The Grilled Cheese Maradona

A few years ago, a woman claimed her grilled cheese sandwich bore the image of the Virgin Mary. To her credit, the preserved sandwich does look a lot like the traditional pictures of Mary. She sold her sandwich for $28,000 on eBay and then disappeared from the public eye. She re-entered my life when she got a tattoo on her breast area of her infamous sandwich by the staff at Miami Ink. If you're interested in the whole story, check out this book "The Grilled Cheese Madonna and 99 Other of the Weirdest, Wackiest, Most Famous eBay Auctions Ever." It's a great read; I know because L represents and sold the book.

Now, Benjamin (I wrote about his many talents a few days ago) happens to be the #7 ranked grilled cheese sandwich maker in all of Los Angeles. After tasting his salsa, hummus, vegetables, macaroni & cheese, chick pea salad, and of course, his grilled cheese; I can say unequivacably and without hesitation that he should have been top three. I leave him some room to improve so that he'll feel motivated to make more grilled cheese sandwiches and allow the rest of us to taste test.

While the party was great, the realization that people are giving up their steady lifestyles for the great unknown was even better. Four of the party goers were lawyers; or ex-lawyers. They all had quit within the past year, and now they were pursuing their passions -- whether it be comedy, art, or anything that wasn't lawyer-related. Impressive right? They were trying to harangue a budding law school prospect into not going. It wasn't worth it if your heart wasn't into it.

In-between eating everything in sight and talking to people at the wine and grilled cheese party, I realized that anything you do, you have to love. Trite but true. The money will always come; the passion will not. The adage of don't expect to love work? That might still hold true -- for some people. I'm pretty damn sure I've been freed of that convention. Because now I see purpose to everything I've done, even if it was being a total smooching slacker and sitting in front of the Internet all day long. The simple act of uncomprehendingly surfing all day long made me what I am today.

The question now isn't "was it worth it?" but rather "what did that turn me into?" The what, the where, the how are always going to be ever-shifting concerns. The who and the why? I think I'm okay with those two.