Grande Soy Chai,No Water

I spend a lot of time in my local Starbux. Yes, that's what we Seattle folks do. We sit around, drinking our fancy designer drinks (or not) pretending we are hip and cool.  Generally, I sit with the same crowd of friends, and I must interrupt myself and state that we are far from the coolest people we know!  We sit and watch the comings and goings of the regulars, being perfect ourselves we feel we have the tools to discuss who has the best shoes/dress/hairstyle of the day.  The baristas know our drinks and have them waiting without us having to order, We sit in the same chairs each day and it's very urban comfortable.  Now, I don't know about your favourite watering hole, but the fun starts in ours when we try and assign a "life" to each customer.  Oh, here comes Russian Shotputt Lady (triple tall no foam latte) closely followed by Eddie Izzard.  No, not the TRUE Eddie, but close enough for rock n roll.  If the real Eddie should feel the urge to wander in, I'll let you know.  Another interesting way to pass time is Spot the Affair.  It's amazing how many people have chosen my sleepy neighbourhood to meet.  Totally obvious to all and sundry, partly because of the separate cars they invariably arrive in, but also the almost indecent amount of touching and kissing that goes on.  Dear people, this is the NW, we don't DO public displays of affection, everything here is amazingly understated.  Goodness, the average couple here just about says please and thankyou after their obligatory weekly/birthday shag session!

Kids and School Cliques

So 3 of my kids are heading back to school in a few weeks, 2 of them will be facing the daily drama of middle school.  We've all been there - are my clothes trendy enough, will I "fit in", which "clique" will I join?  I'm also wondering the same thing - will I be with the "popular" mums, the "I volunteer for everything even though I'm a working mother" group?  No, I think I will be, once again, one of the mothers that thankfully, doesn't really fit into one group.  Our beloved, recently graduated from, elementary school had many of these cliques, from the "I'm best friends with my kids teacher and therefore get more student/teacher time than you", and the young mums who think that their kid is the most precious/important kid in the school.  I've spent many years doing the whole school thing, my oldest just turned 20, and it's no less fascinating to watch now than it was when HE was in preschool.  I'm given the evil eye at school by these young things, obviously wondering why someone as old as I am (somewhere in my mid/late 40s) is at school, little do they realise that I have 2 older kids too, fertile thing that I am :)  Would love to meet up with them in another 15 years time and see just how they fare, more than a few of them need to stop and realise they and their kids are small fish in big ponds - yes, there IS a whole world out there that doesn't really care about them!  Maybe they should be reminded of the recent speech about graduating kids NOT BEING SPECIAL.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f2j53aXDUQ