I had lobster tonight, and I think I’m beginning to turn on it. It’s not for any heady reason, though Consider The Lobster is a truly phenomenal essay. Really it comes down to a moment: I was eating the tail last, and I couldn’t focus on the taste or the satisfaction because I was becoming increasingly obsessed with washing my hands. The process of cracking open the shell was splattery and smelly and primeval and hideous and I did not enjoy it. It felt too much like spiders.
I’m not sure what that says about me. Should I be proud of my capacity to change my opinion on things, or am I merely becoming more sensitive and sort of autistic in my approach? Both? Neither? Will I turn down lobster in the future? Possibly.
At what point does a vague distaste for a thing benefit from becoming an out and out prohibition? When bad outcomes result in 51% of cases, I suppose. That seems like a good place to start. I’d say one bad experience with lobster is not enough of a trend to quit it.
Drinking, though? It’s not as though I’m out here blacking out and making mistakes, but it does cause me to snore, and Abby doesn’t like that. If Abby disliking my snoring constitutes a “bad outcome” then drinking is batting like .05. If that isn’t a bad outcome, and say, feeling hungover is, then it’s more like .65.
I hate statistics.