Which brings us to a review of the local Starbucks Cafe as a Writing Venue. It's main draw is that it is open until 10 PM, unlike most other Eugene establishments, which close at 7 or 8. On the plus side, it's relatively clean, and has nice little tables. The large tables tend to be monopolized by study groups or individual patrons with laptops and book-filled backpacks.
A friendly wait-staff served me caffeinated mint tea. And a bagel; this is the second or third time they've been out of poppy-seed bagels. Later I got a chocolate donut (they were out of brownies), and I regretted it later as it had a lot of grease or maybe butter in it, which upset my stomach.
Surprisingly, unlike previous visits to this establishment, the music wasn't horrifically grating, and there were no cell-phone wielding drama-queens sharing their worldly and health problems with the entire shop. As usual, the difficulty in choosing a spot was finding a table that wasn't directly under a stereo speaker. I chose a high table and high stool with a nice view of the half-moon in the sky (and probably the least distracting view of a weight-lifter showing off his sculpted guns with a black tank-top at the next table over).
A creative, if cramped, use of the small table space and the window allowed me to have both an open file folder and my mobile out. I managed to work through some critiques and edit them in. About the time I wanted to move away from the more mechanical aspects of manuscript to the creative, the music shifted from some relatively innocuous Ella Fitzgerald to distracting covers of "Glory Days" and "The Sisters of Mercy." I'd give this about 3 Pencils. The small tables and loud sound system make this not the most conducive writing place, and the food is over-priced for the quality; but on a slow night, it's dry, clean, and friendly. Good for editing, not so good for distraction-free creative work.
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