sunday.

the spider house used to be my favorite coffee house on the planet. there was a change in management and the place took a turn for the worst. instead of the authentic, punk hangout it used to be, the baristas are forced to wear uniforms, there are surveillance cameras, you have to order from a server at a table, more people go there for hardcore drinking, and the owners purchase a whole bunch of kitsch that they purposely beat up to look more punk. it could be that i've gotten older and it is ME that has changed, or the spider house has actually been transformed into a house of plastic kitsch and chaos right before my eyes. i stopped going last year. i could no longer create in the new ambience. the concentration of noisy young hipsters ordering rounds of beer and bitchy wait staff turned me off. it was seven or eight years ago that jamin g. first brought me to the spider house on a date. i decided that it was the best coffee house i had ever been to. we ate cake together on the patio beneath hundreds of x-mas lights and drank hot tea. i have had many dates here, including evenings hanging out with friends and getting lost in hours of conversation. the spider house represented the soul of austin for a long time and it became part of my soul, not to sound too sentimental. there was one point that i spent almost every night here. i used to live in the neighborhood. now i have a different hangout where i sit today with my computer and a list of jobs.... i am thinking about how my life is going to change in the next year. it seems to weigh on where i'm hired next and what i can afford for rent. my book of poems will be out, i want to complete my novel in '09, and i would love to meet someone. i just do not know what is going to happen.


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