Atlanta Pre-Noon

I wake up on a couch in Midtown and am giddy to get out. Not really enthused to see the World of Coke or Olympic Village or the Georgia Aquarium... but the Atlanta where people live and interact. Google and guidebooks are not particularly helpful in this regard. 

Caribou Coffee, 10th and Piedmont. I really dig the log cabin theme and take a table by the fireplace. The barista is a sweetheart and gives me refills for free. Maybe that's the program here, but she makes it seem like she's sneaking them for me, furtively looking both ways before refilling, and I appreciate this. 

So by 10am I'm thoroughly wired and talking to strangers. The guy to my left (28, caucasian, presumably gay) despises the AJC (the local daily), Starbucks, John McCain, real estate developers... unoriginal but vehement in his cynicism. I comment on the midtown neighborhood, really a hip area...

Too many straights, he says. Something you're gonna have to get used to, I say, and find myself a little offended. I'm wearing checkered vans and a fidel hat and am blogging away on my MacBook and feeling rather hip, thank you. You see this shirt? Thrift store in Savannah. 

Two homeless men walk in, one black one white. The place gets edgy, the innocent little barista braces herself. A quarter is dropped and fought over. Loud cursing and pushing ensues. In a very United 93 moment, two large male customers stand up and control the situation, pushing the bums out the door. I've never seen anything like it. Seconds later, bums are gone, Norah Jones is playing, and everything's peaceful pleasant again. 

Almost lunchtime, I ask the cynic where I can get a good sandwich. I figure someone so critical of everything must have discerning taste, right? Alon's Bakery on Highland. I go. 

Place is great, the turkey avocado baguette amazing. I sit an outside table, people are are eating croissants, birds are chirping. Mercedes coupes come and go. I casually thumb a book I brought, Steinbeck. I study maps of Atlanta, Manhattan, America. I YouTube 'fainting goat'.

Noon on a picture-perfect April day in Atlanta, and I've done virtually nothing today. I should go exercise or something.