by Richard Timothy | Sep 7, 2010 | Holiday Banter, Non-Fiction, Observationally Speaking, Public Service Announcement
The end of labor is to gain leisure. ~Aristotle
Have you ever wondered about Labor Day? I know I haven’t. It has always been one of those things that I never cared about when I had a job that made me work on the holiday and that I took for granted when I finally had a job that paid me not to come to work on that day.
So I finally did it this year, I looked it up. Turns out Labor Day is a US holiday and is always celebrated on the first Monday of September. Because I’ve never taken the time to learn anything about Labor Day, I always made something up when the topic came up. I decided that it was a holiday for the working class. It is a day to celebrate all those people in the US that have jobs. It came was originated by corporations who traditionally treat their employees like crap. In an attempt to keep the workers calm, corporations would give them a paid day off once a year. This would appease the workers and pacify them enough to keep them organizing and attempting some type of upheaval… Hey it sounded pretty good the first time a made that up to explain what Labor Day was all about.
Having actually looked it up there were a few things about the holiday that I did not know. Things like the holiday being around since 1894. Turns out the true origins of Labor Day have something to do with President Grover Cleveland trying to make things better after a number of works were killed during a strike by police and military. I think the truly amazing thing is that the government was able to rush legislation of making Labor Day a national holiday and having it pass unanimously and become a law in only six days after the strike ended. When was the last time the US government was able to do that? And for the record, that was a rhetorical question.
Upon further reading about the topic, turns out after 100+ years the holiday has adopted a number of additional symbolic meanings. For most people these days, Labor Day marks the end of summer. This helps explain why so many people try to get out into the wild for one last camping weekend before the season changes. Another Labor Day meaning I discovered, the beginning of football season… who knew? I even asked a few of my football watching friends if this was true. They neither confirmed nor denied it, but I did get a few looks. It was the look you give people when they say something that is so obvious that you’re not sure want to get to close to them because you are afraid that some of their lack of obviousness might rub off on you and bring you closer to a live action version of Homer Simpson.
Due to getting this look a lot in my life due to my completely and utter lack of sports knowledge, I’ve learned a trick when this situation occurs. I simply count, in my head, to ten and then say out loud in my best “matter-of-fact” voice, “The Packers rock.” This is either accompanied by nods of agreement or shaking side to side, questioning my choice of team patronage. Still, because I have praised a team in this sporting genre, the people tend forgive and forget my previous sports knowledge blunder. You’d be surprised how many times that little trick has come in handy in my life.
And that’s Labor Day for you. Personally, I like my origin better… and so do the conspiracy theorists.
As for my Labor Day this year I did something I had not done in years… I went on a bit of a weekend holiday… in the town I grew up in! Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you all about it.
Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: Labor Day, end of summer, and Packers.
by Richard Timothy | Sep 1, 2010 | I Do Suggest, My Cutie Baby Sweetie Pie, My List of Things that Don't Suck, Non-Fiction, Observationally Speaking, Reviewed and Recommended
Last week I went to see Norah Jones in concert at a lovely little place in Salt Lake called Red Butte Gardens. They always put on a concert series, but only during summer due to it being an outside venue. It is a beautiful, and always a great show… unless you have allergies… or a freak rain storm blows in… or if any other extreme and tedious weather mishaps occur. For my night with Norah, it was perfect.
The other groovy thing about concerts at this particular location is that it is an open bar venue… as long as you bring the bar. So with a cooler in hand, well, it was a cooler on wheels so I just had to hold on to the handle and let the thing roll along behind us, we found a spot on the lawn and began to enjoy our dinner and some wine as the warm up band began warming up. It was almost the perfect evening…
There was a collection of little nuances that helped sculpt this evening into a night that will not be soon forgotten. First was the wine, all very yummy, but a little difficult to get to at first. For the record we remembered the Swiss Army knife. The down side is that we grabbed the one without the cork screw. This was easily rectified thanks to the couple sitting next to us. They, being wine drinkers as well, were kind enough to lend us their de-corking apparatus. So in a fit of brilliance, I opened all three bottles at once so we would not need to bother the couple again each time we wanted to open a bottle. This would have worked perfectly had we not been so pressing in our re-corking of the freshly opened bottles. One of our reds had the cork returned a little too much. Then trying to remove the cork by hand, the little thing tore right off. But the nice couple retained their nice trait and lent us the wine opener again. (We even gave them cookies to as an offering of our gratitude.)
