Coffee Stick Up

Finally! After one month of consuming designer coffee, pestering my friends for their coffee receipts and appealing to my officemates for free coffee, I finally got the most coveted Starbucks planner. Getting 21 stickers is no joke. It's either you consume 21 cups of coffee and palpitate through the whole holiday season or use your charm over your friends.

And I am not alone in this challenge. What great lengths have my sister gone through for a sticker?

Studied for an Anatomy exam from 6 PM till 2 AM = 1 sticker
Tutored a classmate on Zoology = 2 stickers
Approached a stranger in SB who didn't redeem his receipt = 2 stickers
Befriended the guard who collected receipts for her = 5 stickers
Have me for a sister to do her every whim = priceless
(for everything else...there's a Mastercard...hehe)

In this day and age of electronic-dom, you would think people would have no interest in it at all when having a PDA is the more in thing. Take me for example, am thumbing this article in through a Treo and managing my schedule with it is quick and easy. With the planner, uh yeah, you need to write with a pen with your incomprehensible writing. If I did that with this article, I'd be pounding my head on the keyboard trying to decipher my god-awful longhand. Or worse, I'd be going to a meeting tomorrow at 1 pm set for 10 am. Yes, that's how bad it is.

So anyway, I went ahead and jumped in the bandwagon. But now that I have the planner in my hands, I realize that it's really not much to look at after all. It doesn't even have the free drink certificates like last year, nor does it have the text that I liked reading so much. I admit though the leather cover with SB stamped on it looks cool (or hot depending on the coffee of choice). And the pen that goes with the planner actually works! But way cooler (or hotter) than that is the story behind getting the planner...the coffee experience.

It's the smell of competition on who will complete all 21 stickos first. It's about having an achievable goal. It's about seeing a friend smile over your sticker contribution, no matter how short-lived because he starts to annoy you again for another one when you haven't even finished your drink. It's the number of hours spent with a friend over coffee catching up on each other's lives. Finally, it's also about being able to donate to Spark of Hope (Starbucks chosen foundation supporting charities for people in need).

I am a poser designer coffee addict. I'd rather buy my own local arabica, grind 'em at home and brew my own coffee. But drinking coffee alone is no fun. My coffee buddies can attest to that. It's the people factor. It's actually the people you're with that make the coffee experience AN experience.

Same with Christmas...you may have put up the tree with all the knick-knacks and baubles, changed the curtains and the pillowcases to get that Christmassy feel but without the people you love the most to share the season with, it's not Christmas at all.

So this Christmas (*cringe* here goes the i-know-you're-gonna-say-some-advice line), make your SB planner fanatic friend happy by allowing yourself to get dragged to SB. The spirit of Christmas is in the giving.

With that said, I am off to get a 2nd planner! Sticker sponsor, anyone?