The Oatmeal Version of a Moist Harry Potter

1.  I seem to have become obsessed with eating oat and oat-related products.  It’s no big secret that I’ve been on a big oatmeal kick on and off for a few years now (although the kick has now been “on” for about 8 months and shows no signs of slowing) but I recently starting branching out into even bigger and better oat products.  I discovered Muesli and, in a trick almost nobody saw coming, I actually put it on my oatmeal.  I also eat it dry, right out of the bag.  In addition, I now buy granola, of all kinds.  I also have been known, like the sly fox I am, to put that on my oatmeal.  Then yesterday I found this new hot cereal, “brown rice farina hot cereal”, which my genius girlfriend immediately identified over the phone as being “basically a gluten-free form of Cream-of-Wheat”.  I haven’t had it yet, but it looks delicious, and I look forward to throwing some other form of grains on top of it.

2.  I have been playing an awful lot of this hip new app game, Trivia Crack (yeah, do I hate that it’s named after a crippling and deadly addictive drug?  I sure do), which is just a trivia game you can play with your friends.  It’s mostly horrible and is a huge time waster, but yes, it IS highly addictive.  Now, any time one plays a trivia game, one is bound to have complaints about the nature of the questions eventually.  Even the best version of Trivial Pursuit eventually shows a weakness of some kind.  But can I just say, I am sick to death of Harry Potter questions.  Seriously, I get it, it actually is a pretty big event in our culture.  One should have at least a small passing knowledge of Harry Potter.  But it seems as though this app wants us to have approximately one-eighth of our general knowledge of human beings to revolve around Harry Potter.  It’s kinda sorta a little enraging.

 

3.  How is it that every winter I refuse to acknowledge how badly I need to moisturize myself until winter is half over?  Granted, it wasn’t something I ever had to think about as a younger man, but now it’s pretty evident.  Sometime at the beginning of December I start to notice the skin on my arms getting ashy, and then a few weeks later some spots of my skin actually begin to hurt.  At this point, I know my skin has become dramatically dry and is in need of moisture, and yet I soldier on, taking long, hot showers–often two a day–and spending plenty of time outdoors.  I have plenty of lotion that I simply ignore.  Then, usually sometime mid-January, it gets to the point I can no longer ignore it, and I break down and just lotion the whole body up.  And EVERY YEAR, I just freakin’ love this.  It feel like a new man!  And every year, I say to myself, ‘Geez, why weren’t you doing this all along?  Next year, we’re gonna start moisturizing right away!’  And yet, here I am, having just moisturized for the first time last night.  It has seriously affected my whole day, in a positive way!  I feel incredible!