fox: beware of lies

here is what spring is like so far:
blue coat
sunglasses (yesssss)
listening to "sunday morning" over and over again even though it's saturday
if i have a shopping bag, i am swinging it
whistling

here is a picture of the flowers that are growing outside my apartment:

they close up in the shade. i don't know what they are, but i called my grandparents and they said to email them a picture and maybe they will know. that's why i took that picture. my grandmother also told me that spring in boston will "light up my heart." i think i know what she's talking about already. i'm finding myself impervious to music with feelings, or at least to the mildly dramatic negative feelings this music normally fosters, and breaking out in whistling in the middle of the grocery store. not that i was unhappy in the winter. i'm just happy bordering on sort of fuzzily ecstatic, grinning for no reason kind of happy starting first thing in the morning and lasting approximately until sunset these days.

today i went to the grocery store to get supplies for my easter dinner assignment (i was assigned an appetizer. i am making baked brie because it is like the one appetizer i know how to make). on the way, i passed by super 88. of course i went in, ostensibly to get myself a shoot of bamboo and check out the tea selection. these are the reasons i always cite to myself when entering an asian market. then i inevitably decide i don't want to carry around a shoot of bamboo and end up in the candy aisle. here is what i got today, despite pledging to spend as little money as possible (i am broke but currently refusing to admit it, because it is spring i think):
peony white tea (to maintain internal consistency [in terms of reasoning, not in terms of any actual physical consistency])
goya honey, complete with small piece of honeycomb (is this edible?)
two chocolate yanyans
two strawberry yanyans
kasugai pineapple gummy
kasugai apple gummy

the gummys were a little bit on the pricy side at $2.39 each, but each one (there were probably about eight flavors, including mango, litchi and both red and green grape) had a short description on the front. these descriptions are maybe the most effective marketing strategy i've ever seen. i chose mine based on which had the best metaphors.

Pineapple Gummy: The gorgeous taste of fully ripened pineapple, imposing as a southern island king crowned in glory, is yours to enjoy in every soft and juicy Kasugai Pineapple Gummy.

Apple Gummy: Every drop of fresh apple juice, carefully pressed from the reddest apples, shining in colors of the cheeks of a snow-country child, is yours to enjoy in each soft and juicy Kasugai Apple Gummy.

of COURSE i want to eat those!!! a lot of the descriptions were similarly enticing and talked about how much the eater would enjoy the gummys, but these metaphors just blew me away. the green grape one said something about giving the eater "the feelings of a lady," which i was curious about, but i generally don't like grape-flavored candy. both the pineapple and the apple are extremely delicious, maybe the best gummys i've ever had. they are individually wrapped, just the right size for a gummy, maybe the size of two gummi bears, and they come in a heart shape. they are the perfect gummy.

the yanyans, as always, strike me as a small stroke of genius. a couple years ago they started putting a few words about animals on each of the sesame sticks. here are the ones i found:

chocolate
horse: gallop away
whale: biggesy [sic] mammal
duck: go for a swim (x2)
frog: amphibian
mouse: do not be timid
chicken: kokekokko
goat: you are lucky today
golden egg (picture of an egg, with stars)
panda: go for more
squirrel: your best friend
beetle: lucky colour: brown
[after this i ran out of chocolate dip, but here are the slogans on the sesame sticks i didn't eat, which are worth nothing without the dip, fyi)
another beetle
owl: active at night
rhinoceros: think big

strawberry
stag beetle: love it (x2)
elephant: jumbo
cat: say meow
cow: muuuuu
zebra: herbivore
seal: loves to su(n? i broke this one on accident. actually i just looked yanyans up on wikipedia to make the hyperlink above and it turns out it is "loves to sun tan.")
nothing else new

the wikipedia page has a full list of all the sayings, but i have to say i have eaten my fair share of yanyans and have never come across either "sheep" or "golden log." i think mole is my favorite though. it rhymes. i hope i get that one.

what really cracks me up is the variety of things the sesame sticks communicate about different animals. some are facts: "biggesy [sic] mammal," "herbivore," "amphibian." i guess "kokekokko" and "muuuuu" would also fall into that category. also in that category are descriptions of what the animals like to do - "suntan," "gallop away," "go for a swim," as well as locations or times in/at which the animals can be found - "in a hole," "only at night." some of them, however - i think maybe my favorites - are direct addresses to the eater, occasionally even imperatives. some of these actually have something to do with the animal, or at least fabled stereotypes about the animal - "beware of lies," "eat more carrots." but some of them seem to have no connection at all: "goat: you are lucky today," "panda: go for more." as for the mouse, it's unclear whether the mouse or the eater should "not be timid." but the stag beetle - why exactly should i "love it"? why is the squirrel my "best friend"? and whose lucky colors are "brown" or "yellow," mine? the beetle's? the chick's? and why the differentiation between "stag beetle" and just plain "beetle"? the "golden egg" and nefarious "golden log" are just a complete mystery to me. curious. and hilarious. either way, delicious.

then i went to the grocery store. that was what it was.

lately i have been meeting a lot of dogs on the street.

i don't know what this dog's name is, but today i met a four month old boston terrier named "thor." he licked me all over my face. i also met two fat pugs and a small terrier. i like spring.