Eating Crow

Once upon a time, there was a very strong-willed girl. And because this stubborn characteristic had served her well often in her life, she was, not surprisingly, unwilling to change that about herself. She prided herself on using it when it came to important decisions and how capable she was of sticking to those positions.

She was a big fan of musical theatre, and in high school, there was a new musical out on Broadway called, "Rent." From what she'd heard about it, she felt strongly that she didn't want to have any interest in it. Thus, when a group of friends announced they were planning to see the Natn'l tour of it playing in L.A., she not only turned down the invitation, but she lectured her then-boyfriend about how & why he shouldn't go either. He went anyway (as he should) and came back raving about the experience. She was surprised how she felt more hurt by the envy than the so-called "betrayal." Of course, she didn't admit that to him.

A year or so later, after this young couple had gone their separate ways, this girl was away at college. As she was shopping at a Virgin Records store (pre-iTunes-days, you see) she stumbled across the 2-disc set of "Rent" in a sale bin. Her curiosity won out, and she made the purchase, figuring that it was a harmless choice for $9.99 (plus tax). She went back to her apartment, grateful that her roommates were obviously still in class, and began to listen. Next thing she knew, it had become her favorite musical. She played it every day at every possible moment, memorizing the entire thing, purchasing the vocal selections, dancing around the apartment with one of her roommates, singing at the top of her lungs. She even went to see a live production in Palm Springs with a good friend. Somehow, the ex-boyfriend caught wind of it and called her, teasing her ruthlessly as she had to quietly admit she was wrong before.

*chew, chew, chew, gulp*

Not much later, maybe 3 years, this same girl was doing a performing stint in Japan. As she was sitting in the green room in between shows, she was chatting with some fellow cast members while they all ate their lunch. One of the cast mates pulled out an avocado. The girl crinkled up her nose and, being the dope that she was, exclaimed, "Ew! I hate avocados! Are you just going to eat it plain?!"

The cast mate replied, "No. Of course not. But it tastes really good on Saltines."

The girl exclaimed, "Gross! That is so sick!"

Another cast mate, suspicious of the overreaction, questioned, "Have you ever even tasted an avocado?"

The girl recoiled. No. "Um... maybe not."

"'Maybe not'?!"

"... no."

"Then how do you know you don't like them?"


After another ten minutes of a losing battle (due to an obvious invalid argument) the girl finally tried a small slice of avocado on a saltine cracker.

She ended up buying a pack of 4 at a small convenience store on the way home from work that day. It took a few months before she had the courage to pack one in her lunch. When she did, her cast mates (deservedly) took the opportunity to say a few things before finally letting it slide and allowing her to eat in peace.

*chew, chew, chew... digest"

You would thing this girl would learn her opinionated lesson.

Wrong.

Recently, a book came out. And then 4 of these books came out. As well as movies of these books. And t-shirts & bumper stickers & pens & ... pretty much anything that one could imagine. The obsession this book created was amusing to her. So much so, that she found herself mocking it and the people who loved it. She swore, despite enjoying to read, that she would never read these books. She was disgusted by the hype and verbally made that clear whenever getting the chance. She even made fun of friends who had fallen into its ridiculous clutches.

After fighting it for over two years and listening to a couple of well-meaning and at least seemingly intelligent friends, the girl was lent the book (for free - one of the stipulations).

When she'd already found a glaringly obvious grammatical error on page 9 (page 9?! Come ON, people!), she debated putting the book down and moving on with her happy, vampire-less life. But the kids were asleep. It was a nice, cool night. She was comfortable on the couch. It had been ages since she'd read an actual book about anything other than parenting. So she continued.


Over 300 pages later, she decided she'd better go to sleep...

... and 1 day later, she found herself knocking on the door of one of the friends she'd mocked, a teenage girl from her ward, asking for book #2, with an apologetic and sheepish expression on her face.

... and one of the only reasons she's actually capable of writing this blog at the moment (and not reading) is because the owner of these books isn't out of school yet, and so she has to wait another hour to obtain book #3.

*chew, chew, chew.... cough, choke, swallow*

Crow is not my favorite fowl... can't I just stick to chicken...?