~ °Café de Terrasse° ~

The thoughts of an odd duck who sits alone in a night cafe, with a stylo in his right, a journal in his left, a valise under his chaise, a tasse on the table, and plenty of time to pass.

~ Salut! Come and join me at Table #12 |Leaving so soon? Ecrivez-Moi! ~

As of right now, patrons have patronized me. I feel...

The current mood of wearytraveller at www.imood.com

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~ dimanche, mai 11, 2003 ~

The following comments were overheard last night in the local Starbucks café as Duarte High School AP students "studied" for their exams:
"We're Americans. We don't have rebellions." -sr
"Wasn't that when Ben Franklin met with all his homies?" -sr
"What were we studying again?" -ad
"Kung ano anong sinasabe nitong puting babae nito!" -jj
"I wonder what everyone else is studying." -bc
[After 7 minutes of reading] "Do you understand it now? ... Yeah, me neithre." -jj
[After just 1 minute of pure, focused studying] "I'm hungry. Wanna go out to eat?" -ad
[After the above comment was made] "Sure!" -sr, jj, bc
"We should just fail the test. It'd make things sooo much easier." -bc

~Benjamin 5/11/2003 06:00:00 PM

Study groups are terribly fun. I guess that's why they never work for me. Where, exactly, is the best place to hold a study group? The bookstore perhaps? Well, when all the comfy store chaises are taken and we are forced to sit on the floor near the art section, and a girl comes by with her father and a woman with a B&N nametag, saying that she wishes to look at the books behind the corner where we are studying so our group would have to be totally gerrymandered, it causes just a tad bit of a distraction. What about the local Denny's? Well when there are countless numbers of extremely loud morning folks who shout out their orders for skillet breakfasts and eat like cows chewing cud while talking to their companions about the grittyness of their hash browns, concentration levels aren't quite as high as we wish them to be. And when it becomes apparent to the manager that nobody in our party wishes to order anything except free water and that all we wish to do is take their largest, most requested table of the restauraunt to pile our books and packs on, things don't exactly work out for us at the end. What about a café? Wonderful choice! But not when it's an extremely petite Starbucks in a city that is 15 miles away from your intended destination where, due to the sudden world craving for coffee, you are forced to sit outside where the sun is scorching the humid air and is gleaming its super-radiant rays against your bright white paper and into your retinas as you seat four people to a table that is meant for two people so it holds only two out of twelve books, studying isn't a very comfortable activity. As we discovered, the best place to study was the local Duarte Starbucks where we secured three comfy "couches", three tables of varying heights, and an atmosphere of French-Roast coffee scents, silent middle-age philosophy students, and plenty of food, plus a nice barista who knew some of us by name. But, what happens when things get too comfortable!? It isn't very easy to study when you're having so much fun with some of your bestest friends in a cool talkative environment with catchy lounge tunes and gigantic blue cushions under your tooshies. You eithre want to sleep, chat, or eat. I had oodles of fun last night! I can't wait till our Summer vacation "study groups".

~Benjamin 5/11/2003 05:38:00 PM

~ samedi, mai 10, 2003 ~

Aie... friend of mine walked into class yesterday with a stain on his shirt. My fellow peers and I just kept staring at it until someone made it public by saying, "Carlitos, your nipple is bleeding." He ran out of the room with a tissue in one hand and a reciept in the other. Honestly, I cannot undestand why anybody would ever do that there. I could understand the puncturing of holes in ears, navels, tongues, and other stuff... but what in goodness would ever possess someone to pierce their pink nurple? I wonder what happens when it's cold outside.

