towards the future, we are visionaries..dont believe me? read (www.astrology.com/sun_aquarius.html) the first paragraph! so i guess ecological modernization could work..but people are so sneaky these days, they'll probably pretend to implement it, then when caught, they'll say they didnt get the memo..BUSTED! there was no memo..things are going digital..it was an email stupid...
 

guyysss...i'm 80% aquarius..ie, MYSELF...that's comforting to know...look below!

You are 80% Aquarius

you might have figured out by now..no, i did not limit my blog-fest to an hour a day...sheesh...i can't just quit cold-turkey! its unhealthy..so i learned to edit the links/blogrolls on the side (go look look!) snazzy eh? i'm so proud <tears>..some of those blogs really do deserve the award, others dont so much..but meh..what can you do..and i found a verrryy cool blog about aqaurians, which is super because i love astrology as well..i will dedicate another blog-linky section to astrology as soon as i find some other good ones..but for anyone wanting to learn more about astrology, read the book Linda Goodman's Sun Signs..its an amaaazing book...i personally have not gotten my own copy yet (too cheap to buy it..but i keep hinting to family and friends..however, i think i will eventually be forced to buy it out of their inability to decipher body language and plain old "can you pls get me the book?")..but i keep signing it out from the library, and renewing and until i've used up the renew limit, then i put another copy on hold and pick it up/renew until i must put another one on hold..its a vicious cycle, but necessary for my well-being...like coffee..see, now you understand!

i've been trying to study for my four exams coming up this week (yes, four in 5 days!!) but i am so distracted by my new addiction to blogs (sorry coffee...you're getting the shaft...but its just a phase, i promise!)..blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs...i have so much respect for them i insist on calling them by their real name...weblogs weblogs weblogs weblogs weblogs...templates, links, skins, and just plain old browsing...i curse my friend for this..it was her bright idea...see, i'm not really into the whole diary/journal stuff...once in a while, when i really need to vent super-personal thoughts..i type things out on the comp, save them as .txt files and store them in very secret folders and forget about them..they only serve their purpose for that moment of desperation....i'm too impatient for diaries and i get bored very easily with the whole "write-about your life everyday" thingy majingy...so when my friend mentioned it i was like "okay...happy for you, but not for me"..then i got excited about having my own page online and next thing you know, i dont just wanna right everyday..but ALL THE FREAKIN TIME..like at least twice every hour i get this urge to sign in and type away..just for the sake of typing and posting on my hip new blog..nothing substantive really..just..stuff.....its like when i went through a phase of stalking people...look them up in the phone directory, get their number...go see what they were up to...they didnt have to necessarily know me..i just had to know them..and it was just for the sake of stalking..i didnt particulary like it..but hey..i couldnt help it....some people say i still stalk, but theyre lying....i am a very self-disciplined and moral person who can stop bad habits anytime....like now for example, i will stop blogging and limit my blog indulgence to one hour a day....i hope i can focus on my exams now...

my coffeemachine and i don't seem to be getting along as well as we used to. i've either lost my magic touch, or it just got fed up with its day job...see, before i used to make a killer cup of coffee. i knew just the right amount of coffee per cup, how long to keep it on etc. but since i've started buying my coffee from cafes more often, i guess i forgot HOW to make some at home...that's just sad..

on a different note - i think i might be taking the meaning of "the coffeehouse" too literally, ie house of coffee...but hey dictionary.com agrees with me! the idea of the coffeehouse had a much deeper, intellectual significance..in the eighteenth century, it was a place where people got together to discuss science, politics..anything! over coffee of course.. :p this was the renaissance period..i think..right before the enlightment when science and math became important aspects of society..the historic coffeehouses provided comfortable, safe havens for society's intellects to share ideas...it helped create a public space for politics...wohooo..go coffeehouses!!

good afternoon!

i found an interesting article while i was surfing the net. most coffee drinkers are not aware of how their consumption of coffee beans can have environmental effects. you might hear phrases such as "organic coffee beans" or "fair trade coffee" tossed around here and there and not really know what its about. i've heard the phrase "shade-grown coffee", but did not grasp the importance of it until i read the article below....enjoy!

