Hanna's Candles

 

So suppose you are shopping at your local supermarket and you notice there is a sale item on the shelf and you buy a small pillar candle because the scent is “sandy beaches” and, since you really like sandy beaches, you bring it home and light it up and your home starts to smell like a sandy beach except that the actual odor leans more towards a wet sandy beach and you wonder if that is a good thing and deciding a wet sandy beach connotes, well, a lack of sun and overcast skies and nobody around enjoying the sandy beach or really, if there is anybody around, they are huddled together in disappointment that their day at the beach is messed up with wet sand and the attendant goose bumps and you don’t really feel like going in the water or even strolling around looking for seashells or nudging general flotsam/jetsam with a gingerly toe and you don’t even need your beach umbrella with its cheerful rainbow colors and it’s not, well, very cheerful under these circumstances and you have sand in your sandals and your sandwiches and it’s difficult to brush it off like you could if it was dry and, hey, maybe you don’t want your home to smell like a sandy beach after all.

Cruisin' on the CarrieB

One sure way to make yourself feel your own insignificance is to take the CarrieB cruise around the inland waterways of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  Choose a nice sunny day, pay your $25 and prepare yourself for an hour-and-a-half of having your ego stomped on.  The emphasis of the narrative that accompanies this tour is on the mighty dollar.  Minute by minute you observe the backdoor entrances to outrageous, sprawling mansions with outrageous, sprawling ocean-going yachts berthed waterway-side and outrageous tennis courts and pools, both swimming and decorative and, for all I know, tether ball courts with titanium poles.  And minute by minute you are told the cost of everything, not only the houses, pools and poles but the palm trees ($350 a foot) and everything else that has a horrendous price tag.  To top it off there is not one sign, not one, that any of it is even used.  After a while it wears you down and although you are not prone to seasickness your stomach waxes queasy with the knowledge that the toys of the 1% are on display and you yourself have paid $25 to take a boat ride to observe it.  Next time I’ll do a swamp boat ride so I can see the alligators and other exotic forms of beauty without knowing how much a pair of nice shoes might cost.

CVS cigs

I’m not a loyalist to any corporation although sometimes one gets trapped into a brand name through habit or just because it’s the most convenient.  Certainly major pharmaceuticals or their outlets never deserve any special attention but if a drugstore run is necessary the most handy will do.  After all, the prices, the only major influence for a purchase, are usually exactly the same…no matter who the conveyor is of any given item.

This changed a few months ago when CVS stopped selling cigarettes.  This is huge.  And it not only got my attention but CVS has now gotten my business.  I hope their profits continue to soar without selling this killer-of-mankind and I will do my best to continue to buy all my drugstore basics at CVS.  This is an unpaid testimonial and for good reason.  It is sincere and, besides, how does one even go about getting paid for a testimonial?

Mayhem in Paris

It's been quite a while since I posted anything on here.  It's mainly because I was getting fed up with how trivial and self-important my blog was looking (to me).  However, recent events in Paris are so dismaying to even the most trivial (and self-important) blogger I had to say something and that statement is pointing out how politically correct and self-censoring the American media has been about not publishing or showing the cartoons that ostensibly denigrate the Muslim faith and from which religious fanatics have used as an excuse to murder people.

This afternoon, on Ronan Farrow's show on MSNBC, he was interviewing a past employee of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and she casually held up to the camera a rendering of one of their cartoons and, for god's sake, the powers-that-be at MSNBC blurred-out the image!  This was so outrageous to me that I ran right over here to my little stupid, personal forum to express my, well, outrage.  The cartoon she held up was, supposedly, funny and frankly I would have loved to be the judge of that.  So, of course (you read my mind), I Googled the afternoon away looking for it without success.  What I did find was the cover of the current issue of Charlie Hebdo that is scheduled to be released in France at midnight tonight.  Enough said.