8:00 AM - 9-08-04
7 sm11
Lemonheads, laffy taffy and pixie-stix mingling in high harmony over an expansive chocolate-bar foundation; inflected ever so slightly by the weird, industrial, sweetness of floor wax, magazines and red liquorish... the old smell of 7-11. Replaced now, thanks to the Southland corporation's desire to turn 7-11 into a one-stop consumption center for those of us too lazy or indifferent to push a shopping cart, by the pungent wail of burnt coffeepots and the meaty groan of the hot-dog mill. Back in the mid-seventies, 7-11 was "new", holding over its aging neighborhood rival-stores the advantages of air-conditioning and an aggressive post-LSD color scheme. Back in those days a seven-year old could go barefoot into a 7-11 and buy a pack of smokes for his Grandmother.
Please could someone invent a heated nozzle for the chili/cheese warmer-box thing? The half-dispensed toppings 'set up' between servings, leaving the next patron to face an extrusion clotted in a manner that is more than a sensitive soul can bear. Like a turd in a skull-mask, that unwelcome, orangeish, memento mori telegraphs from atop my bun its own ill destiny...
How many flavors of Mountain Dew does man require (or deserve)? And when did soda and chip packaging in general become so...WWF? When did snacks quit enticing and begin accosting? Their day-glo labels seem to question, aggressively, whether I'm "extreme" enough to endure consumption of their contents.
Young children, faced with the options at one of those self service fast-food soda fountains, will often move their cups from left to right, dispensing in equal measure every available beverage. This omnisoda is the beverage of America's future...because why settle for "freedom of choice"?
The bodegas in my neighborhood have the positive Saturday stink of oranges and raw chicken about them.
The Armenian delicatessens in Hollywood are my new favorite smelling grounds...something peppery about the exotic teas tickles the nose and complements perfectly the undertones of stale Russian chocolate, piroshkis and blunts.
