Domesti City!

My first month at the local coffee shop went like this:

1/ one day of closing training
2/ one day of opening training
3/ open by myself
4/ train the new employee
5/ take over manager position at the roastery
6/ potentially taking it over in May 2010

We have our own Roastery in Lawson Hill, where we roast all the beans for orders all over the country - including but not limited to: Skaneateles, NY, Alaska & most of Colorado. Coffee beans smell like gucky rust that builds up on espresso wands before they are roasted. And they are spanish-moss green. Pew.

To go up to Lawson Hill, I take the Galloping Goose: a free bus San Miguel offers from Telluride to Lawson Hill to Norwood and a loop that goes around the town of Telluride. Free. Now, the Lawson Hill loop only goes early morning and early evening, to get workers and Mountain School kids to and from work/class. So when I go up there, I am stuck up there, unless I make the 45 minute - hour walk back through the twisting Valley Floor. Today, Bill gave me a ride home. He asked if he could take nude photographs of me. No thanks, Bill. He came to the coffee shop later that day to ask again. I thought once was enough?

The reason I am going into so much detail about what a pain in the neck it is to go up the Roastery is as follows: it sure ain't worth it financially. I make approx. 14 dollars minus taxes per Roastery visit. And I have to deal with people like Bill.

But Doug is up there and he's fantastic, a pleasant to talk to wizard Roaster who likes Wilco and thinks Conor Oberst is one of the best lyricist kids we've had in years, which I do, too.

And I learn about coffee. I get to start up this beast of a machine, which eventually creates POUNDS of espresso beans that delight people from here to Upstate New York. I think that's pretty cool.

Closing the coffee shop (which I subsequently have to do when I fill in at the Roastery) isn't much better on making a living. I make about half the tips I make in the morning and I have to haul heavy trash up freaky, unsafe stairs in the dark. AQnd I miss making sandwiches for Brian.

So why am I putting myself through this? Making less than half I would make working for Autumn, nearly double the hours and being stuck in one place?

Well, because I don't feel stuck at all. The gained benefit is living with Brian, living in Telluride, cooking and cleaning in a house instead of a van or a tent, and skiing one of the best mountains I've ever skied nearly every day. Those things plus more trump the "bachelorette" lifestyle of being an ATD rep.

There are also daily events that occur that make me smile wide until my smile muscles start spasming. And not just daily - nearly twice or thrice daily.

I was waiting for the Galloping Goose outside of the Sheridan with a group of shrieking middle schoolers. I considered just walking the 10 minutes home instead of putting myself through a bus ride with banshees. The Lawson Hill bus pulled up, which doesn't stop at Clark's Market (my stop) unless there is someone waiting there for a ride. I wasn't sure if I wanted to risk it.

Then some men from the east coast that were my favorite café customers all day came running up to catch the bus. I told them it was headed out of town and they jollily boasted that the buses take them wherever they want. I decided to hop on with them and get off at Clark's, considering that this was the only other place they possibly could want to get off. The bus driver was a young guy and promptly started blasting Cake's song "Wheels". As we rode the 3 minute drive,

And when the sun is going down I can take a taxi into town
And the waiter at the restaurant sets a table just for one
Wheels keep on spinning round spinning round spinning round
Wheels keep on spinning round spinning round and round

So I had a plane to take me to a place so far away from you
Eventually we began to see that we could be completely free

the song beamed happiness into my ears. Everyone else on the bus dug it too. The east coasters had tipped me a hefty six bucks earlier that day for making them pretty lattés and yummy hot chocolates.

Before Clark's, I fished out 5 dollars and on my way off the bus thanked the driver and smiled, handing him a tip.

Tipping: I think you should tip anyone who does a service for you that you believe they did well. I've always wanted to tip a Goose driver, but no driver has ever given me a reason to do so.

I like living somewhere. I love living in Telluride.