Lawyering Through Life

Irrationality Abounds

Over dinner last night, at this delightful outdoor café in downtown DC, on what was the most perfect spring night (thank you, Weather gods for finally blessing the hotseat of the government with consecutive days of sunshine) the conversation turned to food idiosyncrasies. And, quickly, my friend Red revealed that I had most people beat with my odd food quirks. I don’t eat white food. Well, let me back up. There are a lot of foods that I don’t eat and after some analysis in college, I realized I really don’t like white food. When people learn of this, they are often fascinated and engage in a “What will Jersey eat” type game to try and rationalize my white food weirdness. Saturday’s night version went something like this:

“Do you eat eggs?”

No.

“Do you eat white rice?”

Only if there is some sort of sauce on it. I don’t like plain white rice. But I do eat basmati rice and risotto.

“Do you eat cottage cheese?”

HELL No.

“Sour cream?”

Nope.

“But you just ate an entire cheese board. Full of white cheese.” (This was when the questions started to sound more like accusations).

Yeah, I know. It doesn’t make sense. But I love cheese and eat all kinds.

And this is when the Inquirer turned to the rest of the group in all seriousness and said, “She is a completely irrational freak. I love it.”

Since the Inquirer was actually a guest from out of town, his friend yelled at him for being rude. “Don’t say that to her! Jersey, you are not an irrational freak.”

But I wasn’t offended. I actually felt relieved. There are some things that I do that are completely without reason. And that’s okay. Maybe because the supposed reason of the law governs my professional life, I have all this pent up irrationality. And it comes out in these little food quirks or the fact that I read all magazines from the back. I know everyone has their own idiosyncrasies but sometimes we drive ourselves crazy trying to change them or explain them or justify them. In one simple statement, this out of towner, who had known me for less than an hour, had told me exactly what I needed to hear. I am a completely irrational freak. But people love me anyways.

posted by jersey @ 8:57 PM