Macaroni and cheese is hard to eat with chopsticks...

Of all the stuff I've ever eaten with chopsticks, mac and cheese is making my hand hurt the most.

I have recently resolved to carry a pair of chopsticks with me whenever I go out to eat. Partly because I like the idea of chop stick jujitsu saving my life some day--I know no jujitsu, so this is unlikely to happen--but mostly because eating with chopsticks is a little slower and a little more difficult than eating with a fork. I think I eat too fast. Food is hard to enjoy in fast forward.

It's strange, but food actually tastes different off chopsticks. I've eaten my share of macaroni, and I tell you it's never tasted quite like this. I've been thinking, therefore, about taking things for granted, like the taste of forks. Metal has a flavor, plastic has a flavor. I don't know what forks taste like because I've never used anything else. Like water--I can't really describe the flavor of water because I'm immune to it. And bamboo has a flavor which is different than forks, and so I can taste it. So it changes what the food tastes like.

Writing this, I've begun to wonder... If I become more accustomed to the flavor of chopsticks, will I begin to taste forks?

Some people may have realized this about me, but I sometimes have issues with concentrating. I like to center my thoughts. Eating is a solid, incredibly tangible thing to do. In making it a little more present and thought provoking, it has become a little meditative and centering. My thoughts get some straightened out because of these chopsticks.

I once read somewhere somebody saying they had asked some Chinesey why they still used chop sticks. And this Chinesey said that it was more civilized. And being the guy I am, I said, "Ah, I see what you mean. Yes indeed." And thought, "That makes precisely no sense." But I think I may begin now to see what this Fu Munchulia was getting at.

Okay, time to go finish the mac. I just needed to rest my hand.