Mmm... Tofu

I know that I've complained about my allergies a few times before, but I think I should stop eating out because of them. It just seems to cause problems for people who eat with me, and people who have to cook for me. The last time I ate out with friends, I ordered a crispy skin chicken dish, and it arrived with a fried egg on top of the rice. I asked the waiter if I could get one without the egg and he went away and brought it back, only it was the same thing with the egg taken off it. T_T After trying to explain the problem for a bit, he eventually went and got me a different bit of rice. I felt so bad. I didn't see anything about egg on the menu, but someone said that somewhere else in the menu, it said that some dishes came with an egg. Someone else ordered crispy skin pork, and his dish didn't come with an egg. So confusing.

The worst part of it is that I always get embarrassed when I have to explain my allergy, as it isn't even life-threatening, just really uncomfortable (milk, pineapple and peanuts give me hives, egg makes me vomit), but it always ends up being such a big deal. =( I prefer it if people don't know about it, but then when they want to do the "let's order stuff we want and just share it all" thing, I feel bad just eating all of what I ordered, because other people might want it, but sometimes if I don't eat it, then I won't have enough to eat and I'll feel hungry afterwards. I don't want to be selfish and demand something just for myself, but I also don't want to force other people to only eat stuff that I can eat.

I guess that might be part of the reason I like tofu so much. It does taste nice when cooked properly, but generally, people don't seem to like it. Well, most non-Asian/non-vegetarian/vegan people I know can't stand it, and of the people left, most of them think it's bland. I really like the texture of it though - how it's all soft and squishy, and how you can mush it all up with your tongue without even having to bite it. Then there's the harder tofu, that still has a spongy feel to it, and even though it's more chewy than the soft tofu, it absorbs the flavours of stuff nicely, and when you bite into it, all the sauce comes oozing out, and the taste hits you unexpectedly.

Something about Christmas reminded me that I was meant to use Suresh's slave hours to take him to a tofu factory, but never got around to looking for one. Although, it all worked out in the end, because his girlfriend managed to convince him to eat tofu. =)

Silly Season

I am not entirely sure why, but perhaps it's the stupid teen movies that I watch, or all of the Sweet Valley High novels I read in high school, or maybe even some sort of osmosis from somebody on the other side of the world watching The OC causing me to become the way that I am. I was watching two of my friends argue, and one of them (the female) was pretending to be mad. The guy immediately started trying to make it up to her and appease her in some way. Regardless of what he said, she continued to pretend to be angry, and he just ended up completely confused. It was just out of nowhere. It reminds me of those bimbo girls in teen movies who have guys follow them around doing whatever they say, and every now and again, for no reason, she'll get angry at him and make him grovel, just so she can remind him who is power.

Personally, I've always thought that kind of behaviour is stupid. It just seems like a stupid way to get attention, to me. I believed I was above that kind of stuff, it's not what educated, logical people do. While I was watching my above-mentioned friends argue, that was going through my head, but then I also realised that I had been doing that myself, to MrMan5.5. I can't actually remember any conversations off the top of my head, but I'm just going to make one up. I know it'll sound fake and dumb, but unfortunately, I don't think it's too far off the truth. =/

Me: I can't reach that book, can you get it for me, please?

MrMan5.5: You're so short!

Me: Oh, I see. I'm not tall enough for you, am I?

MrMan5.5: I was just being silly.

Me: No you weren't. Fine, I'm going to go and find a shorter guy.

MrMan5.5: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that! I was just joking.

Me: I thought you cared about me.

MrMan5.5: Don't go! Please, Anna!

Me: I was just being silly, too. Don't be sad!


I realise now that at that point, MrMan5.5 is probably thinking, "WTF just happened?!" The thing is, I don't even realise that I'm doing it! I've been talking to someone, and he is telling me how frustrating it is when his girlfriend causes drama and he has no idea what started it. He wants to make it up to her and avoid drama, but he also doesn't want her to think that kind of behaviour is acceptable. I agree with him on the second point, it is stupid attention-seeking behaviour that just completely confuses the other person. I guess on some level, it's a test, and the guy has to respond the right way, but it's kinda like taking someone to REB during the exam period and making them sit some random exam - sure, they might get lucky and end up sitting an exam they know something about, but chances are that person is just going to be pulling their hair out in frustration. The worst thing is, sometimes the guy doesn't even know he's being tested.

To me, these "tests" seem so unfair, and I know that I've said it twice already, but I don't know why I keep doing it! Before I know it, I'm going to be one of those completely irrational girls who goes completely crazy if her guy doesn't bring her chocolate flowers on their anniversary. The strangest part is, he has given me no reason at all to think that he doesn't care about me, so why would I have the need to test him?

Argh, I'm frustrating myself!

Fluttering Words

There's a part in the book I'm reading, where a character describes the belief held by a group of people (I forgot what they're called) that saying words can alter people's lives. I'm not just saying in an indirect butterfly-effect way, but in the sense that someone could have nothing planned for the day, and you could ask them if they're interested in seeing a movie, and then suddenly they would have the desire to see that movie, even though they didn't before. Your question has caused them to want to see a movie they might never even have thought about. They believe it is better to ask someone to see that movie with you after they have already expressed an interest in seeing that movie.

This came up for me not long ago, when someone asked my opinion on something. I gave my opinion, thinking nothing of what I said, and little did I know, I later found that this person had completely transformed what he thought due to my words. While I'm not usually hesitant in giving my opinion on something (I mean, I write a blog, after all!), I've suddenly found that I'm choosing my words carefully now, because I don't want someone's opinion to sway because of mine. Well, that's not quite right. If I know for sure that they are wrong, then I want them to see the light, but in cases where I'm not 100% sure, I feel bad if I caused them to think something that isn't entirely true.

