a little peek inside kokua market

this woman comes up with a 2 lb bag of dried oregano.
" wow," i say, "you must use a lot of oregano."
"well" she replies " when my food budget gets really low, i buy this big bag, pour some in a bowl, add some water, and just shovel it in!" she makes motions towards her mouth as though she's eating cereal really fast.
"oh." what do i say to that? "that's a lot all at once, doesn't it make you feel sick?"
"oh no. it's and anti fungal, and i figure it's a good supplement when my diet isn't very good, and you know, i'm a virgo, so i'm really into nutrition."
well good luck with that.

then there was the lady who was just dying to tell me all about doctor (i've forgotten his name or you too could look him up on the internet) "he's #1 on the internet! just look up doctor so and so. he tells you all sorts of things... even how to buy a car!" the thing about most of these people is that they don't stop for breath. they are so excited to educate you, that you don't ever get a word in edgewise, and don't even think about bringing up an alternate argument, they are right and they know it. " he says fluorescent lights are the worst and you've got them all over your vegetables. and you're scanning that radiation all through my food." it's true, i've scanned all of her purchases through the register." then the government is going to start radiating all the meat. and they won't tell you. and we wonder why people are getting sick?" i tell her that i prefer to grow my own vegetables when i can. "my daughter has a garden. i don't think she uses it. why have an organic garden if you don't even use it?!" i don't have an answer. "or you could be like patricia mccrag. she grows her own vegetables. then when she goes to a restaurant, she brings her own vegetables."

then, last night, i got to walk someone to the bus stop. she had too many groceries to carry and needed to take the cart. when we got there, and while we walked, she told me about her brother that she was trying to cure before she went bankrupt so that he would be be confident enough to collect the pension he hadn't been collecting for 15 years. and how when she had too many groceries, she would walk some of them half a block and then go back for the rest and in this way get home with them. because, you know, sometimes she'll spend hundreds of dollars on pro-biotics and she can't risk losing them. makes sense to me. every time i made a move to go, she would step toward me and talk faster. after about ten minutes, we were ten feet away from her groceries. i finally told her that i was being paid and had to go. you know, it's kind of fun, all of the different people in the world. sometimes i get tired of everyone clamoring to be heard and acknowledged, but all in all, i'm just kind of interested in what they have to say and why. too bad i don't have the time.