. . . . . Well, seems to be this site is so much about food but it also is such a narrow focus and rather mundane (daily bread you know) and kind of arbitrary and relatively unimportant (grocery lists? gimme a break) so I'm gonna start separating them from the (would-be) journal so I can just put important stuff like rent and thought-dreams and such there. Anyway, to start off my food watch I think maybe dredging up something I already said, about maybe needing to cut back on eating meat if we want to feed everybody, might need a little attribution, so here's an image right out of a book (Yoga: Mind & Body, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, first American edition 1996):
. . . . . Strikes me that this book was published in '96 (well, it's a paperback first published in '98) and this graphic could have been true in '96. Then I write on the web recently about Newsweek or Headline News or something saying 800 million people go to bed hungry every night and half of them are children. I can easily see malnutrition doubling the rate of deaths from simple hunger. Which is all to say that things have apparently not gotten even a little bit better. The Hunger Site (not on-line lately) for whatever reason changed it's opening stat from a death every 3.6 seconds to 24,000 deaths a day (same number of deaths) from hunger__no change. So, back to my observation on SAFE's home page, we can't even feed ourselves.
. . . . . Okay, my personal food report. I saw Pizza Hut's tax-cut special and fell for it: ordered a large rolled-crust pizza with double cheese and double pepperoni with ranch dressing on the side for $10.69. Got it to go four meals (in our fer-what-it's worth department). No other bucks on food except for a loaf of bread and then a quick grocery run the other day (see receipts image below [which include $4.67 at the discount bread store: two loaves of bread and two tubes of bagels God is Great]). It might be worth noting that the five pounds of ground chuck were purchased after I scanned the "political reasons to be vegetarian" image (above). Well, certainly after I found it. And, perhaps mainly because of a lack of freezer bags (aka plastic grocery bags), I only divided the beef into nine chunks. (Heaven help us all.)
. . . . . Yeah, got out on Friday the 13th. If I'd realized it, I might not have gone. Also the picante sauce I kind of hoarded because I had a coupon that I figured I would lose or let expire if I didn't use it quick.
. . . . . Also in July: spent $1.99 on bbq sandwich + $0.99 on soda = $3.19; also the guy I do not like to see at one of my gas stations charged me $3.42 total for a gallon of milk and definitely didn't offer a receipt. I think he thinks I'm a jerk! Plus $0.56 for a cup of coffee. And went back to the grocery for the huge run listed in image below (including four tv-dinners, beef stew and brown rice):
. . . . . One more thing: I've decided to quit putting the occasional cup of coffee that I buy on my food listings; mainly maybe because it's rather embarassing to spring money like that for something you can . . . no wait, it might be the Spirit of Light moving me to not do this.
. . . . . It was not too long ago I thought about (well, that makes it sound almost proactive and I think that's a bit much) telling the preacher that desserts must be a sin. Well, of course not (and that wasn't what I meant to say; I was only pointing out that God could not be pleased with us eating huge [the four of us that night had two whole pies in the oven] while eight hundred million people [800,000,000 PEOPLE] go to bed hungry; I was saying OPEN YOUR EYES and be satisfied with bread at least until everybody has bread!), it's just the big picture bothering me then and maybe the realization that it might not take too much of an adjustment to rectify the situation. May be that if we all put the money we spend on just desserts into the pot for hungry people that we could turn the corner on malnutrition. I don't know. But I do know that saying it might be in our best interests to do something might be the understatement of the last century even.
. . . . . And I hope that readers understood/understand what I said/say. More words count less. Oh yeah, since people spend so much money on coffee, for example, but mostly because you can do like me and drop a buck fifty for the dark-roast coffee-of-the-day at BooksAMillion when that'll buy you maybe fifteen cups of the same Columbian grind at the grocery store. Again, it's the cumulative effect of our behavior, the big picture ("For all this [my emphasis] his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still," appears [here too] in Isaiah exactly like that five times), our failure to do justice and judgment as God sees them (I say), our simple lack of compassion for humankind (not a gray area, but the machinations, the rationalizations of ordinary [carnal] mind that make this even debatable), all of this (800,000,000 people hungry today, just like five years ago) that makes me hope I'm the antiChrist.
. . . . . I mean, last month I spent over $120 on clothes. I don't need clothes. I don't think many people in ameriKa need clothes. I spent over $130 on a hobby. I spent $94 to upgrade my computer. I make me sick. But like I've written on this site before (I think . . . [well, my letter to the editor is a pretty good example (but What's Next? is better)]), I could give away everything I have and quit acquiring more stuff and it just wouldn't matter. A drop in the bucket. It needs to be a collective agreement.
