always prepared...

..just so this doesn't happen to you: i had gotten my lunch from the cafeteria of the hospital and then decided to walk to this outdoor area to sit on a bench and eat in the fresh air. I found my place and opened my little plate (i would tell you what i had but i have no idea what it was. i think there was some potatoes in one of the divided squares (think elementary school) and lots of other wierd cabbagey things) anywho, i open my disposable chopsticks and break them apart. to my horror, gasp, they break in half the wrong way so that they have now become chopstick nubs. after trying to use them normally (they have been reduced to about 4 inches, and i'm bad enough as it is) i have to resort to holding the plate up to my mouth and using one of the chopsticks as a shovel to shovel the food into my mouth. there was a lot of slurping, and it wasn't pretty folks. i noticed lots of people looking at me, but i can't imagine why. i actually felt very o.k. with this departure from manners as it made me feel more chinese. they really throw table manners out the window, which is a necessity because it is just too hard to eat some things with chopsticks (my lunch behavior really is pretty common). anyways, it's over now, and the moral of the story is always carry an extra pair of chopsticks, ALWAYS!! i broke rule number 1 and it cost me dearly.