why i will never be as great as charles dickens...

Charles Dickens was paid by the word. This is why we ended up with great works such as A TALE OF TWO CITIES and DAVID COPPERFIELD. Once upon a time, I was a decent writer. It’s been a while. After reading this, I’ve decided that I would have died had I lived the life of Dickens…this is random project I took on after making the same challenge to a friend of mine.
1000 words
Topic: Popsicles.
In all reality, I have million other things that I could or should be doing (like planning my life and deciding where exactly I want to go back to school, doing laundry, and visiting the parents and nephew), but really, I’d rather write about popsicles. I think it’s because in a weird way, they symbolize the reality of what I’m trying to do…consider this. Popsicles, while being a sweet and tasty refreshment, are meant to cool, sooth, and bring pleasure. Isn’t that our goal in life? To find pleasure and achieve a soothing balance of all the different aspects of the lives that we live? One of the guys I work with told me today that I need to change my attitude. I’m too negative. In light of my current negativity, think of it this way. When we eat popsicles, we are, in essence-chewing on a stick. The popsicle is the pleasurable part of quest to find the stick. It’s the procrastinator’s method to find the stick. I find it quite ironic that of all days, I would choose this one to write about popsicles. It snowed today. I broke out the winter wardrobe and dressed in long sleeves and pants. I did not care, I was warm. But back to popsicles, really we enjoy the sweet and tasty part, but subconsciously we always have the knowledge that there is always a stick in the middle, forcing us back to the reality of the end. I can put off the things that I really need to do, but they will always be there, like the stick in the middle of the popsicle. If I’m prepared for the stick, I can pull it out and use it for something useful (the classic bird house project at summer camp) or I’ll find myself with a sliver in my tongue…but really, that is not the topic. The topic is popsicles. I’ll start with a little history. (Gotta love Wikipedia…)
1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left out on his porch a mixture of powdered soda and water that contained a stir stick. That night, temperatures in San Francisco reached record low temperature. When he woke the next morning, he discovered that it had frozen to the stir stick, creating a fruit flavored 'icicle' ... a treat that he named his 'epsicle'. He then waited 18 years before releasing it to the public.
I love the fact that most genius ideas (popsicles included) are flat out accidents. It’s true. Mistakes are strokes of brilliance in disguise. The other thing I love about accidental inspiration is that for some reason, the inventors are under 20 years of age [Koolaid is in the same category]. Apparently it is okay for kids to make mistakes, face up to them, even embrace them, and make millions of dollars off of them. Adults have a pride issue and can’t admit to being wrong and end up hiding their mistakes rather than own up to them…fascinating. If they’d just admit to it, they’d have the opportunity to excel…just like the kids.
Really, the thing that infuriates me about this whole discovery is that he waited 18 years to release it to the public. What does this mean? Did it take him eighteen years to realize that he had made genius find in leaving his drink on the porch? Does it mean that the adults talked him out of sharing his idea? Does it mean that it took the adults 18 years to convince him that it was a good idea? Oh heavens, I’m deconstructing my own argument. Why would I do that? Ignore that question. Really, the point is, if you’ve got a good thing, why not share it? Seriously now. This man, or 11-year-old, had a life changing idea and decided to wait to benefit the world? Why would you do that? Since the day that the world was finally introduced to this genius concept, a snowball effect has spun nearly out of control to the point that one can purchase nearly anything frozen on a stick: dreamsicles, fudgesicles, ice cream bars, frozen fruit bars, etc (and that’s only the sweet stuff…). For some reason, the popsicle never really ages. Or maybe it would be more appropriately put as, the popsicle ages with you. As kids, my brother and I fought over the root beer and banana double pops. These days it is easy to find the childhood popsicles with the classic flavors of orange, purple, blue, yellow, red, and brown, but the industry had also adapted to the more sophisticated tastes as well. My personal favorite-frozen fruit bars. My current flavor of choice is strawberry-the whole fruit bar. AMAZING!!! It makes me feel like I’m actually doing myself a favor and eating fruit. More than making me healthy, it also makes me happy. What more could I want? It’s the adult version of my careless childhood days…
Not only has the popsicle has evolved nutritionally, but for convenience. As kids, I think we all loved to sit and eat our popsicles on the porch on a hot day. Half of the experience was trying to eat it without it dripping all over. In the fast-paced adult world that we live in, that is completely unacceptable. We don’t have time to sit on the porch and be dripped on. This has been solved in a few different ways, two of which being: 1) the thicker popsicle. The base of these tasty treats tends to be more than just water. They contain great substances such as whole fruit or cream (fudgsicles, jello pudding pops [which do NOT contain pudding?!? That’s another story for another day], creamies, etc); or 2) eliminating the stick. Yay for the stick-less popsicle. I’ll be the first to admit that I have a box of otter pops in my pantry. I’ll also admit that I coveted my best friend Siobhan’s three foot otter pop at age 9. (Okay, so maybe it wasn’t three feet, but had to have been at least two.) The me of 2008 does realize that they are nothing but frozen sugar water, but honestly, who can turn away names like SIR ISAAC LIME and PONCHO PUNCH. I’m sure that at some point I will realize that it’s okay for me to grow out of eating foods because I like their names, but in the mean time, I think I’m going to go put some otter pops in my freezer.
Now. Looking at my so called “brain vomit”-I do realized that my transitions are lacking, my ending is virtually nonexistent, and my voice changes from paragraph to paragraph, but you know what? I just wrote 1000 words. I haven’t done that in approximately 4 years. That makes me a little rusty, but also gives me all sorts of ganas (desires) to do it again. I’m open for ideas. Suggestions?