Coffee Cups and Memories

Because when I got this, I really did like a good spanking. These days, I'm just in enough pain all the time anyway, and the fun of it all is gone for good for me. The tie up part is also off the table these days as my joints just would not like that at all. But it's still my favorite and most used coffee cup. You also see my French press that is sitting in the cabinet doing nothing for a few years now. I only break it out if I am having company over and being that is only ever one person, it works out well enough.

Yeah, well, I'm pansexual and can be top or bottom depending on the situation. This was funny as hell when I saw it, and I had to get two of them, one for me and one for a friend who is a total bottom. It is never used, and just sits there gathering dust mostly, but I'm keeping it for the laughs. Also not the best printing in the world. as you can see it bleed. I think it was a transfer and one reason I don't use it, as I think it actually might come off if I do.

Well, Pusheen the Cat is just one of my favorite things in the world. Before the cartoon became famous I was into it deeply. Then when it did get a million fans and they started to market the brand, I was in. To be honest if I ever hit big on the lotto, the house will have a Pusheen room with a great deal of stuffed toys, cups, and even clothing that does not actually come in my size. I'd love to have a print signed by the people who make the cartoons as well, but I've never seen one. I've use AI to make fan art in the past as well.

Well, what can I say, I've been a Doctor Who fan since I was seven years old. I spent many years watching the originals that date back to 1963 and was in extremely low quality back then and a strange aspect ration, I came in in 1973 with Jon Pertwee. My favorite classic Doctor was Tom Baker and I was not shocked to learn he was always drunk on set and literally stepped on peoples hands while filming one time. Or at least this is what I've heard in podcasts and read in several blogs. Of the new reimagining of it for modern times, I think Mat Smith is the best of them all to date. I also have a fondness for the Daleks and would like to see a limited series of them having their civil war. I'd also like to the the same of the Time Wars. I've even listened to all the radio plays. I'm not so into the fan shows though.

I won this several years ago, and I've got not one clue who I won it from, but it was on YouTube. Also I know this is a promo image for a movie but I draw a total blank. I know "The Blob" had a poster like this, but not exactly this image. This exact image is from a movie but what is it? Image search gives me hundreds of similar images and the only exact matches are podcast promos and ghost story blogs, and merchandise that has no reference to a movie at all. There are a very large number of images like this spanning back to the 1970's. So I just don't know. If you are reading this and know, leave a comment so I can look it up and link the dang movie from IMDB. The cup is normally black, but when you put a hot drink in it, this shows up.

I am convinced they are the best brand for keeping things hot. But I am no longer convinced that they are good at not having coating that will withstand even minor trauma. I put it down on the cement on the patio of my building while sitting on the bench. I did not drag it or drop it hard, I just places it there and the thing had scratch marks on it from hell on the bottom. It also chipped. I mean, seriously, this is not good for the price I paid for it. The thing was like $20. It did keep my drink hot for hours however, so it did it's job - it's just the coating is kind of crappy. I don't even know where the scratch you see on the base of it came from - I've never treated it badly, and it's only been in a couple of car cup holders over the years.

My Zula Moka Pot. Now they literally sell these as stove top Espresso makers. Well, they do actually use Espresso coffee if you use it correctly, but to be called an Espresso maker it needs to produce nine bars of presser and this thing would explode if it had nine bars of pressure in it LOL. It looked so darn nice when I first got it, but that did not last. By the time it was a month old, the finish was messed up on it, and no matter how much I scrub it with a scrubby sponge, it still looks like there is something on it. I suppose if I used polishing paste on it, it would shine up, but that just a waste of money. I actually got these two for one on sale one day on Amazon. The other one I have used to death - it has the seal in it gone now and would spirt out coffee all over the stove top - it looks like a crime scene now LOL. To get new seals for them is not that cost effective last time I looked, but I'll be looking again, as I am strangely attacked to them. This is a "nine cup" maker and that is nine Espresso cups - it mostly fills my "spanking mug", so it's a LOT of strong coffee in the morning. It does however use a great deal of coffee to make that strong cup.

Well this was about 15 years ago at Tim Hortons on Main Street in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It was before I became afraid to use a paper or Styrofoam cup (no idea what triggered that, but I will NOT use one now). I just liked the smile on it in chocolate dust. I was helping the friend of a friend set up her new Mac Book. She had never used a computer before and although it's really kind of easy, as you just follow the prompts - she needed guidance to be confident she did not mess things up. To be honest, I never saw her again after that, so I don't know how she got on with it. But I did like the look of the smile. I'm not sure if it's a Moka or a Hot Chocolate. The treat was a Boston Cream by the way. I do like Canadian Maple more, but they where out if I remember.

I really miss this place. When I lived on the 400 block of 1st Ave. N.W. I used to walk here, even in the winter. They where on the zero block of Main Street North. It was "Java Express". I have no idea what it is now, but I heard it's not a coffee shop anymore. The place just had the best coffee in town at the time, and it was so comfortable to sit in the chairs or sofas. The tables where not as comfy, but when you had paperwork to share with others, they came in handy. The place got sold and the new owner changed everything, and the coffee was no better than an average Café then. The baked goods that we all really enjoyed had also lost the taste and where very boring. The price also went up and we stopped going. It changed hands again, and we went in, but the seating had changed to these narrow plastic chairs at very small round tables and there was no way in hell us plus sized people where going to sit on them things. We left and we never came back. Java also sold local art, and it was a nice place to pick something up that was out of the ordinary. I knew the one artist and he was a nice enough guy, but last I heard, he had moved to the big city. We spent many Tuesday nights in this place and I very much miss it, and the company of the people I used to go with.

This was The National Café on the Zero block of Main Street North in Moose Jaw. At the last I heard, it had been closed for a long time. This photo I took many years ago. At the time it was a great place to eat and they had the best Chinese food in town to my thinking. We went there from when I was a child until after I could drive a car myself. In the latter few years it was owned by a new owner and it was just not even close to the same anymore. The food was terrible and the sauces runny. The buffet was often not much more than room temperature. The ribs had almost no meat on them at all. It was just a total loss. I remember having coffee at the bar you see in the photo as a teen. There was a segment in an episode of The X Files filmed at this bar by the way. The place had run for almost 75 years when it closed down finally. I have to say, if the standard was kept up, I'd most likely still be going there and it would most likely still be open. It's another place I miss being in.

This is just tossed in because we used to do this a lot in the day. We would balance things on the spoons or on the coffee cup. We even often got the straw to stand up in the middle of the glass, just because we could. We also used to put a finger on the top of the creamer and flip it 360 degrees to land on it's base again. I think me record was 56 times in a row, but that was when they where not as tall as they are now. We sat there many a Friday night at this truck stop on the North Service road. A different group of friends and I go there now as well, but we don't do this at all. The place might end up closed, and it would be another place that would be just in my memories. So many places we used to go in the day are now just a distant memory. I don't know, but I think we enjoyed life more in the day - we had less to worry about and made good money. Now most of us are no longer able to work and we have fear of not having enough to get through the month. Our bodies are no longer able to do most of the things we used to like to do as well. But I think most people become reflective and dream of the good old days when they get older. Thank you for coming down memory lane with me.