. . . . . Well, God knows I don't want to start trying to do anything on a regular basis, but this money watch thing kind of begs for it and I hope I'm doing the right thing.
. . . . . Okay, first thing, I don't have a receipt but spent 71.35 to order a pair of pants, a pair of gloves, two fuel bottles, like a rain suit (got a real cheap umbrella that I don't use). Bought a paper (well, back in September) for 1.50. Quit putting dollar signs long ago because it makes it easier to not think of it as money. Here's receipts for grocery store and K-Mart (where I got jeans, sweats, socks, private stuff, blank cdrs, and a loaf of bread [having not been to the grocery store since that morning]).
WINN &mdash DIXIE
* AMERICAS SUPERMARKET *
MORE CHOICES, LOW PRICES
5 @ 10/5.00
BRYERS YOGURT .50 B
SAVED .14
BREVERS A LA MODE .50 B
SAVED .14
BREVERS A LA MODE .50 B
SAVED .14
BREYERS A LA MODE .50 B
SAVED .14
BREYERS A LA MODE .50 B
SAVED .14
S/B FAT FREE MILK 2.89 B
KF REG OATS 1.99 B
UNCLE BENS BRN RICE 1. 99 B
SUGAR BARREL SUGAR 1.69 B
RAISINS 1,99 B
5 LB ROLL GRND CHK 4.95 B
**** TAX 1.26 TOT 19.26
CASH 20.0!
CHANGE .75
TOTAL NUMBER
OF ITEMS SOLO 11
10/02/01 11:53 AM
1327 02 0071 105
YOUR CASHIER
TODAY IS MERLE
POWER BUYS,DISCOUNT
DEPARTMENT
WEEKLY SPECIALS · .70
THANK YOU
FOR SHOPPING WITH US
MANAGER DALE KELLY
STORE 1327 &mdash
PETAL MSCC
PHONE It (601 )584
WELCOME TO OUR
KMART STORE 4930
FLEECE PANTS 5.99
PUMP RYE 2.09
MENS JEANS A 8.00
MENS CRW SOC A 4.00
CDR 8OMIN 19.99
3PK BRIEF 3.46
TAX 3.05 BAL 46.58
XXXXXXXXXXXXS318 DEBIT
$46.58
$ .00
46.58
CHANGE .00
RECEIPTS 04930
100201 031 4339510/02/01 2:37 PM
4930 31 4339 9031
Take A Chance to Win
$10,000!CALL TOLL FREE
1-800-
TELL US HOW WE ARE DOING
See Set-vice Desk
for' Complete Rules
GET SPECIAL DEALS
VIA EMAIL!!! w~REGISTER AT
WWW.BLUELIGHT.COM ~r. . . . . Well, went to Sears today and sprang 147.29 for four (4) new tires. And yeah, if you haven't bought tires lately, that was the 4-for-$99 sale thing. Haven't bought four (4) tires at the same time many times in my life. Thank you God that I didn't have to look over used tires (and haven't had to for a long time). Have to admit I felt pretty good about getting 85,000 miles (plus) out of what had to be the original set of tires. Only had one neighborly nail (you know, the kind that leaks slow and let's you take your time fixin' it but it's like a drain on your attention and your pocket change say) and one mystery flat that didn't have any holes. Well, not much of a mystery for long.
. . . . . Back to the grocery store and K-Mart. And yeah, I've kind of given up on postage 'cause I spent some more bucks on that lately and I still haven't started trying to do bills and I guess other stuff too. Been kind of hard deal with this stuff, as usual.
