'I can't wait for things to get back to normal,' said the woman in front of me at Gelson's. She was one of those chatty check-writers who gum up the works when you've got a cart filled with ice cream. The cashier commiserated while the chatty check-writer wrote with the deliberateness of a monk transcribing Scripture on velum. The voice in my head screamed, 'Hurry up, lady! My waffles are thawing!' But instead I just tapped my foot while exhaling a melodramatic sigh. We're all waiting for things to get back to normal. But what's normal? Is it normal for a three-bedroom fixer in Tarzana to go for $1.1 million? Is it normal for a 16-year-old in Calabasas to get a new BMW on his or her birthday? Is it normal for the city of Los Angeles to hand out raises and pensions like Halloween candy? That's what passed for normal in the pre-housing bubble days. Is it normal for kids to spend their weekends wandering the polished floors of luxurious shopping malls while illegal immigrants cut their lawns and skim their pools? Is Gelson's normal? Does 'back to normal' mean a return to crushing credit card debt and zero savings? The days of manufacturing are gone, we're told forever, and we're told for the good of the nation. Yet joblessness continues and austerity is the new normal. How do you grow a consumer economy when the consumer is unemployed? As I drive around L.A., landmarks are missing: the tailor on the corner, Nico's Shoe Store, where we bought the kid's first pair of sneakers. The library will soon be shut more than it's open. Even the firehouse is closing. I want people to spend money and grow local businesses and support the city. But I'm not rooting for things to 'get back to normal' if that means a return of profligate consumerism based on cheap credit and 'No Payments Until August of 2050!' The simple values of pay-as-you-go and saving for a rainy day serve as important checks against fiscal catastrophe and provide a hedge against materialism. I hope the recession ends soon and the economy recovers so folks can go back to work and prosper. But if we've learned anything from the market collapse the new normal has to include fiscal maturity and an appreciation for what we have, not simply a vague lust for more of what we want. 