Thank you, all, for the kind comments on my last post. The overwhelmed is still overwhelming, but less so because of your support. Seriously, thank you.

Maybe we should have a palate cleanser. Ugh, puns, I occasionally can’t resist.

If you’ve ever cooked in my kitchen, or watched me cook in my kitchen, you know I get very anxious about where things go, or how much of a mess there is. If there’s a mess, I want it to be my own, because I’ve made it and know exactly how I’ve made it and how to unmake it. If someone else has made it, and hasn’t cleaned it up before I encounter it, I get very grumpy. I did not make this mess. I don’t understand it. Everything is out of order. It must be said that I appear very grouchy and ungrateful in these moments.

I felt slightly validated this week while listening to Christine Ha who was interviewed on Eyes on Success, a weekly podcast that showcases cool blind people doing cool things. (Also, behold the hosts’ kind of alarming and kind of amazing New York accents. Or maybe they’re New England accents. My East Coast accent identification fails.)

I’d heard of CHRISTINE Ha before, only because she’d been on Master Chef in 2012, and an ex of mine said he was watching it because of her. “She reminds me of you,” he said. “Her voice is like yours.” I’m not sure about that, after listening to the interview, but we do have some things in common. She said she started her blog in grad school while getting her MFA, as a way to just freely write without having to scrutinize and perfect every word. Whattup, Christine! And, her number one dictum for blind people in their kitchens is to be organized. So, don’t just take my word for it.

I’ll disclose that I’m not as organized as I’d like to be. My spices are an absolute nightmare, (Christine labels hers in Braille AND alphabetizes them). Likewise, my cupboard of snacks and baking stuff always seems to be going a little crazy, though I do have specific shelves for specific items, and feel totally crazy if something gets placed on the “wrong” one. But overall, I am pretty organized and I do find that it helps immensely, and though it is a joke amongst some of my friends, that if I am freaking out about dirty dishes all over the counter, open jars by the stove, and even if I’m sitting down to a meal that I didn’t cook (and no matter how thankful I am), I still think it’s an important thing for sighted people to be aware of. Moving something somewhere else, leaving things out, putting something somewhere it doesn’t “go” can be a big deal and can definitely take up a lot of my time trying to find it. But don’t take my word for it, Christine says so too.

You can listen to the interview and the accents here.