WINN &mdash DIXIE * the real deal *
10 @ 10/500
SB STRBRY/KILJT YGT .50 B
LIGHT YOGURT .50 B
SB NP STRBRY YGRI .50 P
LIGHT YOGURT .50 13
LIGHT YOGURT .50 B
SB STRBRY/KIWI YGI .50 B
SB NE STRBRY YGRT .50 B
SB CHRY/AMAREiC .50 B
SB CHRY/AMARETO .60 13
LIGHT YOGURT 50 BS/B FAT FREE MILK 2 89 P
3 @ 3/1 .00
PORK & BEANS .34 13
PORK & BEANS .33 B
PORK & BEANS .33 B2LB CARROTS 1.19 B
2 @ 2/5.00
[JO TRKY HAM 2.50 B
SAVED .49 ON
POWER BUY ITEM
WO TRKY HAM 2.50 13
SAVED .49 ON
POWER BUY ITEMK F 407. BRAN 1.99 13
K.FRSH FAT GRANOLA 2.290.90 lb @ .78 /lb
WI CHAYOTE SQUASH .70
1.09 lb @ 1.09 /lb
WT YELW SQUASH .9 13
WHIlE ONIONS .99 13
SAVED .20 ON POWER BUY ItEM
**** TAX 1.36 TOT 20.72
(don't know where this line above
came from)**** TAX 1.56 TOt 23.80
CASH 30 00
CHANGE 6.20
TOTAL NUMBER
OF ITEMS SOLD = 22
10/09/01 10:45 AM
1327 03 0027 121YOUR CASHIER
TOOBY IS JEANNEPOWER EUYS,
I3ISCOUNT DEPARTMENT
AND WEEKLY SPECIALS
1.18THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING
WIlH US
MANAGER DALE KELLYSTORE 1327 PETAL MSCC
PHONF 1± (601 113X4·42tl
WELCOME TO OUR
K<MART STORE 4930
PRESCRIPTION 8,97
PRESCRIPTION 7 99
PRESCRIPTION 10.49
PRESCRIPTION 9 29
IBUPROFEN 4,79RYE BREAD 2,19
KIRKOMAN SOY 1.29
HEAD LETTUCE
1 1/68 .68 BCELERY SLEEV
1 @ /97 97
47.35Cash 60.00
CHANGE 12.65
TOTAL NUMBER
OF ITEMS SOLO
RECEIPT* 04930 100801001
4391310/08/01 4:53 PM
4930 01 .4391 9050**** GET SPECIAL DEALS ***
VIA EMAIL!!!
**** REGISTER AT
WWLIJ,BLUELIGHT.CDM **
. . . . . Saw I think her name is sue lingerfelt on tv today, said she's the founder and pastor of some organization, didn't mention her hubby gene (I'm sure) who is also a televangelist type. I know this is my money disclosure stuff here, but I'm a bit hopeful I can quit writing my (would-be) journal and feel compelled to put this in here: sue reads in Luke 10 I think, about loving God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself and the first thing she says is something like "look at your spouse. Now that's the closest neighbor you have" and spends the rest of her (would-be) sermon talking about how we're supposed to treat each other.
. . . . . Obviously sue hasn't got a clue. (And she might have got that from her hubby, by the way.) I mean, even babes in the word know that husband and wife aren't like "closest neighbors", they are one flesh (Mark 10:8, e.g. [for would-be babes]). Family. Church is family. Sure, it's extended, and there's usually a black sheep or two, you know, the ones you invite because you feel it's a duty. Family, you know. Village is family. Hey, the truth of the matter is, country is family. Neighbors are not family. Neighbors are the other ones. Least ones( see next paragraph for relevance), in large part, certainly in the less "developed" countries. (For the straight scoop on neighbors see my [hopefully last (would-be)] sermon here. [And remember, speaking of family and neighbors, that "brother" can and should be translated like Strong's definition: "used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaph. affinity or resemblance".)
. . . . . Which reminds me of a(nother [would-be]) sermon I saw last week where the guy talks about how important our treatment of children is in God's eyes. His text was Matthew 25 (including "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me") and he kept talking about our attitude, except once he said something about how we should serve children and I said "yes!", that's it, we should serve all the children in the world like we love them like we love ourselves. Here's a scan of a (splotchy) picture of a couple of kids I took at a track meet back in the '70s (the only frame I took of the girls; [didn't wanna make 'em think I was a weirdo ya know][told a guy who just might have been Bob Dylan (I posted on his newsgroup) this month that I'd rather be lucky than good (He totally disagreed and I didn't say that I think luck kind of is mostly a karmic thing with me...) and as for me, I call the shallow depth of field and the way the focus fell just perfect.]:
. . . . . All right, this money disclosure thing is hopeless for the moment anyway. I spent 15, 5, 3, 17.15, 7, 52, 40, 0.74, 5.25and probably more (savings; worried about the economy and hoping to pump up consumer confidence ya know) on Olds'; spent 6.41 on fried chiken and biscuits (four monster meals anyway), did mail some stuff (I don't know . . . I've got way more than I need and I know it and I don't know what to do about it. ("I'd love to change the world, but I don't know what to do, so I leave it up to you" is a Ten Years After song I quoted recently on a newsgroup.)
