Is Life Really Like a Box of Chocolates?

"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get". At least that's what Forrest Gump said. I disagree. Most boxes of chocolate come with a paper insert that tells you what to expect from each and every chocolate. And even if a box of chocolates didn't come with such a guide you could just take a little nibble and if you didn't what was inside you could feed it to someone else or sneak it back into the box (if you were sharing). Practical considerations regarding boxes of chocolate aside, I also think he's being a bit dramatic with his use of the word 'never'. Surely there are some things you know you're going to get in life. For example, you are going to get older.

Time has been looming large in my life as of late. In less than six months I will enter a new decade and cease to be considered a 'Youth' by governments around the world, thus eclipsing opportunities such as workin abroad in New Zealand, where I might have honed my sheep herding skills and relegating me to a Bridget Jones existence (not that I'd mind ending up with Colin Firth, although I'd probably have chosen Hugh Grant to be honest). And in seven months time I will have hit the 2 year mark of my Masters program and, with any luck, have successfully defended my thesis. Right now, however, it feels like there's no end in sight. Every day I sit down and spend hours reading and writing, splicing these activities with minor panic attacks about how little time there is between now and June, when I aiming to have completed the major portion of my thesis. Sometimes I simultaneously want to stop time in its tracks and skip forward to early autumn. I realise this is an outrageous desire, both because it's impossible and because it flies in the face of the gift of life - the journey that each of us is taking every moment of every day. Still, there are days when I just want this thesis to be done and days when I don't want to look in the mirror and discover a new wrinkle. That's just the plain, honest truth. ON balance there are still more days when I look forward to diving into the writing because I'm still as passionate, if not more, about my thesis topic, local food, as I was a year ago. And, having spoken to many grad students, I reckon I may be in the minority in that respect. I am grateful that I pursued a topic that was of great interest to me, otherwise I cannot fathom how I'd have the motivation to trawl through the literature, transcribe 30 hours of interviews, or write a hundred page paper. And I know I can still learn how to herd sheep in New Zealand, all I need to do is change my strategy from 'get working holidaymaker visa' to 'find cute, single shepherd man who needs help on sheep farm in New Zealand'.

This is an odd post. I just took a look at my dashboard and realized I have at least four other blog posts that I've started at different times over the past couple of months but never finished. That seems to be a theme in my life right now - starting things, but not finishing them. On that note, after 5 weeks of dedication to the P90X exercise series, I took a hiatus from the workouts. I'm not really sure I can put my finger on why exactly, but I suppose it had something to do with a realization that I use exercise as a means of destressing and letting things tumble around in my head and as much as I loved Tony's workouts, I wasn't getting the space to think while hopping around the livingroom like I do when I'm out running or dancing in the living room, so I've reverted to my regular exercise routine and am mixing in some P90X when I feel like it. I also gave up on the Primal blueprint. I am more disappointed in myself for this 'non-finish', because I basically caved to sugar one day as a response to a rather emotional event that had occurred and then just kind of never got completely back on the Primal wago. That being said, I'm still eating Primally quite a lot, but my focus right now is really to develop a more neutral relationship with sugar ans I believe most of my other eating habits are very healthy. I'm aiming to eliminate refined sugar from my diet, that's my main goal right now. I am following a six step guide from the Weston Price Foundation website (sorry, too tired to link this now, maybe later), on cutting sugar out of my diet completely. I've already got the first 2 steps under my belt (eat 3 good meals a day, eliminate sugar drinks), so now am at step 3 - eliminate refined sugars, only consume natural sugars (maple syrup and honey).


I'm rambling because I'm tired and spent all day writing in academic speak and the last two hours watching Karate Kid II, which is not nearly as good as the original. I was going to cut and paste some of the half-written blog posts I've drafted but not published. I don't know if I'll ever get around to finishing any of them. Below is one post I probably would never return to, so here it is in its non-entirety:


And the Gold Plate Goes To...

I was thinking, if there were an Olympics for food, what sort of competitions would ensue and who would win? Would the athletes be human, (other) animal, vegetable or funghi? Would death by sauteeing or roasting be an inevitable part of every gold medal game? Would alcohol be allowed to participate?

Well, not that anyone's asking, but here's what I'd like to see at an All-Seasons Food Olympics:

Freestyle Aerials
Pizza dough aerials by the best 'tossers' in the business. Techinical scores for height, spins, flips and, of course, one-finger catches.
Favorite to win: Italy, obviously

Fryathalon
If at first you don't succeed, fry, fry again. That's the advice that every competitor in this sport has surely heard at some point in their lives. Here they'll put their frying skills to the test, offering up delicacies to the palette such as fried toast (UK), fried chicken skins (US), fried eggs (Spain, obviously), and fried Canadian bacon (Canada).
Favorite to win: Scotland, with the highly unique and unforgettable Fried Mars Bar


And that's all she wrote.