Friday, September 03, 2010

Gah.... I Need a New Drug....

Ok, so yesterday I wrote about a new emphasis on health, blah blah blah blah.  I had a great day while I was at work.  I ate the good dinner I brought with me, and that seemed to be sufficient.

Until I left work and headed home.  

Oh, how my stomach started to growl!  Now, I know that reaction is partly Pavlovian.  In fact its mostly if not all  Pavlovian. (For those of you just entering college this year and have no idea who Pavlov is or his Pavlovian ideas, see this link and this link.)


When I leave work and drive down the street, there's a McDonald's one block over. The glistening yellow glow from the Golden Arches beacons to me every time I pass by.  

Each night the aroma of fresh French fries cooking two blocks away down-wind wafts through the closed windows of my car.  Their decadent fragrance blows gently through the recirculated air of the car's air conditioning.  

I think of a juicy double-cheeseburger and actually begin to taste cheese.  And ketchup.

My mouth waters, and I think I see Ronald McDonald riding a cloud in the night sky, waving to me and smiling.



So last night as I left work, I was detoured away from McDonald's by some road work. As I waved goodbye to Ronald (I think he actually began to cry) I got on the freeway and headed home.

My stomach didn't stop growling though. As I drove on, I began to hear a very faint, but familiar tune.  I couldn't quite make it out at first, but as I drove, it became louder and more clear. Soon, I found myself listening to a slightly off-key tune being sung by Carl Jr.

Now, I'm well acquainted with Carl, having worked for him for several years as a teenager.  He and I are buddies, after a fashion.  I know, he's dead, but he still talks to me every so often.  About as often as Ronald does.

But..... Carl's song is different.  Where Ronald sings of cheese and ketchup, Carl sings of mayonnaise and bar-b-que.    And, oh... what a sweet tune it is!



Ok, so it wasn't Audrina Patridge singing.  I think I was hearing Carl himself, channeled from the great beyond.


Anyway, I got off the freeway and followed the song to Carl's Jr, where I loaded up on a western bacon cheese burger and onion rings.  Wait, did I say just one burger? My bad...... make that two burgers.

Hey, that Carl can sing.  He deserved a tip!

So, after doing so well for most of yesterday, shall we say, I exceeded by goal by a bit.  If you look at the food diary for yesterday, you'll see it was QUITE a bit.  I'm not shy.  It is what is it, as one of my co-workers would say.

So, instead of kicking myself today and never listening to music again (gotta have SOME music in my life, ya know?), I will again try today to change the music station.  I stopped by Subway this morning and picked up a breakfast sandwich and a BLT for later.

Subway's music is a little lighter, with not so much bass, if you understand my meaning.  Subway is like a soothing Norah Jones lick as opposed to Ronald and Carl's more Bad Company-ish rifts?  More melody and less pounding rhythm.

So... I still gotta have music in my life. I still gotta rock but I guess I gotta learn to avoid the tunes that will make me roll, ya know?

I need to undo the presets on the radio of my life.  Delete Carl and Ronald, and rip off the knob!

Well, maybe not rip, because I don't want to break anything, but maybe duct tape it so I can't press those buttons anymore.

Is there such thing as Pop-up Blockers for fast food joints?



Hmmmmmmmmmm.........

1 comment:

lauren said...

I completely utterly absolutely identify with this. Music is really a good way to describe it.

I have started keeping a box of random granola bars and/or jerky or other beef product in the car. It's SO not a double western bacon cheese burger with cris-cut fries, but it keeps me chill until I can get home.

If you DO figure out the whole pop-up blocker thing, lemme know. I can use it for sure.