Josh’s Froz-T-Freez Explained, Briefly

As we begin a new year here at the Freez (hopefully a year of consistent content), I thought it would be an opportune time to explain both to myself and to everyone else what exactly the Froz-T-Freez is.  This is the closest we will get to a mission statement.

As you might have noticed, the Froz-T-Freez isn’t an actual drive-in; it’s only a blog.  I’m not a soda jerk, line cook, or a small business owner.  We don’t offer any food here, except perhaps the occasional recipe.

So what is the Froz-T-Freez?  The idea of the Froz-T-Freez grew out of an obsession with drive-ins, but the content you will find here encompasses many other personal obsessions: music, books, photography, art, nature, pop culture, religion, and other randomly selected cultural and natural ephemora.

The Freez is a simply a place on the web for an aspiring writer, foodie, librarian, music nerd, art appreciator, and faithful person (and to clarify, “aspiring” goes in front of all the terms on that list) to practice his writing, explore and think through things, and champion things he thinks are cool or worthwhile:  It is my personally curated library/museum/advertisement/menu of the world as I see it at the moment.

Enjoy your meal.  And please don’t mention our secret menu.  It’s not real.

For an older version of “The Froz-T-Freez Story,” in which I go off about how I wanted to run a combo record store/soda fountain, click here.

Cheeseburger Chill Smoothie

Yesterday I came to you extolling the potential wonders of the Thai burrito.  Indeed, the Thai burrito is for me a palpable and inspirational symbol of hope for the cross-culinary fast food fusion that will occur through the delicious menu of the theoretical Froz-T-Freez Drive-In.  However, something came to my awareness that has made me step back and re-evaluate whether this fusion I so dearly long for is an unqualified good, desirable and beneficial in all situations.  Even as I gloried once again yesterday in the potentials of deep-fried cross-polination, even as I went to lunch today with the intention of getting a black raspberry shake from the local burger drive-through and a carnitas burrito from the local Mexican drive-through and eating them together as if part of the same meal from the same place, I was unaware that my utopian dreams of fusion could be turned to more sinister, diabolical ends.  But this commercial changes everything.

As you can imagine, this commercial brought up many challenging questions to the proprietor of a theoretical drive-in.  Is this product real or are we being tricked?  Do I dare to eat one?  Will it make me vomit?  Will it be a delicious new taste sensation?  Are they going to start frying up burgers at this place just to blend them up, or will they outsource burger production, and if so where will the burgers come from?  What will the long-term ramifications of this new product be for my Platonic drive-in?  Should I try to make one myself?

I haven’t yet worked my way entirely through all of these questions yet, but I will recommend a place where you can begin to find the answers:  http://cheeseburgerchill.com/

My Continuing Commitment, or, Excuses

For the next month or so, what you can mainly expect to find here are random photos I take with my iPhone.

A couple of weeks ago, when I decided to post the Beehive book award nominees, I knew that move would bring some renewed traffic to this site. At that time I made a new commitment to post here regularly, tweet frequently, and generally engage in all those other good social media activities. I fully intended to commence writing and posting numerous reviews and commentary on literature, music and whatever else I might happen to be doing or thinking about. This wasn’t the first time I made such a commitment to myself, nor shall it be the last.

However, the sudden immediate necessity to enroll in an adolescent literature course, the need to study for a serious test in a month, my taking of a little second job as a software tester, and preparations to sell our house in Vivian Park have all combined to thwart my recreational writing. Believe me, I am going to be doing a lot writing for that literature course, but I will be sending it all to a teacher, rather than out here to bloggie land. (Watch out after my class is done, though; I may have a truckload of reviews and pieces that I can re-appropriate for the purposes of this site.)

So, enjoy the photos. I hope they bring you as much small satisfaction as they bring me. Happy springtime.

Shopping List

bedspread
nicer coat (not a parka – one I could wear to church or work)
winter hat or cap
two pairs a pair of jeans
Canon SD800 digital camera (It’s in the mail)
Apple iMac 20″ with 2.4Ghz Processor and 2GB RAM
toothbrush
some kind of blazer/”sports jacket”
Flickr Pro Account
shoelaces

I have the day off today and maybe I’d better use it to get some of these things I need, before everything is entirely overtaken by Saturnalia. And as you can see, some of these things I can do without, such as the toothbrush and the bedspread. Staying warm at night and having clean teeth are such unnecessary extravagances.

[I’m crossing things off as I obtain them.]