After a remarkably sleepless night and a couple of practices punctuated by my bronchial wheezes I decided it might be prudent to buy some pills: some to make me sleep, some to make me healthy.
The medicine isn't the story, but rather the circumstance. Having made my selections and paid for them, I waited in limbo as my ATM card talked to some people and made assurances to the pharmacy that I could indeed pay my way (six dollars, there was a sale.)
It was in this purgatory that I noticed how inexpensive cigarettes were in the great state of Idaho: a mere five dollars for twenty doses of sweet nicotine. For those who have never smoked, this graph gives a pretty good hint of what I perceive cigarettes to taste like right now (recently quit).
So it was with pride that I strolled out of the Rite-Aid - having turned down a steak stuffed with tiramusu for the low price of five dollars - that I notice two local children moving perniciously towards my bicycle.
Neither could have been older than fourteen, but both needed immediate professional attention. The least drastic of the two simply looked like any orthodontist's dream client; save for the fact that she was about to attempt to rip off my bike seat to make some money.
The second looked like a demented Cheshire cat. Her head was lumpy and her body fat was oddly distributed through her diminutive blond frame. Because I am taking an art history class, I can say she was the type of person who Frans Hals might have painted. One of his works is below.
What does one do when he catches 17th century dutch peasants trying to steal his bicycle? I'm obviously not going to press charges on a couple of (extremely) unfortunate looking fourteen year olds, especially because I know they were likely doing little else than trying to get some pocket money.
The medicine isn't the story, but rather the circumstance. Having made my selections and paid for them, I waited in limbo as my ATM card talked to some people and made assurances to the pharmacy that I could indeed pay my way (six dollars, there was a sale.)
It was in this purgatory that I noticed how inexpensive cigarettes were in the great state of Idaho: a mere five dollars for twenty doses of sweet nicotine. For those who have never smoked, this graph gives a pretty good hint of what I perceive cigarettes to taste like right now (recently quit).
So it was with pride that I strolled out of the Rite-Aid - having turned down a steak stuffed with tiramusu for the low price of five dollars - that I notice two local children moving perniciously towards my bicycle.Neither could have been older than fourteen, but both needed immediate professional attention. The least drastic of the two simply looked like any orthodontist's dream client; save for the fact that she was about to attempt to rip off my bike seat to make some money.
The second looked like a demented Cheshire cat. Her head was lumpy and her body fat was oddly distributed through her diminutive blond frame. Because I am taking an art history class, I can say she was the type of person who Frans Hals might have painted. One of his works is below.
What does one do when he catches 17th century dutch peasants trying to steal his bicycle? I'm obviously not going to press charges on a couple of (extremely) unfortunate looking fourteen year olds, especially because I know they were likely doing little else than trying to get some pocket money. This struck a particular chord with me though: I sit on a board of students at the college tasked with funding philanthropic projects to counteract precisely these kinds of societal ills. We gave away a fair chunk of change last year, and we hope to do it again ad infinitum.
To me, it seems like a keener need for market research has never existed. These kids must prefer something to attempting to rip off my bike, yet we're not able to do the kind of deep dive that we should to really help out the community. Caldwell is a town with more than its fair share of societal problems. Imagine a city in Idaho (of all places) with a gang violence problem.
These kids - these two in particular but kids from here in general - need help. I'm empowered to toss a pittance their way but I don't know where to even begin.
To me, it seems like a keener need for market research has never existed. These kids must prefer something to attempting to rip off my bike, yet we're not able to do the kind of deep dive that we should to really help out the community. Caldwell is a town with more than its fair share of societal problems. Imagine a city in Idaho (of all places) with a gang violence problem.
These kids - these two in particular but kids from here in general - need help. I'm empowered to toss a pittance their way but I don't know where to even begin.
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