I've been reading, and thinking, Void...

Specifically, I've been reading the Harris twins' book Do Hard Things. It's a challenge to teenagers in particular and Christians in general to rise above what is expected and accepted. It's a challenge to push out of our complacent comfort zones and into daring. And it is forcing me to think about my comfort zones. I have many.
Let's start with cooking (mainly because I'm eating dinner, so food is kind of on my mind.) My mother has been cooking for some forty years, and can tell what minute portion of what spice a dish needs by tasting it. Seriously. "Okay, just add 1/4 teaspoon of red wine vinegar and another tablespoon of brown sugar." [I add the requisite ingredients...and work requisite into my post.] "Yep! Perfect!" And suddenly, the dish has gone from "oh, tomatoes" to "ooh, tomatoes!" My older sister: gourmet chef, exotic flair, phenomenal baker, made her own wedding cake. Yeah. My younger sister: tastes a dish and knows what it needs, cooks everything perfectly on her first attempt.
I'm not exaggerating their abilities. (Not much, anyway.) I live with these three women in my life, and frankly, it gets a little depressing. Because I'm no gourmet chef. I am not a taste-and-change-it cook. However. As of today, as a direct result of reading Do Hard Things, I am going to endeavor to change this. Because the Harris twins advocate doing things that are personally difficult for you.

Go read the book.

You know something, Void?

There is something immensely satisfying about someone accepting your recommendation for a book or a movie. There is something very pleasant about a friend saying, "Hey, remember telling me to read The Scarlet Pimpernel? Well, I did." It's nice because it means that your friend actually listens to, and values, your opinion, enough to investigate the book or movie in question. But it is best of all when the friend becomes as fascinated with the story as you yourself were.
This has happened to me twice lately. My little brother and I are reading The Scarlet Pimpernel together; it's maybe the fourth time I've read this book, but for the Bug, it is the very first time. And he is most definitely fascinated. (I think the best part of reading this book with the Bug is allowing him to read some of the dialogue with me. That kid performs the most hilarious British accent I have ever heard...an accent, might I add, that is much better than anything I could do.)
I also got my sister-in-law to watch BBC's modern update of Sherlock Holmes. It had the unexpected title of Sherlock. It is indisputably, indubitably brilliant. (All three of those long words are awesome. I really like words.) She watched eighteen minutes of it and stopped, so that she could finish watching it later with her mother and husband. One recommendation: three people hooked. That is lovely.

I think I'll go outside now, and indulge my pyromaniac tendencies.