While most of my American friends were trapped under almost a thousand millimeters of snow (doesn’t that sound so much more hardcore than “a few feet”) I was busy being hot and wet in Sydney. Before you get all excited let me assure this is not the “sexy” hot and wet, but the “humid with no air conditioning in summer” variety. I’ve been trying to think of cheap and effective alternatives to aircon, such as sitting on frozen peas, taping popsicles to my body, and putting a fan in front of the open refrigerator, but it’s hard to compete with the blazing Australian sun.
So today I went to the food store. I don’t know about other people, but I enjoy food shopping for many reasons. The most obvious is that I love food! Unlike bacon pattern scarves or cupcake shaped earmuffs, buying real food can always be justified since eating is essential for life. This allows me to bypass the “cheap-gene” I inherited my father by using the excuse “if I don’t buy this candy bar and these Doritos I will starve, suffer, and die”.
The second is because I love people watching, and food stores are great for this! Most shops have specific associated demographics, but in the food store all of these worlds collide! You never know what you will find around the next corner! Just today I saw a very young child standing up on the seat of his mother cart throwing chicken at other shoppers and pretending to surf while is mother pushed the cart around the store apologizing for him. How often do you see things like this happen in banana republic?
The third and most obvious is for the air conditioning! If it’s not cool enough for me I can always stand in front of the open freezer for several minutes acting like I am seriously considering purchasing a frozen lasagna… with my shirt off.
I also try to have fun. For years I’ve been balancing products in my cart to properly distribute weight for cart drifting. I make a game out of seeing how many free samples I can get before I’m recognized. I find a great deal of amusement in going through checkout lines with obscure mixes of products (ie. 10 gallons of bleach, a tube of whipped cream, and a lobster). Products like "budget bacon" still make me giggle, and nothing about ice cream has ever made me sad. It’s important for me to find ways to make even the little things in life enjoyable.
So there you go. I finally posted something in my blog. I’m sorry it’s not more interesting, but it is really hard to be creative when it’s this hot. Hopefully I will have more soon. For now, I’m going to go sit on some frozen peas. Hopefully somebody will mail me a box of snow before they thaw.
