Here we go now, here we go now

I just ate one of those wrapped pound cakes, made by some local bakery--bakery being a large, clanky machine in a warehouse somewhere in the warehouse district, spitting out product like orange seeds.

What an interesting way to sell an item. It poses as fresh product even though it is loaded with preservatives. The gossamer wrapper is the kind you would find on a pack of cigarettes. Or maybe, the plastic that showcases the addressee on a windowed envelope. Transparent packaging evokes the illusion of freshness and just-baked goodness. No expiration date, adding another layer of ambiguity regarding its edibility based on freshness.

I was hungry. I should have known better, but it was gut-wrenchingly cheap.

Texture and taste make the experience and both are absent in this cake. It also smells funny, something I discovered almost halfway through the cake. I need to learn to resist buying deceptively fresh items from bodegas. Stick to Cheez Doodles.

Pepsi Points Memo

You feel too embarrassed to redeem this mountain of orange and yellow, "BUY PEPSI 20oz GET 1 FREE" bottle caps. You consider, Maybe this is hurting the margins that these stores depend on. Poor souls. You decide to redeem them at a Rite Aid or some establishment with deeper pockets than your proximal bodega. That is right: stick it to them. Corporate skulduggery put to good use.

I love cola.

Let's be the best

I can't wait! What is accomplishment without hard work? We frown upon those who receive a sudden windfall. Those lucky, undeserving cretins!

I need to keep at it. Nobody made it happen on a consistent basis because of chance. Work until you ache your bones!

I must express my concern over your second use of the word 'japs'

I respect you. I really do. The brazenfaced glibness that you said it with... it was terribly convincing. The presence of an Asian-American male who is not only your generational peer, but a classmate in the very same classroom that this transgression took place, twice, did not deter you from going beyond the pale.

What is going on? I respect you. I really do.

Response to: Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone

This was meant for the Digg comment section but some site error kept me from posting this. I need to spill this out somewhere. But I guess this is the typical mentality of a blogger anyway.

re: Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone
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Although I appreciate her faith in humanity and agree with her assertion that we are bombarded with negative stories, I find fault with two things: first, the dismissal of crimes as infrequent and thus, able to be ignored with open defiance no less; and second, this idea of over-protectiveness as an actual danger.

She brushes off the Carlie Brucia story with startling levity. She classifies the act as a rare instance of one bad apple. The consequences of allowing a city of kids to run free without guidance becomes an issue of temptation and the sudden appearance of numerous opportunities to snatch up children, who may not all have the capacity to make informed decisions. Nine-year-olds aren't all made equal. One may be able to avoid putting herself in a dangerous situation, while another may have his mind wander and get hit by a car. Similarly, I would like to believe that all adults are informed enough to pass this information to their kids, but unfortunately many parents are oblivious to the possibility of various tricks or ruses, which really tempted, impatient, and particularly insidious criminals would gladly take the time to think of. (And don't dismiss criminals as dumb. That is a sad generalization that is more of a vain, comfort-thought that such horrible people are logically as stupid as they come. There is no way a low-life can be cunning AND a pedophile. Spare me the snobbery.)

This isn't a small town where everyone knows everyone and everyone is identifiable. If you are in a county with a small populace, then you will probably notice your neighbor bringing home a child when you swore he was single and know that he is an eerily disposed recluse. A big city where identities get lost in the fray of the daily bustle, where anonymity is achieved through the logistical impossibility of keeping track of everyone that walks through your store.

She believes that coddling your child to the point of losing ability to function as an adult is a likely outcome of being over-protective. As with most behaviors (or anything at all), going to the extremes is a flimsy basis for an argument.

And for goodness's sake, there are other ways to develop your child's independence or give your child a lesson in self-reliance. Not that this should be an issue anyway. These are your kids. It is genetically etched into your mind to make sure that child grows up safe. Nature entrusts you with this. Why shunt this responsibility for the sake of a lesson that can be learned elsewhere? I do not know how salient this episode may remain for her son when he grows older, but personally, 99% of everything that occurred before puberty has been lost with the years (I am 23). His future would be better served if, when older, he volunteered on a regular basis or takes a trip to study abroad, among other possibilities.

The mother approached this with a smidge of due diligence, offering the child a few options to reach for help. But what bothered me the most was this line: "No, I did not give him a cell phone. Didn’t want to lose it." She may have said this facetiously in the service of irony, but if that was at all blithely written, it was a sad irony that she would value a phone over her child.
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