At one point in the evening while we were still enjoying our wine and cheese, and before the sun had completely set and Norah had come out, there was a bug that had chosen to nestle in my hair without my consent. I didn’t care because I couldn’t feel it. My sweetie-baby-cutie-pie on the other hand did notice it and felt very adamant that this bug was crossing the social etiquette line. So in response she reached up and swiped at the bug to get out of my hair. The bug was a trifle petite and suffered from an incredibly weak constitution and from Angela’s little swipe jumped out of my hair, landed in my ear and proceeded to instantly die.
At this point Angela began laughing and tried to get the dead bug by sticking her finger in my ear, hence pushing the newly deceased insect deeper into my ear. I then acquired the disposition of an ex-junkie with a permanent tic having an acid flashback. I started out with shaking my head from side to side. The dead bug remained. Next, I started banging my head again my open hand while tilting my head so the ear with the bug in it was facing the ground. Then I started fanning my ear with my hand in an attempt to create a small breeze that would dislodge the bug and let it slide out of my ear. Eventually this, along with the occasional banging my head against my hand freed my ear of the deceased intruder. Angela was kind enough to continue laughing though this entire debugging process.
Finally, Norah joined us all and came out on stage. Spirits were high, and two bottles were now completely empty. As her set played on, I did notice something, as Norah was playing her set I was enamored with the songs she was playing. They were from her newest album, which I’ll admit I’ve not listened to as much as I would have liked. Then, when she got to her tried and true songs that people who listen to her know and love, I wasn’t nearly a smitten. I enjoy her recent stuff a lot more than the music that got me hooked on listening to her in the first place… I’m not sure that has ever happened to me before.
Then at one point during her set, as she finished one song and the audience started clapping, and cheering, and woo hooing, one of the friends we were with, would had topped off most of the third bottle all by himself at this time, belted out, “I love you Natalie!” This was followed by his wife briefly explaining to him that Norah Jones was on stage and not Natalie Merchant, which was followed by a round of giggling from our corner of the audience.
The only mishap apart from the bug in the ear was when I finally got to my car during the mass exodus after the show ended. The white SUV I had parked next to was long gone by this point, but they had been kind enough to leave a white strip of rubbed off bumper along the driver’s side of my car. If ran the length of both doors. I guess the driver was lacking in the “backing straight out” skill that helps compile the “competent driver” skill set that I thought was necessary for people to get their drivers license. Wishful thinking on my part I guess. The white bumper streak wiped off pretty easily though, and since my car is a tool that gets me to work and back and not something I pamper and wash once a week, and weep when it gets violated as such, I’m not all that emotionally attached to it. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Still, it certainly added to the overall experience of evening.
All in all, it was a great night and a brilliant concert. If you get chance, by all means check out one of her shows. I recommend three bottles of wine per four people, but feel free to play with that number depending on your budget and your consumption level limits as a professional drinker. Oh, and don’t forget your cork screw!
What was one of your more memorable concerts?
Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: Red Butte Gardens, Swiss Army knife, bug in ear, Norah Jones, and bad drivers.
by Richard Timothy | Aug 30, 2010 | My List of Things that Don't Suck, Non-Fiction, Observationally Speaking, When I Was a Kid
Work is, well, it can mean a lot of things really. It can mean employment, or house work, or labor, or manual labor, or wage labor. Some would say work is the amount of energy transferred by a force. In thermodynamics I believe they define it as the quantity of energy transferred from one system to another. In a religious perspective Christians refer to work as acts of charity. Regardless of what avenue you play on, a fairly safe generalization is that work is the process of doing something.
