Yesterday, I called The Lawyer around 7:15 p.m to ask his
thoughts on me going to the gym.
No, internet, I don’t need his permission to leave my cave
of study hibernation and go workout, but I think it’s safe to say that I’m at
that phase of studying where every. moment. seems. crucial. I’m second guessing
myself, cursing my slowness in taking exams, and hyperventilating during study
breaks, so it's safe to say that I can no longer think coherently.
The Lawyer, being the more sane and rational one in the
relationship, told me that I should go to the gym and just listen to Goljan in
the car. He said the break would do my body and mind good, so I went.
There is a large, Asian supermarket next to my gym that I
only recently started shopping at. They have
fresh, abundant produce that is cheap and the proximity to the gym means that I
can run in quickly and not have to make an additional stop to buy
groceries.
Usually my shopping experience there is uneventful. Despite the fact that few people speak
English, I can identify what I want and check out without having to
communicate very much anyway. Plus, they have all sorts of fruits and vegetables, like lychee and dragon fruit, which is fun for The Lawyer and me to try.
Yesterday I decided to get a watermelon, after I bought one
at Trader Joe’s that was as sweet as candy.
The Lawyer and I devoured the whole thing in three days and I thought I’d
try my luck again. So, after carefully perusing the wall of various melons, I chose
this one:
I usually go for the bigger ones, but the sweet one from
Trader Joe’s had been tiny and light colored on the outside. I was hoping that lightning would strike
twice.
As I was checking out on line, though, I noticed this
blemish:
I couldn’t tell if that spot was superficial, or if a worm
had actually burrowed into the watermelon.
Do worms burrow into melons, you guys? I don’t know. I tried to communicate that there was a spot
on the melon to the cashier, who interpreted my pointing to mean that I no
longer wanted the melon. This led to
frantic waving of hands with a, “No, no, it’s OK!,” which was meant to
communicate, “No, I want it, I just want to get another one!”
Realizing that this pantomime between the sweaty gym girl and the confused cashier was not working out, the woman
behind me in line started to translate.
“It’s just one price for the watermelons, so you can
probably just switch it after she rings it up,” she said, highlighting exactly
what I was trying to communicate.
Much to my dismay, however, my cashier was yelling something
to the cashier next to us and didn’t hear the exchange.
I saw her ring it up as a yellow watermelon, which is not
what I meant to get, but which I was willing to deal with. This supermarket is huge and there are many different
varieties of melons in bins on the wall.
It’s possible that I did accidentally pick a yellow watermelon. Since they were $1.99, compared to the $3.99 for regular watermelons, I figured it would be fine.
Pointing to the blemish for me, the woman behind me in line
asked if I could switch the melon after I paid. I don’t know what the cashier said, but from
her facial expression and body language, I garnered that the answer was no.
“She says it’s fine,” the woman behind me replied
sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders.
Conscious of the fact that I was now the stinky
English-speaker holding up the line, I said it was fine too. I mean, it was only $1.99. Even if I returned home with a yellow
watermelon containing an indwelling worm, it was better than wasting time by
going back to find another watermelon and getting back on line.
I picked up The Lawyer from his office on the way home, and
explained the mystery of the watermelon and it’s possible inhabitants in the
car. I told him that it would be a
surprise reveal when we got home to find out what was inside. It would be like Christmas! Except, on a random Wednesday night…when we both had work to do…and our present might be disposing
of a live worm!
So, playing along with me, The Lawyer very dramatically
washed and prepared the melon for cutting.
A nice, sharp midline dissection and…
Pink watermelon!
With no worms!
And, I saved $2.00!
Woot!
It wasn't as sweet as the Trader Joe's one, but we got minimal excitement and distraction out of the experience, so I'm willing to let that go.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled studying.
11 comments:
Only you could get an entertaining blog post out of buying produce. :)
Ha! I warned that this was tragically the most exciting thing going on in my life. But, I do try. :)
I was eating an apple that I had just plucked off the neighbor's tree (with permission) and felt something furry on my hand. Guess what was crawling up my wrist?
A worm. Gross. And very organic.
Red Humor- Yuck! I like my insects properly disguised in substances like my ketchup, thank you very much! OK, fine...that was gross...just kidding. :) When I was growing up, my parents had a papaya tree in my yard. Fruit flies used to preferentially lay their eggs in it, and I have so many memories of cutting the papaya open and having little white worms wriggle out. To this day, I hate papayas!
Just goes to show that it is the little things in life which are truly capable of making a boring day into something extraordinary. We need moments like this... I only wish they happened more often. Or maybe they do and I am just missing them.
That sounds like a good break from studying.
I thought you should know that I will be taking Step 2 on Saturday in my Yoshi pajama pants. You see, I am terribly exciting as well.
FromaDr'sWife- Aww, well hopefully I'll look back sometime and think, "I wish life was calm enough to only have watermelon to talk about :)"
Megan- Thanks! For once I'm not talking about eating cupcakes, right?!
Cimorne-Good luck!!!! I'm totally wearing yoga pants to take Step 1. I'm still taking it in Florida (but staying in a hotel first!), and the buildings are always FREEZING there. I'm probably going to end up wearing a sweatshirt too. So, basically hobo comfort for the day. I'm also taking my exam 3 hours away from home, so I've warned my mother that I might just get a hotel after the exam too, if I'm tired. Thank goodness for The Lawyer's credit card points to fund my hotel stays!
You will be tired. After my test, I couldn't even remember what I liked to eat and my brain didn't catch up until the next morning. You definitely need to have a hotel. Trust me, you will be unable to focus at all, so driving 3 hours home would not be good.
I can't believe you were able to take a blemished watermelon and turn it into a must read mystery blog post!
Damn, you're good! :)
Cimorne- OK, good to know! I anticipated being exhausted, but you never really know HOW exhausted, right? I'll book the hotel for that night & then just cancel at the last minute if I need to.
YDW- Haha, oh you humor me so.
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