Things...

I have grown a new habit during the past few days. This may sound really gay for my Korean friends, but I have started to come to Starbucks to get things done like studying new technology and do some reading. Because Starbucks in Korea is always crowded and noisy it seemed to be a stupid idea, but I found Starbucks to be a perfect place to get things done over the weekend when my parents and grandma visited. As a matter of fact, I'm at Starbucks right now...

My place isn't that small for myself, but it could get really overcrowded with 3 more people plus our pet Dori. My mom would watch drama from my now not-so-beautiful 40 inch LED TV. But since my parents own a TV from a decade ago, they seem to be very impressed with my TV set. Anyway, for that reason, my mom will watch a drama most of the time she stays. Dad will do his usual Chinese studies, and grandma will do whatever she feels like. In this environment, I can hardly do anything. But usually I stay home and try to be with my parents and play with my pet dog. However, I have a presentation to give to my colleagues this week, so I needed to get some work done. So I escaped and started to come to Starbucks.

Yes, Starbucks is overly crowded and noisy during the daytime and early evening, but something has changed. Since last winter I own a new pair of kernel type earphones which can be shoved deep inside my ears preventing most of the noise reaching my eardrum. And if I start listening to Mozart, the noise has almost no affect on me. I can still hear some noise, but its just random noise that I will never be able to interpret. Almost like random white noise. So, the noise problem has been solved.

And there's more to doing things at Starbucks. Since you are at a public place there are a lot of eyes on you. I doubt anybody will pay attention to me, but still... There are some people studying or doing work like me and those people can be motivating. Also, with all the other people who are enjoying their time around me makes me feel that I'm using my time more wisely.Thus making me proud. Silly but true story. So I cannot slack off.

I now seem to understand why some people like to spend their time in a cafe. I've been in Starbucks like about total of 6 hours since the weekend, and I've been really productive. There are only a couple downsides to this habit. One is that I have to buy a drink. Maybe I don't have to, but I feel more comfortable. And doing this alone makes it really hard to have bathroom breaks. Not that I've stayed in Starbucks that long up until now, but someday I will be worrying that my laptop would get stolen while I have a bathroom break. Anyway, if I can spend my time efficiently, a cup of iced tazo chai tea latte every night might be worth it...

And one more thing... which might sound super GAY...

I need company to drink frappuccino with.