the experimenter of all things

today was a big day, and i'd been anticipating it for a couple. today was the day for me to experiment with eating oatmeal. i had obtained the instructions from a; i just had to try them out. she'd included milk, honey, chopped strawberries, and bananas (bananas right? or did i make that up?) in her recipe, but i had neither honey, nor chopped strawberries or bananas at home, so i took the milk portion of it and created my own recipe as follows: take an overly optimistic quantity of milk in a bowl, mix it up bravely with only a spoonful of chocolate soy milk, boil the milk uncertainly for 50 seconds in the microwave, pour in a generous amount of oatmeal, and be prepared!

unfortunately, i skipped the last part of my recipe, and when i first tasted the oatmeal (with impassioned vigor, i might add), i wanted only to ask "what?". it took me a minute to realize that the reason this was my first sampling of oatmeal was, in fact, for the "what?" factor :). anyway, i added some sugar, and all was well with the world. next time, i shall try to stick to a's recipe more.

making a concerted effort towards experimentation has been rewarding, even if i haven't quite enjoyed some of these things to begin with. as i cultivate my relationship with the musical offering, i've brought myself to try their cappucino, cafe au lait, latte, chai latte, mocha, darjeeling tea, dragonwell green, lapsang souchong, and orange juice. i'm also cultivating an ear for western classical more and more. the music shop always has a cd on display indicating what they're 'now playing', and i've been studying them periodically. i don't remember any names now, but i hope that the names are sinking in somewhere for long-term fetching.

of course, this experimentation does extend beyond the musical offering as well. (oatmeal, for instance.) and if you, dear reader, have suggestions for more things i should try out, do please send them my way. i have a policy on recommendations - i try (as far as possible) to try them out. this applies to books, foods, movies, music, etc. you name it. i do believe that if anyone likes something enough to recommend it, and likes me enough (loosely defined to include everyone i know), there's reason enough to take them up on it. you know what i mean? i have discovered limitless beauty thus.