Fun

About a million years ago, I wrote a Lowcarbezine! article about the concept of "fun." I had been to visit a friend whose husband bought up overruns and closeouts, and sold them to places like Big Lots and the dollar stores. He had offered me a big tub of cookies he'd gotten a good deal on. I had said thanks but no thanks, I didn't eat sugar. His response was, "What, you never have any fun?"

Well, it's happening again. Have you seen the ad for the new "Oreo Candy Bites?" Jingly, nostalgic music plays, while a grown woman looks out of a car window at kids in a tree house, jumping rope, blowing bubbles. Finally the car pulls up by a big carousel, and she goes skipping gaily toward it. The tag line is "Bring the fun of candy back into your life," followed by the now-common touting of their junk food as coming in "100 calorie packs."

Did you see the bait-and-switch? You're not going to get to actually do fun things. No bubbles for you, no tree house, no jumping rope. You don't get to ride on the brightly-colored merry-go-round. Nope. You get to sit at your desk and eat highly-processed junk food out of a mylar packet. That's enough fun for you.

Sorry, Nabisco, I ain't buying it. Eating sugary garbage does not make data entry or washing the dishes or being stuck in rush hour traffic "fun."

Folks, if you feel short on fun, please, don't reach for highly processed crappe. Do something fun. Roll down a hill. Play a game with your kids. Wrestle with the dog. Read a trashy novel. Have some pals over for a potluck. Watch a silly movie. Dance. Go to a cat show, or an RV show, or a science fiction convention, or a Renaissance faire, or whatever suits your fancy. Go find a carousel, for goodness' sake!

Junk food is a poor substitute for fun. If you want fun, make some. Don't expect it to come out of a mylar pouch.

I'd love some responses with ideas for fun stuff to do!