Now I have done a lot of something’s in my time, so in an attempt to create a bit more of a finite perspective on this topic, I’m going to be using the word work in the context of performing a function for a person/company in which they exchange the time I spend working for them for green paper, which are commonly referred to as dollars, bucks, cash, mula, dough, bread… well you get the picture. The common everyday word for this exchange is called a job.
Over the years, let’s just say I’ve had my share of jobs. Sometimes even two or three at a time, sometimes four or five different ones in a year. Not because I was a bad employee, but because I was in a perpetual state of change. A change which meant I would be moving in just a short amount of time. I always find it mildly entertaining to look back at all the jobs I’ve had in the past and to see what I’ve learned from them. I believe this will be in mostly chronological order… mostly being the key word there:
Worm Picker
I learned that pouring garbage can after garbage can filled water and a chemical that makes worms freak out and race to the surface is a creepy and disturbing way to make $5/pound for worms. I also learned that I really don’t like holding worms, they are kind of gross. Recommendation: Skip it, unless you enjoy pulling slimy, wiggling worms out of the ground with your bare hands.
DJ for School Dances
I learned it’s really easy to become a DJ at 13 if your dad has a side business where he owns a mobile light show and sound system for putting on school dances. I also learned that you will never be able to make everyone happy, and if ever stuck on what song you should play next, go with the song that makes the person you have a crush on smile. It won’t do any good in helping you score a kiss, or even getting them to agree to slow dance with your, but at least you’ll get them smiling because of something you did. Recommendation: Worth the experience, but stay away from radio. Besides, it is fun for a while.
Fast Food Peon
I learned that flipping burgers at a fast food place is just was horrible as selling worms to fishing shops. I also learned that at 15 I was willing to do a 3 hour commute every day for the summer just to make $4/hour so I could buy my own school clothes. Recommendation: Skip it, unless you are required to do 100 hours of community service and serving burgers is one of your options; or unless you are 15 and it’s the only place hiring.
Grocery Bagger
I learned I hate asking, “paper or plastic?” Likewise, waking up at 5am to unload groceries from the back of a semi and stocking the shelves as fast as possible before leaving at 8am to get to school is one of the closest things to hell on Earth I can imagine… or could imagine while I was in high school. Recommendation: If you do mornings well, go for it.
Ice Cream Scooper
I don’t mean I was an actually ice cream scooper used to scoop ice cream, but the scooper that scooped ice cream using an ice cream scoop for people who wanted to buy it. I learned that I really don’t like ice cream that much. I also learned that when your co-worker is the 15 year old grandson of the owners, you should never comment that the grandson just clocks in and leaves work for the day, getting paid to do nothing. Because at that point you are the one that gets yelled at by the owners for being a bad employee. Recommendation: Buy some Ben & Jerry’s and skip the job interview.
Resort Jack of all Trades
I worked at a small resort where I cleaned room, mowed the lawns, tended the gift shop, took dinner and room reservations, waited tables, was a prep cook, was the breakfast and lunch cook, did construction… and served the occasional drink. I learned that if you have no friends in the area to distract you and have a boss that does not believe in overtime, but will let you work as much as you want so he doesn’t have to hire more people. It is possible to work close to 80 in one week. Recommendation: If they are good people and have an endless supply of stories and treat you well, it’s really not a bad way to spend the summer when you’re 18. Plus because you are working so much you end up saving most of your money instead of spending it during your free time… mainly because you don’t have any free time.
Day Care Worker/White Power Ranger
I learned that when you are working with a bunch of three to five year olds and you have long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and it’s the mid 90’s, you are going to play Power Rangers every single day at work and you are always going to be Tommy, the White Ranger. I also learned more about the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers than I ever thought was acceptable for an adult to learn… I even found myself watching some of the episodes for “homework” purposes. Recommendation: For a semester, definitely… little people are always a good resource for making you laugh, especially when they don’t mean to.
