Today I visited the place where I will live very soon, and I must say that most of the joy and thrill I felt was tamped by being alone with very few contacts. This must be the downside of moving, truly, is the lack of built-in connections that one has in their hometown. While I was there, I ate a meal at a restaurant by myself, something I haven't done for probably six months. It's weird to surround yourself with people all the time and then suddenly, you are alone! It's certainly not all bad, but man I don't know why I try to convince myself that I'm somehow "independent." I guess it's a yin and yang thing, without isolation community would not be valuable, and without community isolation would not be valuable. Not sure if that's true or not. Anyway, chopsticks!
At the meal I shared with no one I intently read all text available to me on the table. The horrific ingredients of the hoisin sauce, the passable ingredients of sriracha, and most of all, the chopstick instructions.
I find these instructions so fascinating, how would one present this assignment to a writer/illustrator? "Hey can you, in three steps, show someone how to use this thousands-year-old eating utensil?" Seems hard to convey on such a small area.
However, I must congratulate the person who worded this third and final step. "Now you can pick up anything:" beautiful!!!!!! SO truly amazing. I couldn't have said it better. I CAN pick up anything, thank you chopsticks! If only we could take this attitude to everything in life.
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