To Follow or Not to Follow Advice (A Melon Story)

I knock on the watermelons for the sound of ripeness before I pick one. Somewhere along the way, I started this habit. When I say "sound of ripeness," I mean any sound that doesn't sound like a dull block of wood.

Yes, you guessed it -- I have no idea how to pick watermelons. A friend once suggested the knocking method, and I've been doing it ever since, for no better reason other than that it makes me look (I'd like to believe) like I know what I'm doing. The worst part of it all is that I never come home with a good watermelon. You would think that I would pick a good one at least some of the time... but no such luck.

Now, picking a cantaloupe is an entirely different story. I look for that nice cantaloupe-like shape with a nice cantaloupe-like color. Then I smell the bellybutton (that's what I call it) of the cantaloupe for that nice cantaloupe-like smell, and I can almost always pick a sweet one. This method has never failed me. However, last week when I was at the farmer's market with my sister, something awful happened.

As I eagerly approached the bin full of cantaloupes fresh off the truck, one of the workers handed me a cantaloupe and said, "Here's a good one!"

"Wow... thank you, " I said, dumbfounded by this trying-to-be-helpful but annoying and unwelcome gesture. I proceeded to bring the fruit up to my nose and inhaled deeply. My head was screaming "put it back!" but what could I do? I felt obligated to nod at the guy and put the less-than-desirable cantaloupe in my cart.

"I actually wanted more than one," I said, hoping to get another chance at the bin.

"Oh? How many? Two? Here are two more. See this green around the stem? That's how you know it's a good one."

Really? I've never heard that before... I was very skeptical, but I wasn't about to argue with this self-proclaimed cantaloupe specialist about how to pick fruit. How would that look? And besides, he could know something that I don't know. After all, he had that confident-farmer look about him, and I felt I should just trust him. I purchased them and brought them home, hoping for the best.

Well, it turns out that his method is crap. I ended up eating mediocre and flavorless (grrrr) cantaloupes. Well, one of them was good, I admit, but I'm certain that was by sheer chance rather than his method. Yep. You should've seen my disappointment when I cut that first one open. *sigh* (You gotta understand... I live for fruit.)

The lesson I learned?

Don't let anyone, not even the "experts," lead me astray. Do my own research, make my own choices, and stick to my guns. Trust my own instincts (like the smell of ripeness), not empty words. And it's okay to occasionally try someone else's idea for the purpose of experimentation (like how to pick a watermelon), but in the end, I am still responsible for the choices I make. :)

Literature, Fruit, and Life

The book ended. Sadly, they always do. I tried so hard to savor it as slowly as I could, forcing myself to read only a few pages at a time, but it ended nevertheless.

I wonder if the stories were allowed to go on and on, we would eventually tire of them? And if so, would we still speak of them as fondly?

This leads me to ponder over other things in life. Everything in life seems to be most pleasurable at the peak of its development. Fruits are a great example. I carefully watch, wait for, and pounce on the moment of the fruit's maximum ripeness. If not, I am left with a bitter, rotten, or irritatingly unsatisfying taste in my mouth.

What about people? When developing a relationship, the heart-pounding excitement does not go on forever. We meet a person of interest, get intrigued by them, learn about them, want to spend more and more time with them, then there's the inevitable plateau, or even a downturn. What if a developing relationship ends at its peak just before reaching that plateau, due to circumstances out of either party's control such as relocation or death? Then that person is remembered forever as the best neighbor, friend, colleague, partner, lover, etc. We are left remembering only the extraordinary, because we are spared the ordinary that certainly would have followed. (Hmm... this also makes me wonder about the fine line/overlap between presence and absence -- but that's another think for another time. lol)

I believe humans are constantly driven to seek this type of peak pleasure in everything, whether it be physical, emotional, intellectual, or even spiritual. Of course, some of us have it worse than others, and we must be aware of our healthy boundaries while keeping a grip on reality. But I think the repeating lure of the next (and the next) bite into the ripeness of life is what gets us out of bed every morning.

Perhaps people's addiction to literature is no exception.

The Beauty of Nothing Special

I spent a lovely day with my two kids. Having nowhere to be other than meeting some friends for lunch, we spent relaxing and laid-back 9 hours together. I am still in awe of just how much we truly enjoyed this lazy and stress-free day filled with mundane and ordinary togetherness. My kids probably didn't even realize it, but I saw us. We were blissfully happy with no agenda. We get far too few of these times...

The Onging State of Idleness and Uncertainty

I started this blog, which is actually my third do-over blog/thought journal, to share my fascination with life in general, and the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) in particualr, after having attended a week-long MBTI training session and becoming a certified MBTI nut (haha). My first post was two years ago in June of 2008.

So much has happened/changed since then. I find it interesting that both my life and this blog seem to have turned into a mixed soup with absolutely no clarity or direction. I keep stirring and stirring, hoping that it will turn into something wonderful, but all I keep tasting are mostly doubts and insecurities and only occasional hints of a potential something... something that I cannot quite fully grasp and snap a mental picture of.

Everything seems to be up in the air, in limbo, in a state of confusion, idling and waiting for a push or a pull toward something definitive... something worthy. I thought education would teach me all I need to know about where to go and how to get there. I've been going to college non-stop since January of 2009 (and will be for at least another two years), and I know less now than when I started. How does that happen?

And... I don't know what to do with this blog. I'm fighting the urge to delete and start over again. hmm...

My New DSLR Adventure

I have about a month before jumping back into full-time study, so I decided to treat myself to an adventure. After many hours of research and shopping around, I am now the owner of a brand new weapon -- my very first DSLR camera: Canon EOS Rebel Xsi. I called it my "Weapon of Mass Perception" on Facebook, but I don't think anyone got it. Oh well...

It's an entry-level camera, and I'm overwhelmed with all the awesome features and the mind-boggling amount of information about aperture, shutter speed, etc. etc. etc... but I think I will eventually get it. maybe.

In the meantime, I LOVE the camera and the crispness of the images I can get with it. Why didn't I get one sooner?--is the question that I keep asking myself. I'm having so much fun taking pictures of everything in sight, such as...

Flowers:


Pets:



Books and magazines laying around:




Fruits:

My food experiments:



And...my family, who are not always accommodating. They give me dirty looks, hide, or run away from me when they see me coming with camera in hand, so I have to sort of play the ninja photographer. But I think these hunt-and-shoot photos turn out to be the most interessting:





Lastly, I love this picture of the clouds. It doesn't look like much, I know, but looking at it makes me happy. I will be taking many more cloud shots, I'm sure! :)