College Dorm Room RA
I learned that working at a college day care was much more worthwhile than being in charge of babysitting a floor of college students that were only a year or two younger than me. The kids were much easier to deal with… plus they never arrived at the day care drunk. Unlike almost everyone on my dorm floor. Recommendation: It was a lot more work than I expected, but it wasn’t that bad. Besides, being an RA meant that I did have my own room, so in that regard I’d say yeah, it was worth it.
Assistant Pastry Chef
I learned that in resort cities you don’t need any experience to become an assistant pastry chef; you just need to be willing to wake up at 4am each morning to get to work by 5. If you were reliable enough to do that, you were reliable enough to be trusted with baking things in the ovens. Recommendation: Definitely a fun summer job. You meet an endless supply of crazy people, most of which think you are more nuts than they are because you work as a baker. Also, if you’re lucky, you have a job waiting for you when you go home for the Winter break before the new semester starts again.
Clothes Seller and Human Eye Measure-er for the GAP
I learned that the prospect of meeting cute girls diminishes quickly when they demand they are a size 4 and you know that they are a size 6… or 8. Recommendation: As a second job for the summer months between college semesters, yeah it’s really not that difficult. Plus you get a great discount on school clothes. Also, if you become friends with the window decorator, you can actually help create a Smirkable window display every now and again. My favorite was when the mannequins had a snowball fight using rolled up boxer shorts.
Video Rental Store Clerk
I learned that when one of your coworkers is dating your sister, he really doesn’t care much when you meet his aunt at a bar and take her out a few times. I also learned that it’s helpful to have a co-worker related to the bar maid you’ve just taken a fancy to, to learn that she’s still married, but separated. (Yeah, I stopped asking her our when I learned that little nugget.) Recommendation: Yes, when you are going to school, having an endless supply of free movie rentals does come in rather handy.
Subway Sandwich Artist
I learned that when you work with a kid who smokes pot in the back cooler, he has a tendency to eat a lot of the food when things are not busy. You do spend a lot of time up front keeping an eye on things though, because of all his trips to the back cooler. I also learned that just because you wear a button that says Sandwich Artist, you’re really just some guy that makes incredibly mediocre sandwiches. Recommendation: If it allows you to keep out of the volatile living situation for eight or so hours a day, yeah it might be worth it. Otherwise, find a local sandwich instead.
Precook at a Steak House
I learned that working with your dad in a kitchen can be a lot of fun. But if you boss (which is not your father) is an unrelenting drunk that keeps disrupting your work and then yells at you for not working, it’s a job that you don’t need. Recommendation: I might be ok to learn a few things about working in a kitchen, but don’t be afraid to walk out on the drunk.
Door to Door Sales Man
I learned that people don’t like to be interrupted at their homes by strangers trying to peddle them something they really don’t need. I also learned that the truly crazy ones are the one that will actually invite you in. Recommendation: For the sake of having a lifetime of stories about really obscure people and situations, by all means yes, just don’t make it a life time vocational choice. The experience is worth it as long as it ends.
Coffee Shop Deli Boy
I learned a lot about a product that I hate… coffee. I also learned that I really only like customer service when I can make food for people I like instead of everyone who comes in asking to be fed. I learned that working with your best friend can be a lot of fun, but also make you want to put their head in a Panini grill every once in a while. I also learned that you can barter meals for a bmx bike or even hypnotherapy sessions. Recommendation: Yes, you meet a lot of great people, who, when they remember to tip, are downright sweethearts, also if you have a thing from baristas, you stick with the job long after you should have moved on to bigger and better things.
Banana Republic Stock-Boy
I learned that hanging out in a cool basement running closes up to the main floor for customers that you would not be helping in any way is a nice customer service job that keeps you away from the customers. I learned when it comes to spending the summer in San Francisco; there are worse places to be than at work in a clothing store. I also learned that San Francisco is the town of a thousand smells, and it’s a nice place see, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Recommendation: It’s an ok distraction and gives you some cash to buy sandwiches while you are spending the summer in San Francisco to write.
