No Fun

I'm doing better, now. I only eat half a pound of ground beef instead of the whole pound. I don't eat two chickens, anymore... just one. I only drink a few soft drinks a week instead of a few a day.

I don't drink any alcohol. I don't smoke. I don't do any drugs.

I got 4 equal sides and 4 right angles. *makes open bracket with one hand while making closed bracket with the other*

Predilections

There are things we make great effort to deny about ourselves for no better reason than the fact that some people pointed them out to us when we were young. Usually someone close to you, maybe a family member, but someone who knew you well enough to read your face and body language points it out. In an effort to be less predictable and more independent, we deny it, then spend the rest of our formative years keeping up the lie.

When we get older, we kick ourselves for not coming to terms with those things years earlier. If we hadn't been so stubborn and recognized our talents and predilections in our developmental years, we could've taken better advantage of them. We ask ourselves where we'd be or what we'd be doing if we hadn't played that game.

Everyone does that, though. Some were better at listening when they were younger, but were usually led astray in some other way by some well-meaning person. The very same things that make some people successful when given special emphasis in their lives, might be the very things that make them ultimately intolerable to the type of people they long to be around.

Happy Belly

Why does having food in your belly make you feel like everything is going to get better? It must trigger some brain chemical... endorphins or something. You can feel like crawling back into bed and never leaving until somebody gives you something to eat. Suddenly, you believe you're capable of charging an army all by yourself.

Then again, it can also seem to have the opposite effect. Last night, for example, I ate a pizza that knocked me out as if it had been spiked with roofie powder. There wasn't any turkey on it, so it wasn't tryptophan. The full belly syndrome can apparently cause sleepiness, as well.

Maybe it just makes you feel how you need to feel. If you need to sleep, it helps you sleep. If you need energy, it pumps you up. Either way, I love it.

Even Tornados Don't Want to Hang Out with Me

A tornado just came right up to the house and went away. So weird. The map showed it right at my house when it disappeared.

They were showing a map on TV, pointing right at my house saying, "Get into a safe place." The wind and rain started smacking the windows and roof. My eyes widened.

Mere seconds later, though, the wind and rain stopped. Almost immediately, they cancelled the tornado warning. Thank God for that.

Friendly to Strangers

There are people you meet that just seem like you should know them. Whether it's a familiar facial feature, verbal quirk, or some other intangible, there's just something that makes you feel almost immediately comfortable with them. Before you know it, you're joking with them like a friend. Then, you notice the raised eyebrow, quizzical look on their face and realize you don't know that person at all.

What You've Got

You can't ever forget how good you've got it. Focusing in on a few bad things can separate you from the big picture. No matter what the situation, you still have things others may not. It sure helps to take a minute and recognize what you've got.

Made to Order

Fast food is always a gamble. I call it 'Fast Food Roulette'. While the risk to your health might be part of it, that title really refers to the random nature of what you get in the bag.

I never even look in the bag. Sometimes you get less than your order, sometimes more. You usually come out even in the long run. When you order a coke and they give you one of those multi-drink cup holders filled with sundaes and assorted drinks, though, like happened to me last weekend, you have to admit you know they've given you too much, even if the bag of food they gave you isn't that much heavier than it should've been.

When I sheepishly handed the cup holder back and said all of that food couldn't be my order, the young lady demanded to see my receipt. She began looking closely at it, then at me, going back and forth like she was looking at my driver's license to determine if it was really me or if I was old enough to buy booze... like she was trying to decide if I was the type to pay for extra food I didn't want.

"Pull forward," she said with a scowl.

My current streak for not getting the same items I ordered is seven. As much as I appreciate those folks working to make food for us slackers who either ran out of time or don't have anything at home to prepare, I have to make note that they are currently 0 for their last 7 attempts. It's not just one restaurant, either. Sonic, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Captain D's, Zaxby's, and, as of this evening, Taco Bell all slipped.

It's not like I eat a lot of fast food. I typically only eat fast food once or twice a week. Most of the time I eat food I prepare at home. I'm really not complaining, either. I'm glad they're there to feed me when I don't feel like going to the grocery store on the way home. I don't know anyone that I could just show up at their house and they'd fix me food, even if it isn't always made to order.