Just an observation

I was shopping at Safeway today, and came across a watermelon sale. Now, I don't do watermelon until the temp's get hot, but people of other cultures don't seem to care. When I was young, you ate cold watermelon on a hot day..period. There were no exceptions..none. If you got caught eating it in temp's below 90 degrees it was frowned upon. Of course you had to eat it with deep fried fritters (Rolkuhka) that the woman of the house had to make in her sweaty kitchen for her ungrateful children.

What interested me the most today, was how people of other cultures, decide which watermelon to chose. I was among at least 5 people chosing a melon (It was under 90 degrees, but I knew there weren't any Mennonites watching.)

The Chinese ladies, slapped the melon, which I thought was umm.. melon abuse. One lady slapped it and she wasn't satisfied with the sound so she got her friend to give it another slap. They listened to the tones of each melon they slapped, and finally chose a melon that matched a "ring tone" of they cell phones..heh.. I made that up..but they tortured those poor melons. I, on the otherhand "knocked" on each melon. I was taught to "knock." It's only polite, you don't just go around and slap a melon!! You choose the melon with the most hollow sound. There was another man beside me who was shaking the melon. Apparently, if you mess up their insides they taste better? I stood around longer than was necessary, because I really was interested in the differences between all these people. Some of them smelled them. I swear. How can you smell a ripe watermelon through the rind? Some looked for the yellowing underneath which sometimes gives you a clue if it's ripe enough, and then they were those in a hurry who just threw them in the cart and let their kids sit on it like a toy. Seriously, there is nothing worse than unripend watermelon.

My mom used to grow watermelon in the garden, and I used to love it. Until, one day, when she specifically told me NOT to pick anymore melons because they weren't ripe eoungh yet. I picked two small unripened melons (god..never tell me NOT to do something).. that had been sitting out in the hot sun in the garden, I ate them, and fell to my knees and puked my guts out. Needless to say, I have never felt the same way about watermelon. Lesson learned, and as always, the hard way. I have never really liked it since. Nowaday, they don't even have seeds in them anymore. How much fun can that be without having a face full of them to spit at your brother? I dunno...they are taking the fun out of life. I live to annoy.

So, how have I been doing so far?