The Courage To Experience New Things

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Indiana. In days, previous to this one, we were overwhelmed by a deluge of rain. In fact, the rivers and creeks around the tri-state area are reaching flood stage. You can't really do much outside in the rain. And I hate being kept inside like a caged animal. You'll see me, in those situations, pacing back and forth like a tiger in the zoo, bored and waiting for the next meal. Unlike the tiger, however, I'm not waiting to die. I feel pity for caged animals.

Early in the day, my wife and I went to our bank to make a payment for our truck. We were pleasantly surprised to find they were having a Customer Appreciation Day. Some of the bank staff were out in front, grilling hot dogs and handing them out to customers, along with free drinks and snacks. That was nice. The hot dogs tasted great, too.

Later, we took a walk in the park, not far from our place. Hand in hand, we joked and laughed about many things. The smells of Honeysuckle and other trees and flowers were pleasing, invoking memories for me of times when my family and I would take nature walks in the woods of the many state parks in our area.

For a change, we didn't carry our pesky cell phone with us. Cell phones, those detestable electronic gadgets, are creations made by the Devil. They attack you with their constant interruptions, dumb ringtones and calls from people wanting something from you. My wife has a love affair with the damn thing. I... do not. I would very much enjoy crushing the motherfucker with my foot.

Anyway, as we were enjoying our casual two mile walk/workout, my allergies got the best of me and I sneezed. Unfortunately, when I sneezed, I shit myself a little. Even though it was uncomfortable, I continued walking back to the truck (as if there were any other choice) and enjoyed the rest of our stroll.

Afterwards, I made dinner for us by grilling out on our brand spanking new charcoal grill. As you can see, you can fit a lot of food on this grill and it has a handy thermometer on the cover, telling you how high the temperature is getting inside. Yesterday, I was cooking two inch thick rib eye steaks that had been marinated in pineapple juice and Teriyaki sauce, overnight. Off to the left of the grill, I'm grilling corn on the cob with pepper and garlic butter. Sometimes, when I'm cooking steaks, I'll use a dry rub consisting of garlic, paprika, chopped onion and other spices.

I'll try a different combination of things almost every time. I'm not afraid to try new things. The only things I'm afraid of are losing people I love. The nightmare of losing my mother five years ago trumps anything I could be confronted with in the future, besides losing other loved ones.

Everything on the grill turned out great, I'm happy to report.

Speaking of things that people are afraid of....

A new restaurant has recently opened in town the other day. A Chinese restaurant. Surprisingly, an abundance of hillbillies living here, along with the wifey and I, patronized the place the other day. This town mainly consists of fast food joints and plain old "meat and potatoes" type of rest of restaurants. This establishment had some very unique, at least to me, cuisine on the buffet. While some patrons (ignorant rednecks) made disparaging remarks about some of the items, based on looks only, I happily dove in and tried almost everything they had. A little bit of this. A little bit of that. It was all delicious.

I even had a go at the Hibachi grill section of the restaurant. Just a couple other customers and I were brave enough to try it out, picking out different items (eggs, pork, lettuce, mushrooms, shrimp and many more), putting them on a plate and handing them to the poor, bored, under-worked chef standing behind the grill to cook for us. I felt a bit of pity for him, like the tiger, as well.

The reactions of the ignorant rednecks, concerning the looks of the food at the Chinese restaurant and their unwillingness to try some of the items got me to thinking, once again, about how fearful people can be about experiencing things that they are not accustomed to. It can be food, activities, ideas or any number of things. It's sad, really. People miss out on so much by staying stagnate in their comfortable, monotonous ways.

I plan on taking up oil painting after our cruise. That's something new for me. The classes cost some money and since we've been saving every spare penny for our upcoming cruise, it will have to wait until after that big event. In the near future, I would like to try parachuting. Although I'm afraid of heights, I'm eager to try it out. For our cruise, I signed up for snorkeling. This is a big deal because I'll be snorkeling in a large body of water in the Caribbeans. This has real meaning to me because in the past, I've almost drowned in large bodies of water. Once in Lake Michigan. The other time in the Ohio river. Ever since those times, I've been leery of getting into water that is that deep and expansive. But... I have the courage to do it again and I'm sure it will be a wonderful new experience, being in the beautiful blue water and seeing all the different, amazing types of marine life.

I can't wait.