Over on Linda's site she posted about having an open mind and how it really just doesn't work for her.
I started to type a simple reply and then the next thing I know I've got a 800 thousand ward diatribe (is that word used properly? I doubt it but it is what came into my head) and decided that it was no longer a proper response in the comment section and that I had to just move it over here instead.
Hope some of her readers still find this response and take it into consideration.
Linda - I think I might chalk this up to being stubborn.
Making your mind up one way or another and being bull-headed pre-disposes you to those feelings that you've already determined that you have.
Did you really give Zumba a fair shot or did you just go to shut your sister up and then to get the "I told you this would suck so I'm going to go do something else and you can think of how miserable I am right now"???
I say this because I'm the same bloody way. If I tell you I won't like something then shut the hell up and leave me alone because I'm not going to like it no matter what. Even if I might end up liking it by some miracle I'm going to be miserable and tell you I HATE IT because you will not be winning this war!
However, I've been trying to change that slowly and give in and really apply the whole "open mind" concept by going into something without my normal "I'll prove you wrong" attitude.
I've caved on Sushi but it took me 4 attempts.
First 3 attempts I flat out said "I'm going to hate this, but I'll try it" and when I tried it I was right, it absolutely sucked.
Then, on the 4th try I did something different.
You see, Sushi is something I've always just known that I hate. I never had it and never wanted it but dammit I guarantee that that shit is horrible and belongs no where near my body. What the hell are you trying to do, kill me? No sir eee. I've had many offers to go out and have sushi and I believe the response "Are you fucking crazy" has left my lips a few times. I'm a picky eater and I'll stick to the shit that I like.
So, with the new love of my life being a huge fan of Sushi I figured that at least taking her to her favorite Sushi place was a good compromise. (I wrote about that here) I could be near sushi, but as long as I didn't accidentally touch it I should be fine.
Then it happened. I have my nice Filet Mignon (why does blogger not recognize this as a word?) sitting in front of me and I get the look with....
Love: "Are you at least going to try it?"
grrouch: "um, I've got this beautiful steak, why would I want to ruin it?"
Love: "really?"
grrouch: "Tell you what, when I'm close to done I'll think about it."
And that seemed to placate her. However, she left me a piece and now I had to eat my words. So I prepared a piece of my steak as a flavor savior. I dipped the sushi in the spice and quickly ate it. Then I quickly put some steak in my mouth to cover the flavor up before I knew what it really tasted like.
Love: "So?"
grrouch: "Yeah, it pretty much sucked, but I tried it. Aren't you proud of me?"
Love: "Sushi is amazing"
grrouch: "Steak is amazing, Sushi is poison"
Over the course of our next couple of visits I humored her and tried exactly one piece every time we went with similar results.
Finally (what I was trying to get to way up there) I decided to play a different game. How about we tackle Sushi the serge way - lets spice it up and give me a chance to cover up the fish taste and see if I can like it or not. So, she ordered something spicy and I got my chicken teriyaki plate (which, again, was good). This time I ate a piece early so I could enjoy the rest of my meal but with all of the added spice I actually kind of liked it. I think I ended up eating 3 or 4 pieces that time and had a lot of my own food for left overs.
Then I did something that probably still eats at my soul to this day.
I told her that next time we came we'd order only sushi and I would give it a real try... however, if it was too bad then I'd have to order off the "REAL" menu.
That next time that we went we ordered up 3 different spicy rolls with various thins like Jalapenos and Sarachi sauce and overall I started to like all of them. Now, as long as it's spicy, I can eat sushi and actually enjoy it.
In fact, I've had cravings for it at times and that kind of scares me.
However, the point of this all is this.
Having an open mind is one thing. A true open mind is hard to do.
Most of the time you are pretending to have an open mind just so you can say "Fuck you, I told you I'd hate it and I do"
And Dear Linda,
That is my response to your blog in 100 words or less
