but now that i'm rich they give me coffee

--from "Free Coffee" by Ben Folds
and BusBarista is back!

i apologize for my lengthy hiatus. i've been super busy with school, work, theatre, and the drama that comes along with having a personal life.

this will be a brief post, but i'm going to try to do some more posting over the next few weeks since theatre won't be taking over my life as much as it usually. does.

speaking of theatre...

two weeks ago i closed a show called The Dining Room. i was the stage manager, which is NOT an easy task by any means. it requires more time and energy than acting does. i had a truly amazing cast, crew, and director to work with, but we still had our moments. one of my cast members ran into a metal pole and knocked out a few of her teeth. on opening night both my director and another one of my female cast members were violently ill. i had to do the curtain speech and let the girl leave before her last scene. there were more minor mishaps as well, but i won't go into those.

my director is just as coffee-obsessed as i am, so he required that my assistants and i kept fresh coffee in the rehearsal space every night. the cast drank a lot of it, too. it was really pleasant. just like the previous show he directed, A Miracle in Bedford Falls, people took solace in coffee when rehearsals were going poorly and joyously poured themselves another round when thing were going well. we clung to our cups in the cold during smoke breaks in the snow and faithfully kept them at our sides when discussing the ins and outs of the play.

until.

one day we ran out of coffee. not a big deal, right? well, sure. it just meant that we would go without it for a rehearsal or two. just until the department tossed some cash our way and we could run to Ingles to buy some more.

we went without for one rehearsal and that was one rehearsal too many. so the next night our director brought in...instant coffee. i'd never had instant coffee before that night, and i hope that i am never in a position that requires me to drink instant coffee again. i had to put cream in sugar in it. my cast looked at me like i had a large animal crawling out of my face when they saw the cream-colored liquid in my mug. it was the look of, "surely that's not OUR stage manager! certainly not! she drinks her coffee black."

even with the powers of cream and sugar combined, this coffee was SHIT. it was very oily and tasted like it had been grilled--not roasted. it had a very distinct chicory taste.

the next night our director brought in a can of delicious maxwell house coffee and we drank our fair share of it, forgetting about the rotten experience we'd had the night before.

i had a cast member take a picture of me with the instant coffee so that i wouldn't ever forget about the horrible taste and remember that as long as i'm drinking coffee that has to be brewed, not stirred, things can always be worse.

another picture post!

hullo again.
here are some more pictures of the java jitterzjunkiebean in mount holly, north carolina. it's actually where i'm posting from right now! aaand thanks to the lovely anna diemer, i have pictures of le bus in downtown asheville.



here's a shot of the cafe area at the java jitterzjunkiebean. which, really it has only been that way since it became java junkie and has stayed like that for the java bean. it's a really cozy space. we can control the lights with a dimmer for the music that comes in and during the day we close the blinds when it gets really sunny because the shop heats up like an oven. when all of the side work is done and there aren't any customers, i usually curl up on one of those couches and read...and try not to sleep.



behind the counter. it's really strange switching from the double decker, which has almost no wiggle room to a full-size bar with plenty of room to run.


there she is from the other side of the street on Aston.


and this was taken from the garden. we have outdoor seating as well as indoor. the garden is really pretty and wonderfully pleasant on summer nights in asheville.


and this is just for fun. i took a picture of my coffee with the flash on at waffle house the other night. i thought it was neat that you can see my camera.

---

today is my last day at java. i'm going back to school on saturday afternoon and so i'll be back in the bus, which i'm pretty excited about. but i will miss java. i really miss my regulars. i've been serving these folks on and off for two and a half years and i always miss their company whenever i have to go back to school. we don't have very many regulars at the bus because we don't have a bathroom and people don't like to stick around for too long. i'll be back for winter break next year though. no matter what stage of java the shop is in.

stay caffeinated.

pictures!

picture post!

heya addicts.
here are some pictures of the double decker taken by me.
i'll also post a few that my friend paul took of the inside of the java jitterzjunkiebean.

enjoy!



this is a shot i took of the back of the bus. it's taken from where the barista sits at the computer or takes orders. see how tiny it is?


a barista's-eye view!


here's a view of our brews and flavors. underneath the counter you can see how little storage we have for our coffee beans.


this is one of the pictures that paul took. it's behind the bar of java bean. i love this shot.


another cool shot from paul. that's me, apparently moving with some conviction, serving some folks.



aaaand last one. preparing a drink.

hoorays for the picture post!! i'll have another one soonish of the outside and upstairs of the bus. i'll also take some pictures of the seating area and outside of the the java jitterzjunkiebean.

stay caffeinated.

yes please.

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