Live - From Starbucks on Capitol Hill

I have to attend our odious weekly senior staff meeting this morning, so I figured that since this meeting is likely to be fraught with contention, I would fortify myself with some high-end caffeine.

The Starbuck's I am in, now, is that same place where I talked to Dan Rather a few weeks ago.  I suspect that today will be different, though.  There won't be any celebrity sightings... instead, we will be taking a ride on the Crazy Train.  I chatted with a animated young woman that works in the basement library of congress, who was determined to sit at one of the outside cafe tables, because she sees so little natural light during her day.  That isn't the crazy part, but I thought I would give you just a little it of the normal before we go completely off of the rails. 

So I sat down with my Venti Hazlenut Latte (a manly drink  if ever there was one), at a table with a view of the intersection of Third and Pennsylvania, so I could watch the people on their way to their different pursuits, and while I watched them, I took note of the other people around me.  On my right are the two store managers, having a meeting about goals and schedules for the coming week.  On my left is a Chinese woman of a about 35 years, who is animatedly talking to her bottle of Vitamin Water in a mixture of Chinese and English, about American foreign policy in Asia.   Wait, Now she is shouting at the botltle!!!!   That's it.  I'm losing it, here.  The other patroons, are, of course, more mature than I am.  They are sitting quietly an pretending the crazy lady isn't here, keeping their faces a mask of neutrality.  Not me... I am laughing so hard I can barely type this.... She just screamed that GW Bush is a pimp.  Bwaaahahahahahaha!

Have I ever mentioned that I love this city???  Even the crazy people are political!

From my little perch, here  I can see Library of Congress Lady, still chatting with her pal at the cafe table... she smokes.  That's a shame.  There is also a Capitol Police officer sitting in his patrol car, writing a parking ticket.

(that is animated young woman, on the lower left, facing the camera)

Now Crazy lady looks at me.  She smiles (she is very pretty)  Then she threw her head back and laughed maniacally!  A little scary, but I'm three times her size, so if she gets stupid, I'm pretty sure I can take her.  On top of that, I have a gun.... on second thought, this being the District, she probably has a gun (or two) as well.   The guy in the Dan Rather Chair just looked up from his very cool, paper thin Mac, looked at CL, and then at me and rolled his eyes.

Oh, here comes a young woman, probably 25, and she is already complaining of the humidity.  She must be new in Washington, because today is beautiful, if slightly sprinkly.  This brings me to the point that I have to talk about fashion for a moment... what is it with the designer Wellies, these days?  I never would have considered Wellies to be fashionable.  This young woman's Wellies are pink and black, and they match her skirt and blouse.

The lady sitting directly across from me is trying to read the Washington Post Arts section, but she is being distracted by you-know-who.

"We are Stardust, We are Golden, we are billion year old carbon,and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden...."

Sorry, musical interlude (it' what is playing on the Starbuck's sound system).  I'll bet some of you are too young to even remember that song.  Dude.

Again on fashion, have any of you Washingtonians ever noticed that people that work on The Hill tend to dress better than those who work in the executive branch agencies??? (middle aged lady left while I was typing that)....

Well, as much as I would like to continue sitting here and talking to you fine people, I have to go to this meeting.

Have a good day.

GF

Comments

[jen of a2eatwrite]

Hate meetings. Glad you got some "you time".

[Mrs. GF]

Here's a shocker. I have no idea what that song is.

[Janet]

I'm confused. Was the musical interlude an interjection from Crazy Chinese Lady, or was it a gift from you?

Oh, and the song is Woodstock, Mrs. GF.

[Gunfighter]

I knew you wouldn't get that, baby.

Janet, it was the music on the soundsystem... I just happen to like that particular lyric

[amy]

Any chance CL was talking on the phone? Some of those new bluetooth headsets are so tiny you can't see them. I have made this mistake a couple of times. No sign of a phone or wires or mic, so it looks like they are talking to themselves!

[Gunfighter]

No Amy, I thought about that, too, but... she was just crazy. The poor soul.

[Flower Child]

I know that Starbucks! I was there last week people watching too.

and I know the crazy lady!

[amy]

Funny. I worked for Starbucks for almost 8 years, all through college and beyond for a bit. We used to get some real characters that were regulars when I worked at the University Way store near the University of Washington campus. We had one lady we called the Opera lady who was very funny when she was off her meds. She would dance around the store singing and waving her arms. Some days it was hard not to laugh but we loved our regulars and had good relationships with them. It was a fun place to work.

[Los Angelista]

There are ALWAYS crazy people in SBUX. Always. It's like it's a magnet or something.

And what are Wellies?

[bubblewench]

I love that song. Does that make me old? I had the 45.