Macadamia Nut Cracker Jacks And A Job

I am doing alright so far on my program of resolutely going for a brisk walk and then writing 6 pages, every day, just as Stephen King does.

Panela is unrefined sugar.

I got up and had $14.57 on the little table, up from 36 cents that  (Friday) morning.

I had spent $7.43 on food, on the way home after having made 23 bucks playing for a couple hours. I had dropped another dollar on a cigar.

The cigar was for the purpose of breaking open and then rolling cigarettes out of, using  EZ Wider papers and cigarette filters which I affix to the ends of. It is a way of smoking for just a buck, but a little heavier on the lungs.

The Rouses Market acquisitions were a gallon of "drinking" water, a can of tomato sauce, 4 bananas (eaten immediately) and a slab of what is called the Boston Butt portion of a hog.

I am pretty much pork illiterate, having eschewed it my whole life until just recently.

I was suspicious about the low ($3.19 / lb.) price of that particular cut of pork; low even for pork. I considered that pigs perhaps have fat butts (like women in Boston) and that is why it is a cheap cut; cheaper than the ifs or ands sections of the pig.

But(t?) I got a whole pound of it, and added it to my meatless meatloaf recipe.

Sugar Linked To Depression

I didn't do any sugars at all, and had no melancholia upon waking -just jumped up out of bed and started my day, no laying there thinking "Why was I ever born?" -not even for a second.

The previous morning I had, for the second time in experimenting with sugars, woken up in a state of blue funk; this after having eaten a lot of cane sugar in the form of "panela."

I had alternately bitten into a chunk of panela, and then thrown a few walnuts in my mouth, combining the two ingredients on the fly into something that tasted a lot like Cracker Jacks,® by dint of that classic treat having a hint of a molasses flavor to go with its nuttiness.


Panela has a molasses flavor and went well with the walnuts.  It went well enough that I became like a kid who eats a whole big box of Cracker Jacks® or a teenager with the munchies who does the same. I definitely used a large enough sample of sugar to make for a reliable experiment; and had the depressing dream and the heavyheartedness to prove it in the morning.

I will get a job of some sorts...

I think that the Cracker Jack® people should create such variations as walnut (and other nut) Cracker Jacks.® We live in an age of Diet Vanilla Cherry Coke® after having just plain Coke® only 30 years ago; and it think it is time for Macadamia Cracker Jacks® to take its place among the offerings at the supermarket. Just my opinion.

Now I go to run the quarter mile for the first time in about a month (since getting the bike, which supplanted the run as my form of daily exercise) down to the store for cat food and batteries for the spotlight. The 23 dollar night came at a key time, as the spotlight was growing dim upon me last night.

I'm back from running the quarter mile. I was slower than molasses and felt oxygen deprived after the first 100 yards; and my time of 2:27 ranks tied for dead last, since I started running the course about 6 months ago.

The Job

I went to the office of Express Employment Professionals, where I spoke with a Chris Carden, who seemed upbeat and optimistic about the likelihood of my being placed at any one of the jobs that they actually seem to have openings for.

It is all temporary stuff (like sweeping the Superdome out after Saints games -I heard that one pays 40 dollars flat rate, but that you are likely to find cellphones, hats, jewelry, the occasional wallet, and all the warm beer that you can drink) but, I had told Chris that I'm not looking for a "career" that will take me totally out of the music business.

We seemed to touch bases with each other after I told him: "I'm not going to get my first paycheck and then disappear for 3 days, and then come back 10 pounds lighter and shaking, looking to go back out on the job..."

"That's about our biggest problem with people," said Chris, who then visibly appeared to become more earnest in working with me, handing me his business card.

I have an appointment at 10:30 AM, Monday, and should have the application completed online by then.

Then, I just need to find out when I have to take the drug test, so I can plan upon drinking a quart of vinegar, washed down with a gallon of distilled water the day before it -no problem for someone who lives on meatless meatloaf...