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(Or, how I cast off my Ben's virgin status and didn't look back).
"Babe. What do you say about going to Ben's Chili Bowl on the way home tonight?"
"Dude. Are you kidding? Yes! I totally want to go to Ben's Chili Bowl!"
Ben's. It's a D.C. dining institution. I've been hearing about it since I got here last year: "If you leave without ever having gone to Ben's, it'll be like you never lived here at all."
So there was the tortilla sandwich. But that's just the first time I've written about it. Come out of the fridge, as it were. Admitted to being a total wacko-strange-o when it comes to what I'm willing to eat. There's so much more, you see.
I have this sweet-and-savory thing that makes a lot of people gag, or at least look at me in a combination of terror and disgust.
A friend wrote to me today: "I am still not sure what your blog is to you." So this came out:
Here's the thing with my blog: It's called Nonsense Verse for a reason. And I've explained that to my blog readers before. It's not supposed to have any deeper meaning. It's just an outlet for me to get creative and write, and have the gratification and entertainment of instant feedback and interaction. It's a place for me to practice, not to really perform. Like a dancer's studio rather than the stage. People used to sit and watch my rehearsals because they liked the process, or they were there to critique me, or they were considering giving the ballet studio money (so, in essence, the studio was pimping out my talents). But these spectators knew it wasn't the final product they were watching--it was a work in progress.
Sign that you're still operating under the mentality of a college student:
At 10:30 p.m., prepare to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the next day's lunch. Pick up half-loaf of bread, open, find that bag has gone moist thanks to undesirable organisms growing inside. Toss bread into trash and gaze dejectedly into fridge. Spot stack of corn tortillas on top shelf. Think, "Hm--tortillas are a bread product. Peanut butter and jelly could go well with tortillas. Yeah." Start feeling all clever and then spread peanut butter and jelly onto two tortillas to make a pancake-like sandwich. Note that tortillas lack that nifty absorptive quality so distinctive of bread. Say "whatever," and keep going. Package tortilla-sandwich innovation in air-tight Ziploc container, stick in refrigerator, and go to bed to read "Harry Potter."
Cut to next day, lunchtime.
