The Microwave
This morning the microwave went crazy. After emitting a weird burning smell, it sent the smoke detector screaming. I didn’t see any smoke to justify the alarm, but not being visible didn’t mean not being in existence. The detector can detect what our eyes can’t see, I guess. Is this a metaphor for life? I mean I must be blind to a lot of things in life, even though I try to be informed and try to understand things. Still what we know is so little compared to what we don’t know, no matter how hard we try to learn.
About this microwave issue, the funny thing is I helped two friends to throw away their microwave in the last two or three years. Well, now I feel a little regretful that I didn’t keep one. The problem is the timing. I didn’t at the time feel that I needed an extra microwave. Sometimes timing is the most important thing in life, but I have never been good at timing.
It’s actually a good brand, I mean my broken microwave, not an expensive one, but a reputable one, an acceptable one.
The Shopping
I think I am suffering from officinaphobia and hypselotimophobia at the same time. Officinaphobia is the fear of shopping and hypselotimophobia is the fear of high price. Due to the recent inflation, I’ve felt rather reluctant to go to stores since every time I went, I had to restrict my desire to buy the stuff I wanted. For example, I haven’t got even one pomegranate this year. And my friend W told me that the best way to fight inflation is not going to the stores, but it is easy for him to say that since he never likes shopping very much.
I went to the Korean store H-Mart this evening and to my relief the price hasn’t gone up for the last two weeks–I didn’t go to Asian stores last weekend. One thing that really annoys me is that Asian stores used to offer discount stuff, especially discount food stuff. But for the last several months, this is no longer the case. Asian food items get more expensive much quicker than other food for some unknown reasons. For example, the rice flour and sticky rice flour have risen more than 200% in price. It used to be that I could get 3 packages of rice flour (or sticky rice flour), one pound each, for 2 dollars on sale, but now each package is $2.50.
The Boat
According to the township newsletter, Edison township bought a rescue boat to prepare for future flooding. First time in history. In Edison, there’s no lake except artificial ones and no river passing through the town, but I guess, with global warming and everything, there’s no saying when the boat might become handy. My question is: Is one boat enough? I mean when the raging water comes, are we going to be fighting for a spot in that boat like people on Titanic?
When I said to my friend that I’d rather stay on Titanic and perish, my friend said, “you don’t know how you are going to behave. You’ve never been in a life-and-death situation before. How do you know your survival instinct will not kick in to push you to do the craziest things?”
Well, she has a point. I am starting to wonder if I should buy life vests and an inflatable bed as my “rescue kits”. I mean when such a sad eventuality comes, I can use my kit to go around to rescue people. Am I turning into one of those crazy survivalists, who prepare everything, from food to shelter, for the end of the world?
Cheer Up
Now in order to cheer myself up at the end of a crazy day, I am going to watch some YouTube videos, in which a popular food vlogger gorges himself on impossibly large amount of food (of all kinds) in a Dubai world expo. I am aspiring to be a vegan and a healthy eater but I am obsessed with videos of gluttony for some strange reasons.
Haoyan Do 
I love your out loud contemplation in this post, Haoyan. Having to say goodbye to a microwave is very tough. In fact devasatating. Ask me, I know. Haha! Inflation is everywhere and having to accept higher prices is very difficult. I guess the past is a great place to dwell for anything. Keep your chin up! 🙂
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As someone who is vegan and trying to eat healthy I also binge watch those YouTube videos lol. I think they satisfy the craving of eating unhealthy without having to actually eat unhealthy. I used to love shopping but have been dreading it recently due to price increases. I really can’t believe how much increases every week. I was going to buy some fruits the other day and ended up only buying a couple since the rest were too expensive.
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This inflation is going haywire. This is why I am thinking of ways of cutting costs in spending money. Paying for gas with cash has helped me out. I even collect coins in a jar for Coinstar so that I can use the receipts as “coupons”. I don’t know what else to do, but man is it tough.
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Yes, me too. Minimize our life and cut the clutter. I am thinking of cutting dry shampoo, fruit juice. However the thought of cutting fruit juice has only made me buying more juice today in anticipation of the possible execution of my plan next week.
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Funny how things like that work. Do you know how to make juice by the way? Maybe using blender or something like the Nutribullet might help out.
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The rising prices are crazy. So far it hasn’t become that bad in German discount grocery stores, they still have good offers. But my sister told me in Austria grocery prices are up 30cents in average. What is crazy in Germany, though … especially flour, sunflower oil and – once again – toilet paper is sold out. I totally understand your reluctance to go shopping. I feel the same. Trying to spend as little money as possible to save for even worse days to come … and having to invest into a new appliance comes close to a panic attack because it’s an expense one absolutely doesn’t need right now. Despite all that … treat yourself to small pleasures like a pomegranate … it’s good for your well-being to be good to yourself.
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Thank you for your comment. The prices are crazy and I wonder if the stores have to work hard to keep changing the labels all the time. LOL. Yes, flour prices have doubled here. Unbelievable. It used to be that there are continuous sales for flour everywhere, but the sales sign are all gone. Nothing is on sale anymore. And you are right. There are more and more empty shelves and a comical sign from ShopRite here claiming that they have been working very hard to keep their supply coming. I think that’s a true statement since it is hard to keep all the supply for a store under the current situation. Sometimes I wonder if the world will ever go back to the pre-pandemic state.
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The Ukraine war is one of the main reasons for the price hike in Europe. Energy and fuel prices are going through the roof which as usual hits the low income people the most. And especially the big industries are suffering when it comes to natural resources like iron ore and other basics, high prices, long delivery times and energy, of course. We will have to suffer the covid and Ukraine war consequences for years to come.
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I’m so sorry you haven’t eaten a pomegranate in a long time. They’re such treats. Prices are going up everywhere and we’re all having to weigh our choices. Enjoy a healthy pomegranate while you watch your shows. 🙂
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So true. Pomegranate is essential and one has to eat at least one in a calendar year. I believe. I find pomegranate juice in Trader Joe’s and it is wonderful.
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🙂 I buy them at Christmas time. The best!
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What a strange way to relax after such a busy day, especially if you are on a diet😉😉😉
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I am obsessed with videos of people gorging themselves to death on mountains of food. I don’t know why.
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😉😚😚😚
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