What’s Behind This Insanity?

What I've been up to…

Ok well I just recently arrived home after vacationing at the Drewlo house… that's right I just spent the last week living with two of the best friends anyone could ask for while some parents left town – Sharelle & Lavonne you are my heroes! I mostly just repayed their favor of having me stay with them by distracting them from their paper writing and lazing around eating food and reading Harry Potter! Oh yeah I occasionally let the ruddy dog out, talked on the phone and slept when I wasn't at work! So yeah, heres to great times of doing nothing but being away from your crazy family and chill'n out with some great friends in a really nice house. Thanks Girls!

Special Mention…

Well Lavonne has mentioned that she would like her picture posted on my blog! Well I have this fabulous photo of her in a frame on my wall – its black and white and she looks like a model try to make that zoolander face! Neways, I think its too much work to take this photo out of its frame and scan it into the computer so this one will have to do instead. . .

Another mention…

Ok well I've been reading other people's blogs today and man it gives me great joy and laughter to catch up what's going on with other people. Ever since my Trinity life came to an end I really miss people and even just miss being around my close friends all the time. The working life I admit has its perks, but it also has its downfalls and one of those is you don't have the luxury to go catch up with friends at any point during the day – your stuck in your cubical! So anyways, I was checking out Conor Thorpes blog today and it gave me a good laugh! All I can say is Conor is blunt that is great! Ya'll should check it out… http://www.irishcon.blogspot.com/. If there is anything you should know about me I love blunt people – heck my boyfriend Rick Vugteveen has this habbit of sticking his foot in his mouth all the time and what have we learned about foot mouths – mouth + foot equals good laughs! So note to you if you are blunt – I will most definately love and appreciate you – you are free entertainment!

Another blog…

worth mentioning at the moment is Ang Haugo's! Check it out at http://surfang.blogspot.com/. My friend Ang is living in Hawaii and her blog is real and full of adventure! What can I say? I miss her a ton and wish I was living in Hawaii with her! She really knows how to make great dance videos and is just an amazing person overall – she is my friend and role model for attitude, always energetic and has this amazing heart for people… plus shes a legend from White Rock and we all love her here back at home! I can't wait to see her again! Here's the biggest picture of her ever ahaha . . .

Having a keen interest in human interaction and communication, along with understanding the many different walks of life I have recently found this little clip of reading to be quite fascinating. I have been sick at home the last couple days and as I was reading my Starbucks book (yes I am an over the top Starbucks keener and I can only thank Rick for giving me the book as part of my recent Christmas gift), I ran into this sort of North American reality phenomenon. This may be obvious, but also, I think, important! Of course the author (Howard Schultz) is talking about the expansion and growth of Starbucks and how he cannot only contribute the companies success to coffee alone, but to the fact that North American cities are screaming for more human interaction and how that need is possibly shown through people wanting to gather in strong social atmosphere’s. I of course think this little clip is great as it somewhat compares the contrast between city and suburban living, but also how people have a deep need to socialize with one another outside of their homes and duldrums of the working life. Now I realize that this book I’m reading is a strong source of Starbucks propoganda, but I think that much of what it has to say is relevant to our everyday social presence in North America. So please treat yourself to some reality (a least this is a reality I can relate to) by reading on…

“In American, we are in danger of losing the kind of casual social interaction that is part of the daily routine for many Europeans. In the 1990’s coffee bars became a central component of the American social scene in part because they fulfilled the need for a nonthreatening gather spot, a ‘thrid place’ outside of work and home. Ray Oldenburg, a Florida sociology professor, wrote most eloquently of this need in his book, The Great Good Place (1989).

Oldenburg’s thesis is that people need informal public places where they can gather, put aside the concerns of work and home, relax, and talk. Germnay’s beer gardens, England’s pubs, and French and Viennese cafes created this outlet in people’s lives, providing a neutral ground where all are equal and conversation is the main activity. America once had such spots, in its taverns, barber shops, and beauty parlors. But with suburbanization, they are vanishing, replaced by the self-containment of suburban homes. As Oldenburg observes:

Without such places, the urban area fails to nourish the kinds of relationships and the diversity of human contact that are the essence of the city. Deprived of these settings, people remain lonely within their crowds.

Starbucks’ fastest growing stores today are in urban or suburban residential neighborhoods [not the city as anticipated]. People don’t just drop by to pick up a half-pound of decaf on their way to the supermarket, as we first anticipated. They come for the atmosphere and the camaraderie.

The generation of people in their twenties figured this out before the sociologists. As teenagers, they had no safe place to hang out except shopping malls [this proving to no longer be the case any more – i.e. need I say Metrotown]. Now they are older, some find that bars are too noisy and raucous and threatening for companionship. So they hang out in cafes and coffee bars. The music is quite enough to allow conversation. The places are well-lit [and clean might I add]. No one is carded, and no one is drunk. Sometimes a group will gatherat a Starbucks before heading off to a movie or other entertainment, sometimes they just meet to talk.”

I could keep typing at this point as the clip goes on to talk about people who run businesses out of their homes use places like Starbucks as a social outlet – a place to get away and socialize. However, I will stop here. Just thought I would share that, maybe spark some questioning of how we choose to live our lives – whether we interact with other people we know or sometimes don’t know on a regular basis. I think its healthy for us to socialize and be around different people once in a while. Just a thought – maybe stepping out of those comfort zones we have and touching base with another human being once in a while can make a differenc. Just something to ponder…

Lana Jay