lost disciplines

When i was a little girl, i cherished my Halloween cache, accumulated from being driven to distant neighbors (when i lived in the middle of the mountains), or distant neighborhoods when i lived outside the Dallas suburbs.

The next day, I would sit on the living room floor, dump out all the goods, and sort them. They went into piles by some intuitive decision about their value, generally described on a spectrum from "favorite" to "least favorite."

There were, of course, sorts of candy i did not like. Whoppers, for example. Candy corn and other similar orange sugar shapes were only slightly less preferred.

Tootsie Rolls were too cliche to be close to the "favorite" end, although they were acceptable for their near-chocolate-ness.

At the far "favorite" end were, of course, the pure chocolate specimens. Brand name over the generic moulds of pumpkin and arched-back-cat coins.

Once the sorting was done to my compulsive satisfaction, i could begin my strategic attack. The first tactic with the less favored was an attempt to trade with my little sister, whom i perceived had a bit less pickiness than i.

Overall, my goal was two-fold:

To make the candy last as long as possible, and
To have my favorites left at the end, thus to be savored with a delight free of guilt from the other less-preferred candies who could not claim i had rejected them.

To this end, then, i would permit myself one or no more than two pieces a day, beginning with the very least favorite, perhaps balanced by a more favored piece somewhere about 3/4 the way up the "favorite" range.

In this way, i would reward myself for homework or other unpleasant tasks completed, and satisfy myself with the development of patience.

Perhaps I was an unusual child. What do you think?
At Christmas time, i'll tell you about how i opened Santa's gifts.

On a related note, if you're bored, check this out:
The Life and Death of a Pumpkin
Those of you who contend with philosophical vegetarians will find it funny.
Others of you...will probably find it slightly humorous, and possibly disturbing.
If you are upset by images of pumpkin carving and spooky music, this is not for you.