The problem is, everyone in that group of people described above held that belief to be true, but it causes foreigners to feel as though they are left out, because they don't understand the meaning of the unspoken words. This is something I tend to do, as I will say something like, "I want to see <movie>!" and then organise stuff with anyone who expressed interest. I'm not a big fan of inviting people to things like movies without them saying they want to see it, although I am guilty of trying to persuade people to see things.

I don't like leaving people out, but my system of implicit invitations seems to fail lately. A few times, I've told MrMan5.5 that I'm doing something, with an implicit invitation for him, but he didn't express any interest, so I assumed he wasn't interested. Later, he mentioned wanting to go, but I had already told someone that he wasn't interested. >_<

I'm not a big fan of forcing people to do things, but seeing as the company I keep seems to have changed significantly this year, I should really go about things differently.

Christmas Time!

Been a bit slow this year, but it has finally happened - getting into the mood for Christmas! Being the seemingly eternally poor person this year, I've decided that I should finally put my baking practice to good use and bake people things for Christmas. I've picked a few things that I'm going to bake for some people, but there are other things that I'd like to bake that I haven't assigned anyone to, so I'm just going to list them here and if you want it (and it's something I can get to you with it still being edible *cough* Saurumon in Africa *cough*), then I'll do my best to get it to you!

Chewy Chocolate Biscuits
Mini éclairs


Wow, it's 5AM already. I'll add to this list as I find more things.

SecretiveFodder

So I accidentally stumbled upon a piece of gossip about a friend of mine's ex, which I was told is being kept under wraps, and supposedly a lot of people don't know about it - although the first part isn't very secretive, it's something you'd realise if you were with the guy for even a few minutes. -_-

Anyway, I told my friend about it, while keeping the secret part a secret, but she wanted to know. Which is reasonable, right? Wanting to know stuff about your ex makes sense - although I am not sure I really want to know if AG is dating someone else, but I think that's a bit of a different case.

Since I refused to tell her, she played the ex-card (ie. I'm his ex, I should know!), but I didn't think that was reason enough for her to know. It's not like it would change anything, as I'm pretty sure she has no desire to go back to him, which is a good thing. Still, if it were MrMan5.5 in her position, he said that he would like to know who it was. He says that people tend to date a certain type of person, and finding out who was next might give you insight into what type of person you are. He also says it's a comparison thing, the chance to compare the person who came after you with yourself.

Personally, if someone didn't want me to know, then I'd just let it go. They're keeping it low-key for a reason, and I really don't want to intrude just to satisfy my curiosity. I don't know, for me, relationships tend to be one of those things that you just don't push if someone is unwilling to talk. Although, I think that irritates some people. I remember someone from high school who would get really annoyed that I just didn't care that she was keeping a secret from me. I got the feeling that she wanted me to hound her for hours trying to get her to tell me, so I just pretended that I didn't care, and she ended up spilling her guts after 5 minutes of trying to tempt me. So maybe that's why I end up with a lot of people telling me stuff.

Though that's the other factor, I want to be known as a trustworthy person. If I always end up telling people stuff, then I will lose the trust that people have in me. Still, I would like to tell my friend what her ex is up to now. =/

Going to the Movies

See, I wanted to look kind and sweet, so I picked a movie I thought she would like.

She wanted to look kind and sweet, so she didn't argue with my choice.

Thus, we ended up seeing a movie that neither of us actually wanted to see.

To this day, even mentioning the movie makes me want to punch myself. I'll be on my deathbed thinking only about those two squandered hours.
-[GM]Dave, Theme Week - [GM]Susan Vol. 4

I read a column in mX the other day, where the writer was talking about how she saw a couple go into a cinema, buy tickets, and then go off and see separate movies. It does make sense, why would you force each other to sit through a movie one of you is bound to fall asleep in? It's not like going to the movies is the only thing a couple can do together, and so if neither of you is interested in seeing a particular movie, why go?

Of course, there is the whole compromise factor - you are doing something for the person that you care about. It's only two hours of your life, and you get to spend it with someone important. Plus, the movie might not be as bad as you think it is. Although I guess for things like first dates, what Cpt_Threepwood said is probably a good reason to do what girls want. =/

[15:04] <Cpt_Threepwood> strip poker is like life
[15:04] <Cpt_Threepwood> it's all about guys doing what girls want in the vague hope they'll get what THEY want

While I'm not going to use movies as some sort of bargaining chip, I like my movies, and enjoy sharing the movies I find interesting with people. So I'm really glad that MrMan5.5 have similar taste in movies (despite what the Facebook thing says). I guess I lucked out this time, because I'm not sure how comfortable I'd feel going to see a movie with him, only to have him see a different movie because he didn't like the one I picked. I know it's selfish, but to me it's like a sign that he's listening to what I'm saying, and not just nodding blindly in the hopes that I'll stop talking at some point. If he really was against it, I'd go and see it with someone else or by myself, but I think what I'd like is if he read the plot synopsis or something at least.

Not that this has happened, since we've both enjoyed all of the movies we went to see together, but when he first came over to my house, he noticed that I had first 4 seasons of Monk - the TV show about the obsessive compulsive detective, and he mentioned that he hated it, because it was too over the top about his OCD, which I agree with, but I still there there are some awesome episodes. We started watching it recently, because there was a character that I wanted to show him, and he seems to really be getting into it - most of the time, he manages to solve the case before the answer is explained by Monk. For all I know, he might just be doing it to humour me, but I really enjoy watching Monk with him, and it makes me happy that he's willing to watch it with me.

First blog-blog post in a while, feels good to be able to stretch my brain a bit now that exams are over. ^_^ Anyway, as usual, I'm wondering if anybody has any thoughts about what I just said.