The Halloween Score
This year I went trick or treating for the first time in about 20 something years. I went as an accompanying parent. Now, being that my kids are toddlers, they're still young enough that we won't let them eat all their candy on their own, and they're not really too hung up on treating their bundles of treats as "individual possessions." We took all the candy received and put it in one big pile that pretty much anyone can indulge in.So what this all means is that, although the candy is mostly for them and the experience of getting it was entirely for them, the candy is going to be nibbled on by everyone in the household. And "everyone" includes me!
Now, I've never been too fond of lollipops, Jolly Ranchers, and hard candies, nor any other low-quality, pure sugar crap confection like candy corn and circus peanuts. But I really dig good candy. In a word, I dig chocolate bars! Very tasty.
Here's what I think is very funny. As we're going door to door, I am secretly getting very excited over the great candies that the kids are scoring. We got tons of those "fun size" versions of Snickers, Milky Ways, and Twixes. We got plenty of those singular Recess Peanut Butter Cups. Heck, one or two of the stops were so generous that they were giving out the full sized versions. And I found it very awesome, like we were really accumulating some fantastic treats.
So why is that funny? It's funny because:
a) As this was going on, I knew full well that I had a bucket-full of the same exact candies in my house: the ones that we're giving to trick or treaters coming by. And it's not like 80% of it isn't going to be leftovers that we end up eating ourselves. And...
b) It's not like I, as a working adult, don't have the financial resources and permission to buy bag-loads of the candy bars any time I want to. If tasty candy is so important to me, I don't have to rely on the graciousness of generous neighbors one day a year.
And yet I still feel like we're "scoring big," when I get these tasty morels to take home.
I guess it's like what they say about the bird in the hand. I could indulge on candy bars all year long on a daily basis, but I don't. A candy bar in the hand is worth much more than the potential I have on any given day to achieve that very thing.
posted by Steve @ 8:10 PM
3 Comments:
It seems very similar, psychologically, to listening to the radio vs. listening to your iPod. For some strange reason, I'll skip through 95% of the songs on my iPod just to get to the 4 or 5 songs I really dig at the moment, depending on my mood. I'll skip over, say, a Guns 'N Roses song because the next song I may want to hear more.... But if I hear "Welcome to the Jungle" on the radio I blast it, because I can't instantly click and see what's next, so it's either that or whatever's on the other 5 preset stations on my radio, which aren't as good. And the funny thing is, I could easily go back to my iPod and play that song again if I wish, but won't, however if I scanned through and another station was playing it I'd leave it on!
And if I come across a "Flashback to the 80s" program, it's a huge score, despite owning and having the ability to play any of those songs any time I wish. Maybe it's just me.
Circus peanuts rule! But, then, you knew I'd have to say that.
Halloween is a unique time for parents. I think we secretly (or openly) miss being kids, when we could go out from house ot house and people would give us something for free, just because we were wearing silly clothing. If you tried doing that as an adult, they'd be scared of you.
Paul,
You're right that it's quite similar to your iPod situation.
Another thing I find it similar to is stuff on TV vs. DVD. For example, if I come across a Futurama episode late at night on TV, I will stop and watch it as though I have "scored" and found something interesting to watch. Meanwhile, I can watch it ANYTIME I want and without commercials or cuts, because I have the DVD sitting right on the shelf. But I won't.
Even as I watch less live TV because I am a Tivo guy like you now, the concept is still the same. Just last night I watched a King of the Hill episode that I've seen 10 times because Tivo recorded it. And it is a two parter that Tivo only recorded one part of. So I got annoyed that I "couldn't" watch the continuation, despite the fact that I quite obviously COULD if I walked over and put my DVD in. But it wasn't worth it to me to do that.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. A show queued up on Tivo is worth more than a DVD on the shelf (even though it's not).
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