Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Lifestyles

A woman wakes up in the morning to a cup of coffee. It's 6:45am. She sits at her table, reads the paper, turns on the news, and slowly savors the decadent taste. At 8:30am, she drives to work. On her way to work, she stops at Starbucks, orders a latte (which is mostly espresso based, a finer grind of coffee making it slightly more strong), and works until 1pm. At 1pm, she drives to Chipotle (looking for a healthy, naturally raised, and eco-friendly meal). She orders her food (a burrito bowl with rice, black beans, pico de gayo, and avocado), and gets a beverage (a Diet Coke). She goes back to work, completes her day (leaving slightly later than normal) at 6pm. She goes home, and makes a meal for her family (pasta, bread, and a salad- a carbohydrate dense meal, but it balances well with the week plan). The family sits down, one child drinking milk, the other a Dr. Pepper, and the other a juice loaded with high fructose corn syrup. Her and her husband enjoy a glass of wine, paired nicely with the pasta meal. They watch two television programs. During the second program, she gets one more glass of wine. 11pm rolls around, and she and her family sleep. They wake up, and repeat the same schedule.

This is a modern citizen- a model for America. She supports the economy daily, contributing fairly to entertainment, the restaurant industry, the grocery industry, the alcohol industry, local farmers, and presumably a chain grocer.

She has been intoxicated from 6:45am until she fell asleep, only to withhold such intoxication until 6:45am, where she repeats the cycle.

A continual high- America.

A man wakes up at 5:00am and makes himself a large cup of coffee. After his cup is made, he commutes to work, an hour drive. His cup takes him around an hour and a half to finish, some of it cold by the time he takes his last few swigs. He's high as a kite, an average American. He works from 6:00am until 4:00pm (a fairly lengthy day, although he needs extra hours to make ends meet). His high begins to ware off at around 5:00pm. He's just arrived home. He smokes some medicinal marijuana, fully aware that the medicinal aspect is debatable at best. He makes a healthy dinner, him and his wife eat alone, watching a movie. At 9:45pm he finishes a bowl of marijuana, has a little dessert (chocolate cake, a rarity, indeed), and directly after goes to bed. His high lasts throughout his sleep (most claim it makes them sleep more soundly). He wakes up to a fresh cup of coffee.


A child wakes up for school. Her mother has her eat a bowl of Cheerios with banana slices (a serotonin based high, the same chemical which marijuana induces). She has a cup of orange juice with her meal. She goes to school. Lunch time rolls around and she buys a lunch from the school cafeteria. The school cafeteria gives them a choice between pizza or roast beef sandwiches, chips or a fruit salad, and a chocolate chip cookie or a small slice of cake. She heads to sports practice after school, running a few miles, a few sprints, and performs a few stretches. She drinks some Gatorade during breaks, a sugar dense drink, but good for electrolytes. She goes home at 5:00pm. Dinner is served at 6:30pm. She has a dessert of Oreo cookies and milk, then goes to bed. Her high begins just after she wakes up. Her high continues throughout the day, up until her little eyes shut and her mind floods itself with DMT (a drug which creates our dreams, although it's illegal).


A man wakes up. Puts on his business suit. Drinks a cup of tea. Heads to the business office. He decides to skip lunch and snorts a line of cocaine instead. Who needs coffee, he thinks. He gets off work, heads home, and his wife and kids are waiting for him at the dinner table. His high begins when he wakes up, and lasts until he shuts his eyes.

A farmer wakes up to a fresh glass of milk from one of the family cows. His daughter, eating next to him, tells her how happy she is to have a new cow at the farm. She swears it smiles at her. The family dog runs into the kitchen, joyfully licking her hand as she reaches to pet him. The farmer goes outside and does his runs, feeding the chickens, collecting their eggs, and making sure the horses have plenty of hay. One has a slight limp, he's waiting for the market to pick up so he can send it to the glue factory. He walks out to the fields and begins to make sure his laborers, all healthy Americans (he sadly reflects that he's being out-competed by other farmers because they utilize illegal immigrants) are working diligently. He walks over to the cow fields. He grabs his gun, knife kit, and hanging tools. He shoots the first cow through the head, hoping that it will kill it instantly. It rarely does. The cow falls onto the ground, slowly moving and making whimpering noises. He shoots a second bullet. The cow struggles to survive. A third bullet. The cow is at peace. He repeats this three times, hanging the cows after slitting their throats to drain them of blood. These will be cut up tomorrow, two days from now it will be someone's dinner. Lunch time, he thinks. He heads back to the family house, makes a sandwich and drinks a second glass of milk- heavy with protein, good for you. Came from one of the family cows, he thinks. It was squirted right out of the utter and into the bucket through my own hands. He heads back to the farm, grabs a couple of pigs, hangs them up, and one by one slits their throats. The first one squeals loudly, causing a chain reaction. He can barely hear himself think. He heads back to the house to tell his daughter the new cow is doing great.

A police officer wakes up at 9:00am. He showers while his coffee maker is creating his cup for the day. On his way to the station, he swings by a diner, getting a blueberry bagel with cream cheese. He gets to the station and fills out paperwork for the first half of his day. At lunch, he goes out, and gets a cheeseburger with a milkshake. On his way back to the station, he makes his rounds, arresting two drug users (one, a well known town drunk, and the other, a cocaine user). Both have a job, and miss their jobs because they are in jail. Later, they both get fired. On his way home, he grabs a bottle of wine for him and his new girlfriend. They have a couple of glasses, cuddling on the couch, talking about their days. She steps out and has a cigarette. She kisses him goodnight, and drives home. He eats some Reese's before falling asleep, only to wake up and get strung out once again, wondering over bacon if there will be any murders today.


An ex-addict goes to a drug meeting, he hasn't ate a thing, nor drank a thing all day. He's losing weight. He's not sleeping well. Sobriety is tough on him. The leader of the class, an elderly man, greets everyone at the door. The man has a cup of coffee in his hand. It's his third cup of coffee that day. Sobriety, he tells them, is the key to life, and boy does it feel great. The ex-addict, who was a recreational speed user, tells everyone he has been maintaining sobriety for one week. An arduous task, but it was court mandated so he must. He says he looks foreword to the point that sobriety will feel good. He heads to his night job. Only working a half-shift. He's exhausted. He tries to fall asleep after getting home. Yet, if he must quit all drugs, is he allowed to dream? Is he allowed to let his mind overflow with DMT? He lays in bed for four hours. It's been three days since he's slept. He wonders if he lied at his meeting when he said he's been sober. He hasn't ate in a week. Dread overflows him, his body gradually falls asleep.

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