Pascal Derrien

5 years ago · 3 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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The Day I Splashed Coffee Over My Laptop - Part 1 & 2 -

The Day I Splashed Coffee Over My Laptop - Part 1 & 2 -

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Pretty dumb isn't it? Many people if not everybody know a hot beverage and electronics are a marriage in hell or a recipe for disaster to a lesser degree. So why would you purposely spill coffee onto a laptop? 

The Analog World - Part 1 -

I am a kid of the 80s, one of the generation Walkman as I call it. The day I realised I was about to be 11 in 1980 was a Thursday now I actually forgot exactly which actual day of the week I came to the world but I remember clearly I got a Phillips Walkman that year as a present. A Phillips most probably because our black and white TV was also a Philipps. 

To accompany my birthday gift I got an album of AC /DC and a commercial mix tape of the radio hits of the year. It was actually a massive present for me and I was a bit shocked. I never thought I would have access to this novelty device providing the earning power in the family. 

The same year I was introduced to the acquired taste of coffee. As I grew older coffee and music would always be my life sparring partners. My taste in coffee and music evolved since. I dropped sugar from my coffee first quickly followed by milk leading me to drink coffee black until this day. My taste in music expanded to various styles while still remaining extremely loyal to metal and punk it would then become trash metal and hard core with a sprinkle of pop & blues on top.  How many times have I fixed my nearly broken headphones with cello tape because buying new ones was way out of my financial league.

By age 16 I was spending my entire free time in independent record stores. I would be checking new LP releases, imports and other EPs in those music shelters. I would only make a pause in my adolescence errands for the sake of a coffee. I would sometimes sacrifice the coffee part in order to be able to purchase an LP I was keen to own. It led to many weekly frustrations as I was more than often not capable of buying what I had my eyes on. Between the sum that would buy me my return bus or train ticket and the album of my dreams I would very often be short of a few francs.

I would sometimes intentionally make the choice to forget to pay the transport fare (shush!!!)  but I had never stolen music from any of the small shop owners. Partially because I got to know them quite well and because this is not something I do. For example on rainy days most of them would let me stay in for hours on end. They even sometimes knocked off a few francs from an LP from the final cost pretexting an ''imaginary'' damage to the sleeve. You don't do bad things to good people. 

On other days where I would come home empty handed, I had more than once kicked the bins and other urban furniture, I guess this was my way of expressing my frustration at my own financial limitations. 


The Digital World - Part  2  -

Fast forward 39 years and you find the same guy. Accuse me of being stuck in a time warp but Its just an older version sometimes he would be wiser eating grass rather than opening his mouth but more or less he has not changed that much. Obviously the test of time has passed by and mildly altered his good looks but he is not too bad even if I say so myself :-).

Nowadays I live in a different country and there aren't many record stores anymore. In Dublin there is obviously the iconic Tower Records in Dawson Street. I think I may have come across only a handful of others. My free time has drastically reduced too but my appetite for music has not faded. My favourite escapism is still discovering new bands and going to gigs.  Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, Deezer and other band camp sites have become my roaming hubs when it comes to discover new music or revisit old musical efforts.

Its not rare to find me at my desk on the second floor of the house sporting a large headphone while watching live videos or artists interviews. I need to add that a cup of coffee is very often seen as my partner of choice.

OK Pascal but can we go back to the title of that article. Well I am afraid it ain't happened. Not yet. In all fairness it won't happen either. Is it what they call a click bait nowadays? Even in a outburst of rage or subject to a social media hang over , there is no way I would do it. All the more if that was a magistral gesture of mastoid independence. 

You see I am coming from a working class background. We don't break things, we don't have the luxury of a destructive mindset. I have never understood why some musicians were wrecking their kits or breaking their guitars either. I should also add that on top of not flooding a laptop you don't throw good coffee away :-). 

Writing this short piece led me to think that some things may have changed but at its core it really hasn't ? Let me tell you that I am not a prisoner of the past or subject to chronic melancholy. I accept that time is going by and it would be futile to deny it. I also concur that tapes are gone but vinyls are coming back and rockers still write dumb lyrics. 

Do you think I am stuck on a replay, check this out. Pizzas are still pizzas, we are still surrounded by bad politicians, guitars still have 6 cords and last time I checked water was still called H20 or something like that. Add that Corrosion of Conformity is still touring at full scale and you obtain a perfect shot from the 1980s circa 2019. Hey I even heard that Weezer has recently issued a cover of A-Ha famous 80's hit Take On Me. So I don't know. I guess the show is still going on.

By the way, how do you like your coffee ?



