The second post

Today I am watching the movie "Julie and Julia".  If you aren't sure what it's about the quick answer is the character "Julie" writes a blog about cooking her way through Julia Child's cook book.  But the only important thing to me is that she writes a blog.  And that's why I'm here.  It's also why I wrote that I "am" watching the movie.  As in present tense, not past.  Right now it's paused.  I just got it in my head to sit down and write on this blog I've been thinking of for so long and that I haven't done.   I even had the blog ready to go with nothing published and not one single post.  It's been this way for months. 

What I was thinking about so earnestly while I was attempting to pay attention to the movie is that I don't know how to cook.  This is very upsetting to me at times.  Well, somewhat upsetting at times.  Okay, somewhat upsetting once or twice a year.  But what is upsetting to me is that not only do I not know how to cook but I also don't like to cook.  This is a problem because when you don't like doing something to start with it makes it hard to want to learn how to do it better.  But the even bigger problem is that I have three children.  And they all have to eat.  I have a responsibility to them to feed them foods that aren't horribly unhealthy and won't ruin their metabolisms before they go to college and ruin their own. 

So while I've been typing this I was thinking of how I could tie this post into my title.  I discovered that this is one of those cases where I am firmly on the fence. I need to pick a side.  Do I hate cooking enough to avoid learning how my entire life, or do I want to go to the other side and say cooking is a skill I both desire and need?  I want to run and say I hate it and leave it at that, but I'm feeling obligated to at least try out the other side.  Maybe I should learn some basic cooking skills.  Put together a nice little portfolio of easy things I can cook.  Learn some of the terms and figure out how to quit burning every piece of meat that comes close to anything resembling a heat source. 

So that is what I'm going to do.  I'm going to search the web until I find someone who will help me learn to cook for free.  Some website that doesn't assume I know what basting means.  And who knows.  Perhaps I'll learn to actually enjoy cooking.  Or at least tolerate it long enough to not permanently harm my children.

The first one...

Every blog has to start somewhere.  Often there seems to be a logical beginning; the birth of a child, a wedding, a new job.  This blog has none of those.  I just decided to write it.  No one may ever read it.  I may or may not care about that.  I may post to it several times a week, or several times a month, or several times a year.  Or maybe this post could also be appropriately titled "The First and Last one".   I simply don't know.  All I know is that I often write things in my head.  I think about how I would word the things I think about if I were sure someone else was going to read them.  I have often thought of keeping a journal and that is how I imagine this blog might turn out.  More of a journal.  In another post I might talk about how in my head I'm an archaeologist.  But for now I'll just tell you that I often think about what people would think of my theoretical journal if they were reading it 100 years from now.  Or a 1000. 

Sometimes the things I think about wouldn't interest anyone but me.  But sometimes I like to think about controversial things too. Or maybe things that aren't really controversial but might interest others as well. About all things I'm usually good about picking a side to be on.  Usually I'm pretty close to the fence though.  Sometimes I'm a bit further away to either side.  Sometimes I even jump back and forth like a demented toad.  And rarely I'm squarely on the fence, planted firmly right in the middle.  And it's hard to get me to move.  Or perhaps I only think that it's hard.  That might just be something I learn by writing this blog.