Newspaper Opinion Columnist
I learned that writing a liberal opinion column for a mostly conservative campus paper is a good way to get voted as the most hated person on campus. I learned that editors are very useful things to have access too. I also learned that some people do not handle negative criticism about their negative criticism well. For the record I only had to call the cops once due to threats. Recommendation: Definitely, getting paid to share your opinion is one of the sweetest gigs I think I’ve ever had.
Writer of Technical Documents
I learned that I can get a job with an English degree that doesn’t require me to teach a class. I also learned that when you tell someone that you are a technical writer, about 98% of the time they will ask you, “What’s that?” Recommendation: It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you can do it and after 8 years you feel fine towards it… I figure that’s a good thing… well, it’s not bad anyway. Also, if you’re lucky you just might meet that special someone that asks you to marry them.
Blogger
I’ve learned that for me creative and satirical writing is the cat’s meow, the marshmallow in my rice crispy treat, the Sangiovese grape that makes my favorite wines my favorite wines, the K in MST3K, the little crack you feel when stretching your back that makes everything feel better… I could keep going, but I think you get the point. Recommendation: Absolutely. If you enjoy writing, then write. I love it. Also, when others tell you that they love it as well, well then that’s a whole new sentence of obscure analogies which ultimately mean, “it’s pretty damn cool.”
And there you have it, my job list. I think that’s all of it. Nineteen jobs in 36 years… I’m not sure if that is excessive or pretty standard. Still, it has been a collection of life experiences… and well worth it.
What were some of your more outlandish jobs?
Image Sources:
Google Images, key words: work, high school dance, bagging groceries, day care, SNL GAP, sandwich artist, working at coffee shop deli, newspaper columnist, and blogging.
by Richard Timothy | Aug 26, 2010 | I Think There's a Point, Non-Fiction, Observationally Speaking, Visual Smirk
Because family has arrived in town and my current Smirk is taking much longer than I expected, here’s another installment of “A Brief Moment in Human Ingenuity”. I hope you enjoy…
Lessons 16 – 20.
A brief moment in human ingenuity… Lesson 16: How new Apple toys can breed really bad fashion designs.
A brief moment in human ingenuity… Lesson 17: How to surf the web and drive… ask a plumber with a degree in mechanical engineering.
A brief moment in human ingenuity… Lesson 18: How to use your new keyboard (or mouse) with your old PC.
A brief moment in human ingenuity… Lesson 19: A ripe fix to a rotten situation.
A brief moment in human ingenuity… Lesson 20: How to build your own GPS mount in any car… works great as long as you don’t need to perform any u-turns.
Image Sources:
An e-mail from a friend.
by Richard Timothy | Aug 23, 2010 | I Do Suggest, I Think There's a Point, MST3K, My List of Things that Don't Suck, Non-Fiction, Observationally Speaking, Reviewed and Recommended
So last Thursday, the 19th, I and a few of friends, made it to the RiffTrax Live! performance at one of the local theaters. Now usually when I mention RiffTrax I have to give a brief history about what RiffTrax is. If you already know, feel free to skip the next paragraph. If you don’t, a little history never hurt anyone… except all the people that were harmed in the making of the history involved… right! So about the history of RiffTrax, in order for me to do that I need to first tell you a little about their origins.
RiffTrax is essentially the love child of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and short lived Film Crew. MST3K made a cult name for itself doing the very thing that we all do when watching something “sort of” to “epically” lame on the television, which is… making fun of it with your own open commentary. MST was a show about watching people watching bad movies while making fun of it. After the show ended, the three guys that finished the series started a new venture called the Film Crew. After a few hang-ups there, namely MST owner Jim Mallon (who, in my opinion, is kind of a douche bag) told the distributor of the DVDs that he would pull all future MST title distribution unless they passed on the Film Crew series, the Film Crew ended and RiffTrax began.
