Year of Living Dangerously...

  This morning I was chatting with someone on gardening and different things each of us was planning to grow this year, when the conversation turned to cooking. They mentioned that this year they wanted to be adventurous, live dangerously, try new foods, different herbs, recipes, etc. My mind drifted to stir-fried squid, stinky tofu, and a host of other exotic foods heard about but never tasted. I shook my head and mumbled something about can I just live the year dangerously with meatloaf?

Meatloaf is safe, meatloaf is calming, it's filling, it's hot, it's something I can make that requires little effort or skills and still turn out. Anyone that is single out there, knows that we think nothing of calling a handful of pretzels and a diet soda, lunch. When we delve into making a meatloaf it's almost like a commitment... a safe commitment.

A year of living dangerously....it got me to thinking. I haven't been dangerous in a long time. I have been content in my little rut, continuing to make it deeper so that my rut has ruts. Meatloaf, like my life has been safe ....and predictable. Reading the blogs by Teddy and Possum lately of their plans to go on the Orange Walk in Vietnam have made me realize just how un-adventurous it has been around here lately. I have never been to a foreign country, flown in an airplane, or even experienced a culture completely different than my own. A huge part of that I blame on fear. Fear of people speaking differently than me, fear of flying, and fear of tapeworms. Yeah, I know, I have watched too many reruns on tv of Gregory House, but it's still there....fear of tapeworms or some parasitic creature in that foreign delicacy about to be served to me. So I play it safe and stick with what I know. Maybe this should be the year I live dangerously too.

I am not even sure where to begin on living dangerously. There are so many parts of my life that could stand to be shook up and given a change. Adventure and change go hand in hand. Some adventures, okay a lot of adventures though are out of my reach, just as they are for a lot of people. Changing myself though or being willing to change isn't. At my age...it's kinda scary. Old habits are hard to break, ruts are hard to climb out of, making a change to live dangerously is scary. I know for me it will take babysteps.

A year of living dangerously....it sounds like an adventure. Maybe this year of 2008 will be that big adventure. I don't even have a clue on where or what to change, but if only one small thing happens, it will at least be something.

As I sit here writing this blog, StinkPot the cat is perched precariously on top of my old monitor, trying to keep an eye on me while enjoying the warmth generated from the computer. Looking at her, it's obvious from the left side of her face, with the shortened, frizzled whiskers she has gotten to close to a light bulb or from the crock pot bubbling away on the kitchen counter. Poor StinkPot, I don't know, maybe we should stick with the "Year of meatloaf", this year of living dangerously stuff just might kill us...