Time for a recap/meandering blog entry.
I picked cherries a few weeks ago for the first time. I think picking fruit is weird because it’s one of those things that is a job (for a day laborer), or a necessity (for a farmer/hunter gatherer) and a recreational activity (for a city-dweller).
Picking cherries isn’t easy. You want to detach them at the point where the stem is attached to the tree, but since they are clumped together and since the point of attachment between the stem and the cherry is itself fragile, you frequently end up detaching the cherry from the stem and/or losing some collateral cherries. It’s very frustrating.
I’ve found that I really enjoy looking at pearl champagne and ranier cherries because they seem so bright and colorful. I don’t like the traditional maroon bing cherries very much. Btw, I’m not a huge fan of cherries because they’re not that juicy and they all have pits in them. I tend to gravitate towards fruit experiences that are continuously juicy with minimal interruption.
I also found that picking blackberries is very tedious and very painful. The berries are low, in thorny thickets (I just wanted to say the word “thickets” but it might not be the right term, technically). The thorns are just spiky enough to hurt, but not spiky enough to deter you from trying to get a good-looking berry. Another frustrating aspect of picking is that ripe blackberries are really soft, but they are attached quite strongly to the vine. This makes twisting very important, but very painful because of the thorns. Afterwards, your hands are covered in red juice and you’re not sure if it’s berry juice or blood. I can’t say berry-picking is something I’m eager to try soon.
I saw “Up.” I don’t really feel the need to watch movies in theaters, or to watch movies at all. But I always check to see when the Pixar summer flick comes out. Their movies are always amazing to me, mostly because there are no other movies that do a better job of appealing to me visually, comedically and emotionally. I’m so blown away by the depths of the characters in these movies and how the storylines always invoke sincere emotions. With a Pixar movie, I’m guaranteed to laugh at something, but I’m also guaranteed to feel sad about something, or to reflect on a theme and reconsider the way I see it. Although “Up” wasn’t my favorite Pixar movie (it wasn’t logically illogical*), it delivered on all three things. To me, the summary of Carl and Ellie’s life was perfection, serving both as an explanation of Carl’s personality and of the crushing realities that life brings. What’s great about that scene is that I’d get different emotions if I watched it as a child, as a teen, as a young adult, or as a senior citizen. This scene is now #1 on my list of heartbreaking moments in cartoon movies, usurping the scene from Ice Age where Manfred flashes back to the time when he was forced to watch, helpless, as his wife and kid are attacked by hunters. All men should watch that scene. If they do not react emotionally to it, they are not men.
*Logically illogical – when a movie fails to sufficiently lay a foundation for key facts, no matter how illogical or unrealistic the explanation or key fact is.
I’ve also become fixated on becoming a better pool player. To me, pool is one of those things that guys have to be decent at. They don’t have to be experts, but they have to be able to sink an easy shot. I’m compiling a list of “man musts,” things that guys should be able to do, no matter what. So far I have: play pool decently, play basketball decently, catch a football, bowl at least a 100, hold their own in a game of no-limit hold-em, pick a matching outfit on the fly, be able to discuss local sports teams for at least 30 seconds, cook steaks to medium and tell a joke to a girl to make her laugh. These are musts. Knowing how to read is also good, but it’s not as important.