Magical Babies & The Mystery Of The Supermarket

After the end of a day at the mall, I stopped at the Ralph's down the street from my house to pick up a few things for dinner. I was strolling through the relatively mismatched aisle in the back where they keep various byproducts of milk, random cuts of prepackaged deli meats (which have been separated from the regular deli meat section) and of course the Bob's Bleu Cheese Dressing. I never understood why it's there and not next to the rest of the salad dressings. In fact, now that I think about it: Ralph's has divided the dressings into three sections. Two of the three are stored in the cooled areas that circle the outer perimeter of the store. The final section however, lies situated next to the Prego and across from the brand name taco sauces, where the refrigerated storage of such items is not considered important (until they are opened) by men who are much smarter than me. My best guess however is that it has something to do with vendors waging an undying war for decent shelf space.



I am suddenly reminded of the late, great George Carlin:

They have guys who straighten that out. Guys with purple fingers, come around at midnight. And in the morning, everything's back. It's the mystery of the supermarket. . .

Well, that tangent aside, I came across this while in the aisle I mentioned earlier and had to take a picture:

The Last of the American Noodles

Though most (if not all) of the Japanese markets near my area have disappeared, there are plenty of Korean markets just down the road from me and they tend to carry just as much Japanese product as they do Korean. My point being: It's not overtly difficult to get my hands on slightly more exotic goods. This picture simply forced me to ponder the things I will soon leave behind. Since there's only about two weeks left before I take off I figured these last few posts should reflect my current state of mind and sensibilities. That in mind, I must say I don't fear I will miss too much other than the company of those I will no longer be in relative proximity to.  The last time in Japan was such an amazing experience; I knew that I'd be going back one day. Hopefully things will work out this upcoming year and I'll be able to have a nice prolonged stay without worrying about too many of the specifics as to how I'll manage it.

So in other news: it is hot and humid. It's gone down considerably but I'll take this moment to add the Southern California weather to the list of things that I'll miss. It's not typically too hot and there's a nice coastal breeze that rolls around in my area. It's not even the lion's den of hot weather I'll be jumping into but rather the lion's sauna. Hopefully by the time I arrive, the heat will have calmed down with the humidity index dropping. Maybe I'll go straight to a nice fall, which incidentally, is my favorite time of the year. While watching my nephew today I managed to capture this moment wherein my dog yawned in that way that makes one look as though they were a taxidermy project.

I call this one "Forever Sleepy"

Shortly after that, my nephew saw fit to attempt the old table cloth trick right from underneath her. It was not a success.

And the flowers are STILL standing!

I think that's it for now. I managed to find something that I thought I had lost after I returned from Japan, so I'll be talking about that in the next post as well as whatever else happens between now and departure.


-J