I went to Save-a-lot the other day. If you go back in time, exactly one year ago, my first post was about a trip to Save-a-lot. For anyone who is unfamiliar with this post, which is probably most people on this earth, I described a store in which the stench of misery and poverty stands strong. I said it once and I'll say it again: the discount rack in the back of the store contains items which include packages that were ripped open and food is half eaten or expired. This is a testament to the ghetto factor of this supermarket. You will often times find shelves that are empty in certain isles and MSG is literally a main ingredient in most of the food there. Knowing this, I still go there sometimes. Where else can you get avocados for $0.69 each?

So, I'm waiting in line at Save-a-lot after picking up a few items. One of the things I love about going grocery shopping is peeking into everyone else's cart and checking out their stuff while you're in line. I think you can tell a lot about a person from what they're buying at the grocery store. For instance, while in the dairy section, I saw a young couple shopping. They obviously jumped into parenthood much too early at this point in their lives, because their little girl was sucking on a shoe (a plastic high heel at that) while sitting in the shopping cart and they didn't seem to give a shit. Believe me, I was horrified. Their cart was full of jugs of strawberry milk and Tampico citrus punch; many drinks made from concentrate. I didn't get a good look at what else they had, I was too distracted by the fact that their kid was dining on a shoe, but that pink milky drink looked nasty.

I was able to observe the guy in front of me thoroughly however, and he was an interesting one. First of all, his stench exuded cartons of cigarette smoke. There is a certain level of nicotine addiction that you can literally smell a mile away. I could actually smell the cancer in him. According to my watch, he has to be dead from lung cancer within the next 3 years, which is unfortunate because he had his daughter with him. I'm not one to judge or anything, but if I were forced to categorize these people by appearance I wouldn't hesitate to put them in the "po' white trash" category. I'd bet they have about 5 cats. I can just imagine what their house smells like. Cigarettes and piss. And cat shit. So I know for a fact that they have cats, because they were buying cat food. But you can sort of instinctively tell who's a cat person and who's a dog person anyway. If you can't instinctively differentiate the two then the guideline is "normal" person= dog person. "Eccentric" person= cat person. Don't get me started on what constitutes normal, because normal doesn't really exist, I just used the word for the purposes of this blog. I could go on for hours about this, but I won't. You're welcome.

Ok back to the white trash people. Other items to be included in the diet of these folks: Arizona Iced Tea, hot dogs, ready made potato salad, chocolates shaped like dogs, twinkies and my all time favorite, frozen tater tots. What we have here is the staple ingredients to your quintessential 'on the road to colon cancer' diet . Did everyone see Napoleon Dynamite? Well, if you didn't then you wouldn't be as amused by the tater tots as I was, but I found the fact that they were buying them pretty uncanny. Otherwise I'll admit that tater tots are pretty good. One of the grosser items in their cart was the potato salad. It was too yellow and smushy. Why would you buy pre-made potato salad from Save-a-lot man? Some things are safe to buy from shady stores, like spices, juice, or cereal. Some things aren't, like meats, poultry or ready made potato salad! I can just see that stuff giving anyone with a weak stomach the runs. For those with a stronger digestive tract, it has to at least give you a bad case of gas. It has to I say!

Anyway, what these people were putting inside of their bodies sort of reflected what they looked like on the outside: fucked up. I guess it's true what they say, you are what you eat.