EACH AND EVERY DAY STARTS WITH SOME EXPECTATIONS. HOWEVER, IT ENDS WITH EXPERIENCE.
YOU PROBABLY WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATIONS. STOP TRYING TO DODGE THE PROCESS. IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO GROW.
REGARDLESS OF THE OUTCOME, ENJOY THE DAY, EVERY DAY.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
THE EXPERIENCE IN OUR LIVES, REMEMBERED,
IS NOT WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US; BUT
HOW WE REACT TO THAT HAPPENING.
A WAY TO TEST THIS OUT IS TO CHEER YOURSELF BY CHEERING SOMEBODY ELSE UP.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
This unfinished draft, popped up on my ideaSketchpad or sort of popped up; an essay that I worked on in December 2022 / January 2023. Now, to add the finishing touches.
This was on our (Jeannie , my wife, the Batik Influencer) and my trip to the U.S. to visit our No.1 daughter, Laura; for the first time since August 2019. We were there to also attend her graduation from university.
We were met at the O’Hare International airport in Chicago, by Laura’s university swim coach, Dr. Duesterhaus; who drove all the way from Decatur (about 3 hours south-west of Chicago) to pick us up and take us to Decatur. American hospitality – unmatched.
Our meet up with Laura when we got to Decatur was immensely wonderful. Four years, well; almost four years of Whatsapp video calls, Whatsapp messages, emails – and now, in person. What joy!
The picture above was the first family together reunion shot as we got into the house. We didn’t want to take any pictures outside because we could not wait to get in the house. It was freezing cold. Decatur winter. Thank goodness it was just a breeze and not the infamous winds blowing that night. It would have made it all the more uncomfortable to get from the car to the house.
Picture on the left ↢ of me in the bedroom, already at work, putting an article together, while at the same time, trying to catch up on reading.
There is nothing like reading physical books, being able to flip pages, and hear them flipping at the same time. get the smell of the ink on paper (the smell may no longer be there. You can imagine the smell of ink as the letters, words, sentences and paragraphs, newly set ((printed)) on paper dries up).
Reading from a screen is alright for a few minutes, I guess; before a notification, message or advertisement pops up to distract you. It is the only 1 (one) time you’ve got; and everyone, company or distractor is trying to get a piece of the action – your time. Here’s the thing: you don’t have multiple lifetimes, whether running concurrently or one after another. You’ve got one shot at making the only life you have – spectacular; which means using it the way that it is going to inspire you, and others, too.
Don’t forget to grab my book when it hits the shelves in the near future.😁
The picture on the right ↣ of the “Windowed View Of The Outside World” gave me a glimpse of a real live view or what I otherwise saw on tv of an American neighbourhood. Winter, trees without leaves, snowfall flickers on and off, lightly. Houses were basically square or rectangular, mostly 2- or 3-storey, many with a mix of brick, stone, concrete and wood.
This view was my view for a month, as I sat at the table each time, with the window not going anywhere, right in front of me. I am a dreamer. I love to stare outside and let “my mind is my playground” wonder. Think of it: There are no two 1 seconds, or two 1 minutes, or two 1 hours the same. Every moment that has passed is already a different phase. If there is a camera fast enough to capture the transition from one moment to another, you will notice the difference.
It is here at this table, that I wrote a couple (or more) of articles on how robots, like a trojan horse, is taking over the world. I also wrote about how we are easily giving up our rights to decide things for ourselves without putting much thought into it – all in the name of making lives easier for us. Food for thought articles. And more. I found it fun writing those essays.
Laura introduced us to the local cafe, the River Coffee Cafe in Decatur town. It was a cool place to hang out, chill or get some work done. The atmosphere was right, great place to have coffee, some light bites and for us, to do some light work.
In this whole time we were in Decatur, I missed my good friend that I met in my last trip to Decatur, Dick Black. He had just moved to South Carolina a few days earlier. We are still very much in contact through social media.
Spending time with Laura when we were there – there was magic in every moment. I think we cannot or should not spend time trying to think up of what to do or plan what we should do with big chunks of time like weeks, months and years only. Let’s start with the little fellas like moments, seconds and minutes in the present.
U.S.A. – Would I? Definitely!
It has been quite a while since a visit has been made to an “established” coffee joint. Can I say established? I just did. Should the word be a “branded” coffee joint instead? Here it means a well known name with many outlets. To be more precise, a cafe brand with strong financial backing.
Jeannie and I had some time at mid-evening. I asked Jeannie, “Coffee and cake with icing, the soft, mushy, bakery icing that we used to get at cake shops when we were kids. Don’t know what made me come up with this type of cake. I don’t think I was craving for it. Maybe nostalgia had something to do with it. Most important was the coffee, that was a must.
I suggested getting away from our “work stations” for a while, just to chill. Go some place nearby. We wounded up at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. It was our first time at this outlet in Taipan since it went through a renovation transformation. The renovation was quite a while ago.
I think its new look was more clinical – modern, more chairs and tables in which it meant that everyone was sitting closer to each other. Quite nice. The interior design was quite strange though, with a wall (no, not that wall intended to divide two countries), parallel to the counter, starting from the entrance, dividing the room, and stops mid-way. It was almost full house at that time we were there.
At the counter, they had a nice rectangular screen which was about a metre long and 10 inches wide. It brought the menu to us instead of the usual big menu screen boards at the back of the counter (which they had, too). It’s nice to see the menu up close. Maybe, it’s meant for little kids… little kids with lots of money.
