So I stopped at the grocery store this evening, to pick up some fruits and veggies, shampoo, and new insoles for my dress shoes. (Thought I’d try gellin’ in church tomorrow, though I’m not entirely sure it’s not against my religion.)

The total came to more than I thought it would, even considering the stupid gel things are 12 bucks a pair. Especially since I saved $3.72 on my Albertsons Preferred Savings Card. (I definitely don’t understand the social context of this. If they’re lowering the price to encourage people to buy it, what’s the point of singling people out? Sell the stuff and be done with it. And what’s “preferred?” Me? The groceries? The store?)

Leaning on the shopping cart in front of the store, I discovered to my horror that I’d just been charged $6.75 for a 2.71 pound bag of seedless grapes. What the heck? They’re Thompson seedless farking grapes. They’re grown in the San Joaquin Valley, right over the coastal mountains from here! There are acres and acres of them, spreading as far as the eye can see! They pick the things in the summer and haul them from the fields in semi trailers. They’re not truffles from France or Russian caviar, for crying out loud.

I miss Delano, where my grandparents lived. Where Cesar Chavez made his stand against Shinlay, the company that eventually screwed my grandpa out of his pension. And where we used to get big boxes of grapes to eat, and share with the neighbors.

Just another sign that civilization is going to hell in a bucket. You read it here first.