I’m feeling on the edge of a sickness this morning. It started last night, I think, when I left the gym wearing only a t-shirt. I wasn’t cold (even though the weather had cooled considerably by the time I finished), but as I drove home, I felt a tickling in my throat. The tickling swelled to an ache when I went to bed. I woke up this morning cold with a soar throat. I’m dressed in three layers of clothing on a drizzling Seattle morning, sitting in Lottie Motts. The coffee is better today; the barista sketched the leaf design in the foam, which is the sign of a good cup of cappuccino or mocha (at least aesthetically). The music selection is not as interesting as last time. It’s a bit distracting, but the genre changes every song, and most are light or dull enough to ignore. The barista selected a “This American Life” CD for entertainment. It’s an interesting episode about superpowers. The thing is I don’t want to listen to it. I’m trying to concentrate and it’s terribly distracting. Luckily, the coffee house began filling up, and the murmur of conversations—all, regrettably, too far away for me to hear—drowned out the radio program.

In my eavesdropping of the barista, I heard that Lottie—who I assume is the Lottie in Lottie Motts—might be selling her artsy coffee house. This might be disappointing, particularly since I just found this place a few weeks ago, and I might have to return to the bucks of stars, not a bad place, but a place without personality, the McDonalds of coffeehouses, if you will. (I’m not sure if it would be disappointing since, while the coffee was better today, the music selection was annoying and the place smells faintly of cleaning supplies. This same smell dominated the NYC diner where I ate those delicious grilled cheeses last week.) I’m heading to downtown Seattle tomorrow morning for a larger coffee house with hopefully a better selection of music and a tolerable odor.

I’m not feeling especially energetic even after the caffeine jolt, but I’m going to fight through and try to write. I need a nap. The caffeine has run its course. I think it was a weak dose, since I haven’t had a shot in a while, and this one barely affected me. Either that, or my sickness dulled its effect.