Happy Meal

Sometimes really small things in life can make you happy. 
The other day, I was short on time, and I had nothing at home to eat, so I went to Popeye's for dinner.  Alright, that's a pretty lame excuse for polluting my body, I know. One of the awesome things about living out on my own is that I can eat fried chicken any time I want! Well, I suppose I could have done that before, too.  Like when I got a driver's license.  But then at home I'd still have to deal with the dirty looks from my mom when she'd ask me what I ate.  Now I only deal with my own guilt for poisoning myself, which can be neatly swept under the rug.  Anyway, so I went to Popeye's.  Actually, it was quite an ordeal to figure out what to eat, and when I finally settled on it, I was pretty happy with my decision.  (you can only eat so many sandwiches and pizzas and burritos. oh, I guess this is where we get into the downsides of living out on my own.)  So I walk into the store, and oh man, longest line ever! it musta been National Eat-fried-chicken-for-dinner Day.  I wait patiently in line and wonder, how can it take so long? All the food is already made, all you gotta do is take the order, put the food in a bag, take payment, and then yell "NEXT!"  I like to think positively, so I figure during the extra time I'm standing in line, I'll be able to take a long time to study the menu and figure out what I really want.  After long deliberation, I conclude I would like combo #1.  Hahaha.  It's a 3-piece meal (leg, thigh, and wing), w/ 2 sides, a biscuit and a drink.  Hmm... but in the picture, there's 3 pieces of chicken, biscuit, fries, and a drink.  So is it 1 side or 2? It's finally my turn to order at the most inefficient fast-food restaurant ever.  Turns out it's 2 sides. Cha-ching! I happily order coleslaw and mashed potatoes, and watch them put my order together.  I learn that the reason they're so inefficient is.... there was no good reason.  They were just not very good at what they did.  I'm sorry, staff at Popeye's, but I think fast-food service is just not your calling.  You should pursue other career aspirations.  This makes me think of when I would goto Taco Bell when I was in middle school and I'd be mesmerized at how fast those workers were able to throw those tacos and burritos together. It would be like magic.  That's a good efficient fast-food system.  Also I feel obligated to praise Chipotle's system of how you walk down the assembly line, and choose what you want in your burrito. Very efficient! and interactive, too!
Anyway, so I bring my food home and I start eating.  When I was little, my favorite part was the leg, because it's easy to hold, it's the most fun to eat. But then when I got older, I started disliking the leg, and I liking the breast much more. (we're still talking about chicken here, by the way) But then nowadays, I find that I've gone back to liking the leg better than the breast because it's more flavorful.  So I eat the leg first, (sticking to my usual strategy, which is to take what's best first, not save what's best for last, like some people do.  I have a very good reason for this, which I might go into in some other post).  I look in the box to see what piece I should eat next, and... wait a minute, what's this? there's another leg! i got an extra leg! I suddenly felt very happy. So much so I actually raised my arms triumphantly yelled out, "yes!"    I felt like such a winner.