Post 8: Awaken

It is 5:44 A.M. I am sitting at a square wooden table in a Starbucks on G Street, sipping a cool, refreshing, but seemingly tasteless, venti caramel frappuccino. By no surprise do I still feel like a robot; it is as if I am sleepwalking in a dream...

...When I first walked in, there already was a lady – she was most likely in her late forties – wearing a wheat-woven hat (I do not know what else to call it), sitting on a small, circular table that is opposite to the painted wall that I am currently next to. The cashier, who was at least a pretty six feet tall, and her co-workers, gave a dull, but friendly, “good morning.” There must have been at least five people, most of who included a “good morning” and “have a good day,” that have walked in and out since I sat down – similar to the hat lady, most of them appeared to be in their forties. Diagonally to my left is a college student: with his left elbow making a 45 degree angle on his table from both sides, he is resting his forehead on the palm of his hand and painfully forcing the contents of a book into his mind. In the background is the familiar Goo Goo Dolls song that I cannot seem to pinpoint, singing “And I don’t want the world to see me, ‘cause I don’t think that they’d understand. When everything’s meant to be broken, I just want you to know who I am.”

The shoveling of ice cubes, which oddly reminds me of people shoveling snow and paving the icy ramps at the end of ski lifts, the blending of unhealthy calories and caffeine, and the chit-chat of the employees are apparently nonexistent to me unless I want them to be something: I did not notice them while I was observing customers until I just allowed my senses to curiously expand and absorb each aspect of this Starbucks, slowly but surely. Younger customers have come and gone, always more cheerfully and quicker moving, as time passes by. 40 minutes have expired; I effortlessly glance outside and notice that the gentle glow of dawn has come out of hiding and confidently brightened the skies. Unfortunately, the summer weather must have also awaken and have started brewing the temperature – it was about 73 degrees when I woke up and got here, and now it must almost be 80...

...My frappuccino, usually devoured in ten minutes, is still more than half full; my mind is still half empty (or asleep), perhaps still stubbornly unwilling to wake up. And yet, the bubbly beginning of Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights” has just come on; interestingly, I suddenly feel a comfortable nudge in my head and feel like it is a sign to really get up. I take another sip of my frappuccino - it tastes a little sweeter. I am awake now: I can finally start my day.