You are eating a smooth peanut butter sandwich and bite into something unexpectedly crunchy. Preceding any conscious analysis of what might have happened, what is the first image that comes to mind?
a) Crunchy peanut butter.
b) Last crunchy food you ate.
c) ( Cut for gross. )
If your answer is (c) then you are me and you have a problem. I finished the sandwich because something like this happens nearly every time I eat. And my instincts tend this way in a lot of situations, not merely those involving food. My brain, so baroque in its pessimism that "pessimism" acquires a level of meaning akin to masochism, gropes instinctively for the most grotesque image in its library.
This particular image was readily available to it because of ( cut for gross. )
a) Crunchy peanut butter.
b) Last crunchy food you ate.
c) ( Cut for gross. )
If your answer is (c) then you are me and you have a problem. I finished the sandwich because something like this happens nearly every time I eat. And my instincts tend this way in a lot of situations, not merely those involving food. My brain, so baroque in its pessimism that "pessimism" acquires a level of meaning akin to masochism, gropes instinctively for the most grotesque image in its library.
This particular image was readily available to it because of ( cut for gross. )