It used to be that there were only plain and peanut M&Ms.
Now, they’ve got pretzel, almonds, mint, and all kinds of specialty flavors for the holidays.
And you can get different colors and special messages.
Hershey’s kisses did the same.
They used to be plain chocolate, but they added almonds and swirls and caramel and all kinds of crazy flavors.
There’s so many varieties of KitKat and Snickers and other candy bars, it’s scary.
Which helps me to run past the candy aisle and pick up healthy fruits and vegetables.
(Don’t get me started about the varieties of apples!)
Category: My stories
Well trained
My new iPhone arrives tomorrow.
So, why am I updating my old phone’s operating system to OS 9.0.1?
I don’t know. Just like I didn’t know why I updated it to OS 9 a few days ago.
It’s a habit, I suppose. When they tell me that I need an update, I update.
Sure, I have to find a power cord and a decent WiFi connection, and then I have to wait ten minutes or so while it updates, but I still update it.
Apple has me well trained.
Which is why I keep buying iPhones, I suppose.
My Curse
I never got to know my great-grandparents. They all died before I was born.
The last one to go died just a few months before I was born.
I saw a Super Eight movie of her patting my mother’s belly.
She was saying something, but the movie had no sound.
Even if I could read lips, the film quality was poor, and it hadn’t been preserved well.
I asked my mom if she could remember what my great-grandmother had said.
“It was an old Yiddish curse,” she said.
Seeing how my life has turned out, it has probably come true.
I feel fine
When people ask me how I feel, I tell them.
No, I don’t say “I’m fine.” Or “Everything is great.” Or “Could be better.”
Because things are never fine. Or great.
And just because things could be better, they won’t turn out that way.
Instead, I tell them everything in excruciating detail. And I don’t ask them how they’re doing, either. Because most people ask how you’re doing so they can tell you how they’re doing.
Hell, I’ll make shit up. Because it’s easier to forget things when you’ve got worse things to worry about.
And I’m fine with that.
Pods
I grew up with coffee cans in the pantry.
This whole newfangled coffee pod craze makes no sense.
How the hell are you supposed to bury money in the back yard with those?
You can fit a few pennies in those things. Maybe a folded-up dollar or two.
But in order to bury your entire fortune, you’ll need to tear up your whole yard to plant a few thousand of these dinky little things.
Won’t the neighbors notice the mess?
And by the time you buy enough pods to fill up with your money, you won’t have any money left.
The Truth
What do you do with a prisoner who has information?
Torture them? You won’t get the information you want out of them. And it’s against the law.
So, the government asked Dr. Odd to come up with a truth serum.
After weeks of research and experimentation, he had one.
But instead of making people speak the truth, everything they spoke became the truth.
Which was not a good thing in the hands of terrorists who wanted to overthrow the government and kill the infidels.
Doctor Odd took the serum himself.
Everything’s changing.
For the better.
And you know that’s true.
Cheering For Cheering
It started with a simple cheer: Hooray!
But, sadly, things got out of hand quickly.
Some people would give three cheers: Hip Hip Hooray!
(Whatever happened to double cheers, I don’t know. And where did the Hips come from?)
After that, people started five cheers… seven cheers… twelve cheers…
Some people did nothing but cheer all day long. And for inconsequential shit, too.
Like, you know. Cheering. Cheering for cheering.
Pretty soon, everybody was cheering all day long. And some people even cheered in their sleep.
Which, in the end, left no time for getting anything done to cheer about.
Hume’s Guillotine
David Hume saved up his money for a guillotine, but he was shocked to learn that shipping and handling were not included in the cost.
So, he borrowed a horse and cart from friends, and headed out to the craftsman to pick up his guillotine.
Despite having directions and a detailed map, he never did manage to find his way out to the craftsman’s.
“This is more difficult than going from ‘is’ to ‘ought’!” he whined.
The horse wondered how Hume managed to pay the craftsman in the first place, let alone submit the order.
But nobody listens to horses.
Elephescalator
The escalator was invented long before there was an electric motor capable of powering it.
Elephants were used to power the demonstration models, but nobody wanted a basement filled with those things. They’re big, smelly, and expensive to feed.
Plus, elephant poop.
This made the escalator a really hard sell for the inventor, because building owners weren’t willing to pay so much for a heavy, ugly staircase.
“One day, those steps will move!” the inventor would shout.
People thought he was drunk. Or overdoing the medicinal cocaine and heroin.
He rode the elephants home and sold them to the circus.
Battery Power
Rosie has a cell phone.
She uses it a lot. Mostly to send Twitter updates.
She uses it so much, she runs out of battery power constantly.
And Tweets about it.
“Did you change the thing before we left?” I ask.
“Yes!” she shouts, and Tweets some more complains about low battery power.
So, I gave her my portable battery charger and bought a bigger one for myself.
“Here, take this.”
Now, she runs out of power on the phone AND the portable battery charger. Or she forgets the cord.
So, I bought earplugs. And I turn up my music loud.