Where Is The Purity?

When I’m frustrated with the options under the “entertainment” section of the classified ads, I click “display all” on the off chance that some fabulous job that I have yet to consider will jump out and bite me. This has yet to happen. I do notice, however that 9/10 jobs are in marketing and advertising. I think that they should cease this effort to increase their workforce. These people obviously have too much time on their hands. I thought checkout stand televisions were bad – now they’ve resorted to selling space on hubcaps. A taxi passed me today with Virgin Records emblazoned on the wheels. Is this really what we’ve come to? Is there no space left sacred? Is it too much to ask for a nice shiny metal hubcap free of decals and slogans?

Sometime ago – when I started actually going out and paying for my own meals – I got into the habit of ordering water with dinner. This was not a health thing. It was a cheap thing. I figured if I was going to pay for the food I sure as hell wasn’t going to pay for the drink as well. Besides, water washes things down just as well as pop. (Plus, Ryan tends to order pop and I just sip out of his if there are free refills). This method is employed at the grocery store too. When purchasing my groceries, I tend to avoid the pop and juice aisle. I label it an unnecessary expense. Anyway, I’ve taken this habit with me to California, and I’m suffering for it. The water here tastes remarkably like... poop. It took me a while to figure out exactly what it was I tasted. I knew it was a little off, but it was not until I smelled my water bottle that had day old water in it that I actually pinpointed where I had encountered that odor before. (And no, it’s not my water bottle that smells. It’s the water. I’ve done the research.) Now I am forced to do what I could never before stand – put lemon in my water. I always thought ill of people that requested the slice of citrus, or even worse, bottled water. I regarded them as snobs and people who wanted to seem more sophisticated than they really were. I now know the truth – they were people who weren’t from Salem and didn’t know that it was possible to enjoy drinking water without plugging their nose.