Jasimo’s Blog

There’s an age-old saying… “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Sometimes, there’s a solution to fix all of our problems and the outcome is good. Other times, it’s unwarranted for certain reasons, and it’s unpleasantly bad. Almost all of the time, changes in our political and social climate can turn ugly. But 100% of the time, change can and will be out of our control.

I’ll make every little detail the simplest way I can because it’s pointless for me to talk about why I don’t like ‘change’. For the context of this word, I’m not dealing with politics, but how living life doesn’t always stay the same forever. I’m also not deep diving into psychology, science and inspiration because the general purpose of my independent blog is to write about general things with general details. I’m a general kind of person.

I wish I could fully adapt to a million different kinds of changes that are like a million hard pills to swallow. I watched it all happen in first-person perspective only to have to pause and reflect on it later. Everyone else has respective experiences unique to them. The sudden closure of your favorite retail store, the death of a family member, the prospect of losing your job, the fact that your home is going into foreclosure, the face-to-face reality after a Category 5 hurricane ripped through your neighborhood that now looks like a total war zone — all real world examples of living the real life.

Lately this past summer, I’ve been rolling with eventful changes that weren’t necessarily welcoming. My Husqvarna weedeater, for example, is already coming apart ever since I purchased it back in the Spring of 2023. I spent 30% more money on weekly groceries in the past month, and now I must come to terms on how my eating habits will be affected. Each passing month, my once-spacious house gets stuffed with added junk the minute I have to replace everything such as outdated TVs and worn out can openers, and now there’s no room to move.

My digital existence can change, too. Just last week, Google terminated my account — they must think I behave badly as a consumer of its products including YouTube. I don’t post videos but I watch the wrong videos and make obnoxious playlists of someone else’s videos. Or 50% of the blame comes from its new A.I. age-verifying scheme — see my previous post on the subject. I guess their bots are really good at detecting suspish with pinpoint accuracy on a daily basis — nice job, Foogle! That situation is definitely out of my control. So I switched over to Rumble and I’m much better off with the ‘change’ being okay by me.

Companies can’t be resistant to changing times and trajectories, and here’s a notable case that teaches us what not to do while in good standing. It is only recently that Cracker Barrel made alterations to its logo in order to match up to 21st century aesthetics, lifeless as it is/was. Loyal followers of the restaurant chain known for its country cooking and homestyle hospitality felt perfectly fine with the old but masterfully crafted version from 1977. Yes, that one with ‘Old Timer’ sitting beside a wooden barrel, pretty much. The newer and more modern design closely resembles Texaco’s old 1970s logo in bloated hexagon form and a newly stylized font while retaining the same corporate colors. Reactions have been hostile and the business saw its stock price plummet as the result. It’s almost as if Post Malone was going country, which we all know is true. Eventually, the chain quickly killed off the ill-fated logo and returned to its roots being the ‘Cracker Barrel’ that it is known for and widely loved. Most of us today think changes like this are part of a “woke” agenda, and if that’s the case, then Cracker Barrel’s move could have been further eroding its brand name. I hope that it makes a good recovery in time.

Cracker Barrel isn’t alone with an ill-fated logo redo. I can tell you that any person who grew up watching TV should recall the current incarnation of the Ad Council logo popping up on public service messages. The best known logo was introduced in 1974. So it took 44 years to come up with an odd-looking “ad council” facelift with the word ‘ad’ in lowercase and I guess it’s because the smartphone generation appreciates minimalism a heckuva lot more than fine art. Times really do change around here, don’t they?

Being a ten-year old kid, I often thought change was “radical”, a popular slang term in the 80s. At the time, there was New Coke sitting in the beverage aisles. The TV commercials were known for featuring Max Headroom, a fictional dude in shades accompanied by new wave background graphics promoting the “awesome” taste sensation that persuaded us to “c-c-c-catch the wave.” My parents thought the classic formula was better. I couldn’t agree more. So did Coca-Cola, having discontinued it after a terrible reception by loyalists who slammed the product for its altered formula. Doing damage control, Coke started labelling the word “classic” on its cans and bottles in years to follow, restoring drinkers confidence with its legacy taste. But later in the early 1990s, rival Pepsi was, too, cannibalizing its product by coming out with a radical new version called Crystal Pepsi, which was a clearer form of the Pepsi Cola variant but looked like seltzer water. History repeated itself. Needless to say, this type of change was simply needless.

I wish I had some before and after photos of two nearby shopping centers that went through some terrible looking exterior alterations. I think it’s pretty common especially when new owners change hands every ten years and decide to place tiny signs over a storefront’s facade large enough to fill a barge. Architectural history should be left preserved. Ever see an old A&P ‘centennial’ storefront with steeples anymore? The one in my town just turned into a Harbor Freight, but long before, the long-vacant grocery space was an urban clothing store that had its decorations and steeple cut off and plastered with a green tin roof. 

Sometimes change is good when it comes to staying healthy. I kept my weight off after eleven years from nearly 350 to 180ish. I may not like the sagging skin along my armpits and tummy, but my health still changed for the better. It’s also good when we raise our voices in protest of major developments by way of a healthy conversation. Moving into a new home while mourning over the much-loved friends and neighbors you missed at your previous location — change is often a transformative and extraordinarily human event.

Usually, change suddenly smacks you in the face when you’re used to years of having a “just fine” mentality. Oftimes, life takes a sharp U-turn. I don’t like it when cable or streaming bills go up in price next month. I didn’t like it when speed cameras got installed last week and spying on me while in the passenger seat. I especially won’t like it if a crazy dog chomps on my leg while out for a morning walk and have to go to the ER to seek prompt treatment. If I’m still a kid today, I wouldn’t like it when the new school year started on the third week of August because summer vacation isn’t technically over. Well, you get the picture.

Here is the simplest and most analogous way to think about why everything ‘changes’: the earth may be moving slowly and freely, but the forces of Mother Nature does what it does. That is a model lesson to be learned for all of us.

This is what change looks like…

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