Happiness is finding a coffee shop that is open in the evening. Finally my long drought is over! Or, as my sister aptly put it, I have "finally discovered the rare breed of small-town coffee shop." After many months of pining for a little place within easy reach where I could go in the twilight hours to relax, mingle and putter around on my laptop, a small coffee shop has opened in the downtown core that could effectively be the answer to my prayers.
I discovered a long time ago, while I was slaving through my 5 year degree in Theology, that I do not do homework well at home alone. Where it is quiet. Where it is lonely. Where the silence itself is distracting. Where there is no one around to keep me accountable to do my homework. There any stray thought is an opportunity to be pounced on and eagerly taken advantage of, like a moth to a flame. Destruction was only "one pretty light" away.
That was when I discovered that I actually focus much better in places where there are people and background noise. It's as though the bored parts of my mind, which would typically be doing cartwheels in my head when I try to focus on anything that does not involve them, get subconsciously distracted by everything that is going on in the background around me, allowing me to work in peace. It's my subterfuge on myself: distract the distracters hehehe. Of course the cup of caffeinated tea that finds its way inevitably into my hand probably helps as well.
Now that I have my evening coffee shop, I see many productive nights in front of me. It feels as though a part of my life has been made complete - coffee shop, where have you been all my life? It's amazing how one little thing can make home feel more like home.
