Taco lessons: Part II

No words can describe the mix of rage and disbelief. Once, spicy pork tacos carefully crafted with love, now, cabbage and Nunya sauce littering the floor. Sort of. I managed to save two on the tray and salvaged one from the cup holder. But still. Rage and disbelief.

However, this is where my higher-thinking took over. I've been lucky to have this weird kind of reaction to stressful situations, large and small. Almost automatically, my frame of mind opens up when my blood pressure starts to rise. My thoughts declutter and my vision focuses. It's pretty odd actually, this physical and psychological reaction. It seems uncanny that I should become more focused in times of increased chaos. It is a skill that I constantly try to hone because it was a link in the chain of events that saved my life during my first engine failure. It keeps me level-headed and allows me momentary clarity to make decisions.

But tacos? Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure I've conveyed how amazing these tacos are, but there are two things I noticed when I reflected on the start of my day. 1.) I had managed to place so much into a plate of food that when my plan went awry, it caused a reaction that my mind and body reserves for survival, and I was 2.) presented with a situation that I thought I controlled so well, only to have the universe say "go fuck yourself (and then the sound of tacos hitting the floor)".

I don't often put a lot of eggs in any one basket, especially something so temporary as food. Embarrassing. This taught me, once again, that while caring about something is humanly essential, depending on one or only a few things can leave you in a precarious situation. It is a gamble when you put your comfort or happiness (two very important things for everyone's own personal reasons) in one activity or pass-time. Imagine having your only backup be a sunny day in the park. You can't depend on the weather, and what happens if you need an escape at night? You would need to diversify your happiness and comfort. This is analogous to investing money; you want to spread out your investments so if one of them tanks, you don't lose everything. I used to love being out in the Sun. It was warm and bright, I was happy. I lived in Florida. I invested a lot of my happiness dollars in the Sunny Days Bank and a lot less in, say, reading a good book. It paid off handsomely for years. You can see where this is going...when I moved to Seattle, I had to move more of my investment away from Sunny Days and into finding good books, which there is no shortage of nearby. I will have to keep this in mind as I break down my happiness into every little nickle and dime experience of the day, something I failed to do this weekend. Hopefully I can put a small amount of effort in and get a decent rate of return.

The next thing I learned from my tacos was that the universe can flip your shit over at any time (most likely, according to Murphy, the worst possible time). I've been taught this often and keeps me happily on my toes, but sometimes I forget. Hunger for food and caffeine can cloud my mind. It can be at its worst first thing in the morning when I'm stumbling around, tripping over my thoughts and clean laundry all over the living room. I might not be able to see misfortune nor serendipity coming, but it doesn't hurt to pay attention.

And so I sat there, calmly simmering in a few valuable lessons while NPR asked me for money again. When I saw the bigger picture, I completely forgot about the rage and instead rejoiced because it had only taken me a few brief moments to bounce back from something that I could have let completely ruin my day (night). Besides, if you are miserable while you're eating Marination then you are doing it wrong.

An awkward, embarrassing, and hopefully obvious lesson from tacos

I woke up a little later than I usually do. It was 2:21pm. Normally I wake up around 1pm but I must have been too tired. Remember that I work from 5pm-5am. Having subsisted on a steady diet of chicken flavored Ramen for the previous 5 days left me wanting. Specifically, I needed some Marination, and the Marination Station is right down the road from my apartment. I was a little disappointed that I had a late start but I figured leaving a few minutes early would permit me to start my day off with some tasty Hawaiian food.

Navigating in a big city is a welcome challenge for me but I had to tweak my route a bit to account for the large construction project in Capitol Hill that seems to be a light rail and a 2-tube subway (sweet). Google maps can't quite describe where this place is, but I parked my car upstairs at the corner of Broadway and Pike. As I walked, I was a little bummed out when I looked around and noticed that I had slept through a really nice Saturday but I put that thought to bed quickly and tried to figure out where I was going to eat this, I had to get on the road soon.

The conclusion, or the attempt, at least, was to eat on the go since Saturday traffic would be *light. [*The mass of cars would actually be moving].  According to this picture, it wasn't going to be easy.

[Credit: kennyw.com]

And it wasn't.

Once I settled in steady traffic I managed to pick up a taco and swing it gingerly toward my face. If you've never had Marination then just imagine your favorite food, because that's what I bit into while cresting the I-5 bridge. Success! Warm cornmeal shell, spicy pork, crunchy cabbage, delicious. Most of it was in my mouth but when I looked down to investigate the damage, I saw what I half-expected. Not too terrible, mostly cabbage all over the interior of the car but unfortunately, it meant that it was to be the last bite of my drive.

I was kind of put off, pissed, even. I had taken a quick shower, skipped coffee (it happens) and skillfully navigated the changing construction without getting held up and now my reward was sitting next to me, getting cold and making the car smell awesome. Grumbling, I flipped to NPR where I found A Prairie Home Companion. I've never heard of it before but it was pretty dam-, sorry, darn funny. I tried to listen to the stories when someone passed me on the right in some sort of black, de-branded Subaru maybe, cut in front of me, and back into the other lane around another car. I don't get angry often but I was in a hurry too, buddy. I have some of the greatest tacos on Earth in the passenger seat, you think I don't want to bee-bop around traffic so I can get to work and chow down? Jerk.

I watched the clock and joked to myself that I'm only this early for work when there's food on the line (which was later proved to be true as I arrived 30 minutes ahead of time). The whole drive was stricken with an annoying undertone because I was hungry, lacking caffeine and I just couldn't get there fast enough. NPR is doing a telethon fund drive. Super annoying, plus, I feel bad for not donating. The Sun was in my eyes peaking through that STUPID ill-designed gap between the visor and the door post, what the hell, car makers?! Finally my exit is coming up so time to have lots of fun switching lanes.

Frustrated but a little relieved, I pulled into the parking lot and stopped in a spot in the shade. I grabbed the paper tray of Hawaiian fusion food, not too hard and not too soft, I didn't want get all the way there just to spill it all over the place. I lifted it up, smacked it into the arm rest and spilled it all over the place.

...


No words...

...you know...until next time. Tune in Monday!