~Benjamin 5/10/2003 01:22:00 PM

~ vendredi, mai 09, 2003 ~

I drove down to the City of Angels this afternoon and went back in time. I saw my birthplace- Queen of Angels Hospital, where I got myself into this mess, haha. I passed by Echo Park. It was actually beautiful tonight because the dim neon lights around the park really brought out the gleam across the water's surface. The grass is still green! So I kept driving trying to find my former house on Kensington but I didn't remember where it was and the map I had drawn in my personal journal wasn't as accurate as I thought. So I kept driving around... wow, it can get terribly congested on the streets there. I drove like a Frenchman... I just barely made it around the cars, weaving literally centimetres from the cars around me. I almost crashed on three occasions. There's something about the semi-residential areas of northern Los Angeles that remind me of a combination of Paris, San Francisco, Mexico City, and Manila. It was like travelling in a foreign country. It seemed rather lonely though because I looked into a café and found nobody there but a barman and a drinker guy talking about some serious mattres. It was like a neighborhood café. There was a store, a church, and a café on seemingly every rue corner. What would happen if I hadn't moved to Duarte? I'd probably still be living around there. I would maybe have "streetsmarts" too. Hehe... I can't believe I got out of my car in front of some rough looking hoodlums to check the headlights. My experience overall was a highly intriguing, semi-nostalgic one.
So, dear readers, where are you from? Please click on the comment link below and share with us, your birthplace and your hometown!

~Benjamin 5/09/2003 10:34:00 PM

~ mercredi, mai 07, 2003 ~

"Don't you get it!? If you're calling her a dumb f*ckin' bitch and she's calling you a dumb f*ckin bitch, well then I'm sorry but you're both dumb f*ckin bitches."
Hehe, I'm sorry. Please excuse the profanity but I had to post that because I found it a bit humerous, especially the fact that it came from a teacher. Goodness. There was 'drahma' in one of my classes today... right in front of all of my peers! Goodness, and to think that they were such good friends in the beginning of the year! Sheesh. We all lose friends and we make them... but still, it's soo hard to find good friends these days. Or rather, it's easy to find them but hard to know that you've found them. How many people reading this can honestly fill in the blank- "My best friend is ____________." Can you? If so, please fill in the blank by clicking the comment link below and sending an anonymous comment with a single name. Thank you!

~Benjamin 5/07/2003 07:24:00 PM

~ mardi, mai 06, 2003 ~

I took the AP French Language Test today. I've never realized how... bad I was in French. That test for me was a complete disaster. My mind was out of it. All I remember was hearing the word "Bonjour" and my mind went blank. My prediction is that I got a 1 on the test but perhaps I may be lucky enough to get a 2. (Lower your expectations... it eithre prepares you for much joy or spares you much sorrow.) I have one more AP Exam to take- AP Government. Well enough about me, what about you? If you have taken any AP exam or are preparing to do so, please do share with us, your experiences by commenting on this post. Even if I do not know you, just click on the link below and fill out the information boxes. Thank you!

~Benjamin 5/06/2003 05:45:00 PM

~ lundi, mai 05, 2003 ~

Today I took the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition Examination. It didn't seem that difficult but I'm still not to sure I passed it. Last year's seemed harder but I barely passed that one with a 3. Anyway, i went on an adventure after my test today with my friends Lisa, Natalie, and Sonya. I got to thinking... why do I seem to always be the only guy going on these excursions with three other girls? It never really hit me until now when I sortof felt out of place in a totally feminine atmosphere. I remembered how I used to go on excursions with Andréa, Aradhana, and Lucille last year. Then it was Fatima, Victoria, and Sonya. Now I catch myself going on escapades with Natalie, Sonya, and always a third person. I haven't had any real female friends since preschool. There is something about having girls as friends that is rather relieving because you can talk to them about things that guys just dont share. Like cooking tips and hair... Am I abnormal?
No, I just got in touch with...
Alright, wait, no. I totally lost my train of thought. I just got off the phone with some Army recruiter guy. Hmmm... he just scheduled an appointment for me to meet with him this Thursday so that I can enlist. I don't know how the heck I get myself into these situations! Sheesh. Let me see if I can cancel the appointment because although I'm open to joining the military at one future point in my life, by golly, not yet... just not yet.

~Benjamin 5/05/2003 06:10:00 PM

En memoire de Floy Catabas (1932-2002)