random roundup

I have an additional peeve to add, noted this morning while driving into work at 0-dark-thirty:

People who buy those "aftermarket" halogen headlights that emit a blinding blue glare. You may think it makes you safer but what about the people you've effectively blinded running into you?

Oh, and also the people who do not understand the concept of "turn down brights when a car approaches on the opposite side" - if I ran the world, you'd have your "brights" removed at the first offense.

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I'm still thinking about the argument that most wal-mart shoppers are basically rude because they are in a certain socioeconomic class, and the rude, self-centered behavior is just a hallmark of the characteristics that have not prevented them from rising higher.

The struggling egalitarian side of me does not want to believe that. But. My mother grew up fairly "poor," at least by 1950s standards, but from all the stories I have heard, her family had a certain amount of pride. And a certain amount of priorities: they didn't have a telephone line or a television until she was in college, but her mother made darn sure the kids had warm coats for the winter and the schoolbooks they needed.

And my mother earned her Ph.D. (partly by raising money for school by waitressing at "37 and a half cents an hour plus tips" as I heard so many times growing up).

But I also think of my own shopping experiences - at the local Mart of Wal, at the shiny spangly lovely new Meijer's that opened up in my parents' hometown where I went shopping over break (oh, dear me, how I love Meijer's. I wish one would come here. I love their miles and miles of produce, and their funky-fun aisle of imported foods, and their shiny clean cases...), and the Albertson's I sometimes shop at, and the Kroger's I shop at when I can get down to it. And you know? The worst behavior I've witnessed HAS been at the wal-mart. Now, that COULD be a function of the fact that I'm there more often - but I've also been at the Kroger's when it's been wicked crowded (the Saturday afternoon before the Super Bowl), and I've still not seen the level of me-first behavior that I saw at the wal-mart.

And at the "upscale" stores - the Dillard's and such (Dillard's is as "upscale" as I can go), I've seen SOME bad behavior but it's mainly limited instances of someone behaving like a diva (or, less frequently, a divo). And most of the other shoppers kind of edged away and rolled their eyes a little and talked to their shopping companion in hushed tones. Sort of a "I can't BELIEVE she (or he) is doing that."

And a lot of the small boutiquey stores I've been in - a few in my home town, a few in a lovely nice town I visit sometimes - I've seen generally kind and nice behavior.

So I don't know. Like I said, the petulant, public-Ivy-trained egalitarian in me wants to find another explanation for the bad behavior but I'm wondering if maybe "general cluelessness of how to behave" slops over and affects other areas of one's life, like the type of job one gets.


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I read the New York Times online sometimes. (I don't know why. Maybe it's so I can keep my blood pressure from dropping too low.) There's an article today on "the breakfast wars," about how terribly, horribly hard it is to find a breakfast that is both satisfying and healthful. The two options listed? Starbucks and McDonald's.

Um. Yeah.

I have a third option, if I may offer? Make your own damn breakfast at home.

My breakfast on a typical day is a big big glass of orange juice (which costs the world now but I don't care, I have to have my OJ) and a bowl of frosted shredded wheat. And sometimes a piece of wheat toast with jam if I'm afraid it will be later than noon before I get to my lunch.

The frosted shredded wheat tastes fairly good (IMHO), or I sometimes substitute raisin bran or one of the many fine granola type cereals when I'm bored of it.

It takes me a total of five minutes to pour the juice and get the cereal. Seven minutes if I add toast. (I do not know how long a Starbucks takes; I don't have one in my town. I have a McDonald's but it's out in BFE on the edge of town and is the opposite direction from work, so even if I wanted McDonald's it would take more time.)

I can buy a whole box of store-brand frosted shredded wheat for the cost of a Star$$$ pastry.

I mean - I don't begrudge the people who go out and buy breakfast, I'm not saying they're stupid or anything, it's just: if you don't like Starbucks or McDonald's or the corner diner, there's something else to do other than complain that you're getting ripped off or served substandard food.

But some people just like to complain I guess.

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Something that has creeped me out: this whole Ashley issue. This is the thing with the seriously disabled young woman, whose parents basically put her in a state of permanent childhood through hormone treatments and removal of her uterus and breast-buds.

I guess when I first read the treatment, I was pretty horrified, although, on consideration, I somewhat see the parents' point: she will be easier to care for. And, what if, God forbid, she had to go to a facility, where, as sometimes happens (rarely, but it does happen) she was raped? And she became pregnant? That would be really horrible.

But the thing that creeps me out? The term "pillow angel." The parents call her their "pillow angel." I'm just very uncomfortable with that term. I think part of it is it's almost like it's foreshadowing - like, yeah, she's going to die someday. But it also -and I realize this is a seriously disabled child who cannot care for herself or move - sort of diminishes her. It makes her into a toy.

It makes me think a bit of those celebrities who carry little dogs around in their purses like I used to do with a stuffed toy when I was a little girl. It's like they don't realize the dog is a living breathing thing and being dragged to clubs and stuffed in a purse is probably not best for it.

I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong on this but the terminology is just uncomfortable to me.