I know, it’s a lot of exposition just to get to the point, but I think it helps those who have no idea what RiffTrax is. A RiffTrax Live! event is where the RiffTrax crew do a live performance in a theater where you get to watch them on stage making fun of a movie. In some cases they broadcast this live event to a bunch of other theaters across the country. This is what I went to and enjoyed last Thursday.
Having been to a few of these broadcast events now, and being an MST3K fan that treads somewhere around of the edge of the “devoted” to “ludicrous” waters, I always know I’m in for a good time. One of the best things about these events is that you are surrounded by like-minded and like-humored people, people who are there because they too love MST. The audience is full of that ready to laugh energy. It’s infectious and it makes the whole event that much more entertaining. The experience did offer two new additions that I had not experienced before, namely Frank and Dwight… two of the friends that join me for the show were pretty much MST virgins.
Ok, so maybe Dwight had gotten to second base with an MST episode or two before, but that’s about it. Frank had heard about it, but I don’t think he’d ever had a full and true MST experience… which, technically, he still hasn’t, but he will. I can say that neither are RiffTrax virgins anymore. Not that it was ever on their “bucket list”, but at least now they can now put it on the list and cross it off at the same time. Also, both are newly devoted fans to the riffing on movies experience. I must say, there is something incredibly satisfying about introducing friends to one of your favorite things in the world and having them become fans of the art that is MST.
It felt a little like saving the Oompa-Loompas’ from total destruction and introducing them to a new life filled with songs and candy… and what really kind of comes across as slavery… hmmm, ok bad example. I guess you could say it’s more like smoking… minus the disgusting, smelly, smoky, cancer causing affects. What I mean is when a smoker meets someone who is also a smoker there is a sort of bond, an unspoken connection to that other person, I guess the same could be said for scrap booking… and I know I feel the same way when I learn that someone loves MST3K.
So what did we watch? Reefer Madness… in color no less. If there is one thing this 1930’s propaganda film can teach you about pot, it’s how to laugh at people who smoke too much of it. It really was a grand time, accompanied by a few really crappy special effects and some “crazy eyes” camera angles that will keep you giggling for a good two or three days after. Frank and Dwight loved it, which I loved because, guess what that means? Yep, I’ve got some MST/RiffTrax/Cinematic Titanic parties to plan. One universal truth about MST is that, even if they are fun to watch, they are so much better when you are watching them with friends that are enjoying them as well.
The point I wanted to make with all this is this… tomorrow, August 24th they are doing an Encore performance of the Reefer Madness RiffTrax Live! event. If you are a fan, but missed it, or didn’t even know about it, tomorrow is your chance to check it out. If you enjoy MST3K at all it’s well worth the price of the ticket. I just hope you live in a town that will be showing the Encore performance. Hope you can make it.
Click here to check and see if it’s playing in a theater somewhere close to you.
If you did happen to make it to the show, what did you think?
Google Images, key words: RiffTrax Live, second base, and Reefer Madness.
by Richard Timothy | Aug 20, 2010 | I Think There's a Point, My List of Things that Don't Suck, Non-Fiction, Observationally Speaking
I think the suggestion behind this Smirk originated from the up can coming Eat, Pray, Love film starring Lyle Lovett’s ex-wife, which is a bestselling novel of the same title that does not star Julia… which I never did read. So the suggestion was to take a look at a few of those everyday things that most of us do every day. The idea was to take a look at things that all of us experience on a regular basis, and since the Pray and Love concepts are no concepts that everyone seems to adhere to, the alteration of them to Work and Sleep seemed a logical fit. It’s clear that this topic is a touch to vase to make into just one Smirk, so let’s take a look at each one of these topics, one at a time.
