Virtual Coffee House

The intent is to stir conversation. Real. Virtual. As a thread. As a String. Contemplation probably deserves its own catagory and heading. 

 

The Coffee House at the Edge of the Earth

     Whether the coffee house is a real coffee house or just another café won’t be a factor until much much later. It will be a matter of taste and style. Of course this exists only in my dis-ordered mind, so it could be a mixture of memories, good and bad interactions, and indistinct poorly framed thoughts of the future.        

     Why the Edge of the Earth for a coffee house? Well I am here. I am on the brink. And this could be the true edge of reality. I am not suggesting that this is your Edge of the Earth (I am not that presumptuous). But when I move to another place on the plane and change my perspective I still see this place as the loci of my existence. So where better to have the coffee house.   

    Visitors will see me only as the proprietor, but I hope my role is larger. There have been six visitors, one a resident along with me so she may not count as a visitor. No visitor has felt comfortable looking toward the edge, or getting near the end. Facilitator? Styx Master?  Server? Yes server is good.   

    Wayne is an example of success in a transportable coffee house. Proclaimed “Mayor” of his provenance Wayne has driven a stake in the ground(s) so to speak. That fertility has not been achieved at the Edge of The Earth. Jealous? No. How can you move the edge of the earth? Things may change in front of the edge, but I think the edge itself it is permanent. In this coffee house it is all about participation. Ready?   

    The coffee is good. The selection is modest, and without a barista with training in multi-flavored brews, the selection is not the focal point. Actually drink coffee? Well, yes. The four and five day old newspapers and a few magazines would do justice to a 1950’s Dentist office or Chiropractor shop. The conversation is always brisk, but right now one-sided and the echo is loud. Let’s move to the porch so the walls wouldn’t reflect the talk. I do wonder if there is an echo are you more responsible for what was said? OH. That is called media. I think I understand, kind of like one hand clapping.   

    The visitors have enjoyed their coffee, had refills, but they remained pretty quiet, non-conversational. My expectation, my hope, had been for dialog with them, perhaps some contemplation, but not withdrawal. OK. Could I engage in virtual conversation(s)? What is the reality of that idea, Chump Change?   

    So visitor: Is a virtual conversation less valid, less meaningful, and more fleeting than actual conversation? I think I will have a chalk board with more than the prices of coffee and drinks on it. How about: Meaningful Thoughts  $1. Moments of Conscious $1. Self-Awareness $1. Pregnant Ideas $1. Manic Expressions $.50. Explicit Conversation $1. Virtual Conversation Priceless. Pretty clever, me charging the visitor for their own participation, right? But it is my damned coffee house and I can charge what I want. Collecting is an issue, right.     

    This place will remain just a coffee house. To become a café there would need to be an infusion of visitors with more demands for intellectual services: a café of perpetual thought? Just because the number of visitors remains few in this coffee house of the mind, that does not reflect on the quality of the THOUGHTS! Like, No Smoking is a very big idea. It is huge. We do not even smolder and someone says/thinks no smoking. And why is the edge of the earth here? Answer that in three sentences. So the focus is not just the coffee, served hot, preferred black and robust, but original thoughts that can only be composed looking toward the Earth’s end. What a view.