Score: Anna, 1. Chicken, 0.

I guess the chicken should possibly get half a point. Jackie did have to loosen it in the package because it was so stuck in there, and I didn't want to dig my fingers in the slimy-ness. So she loosened it.

I only hesitated a little. I would like to point out that I am off to a strong start - a slight hesitation is to be expected. And I did succeed. I'll try to talk Jackie into writing about the night of chicken success.

Jackie giggled the entire time. She thought it was hilarious.

Basically, once it was in the pan the challenge was over. I guess I just need to keep in mind that I only have to touch the chicken for a few seconds. It was not enjoyable, but it did eventually taste good.

In the future, we'll be taking pictures of these challenges. The next challenge won't be so much of a fear as an extreme dislike. But you'll have to wait to read about that.

Overcoming Chicken

My first fear will be raw chicken. I'm not sure when my fear of raw chicken started, but it's pretty bad. I don't buy chicken. I don't eat chicken unless it's prepared by someone else.

I don't mind chickens, like the clucking, living, sqwacking variety. In fact, I'd love to have chickens of my own someday. But I couldn't eat them. They'd likely live to a natural death, after which I would bury them in my chicken graveyard with little headstones.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not entirely a bleeding heart. I just have a very strong aversion to any type of gore, and removing heads requires gore. Plucking feathers requires gore. And then there's the meat.

The nice thing about hamburger is that it doesn't resemble a cow or meat at all. It looks like worms. I like worms, at least I like nightcrawlers and worms in the yard. I don't eat them, but I consider them friendly. And hamburger comes in packages that you can cut open and directly dump in the skillet without touching it.

But unless you want to cook the entire package of chicken parts, you need to touch it. And I don't.

So this is the goal: Jackie and I will eat chicken for dinner. I will touch it. We're going to have chicken and dumplings, cooked by me. I'll likely cringe and twitch and she'll likely giggle the entire time, but I will conquer chicken.

The Purpose of the Blog

This blog is going to satisfy a few goals. First, it helps me fill a course requirement. Second, it helps me get over some of my unnatural fears.

Unnatural fears. Yes. Unnatural fears of raw chicken, anime, fuzzy items, things with big eyes, bad television programming, etc.

I chose to get over these fears because I'm tired of twitching. Certain textures send sparks of electricity of sorts down my arms, leading to twitches and shudders. Sometimes, such as in the case of anime, I run away. I'd rather be as far away as possible than to get paid to stay in a room with an anime show.

Anyways, this is the purpose. I hope to confront my fears and become comfortable with these things, though I will never likely love them.