Talkie, talkie, talkie...no more talkie.

I was in CVS with a friend and we saw some Real Cheese Flavored Puffs. We were laughing trying to decide if they were real cheese or if they tasted like real cheese flavor. This morning I noticed my peanut butter was labeled with Natural Fresh Roasted Peanut Taste. My question was similar to the one above: is it natural peanut butter or just natural peanut taste?

Paying attention is a skill. People talk a lot. Some of them are just running their mouths, but I think it's still important to listen to their words. Most people will tell you what they mean, who they are, and their intentions. Many times their sentences will be phrased like the ones above, leaving the listener to question their true meaning.

The coolest thing is talking with someone who isn't just talking to hear the sound of their own voice--one of those people who chooses their words carefully and thinks for a minute when asked a question. I like the slower conversation--the pauses in between are like rests in a melody: necessary and helpful to build anticipation.

Those people might still make comments about their real cheese flavor but offer a chance to think about it and question it during the conversation instead of two weeks later while eating your toast at breakfast. Bless them--they are a rare breed.

Einstein was an optimist

Yesterday was my last day at F&C. At every job I've ever had, I've harbored these fantasies about telling people off, whether it be the customers or coworkers. Lately I'd been thinking it would along the lines of Half Baked: "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! You're cool. And fuck you, I'm out!" But something kept me from doing it.

The first law of thermodynamics is that energy can't be created or destroyed. It just changes forms. I learned that in physics in high school. While most of our study dealt with energy of moving objects and such, I believe that this rule applies to the way we send out our energy as well.

Last summer a woman driving in Uptown almost ran my friend and I over in the crosswalk. And then she had the nerve to roll down her window and yell at us. I was furious. So when these guys cat called the two of us, I gave them the finger instead of just taking it as a compliment and letting it go. Looking back, I can almost see the negative energy flowing like a sick river through these interactions.

This is exactly why I decided not to tell my boss how I really felt about her and why I let go of my fantasy of telling a certain coworker where she could shove her attitude. Because energy is never created or destroyed, I prefer to send as much optimistic light as I can out there. In my experience it is much more difficult to change negative energy to positive, so I figure the less of it that's out there, the better. I feel like it's my little part of eliminating the pollution--like photosynthesis!