6/29/07
Where's the food? What did you do with it? Where is it? I know you've got it. C'mon. Gimme. Yeah, that's right. I said, "GIMME!"
A lot of people ask me what I do with my free time and I invariably answer, "I think." Ok, that's a lie. Not the thinking part. I do that all the time. It's the question itself. Not many people ask me that question. Most of my friends know better than to ask me questions they don't want to know answers to. Still, the thinking goes around the clock. It's like a juggernaut. It can't be stopped.
One of the things that has been on my mind is the BIG question. What is the BIG question? Is the BIG question different for everybody or is it pretty similar across the board? The BIG question for me is, 'what does it all mean?' or, more broadly, 'what is the meaning of life?' Aren't these questions we all search for answers to or am I just a predictable product of my liberal arts background (as in all WHY and no HOW TO)? Well, is it or isn't it a BIG question?
One thing I have learned through years of over-analyzing everything is that answers to questions are usually simple. Well, the answers I want are usually simple anyway. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like if every time I asked somebody for directions he went into some metaphysical diatribe as to what it meant to be really "HERE" and how it would effect our psychie and the ones of everyone around us for me to go "THERE." It would be exhausting. Sure, I have time for philosophy and discussion, but not when I'm really trying to go there. You know what I mean?
The point is, I looked for simple answers when applying the question, "what is the meaning of life?" to "what it all means?" I first discovered an answer back in my college years thru the writings of Henry Miller. In Sexus, he writes, "There is. You are. I am." Three sentences. Six words, six syllables. And, there you have it. Pretty much done. Who among can deny the IS? Not I. The IS is around us all the time. Is it not? And, your ARE. Are you not? If you are reading this then you are. As for I am, who is to say I am not? Well, I am and I am not. But, if you are reading this, then are you?
Still, that didn't quite do it for me. I thought there had to be more, and at the same time less, to the answer. I started thinking about the answer to the questions in a context of time and space. My first answer seems warm and fuzzy in a very basic, hermetically sealed environment. I mean, yeah sure, "you are," but what if your "you are" or "there is" is eating my fried chicken? That ain't right.
I looked at the world around me and decided the answer had to be simple, yet different than my metaphysical first impression of it. Then I spent a good hour sitting in front of my fish tank watching the goings on and thinking about all things I've seen go down in there before. The answer came to me in a flash, "Where's the food? Am I the food?" That's pretty much it when you boil everything down to the bare bones. Where's the food? Am I the food?
Thankfully, nearly all of us reading this will have never had to experience this basic law firsthand. I mean, how many of us have ever been in jeopardy of being eaten? How many of us have had to hunt and gather? The answer to both those questions I'm sure is not many.... especially not if you're blogging. Still, I think this is the basic law of nature. Thankfully, our species sits atop the food chain and we don't have to worry about really being eaten unless we swim with sharks or hit a ball into the deep rough on a Florida golf course in some re-claimed part of the Everglades. Just what goes through a person's head that first instant when you realize, "I'm the food?" That must be a very basic, primal moment. Cold fear.
Where's the food? Am I the food? That's how it goes in my fish tank everyday. And I have only pacifist species of fish in my tank. The fish swim around looking for bits of whatnot all day. When they find it, they eat it. I'm sure it's pretty much the same in whatever lakes or streams on the other continents these fish come from. Well, the same if you don't count me raining food on them every other day and you take out the whole predator part of the equation. Like I said, my fish are pacifists. Still, any fish in my tank gets hurt or sick, the other fish sense it and that sucker usually doesn't last long. And, I have a crab. His name is 6 and he loves him some carcass. I really do try not to let him eat his dead friends. Am I the food?
Here in the 21st Century US of A, things are a little different. I am beginning to think it should be, "Where's the food? Where's the food?" I found one of millions of answers to that question not so long ago here in my little corner of heaven, Koreatown. I paid a visit to the Jollibee to find out what it's all about. Discovering what is Jollibee turned out to be one of those questions I didn't want to know the answer to.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s285/heymccleary/jollibee0001.jpg
Jollibee is a Pacific Rim fast food chain that is knockoff parts KFC, Yoshinoya Beef Bowl, Carl's Jr, WeinerSchnitzel and Hello Kitty. I went in on a sleepy afternoon after exiting the Red Line at Vermont and Beverly. It was slow, so I had some time to survey the menu. My usual policy when experimenting with new and unfamiliar fast food is to go with whatever I think sounds the worst on the menu because it probably isn't. It's probably there because it tested with whatever market research survey group well. This usually means the battered and fried fish burger, but hey, I was raised Catholic so I'm no stranger to a fish stick.