. . . . . So anyway add $1.90 to my food list (for two twelve-ounce cups of coffee from gas stations [one of them out of those squirt container things that had luke-warm coffee (instant karma?)]).
*******************
. . . . . Later. Oh dear. August 8. $39.56 for 32 items at Jitney. Image to come (or maybe not; don't seem to know where it is now). Bought milk (1.97! [gallon!]), lunch (3.29 + tx [chinese chicken, potatoes, greens, roll, tea!!!!!]), cabbage (1.23 [3.23 lb@.39/lb!]), bread (pumpernickel rye [God!] 2.09), 2 lbs of (quality) lunch meat (ripped off; charged 3.99/lb), 3 lbs. white onions (1.49!), two canteloupes (.58 each!) at K-Mart. Looking for receipt. Found receipt. Spent 4.95 for "B/S CHIX BRE". No idea what this is/was. May be was food. (Was food. Is food. Quality food. That's boneless, skinless chicken breast [@ 1.59/lb]!)
. . . . . Well, even later. This is pretty embarrassing. I just remembered buying four (4!) big chili dogs at Bumper's, mostly because I had a coupon where you could get two for the price of one, max four for the price of two. The bad news is they were like over 2.50 to start with. I honestly don't remember how many meals I made, but it was multiple. Also did tip the babe a buck, which I mention because it wasn't hitting on her (like the one I tipped three bucks on a eight-dollar meal, I got a she-doesn't-like-me vibe and I just didn't care) and I want to get that straight. Just that I've got more than I need and hate to blow it all on myself. Or something. (Also don't want to let humanity off the hook by doing too much for the huddled masses.)
. . . . . Guess I'm trying to avoid listing the 1.06 for livers and a bisquit at Church's yesterday. And I'm thinking I'm gonna go for a buy-a-pizza get-one-free tomorrow at Domino's. Any homeless people reading this at the library, zip me an e- and I'll invite you over to eat.
. . . . . Well, the pizzas plural are a done deal; just made five meals, though I dispensed with salads and stuff. And went back to the grocery and spent what $35.38. Just a quick run you know. The depressing thing is that I'd be glad and able to share, but it seems kind of pointless. The dogs who compass me would be glad to pick my carcass and say 'too bad for him'; told a like aunt/uncle ten years ago that we ameriKans have no constitutional right of privacy though we pretend to, which makes charitable giving to our (close physically) neighbors an iffy thing...like prob'ly not the people who need it. But some of them appear to live in such poverty it does us good to like put roofs on their houses and ramps for their wheelchairs and help out by giving a dollar a month to the gas company for people who have trouble paying their bills. Maybe I should say it makes us feel good about ourselves. (I fear the self-esteem movement is a great tool of the devil; we should love God and obey His commandments is the end of the matter it says in Ecclesiastes.)
. . . . . Anyway, didn't mean to get into anything like that. what i was about to mention was the rather horrifying fact i encountered more than one place lately, to wit that the majority of ameriKans who are malnourished are that way as a result of eating too much. ain't that wild. makes sense, you think about it. the distended bellies we've all seen too much of in famine situations for as long as i can remember kind of mirror the distended bellies of people who wallow in the lap of luxury we proudly call the land of the free, home of the brave.
