After class today, I headed a block over to Starbucks. It hit me when the manager said "hi" to me that I'm becoming a bit of a regular.
But there's regular, and then there's regular.
To explain, let's go back to my college years. I wasn't so much a regular as a permanent resident of the Starbucks a mile from my house. I spent pretty much every hour not spent sleeping or in class in that Starbucks. To be fair, many people did -- in a time before free wifi at the Bucks, there was stealth internet there, and a truly amazing number of square feet filled with chairs, tables, and even a fireplace. But as far as I know, nobody else had a drink named after them.
Because I didn't just live at Starbucks. I ordered the same thing every single time. I could get in line, and by the time I got to the counter, one of the baristas would have said "I need a K" and presented me with a grande skim no-whip hot chocolate and a glass of ice water.
So I had a bit of a routine. Lots of people do. But, as it's since been pointed out to me, not everybody depends on hot chocolate for nutrition to the point of saying on a regular basis "I ate a hot chocolate." That was a problem. Well, to be more specific, my eating disorder was a problem, and my Starbucks residency and subsistence on hot chocolate were symptoms.
I went pretty much cold turkey on the Bucks when I moved to my current city (and once I was eating actual food fairly regularly). Part of it was a lack of what I considered a satisfactory store. My standards were pretty high, and none of the stores in this town are what my old Bucks was. But lately, I've found myself heading to the Starbucks near school twice a week to kill time between classes when it's not practical to go home.
This is different, though. I spend two hours at the Bucks twice a week. I order a variety of things (well, variety might be a strong term to describe cycling between tea, hot chocolate, and peppermint hot chocolate). I have been known to order actual food -- I am quite fond of the morning bun. And I no longer consider hot chocolate a meal.
And now there's free wifi (finally, Starbucks...seriously, what took so long?). So I think this is okay...healthy, even.