Sources

People & stuff

Photo Credit

by coffee beanz

Produced by beBee

Written Material 2019 Copyright -Pascal Derrien-



Comments

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #20

#26
many thanks Joannie :-)

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #19

#22
The happy mix I quite like that one :-) Ren\u00e9e \ud83d\udc1d Cormier I resisted to iPod for a while but gave in I found it practical I must say especially since I do a lot of running. Good coffee needs no help I second you on that one !!!

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #18

#23
Same here Claire L Cardwell but I don't add water and I always take ages to drink it its almost a ritual at this stage :-) They ve done a really decent job witn that cover and thanks for the kind words :-)

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #17

#18
yes I agree Weezer has done a grand job here I also drink green tea in the afternoons and even decaf funny thing in Ireland people drink their tea in a mug CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit millions of them per day 👍

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #16

#17
many thanks Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador that's encouraging I am not too sure how the ideas are coming up maybe I just write stuff in a way I like to read it 🤔 but it's just short stories I am not Hemingway 😉

CityVP Manjit

5 years ago #15

Nice twist on the title. As each decade passes, it is less nostalgic to look back at 1980 and more scary, but scary in a good way. I was 11 in 1972 and was greeted that year with things like the Munich massacre at the Olympics. I did not drink coffee even as 1980 came around, more because Indian families drink "Cha" but as an inbetweener being born in England, my beverage ever since was English Tea. We do have coffee drinkers in the house in 2019, and I do drink my tea now in an abundance of coffee mugs. Such is the effect of Sith of Starbucks, the moment I drink tea in a tea cup, I actually get strange looks - all tea is now drunk from a coffee cup and my family have been won by the Sith. Had to google what a "Mastoid Independence" might be. I am sure it was not an ear bone independence, but the thought of mastoid as a breast or a nipple, takes my fertile imagination in totally the wrong direction. I have to say Weezer did a nice homage to Aha. There are some cover songs that touch a sacrilegious line and so I am pretty mean when someone tries to AHA the Aha. Weezer in that regard showed class - though I will still stick with the original.

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #14

#15
I was about to say you need a PhD nowadays to order a coffee but you should have no problem qualifications wise Ian Weinberg 😉

Ian Weinberg

5 years ago #13

Another great brew, bro Pascal Derrien , my daughter and others from the Land UpOver). It’s been a stressful experience for me and I just can’t get it right. I have to re-learn the process with each new visit. I order a filter coffee with separate cold milk and they look upon me as though I come from Africa. Then I get wise and order a tall black and separate milk and get another incredulous stare. At last after post-traumatic counseling I order a LONG black with separate cold milk and am corrected ‘you mean with cold milk on the side?’ Yes,yes, indeed. And am at last rewarded with the straight Americano and a little jug of cold milk! Whew!!

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #12

#9
ah that's great news about your daughter my son has started guitar and I have introduced to some blues guys such as Gary Clarke and a few others I think we must be twins Aaron \ud83d\udc1d Skogen 😉

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #11

#10
many thanks for the writing endorsement Sir Paul Walters :-)

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #10

#11
the world was much simpler I think or maybe that's what I want to convince myself of Praveen Raj Gullepalli ;-)

Paul Walters

5 years ago #9

Pascal Derrien love this one !!

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #8

#7
thanks Lisa Vanderburg worlds collide or do they ? A bit of travel in time back to the future style only in reverse :-)

Lisa Vanderburg

5 years ago #7

Such a fun read Pascal Derrien - so enjoy your ambellings; kick that can down the road! I take my coffee in a mug; hold the mayo :)

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #6

#5
#5 thanks Ken Boddie unless I ''accidently'' need to upgrade my laptop I agree there is no9 need to waste good beans :-)

Ken Boddie

5 years ago #5

Mine’s a flat white, single shot, one sugar, since you asked so nicely, mate. Now here’s my tip, take it or leave it .... if you do ever get the urge to pour coffee over your laptop, vinyl, CD or tape, I’d make sure it’s the unground beans, just like in your photo. Life’s too short to waste a good brew ..... and a good brew’s too good to waste on a laptop, vinyl, CD or tape. Now a bitter, yucky, pissy tasting brew .....?????

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #4

#3
Indeed Joyce \ud83d\udc1d Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee I think have mentioned that one before but I think Confucius said something along the lines that nothing new happen it is just that it happens to new people :-)
Nothing really changes. We have better toys, but....

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #2

#1
cheers Debasish Majumder you are very kind :-)

Debasish Majumder

5 years ago #1

fascinating buzz indeed Pascal Derrien! enjoyed read and shared. thank you very much for the buzz.

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