sounding notes in Philz

They're really just chords broken up with the sustain pedal pressed, nothing too complicated. But they ripple across the room like waves, enough to make at least a few of the screen-bound denizens look up, look around, first at the player, at each other (all too briefly) and then back at their screens. What is this, this...piano...doing, interrupting the flow of the cafe, where Arcade Fire has until now been laying down the sonic carpet for all the coffee drinkers here to write, read, watch, click and surf upon?

Good. The philzsters turn the radio up and the sounds run roughshod over each other, not just two different rhythms and tones, but two different places, two different callings upon the listener. This is not what we paid our $3 for, is it? Paid our dues up at the front and retreated to the back room here so that we could plug in, sip, and zoom in, pleasantly distracted from the need to remember that we also belong to other places? No doubt, the back room of Philz in Berkeley is the closest daily experience I know to the cyberspace of William Gibson's Neuromancer: plugged in, jacked up, tuned out.

What else is happening? The two girls next to me both have computer screens open, facing each other, coffee, water, notebooks, a napkin on the table. But both sit for the moment peering into smaller screens, cradling their phones with two hands, thumbs moving furiously as they text...text someone. First one sets her phone down, and then the other. A slight sigh from the girl on the other side as the one on this side scans Facebook. No judgment here--I'd probably be doing the same thing if I weren't writing this. But a text comes right back to the far phone, perched as they are, right next to the computer. She picks it up, scrolls, responds.

The next song on the playlist. The piano continues.

Then, laughter from the other side of the room. What, a few friends are talking at one of the tables over there? A woman rubs the back of a bald guy's head, looking amused. They keep talking. What are they talking about? Smiles amidst the arpeggiated chords, the clicking keys, the sound of a metal container being struck repeatedly from the coffee bar in front. The next in a slow stream of people heads to the bathroom. I stretch.

And then, just like that, the guy who had been playing the piano comes to a slow stop, turns slowly on the bench, and puts a book back into his bag. Stands up, looks around slightly, and makes his way across the room. Nobody says anything. I say nothing. I don't even look. What would Facebook girl think if I broke this silence that isn't, if I spoke across her table and said thank you to the guy?

He will never know. Not because he's all that far away now. But because I didn't, couldn't, can't look.

아침엔 서향, 오후엔 동향 카페를 찾아가세요.

여러분 안녕하세요? 환영합니다.

원래 이 블로그를 "카페 생활"에 대한 내 생각을 적으려고 만든 공간입니다. 영어로 쓰인 과거의 글을 보시면 아시겠지만...

저는 UC버클리 대학원생으로 논문을 쓰고 있는 중이거든요. 집, 도서관, 연구실 같은 곳에서 써도 되지만 글쎄...자극이 없다고 해야되나요 (연구실)? 지루하다고 그럴까요 (도서관)? 침대, 소파, TV같은 유혹이 너무 많다고나 할까요 (집)? 그래서 그런지 몇년 전부터 캠퍼스 근처에 있는 카페를 *일하러* 다니기 시작했어요.

아시죠? 밀라노, 스트라다, 얄리스, 버클리 에스프렛소... 수없이 카페가 많습니다. 저는 다는 모르지만 그런 데서 많은 시간을 보내면서 얻은 지식과 생각들이 많아요. 그리고 지금, 논문을 쓰고 있어야 할 때지만 조금 미루는 사이사이에 적어보려고 합니다.

그리고 여러분! 저는 한국어를 배우는 미국인인데 틀린 말이라든지 더 적절한 표현이 있으면 도와주세요! 코멘트를 남겨주시면 참 좋겠어요.

그럼 출발해볼까요? 오늘 생각난 것은 맨 위에 쓰인 겁니다: 아침에는 서향, 오후에는 동향 카페를 찾아가는 게 좋다는 것. 내가 좋아하는 카페인 Fertile Grounds (Shattuck Ave와 Delaware 사거리) 에 왔는데 아침 햇살이 너무 뜨거워서 한시간만 있다가 나가버렸으니까, 무거운 컴과 책 들고 말이에요...

사진은 내가 다음으로 간 카페, 1 block정도 떠러진 데 있는 Berkeley Espresso에서 주문한 카푸치노입니다. 재미있게 생겼죠? 

One day, four corners, one chapter

at Four Corners, San Pablo Avenue at Solano Avenue

...and how many cappuccinos?

Today is a day befitting the title of this blog, if there every was one. I've been shying away from it, again thinking that any writing energy I spend ought to be put into my dissertation, and not into the more 'frivolous' project (if one can call it that?) of blogging here--not even on Found in Translation where, I don't know, it counts, for something or, conversely, on Facebook where you can at least feel as if more of your friends will be seeing it, maybe even giving it a like or two.

And, thinking about it a little more, I guess I'm not the only one of the people I know and think most of as bloggers in my immediate (digital/real) surroundings. Lots of people seem to have given up on it, for now or for the longer now, having moved on to bigger and better (?) writing or other projects. Who has time to be blogging, right?

But it's funny how much the ecologies of media and writing seem to shift over the years. Where before blogging seemed to me (and who am I writing this to anyway--still seems to me) distracted and self-centered, egotistical, etc. etc. (you know, putting your private thoughts out there in the blogosphere for 'the whole world' to see, blah blah blah), NOW it seems like Twitter and Facebook and Tumblr and text messaging and all the rest have given a new name to distraction, while blogging requires some kind of commitment to the development of a text, and requisite centering of attention. Especially when you're not writing to sell through ad-clicks, or optimizing your posts for search engines. I mean, this post would have to be a whole lot sexier to get any attention at all, right?

So here I am writing, and feeling pretty good about it, with a section of the dissertation chapter on methods down, and another big one to go, before the day is through. Rotating through the four corners while I do it, and having a drink at each, is the way I thought I could stomach what looks to be a full day of writing, on what looks to be a fantastic day of clouds and sky outside. Choose places with good cappuccinos, nice ambiance, and big windows. Started at home up Solano, spent the last few hours in the next-generation Four Corners Cafe, and about to turn this western movement south and march down San Pablo to...

two on the lake

Big Valentine's sounds from the world over, courtesy of Oakland's Lake Merritt and DeVotchKa's '100 Lovers':

what campaign for berkeley?

Where are all the lovely students' faces?

I'm not sure if I like this invisible wall--the January version--better than the covered trashbag version we had last month. Oh well, I'm sure the Operational Excellence folks have something even better lined up this term...

from conference halls to the malibu beach

The day started watching the sun rise from the LA Convention Center before presentations started...

And finally able to look up toward the sky again after presentations finished.

And then...the beach.

Bubba and Rosie in the back of the car. Bubba likes eating seaweed and Rosie can take Bubba in a wrestling match any day. Fun evening with Jen & family!