Pack Your Knives

I Love Top Chef.

I think it's the best reality show on TV at the moment. Bravo does an amazing job with editing the footage, getting top notch judges, (unlike American idol whose number one draw on the judges tables is someone whose only real credit in the music business for the first four seasons was producing a Teletubies soundtrack) (p.s. Simon Cowell) and bravo understands that the show isn't about the judges, it's about the contestants and their product.

Tonight, for those of you that don't watch, my favorite chef out of the remaining six was eliminated, Dale. The show consisted of the six remaining chefs competing in "Restaurant Wars" which pits two teams of three against each other, and the goal is to see who can put together the best one night only restaurant experience. Long story short Dale was the executive chef on the losing team, and was tossed from the show.

Most people don't like Dale because he is brash, ultra competitive, sometimes cocky contestant. I happened to love all of these qualities in Dale, and I thought it was what would have made him an excellent Top Chef. I'm not writing an entry about this just so I can bitch about the outcome (although Dale got fucking hosed if you ask me), it's because I feel that I possess the same qualities as Dale does, and I execute them in my life.

I'm rough, I'm open, I'm brash. I hate to fucking lose, and I hate to be beaten. I hate making mistakes, and sometimes I'm super confident about certain things. Over the past four to six years of my life I have tried to work these qualities into a more positive disposition for myself.

I didn't get along with many people in High School, but I always gave everyone a shot. Same thing for college, but looking back I see that me being brash, and real, and sometimes brutally honest causes people to not enjoy my company. Mostly these people are people I have never met, people that have never shared the same conversational air with me, or have even tried to, yet I'm no one that they would ever spend time with.

Now I'm not some hippie that thinks everyone can get along with everyone, we human beings aa a whole only really like certain people, and personality dictates a lot of the decisions we make about our relationships, but does that mean we should shut out people completely just because of what we might hear, or what obstacle their personality might present?

Dale said something in his post interview after he was told he was off the show. he said "You either love me or hate me, but either way, I'm myself." Cliche? Sure, but it got me thinking a little bit.

The reason some people shut me out before meeting me, is it the other people's fault, their negligence for not forming their own opinion, and instead just swallowing the spoon fed judgement dictated to the many from the few?

Or is it me?