. . . . . Well, I found this receipt (below) from the grocery store the other day. Bills and charity stuff will just have to wait I guess.
WINN - DIXIE
* the real deal *BONUS BUY PROGRAM!
10/16/01 5:19 pm
2785 06 0052 105
1 @ 2/1.00
MILKY WAY .50 b
LARGE EGGS .99 b
JEWISH RYE 2.19 B
S/B FAT FREE MILK 2.89 B**** TAX .46 BAL 7.03
CASH 10.10
CHANGE 3.07
TOTAL NUM~ER OF ITEMS
SO &mdash 4
YOUR CASHIER TODAY
IS NICOLE
THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING
WITH US
MANAGER DALE KELLY
STORE 1327 PETAL MSCC
PHONF 1± (601 113X4·42tl
back to the grocery:
WINN &mdash DIXIE
* the real deal *PUMPERNICKEL 2.29
TAX .16 TOT 2.45
CASH 10.00
CHANGE 7.55
YOUR CASHIER TODAY
IS MERLETHANK YOU
FOR SHOPPING WITH US
MANAGER DALE KELLY
STORE ~t 1327 &mdash PETAL MS
PHONE (601 )584&mdash6254
here:
**** U.S. POSTAL SERVICE ****
10/22/01postage 1.26
PAIGE
****GAS STATION ****
10/24/01GAS 9.00
CANDY BAR .70
TOTAL 9.70
**** PO-BOY STAND ****
10/24/01BBQ BEEF 11" 3.95
EGG ROLL 0.99TOTAL 5.24
*** convenience store ***
10/25/01AIR 0.50
. . . . . Still kind of aiming at full disclosure I guess obviously huh?
. . . . . Well, this is kind of Food Watch material, a book called The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle, that addressed the world of illegal immigrants from Mexico. (At least it definitely ties in with my letter to the editor in 1985 about the maldistribution of wealth in the world, posted here; also ties in beautifully with these bits from another novel here.) Here's a bit of it.
. . . . . (Candido) couldn't go back to Mexico, a country with forty percent unemployment and a million people a year entering the labor force, a country that was corrupt and bankrupt and so pinched by inflation that the farmers were burning their crops and nobody but the rich had enough to eat. . .
. . . . . And what was it all about? Work, that was all. The right to work, to have a job, earn your daily bread and a roof over your head. He was a criminal for daring to want it, daring to risk everything for the basic human necessities, and now even those were to be denied him. It stank. It did. These people, these norteamericanos: what gave them the right to all the riches of the world? He looked round him at the bustle in the lot of the Italian market, white faces, high heels, business suits, the greedy eyes and ravenous mouths. . .. . . . . Well, this is definitely appropritate for my Food Watch; it's from the same book. This is the part where the American family approaches Thanksgiving Dinner. (The hubby ran down Candido in Chapter 1, found him broken and bleeding in the bushes beside the highway, gave him twenty bucks, and left him there.)
. . . . . On the way home they stopped in at Gitello's to pick up a few things--odds and ends--for the feast they were planning on Thursday, for Thanksgiving. They were having the Cherrystones and the Jardines over, as well as Kyra's sister and brother-in-law, with their three children, and Kyra's mother, who was flying in from San Francisco. They'd already spent two hundred and eighty dollars at the Von's in Woodland Hills, where nearly everything was cheaper, but the list of odds and ends had grown to daunting proportions.
