#12 - good, clean fun.

up until i left high school, the tape was still pretty much the dominant way that i listened to music. my two high school cars came equipped with tape players. i had a receiver with two tape decks, which was absolutely necessary for making mix tapes. growing up, my first tapes were born in the u.s.a., the joshua tree and colour by numbers, although it would be years before i could even grasp what the deal was with boy george...come to think of it, i still have trouble grasping what the deal is with boy george.

a lot of the tapes i listened to came from my parents' collections. around the time i was 10, my father came back from a stint in the air force reserves in texas & brought a walkman & a bunch of tapes back with him, including albums from hall & oates, styx & men at work.

somebody in the house had this lionel richie tape...

...and my brother took a sticker of a smiling popsicle & stuck it above his hand, since it is sitting in that weird position like that, perfect for popsicle holding. seriously, picture a happy popsicle in lionel richie's hand & see if you don't smile back. i still get enjoyment out of that cover until this day.

my dad had a sweet stereo setup for its time, with big wooden boxed speakers that ran from the "playroom" into the living room & sat on either side of the fireplace. two feet from the left speaker was a recliner, where my grandfather always sat when he visited. one day in 83', this put him in a perfect position to experience my new thriller tape when i surprised him from the other room by turning it on somewhere in the 6-7 range of the stereo.

one of the tapes my siblings & i listened to over & over again was bill cosby: himself, which featured the favorite comedic piece of most of my childhood years, one that probably reigned up until i discovered monty python...track 5..."chocolate cake for breakfast," where bill cosby tells of his kids convincing him to let them eat chocolate cake for breakfast because cake has eggs & milk in it.

this was my childhood--obliviousness to cross-dressing, sticker fun and bill cosby. good, clean fun.

#12 - good, clean fun.
snack: betty crocker warm delights minis chocolate raspberry decadence cake
drink: 1% milk with bosco chocolate syrup

at the pathmark last night, i was loitering in the baking section when i came across betty crocker's line of single serving baking products for the lazy. as a snack-eating swinging bachelor type, there was no mistaking that these were made with me in mind. as a snack-eating swinging bachelor type who loves chocolate, raspberry & decadence, the type to get was also quite clear.

to sum up these treats, for two & change, you get two individually-wrapped bowls, each containing a tiny bag of cake mix & a pouch of raspberry drizzle. all you have to do is add 1 tbsp & 1 tsp of water to the cake mix, stir it up a bunch, drizzle the raspberry jelly stuff on top of the batter, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds & let it cool for a few minutes...piece of cake.

to go along with my cake, i could have just drank milk & that would have been yummy, but i was feeling chocolatey, so i decided to pick up a bottle of bosco chocolate syrup to add to it, figuring that in the long run, it'd get me, at age 33, to drink more milk. this plan would work out perfectly if bosco chocolate syrup did not taste ABSOLUTELY HORRID. it is beyond me how you can mess up chocolate, but this company has done it. i drank the whole glass because i felt bad about wasting the milk. i haven't figured out what i'm going to do with the rest of the bottle yet, but i'm thinking i might sprinkle it on the souls of my enemies or salt the earth with it...you know, good clean fun.

#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.