Preparing for USBC has seemed frustrating and fruitless at times, and a motivation to continue seemed miles away. Thankfully I was urged to join Ben and M'lissa on a road trip to Durham, NC to visit Counter Culture HQ for certification and competition practice. I rode shot-gun in the Jag with a box of RitzBitz and a satchel of Cliff Bars, rehearsing my competition routine over and over--it's theraputic effect was unexpected and whole heartedly embraced. Along with the zen of a car ride, I had visits with good people in Greenville, SC on the way there and back to give me renewed energy. I doubt their awareness of such is absent, but that makes it all the more genuine, right?
I never thought I would be so invigorated by the same trees that cause my face to turn into bricks of sinus pressure. Counter Culture's HQ is nestled into the quiet streets of Durham and I found myself more in love with the place than I had ever imagined I could. The true sense of community seemed to infect me with the coffee bug that first bit me a year ago.
We all passed the certification and celebrated with burgers and beers. We had to leave 24 hours later for Atlanta commitments, but couldn't come home without a stop to the blog-house to visit a beautiful blog-family for pizza and floats. It was hard to leave, and I'd like to think that had BenZ hadn't needed to return to work, we would have stayed through the night and left our obligations behind for more home-pulled shots and rambles of ex-patriotism and literature.
The week ahead holds packing and practicing. I am moving to a new home simultaneous with traveling to Florida for the first week of Volta's life, followed by a weekend in Minneapolis. Consider me enlightened, and look forward to the words to follow.
4 comments:
Yeah! Literature, good food, and lots and lots of music await you in Florida... We passed all of the city inspections on Friday, state health inspection is scheduled for Tuesday morning. We're so ready. Friends of friends are now stopping by to take advantage of training shots. The rave reviews lift our tired spirits (although having been here for 17 hours today, I'm just flat-out tired at the moment.)
Looking forward to your visit.
wow. nice. you WERE invited to spend the night, btw, and ramble down to the beach with us on sat. another time, eh? thanks for the kind words. the chilling is always nice. and i'm similarly invigorated by the likeminded company.
true, can't you just be satisfied opening a rocking coffee bar? as for literature, food and music, i say my selection is better! ;)
also: that blend is kickin'. call me crazy, but i've been dosing down near 15 grams, and it's just so awesomely malty i don't feel like changing the specs. very, very nice.
malty! yes! I have really disliked that texture/flavor for some time until recently. Interesting how it has so sneakily shown up. Yesterday it was pulling great as I was taking it down to 17 grams. So glad you're loving it!
-battle of the libraries begin!-
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