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By Barbara S. Kemper

Enjoy a cup of java and save a bird's home. The first time I heard of the connection between birds and coffee was at Audubon Bird Camp on Long Island, Maine in June of 1995. Jeff Parrish, camp instructor, was a Ph.D. candidate with an interest in the ecology and behavior of neotropical birds. His lecture, entitled "Coffee Cups and Conservation," was an eye opener. When I got back to Wilmington, I looked for "shade grown coffee." None was to be found and I gave up. Then in January of 1999, an Ellen Goodman column in the Wilmington News Journal discussed how "the fate of hummingbirds (and other neotropical migrants) was being linked to clearing trees for sun grown coffee plantations." My search was on again! The article also mentioned that Russ Greenburg, who runs the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, was looking at the reasons for the decline of birds that migrate to Latin America for warmth and food during our cold and barren winter. Ellen writes that "since their old habitat, the rain forests, were disappearing, the coffee plantations were the most hospitable homes for the 150 odd species that migrate." These are coffee bushes grown under the canopy of a variety of tall nitrogen-fixing trees and up to 40 species of other trees used for household and commercial commodities such as wood and fruit. Scot Shalaway (another Audubon Bird Camp instructor) wrote in Birder's World, June 1998, "It seemed the best of both worlds. Forest birds thrived in the canopy; coffee thrived below. It seemed too good to be true. It was! Major coffee producers discovered that by removing the canopy, coffee grew faster and in higher yields. Unfortunately, the cost for 'sun' coffee's higher productivity included expensive fertilizers and pesticides plus ecological devastation, i.e. loss of bird habitat and serious erosion where shade coffee plantations occupied the rugged terrain and financial loss to small family growers." Scott goes on to report that, "Over the past 20 years, sun coffee has come to dominate the market. The switch has been an ecological disaster. According to a fact sheet published by the Smithsonian Bird Center, field studies in Mexico and Colombia have found 94 to 97 per cent fewer bird species in sun grown coffee plantations than in shade grown coffee farms." There may still be hope because in the last few years, entrepreneurs, birders and small coffee farmers have formed an alliance to create a supply and a demand for "shade coffee." I have found a few places locally that carry it. One is Wild Birds Unlimited in Hockessin and the other is the Newark Co-Op for natural foods. However, I would like to buy bird friendly coffee at my nearby supermarket. How about if we all ask our favorite supermarket manager to stock any of these brands of shade grown coffee: Songbird, Sanctuary, Canopy, Allegro, Frontier and New Harmony. I'd be interested in the response you get. My phone number is 302-478-1797. So, enjoy a cup of java and save a bird's home. Tasting Notes: Coffee drinkers on Delaware Audubon's board conducted a taste test of two "Song Bird" shade grown coffee varieties. We tried Hazelnut Cream and the full bodied Costa Rican. 10 Board members participated. Of the six who tasted the Hazelnut Cream, all six liked it although several thought it could be stronger. Of the four who tasted the Costa Rican flavor, all four enjoyed it. The promotion of shade grown coffee is being spearheaded by the Seattle Audubon Society. They caution us to beware of brands claiming to be shade grown but actually are not. Seattle Audubon asks you check for bonafide brands by visiting their web site. Editor's Note: Since this article was written, the National Audubon Society has begun marketing its own line of shade grown coffee. You can join National Audubon's coffee club by visiting this link.

hello hello

welcome to the coffehouse!! free coffee for everyone!! what you will read here will give you the same exhilaration, adrenaline rush, and general perkiness as would caffeine on an exam-studying all-nighter. for coffee-lovers, this blog will be your home away from home, and for those indifferent about the wonders of coffee or just plain hate the beautiful drink, this blog will change you forever...100% arabica beans guaranteed!!