Random stuff

[apocalypsos]

-- Do you know what I would do for there to be a little cafe in this town where I could just walk to it when it's snowing, sit down with some hot tea and a pastry, put on my headphones, and use my shiny new Fly pen? I've always kind of wanted to start up a little place like that in town that, like, sells books and coffee and gives local singers a chance to perform (because really, there are a lot of kids around here who get into bands and are really good) and shows movies and stuff on the weekends. No, seriously, I've got this whole thing planned out in my head, and if it weren't for the fact that every business in this town that's not a funeral home is doomed to fail -- no, honest, you should see all the abandoned buildings on Main Street -- I'd be sorely tempted to try and start it even though I have absolutely no business sense whatsoever. If I ever win the lottery, I'm totally doing it though.

The sad thing is that a place like that would have gone over like crazy when I was in high school. My entire graduating class was either hippies, singers, poets, or people with garage bands, there wasn't a single place in this town for teens to hang out (and still isn't), and the popular guys used to kill time in study halls and driver's ed playing chess. We were kind of awesome, in retrospect. :)

-- I have never in all of the years I have known my aunt ever disliked anything about her, and then I went to Christmas dinner and found out she said my cousin was not allowed to read the His Dark Materials books or go see The Golden Compass because the church said not to. I don't think I've ever bitten my tongue so hard in that house in my life.

-- Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack. Damn.

-- The responses I've been getting from my Yuletide stories have been perking me up the past few days, which is good considering what little sleep I've gotten. I've been recced a few times, I've gotten some really nice comments. One or two of them still don't have comments from the people who received them, unless they're using other names in which case ... *shrugs*, but so far I'm totally happy with the way it's turned out this year. :) (Is it next year yet? Can we do it again?)

I can't wait until I can taaaalk about them, damn it.

Comments

[pushingyouaway.livejournal.com]

you're happy with how the yuletides worked out? some of us are freakin' ecstatic with how they turned out =)


*cookies*

still having fun with yer fly pen?

[mellaithwen]

found out she said my cousin was not allowed to read the His Dark Materials books or go see The Golden Compass because the church said not to.

*eye twitch*

[anonymous_sibyl]

I've always kind of wanted to start up a little place like that in town that, like, sells books and coffee and gives local singers a chance to perform (because really, there are a lot of kids around here who get into bands and are really good) and shows movies and stuff on the weekends.

Oh, yes. Me, too. Homebaked muffins and cookies, hot coffee and teas, and a fireplace. Definitely a fireplace. Books for sale upstairs or in another room. People hanging around, drinking coffee, writing, reading, knitting, just relaxing.

A friend and I used to dream of having a B&B so we could make a cozy, happy place for people to come. And for ourselves. *grins*

[lovetheboys.livejournal.com]

Okay, that first point? Totally do-able.

Picture a very small town, a blip on the road, in extremely rural upper Michigan. A picture of the "downtown" of Rapid River.

Picture the amount of very, very bored kids that live in that town (pop. just shy of 4500), as the nearest anything-to-do (besides hang at the local eatery--which has good pie but little else--or the antique shop) is at least a half-hour's drive away, and most of 'em can't drive and/or don't have cars.

Then picture the local 4-H coming up with a pretty cool idea: a youth-run coffee house that has been around for years.

It hosts live shows, has a small library of magazines and audio books, and I can personally vouch that the coffee and food are good.

They also have a MySpace page, but I'll forgive them for that...

In short? It seems like it could work other places, too. Does your local high school have any "future entrepreneurs"-type clubs? (I did not do clubs in high school, so I have no idea what clubs even exist anymore...) Maybe you could start a movement. And hey, a lot of times those closed storefronts will be (relatively) cheap to unload/rent them.

Just so's you know. It's been done, and I bet it can be done again. Lots of work, but it might be worth it.