Advice for Day 40: Extended Metaphors Help

Got some more good secondhand advice via facebook today. My wonderful friend Kastastrophe tells me: "The most difficult thing about being amazing and multi-talented and just plain kick ass at a lot of things is that you have tough decisions to make because you have so many options."

There is no way to hide it- i am no decider. I am a horrible decision maker, always has been. When I was little my mother used to threaten to leave me at restaurants because i could never make up my mind what to order. I would often call the waitress back to the table because 2 seconds after i ordered i changed my mind. It all drove my decisive mother nuts.

Today I still stand at the counter at the Chinese food restaurant in town for five minutes trying to choose. Part of it is a lack of gut instinct on what the proper choice is but more is just taking in all the possibilities of that extensive menu and all the outcomes those possibilities could have. After all a night of sesame chicken has totally different implications than a night of steamed dumplings.

Yes this is the metaphor i am going to use for life- ordering chinese food. Until now, life was like jenny craig pre-packaged meals- college, journalism, study abroad- and now i have the whole effin buffet in front of me complete with appetizers, soups, main dishes and desserts. And my glutenous gut wants a little of everything.

The one thing I am trying to remind myself is i usually figure it out in the end, i have never starved, usually giving into ordering within reasonable time frame. My routine is this: I will ask 3 people advice on what to order and i'll get three different responses- the general tso, the garlic chicken, the ragoons. Then i say nope to all of those and order a pizza.

That is what i need to do with life right now, i need to order a fatteningly amazing pepperoni pizza- with stuffed crust.

I may be taking this metaphor too far.

But here is my point- my "reasonable" ordering time may be a little longer than others, i may annoy the crap out of my waitress, i may annoy the crap out of my mother, but in the end I make a decision and i am almost always happy with it because in the end it is always my decision.

That is these unemployed months- they are Jon and Kate Plus 8 marathons, chocolate chip oat muffins, New Yorker articles, dinners at restaurants i won't be able to afford in a few months with my generous mother, they are a million self indulgent activities that may look like stalling but are really me figuring it out. It is me looking at that menu on the board, listening to the suggestions around me, ignoring them and then ordering something no one expected.