At Jollibee, things were different. I quickly shifted to survival mode when faced with the warm glowing, glowiness of the Bee's heat lamps. Jollibee offers a staggering variety of choices on their menu, most of which sweat under their heat lamps. Many things are garnished with a hot dog. Their signature items are called Crispy Chickenjoy and Juicy Yumburger. For those of you that know me even casually, you know I'm serious about my fried chicken. Normally, that would have been the natural choice, but there was far too much of it under the heat lamps for there to be much joy left in that chicken, so I categorized it as "SUSPECT" in my mind and moved on. Burgers are boring, so then I contemplated the corn starch noodles with pork strips, pork cracklings (wtf is a crackling?) shrimp, garlic and hard boiled egg wedges. I'm not making that up. It's called the Palabok Fiesta. Do they fiesta in Palabok? Where the bleep is Palabok?
Normally, that would have sounded worst and been my natural choice, but something in the upper part of my throat told my mind and mouth to, under NO circumstances, order that. I scanned on and discovered Jolly Spaghetti. I could have it with a piece of Chickenjoy or a hot dog. Yeah, no. Then there's the Burger Steak which is just a 'hamburger' patty garnished in mushroom sauce served next to a pile of white rice. Yum. No. Quickly, I raced back to the Yumburgers and ordered the biggest, badest burger I could find, the Amazing Aloha burger (bacon pineapple) and a side order of some mysterious Palabok soup which appeared to be noodles, chicken, green onions and a wedge of hard boiled egg TO GO and waited. Shoot, I had to try something weird while I was there. Is that saying just walking in the door wasn't weird enough?
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." ~ Hunter S. Thompson
While I waited I scanned the remainder of the menu, particularly the Breakfast Joys and the Super Breakfast Joys… I don't know about you, but to me nothing says JOY like eggs, bacon, sweet pork, a pile of white rice, tomato wedge AND a hot dog. Wow. They should sue Wheaties for the rights to the phrase, "Breakfast of Champions."
Eventually, my food was ready and I snatched it TO GO. The printing on the go-bag informed me that Jollibee has more than 500 locations in the US, Philippines, Hong Kong, Guam, Saipan, Vietnam and Brunei. In Jollibee's defense, the bacon pineapple burger was quite good and so was the Palabok soup, which was a knockoff of pho for you Vietnamese fans out there. While I chewed my food, sitting across from my fish tank, my thoughts drifted back to the meaning of life here in the 21st century. Just what does it all mean? Is the answer really these six words? There is. You are. I am. Or is it these six words? Where's the food? Am I food? Just maybe it's these six words…. Be assertive. When caught. Play dumb.
A lot of people ask me what I do with my free time and I invariably answer, "I think." Ok, that's a lie. Not the thinking part. I do that all the time. It's the question itself. Not many people ask me that question. Most of my friends know better than to ask me questions they don't want to know answers to. Still, the thinking goes around the clock. It's like a juggernaut. It can't be stopped.
One of the things that has been on my mind is the BIG question. What is the BIG question? Is the BIG question different for everybody or is it pretty similar across the board? The BIG question for me is, 'what does it all mean?' or, more broadly, 'what is the meaning of life?' Aren't these questions we all search for answers to or am I just a predictable product of my liberal arts background (as in all WHY and no HOW TO)? Well, is it or isn't it a BIG question?
One thing I have learned through years of over-analyzing everything is that answers to questions are usually simple. Well, the answers I want are usually simple anyway. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like if every time I asked somebody for directions he went into some metaphysical diatribe as to what it meant to be really "HERE" and how it would effect our psychie and the ones of everyone around us for me to go "THERE." It would be exhausting. Sure, I have time for philosophy and discussion, but not when I'm really trying to go there. You know what I mean?
The point is, I looked for simple answers when applying the question, "what is the meaning of life?" to "what it all means?" I first discovered an answer back in my college years thru the writings of Henry Miller. In Sexus, he writes, "There is. You are. I am." Three sentences. Six words, six syllables. And, there you have it. Pretty much done. Who among can deny the IS? Not I. The IS is around us all the time. Is it not? And, your ARE. Are you not? If you are reading this then you are. As for I am, who is to say I am not? Well, I am and I am not. But, if you are reading this, then are you?
Still, that didn't quite do it for me. I thought there had to be more, and at the same time less, to the answer. I started thinking about the answer to the questions in a context of time and space. My first answer seems warm and fuzzy in a very basic, hermetically sealed environment. I mean, yeah sure, "you are," but what if your "you are" or "there is" is eating my fried chicken? That ain't right.
I looked at the world around me and decided the answer had to be simple, yet different than my metaphysical first impression of it. Then I spent a good hour sitting in front of my fish tank watching the goings on and thinking about all things I've seen go down in there before. The answer came to me in a flash, "Where's the food? Am I the food?" That's pretty much it when you boil everything down to the bare bones. Where's the food? Am I the food?