We made our orders. We didn’t want anything too heavy as it was close to dinner time. They had a special offer – Iced Mocha with a slice of cake. We decided to have the iced Mocha with whipped cream. We usually don’t have whipped cream to our drinks, but we thought why not “live at the edge” for a change.😉😂 As long as we don’t make it a habit. As for the cake, we went for the cendol cake. Mention “cendol” (spelt “chendol” in the old days), and an image of an Indian uncle with his green (don’t know why but the cendol sellers on tricycles always had their trikes [short for tricycles] in green) tricycle with the manually operated ice-shaving machine. We always asked for more liquid brown sugar.
The cendol slice of cake had the green noodles and red beans, both ingredients for the delicious cold cendol dessert / drink, which is always served cold. That’s the reason for the ice-shaving machine. It had a sort of biscuit as its base and the rest of it kind of cheesy. By the way, the cake served here was about 20% to 30% smaller in size than what you would get at other cafes for the same price.
The Iced Mocha with the whipped cream was quite ordinary.
We were there for the experience. It was quite a pleasant place to hang out, chill and relax.
We definitely will still spend more time with homegrown, entrepreneurial spirit of people who have started up their own cafes like Good Ground Bakery, Bakeyard, Jings, TBX, Contour, Foliage Coffee and many more as they all have their own styles, decor, food and beverage mix – they are less commercial and more people centred. Generally, each of them offer their own unique experience to customers. It’s a nice way of giving reason to why you will be spending more than the coffee shops and mamaks. No doubt that they have their own experiences to share. They, too; are becoming more sophisticated – upscaling the experience for their customers.
We headed home for dinner – one of those rare occasions that we have home cooked dinner. Prepared by the Batik Influencer chef.
The weekend came and went in all fury. It was so fast, that we did not even feel it. Feel may not be the right word. I think a better word is “experience” it.
So, if the word “experience” is a better choice, “Why don’t you edit (is a better word for “making a correction”(?)) it?” you may ask.
Too much work to do so. If I change that word, I would possibly be swayed (by myself) into editing the sentences or paragraphs or even changing the whole meaning in this paragraph, which may in turn cause a mood swing. Haha.
It was one of those (now) infamous sweltering afternoons that we are (I dare say) getting used to. Or are we? The sun is blazing hot. A while (long while) later, the rain and thunderstorms come pouring down on us to the extent that certain parts of the Federal Highway begin to flood with a few inches of water.
On this afternoon, however; it was dry. Jeannie, my wife and I; did a few errands in the morning, had brunch and thought we’d go to our common (more like my) hangout: Good Ground Bakery (GGB).
We were greeted as usual, by Joanne and Monique. I told Jeannie that we had to try their fantastically refreshing drink: Calamansi Cooler. And Joanne makes it super nice. We both ordered a calamansi cooler. I opted for this drink instead of my usual coffee order (It is usually an americano though of late, I go for the flat white, too – both great drinks from here, at the GGB).
I don’t know how they get this drink to this level, but it is an awesome thirst quencher. It was a good drink to keep Jeannie and I company as we chillax, something that we enjoy and is quite rare to us because of our hectic daily schedules.
GGB is famous for it’s…you’ve guessed it: bakery. It makes great breads and pastries, never fails to delight. It’s testimony is by its constant flow of customers, both dine in and takeaway.
People come to establishments like this for the experience. They have the space to do their own thing. You will see many people of all ages come and read books, real books i.e. at a leisurely, calm pace. Or, work on their computer with whatever they are doing and you will notice that they are not stressed out as otherwise would be a common sight. Or they meet with family or friends over a mugga (as in “cuppa” for tea) coffee.
It is mainly an experience each time I visit a cafe or an establishment like Good Ground. I like observing people mainly because everyone is different. And I could be looking for that unique characteristic someone might display that I can use for my book that I am writing (work-in-progress). I find it absolutely intriguing that everyone seems different.
We ordered a slice of Pecan Chocolate cake to go with our drinks. We shared this cake as it was too much for either of us to finish a whole slice each, by ourselves. It was delicious. Sarah, the owner of GGB, is a fantastic pastry chef. You will see that she, together with all her staff; are dedicated to providing the very best in all they offer, to their customers.
It was a nice hour and a half or so that Jeannie and I had. We left, somewhat refreshed, to continue the rest of the day. As we left GGB, we felt some rain drops falling. Dark rain clouds were forming, readying for a thunderstorm. A cool evening, perhaps?
NOTES:
1. Meaning of “swagger” : walk or behave in a very confident or self-important way.
If you see me write, “I will take you somewhere swagger”, it means I will take you or show you
somewhere smart or fashionable in my writing, like here, at Good Ground Bakery.
2. There is an attempt here, sometimes as usual, to challenge subtly, the written English language to past
its boundaries to add “colour”.
MAPS WITHOUT MILESTONES ARE LIKE GOING ON TRIPS WITHOUT DESTINATIONS.
OUR JOURNEY BEGINS WITH OUR FIRST STEP TAKEN TOWARDS THAT DESTINATION.
SOMETIMES, IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW WE ARRIVED AT OUR DESTINATION OR WITH WHAT MODE OF TRANSPORTATION.
MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, WE ARE OBLIVIOUS OF OUR JOURNEY TO AND FRO OUR DESTINATION. OUR EXPERIENCES IN THAT JOURNEY COULD BE MORE MEMORABLE THAN ARRIVING AT OUR DESTINATION.
THE NEXT TIME YOU GO OUT, BE IT ON A SHORT JOURNEY TO AND FRO WORK, OR A LONG JOURNEY TO A HOLIDAY DESTINATION; REMEMBER TO ENJOY THE PROCESS OF THAT JOURNEY. THE SCENERY CHANGES EVERY MOMENT. GRASP, ENJOY AND BE PRESENT TO EXPERIENCE THESE CHANGES. THEY ARE AFTER ALL, THE MILESTONES OF YOUR JOURNEY.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
