Some Chips I Bought

I tend to pride myself on my critical thinking, and on my ability to override the same impulses that most people yield to. Sure, I'm tempted by commercials for things, but I am generally good about recognizing what they are doing and why I should resist, no matter how good a product looks or a sales pitch sounds. It's true enough that I faltered as a boy when I saw the commercial for a backpack modeled after school lockers, but who wouldn't love a backpack made to look like the place you keep your books in the place you don't want to go?

I've gotten stronger since then, but I do still fail sometimes. I'm only a man, and a man sometimes is mastered by something shiny, slick and full of attitude. Sometimes I hear the critical thinker within warn me and I say, this one time I will not heed the wet blanket which insists I have fun only in ways that are meritorious. I think that's reasonable, and if it isn't, well I'm not such a reasonable person really. I have fits of whimsy, and aren't I entitled to that?

Here's a fine example. I was wandering around a convenience store looking for some snacks to bring on my way to a movie watching party. A place like that isn't my first choice for such shopping, but my schedule had prevented me from visiting the right place, which would be a grocery store. I recognized that I would not be able to find something good or reasonably priced, and that left me nothing but gimmickry.

I bought the funniest sounding bag of chips I could find, which turns out to be surprisingly funny. It desperately sought to be young and hip, achieving this by calling itself "Doritos Jacked". It furthermore bragged about being bigger, thicker and bolder. As if that wasn't enough, it was enchilada supreme-flavored. I'm just a man, as I said. I bought the chips, and though they were a disappointment, they'd do their job before I opened them up. It was a good time.