After my scooter ran out of gas and I pushed it to the gas station, I went to the coffee shop.
I went to a different coffee shop than the one I usually go to, I went to the one with matching silver chairs and newer design in a building with lofts on top.
The coffeeshop is called “Ugly Mugs” but the people in there look better dressed than the one across the street. People here seem to be more talkative and chatty and want to be seen by someone, but probably not by me.
People in here seem to making deals and stuff. Maybe even “crushing it.”
I don’t usually go to Ugly Mugs, I usually go to Portland Brew. It is across the street. It seems older, and it is a few years older, even though the building is only 10 years old or something. Like the pastiche of history is baked in.
It’s also quieter, like a library. The people in Portland Brew seem more earnest. They want their poetry to succeed. They want their art to be appreciated. When I’m in Portland Brew I usually hear people talk about how they are making a music video for an alt-country star or talk about the latest indie rock records.
Ugly Mugs has like a sheen of newness, like it’s waiting for a startup to choose it for its special pop-up shop event.
The people in Ugly Mugs are like life coaches.
The people in Portland Brew are depressives.
Anyway, I was in Ugly Mugs and they were playing classical and that doesn’t really help me so I took out my headphones and I had the largest headphones.
Most people had earbuds, but not me, I had headphones.

They’re not officially “noise cancelling” but they do the trick.
I sat a communal table but didn’t talk to anyone.
I looked around and I had the largest headphones. I felt like this made me more important, like my work took more concentration.
Or that I was mixing important beats for the next Lil Uzi Vert record or something. That what I was doing was about to make the front of Spotify or something.
I am one of the few people that can feel superior about headphones, even though I know nothing about audio stuff or headphones. I bought these awhile ago because Wirecutter told me they were good, I think.
Or maybe Amazon did. I don’t know.
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