Missing Ingredients

Not sure if you’ve ever been cooking, or preparing to cook a meal and noticed that something was missing. Whether it was a particular seasoning, which is usually true in my case, or something else, whatever it is doesn’t happen to be in the kitchen. You can look around, checking every cabinet a couple of times, only to realize your item really isn’t there. You’ve got two choices: go to the supermarket and get the thing you need or improvise and make your meal without that ingredient.

I enjoy cooking, not cleaning, but the actual cooking is something I enjoy. I don’t follow recipes all the time. Most of the time, I improvise. With a meal that’s usually just for myself, I figure if I don’t like, I’ll eat it anyway and remember not to do that in the future. If it’s something I do like, I get a bit frustrated that I didn’t write down the recipe as I went along, knowing I’ll never recall the identical recipe again. Either way, it’s the way I’ve been doing things.

I’m currently preparing a meal that’ll feed generations yet unborn. I’ve got most of the ingredients, but according to the recipe, a couple are missing. I’ve failed enough to know I can’t improvise this time. I've had enough success to know I may have been lucky, but don’t count on that in the future. This time I’ll follow the recipe. I don’t have the time, nor the inclination to improvise. People are counting on me and I can’t disappoint them or myself.

Spontaneity is great and exciting. But there are some drawbacks. When things don’t work out like you’d hope they would, you’re left there looking stupid and in disbelief. “Measure twice, cut once” comes to mind. The greats, the masters of their craft can improvise at times, but I’m not a master of my craft. My experience is a mile wide and an inch deep. These masters I’m referring to have an inch wide and a mile of depth. They know a lot about a little, as compared to a little about a lot. These masters are subject matter experts.

I’m working towards mastery and I have to follow the recipe. I have to assemble the proper ingredients. I have to confer with other masters. I must or I fail. I will be left improvising and quite possibly standing there in disbelief if things don’t work out. I have not the time or the energy to start over from a snafu, a foolish, childish, not very well planned endeavor. I have to follow the recipe. It’s been laid out by other masters of their craft. I simply have to assemble the ingredients and follow the recipe. Improvising may come later, but later isn’t today.

Today, Tuesday, September 10, 2024, I am grateful that:

Neural coupling exists. It’s a fancy way of describing what storytelling does for or with our brains. I’m guessing that’s what makes me like metaphors so much and what makes some of the best selling books of all times. I’m guessing, but I suspect it’s true.

The recipe is already laid out. Now I have to gather the ingredients and follow the directions. I’ve been reluctant to gather all the ingredients, the main one is money, but I know improvising is not an option. My task at hand is to overcome the fear I currently have by gathering the rest of the ingredients.

Although rel

This is the first part of the entry.