I was just talking about my blog with my friend this morning and it made me want to write an entry. I feel like my writing style has deteriorated a little bit recently, and I think there are a few reasons for that. First of all, I’m not spending enough time reading. Secondly, what I do read is junk on the internet like forum posts on discussion boards. The internet is like the black hole of quality writing. Sure you can find some good nuggets of writing here and there, but the predominant writing style on the internet goes sort of like this:
OMG, so I just wanted 2 post about my latest shopping trip. My friends n I went to Charlotte Ruse and got some AMAZING jeans. They were sriously like only 20 bucks and fit me so good. After we went shopping we met up with the boyzzz and even though I really wanted Jimmy 2 ask me out he was just kinda like whatevers. There all so full of themselves and my friend agreed. so I am just trying to keep my mind off him for now. Later were gona go see a movie!!1 I cant wait!!
That’s what I’m up against. Actually, I really think that if I start reading books again it will help quite a bit. I am reading a little but it’s not enough. I’m happiest when I’m spending about an hour a day just reading for pleasure, and I definitely notice that my writing style cleans up when I do that. Since I write a lot for my marketing business I suppose reading should be part of my job. I have to get my flow back – it’s gone missing somewhere.
I think writing more on this blog will definitely help – but to be honest I don’t usually proofread these posts or pay all that much attention to the grammar. I think from now on I will make an effort to fully concentrate on my writing style here. I still want to have fun with it though, so conversational style is still going to be the norm.
I didn’t know what to write about here at first, but as soon as I went to go get my coffee here at Panera I got my inspiration. It’s the Law of the Coffee Station.
I go to Panera most mornings to get some work done – it’s a way to get out of my apartment and gives me an incentive to get rolling in the morning. They have free wireless internet and it’s generally not too crowded (unless it’s raining outside – then the San Diegans don’t know what to do with themselves and tend to huddle in coffee shops reading the paper and talking about the economy).
Anyway, back to the main topic: at Panera when you order coffee you have to go to a self serve coffee bar where the coffee is kept in warming dispensers. It’s nice since I can mix and match; usually I fill my cup two thirds of the way with decaf and then top it off with some regular coffee. That gives me just enough of a caffeine boost without giving me palpitations.
The coffee station is generally empty — until I want to go get some. It seems like whenever I go up there there are 5 people crowding it and standing there forever mixing in Sweet N’Lows and pouring cream while having a conversation about their boss. I can pretty much count on the fact that even if there’s only 3 or 4 customers in the store they are ALL going to mysteriously appear at the coffee bar when I go there. That is the Law of the Coffee Station. I’m so positive, right? I blame my pessimistic streak on my dad, since my mom apparently doesn’t know what pessimism is 
Hi mom!
Related to this is the Law Of La Costa. La Costa Ave is the exit that I take to get to my apartment from Interstate 5. This only happens when I’m coming from the south. I’ll be cruising up the 5 and traffic will usually be relatively clear, but as soon as I get withing 1-2 miles of the La Costa Ave exit there will always be like 3 semi trucks going 45 miles an hour. I’ll be too close to the exit to go around them and they’re so BIG that you can’t cut over, so I have to slam on the brakes and get behind them. 45 miles an hour is torture when you’ve been driving 70. It basically feels like you’re going backwards.
As far as reliability, you can put the Laws of The Coffee Bar and La Costa right up there with Gravity, Thermodynamics, the Strong and Weak Forces, and Time.
In other news I’ve been reading a book called “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” I really like it so far. I’m about 130 pages in, and it’s a mystery/suspense/political intrigue kind of book. I’m not quite sure how to describe it. It takes place in Sweden, which is a really neat setting. I’ve always been interested in places like Sweden and Finland and Norway. You just don’t hear about them that often and I’m curious about their culture. I think they’re pretty modern and Westernized. I’d love to go travel there someday.