Get your burger's worth

[vovat]

I went to get dinner at the Burger King drive-through last night, and it was totally crazy. First of all, the lady I was ordering from kept calling me "ma'am." Then I said I wanted two plain Tendercrisp Sandwiches, and she asked me "which one" I wanted plain. Okay, I can understand that she might not have understood that I wanted both plain, but what kind of question is that? So they tell me the price is $17.01, and I pull up to the window and give them a coupon (which I totally told them I was using back when I was at the order box), and this kid there says, "Go." When I ask, "Go where?", he tells me to pull around to the front of the building. They do this all the time at that Burger King, for some unknown reason. But usually, they wait until AFTER you've paid. Apparently they thought it would be easier to take my money outside, go back inside to make change, and then return that change to me. Who knows what they were thinking? But anyway, after I pull around, the kid says the price is $17.01, and I tell him that's what it was before the coupon. So he says something about not being able to process the coupon because "there's no room on the screen" (whatever the hell THAT means). So eventually I end up going inside to pay for what was supposed to be a drive-through order.

Thanks to the AOL welcome screen, I know about such fascinating things as Angelina Jolie's pregnancy. Didn't she just adopt some foreign kids, though? I don't like Ms. Jolie, but I think adopting kids is usually a laudable action. And I assume she could adopt other kids if she really wanted to, right? So why bother getting pregnant? I guess that's something I don't entirely understand about many people, not just psycho celebrities. What's so great about having the baby come out of your body, rather than someone else's? It just seems a little odd to me. But then, I don't want kids at all.

My latest conquest in my re-reading of the Chronicles of Narnia was, as you might have guessed, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This book kind of reminds me of Captain Salt in Oz. Or rather, Captain Salt reminded me of Dawn Treader, since I read the Narnia book first. The Oz book came out first, but I don't think there's any possibility that C.S. Lewis read it. The Oz series has never been particularly well-known in Britain. I do seem to remember reading that Lewis' wife's ex-husband was an Oz fan, though. Anyway, both books consist of a voyage by ship with a distant land as the goal, but with a lot of minor episodes on islands along the way. Both are the only books in their respective series in which no action whatsoever takes place in the countries the series are primarily about (i.e., Narnia and Oz). Both ships have crews that include a few kings. Both also have a boy on board who starts out being annoying and antisocial, but who mellows and matures over the course of the story. Both have the ship attacked by a sea serpent who's driven off in a manner other than a direct attack with conventional weapons (being pushed off in Dawn Treader, and hot molasses in the face in Captain Salt). I don't think any of these similarities are all that unique or anything, but I still found them interesting.

I remembered most of the story fairly well, although I think I liked Reepicheep less this time around. He was a little annoying at times. It's not as if the other characters don't also think this, though. I also think some of Lewis' ideas seem a bit out of place nowadays, like how he implies Eustace was an unimaginative brat partially because his parents were "very up-to-date and advanced people," which included their being vegetarians, non-smokers, tee-totallers, and feminists. I guess such things are among the reasons why some critics say Lewis was too concerned with "searching for a chivalrous (English) past where people knew their place and the codes for their behavior." The story was still good, but of the five Narnia stories I've recently re-read, I think it might be my least favorite. If my memory is accurate, I think The Silver Chair is better, and The Last Battle, but my opinions might have changed since I last read them.

Comments

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

Thanks to the AOL welcome screen, I know about such fascinating things as Angelina Jolie's pregnancy.

I like that on for AOL version for Mac you can turn off the welcome screen.

I don't want biological kids, I'd rather adopt kids who need homes.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

There are occasionally interesting things on the welcome screen, but a lot of the articles really get my dander up. The polls tend to be especially bad.

I don't want biological kids, I'd rather adopt kids who need homes.

I think that's a good way of looking at it, since there are a lot of kids who don't have homes, parents, and such. I don't necessarily think there's anything WRONG with wanting to have your own biological kids, but I get annoyed that our society expects that everyone will want to.

[loz]

What's so great about having the baby come out of your body, rather than someone else's?

I think it's a primitive instinct to want to pass on your DNA.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

It is-- I've been suffering from it really badly for a couple years now. It's weird and inexplicable, especially to people who don't want kids AT ALL; I'm relieved that at least two of my girl friends have confessed to feeling the same way though. It's a complete weird chemical thing. You get really weird about babies and pregnant women. And you HATE having to listen to all these news stories about stupid celebrities who you KNOW are just going to push the kids off on a nanny bragging about their pregnancies.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured. I'm sure some guys feel the same way, too. I have to say that I really don't WANT to pass my own genes on, though. I think a kid who was too much like me would drive me nuts. {g}

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I also think some of Lewis' ideas seem a bit out of place nowadays, like how he implies Eustace was an unimaginative brat partially because his parents were "very up-to-date and advanced people," which included their being vegetarians, non-smokers, tee-totallers, and feminists.

I think each of those things individually as a factor seems out of place, but taken altogether, I've always interpreted as his parents were the sort of trendy intellectual types that read a lot of articles about the best ways to raise children and whatnot and talked a lot but never actually paid attention to actually raising their child RIGHT. Another Type of such parents that does indeed result in Bratty Children is they're the sort of parent who is always concerned about their child being "happy," so concerned that they therefore do whatever the kid wants. But they do, they act all enlightened and progressive but never actually RAISE their kids. I'm reminded of one of our old professors and her daughter... I rather enjoyed the girl's company, but she DID have a lot of bratty qualities... and certainly her mother is a progressive intellectual type... sorry, the similarities were there, and I had to point them out.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're probably right. The way it's presented seems to be that the Scrubbs subscribe to their particular lifestyle choices and beliefs BECAUSE they're trendy, rather than because they're healthy or they actually make sense. It's not always easy to tell how much of an author's own viewpoint goes into the presentation of charcters, especially since a well-written character will often have traits considered by the writer to be both good AND bad. Making the heroes agree with the author on everything and the villains disagree is rather cheap and easy. While Lewis did occasionally point out certain innocuous things about Eustace's character (like that he liked reading facts and not fantasy) as if there was something wrong with them, it strikes me that the main idea is that, throughout the course of the voyage, he learns to respect other people's feelings. And that's a moral that just about anyone can agree with, regardless of their opinions on fantasy, religion, or drinking.

[l8erngr8er.livejournal.com]

That's a ridiculous story about Burger King. Normally, I try to avoid going there at all costs, but humorously enough, I've been two times in the last week. Fortunately, both the ones that I went to aren't quite as bad as that, ma'am.

And I hope Brad and Angelina name the baby "Peach".

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Burger King has recently gone up in my opinion, mostly because I really like the Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich. I pretty much always get chicken sandwiches at fast food places, so how good they are is very important to me. Chick-fil-A definitely has the best, but it's not always convenient, and Beth is tired of it. I used to like Wendy's Chicken Breast Fillet, but I don't think they offer it anymore.

And I hope Brad and Angelina name the baby "Peach".

Or "Arm," if it's a boy. {g}