Last night we had an Olive Sit at my house. Unfamiliar with the term? So was I until my home was volunteered as the host location. Basically an Olive Sit (as it was not-so-fully described to me) involves a bunch of friends descending on one house, each bringing a different type of olive to share. The goal of the event is to experience and enjoy different types of olives…The event is also a fantastic excuse to drink wine and have a great time.
Sounds great right? Well, yes, except for one problem. I detest olives.
“But you had an olive party.” You say.
“Uh-huh.” I answer.
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well you can’t let a little think like sense get in the way of a good time.”
(“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?” – Lewis Carroll. I love Alice in Wonderland.)
I really did think that if I tried enough olives I would find one I liked. I was wrong, wrong wrong…or I haven’t tried enough olives yet. But I’m leaning towards I was wrong. There was grimacing. There was gagging, and while I tried one of every olive present at the party, I couldn’t swallow most of them, and those that did go down gave me a tummy ache. In good news it was the first party in a long time that I didn’t feel tempted to over-eat, so the scale is happy with me today. In other good news it was an educational experience.
- I learned I still detest olives.
- I learned that just because they sell it near the olives in a grocery store, doesn’t mean it is similar to an olive (who knew?).
- I learned that my friends find it wildly amusing to see me try to eat something I hate. (They are now planning a Shellfish Sit to test my limits…I plan to be sick that day.)
Writing Exercise:
Everyone has a food or beverage they just hate. Could be Brussels sprouts, black licorice or olives, but everyone hates something. What would happen if you had to eat that item? Say you were lost on a desert island with nothing but an olive tree to sustain you (My own personal hell; I might actually die.). Or maybe you just won Ms. Olive Fest 2012, and it would ruin your beauty contest career for your secret loathing of olives to be revealed. What could you do to get around your hatred? Would you eat tiny bits of them at a time hoping to build up a tolerance? Develop some advanced food-ditching techniques? Would you be outed eventually?
Choose an item you hate and spend thirty minutes exploring your hatred and how you would get around it…if the need arose.
Happy writing.
