There's no such thing as free shrimp (Patreon)

I have these really intense, elaborate embroidery projects in mind, but I keep not starting them because it just feels like... work. Even though I know I will enjoy it once I've done all the preparation and set up. 🍤 So instead I let myself start this simple, ridiculous thing 🍤

It’s a line from the final episode of the original Arrested Development show, when George Sr. has once again tricked his twin into trading places with him under the pretense of getting to eat at the sea food buffet on his yacht. “Oh Oscar, when are you going to learn there’s no such thing as free shrimp!” It’s a line that lodged itself into my brain ten years ago, something about it just sings to me. It’s a perfect sentence. It’s art.

Some jokes and storylines of the show I now find painfully cruel to watch, and, of course, we’ve all heard about the actions of Jeffrey Tambor, the actor who played both Oscar and George Sr. Bluth.

I see this, I feel this. This thing I love also has this... this rot in it. How appropriate for these times, eh? How perfectly reflective of being alive in America in 2018.

And side by side with the rotten bits of this show (this country), there are the bits of happiness it brings me too. Jeffrey Tambor makes me sad and angry. Oscar Bluth lamenting “There’s no such thing as free shrimp!” makes me laugh. Both these things exist simultaneously.

Snatch joy where you can, my friends. There’s no such thing as free shrimp, so enjoy it when you can, while you can.

🦐🦐🦐