There is always going to be occasional breaker of these every day functions and since today is about the eating aspect of our day, let’s begin with a few breakers of this functionality. This list includes but is not limited to:
- Kids on the wrestling team try to make weight
- Supermodels
- Jockeys
- Cheerleaders
- Actors trying to downsize for a role
- People trying to fit into their wedding dress for the big day
- Or those people in South Korea who died playing Starcraft because they were and forgot to eat for a few days
And the list goes on… well it would if I would to continue to keep writing them (feel free to add to this list in the comments)
I do concede that there are some situations, such as authentic homeless people or people starving in Third World countries that could go on the list, but I feel this is a different classification. These are people who want to eat, but have no food, where as the other is people have food, but choose not to eat it.
Traditionally eating is something that people schedule time from three times a day… unless you are a Hobbit (in which case we get that you eat a lot, so please shut the hell up about for the next three hours). Each meal time has its own name as well. First is breakfast… our egg, bacon, and pancake themed meal of the day. Then there is lunch, which for most of us is our get-up-and-out-of-the-office meal or, for management types is the meal-to-skip-so-we-can-go-home-early meal. Finally we have dinner/supper, which is our end of day reflection meal… or the drive-thru sack filled with food-like substances that claim is happy, but in the end is only going to make you sad. Not to mention is a fuel source for assisting people in becoming factories of hideously repugnant odor production. Still, dinner seems to be the one meal of the day that has a bit more of a togetherness feel around to it.
I always smile when I hear people say they are having breakfast for dinner. Oddly though, breakfast is not just a meal time, it also constitutes a very specific collection of food. It seems to be the only one too. You never hear people say, “Let’s have dinner for breakfast,” or “Let’s have lunch for dinner.” Or some other variation, but breakfast is a meal that has the label “breakfast” associated to the food as well, no matter when you eat it.
This does make me wonder about people with different sleep schedules. Let’s say you work the graveyard shift. You get up around 6 PM to have dinner with the family and get ready for work. Now, since that dinner with the family is technically your breakfast, does it become breakfast or is it still your dinner? Which means lunch in your breakfast, and breakfast is your dinner. Do these names change because the meals and meal times change, or do you keep the meal time associated to the traditional time frame they are for? (If you have an answer, please feel free to share it.)
I will state that for the record, I am a big fan of eating… it’s one of those things I enjoy a lot, and as a plus it’s one of those things a do a regular basis that helps keep me alive. Likewise, I accept that if I ever decide to quit eating, then my life expectancy will decrease dramatically. Funny thing about eating, it can also be one of those things that can kill you as well… for example, peanuts are not everyone’s friend.
The thing I am discovering while writing this is that this is a topic that will continue to give me something to Smirk about. Just today I had a potluck at work… and believe me, there is a Smirk already forming in my head about that one.
Eating, we all do it. It’s one of those things that make us all the same… and all different, depending on what it is you eat. As Wikipedia says about the topic, “Eating is the ingestion of food to provide for all humans and animals nutritional needs, particularly for energy and growth.” It not so much funny as it is true, but what makes it funny is our interaction with it. Things like pie eating contests, without the use of your hands. That one always strikes me disturbingly amusing to watch. There is the never ending fascination that Americans have with trying to deep-fry everything… and I mean EVERYTHING. There is also the practice of feeding babies new flavors just so you can laugh at their facial reactions.
So here’s to eating, for making us happy when it tastes sooo good. For making us sad, when we eat something that our body did not appreciate. For bringing people together and constantly allowing us to evolve out senses as we explore with trying new things to eat. And finally, for enabling us to make those uncontrollable “Mmmmmm” sounds that expel from our mouths when we taste something so good that only that sound, followed by our eyes rolling into the back of our head can truly convey its grandeur. It is the goal of every great chef to be able to create a dish and demands that reaction from the eater. And when it happens, it is always worth it.
So, what are some of your feeling about this whole eating habit?
Image Sources:
Google Images, key words: eating, breakfast, may contain nuts, deep fried pickle, and savoring food.
The end of labor is to gain leisure. ~Aristotle
