Wasted Calories

I think the candy du jour needs to be Krackel. Kinda nasty chocolate only mitigated by a ricey crispy crunch. It's low on my favorites list, possibly only ahead of its sister chocolate made by Nestle, the dreaded Crunch bar. I think they make the chocolate, taste it, and if it's a bad batch or the milk was sour or something else was generally "off", they say, "Ew. Let's throw in some Rice Krispies and sell it anyway."

Yes, I ate a Krackel just now. I hate to admit it. It was the miniature size, and it was the only piece of chocolate in the house. (Nothing against all y'all who just love a Krackel. Some of my favorite people in the world love a Krackel bar.)

Sometimes I find I do my reading that way. Whatever happens to be on the shelf that I haven't read yet, I'll just pick it up and read. I don't necessarily like it, but there's this compelling force in me, a need to read, that's irrepressible. Quite often I end up reading stuff I really don't care for.

This year I went on this forever long diet. It's calorie counting and my goal was to stay on it for 200 days. I'm on like day 146 now, and there's been some progress. Down two pant sizes, so whew. (Really, I mean: Yay! Much needed since child #5 is nearly three years old now, and I can't keep using the excuse that I just had a baby.) So eating the Krackel -- dang it! Those were wasted calories! It kills me.

Yeah, this analogy, it's pretty thin, I know. But I guess what I am thinking is that the junk we injest into our bodies and our minds -- we could be choosier. I don't mean I never want to read cotton candy for my soul again. It should just be cotton candy (which I love) and not Krackel (which I don't love.) If it's going to be a fun read, I should at least love it.

My sister (the funny one) has a mantra: life's too short to read books we don't want to read. She may be right. What I love is her corollary: Life's not too short to watch dumb movies.

Therefore, I'll take all my Krackel and Crunch on film in 90 minute increments while I'm eating something much better--movie popcorn, and I'll just save my reading time for stuff I really love.

Oh, and I guess my main goal is to write stuff that won't leave anyone (or at least most readers) feeling like, ew, why'd I read that?