a cardboard cup and a laptop

So I'm sitting here in a coffee shop* drinking my tall quad Americano (2 decaf) on this bright (i.e. still dark) and early Monday morning, grateful that they've put on some non-Christmas music and taken down, well, most of their decorations – and all of a sudden on comes this country, I repeat, COUNTRY song. What the what?? Come on, people. This is Hong Kong, for heaven's sake, and who even likes country music outside the States? I suppose I should be happy it's not Bob Marley or Jack Johnson, which seems to be the staple coffee-shop music anywhere outside of the U.S., but still.

Anyway, um, good Monday morning to you, and I hope everyone had a good break, for those who were fortunate enough to take a break. And now it's back to the grindstone. Caffeine-laden am I, and therefore now ready. Ta-da.


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*I strongly hesitate to admit that I am indeed sitting in a Starbucks** – but the thing is, along with my phone and water bottle, I also forgot to bring my coffee mug this morning. So I had the choice of either putting my head down and getting on with the day while continuing to be grumpy and slovenly, or making the most of this opportunity to have a nice hot cup of loverly, while simultaneously putting a stop to the impending headache that will come if I don't.

**Not that I hate Starbucks in its entirety, mind, I suppose it's just the whole corporate-world-domination thing that gets to me. You know. But as much as I openly despise Starbucks, Wal-Mart, et al. (and increasingly IKEA) – the cold fact remains that I do visit these places on occasion. My mantra, for the new year and beyond, is "do what you can" (and when you really get down to it, that is actually a rather freeing statement). And that, honestly, is all I can ask for.