Love Cake

When your friends and family are surprised you can cook...

I'm a foodie who loves making people hungry. And I love making people happy. That is most likely the reason why food is my platform  of choice when trying to fulfill these passions of mine. :)

Funny (or is it sad?) that it is the people who are the closest (or semi-closest, since my husband doesn't apply to this rule, nor some of my very dear friends), that the people who know me the most are the ones who believe the least in me...When I started this blog, it was my closest friends who doubted me with a silent (or not so silent) reaction wondering what I could possibly be writing about.  I have many close friends, but I can count only two or three of them who actually visit this blog often to check for new updates. All the other ones have never read anything. They just like to assume they know everything they need to know about me already. All my most positive feedback come from complete strangers....Why is it that we would rather admire and support a complete stranger rather than someone from our circle of trusted people?

I guess the answer is that everyone wants to see us in their limited world view. My friends and family know me in a certain way and it would require too much energy to open their minds and discover other aspects of me. Well, eating at someone's house doesn't mean you know what's in their fridge...

Joss Whedon's TV show Dollhouse was interesting as it treated this topic: you are someone for everyone but inside you are nothing...Well, that's what people would want you to be to them, it seems like. We find people close to us as pathetic because we see some aspects of them and we judge them for it. We don't give a chance to see the other sides or not care to see those other sides. It is apparent that I am not the only person who has been doubted so this shouldn't stop me from doing what I enjoy doing the most: making others happy in the best of my capacity.

Have you ever found your friend's parents so cool while your friends rolled their eyes in shame when their parents crack a joke or did something to get your attention? Don't we all like to feel ashamed of our closed ones in public? A total stranger on the radio would say the very same thing and we'd be rolling on the floor laughing but when it's our father...Nah. Same thing for advice. I've been repeating the same love and relationship advice to some of my girlfriends, over and over. And one day, they'd come to me all excited because someone was so insightful and told them the exact same thing I've been telling them. Just because they are strangers...(*shaking my head*). We all choose our battles. I gave up on that one. I figure, if they want to hear me out, they will. I stopped wasting my time trying to "save" them, especially if they didn't want to be saved...at least not by me. We must have become so close that I became like family to them, and that came with their inconveniences...

What annoys me the most though is when I share a new project or idea with a close friend. Instead of showing any interest in my brewing ideas, they astutely point out how I love getting attention. Good job, my friend, at stating the obvious, but can we move on to my idea I'd like to share with you and get any sort of feedback? I wonder sometimes, whenever they go to the movie theater, if they spend the entire movie being annoyed that Hollywood stars crave for constant attention, or do they actually enjoy the movie and the work those stars and crew put into making this movie. Of course I enjoy the attention, but that is not the point.

Another example of becoming too close to someone, so close they don't seem to see you anymore: The other day, I was happily sharing my candor to a friend about some positive feedback I got from this blog and all she could say was "Oh..Mkay..People have some time to spare it seems like". Another friend kept on pointing out how weird this girl from college was for commenting constantly on my Facebook. Since we weren't close back in school, but now, we interact a lot online, my friend noticed it and thought she was so strange to do that all of sudden. Why strange? Can't she like me for the same reason my friend likes me? If she is my friend, why would it be strange that someone else discovers me later on, even if it's not in person? It makes me wonder sometimes...

It is much easier to inspire people you don't know than those who believe they know everything about you. But in all fairness, I tend to raise one eyebrow too, whenever someone I know well surprises me with something I wouldn't expect, coming from them...