you're going to learn to like it
Remember when you were a kid and you didn't like something? Your mom would turn to you and declare, "Yeah, well you're going to learn to like it!" And you knew, no matter how much you hated asparagus, she was right. You were going to learn to like it because you had no choice.
It's amazing how that worked. You didn't like something, but through fear, repetition, or a variety of other outside forces, you learned to like it. Throughout my life I've learned to like a lot of stuff that I never thought I would. Some, I learned to like because I had to do it to fit on. Other things I learned to like because I wanted to like them. And other things I couldn't learn to like, no matter how hard I tried.
Coffee - I still remember my first cup of coffee. I was in Pennsylvania with my father, stepmother, and sister staying at some sort of "dude ranch" outside the Poconos. The place was kind of ghetto, but they had organized activities, a swimming pool, and horseback riding, so it was A-OK in my book. I'm not sure what year it was, but I remember that the show
Roc starring Towson alum (and ex-con) Charles S. Dutton was playing in the lobby at the time. So anyway, I remember being in the dining hall when I decided I was going to try a cup of coffee. I took one sip and that was it. I thought it was the most disgusting thing to ever touch my lips, and it was (and it stayed that way until junior year of college, when... let's not get into that). I started drinking coffee regularly in high school, but what I was drinking could barely be classified as coffee. I would stop at 7-11 on the way to school because you could make your own cup there, and proceed to fill it halfway up with milk. The other half was coffee. Then I would dump packets of SweetNLow inside the cup and declare myself "a coffee drinker." Now, years later, I barely require milk and sugar in my java. I've come a long way.
--Result: I learned to love coffee.Aqua Teen Hunger Force - I've never tried to like a TV show as much as I tried to like Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I have friends that LOVE this show. Swear by this show. Insist it's the funniest cartoon ever. I. Don't. Get. It. Not at all. But thankfully, after repeated viewings, I figured out something important. It's not that I don't get it... I mean, it's not that the comedy is "over my head" or anything. No. The thing is, the show actually isn't funny. At all. And everybody who thinks the show is funny? Yeah, they're wrong. I'm so glad I figured that out. Whew.
--Result: It's not me, it's you.Beer - Don't lie, you didn't like the taste of beer at first either. When I started drinking beer in my early to mid teenage years I couldn't stand it. I would make a "beer face" after every sip as I struggled through can after can. At "parties" that would take place in the woods that surrounded the Pearl River Middle School I would even go so far as to pour my beer out when nobody was looking, like I was the lead in a bad after school special. My distaste for beer lasted all the way to college, however once I went away to school I developed a taste for it pretty quickly. By the time I visited my friend Sarah at Villanova, I was able to tell her what kind of beer was in the keg solely by taste (I believe it was Busch Light). Now, I love beer. Love it. Who likes beer? This guy likes beer.
--Result: A big, sloppy, drunken success. I definitely learned to love beer
Radiohead - You know, I actually liked Radiohead when
The Bends came out. I never bought it, but I liked it. "High & Dry" and "Fake Plastic Trees" made it onto numerous mix tapes, which was an incredible feat for any song that I didn't own at the time. To make it to a mix tape it meant that I actually had to sit by my stereo with my fingers perched on the "play" and "record" buttons waiting for the song to begin. So there's the proof that I liked Radiohead. However, over time, I just stopped caring about them. When
OK Computer came out I liked what I heard, but I started disliking the people that talked non-stop about how much THEY liked what THEY heard. So I pushed Radiohead away. Of course, I was a stubborn dick for quite some time and refused to give Radiohead any credit whatsoever, but eventually I decided I'd give them another shot. I mean, all of my friends that liked the same music I liked loved Radiohead, so surely I'll like them. I tried. I tried to learn to like them (again) but I just couldn't do it. Sure, OK Computer is a brilliant album, but the stuff that followed is just... blah. Sorry.
--Result: I just couldn't learn to love them.Mushrooms - You couldn't pay me enough to eat a mushroom. Never. My roommate Eric and I once had a deal: if I ate a mushroom, he'd eat an earthworm. I said no, because I had the shittier end of the deal. Mushrooms are gross and I will never, ever eat one. Hell, I won't even
do mushrooms because I'm so disgusted by them.
--Result: I will never learn to like them. Period.Girls - I think I started learning to like girls in the first grade. I still ran away from them in the playground when they said, "Bob's my boyyyyffffrrrieeennnddddd" but beyond that I was fairly interested. My friend Pete was able to find a Good Housekeeping magazine where a topless woman gave herself a breast exam and the two of us would pass it back and forth and marvel over it. That aided the learning process. Also, I distinctly remember gazing across the classroom and looking up Sarah's skirt as she sat Indian style. Of course I didn't know what I was looking at at the time, which isn't surprising at all. What is surprising, though, is that years later I'd be telling Sarah what kind of beer we were drinking at a Villanova frat party. That would almost be cute, if it wasn't kind of strange and disturbing. --
Result: Most of the things I liked in first grade are kind of outdated, but believe it or not I still like girls.
|
b at 4:51 PM