. . . . . Kyra was doing the cooking,with Delaney as sous chef and the maid, Orbalina, on cleanup detail, and she was planning a traditional dinner: roast turkey with chestnut dressing and giblet gravy, mashed potatoes and turnips, a cranberry compote, steamed asparagus, three California wines and two French, baked winter squash soup and a salad of mixed field greens to start, a cheese course, a home-blended granite of grapefruit and nectarine, and a hazelnut-risotto pudding and creme brfike for dessert with espresso, Viennese coffee and Armagnac on the side.
. . . . . Delaney retrieved the preliminary list from the folds of his wallet as Kyra strode brusquely through the door and selected a cart. The list was formidable. They needed whipping cream, baby carrots, heavy syrup, ground mace, five pounds of confectioners' sugar, balsamic vin egar, celery sticks and capers, among other things, as well as an as sortment of cold cuts, marinated artichoke hearts, Greek olives and caponata for an antipasto platter she'd only just now decided on. As he followed her down the familiar aisles, watching her as she stood there examining the label on a can of smoked baby oysters or button mushrooms in their own juice, Delaney began to feel his mood lifting. There was nothing wrong, nothing at all. . . . It was Thanksgiving, and he should be thankful.
. . . . . He stood at Kyra's side, touching her, offering suggestions and advice, inhaling the rich complex odor of her hair and body as she piled the cart high with bright irresistible packages, things they needed, things they'd run out of, things they might need or never need. Here it was, cornucopian, superabundant, all the fruits of the earth gathered and packaged and displayed for their benefit, for them and them alone. He felt better just being here, so much better he could barely contain himself. . .
. . . . . Candido goes Thanksgiving shopping too, for rice, stewed tomatoes in the can, a two-quart container of milk for his very-pregnant wife, and beer for the celebration:
. . . There wasn't a lot of traffic--more than in the morning, but still it was nothing compared to a working day. Candido crossed the road--careful, careful--and made his way through the maze of shopping carts and haphazardly parked vehicles in the lot, and entered the paisano's market, stooping to pick up a red plastic handbasket just inside the door.
. . . . . The place was the same as always, changeless, as familiar to him now as the market in his own village, and still there wasn't a scent of food, not even a stray odor, as if the smell of a beefsteak or a cheese or even good fresh sawdust was somehow obscene. The light was dead. The shoppers were the same as always, the same changeless bleached out faces, and they gave him the same naked stares of contempt and disgust. Or no, they weren't the same, not exactly: today they were all dressed up in their finery for El Tenksgeevee. Candido made his way down the canned-vegetable aisle, thinking to save the beer cooler for last, so as to keep the beer cold to the last possible moment--and he would reach way in back too, to get the maximally chilled ones. He smelled plastic wrap, Pine-Sol, deodorant.
. . . . . He lingered over the beer, standing in front of the fogged-over door, comparing prices, the amber bottles backlit so that they glowed invitingly, and he was thinking: One? Or two? Ameri'ca wouldn't drink any, it was bad for the baby, and if she drank beer she might forget how implacably and eternally angry she was and maybe even let a stray smile fall on him. No, she wouldn't drink any, and one would make him feel loose at the edges, little fingers crepitating in his brain and massaging the bad side of his face, but two would be glorious, two would be thanksgiving. He opened the case and let the cool air play over his face a moment, then reached into the back and selected two big one-liter bottles of Budweiser, the King of Beers.
. . . . . He was thinking nothing at the checkout, his face a mask, his mind back in Tepoztkin, the rocky cerros rising above the village in a glistening curtain of rain, the plants lush with it, fields high with corn and the winter dry season just setting in, the best time in all the year, and . . . then somebody at the checkout gave him their free frozen turkey (w/ 50-dollar purchase) and he takes it to their campsite and every time he came back to feed the fire Amerrica was stitting there cradling the pale white bird as if she'd given birth to it, kneading the cold flesh and fighting to work the thick green spit through the back end of it. Yes, he told her, yes, that's the way, and he was happy, as happy as he'd ever been . . ."