. . . . . So, a few tears (tears of rage? tears of grief? what a Dylan song: "tears of rage, tears of grief, why must I always, be the thief?") later I'm gonna mention that I've been watching the limit on my server for a while and though I was gratified when they raised it from ten to fifteen megs I'm still gonna try something new: instead of posting these pics of grocery lists which aren't very good anyway I'm gonna try to do tables like with the letters I've posted; so here goes (I added some info, didn't correct the scanner some on K-Mart, grouped stuff a little too):
U2LCOM~ TO OUR **
- KMART STORE 4930
07200015236 AM FARE SKIM MILK 1.19
02100012062 YOGURT 52 B
02100012050 YOGURT .52 B
02100012062 YOGURT ~52 6
02100012050 YOGURT .52
02100012061 BREVERS MOOd .52 B
02100012061 BREYERS YOGU .52 b
02100012049 LISHI AFFLE 52 B
02100012049 LIGHT APPLE .52 B
02100012041 LHT ST~BRY C .52 3
02100012041 ~LHT STUBRY C .52 B07225001767 N/C S/F BREAD 1 .79 B
4022 GRAPES WHITE
1.94 LB @.77 LB 1.49
4782 YLLW STRAIGHTNECK SQUASH
1.91 LB .89 LB 1.70 B4069 CABBAGE, GP~
1.75 LB .39 /LB .6821321460592 PORK RIBS 5.98 2
07072763105 SCREWS 2.29ThV~ -
07690603009 INSTED LEAO 1 .59 1
07690603009 INSTED LEAD 1.5965985701768 PILLOWCASE A 9.99 I
02998610380 BOOKCASE A 9.99 1
TAX 2.99 S~L 45.77
Cash 50.02
CHANGE 4.25
TOTAtNUMBER OF UENS SOLD 21
RECEIPTI 04930 082201 011 00280
08/22/01 8:05 PM 4930 11 0028 0427
$494 $494949494 %94$4$4$q$4~4M~
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- 1-800-51 1-3753
TELL iS HOW WE ~RF JOINS
See Service lJesk f~or Complete Rules
94949494$V4$4*94~94 $4949494949494
*M GET SPECIAL DEALS VIP EMAIL!! &m
** REGISTER AT WUWBLUELIGHTCOM **
****JITNEY ****
Kountry Fresh 4O% BRAN FLAKS 1.29 B
SAVED .20 ON POWER BUY ITEMKountry FRSH FATfree GRANOLA 1.99 B
S/B FAT FREE MILK 2.89 B
1 @ 10/4.00
SB NE APRT/MANGO .40 B
LIGHT YOGURT .40 B
SB NE APRT/MANGO AO B
LIGHT YOGURT .40 B
SB NE BANANA CRM .40 B
SB NE BANANA CRM .40 B
SB STRBRY/KIWI YGT .40 B
SB STRBRY/KIWI YGT 40 B
3.66 lb @ .39 /lb
CABBAGE 1 .43 B1 Bunch .89 CELERY .89 B
COFFEE 1 .59 B
COFFEE 1.59 BOStrwbrry PRESERVES 1.99 B
1 @ 1.29 LETTUCE 1.29 B
OS MAYO LITE .99 B
SAVED .40 ON POWER BUY ITEMUNCLE BENS brown rice1.99 B
JIE R/F CRUN(?) 2.29 B
2LB CARROTS .98 B
FOOD COLOR (hummingbirds) 2.99 B
1 B 4/6.00
can HORMEL TURKY chili 1.25 B
SAVED .25 ON POWER BUY ITEM1 B 4/6.00
HORMEL TURKY 1.25 B
SAVED .25 ON POWER BUY ITEMdozen LARGE EGGS .99 B
EARTHGRAIN bread (1 loaf) 2.19 B
**** TAX 2.31 TOT 35.38
VE VCA XXXXXXXXXXXX5318 35.38
TOTAL NUMBER OF ITEMS SOLD = 26
8/29/01 1:21 PM 1327 03 0069 110
YOUR CASHIER TODAY IS ASHLEY
POWER BUYS,DISCOUNT DEPARTMENT
AND WEEKLY SPECIALS 1.10
THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING WITH US
MANAGER DALE KELLYSTORE 1 1327 -- PETAL MSCC
PHONE ~ (601)584--6254
. . . . . Two pillowcases (the martha stewart line not to get uppity but she's been runnin' sales lately huh?) by the way, and the 'instead 'o lead' is for my '69 olds' quasi-442 [read excess wealth] which needs help. (I left stuff in there like the cheap bookshelves [and screws to brace them up a little] I don't why; maybe I'm gonna really go public with my finances, just to humiliate myself with how much money I throw away is I fear the bottom line.)
. . . . . Well, while I'm exposing my self like this let me post a pic of proof, well, evidence anyway, of what a pig I am. Two large pizzas! Four ELCs (extra-large coneys if you wonder)! Humanity cries out "take another little piece of heart why don't cha babe?".
. . . . . Well, maybe summertime justifies lots of things. Like allowing myself to just look at that girl the other day and really dig her. So what if she thinks I'm a demented perverted creep. I can't say I blame her a bit.
. . . . . Maybe I'm done now. Nope. Maybe right after I posted this I went and with the aid of a coupon bought a chocolate-covered strawberry shake at Sonic for 1.06 (and fifty cents tip). Hope that last horoscope was right.
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