If you’ve summed anything up about me so far, its probably the fact that I have a slight obsession with coffee. Not only do I love the smell and taste of it, but I enjoy the atmosphere that comes along with it. Hence, my ideal afternoon involves being huddled in a small but busy cafe, having a good banter with a friend.

 Last week, I decided to take a quick breather from my busy schedule of school and study. I took a 10 minute drive to one of my newly found havens, Mt Eden’s Rad.

I didn’t have the company of a friend to keep me busy whilst Duke Tran, ex-barista from Best Ugly Bagels, brewed my midday cappuccino. Instead, I remembered, that sitting on the back seat of my car was edition no. 6, of Damaged Goods Magazine.

For one, I felt pretty cool flicking through the clean cardboard pages of Damaged Goods, in a hip, buzzing environment. The guy next to me even asked if I could flip to the cover page so that he could catch the name of the publication. I felt like Zach Morris when he was the only one in school with a cellular phone.

The interest it had spurred, urged me to show him my favourite photos and a couple stand-out lines, but I kept it humble, replying ‘yeah, you should get a copy, its pretty sweet’.

 But like an eight year old, who can’t help but spoil a good story, I’m now giving into my too-cool persona, to share my favourite parts.

 Let’s start with an interview on page 35. Could you ever imagine leaving your New York City job for a VW Vanagon? Well, I was introduced to Foster Huntington and he didn’t just imagine it, he actually went out and did it. Racking up a good 80,000 miles on the road.

 Page 94. Who knew a magazine could have an intermission? But why not? It made for a perfect time to place down the read, and focus on the hot drink in front of me.

 When I picked it up again, I came across the line, ‘Junk food has me wrapped around its little finger…’, buried amongst the multiple questions Dune Kennings receives on page 108.

Unfortunately I think I related to this line so much so, that it felt good to be nibbling on a healthy Rad roll at the same time.

 Closing the magazine and pushing it to the side as I finished up my coffee, I was happy to mull over the new ideas and people explored by Damaged Goods on my journey back to school.

It made me question a world of possibilities after school comes to an end. That in itself, is really refreshing and inspiring enough to convince me of the next issue. Edition no. 7 is out now.

I’ll see you at Newmarket’s Sitka, where I’ll be buying my own copy.