#2 - 2am bacon, egg & cheese.

so i'm taking today off & heading up to boston/nh for the weekend. originally, my father was scheduled to retire from the usps at the end of may, so i was originally planning to head up to the parents' house in nh for the weekend, where we would celebrate his retirement (& father's day to boot)...two birds with one stone, as they say.

since formulating this original plan, my mother didn't like the idea of inviting a bunch of people to the house, where there is limited parking (meaning room for no more than 8-10 cars, which would have been fine, but whatever), my father pushed his retirement date back to the end of june & my brother's dog got ill & he's having to stay at home with her this weekend anyhow.

the result...i'm heading to boston right now to hang with chris leduc & megan jones et al this eve before heading to nh tomorrow to hang with the family, followed by a sunday afternoon dinner at my grandfather's house for father's day...a fine enough agenda all around. to boot, i'm testing out the bolt bus as we speak & BLOGGING ON THE GO, as bolt bus has wifi on board. suck on that, fung wah.

so that i could get to boston in the afternoon, i needed to catch the 11am bus & last night, with laundry to do, i found myself debating whether to stay up until about 3am (when said laundry would be done) or wake up early & do it before catching the bus. i chose to stay up until 3am...& of course i needed to run to the neighborhood 7-11 in between the wash & dry cycles.

the 7-11 is a fairly recent addition to the neighborhood, one of few chains in the lower park slope area & is only good for one thing: buying extremely unhealthy but extremely yummy snack foods at unreasonable hours..."7-11 foods to go" like asian spring rolls & tubular taco things. during one of my first trips there, i stumbled upon two new flavors of combos, available in 7oz bags...cheeseburger and bacon, egg & cheese. i tried cheeseburger on that visit & they taste like cheeseburger, but they are combos & as such, do not provide the same satisfaction as eating a cheeseburger. this time, as it was 2am, i was in more of a breakfast mood, so i went with...

#2 - 2am bacon, egg & cheese.

snack: combos bacon, egg & cheese cracker
drink: peach mango vitamin water

i like a lot of snack flavors. i've eaten utz crab chips. i've eaten herrs' heinz ketchup flavored chips. bacon, egg & cheese combos makes these chip flavors taste like what (i can only assume) the first glorious sip of breast milk must taste like to a newborn fresh from the womb. technically, it is not as bad as all that, but i believe the flavor of bacon, egg & cheese combos could kill a less experienced snacker.

as for the peach mango vitamin water, well...i drink a lot of vitamin water. we have it in the fridge at work. it is a great hangover cure when necessary. last night, i figured that since i was going to get five hours sleep, pre-sleep i would likely benefit from the rejuvenating effects of vitamin water. since 7-11 was out of yellow flavor, iced tea, red flavor #1, red flavor #2, lemonade & all the other ones i usually pick up, i went with the peach mango. i don't hate these fruits, but there's always something a little disconcerting about having to settle for your 7th or 8th choice. sure it was tasty enough, but the "vitamin" aspect of the water really let me down. i was still dragging tail come morning. endurance my ass.

#1 - icy hot.

for some time now, i've had this desire nagging at me to start up another blog, this time devoted to the incessant snacking that is my daily routine & after months & months, i guess i've finally succumb to the nagging.

when i say "desire," i mean that in the dysfunctional family that is my brain, there are two children--"desire" & "laziness." every night, when i get home, desire comes up to me all bright-eyed, tapping me on the right leg to get my attention & share with me the amazing songs she's heard that day, all the films she's seen, tales & experiences from her day--pretty inspiring stuff, actually. at the same time, on the left side of me, there's laziness, laid out on the floor watching another episode of two and a half men, asking me if i'm up for 10-15 games of scrabulous tonight.

...so i guess that recently & up until now, i've been watching a lot of two and a half men, so to speak. that jake is quite the scamp...& don't even get me started on uncle charlie!

here's the high-concept blog concept...stick with me:
each blog post will be devoted to one snack food item i consume that day & an accompanying drink item. the end.

#1 - icy hot.
snack: utz red hot flavored potato chips
drink: 4c lemon iced tea

these days, there's utz red hot powder flowing through my blood. for 99 cents i get a 4.25 oz bag of red hot goodness. on a number of occasions, i've eaten an entire bag in one evening, a consumption that nets me 600 calories & 72% of my rda of vitamin e. what do they taste like? they taste like red hot, that's what...except for when you get a crappy bag that doesn't have enough red hot flavor. those bags stink.

for me, 1st-4th grade was spent at golden brook elementary in windham, nh. the school was comprised of one long building, with each grade separated off into a "pod." each pod was comprised of that grades' classrooms laid out in a circular fashion, built with their front doors facing a central area. it was in this central area that they sold little bags of bachman potato chips to we hungry school children. it was in this central area that i experienced a series of snacking ups & downs, all centered around the ability to procure bachman red hot potato chips. this was always a daunting task because while there were plentiful bags of bbq or the barf-worthy plain "flavor," there was a limited supply of the red hot. on the days when i was lucky enough to get my hands on a bag, i was lucky enough to bask in the wonder that was firey mouth intensity.

years later, in college, i drank big plastic cups of 4c iced tea like they were water...went through jugs of that powdered stuff like a colombian drug lord. in fact, it became so integral to my existence, that...let's just say...i'm pretty sure it saved my life one day. well, that...& phish.

in the present day, i still consume pretty good amounts of iced tea--usually 4c but occasionally pathmark brand. to be sensible in my spending, i take ziploc bags of 4c iced tea powder to work with me & when i am thirsty, i get up from my desk & carry what looks like a baggie of brown cocaine across the office to the kitchen & with the aid of the water cooler...instant drink.