Home, Starbucks, Home
By Angela Arlia

aaaa spend so much time at Starbucks that many of my friends and family call it my second home. (I also happen to spend a lot of time at book stores, so depending on the frequency of visits for the week, the second home can change.) I have never been the type of person who would run home after work or school in search of solitude and comfort. Being alone in a public space has always made me feel very calm and has allowed me to collect my thoughts while casually observing those around me.
	a	aaaaIn addition, people-watching is a guilty pleasure for me. (I'm not quite sure why I find it so interesting. As I've grown older, people's behavior has slowly been turning me into a curmudgeon. But that is neither here nor there.) You can really learn a lot about humankind by people-watching, and Starbucks is just as good a place as any for conducting observations. aaaaThe other day, for instance, I got off the subway and was trying to get around an older woman, who was zigzagging in front of me. The reason for her zigzagging was due to her undivided attention to her Blackberry. As I glanced at her, wearing a number of enormous rings and shiny bracelets and perfectly coiffed 'do, I began to formulate who this person could be. Somehow I got around her only to be headed off by her later in the ordering line at Starbucks. When she placed her order (and I quote): aaaa "A triple grande half decaf, wet, skim, 4 squirts of vanilla syrup, latte, hold the foam,"
aaaaI turned to her and said "Figures!" aaaaYes, my friends, you can learn a lot about a person by not only watching her on the street, but also by noticing how she takes her coffee. aaaaAs much as I love Starbucks, there are times when I get aggravated with the place. Knowing that I sometimes cannot go home to do work, I turn to my second home for quiet and peace. Recently, on a day when I had to get a lot of work done and couldn't go home because I was trying to avoid Momma (cf. Issue 4), I sought refuge in the hallow halls of the siren in the green circle. I walked a span of 20 New York blocks, looking into every Starbucks in that radius (about 9 stores) and every single shop was crammed with coffee-drinkers. aaaa"What in tarnation is going on?" I thought, but far more vulgarly. aaaaWas this just another perfect example of how Murphy's law walks in my shadow? aaaaThis particular incident, and a few others, has led me to propose the following strategy to my favorite Seattle-based hangout. Lots of places have frequent-user cards or bonus rewards. Starbucks, at least in NYC, does not. However, I think that because I am a frequent drinker, whenever I walk through the door a bell should ring signifying that all non-frequent drinkers should get up from their seats to make a space for me. I know it's narcissistic but hey, I spend a lot of my money there (my rent, if you will) and I want to know that whenever I see a Starbucks, I can walk in and be at-home.