Monday, May 14, 2007

Chewing Gum

I've always liked chewing gum. The noun and the action.

When I was young, my favorite was Wrigley's Spearmint gum. I'm not sure why. But it was may favorite.

When the four of us -- my three sisters and me -- went to our grandparents' house, there was chewing gum there.

Now, I'm talking about our mother's parents. Grandma and Papa. They had chewing gum on the cabinet in the dining room.

They always had Juicy Fruit ... in the yellow wrapper. They usually had Double Mint ... in the green wrapper. And often had Wrigley's Spearmint ... in the white wrapper.

And I don't know why the Spearmint was my favorite. Juicy Fruit always tasted better. But, just to be different, I guess, I always preferred Wrigley's Spearmint gum.

One of the grown-ups would usually get the gum for us ... and often tore it in half. We'd get half a piece of gum. Probably so we wouldn't choke on it. But more likely, so there'd only be half as much to get out of our hair.

Now, as you can see by the picture of me on this little blog, I didn't have a lot of hair when I was younger. It was fourth grade before my hair grew out at all. So I didn't get a lot of gum in my hair.

But those sisters of mine. They'd get gum in their hair.

One of the grown-ups would have to get some ice, and try to freeze it ... so they could take a butter knife and try to scrape it out. Then they'd end up cutting it out. But they did the whole routine anyway.

I liked bubble gum. Still do. But I don't do as much bubble gum as I used to.

I think maybe because of a fellow I used to work with at the radio station.

This guy used to smoke cigars. And, at the radio station -- particularly at small-town radio -- everybody was on the air. Perhaps not a live air shift, but cutting commercials or recording interviews or something.

Anway, this fellow would leave half-smoked cigars with the mouth end all mashed and chewed, dripping and leaving stains and burns wherever he put and forget them.

But he finally quit smoking cigars. But picked up a bubble gum habit.

No, he didn't leave his bubble gum lying around. Just as he used to take the cigar out of his mouth to record something, he'd take the bubble gum out of his mouth to record something.

And he was too cheap to spit the gum into the trash and get a new piece.

No, he'd take the gum, hold it in his teeth, then bring the back of his hand to his mouth, and deposit the gum there.

He'd record what he needed to record, with his hands operating the control board or holding the copy he was reading, with the gum on the back of one of his hands. Then, when he was done, would bring the back of his hand back to his mouth, bite the gum, and he'd go on chewing the bubble gum.

It wasn't pleasant to watch.

It was more unpleasant when I noticed the bald spot on the back of his hand.

That's around the time I quit chewing bubble gum so much.

I still chew gum. My current favorite is Eclipse Polar Ice.

The reason I like it is partly because it's hard coated gum in those bubble packs. 12 pieces where you slide the insert out, pop out a piece (or two; I usually get just one), and slide it back, then deposit it in your pocket.

The hard coated gum lasts better in a pocket, shirt or pants.

The old Wrigley's Spearmint will become troublesome by the end of the day. After sitting in my pocket all day, it's nearly impossible to get the foil wrapper off the gum. I always end up either removing gum with the wrapper, ending up with less than a full piece of gum ... or I don't get all the wrapper off. The paper part, that is. The foil, I make sure I remove, what with having metal fillings and all.

So, rather than lose gum or chewing wrappers ... I instead chew hard coated gum. Like the Eclipse Polar Ice flavor.

The Wife hates the Polar Ice gum. She says it tastes like Ty-D-Bol®. No, I haven't asked her how she knows what Ty-D-Bol® tastes like.

But still, I like the Eclipse Polar Ice.

Or I did.

And the reason is what brought on this little reminiscence about chewing gum.

I found my driver's license. I lost it weekend before last.

What seems to have happened is that I showed the guard at Ft. Benning my driver's license as ID to get on post on Friday, the 3rd. When he handed it back to me, I must have dropped it in my shirt pocket. And into the pack of gum, underneath the bubble pack.

I say underneath, because Saturday night, in Montgomery, when I discoverd my license missing, I had that pack of gum with me. I chewed a piece. And offered a piece to Bean, who accepted. I even mentioned to her what the Wife thought of that flavor of gum.

But, the driver's license stayed in place, hiding from view.

Saturday night, after I got back home from the game, I put the gum and everything else in my pocket in the usual place. And didn't touch the gum again until today. I brought it with me to work.

This morning, I decided to get a piece of gum. That's when my driver's license fell out.

Now, I'm thinking I'm going to quit with the Eclipse Polar Ice.

I think I'm going back to Juicy Fruit. It's good for ya soul.

4 comments:

  1. I love chewing gum but it doesn't like my teeth. But, that aside, I loved Doublemint and Juicy fruit - my two favorites. I also love Dentyne. But, I figured you would find the driving license once you ordered another one! That's how it always happens. But in a pack of gum? :)

    But, I had missed the rose bush post somehow and went back to read. I can imagine how that felt! One thorn is enough - but a whole bush?

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  2. I've always liked Juicy Fruit. Still do. I don't care about the carpal bald spot. Eww, but I care not!

    As for the Ty-D-Bowl "taste", lots of aeromatic chemcials, especially reactive hyudrophilic ones,m will actually settle in your nose and mouth as still-active compounds when you care close to them (say scruibbing the toilet), so I suspect that is the solution to your riddle.

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  3. [...] matter what Basil thinks, Juicy Fruit always tasted best, though Dentyne and Trident indisuptably last longer. I also had [...]

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