Thankfully, nearly all of us reading this will have never had to experience this basic law firsthand. I mean, how many of us have ever been in jeopardy of being eaten? How many of us have had to hunt and gather? The answer to both those questions I'm sure is not many.... especially not if you're blogging. Still, I think this is the basic law of nature. Thankfully, our species sits atop the food chain and we don't have to worry about really being eaten unless we swim with sharks or hit a ball into the deep rough on a Florida golf course in some re-claimed part of the Everglades. Just what goes through a person's head that first instant when you realize, "I'm the food?" That must be a very basic, primal moment. Cold fear.
Where's the food? Am I the food? That's how it goes in my fish tank everyday. And I have only pacifist species of fish in my tank. The fish swim around looking for bits of whatnot all day. When they find it, they eat it. I'm sure it's pretty much the same in whatever lakes or streams on the other continents these fish come from. Well, the same if you don't count me raining food on them every other day and you take out the whole predator part of the equation. Like I said, my fish are pacifists. Still, any fish in my tank gets hurt or sick, the other fish sense it and that sucker usually doesn't last long. And, I have a crab. His name is 6 and he loves him some carcass. I really do try not to let him eat his dead friends. Am I the food?
Here in the 21st Century US of A, things are a little different. I am beginning to think it should be, "Where's the food? Where's the food?" I found one of millions of answers to that question not so long ago here in my little corner of heaven, Koreatown. I paid a visit to the Jollibee to find out what it's all about. Discovering what is Jollibee turned out to be one of those questions I didn't want to know the answer to.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s285/heymccleary/jollibee0001.jpg
Jollibee is a Pacific Rim fast food chain that is knockoff parts KFC, Yoshinoya Beef Bowl, Carl's Jr, WeinerSchnitzel and Hello Kitty. I went in on a sleepy afternoon after exiting the Red Line at Vermont and Beverly. It was slow, so I had some time to survey the menu. My usual policy when experimenting with new and unfamiliar fast food is to go with whatever I think sounds the worst on the menu because it probably isn't. It's probably there because it tested with whatever market research survey group well. This usually means the battered and fried fish burger, but hey, I was raised Catholic so I'm no stranger to a fish stick.
At Jollibee, things were different. I quickly shifted to survival mode when faced with the warm glowing, glowiness of the Bee's heat lamps. Jollibee offers a staggering variety of choices on their menu, most of which sweat under their heat lamps. Many things are garnished with a hot dog. Their signature items are called Crispy Chickenjoy and Juicy Yumburger. For those of you that know me even casually, you know I'm serious about my fried chicken. Normally, that would have been the natural choice, but there was far too much of it under the heat lamps for there to be much joy left in that chicken, so I categorized it as "SUSPECT" in my mind and moved on. Burgers are boring, so then I contemplated the corn starch noodles with pork strips, pork cracklings (wtf is a crackling?) shrimp, garlic and hard boiled egg wedges. I'm not making that up. It's called the Palabok Fiesta. Do they fiesta in Palabok? Where the bleep is Palabok?
Normally, that would have sounded worst and been my natural choice, but something in the upper part of my throat told my mind and mouth to, under NO circumstances, order that. I scanned on and discovered Jolly Spaghetti. I could have it with a piece of Chickenjoy or a hot dog. Yeah, no. Then there's the Burger Steak which is just a 'hamburger' patty garnished in mushroom sauce served next to a pile of white rice. Yum. No. Quickly, I raced back to the Yumburgers and ordered the biggest, badest burger I could find, the Amazing Aloha burger (bacon pineapple) and a side order of some mysterious Palabok soup which appeared to be noodles, chicken, green onions and a wedge of hard boiled egg TO GO and waited. Shoot, I had to try something weird while I was there. Is that saying just walking in the door wasn't weird enough?
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." ~ Hunter S. Thompson
While I waited I scanned the remainder of the menu, particularly the Breakfast Joys and the Super Breakfast Joys… I don't know about you, but to me nothing says JOY like eggs, bacon, sweet pork, a pile of white rice, tomato wedge AND a hot dog. Wow. They should sue Wheaties for the rights to the phrase, "Breakfast of Champions."
Eventually, my food was ready and I snatched it TO GO. The printing on the go-bag informed me that Jollibee has more than 500 locations in the US, Philippines, Hong Kong, Guam, Saipan, Vietnam and Brunei. In Jollibee's defense, the bacon pineapple burger was quite good and so was the Palabok soup, which was a knockoff of pho for you Vietnamese fans out there. While I chewed my food, sitting across from my fish tank, my thoughts drifted back to the meaning of life here in the 21st century. Just what does it all mean? Is the answer really these six words? There is. You are. I am. Or is it these six words? Where's the food? Am I food? Just maybe it's these six words…. Be assertive. When caught. Play dumb.
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