Try the Octopus
Life has the ability to throw a few dozen monkey wrenches your way, even some of your own construction. But it also provides unique opportunities to step outside the norm, ingest something you once would have considered gross into your body, and, while paying for that later in the bathroom of your local Wal-Mart, leave you glad that you tried it. For me, that was the decision to eat octopus at a local Chinese buffet place.
Yes, the beast with eight arms to hold you is quite tasty, if you're having the baby kind. Granted, I recall seeing an episode of CSI New York where a trendy chef killed a food blogger by ramming a live octopus down her throat (all while Gary Sinese squinted and reminded you to vote for McCain), so my reluctance to digest it might be understandable. That, and the fact that it's an octopus, not chopped up or anything, just there.
Gastric adventurer, I am not. I inherited a lot from my crazy-ass family, one of them being the tender tummy that has betrayed many a Seigler at a non-family food-eating setting. My apologies to all the parties I've ruined by farting and/or leaving something worse in the adjoining bathroom that might need to be killed by those with stronger stuff, as Shakespeare might say.
But there I was, already enjoying the sushi at the buffet place (a hell of a lot better now, they have actual chefs preparing it right as you watch. Back in the old days, it was all dry and presented unattractively under big lights) when a friend that I ran into there suggested I try the octopus. Sure, this was the same friend who once poured salt into my scalp during a camping trip, rendering me a life-sized French fry for the rest of the evening as we lacked clean water to bathe in. But times had changed, and now he was daring me to try octopus. What could possibly go wrong?
Nothing, as it turned out; the octopus was delicious, and I went back for seconds. Combined with the amount of sushi I ate (I was kinda hungry yesterday after work, and breakfast food gets old fast, especially as the afternoon creeps on, so I had to have something that I hadn't cooked), that might have caused my brief visit to the men's room in Wal-Mart, towards the back (I was looking for CDRs when the first rumblings of attack groaned). Anyway, I fear I've said too much about such things, but in all the experience (of eating octopus, not the bathroom in Wal-Mart) was enjoyable, and I'd do it again.
I might just avoid going back for seconds...
Disgruntled Employee of the Month
Had an interesting pow-wow with a buddy of mine at a restaurant in Clemson (a bonafide sushi establishment where the portions were healthy American-sized instead of repressed Japanese not-really-that-hungry-sized; all this talk of sushi makes me want to rent Seven Samurai and cheer on Toshiro Mifune) about work and how, no matter how easy your job might be, or how fulfilling it might be, you'll always find something to grumble about. The fact is, some folks live to complain about their jobs.
Those people are called "succubi" or "incubi," depending on their gender.
I've worked with constant complainers, hell, I've been the one complaining on numerous occasions. What is it about work that makes it the most despised of the four-letter words? I guess it's the fact that we earn money (good) but in order to do so, we have to show up at a place from one time to another time (bad) and be expected to do something while there (very bad). If we're lucky (rarely), we enjoy said job and/or activities contained therein, except when the money we receive is minimal at best (excruciating).
Which is why I advocate the Communist-Nazi overthrow of corrupt American capitalism (he-he, kidding...or am I?).
It's the simplest maxim: love what you do, do what you love. Yet so many people find it hard to achieve that. I'd love to know how many people I graduated with from high school have the job that they wanted or thought would be fulfilling. I'd also like to know how many found fulfillment in a job they didn't even know they could or would have when they got out of school.
Me? I'm good for now, though I do need to be looking for something more permenant or "career-worthy" that what I got going on now.
Until then, I'll try the octopus...
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