on money and pastries

This, roughly, is what I eat for breakfast every morning before work. Occasionally I'll skip it, occasionally I'll have a small coffee with it. But generally, I can be trusted to shell out one dollar for a large croissant from the vendor cart on 47th street between fifth and sixth avenue.

It's tasty, and I haven't gotten tired of it after a month and a half--the only trouble is I must pay cash. And I can't use a twenty because they can't make change for it--which means--sad story--I must buy something else before I can buy breakfast--breaking my twenty, and ensuring that I'll end up spending much more of the cash than I really ought to. Alas. Otherwise, I'm happy to report that I have been cash free for months now. All my purchases (with the exception of the croissant, and the occasional drink at a bar) are made with my Bank of America issued Visa Check Card. There is something, I think, beautiful about the magical realm of imaginary money. Not holding the bills and coins does not, as you might wonder, make it easier to spend too much money. Instead, it frees you from being weighed down by heavy pockets, counting, and being robbed. Not carrying cash feels healthier somehow, better for the environment, better for your mental well-being. I think if people removed themselves from the concrete, perceptual reality of everyday living a little more often, they'd feel lighter, happier, less hardened. Life is more than what we can perceive with our five senses. Like the money you spend with an ATM card (not a credit card--that's money you don't have, which is different)--you can't see it, hear it, smell it, or touch it, but it has a very real effect, when all of a sudden you have purchased something with it. Maybe, even , you purchased too much, and suddenly you're in big trouble from something that, perceptually, didn't exist to you except in your mind (whose faulty memory caused you the trouble). I don't know where I'm going with this, but it seems important. More and more, the physical card is disappearing as well. After all, credit card companies have been saying for awhile that really, it's just a number. Not the card. Even more metaphysical. Awesome. I can buy things online easy as pie, and now that I've committed my number to memory (including the security number on the back), I don't even have to consult the card. Direct depost to direct spending. I can't wait for the time when money no longer changes hands physically, but exists solely in the digital world--always in transit. Mmmm.

For now though, I'm glad it hasn't reached that point yet. I still like to eat my croissant every morning. Even if the saturated fat is killing me.