I know its an old adage that you've heard from your parents, grandparents, teachers, condescending friends and pretty much any person who likes to lord stuff over you.
But, I have to be honest. Its really very true. And nothing is more sobering than realizing the annoying and obnoxious things that some of your peers say are, suprisingly, the troof. The real troof. I say troof because my ego doesnt allow me to write the actual word. To do so would be to admit to actually learning something from someone else and owning up to the fact that, on a rare occasion, Asiankp is wrong.
So back to the judging the book. I'll start small. A certain friend has been hinting that I should watch a certain television program. She is an accomplished writer and television reviewer and has a number rating system for the various shows that she watches with 10 being life changing and 1 being really not worth a damn and you might actually be dumber for watching the show. October Road falls into this category. But I'll not go into that. She surprised me for a visit about 2 weeks ago and brought along the first season of what is now at the top of Asiankp's list. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
I'll admit, when I first heard about this show, I was tempted. A visit home and my dad's support for the show quickly kiboshed any hopes I had of getting in too deep. I mean, come on, my dad's favorite show is American Idol. How can I trust that? After that, I got too involved with other stuff like looking for a job, blogging and seeing how many movies I could watch in one day, that my interest was nothing more than lint in the dryer. When she told me to watch it, I put it off and put it off and procrastinate and procrastinate. Finally, I relented. If the girl could fly over 300 miles in one day to visit me, she had to be on to something. Let me say, I was wrong. The show is above and beyond what I expected and has my full support and my undying love.
But this is not about my unhealthy obsession with things on the small screen. This story only reminds me of another story where my prideth went before the falleth. Almost a year ago, I embarked on a trip to NYC to see a holy man. I went with 3 close friends. Another girl who was an acquaintance of one in my party was going to meet up with us for a few hours. Now, I had met said girl a couple times before. She was a model. Yes, a model. A runway model. She was no Gisele or Tyra or Heidi but give her a few years and she could be. Lets call her Gitydi.
Regardless, I scoffed at her. I scoffed at her profession and what she was like even though I had only spent about a total of 5 minutes with her and I never directly spoke to her. In fact, I made it a point to avoid her and try to throw withering and judgmental looks her way. When everyone else told me that Gitydi was the nicest girl and so down to earth and really cool in a grounded way, I laughed and said, sure and Hitler was misunderstood. Which didnt really make sense then and doesnt make much sense now either.
So the idea of spending a couple hours in the presence of Gitydi in NYC, her mecca, I assumed, was less than thrilling. I did the brat act for the entire 4 hours before meeting up with her. Throwing out mean comments, being snotty. Basically, I reverted back to the age of 5 when mom and dad wouldnt play the game I wanted to. Here were my friends forcing me to hang out with someone who was going to be perched on a high horse and flaunting her beauty in our faces. Of course, no normal human does that unless you are on a reality show but I firmly believed in the theory that the pretty girls are always mean and bitchy.
To make a long story short, after smoking all my cigarettes and calling all the people I could so I wouldnt have to go and sit with all those adoring Glamazons, I reluctantly headed into the Starbucks and took a seat across from Gitydi. Immediately after sitting, Gitydi focuses her attention on me, "So Asiankp, so-and-so says that you are interested in casting? Thats so great..." I cant really recall the entire conversation but let's just say she was down to earth, friendly, unassuming and perfectly normal. Not to mention that the girl was just plain nice. I learned that she was a few years younger than the rest of us and had a hard time struggling to remain modest and grounded in a profession that does its best to make the polar opposite. We chatted for a few more hours and she even held her own when I threw my sarcastic, dry humor her way.
When we left, I turned to my friend and said, "Never again. Never again will I pre-judge. This was a great lesson. Dont ever let me do this again." So here I am, ashamed to say that I have to remind myself of that mantra again. And not just with TV shows but with life. I like to walk down Michigan Ave, past big groups of people carrying Abercrombie bags and Burberry purses and I like to pass judgements. But who knows whats going on behind those bags and purses. Maybe they are for a friend or maybe they have tastes just like I have certain tastes and while those tastes may not seem normal, they exist to make us each individual.
So there is power in those old sayings. The truth can set you free.
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