Blind Tasting

Prologue - You know times is rough when you when you see a white couple in a Kmart commercial advertising the joy and beauty that is layaway! LOL! And onto the post...

Sometime in August I, along with two other friends traveled to Montreal. The city is awesome! An excellent mixture of old and new. Anyway. One of the things we did was dined in the dark. So the concept is that patrons dine in complete, utter and total darkness while being served by blind people. This is not a joke. Yes, served by blind people. Yes, you really can’t see a damn thing. Not the table, not the food, not your friends, not even your hand in front of your face. The idea is that by not being able to see, other senses will be heightened – food will taste different, conversation will be different. And it totally was. Not to mention that you got a slight idea of what it means to live in a world without your sight. And it made you appreciate everything when your eyes finally saw light again.

The entire experience was truly indescribable – adjectives like amazing, incredible, weird, interesting, just didn’t seem to do it justice. When I told people about the dining in the dark experience, people from my parents’ generation automatically knocked it. “That’s crazy,” they said. When I told people from my generation (35 and under) I was met with two responses: “That’s crazy” or “that’s cool.” Some people thought it was a complete waste of money. Some wanted to know where we went so they could try it. Either way, for me it was a new, unique experience, something for the autobiography.

[Insert appropriate transition sentence here that I just can't think of right now] I recently finished the book The Year of Yes, a memoir in which the narrator decided to go on a date with every man who asked her. At first I thought that she was just going to go out with people she never thought she would be compatible with. Oh no. This heffa went out with any and everyone. I’m talking a homeless man (just to name a few), people who weren’t compatible with sanity, let alone with her. When I first started reading I thought the chick was crazy. But then, with Mint Julep's encouraging, I looked at it from another angle. From this experience, where the author threw caution to the wind, and said yes to every experience that came her way, thus opening herself up to new opportunities, possibilities, and worlds she had never known, she found love and the man who is now her husband. And I was like hmmm… But more importantly, regardless of what anyone thinks, regardless of if she had found love or not, she had some kick ass, once in a lifetime experiences to tell for the rest of her life.

And that’s just it. Sometimes we (myself included, let's keep it real and funky) are afraid of moving forward, of trying new things, of stepping outside of ourselves and who we think we’re supposed to be. But sometimes we have to step out there, blindly, leaping before looking, let the chips fall where they may, with a devil may care attitude, and other clichés. Of course our dismount may not be perfect, we may wobble and even fall down. Shit. That’s life, right?

I know that for me, right now, as I type this, I am miles and miles away (literally and figuratively) from everything I ever imagined. The life I created for myself in my head is nowhere close to meshing with reality. So what's a girl to do when everything she thought was one way is actually another? When down is up and left is right? When the master plan has been drafted, re-written, edited and revised beyond recognition? Where to go from here? I'm beginning to think, wherever I damn where please. Of course this means having a whole new frame of mind that is hard on my Type A personality, but whatever man, I need some more kick ass stories to tell!

That’s my time y’all! Happy Rum Punch Friday!

Epilogue - For those who "celebrate"-HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Be safe out there tonight!