DELIGHTFULLY OPEN

According to a Yelp review from two years ago, this blogger, when at work, is "delightfully open", and "not at all shy". And worth listening to for two hours. It surprised me, as I consider myself a shoo-in for club bore.
I honestly did not recognize myself in that laudatory review.
The caffeine was probably at an all-time high.


Like nearly everyone, the first Yelp review I myself wrote was slamming the horrid attitude of the staff at a business where I thought I deserved at least some consideration. And every review I've written since then has been an attempt to show that I am not an asshat.


And not shy.

Actually, unless we're speaking about matters I am pleased to know in some depth, or insulting Republicans, I may not know what to talk about. Many of my best conversations have been with people I would never likely see again at a cigar bar where I went on occasion to smoke a pipe in peace and quiet by myself. They were visiting San Francisco for the first time, and might not have ever seen a live pipe smoker before.

So we ended up in conversation, perhaps about the Keter Aram Tzova, dim sum and pastries, Chinese calligraphy, French fries, herring, lobster, eel .....
It must have sounded totally goobus to any witnesses.


Hello Kitty may have been mentioned once or twice. I have a Hello Kitty backpack in which I carry pipes, tobacco, and sometimes books.
It is a lovely item which I only use on workdays.
There is no Hello Kitty tobacco.


About two years ago I stopped going there with any frequency, for a variety of reasons. I still like the place, but much more as a resource, instead of a place I need to go to. I am not that fond of cigar smokers.

It exists. That is intellectually satisfying.

As a teenager I preferred quieter places. Pot of tea, newspaper, pipe, tin of tobacco. Scant background music if any. At that time I may not have been "delightfully open", though not shy.

The environment of 'Jeugdsociëteit Parsifal' (a social club for youths in Valkenswaard) was more enjoyable in late afternoon, when there was nobody there, and I could read without being bothered.

"The smell of your pipe reminds me of a someone ..."

Just like nowadays, on a day off, when I can scour the internet with little but the sound of jackhammers and heavy concrete crushing equipment in the background, with a hot cup of coffee and the first pipe of the day.
Laundry as a 'must do', then lunch as a delightful prospect.
Second pipe under an awning watching the rain.
Wet street; Jackson or Washington.
People scurrying past.


Afterwards, milk tea.


We can discuss frogs.




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