Changeable.net

Earlier this week, I figured out that there is a Coffee Bean inside of a building that is two doors down from my own apartment building.

My immediate thoughts:

• How have I lived here for 6 months without knowing this?!? I used to think I was detail oriented. Now… not so much.
• Is this a good thing? If I am craving a Tea Latte (I only order tea products from CBTL. Their coffee is not so excellent, unfortunately) I no longer have to drive (or take a half hour walk) into Westwood Village or even South of Wilshire Blvd. to get my fix.
• Is this a bad thing? It is way too tempting to get drinks. I have already gotten too many. And I am already on a first-name basis with the Barista. I need to stay away from my general apartment area between 5pm-6pm… they have a happy hour from 5-6! 50% off beverages!
• WAIT! By June or July… I will no longer be living two doors down from a coffee shop. I have been given this luxury only to have it torn away by the end of next quarter.
• At least I found it in time for finals! Correction. I meant to say… final. As in I am only taking one exam. Sigh. It has been good for me to take it easy this quarter, but seriously, one final?!? It kind of takes away the adrenaline rush of 10th week/finals week. I do have some more papers that I need to do well on, but still. Okay, end of that digression, back to my thoughts on Coffee Bean.
• The Coffee Bean is inside of the Hillel building. Hillel is a Jewish student center. Hmm… I get it! The Coffee Bean is Jewish owned. That explains why they are Kosher.
• My first name is Esther… my middle name is Ruth… Do they think that I am Jewish? Some people have mistakenly thought that I am Israeli (among a myriad of other ethnicities, nationalities, etc.) in the past, and that was without me visiting a Jewish organization several times in a week.
• As a… Non-Jew? Gentile? and even more so, as a Christian, is it bad for me to be getting coffee from here?

and finally…

• Why are so many thoughts generated by finding this place? Haha, I really do overthink everything. Oh well. Makes me who I am.

Here we go! Some are strange, some more common, some are completely uninteresting, etc.

• I like to find blogs that have been running for a while, (meaning a couple years or at least several months) and read through the entries, from the earliest to the most current. It fascinates me to see the ways that a person has changed or stayed the same… it’s cool to see how certain things that the person may have never written about in the past are common topics now, and how other interests have faded away.
• Because of this interest, I really hate web trackers/ip-logs, etc because I am paranoid that people will realize that I have read so much about them. At the same time, it is their right to know, especially if I am reading things from years back, so I understand why people use them. I mean, I use them from time to time as well, but I try not to just because I am terrified of the idea of people doing that to me.
• I have recently been drinking a LOT of soda. I have never been much of a soda drinker, but my affection towards diet coke (and diet pepsi when I am on campus) has increased to an unhealthy level.
• I love to swim. Today I went swimming for the first time in a long time. As in circle pattern swimming. I do not do this nearly enough, and I think it is one of my favorite forms of exercise. I am no pro at it and my technique sucks, but it is freeing and relaxing.
• I am scared of getting skin cancer (family history of it), so I think this is one of the reasons I do not swim as much as I would like. I am scared of the sun!
• I also miss running, but running at the gym/at the track are not so fun to me (not to say that I never do these), and again, my fear of the sun/fear of what can happen to me if I run at ngiht keep me from running as much as I would like.
• I am still a procrastinator. I choose to swim/pick up extra shifts at work/read old blog entries before I finish my reading assignments for class. Oops. Some days God is a top priority, other days not so much.  I have gotten better through the years, but I am still trying to make myself a more disciplined person when it comes to prioritizing.
• Despite the procrastination, I am going to try hard to finish this quarter strong. Next week is the last week of classes, and the week after that is finals. I want to stay on top of it all and enjoy it.
• I love finding little places on campus that are kind of hidden and proivde a different view/perspective of the lovely buildings/places on this beautiful school I have been blessed to be able to attend.