I have learned that the best way to get someone to lose interest in a food is by oversating. I confess I over Doritoed my son ad nauseum.  He just loved them. My plan was to buy in bulk and I did this over and over again. The other kids in the neighborhood came around for the Dorito experiment and partook in my largesse.  Doritos showed up at lunch, after school, parties at the house and so on. He now quietly removes them from his lunch box or gifts them to his buddies during lunch.

Now that I have broken him of the corn chip addiction I find myself in a more difficult spot trying to come up with alternatives. Hoisted by my own petard as it were, I went through a series of emotions. To review the situation: I originally was happy to find something that he liked to eat though they were expensive and I did not enjoy shelling out the money for them.

A new wrinkle in the daily functions of our routine. What was once a simple task has taken on deep implications. I am now happy he is over the craze buy I'm stuck with a question mark as to what to include in his lunch box that he will eat.What would you like in your lunch box dear? Grapes, p&j, apple juice. How about a Table Talk blueberry pie? No thanks as he hangs his head. Why? I thought you liked them. I do but the other kids don't. I ask myself, what do the other kids have to do with this?  We trade food, he tells me.

Lots of questions pop into my noggin. Is he eating a balanced lunch? Does he sense my ambivalence over this food thing? Does he feel disappointed over not having appropriate trading food?  I came to the realization that this has less to do with food appreciation and more to do with peer approval, feeling liked, and bringing in what his pals like. I get it.

School days are upon us and as caretakers of the lunch box we must take into consideration other children's influence on our own. Off he goes in the early A.M., pants too big and draped at the legs, lunch box in hand, book bag strapped off one shoulder, he's a vision of pride heading to an institution of higher learning ready to sponge up all the news dealt to him by the imparters of knowledge and to take in some socialization skills. He has grasped onto a simple lesson. There is power in knowledge and power in the peer group.  Doritos have begun to show up in his lunch box once again.  He still contends he is not a fan but his lunchmates like them. I've done my job.

Solitude and holidays

The Thanksgiving holidays have just ended with much hoopla, overeating, fuss and bother. My adult children spent the actual day at their in-laws and informed me that they would be coming to my place on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.  Anything my two dear, dear children say is fine with me and I will accommodate them any way possible, so I pulled out all the stops and put on a spread that would rival the Pilgrim's original event.

 However, there is one issue that I feel incumbent on me to address. There was some obligation on the kid's part to pay a visit to me since I was all alone and in their estimation in need of company because it was a holiday.   I heard this story from other people who reported feeling coerced into spending the holiday in the company of relatives, friends, casual acquaintances, anyone so as not to be alone.  When it comes to holidays, there seems to be a stigma against  solitude.

Yes, we are social human beings but what is so wrong with solitude during the holidays?  What is so wrong with us determining our own who, what, why, when, where and with whom? One man told me he had to appear at his sibling's house and did so to show his face and keep peace. In actuality he would have preferred his TV programs, his animals, his speciality food and his solitude.  Another reporter said that she did not want to travel and accepted a gracious invite from her landlord. She was able to set the time limit of her visit and showed up in comfy slippers and casual attire.

A message to those folks who feel extreme sensitivity and pity toward others who have no where to go and no one to visit during the holidays: Listen to us when we tell you that we don't look forward to the noise, excessive food and overeating. If I sound like a social misfit, then so be it. There seems to be a growing number of folks who want to have the holidays their way, in solitude. Nothing wrong with that.

name tags

The other day I saw a rather large seated man sprouting a soft blue short sleeve button up shirt. It looked new and crisp. As he moved his fork to his mouth lifting his arm in the process, a store tag appeared from under his arm. This faux pas can and does easily happen with our busy schedules driving us into a frenzied mindset.

I have been known to wear the long clear tape strip with the size of the pant I recently purchased.

The manufacturers are certainly to blame for our gaffes due to all the attachments; plastic trapped in the side of the clothes item, pins holding cardboard tags together, threads tied onto other hanging dodads. You can count 5-7 pieces of extraneous labels informing us of the company/designer brand name on a single article of clothing and before you wear this thing you must get out your scissors, chew off the strings with your teeth (not recommended), pull it with all your might or in the case of this rather large man leave it on and let someone else worry about it.

These copious specially designed labels soon find their way to your garbage and eventually to the public land sites.

New clothing is always a pick me up, having something new puts us in a pleasurable state of mind. In the younger days I would keep this item intact and relish my new purchase delaying removing tags and making it used. I can still feel those old feelings coming on but with my added years behind and fewer years ahead I have adopted a different attitude. Just this morning I opted for deflowering the new fully tagged capris rather than put on the old. This move alone provided a pleasurable pick me up.

Anomalies Aplenty

When is salami not salami? Answer, when it's from Subway.

Loving Subway sandwiches and salads and other items sold at Subways stores, I happened once again into a Subway for a small sandwich. I looked over the menu and decided to buy a cold cut combo, meat turkey based. I tore into the food then realized that the meat tasted all the same, no distinctive ham or salami flavors. Next move was to open the grinder and look at the contents. The three slices of meat (?) besides tasting the same, looked alike, too.

The explanation given was that the subway I ordered was turkey based and if I wanted real salami and real ham I would have to order the Spicy Italian. The supervisor went on to say that he gets this a lot with this particular selection and offered to make me a Spicy Italian this time only. Having a yen for the real stuff I agreed and was honored with a new six incher at no cost. I walked away vindicated with a note of thanks and the statement, 'I'll know to ask more questions, next time'.

