Lingering

Got my tea this morning. Got my copy of The War of Art by Steven Pressfield by my keyboard. Got Coldplay's album Myloto playing. Ready to write. Go!

Ah, not so fast, kemo sabe. The words don't want to come. They're still sleeping. Or they're lingering over a last cup of java at the local Starbucks.

We don't have a local Starbucks. We had one, but when Starbucks downsized, they closed the one here. It hadn't been open long. I never got coffee there -- I don't like coffee, although I've certainly tried to pick up the habit -- but it made my town feel more metropolitan. I always liked seeing it. It was breaking even financially, but wasn't making money, so the corporate honchos closed it down. Now the building has a Mexico restaurant in it. I've never eaten there, either.

We have seven or eight Mexican restaurants in town, which is probably enough. I've eaten at most of them. Sure wish we'd get a Red Lobster or an IHOP or a Denny's, but this town is just a bit too small. Even a cafeteria style restaurant would be nice. We used to have a Golden Corral, but it closed a couple of years ago. Apparently it hadn't been paying its taxes as it was supposed to, or something like that. Its building is now a Chinese restaurant. We have two or three Chinese restaurants.

For its size, my town has a lot of restaurants. Just a quick count shows we have about 50 or so, which is a lot. Let's see how many I can name: Sonic, Taco Bell, Taco Mayo, KFC, Arby's, Chicken Express, Burger King, Braum's (2), McDonald's (2), Subway (2), Rib Crib, Applebee's, Chilis, Mazzios, Polo's, Hamburger King, Blue Moon Cafe, Heavenly Buns, The Field House, Santa Fe Steakhouse, Church's Chicken, Oscar's Chinese Restaurant, China Super Buffet, Eduardos, Prairie Kitchen, Aldridge Cafe, Asian Buffet, Boom-a-Rang, Cyprus, Delicias, Folger's, Frescos, Jack In The Box, Long John Silver's, Whip Dip ... That's all I can think of, but there are more.

People from other areas are always surprised at how many restaurants we have. Don't know why we do. I guess we just love to eat. Also, the town draws from the surrounding area. It's the biggest city in the county, which helps. And we have a 24 hour WalMart ... which is a bigger draw than you might think.

Have you ever been in WalMart at two or three in the morning? Not during the holidays when they have their huge midnight and early morning sales when customers pack the place, but during the ordinary days. It's quite creepy. There's an eerie silence broken by unexpected and loud sounds. Or maybe the sounds seem loud because it's so quiet. And there's always faint music playing. Never loud enough to make out the tune, just a few chords that sound vaguely familiar. Our local store is a bit understaffed, anyway, but at night, the huge place feels deserted. And when you have an overactive imagination like me, it seems the perfect setting for one of those terrible SyFy horror movies. I tell you one thing: I don't go near the butcher's counter late at night.

And on that note, I'll post this and get busy. Hope you have a great day.

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