My first purchase of 2012 (recorded faithfully in my notebook) was a Mello Yello Zero for $1.75. It was at 2 in the morning, at work. Looking back I found I had spent 4 bucks on Coke products in the previous 3 days. But I don’t even really like the stuff. It gave me a stomach ache. It is so bright green it almost glows. And the Coke Zeros and Diet Cokes I bought leave a gritty feeling in my mouth and, at 20 oz, are way too much to drink in one sitting. My dental hygienist says they give your teeth a "twenty-minute acid bath." Ain’t nobody want that!
So why do I keep buying that synthetic crap? Because it is ubiquitous, it is the default. Those fuckers – Coca-Cola Co. and their ilk – get my money simply by being around the corner, everywhere. They even have a credit card reader on the vending machine, which I have used several times. One of my co-workers wanted to take a picture of me using my card there because of the absurdity of it: it’s like there is NASA technology in place in order to get chumps like me to shell out their pocket change.
So fuck them. If it takes extra effort to avoid giving money to powerful hawkers of dyed sugar water and other such concoctions, so be it. It just takes some tools and planning (packing a lunch and a water bottle), some information (the scary-sounding "twenty-minute acid bath"), some motivation (my longer-than usual recovery from a recent cold and my desire to beat, kill, defile, dismember and eat Old Man Winter), some self-efficacy beliefs (I have always been someone people look to for health habits and have had stellar health in the past), and long-term support (people around me who also want to make healthy choices and are encouraged by me when I do). Fuck Coca-Cola and Chili’s and Applebee’s and Buffalo Wild Wings and PepsiCo and all the rest.
But not Starbucks. I like Starbucks.
pseudoisaac 