Random Stuffs

Ken:

Nutella is a hazelnut/chocolate spread. I think it originated in Italy. It is delicious, so of course, that means it's evil and fattening and will probably eventually be banned. (Perhaps Nutella bootlegging should be the future career I could look into). It's kind of like peanut butter infused with chocolate. (Incidentally, it has no trans fats - just the good old-fashioned kind of fat).

"Cankles," which is one of my most-hated words, is a contraction (I think) of "calf-ankle" - meaning women who have heavy ankles, like their calves extend down farther than they normally would. It's just another way that women are judged and found to have value/not have value based on their appearance. And "cankles" (like "cheerleader legs," another apparently undesirable trait) are not something we exactly have control over - if you have them, you could diet, and you still might not lose them. (I think there's now a surgery. So they've pathologized yet another thing.)

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Another ridiculous story: apparently Ralph Lauren fired a model for being "too fat." She was 5' 9" and weighed 120 pounds.

I am just making this observation in part to remind myself not to buy anything produced by Ralph Lauren Industries. Because obviously -as someone shorter than 5'9" and considerably more than 120 pounds - they don't want my business.

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I'm going shopping this weekend. A guy on Glenn Beck told me to.

(Yeah, I half-watch Glenn Beck. I don't believe all of what he says - if he did, I'd already be in that Unabomber-without-bombs cabin in the woods. But he's an entertaining madman and I do think some of his points make sense, particularly about people stepping up and taking responsibility)

Well, anyway, this dude was talking about the shrinking dollar and how he feared a coming currency crisis - and Beck said to him, "So, do you think it would be a good idea to go out and stock up on non-perishables now, so you have them when the SHTF?" (paraphrasing). And the guy said yeah.

And okay, he was referring to food - but I have LOTS of canned food on hand, and even some dried camping food. (In fact, I need to start using stuff up). But if the dollar tanks, and the little luxuries of life become unobtainable...well, that allows me to justify going out and stocking up on books and nice soap and good tea and that sort of thing.

(This is "found money" in a sense - money I earned over and above my basic salary by doing some "over and above" work. So it's not like I'm emptying out my "emergency fund" or draining my 457b to do it.)

I've decided this fall that life is somewhat uncertain, and that being as much of a cheapskate as I used to be - for example, keeping the thermostat set low (borderline uncomfortable) to save money on my heating bills - just doesn't make that much sense any more. If I can afford it, if it doesn't majorly compromise my future (I put away some $700 of my paycheck each month for retirement, on top of what the government's syphoning off for the supposed Social Security lockbox and on top of my state "teacher's pension plan" - neither of those plans I anticipate to still be in operation by the time I hit retirement)

But you know? We might all be blown to Kingdom Come by then, if Iran gets the nuke. Or we might all become slaves of some other nation. Or we might all be dead of the swine flu - or whatever the next big pandemic is. Or we might get government-run, single-payer health-care, and so, people like me (no kids, over 40) be deemed "expendable" and allowed to die whenever we develop cancer or heart disease.

Or, more likely, there may be a VAT coming, or some kind of tax-on-savings or God knows what to fund all the crap Congress wants to do.

So what's the point of scrimping and saving too much, if all those scrimpings are either taken away from me, or if I am not around to use them?

So anyway. I have a bit of time off this weekend (it's mid-semester), so I'm going to go and take a day and go to not-the-usual-Boutiqueville-I-go-to-but-another-one and take a day to enjoy the fact that I have money to spend.

And I realize that this flies in the face of all the "New Frugality" crap, and the "save save save your money" dicta, but you know? I've also come to the conclusion that a lot of the advice that comes over the teevee doesn't apply to me. Because I'm already doing the stuff they are telling people to do. And just because some people are idiots and buy a house that costs eight times their annual salary or something, and so now they're saying on the television "Don't go out to eat! Get all your books from the library instead of buying books! Cancel your cable...whoops, no, don't do that 'cos you couldn't watch us!" they don't mean me.

Just like they probably don't mean me when they snark about how Americans don't exercise. Or about how all our diets are so crappy (Shepherd Smith going ape over the fact that a Krispy Kreme cheeseburger exists - I wouldn't eat one myself, but I don't think they should be BANNED or anything like that).

I just need to learn that. That I'm not as stupid and lazy as the news media apparently thinks I am, and the crap they're spewing doesn't apply to me.

And that includes the money thing. I'm very frugal in a lot of ways, but as I said, I do like a nice lunch out now and then (And I'm careful about what I eat, but I like a nice piece of cake now and then, if the place I'm eating has a decent baker). And I like being able to go out and buy stuff without worrying about "how will I pay for this" (I get the money in cash, and spend cash).

So yeah. I'm gonna stock up. Just not on what exactly the "OMG DOLLAR IS FAILING" guy said.