A bit of catching up, sans the final top tens

The time between 12/31/09 and 1/1/10

Escorted like the privileged class, dining on cupcakes, and sipping champagne, we waited on the eleventh floor for the ball to drop. We were a party of seven pressed against the windows. Parties of more or fewer calmly raged to the right and to the left and in the conference room and down below. The famous ball of the square of time that marks the passage of another Seacrest/Clark moment was but a nose-press and a glance away. When the countdown came and the fireworks spewed in our general direction and then right at us, the ball began its descending wave to nine before disappearing in a cloud of ten. Saliva was exchanged in a passionate plea to the universe to improve. Ten could make us better and brighter, but for now only the remnants of lip balm and its oddly shaped headgear advertising remained.

The bag tax
My fair city has passed a law. I'm sure they do this all the time, like it's their job. This law is different. This law has had an immediate positive impact on my day to day life. Washington DC has made plastic bags five cents. Some folks are flipping out. The paper detailed the story of a woman who drives to a state next door (where they pay a higher food tax) to avoid the fee. It makes no sense. I've been known to make no sense, but this time, I'm relishing the bag tax. It encourages behavior that I support in a way that isn't completely prohibitive. The best part, however, was the immediate culture shift of my grocery store checkers. Instead of immediately cramming my food into a plastic bag, they now turn to me to ask if I have bags or if I'm willing to pay the five cents. I am no longer stuck stuttering with my re-usable bag in my hand while a checker buries my food in plastic.

There are challenges. I don't usually have my bag when I go for lunch time take-out. The produce bags are five cents. I try to get by without them and I wonder if there is a suitable alternative. The morning paper (as if there was an evening one anymore?) comes in a bag adding a cost to an industry that could probably do without losing its last eight subscribers. I'm ok with all of this. Grocers are reporting bag use has been cut in half. The five cents on that half go toward cleaning up the muck in the Anacostia River. I'm lovin' it.

Lost in the aisles
While I'm thinking of the market, I should mention my most recent shopping experience. I'm working to improve my nutrition and I've found a plan that seems pretty reasonable, though not without its bumps in the road. My first challenge was grocery shopping. I took the pre-made list to the store and quickly realized that I couldn't find anything. I was cruising the outside of the store rather than the processed food haven I've come to count on. Life outside of the can is far different. I wandered wide-eyed and bordering on frantic as I searched and found quinoa, but failed to find steel cut oats or oat bran. I spent more time buying fruit and vegetables than I usually spend at the store. I won't even begin to discuss the challenges I've faced in the kitchen.

That'll have to do for now. I still want to write, but I find that I want to do a lot lately.