Options For One

Something that's pretty good about dogs (and other living beings which are entirely dependent on you) is that you do not have to be terribly deferential when it comes to what food you buy and serve them. The dog may start out particular, but sooner or later it will compromise its high standards and eat the cheap dry food if that's what you buy. I don't believe it matters whether you show a track record of caving if it resists. Any time you choose to take a stand, that dog is eventually going to relent. Lest it seem that I'm cruel, let me get to the point: I treat myself something like a pet dog when it comes to food.

I buy just what I need to eat for at least a week, and ideally longer. I don't buy anything extravagant, and I don't buy superfluous food for the sake of variety, which is a luxury. Options would be nice, but even if I were very eager to spend more on food, I would still not be prepared to spend more time in the grocery store. I get to the point where I just have to escape, and I make some rash choices so that I can do that. As a consequence, whereas other people might have a choice of fish or spaghetti for dinner, my choices are limited to eat or don't eat. Actually, that's not strictly true. I can eat what I have for dinner, I can poach food meant for breakfast or dinner, or I can go out to eat. I can't do the last of those too much, I try not to do the second, and most of the time I do manage to do the first.

As I may have said in the past and as you would imagine, it's all different when I go home. In spite of the fact that only my parents live there, there's more food on the shelf than we might have needed when it was four. There is no shortage of variety, and the choices always include the leftovers of huge meals as I am only there for such occasions as Christmas, Thanksgiving and perhaps Independence Day. Just as retailers survive on what they manage to do during December, I think I survive largely on what I eat during the same time frame.

I'd certainly like to have more in the cupboard at my home in LA. I wonder if I could manage that by cutting out the restaurant meals and bar drinking that is part and parcel of my present social life. I curtail it as much as I can, but would hate to be ostracized on account of refusal to buy a basket of fries or a beer every now and then. That leaves just one choice. I really have to make it. There's nothing like tangible motivation like that to inspire the will to succeed.