I'll continue to go to this fast food establishment as I always have. Let's hope I learned my lesson.

Now for who wins the award for the most trees killed. There is quite a competition on, what with CVS loading a customer down with tons of spewed out cash register coupons and such, along with your receipt. I have found that when the coupons come there is no stopping the machine. I have opted for e-receipts whenever I could and still with the e-types a paper receipt follows. Other stores do the same so I am not just targeting CVS, Sears, Stop and Shop, etc. These happen to be some of the stores I frequent more than Subway, and like Subway will continue to shop there, and say my peace over and over.

Darn, matters are getting  more complicated.

Ever try to figure out the numbers and letters at the mall directory advising you to go to E7 to find a particular store. So I figure that E means east and 7 - I have no clue.

I attempted the first part and started looking for E although one need to know West if needing to find East. I at leat found the store which had the heading way above on a overhand bulletin that read W. So much for the E7 accuracy part.

No one manning the stores knew how to read the directory and directed me to security. Requiring too  much of my time, I simply went into my store and then headed for the parking lot to find V-8.

Anyone else have this problem?

the news

The news is hard to take. We are hit hard with killings, fires, rapes, war and all the claptrap that goes with the media. My sister and I were talking about extreme harm done to people and how everyone has a take on these events. Some people even have the gaul to say that the person done extreme harm deserves it. Sis said she cried over hearing about a woman who was severely beaten and stomped on in our home town and sustained brain damage was beaten again by the remark that she deserved it.

Now that we are both seniors it seems to me that the harshness of the world and people in it are much harder to stomach. I don't recall having these strong feelings in youth. I always managed to move on to the next topic without much commitment. Not so now. Everything hurts, all severe matters make me cry. Can't seem to help myself. Same with sis.

the audacity of it all

These audacious words were delivered at a local fast food restaurant. "Will you be dining in?" Dining in? What presumption! I'm at a fast food place, there is no dining in! Yes, I'll be eating at the place and not taking my order out in a flimsy paper bag with giant initials. I'll be shoveling the food in my face faster than you can say Frankie Robinson and using my fingers to boot. At some intervals I will also bypass my face and drop the foodstuff on my casual attire; jeans, misbuttoned shirt, unlaced sneakers, non-made up face. That is why we go there in the first place, so we can forego the formalities.

In our later years with our relaxed selves in full array, we may choose to go casual when 'dining out' at a fast food establishment. We are hungry and time is of the essence. Order, no waiter necessary; sit, always a table available; open the box or bag as it may be and eat. Little fuss, little to no muss, then on your way to other matters.

I know all the todo being levied over this industry: too much fat, sugar, calories and of course, it's all true. What is also true is that due to convenience and small need to kowtow to public convention, we will continue to frequent these fast food places.

Supersize me, please.

technology and us

         Do you own a smart phone, ereader, laptop, PC and the like? We are being bombarded by the latest in technology that seems to have no end in sight to its potentiality. I own a smart phone and a laptop and just touched the tip of the tech iceberg given my knowledge base of what these devices can do. These smart devices are called phones yet have little similarity to what was once defined as a phone. I sure do miss the old ways.
        The other day I met a 25 year old who shared the same lament I had about the old days, the simplicity of machines and the ease of communication. A phone not long ago was a stationary product. It remained in the house and was tethered to the wall. Communication was not necessarily immediate and an interaction with a message was completed when a party returned  home, picked up a phone message and returned a call. Hours and at times days might have passed before a return call was made. All accepted the disadvantages of this system and all was well.
        This 25 year old told of a friend of his who called his cell phone and wanted an instant response to a request to hang out with him that evening. He did not respond instantly and phoned her a day later.  She became miffed at him because she wanted an immediate answer to her question. He nonchalantly stated that they could get together another time. This did not sit well with her. These devices demand instant gratification from the caller and bring all sorts of bad feelings when there is noncompliance from the cell calling parties.

         A close friend and I who share age and views on many issues were taking about the way things were and how the world has changed drastically. Her daughter had purchased a few current books and my friend asked to see them. These books were not the touchy feeley kind of book; no spine, no covers, no paper pages, no book smell to them. These were the ebook kind.  We both felt sadness about how the world has evolved and could not but feel a sense of loss of what would never be brought back.               We'll just have to live with it and pretend to be techno savy. So be it.

what I don't know

We don't know what we don't know. A deep sounding tautology that has no way out of its circular conundrum. I contend that each time we listen, experience, attempt and plane old breathe in and out daily, we have a prime opportunity to learn some bit of news, some practical answer, some observation, some enhancement to our human condition.

A most profound statement to another person would sound like this. I am much smarter than you can ever hope to be, regardless of IQ, years on this earth, days of hard work, education and so on. Why? I am much smarter than you because I admit that I know that I don't know as much.

To consider all the topics I have small or no knowledge about and how my formal education was wanting in so many ways astounds me. But in my older years, I happen to be more curious, more willing to learn from the youth, from radio, and other media. I remain resolutely hesitant to believe media but will apply my suspicions to news, filter it in or out of my belief system and hopefully come out with more knowledge than I began with.

I have not been back to this blog for some time now and have taken a hiatus from technology. I'm back and hope to hear from anyone out there finding this blog about retirement and is willing to comment. Being who we are, social animals, we mainly learn from each other.