Grocery Shopping

I've always allowed myself one impulse buy. I'm not a snacker, so chips, pretzels, trail mix, etc. are out. Invariably it is something sweet. Sometimes it is healthy and sweet. Most often, not.

Lately, I've been grabbing bottles of chocolate shake. Creamy chocolate milkshake. I've known for some time that I will succumb to death by dairy. I'm a cheese hound. I like raw milk. Cream is the best. Butter. And, of course, ice cream.

Mm. Ice. Cream.

So, dairy products will kill me some day. And I don't care. Besides, I'm Northern European. I've got that mutation that allows adults to digest lactose. So, I'm using what Nature provides, and the heck with you. Especially you weirdo health nuts.

Anyway, I finally noticed the ingredients in the milkshake. Reduced fat milk. Hey, that's good. Sugar. Cocoa. Cellulose gel? Cellulose gum? Xanthium gum? Carrageenan. Disodum phosphate and natural and artificial flavor.

Okay, carageenan is made from red kelp. It's like a wax, right? The xanthium gum is the biofilm scum produced by bacteria. It's dead bacteria and their surrounding scuzz. Xanthium gum sounds better.

Cellulose gel and gum and made from wood pulp. Well, I've chewed on wood before. Nothing wrong there. It's the sugar that's the killer. I don't care.

One other thing, on a somber note. There is an old deli guy at the grocery store. He's got the cancer. About a year ago, he developed a huge bump on his cheek, and the surgeons removed it. Since then, they've mangled him, whittled down his face with subsequent operations.

I look him in the eye and pretend there is nothing wrong. I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do. I mean, he's really hideous and disfigured, so what else to do but look him in the eye, let him know that I still consider him a fellow human being? That's the decent thing, right?

He's gonna die.