My Lunch Date with Zaxby's Chicken

Just a quick journal-like note for my friends out there in the blogosphere. Today is a sad day…

It's my half day, so I'm off at 12:30 this afternoon. My husband promised to have lunch with his workout buddies so they're all going to goat balls, which is a nickname I made up for this Greek restaurant they all love and I hate.

Anyway, so I have no friends today. My only option is to grab something on the way home, so I pick up a plate of 5 chicken fingers from Zaxby's. I figure these will go well with the rice Tim made the other day, so I pass on the fries, "Just the fingers, thanks," I answer back at the intercom.

When I arrive home, to my dismay, what little rice is left in the rice cooker is hardened and inedible. So, now I'm left with chicken fingers and nothing else. I contemplate making tomato soup, but I'm too lazy.

I dunk the fingers in Zaxby sauce and Ranch dressing and wolf them down. With some food in my tummy, I figure I will get a good start on the afternoon with a great blog entry for you all. And then it happens.

The voices in my head stop talking. I have nothing to say, therefore nothing to write about. All I can think about is the fact I had nothing to eat but Zaxby's chicken and I'm all alone [insert favorite sad face here]. So I figure, maybe I could share my lunch with you! Here's to having great company.

So, what did YOU have for lunch today?


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Word of the Day - Rage

I love my word of the day. Of course! I'm a writer. What writer doesn't have a love for the English language? My word for today is rage. I'm inspired by its flexible usage and I have so many images to share which help demonstrate the nature of this word and its many forms. First, the definition from Dictionary.com

rage  [reyj]
noun

1. angry fury; violent anger.
2. a fit of violent anger.
3. fury or violence of wind, waves, fire, disease, etc.
4. violence of feeling, desire, or appetite: the rage of thirst.
5. a violent desire or passion.

Rage can also be a verb or an adjective, but I won't bore you with more details.

Examples:

Raging Hormones, Perry 1 - Rihanna 0

It was subtle. Very subtle, but it was there. See it in their eyes? That's definitely rage. Just because it's well hidden doesn't mean it didn't exist, just for that split second. Oh my goodness, why must two very pretty girls feel such hatred for one another?

Road Rage Gone Wrong

Used here as a noun, this is what happens when rage gets out of hand. You should think twice before driving like a maniac all over the road, because the guy that's pissing you off might not appreciate your rage.

Dumb ass Peppers Herself

An adjective, yes. Adjectives answer the question "What kind?" So, what kind of dumb ass is she? A raging dumb ass. Get it?

A Raging Fit Over Chicken Nuggets

This is how I felt the other day when I got to work with my lunch, only to discover that the lady at the drive-through forgot to include the condiments I'd asked for. And next time, DON'T FORGET MY FRIES!


And now to slow things down a bit, I give you the antonym of rage.

calm  [kahm]
adjective, calm·er, calm·est.

1. without rough motion; still or nearly still: a calm sea.
2. not windy or stormy: a calm day.
3. free from excitement or passion; tranquil: a calm face; a calm manner.

Y'all be kind to one another. Life's too short!

Do you have a favorite word? Or if there is one word that describes how you're feeling today, what is it? Happy Friday!



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Flash Back 1984 - What Happened?

by Diane Carlisle

In the summer of 1984 I worked in an ice cream parlor. Times were as bad, if not a little worse than today, but as teenagers back then, we didn't worry about our futures. It wasn't beneath us to work in fast food or customer service. I served chili dogs and soft serve ice cream. I even made milkshakes in those mixers that always spun the glob of ice cream to the top, splattering milk all over the place. But I was happy to collect my $52.00 paycheck at the end of the week.

I applied for student loans and attended Coastal Carolina Community College to try and better myself so I wouldn’t have to work in the fast food business for the rest of my life. I worked late at night at my mother’s restaurant and lounge. After “last call” I had one hour of cleanup and two hours all to myself to get my homework done.

The closest thing we had to console games was a downhill skiing game produced by Activision. A stick figure would move down a snow capped mountain in a pair of skis that resembled a perpendicular equal sign which, when manipulated by the controller, would turn slightly to the left and then the right in order to simulate the side to side motion you might imagine happening when someone is actually skiing down the side of a hill.

The most entertaining part of the game was when the skier would crash into a tree or a flagpole and the equal sign turned into what looked like a 'V', made to resemble a mangled set of skis. Game developers had to be creative with what they had back then.

Still, we'd get bored and head out to the local gaming arcade. Tempest, Asteroids and Galaga were much more entertaining, had better graphics and they only cost one token. By the way, a token back then wasn't $.25. You could stay in the arcade all night if you had a couple bucks. That was our entertainment and social outlet.

So what's the difference today? The unemployment numbers come out and we gasp. Our children are coming home from college with no jobs. Yet, in America, the obesity rate is skyrocketing and our economy is crashing to an all-time low.

Credit and technology is what happened.

Want that new console game that's coming out next month? It only costs $59.95 and you'll probably beat it in less time than I spent on a Friday night with friends at the arcade. I know arcades sound lame to kids today and who needs to be part of a social group when we have Facebook and Twitter? Work at Burger King? Fuck that. Our kids eat fast food, they don’t serve it. They'll just wait around until someone offers them a desk job where they can sit around all day and surf the internet.

Reflect a little. So tell me, what were you doing in 1984?