Guest Blogger: Kind of Like Eating Fish Eggs by BrownSuga

So as you all know Lily is on a mini-vacation, but never fear MGF's, ever aware of her readers, she has arranged for me to post a guest blogger in her place. For your reading perusal, here is BrownSuga's take on adventure. Enjoy ~ASilky

I am a new fan of sushi. Yes, there are many people who think “sushi: raw fish? YUCK” but I’m here to tell you there is so much more to sushi than we stupid (I say that with lots of affection) Americans think.

A few weeks ago I went to a sushi bar with my best friend. Our plan was simple, to try something new. So after sitting down and perusing the menu we decided we knew NOTHING about sushi and should really get some help. So we flagged our waitress and asked her opinion. We explained that this would be our second time trying sushi (our first was on my birthday last month) but we needed some suggestions on what to try as novices. She was very nice and extremely helpful, she explained that there was “American” sushi and “Japanese” sushi (basically that means we stupid, again said with affection, Americans took something that wasn’t ours and made it ours).

There are ‘sushi rolls’ or Norimaki which are more common outside of Japan than in Japan. Then there are Nigiri, small balls of rice with fish placed on top. I really enjoyed those. Some of the other options are Sake (salmon), Toro (tuna), Ebi (shrimp) and Ikura (salmon eggs). Now when I try something new, I really want to try something new. So my suggestion was to try Ikura. And I was so close to convincing my best friend to try it also, but she said not this time.

Now, you may be wondering why I didn’t just try it myself. If I’m so adventurous I should be able to do these things on my own. Had I gone out alone, I would have, but I brought my friend along because I specifically wanted to try this new thing with her. And because she said no to trying the fish eggs, I didn’t try them either. We did promise each other that we would try it together one day.

So that is where my new phrase comes from, ‘kind of like eating fish eggs’. It refers to trying something new specifically with a companion. And it doesn’t just refer to food; it refers to extreme sports, traveling even sexual activities.

So far I’ve gone sky diving (twice), snorkeling, street racing, bungee jumping and let my hair blow through the wind as I rode the coast on a motorcycle. There are so many more things I’d like to try and learn. I want to see Greece, Italy, Fiji, Australia, Ireland, Africa,
South America, the list goes on and on. The things I’ve done, the places I’ve seen, most of them I’ve done with a friend, family member or lover. Sharing these experiences made great memories, excellent stories and bonds that can never be severed.

Since I was a little girl, my mom raised me to be independent. At the age of 6 she sent me away to camp for a whole summer. Her friends and family thought she was crazy for sending such a little girl away from home for so long. I LOVED that summer. To this day I remember things I did, things I learned and places I saw. Little things like that helped shape me into the independent woman I am today. Because of this, I have no problems doing things alone. In fact sometimes I prefer to be alone when doing some things. I’m the first person to take myself out to dinner at a nice restaurant. I go to the movies alone, I’ve traveled across the U.S. alone, I love my own company (I’m incredibly funny). My gregarious personality (and gorgeous looks *winks*) makes it easy for me to meet new people. And that is one of the best things about going out by yourself; you never know who you will meet.

After talking to a friend (who is basically me a few years older and a couple of inches shorter *smiles*) we agreed the second best reason to do things alone, especially traveling, is you don’t have to deal with anyone else’s schedule. If you want to sleep in late and change your itinerary then it’s ok. If you want to wake up at 4am just to see the sunrise then you don’t have to drag anyone else out of bed. If you want to try a new restaurant you don’t have to think about another person’s allergies.

The freedom to do things by yourself is wonderful. But there are some things that are better with a friend. Someone you can joke with, act stupid with, depend on, discover new things with. It’s kind of like eating fish eggs, just a little bit more fun when you do it with someone.
So before you try something new, think ‘is this kind of like eating fish eggs’ or will I have more fun by myself? I think the sanest people in the world are those who can balance the two, they aren’t too needy, clingy or dependent AND they work well with others.

So go ahead and try the “fish eggs” you just might love them.