Thoughts on the forbidden carb

I am unjustifiably hungry. I had a lovely breakfast this morning of a bowl of Fiber One (just in case anyone hasn't heard: 57% OF YOUR DAILY FIBER IN HALF A CUP!), some blueberries, and one of those Nature's Valley granola bars. And that was only an hour ago! I think my stomach is taunting me because it knows I have another bar in my bag, just sitting there, waiting to be consumed at a moment's notice.

While we're on the subject of cereal, I recently bought a box of Reeses Peanutbutter Puffs. It's tagline: "Candy for breakfast!" This is exactly the type of cereal I was forbidden as a child, and have now purchased to counteract my Fiber One. I had about 3 bowls of it on Saturday for lunch. Pros: It does taste like candy. In fact, it can be eaten without milk. Cons: I have grown old. My tummy hurt and I felt kinda of woosy. No longer can I hold my sugar. The world is not as bright as it once was.

I'm not one to be nostalgic for childhood. I had a fine childhood, but was more than ready to leave it behind when I turned 13 or so. The world seems brighter now as I grow older than it did then. But sometimes it's hard not to think how irreversible the process of growing up is. It's like reading, once it's begun you cannot help but keeping doing it (Stroop effect! Ah, Steven Pinker!). I used to think it was sort of nicely cyclical that old people become much like children: dependent, gentle, frail. But it isn't the same. It's kind of like an awful echo.

I'm at work again, which is a place I rather like to be. Yesterday us interns went to hear a talk by this former Harvard (ah, Harvard!) student who studies voter disenfranchisement. The crowd was overwhelmingly democratic in the worst possible way. I have so little patience with partisanship. "Well, you know this administration" ::audience gives knowing laugh::. Erlack erlack. In related news, I am single-handly dismantling the energy lobby in New York State and giving democracy back to the people. Pointed excerpt from draft of my report: "Pataki ends his tenure in Albany in November. The new governor should see that the era of pandering to energy interests and shortsighted policies ends with it." Pointed!