. . . . . Back to the grocery store (which had a 10 for $5 sign and charged me 4 for $3 at the counter for yogurt), happy as I've ever been . . . hey, I honestly looked at my lonely little frozen orange juice in the freezer the other day and thought three bucks for a gallon was a real deal. I seem to remember buying a gallon for 3.50 a couple of years ago and it really made my day. Anyway, here's more evidence of the conspicuousness of my consuming:
WINN &mdash DIXIE
* the r~eal dealK.FRSH FAT GRANOLA 2.29
K.FRSH FAT GRANOLA 2.29LIPTN BRRY GRN TEA 1.89
TAX .45 TOT 6.92
(here was where i saw the ad
and went and got a gallon of
organge juice maybe)
3.56 lb @.39 /lb
WT CABBAGE 1.39
3 @ 3/1 00
PORK & BEANS 1.00
JIF R/F PEANUT BUTTER 2.292.46 lb @ .59 /lb
bJT BANANAS 1.45UNCLE BENS RICE 2.19
FAM PK BREAST FILL 5.17
1 @ 5/10.00
12PK DT CHRY 2.00
SAVED .79S/B FAT FREE MILK 2.95
OS MAYO LITE 1.39
FRT COCKTAIL .99
FRT COCKTAIL .99SPAG SAUCE .99
10 @ 4/3.00
BREVERS A LA MODE
BREYERS A LA MODE
BREYERS LT
BREVERS LT
BREYERS LT
BRY LT.STRAW
BRY LT.STRAW
BREYERS LT
BREYERS A LA MODE
BREYERS A LA MODE
PUMPERNICKLE 2.291@ .99 LETTUCE .99
**** TAX 2.80 TOT 42.85
GAL ORANGE JUICE 2.99
SAVED .20
**** TAX 3.01 TOT 46.05
VF VCA XXXXXXXX5318
TOTAL # OF ITEMS SOLD = 30
10/26/01 12:29 PM
1327 02 0076 105
YOUR CASHIER
TODAY IS MERLE
POWER DUYS,
DISCOUNT DEPARTMENT
AND WEEKLY SPECIALS ·
.99
STORE ~t 1327
&mdash PETAL MS
PHONE (601 )584&mdash6254
. . . . . Well, here's something kind of close to home for a lot of people I guess, the proverbial home on wheels (well, one variety anyway):
. . . . . Well, went to the post office and spent 6.35 for stamps and postage, plus 0.02, put a 32-cent stamp on an envelope, and when the guy going through a dumpster across the highway wouldn't look at me after I yelled at him three times I put three bucks in a plastic bowl maybe 1-1/2 quarts with the top that seals and threw it out my window toward the cart pictured above. He might have more money than me but I have my doubts. But his not looking did cost him a few bucks.
. . . . . Well, in the past couple or three days it was to the post office twice (9.08 once, including page of stamps [6.80]), to the hardware store maybe 3 times (9 bucks, 4.85, I don't remember, trying to get interested in something and failing I guess), 33 cents at BooksAMillion for the new Rolling Stone (used the last of my discount cash card too, but that was from a year ago), spent almost 30 bucks at K-Mart, 7.20 on gas, 1.06 on candy for Halloween, 5.00 on alteration for seat cover on Olds'
. . . . . Okay, I give up. I can't do this. I will say, however, that I think I get about $1900 a month gross and hope to (continue to) give about $300 a month to CARE (though sometimes I give to Save the Children still) and if I have money in my pocket I generally try to be generous. (Feb 2, 2002: Well, things have changed. I've started giving $200 a month. Maybe because it might impress people that guilt is not a trip of mine, perhaps God wants me to live a little better, and though it's doubtful it makes a difference, I'm thinking maybe it will put more responsibility on those who have more and do less.)(Jan 16, 2022 note: well, a close observer might notice that now i am maintaining people who fall in the bottom half nationally in terms of wealth should no longer consider charitable giving but rather let the top half have all the responsibility)
. . . . . Hopefully this is the end. Hopefully if I die tonight somebody will see fit to host this web site as the warning it's always been intended to be. The end. This is the end. (I hope . . .)
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