Cuparius.com

Last time, I mentioned that I had found a new job. (Huzzah.) More to the point, it means I am earning some money again, which in turn means that I can once again afford coffee. [This is completely beside the point, but I cannot help remarking how much more comfortable it is for me to type using the original iMac keyboard than the standard PC keyboard. I like the fact that it's smaller -- why? -- because I'm a one-handed typist, that's why. I'm a relatively speedy typist, but I'm speedier when my hand doesn't have to roam too far across a keyboard. The iMac keyboard is perfect for my purposes. I now return you to your irregularly scheduled update.] Without coffee, I fear that I bear some resemblance to the walking dead. I've lived for months without coffee now. I can scarcely grasp that fact. Thankfully, that mournful twilight partial existence is at an end, and this morning I brewed my first pot of coffee in, as I mentioned, months. Thank the gods for coffee. I still can't afford the coffee I prefer, but I was able to find something within my price range that wasn't South American. Next month I should be able to afford some good Indonesian coffee. My grocery store used to stock Sumatra and Mocha Java at an acceptable price, but it seems they want to lose me as a customer, as the only Indonesian coffee they have is Starbuck's Sumatra for (*choke*) $8.99 a pound.

This talk of coffee causes me to reminisce fondly of one of my favorite coffeehouses. La Patisserie in Portland is a second storey café overlooking the neighborhood of Old Town/China Town. Many of the tables are set beside windows, which is a preference of mine. Whenever I have ordered a pot of coffee, they have brewed it for me on the spot. Most importantly, they have Celobese coffee, which is my favorite of all coffees. La Patisserie is where I had my first cup of Celobese. The perfect complement to a freshly brewed cup of freshly ground gourmet coffee is a slice of Almond Bliss, a miraculously subtle and delicious pie/cheesecake kind of dessert. Just thinking about it, I am seized by the desire to board a train for Portland. I hope La Patisserie hasn't changed. Come to think of it, I hope they are still in business. One never knows...

Great coffee and freshly baked doughnuts or danishes are another heavenly match. I was fantasizing about doughnuts as I drank my first cup of coffee today. I used to take a box or two of Krispy Kremes to work with me every few weeks when I worked at the bookshop in Ann Arbor. Sometimes I would bring them weekly. I want a doughnut.

I suppose I ought to be discussing something other than coffee and doughnuts and baked goods. Well, I just received a call for another job interview when I was in the midst of writing the previous paragraph. At the moment, my job at the arts & crafts store in Toledo is part-time, and possibly seasonal (i.e. temporary), so I must continue looking for additional work in order to meet my expenses and save some money for future projects. Last week, I was called to set up an interview for a part-time seasonal job at a bookshop in Toledo, which may lead (possibly) to a permanent (fulltime?) position when they open a second store in the area in the future. (There has been talk of such a store at or near the new mall that is being planned.) The call I received today was for a part-time seasonal job at a bookshop here in Findlay. If I were to be offered a position at both bookshops, I might be able to accept both, as they are part of the some company. It pains me to think that I may be working much more in order to earn the same amount of money I earned in Ann Arbor, but it pains me more to be unemployed and penniless.

This is my day off, so I'd rather not dwell further on the subject of toil. It has been weeks and weeks since I have seen it, but I have finally remembered to mention that I was fortunate to catch the film Robin and Marian (1975) on Turner Classic Movies. This film takes some liberties with the legends of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, which is understandable given the morass of folktales that blend to form those legends. I do not begrudge those liberties when the result vindicates them. The director, Richard Lester, of A Hard Day's Night, The Three Musketeers, and The Four Musketeers fame, has created the greatest Robin Hood movie ever made, and the twist here is that Robin Hood, contrary to legend, has lived well into late middle age, as has Maid Marian, and he has returned to England from years of battle at the Crusades and in Europe, to meet his love Marian, who is now the abbess of a convent. I'll not reveal more of the plot, but I will say that the casting of Sean Connery as Robin and Audrey Hepburn as Marian was brilliant. Apparently, the script brought Hepburn out of retirement. Never have I seen a Robin Hood movie that strove to reflect the period as realistically as this one. This movie is well worth watching, so rent it, buy it, or find out when TCM will be airing it again.

That wraps up today's update here at the Cuparium. I need to pay some bills and go to the post office now. Peace!