Monday, November 7, 2011

A Little Bit of Coca Cola...

Day 171 (Year Two)

A Little Bit of Coca Cola...

Five days on the road and a long day of air travel had me feeling a bit queasy and I knew the only cure would be ti sip some Coca Cola. There is something about the fizz and the right kind of sweetness (and chemicals) that seem to be oh so helpful in these situations.

On the last leg of my journey, I politely asked the flight attendant if she would be able to be pour a little bit of Coke into my water bottle. I quickly gave my standard explanation and (over)shared that I wanted to save having to use a cup, one less cup in the landfill, ha ha, better for the
environment, blah blah...

She happily granted my request and was all fun and good cheer until she
asked if wanted ice. I said sure, and she gave me a cup of ice – because she had apparently stopped listening after “Coke in the water bottle”. I got a little flustered and said, “Uh, well that kind of defeats my original purpose of not wanting to use a cup”, which I think offended her, so she tried to pour the ice into my water bottle for me and even tried to shove the ice into my water bottle with the cup itself. Since the ice cubes were too big, they plopped onto my lap, onto the floor and onto my already annoyed seatmate
who had ordered her cranberry juice and pretzels before I ordered my Coke.
The attendant took the cup back from me (with a few cubes still remaining) and tried to shove it back onto her cart but it didn’t quite stay in the space properly. It kind of squished itself back out of the space forcing the remaining cubes to pop out of the cup and land in the middle of the aisle at her feet.

It was getting so all chaotic and weird and I started laughing a little at the absurdity of a simple request gone bad –inappropriate giggling like in church or the library when because you know you are not supposed to laugh, you laugh even more! I then said out loud to everyone – yet to no one in particular – “Oh, no...drama!” in kind of a singsong-y voice which did not amuse the attendant or my seatmate.

Needless to say, I enjoyed my warm Coke in solitude.

My seatmate went back to her book and juice (she did get her drink eventually) and the flight attendant did not make eye contact with me for the rest of the flight.

No new friends on this trip but I did avoid coming home with one more piece of trash/recycle. Oh, and I do feel better...

Have a Nothing New Day! Kristin

Friday, November 4, 2011

It's Not What You Miss, It's What You Think You'll Miss

Day 168 (Year Two)

After 5 months of not watching TV, I broke the "fast" and watched one hour of TV last night. Between 10-11pm, I channel surfed and caught bits of Law & Order (dunh dunh), Gray's Anatomy, The Mentalist, Anderson Cooper and a glimpse in a fight in a women's prison. I saw "dead" bodies, blood and guts, serial killers, child abuse, ruined lives and sad stories. I do not miss TV, I do not miss it at all. I do not miss Glee, The Office, The Good Wife or Modern Family...I do miss As the World Turns since it went off the air in 2010. On the air since 1956, I watched that show all my life - my Mom watched it and so did her Mom. Grandma called it "the story"..."Did you watch the story today?" Love that.

Why did I turn on the tube? I had already "misbehaved" by ordering room service french fries (trying to cut back on bad food and quantity of said food consumed), so I think on some level I felt like I had already blown it on the food front so why not go ahead and break another "rule" I had set for myself. I guess I also thought that the fries would taste better in bed whilst watching TV. Really? OK, I also rationalized with intentions of watching the news to get caught up. Just a ruse.

After all was said and done, I was not smarter, more clued in, more entertained or more relaxed. Neutral at best, bad dream producing material at worst.

Isn't it so easy to break a rule once one has already been broken?

Isn't it so easy to make up reasons for why our off track behavior is OK even though is is not what we had agreed to do?

Isn't is so easy to imagine what we THINK we are missing? Then when we "get there" it is kind of, not really at all what we thought it was going to be?

In some ways I am glad I looked at the TV and reminded myself of why I do not really miss it at all. I was reminded that I could have spent that hour doing something else. Gotten another hour of sleep, posted a blog entry, written content for my website, read the day's paper or the great book I brought along.

I am happy to go back to no TV and have learned my lesson - a late learner on this one. Years ago, my Dad had what we now call a teachable moment with me as a 10th grader when I snuck out of my bedroom (via window) to go to Sherry Auclair's house to work on the Homecoming float late on a school night. I thought EVERYONE WOULD BE THERE and that if I didn't go that I would be the only one not there. Turns out, only 3 kids showed up because their parents wouldn't let them go out late on a school night. Yup. It's not what you miss, it's what you think you'll miss. Thank you Dad...so true!

Feels the same! I didn't really miss anything at Sherry's and I surely am not missing anything by not watching TV. I do need to work harder at getting the news - radio while driving and computer should do the trick.

Confession over - back on track!

Have a Nothing New Day! Kristin