The main thing I find myself stewing about tonight is simply how easily swayed I am by the things which happen in my life. I am not one of those people who stays solid through whatever happens, as I’ve mentioned before. I get “all shook up, uh-huh.” Dude smoking pot in the bus shelter? Anger. Rain? Annoyance. Car repair shop doing unauthorized work then trying to charge me for it? Indignation. Sherlock season finale? Waterworks. Blasting some Queen? Elation.

Basically, I complain of riding an emotional roller-coaster on a regular basis, when in fact I am the one who keeps letting the ride get me all worked up.

Then again, we are all programmed to respond to stimuli in certain ways. I’ve mentioned core beliefs, and cognitive biases, and these all help form our way of interacting with the world. Take, for example, this image from the dreaded pinterest which turned up on my facebook today. (of which I am proud to say I still withhold having an account with). Click for a bigger view.

The concept is that the words you see first are the words that best describe you. Funnily enough, this is no trick, because if you look, the words you find will strangely enough be very similar to the concept you have of yourself in mind. Before you read my words, look for yourself.

For me, those words were Courageous, Happy, Passionate, Dramatic (the word in the puzzle actually reads “Overdramatic,” but I didn’t notice this until just now). Strangely, if I had to pick four words that are damn near 100% spot on (and thus super useful in upcoming job interviews), these might be them. Even more strangely, as I continue to look at the items hidden in the image, there are more that I like, things I aspire to be, but certainly not things I am. I’d like to be charming and eloquent and elegant, but they are not what I am, and not what my mind made sense of in that mess of letters. But I am courageous, I generally am a happy person, I am certainly passionate, and there’s no point pretending I’m not dramatic.

The key is that your brain is trained to respond to certain stimuli (and I’m not going to go too psych on you here). You will necessarily see the things you “want” to see in what you see. It’s not necessarily a conscious want, but it’s there nonetheless.

So, in any given situation, our brains continue this trick and see only certain aspects of the experience. From there, our minds carry on and make assumptions and generate emotional responses and before you know it, we feel as though we’re trapped in a pattern of responding to our environment rather than maintaining any stability of our own. Part of breaking the pattern of emotional reactivity is recognizing it. Just like all of our vices, the first step is acknowledging we have a problem.

My name is V, and I am a sympathetic feeler. I feel whatever the situation demands I feel, with little power to stop myself.

The second part of breaking this pattern is called “frustration tolerance.” Coined in Dialectical-Behavioral Therapy, the term actually refers to our ability to tolerate an emotion without outwardly expressing it. Many people struggle to do this, myself included (hello, that’s the point of my blog), but the key is that over time, training oneself to feel emotions and not act on them allows us to regain control of our reactions, or at least the outward expression of them which is usually the part we desire to control. We all want to feel something, we just don’t always want to feel like we can’t help from feeling it.

But really, all I care about is what words you saw. Which four words describe you?

I’ve decided it’s not that I like things just because they’re British, it’s simply that I have fantastic taste and it turns out many of the wonderful things I like just happen to be British too. (See also Downton Abbey, which I was obsessed with last week when I wrote.)

Anyway, fully engrossed in staring at Benedict Cumberbatch’s cheekbones, and I’m glad they make fun of that in the show, because he really is unusual looking (thank goodness, because there are enough Boringly Beautiful People in “show biz” already). Also, it’s progressed to a point where I don’t really hear any accents, which is proof that one night in London I will have too many pints and wake up the next morning unable to remember what a good ol’ Midwest accent sounds like.

But in other news, I’ve been working a lot, though thankfully on a break from scholarships until Friday or so. It’s just been, you know, normal work, where they pay you by the hour and you know you only have six more weeks of it before you traipse across the country for all kinds of college-friend inspired adventures, plus family time, and then, well, you know what happens after that.

Working though, has been alright. Since I gave my notice at the job I was struggling at, I have been doing much better. To make up for it, I have been working a lot in the Emergency Department of the hospital where I was a student, as well as out on medical floors, so I still can’t talk about what I do, but it’s usually busy enough that the eleven or twelve hour days I’ve been putting in this past week don’t feel that long until the “eleventh hour” when I’m suddenly loopy from running around and failing to stay hydrated at work. I am only working about five days a week though, so let’s call that personal progress.

Like I mentioned, all quiet on the scholarship front, except I was made a finalist in the Society for Historical Discoveries’ Prize Essay Contest. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to announce that, but oh well. I wrote a paper synthesizing much of my knowledge from various History classes I took at Grinnell, about Christopher Columbus and the birth of “American Mythology”, which I define as those myths about Native Americans and the Natural State of the Americas since the pre-Columbian era. Are you still with me? Anyway, apparently it’s not horrid, so I’m a finalist and maybe by the end of the week I’ll know if they really do like me.

I got a few loans that have come through, which I think I failed to mention, though it’s quite important as it means that LONDON IS REALLY HAPPENING. I mean, we all talked about it like it was before the loans came through, but honestly, if I’d been declined loans, I would not have been able to go. That has helped my anxiety too (as with leaving my job), but you’d never know from how wordy I’m being. So, high risk “safety net” loan is in the works. I also got my federal loan, which cuts down the size of safety net I need, as do a couple other loans I’m waiting/working on. Additionally, I asked a girl in Boston to be my roommate and she didn’t say no, and she even sent me a property in the old Arsenal football stadium that I’ve since fallen in love with. The moral of this story is that my anxiety is greatly alleviated by actually accomplishing things to make my future London-life go more smoothly.

The car is still broken, by the way. Not sure what will happen with that, or Italy as a result, but as I keep saying I’m going to worry anyway, but I’ve got plenty of other, more important things to worry about.

Maybe that’s the moral of the story: Things are going to be the way they are, but I can focus on the things I can actually do something about. I’m going to be the way I am, but I can focus on the things I can actually take care of, instead of all the noise trying to get in the way and make me lose it.

Today, grateful for:
1. The man who gave me a free bus fare home.
2. London calling.
3. The SHD for thinking I’m a halfway respectable writer.
4. My parents, for being the ones who get to worry about the car.
5. Seven, seven, bo beaven, fee fi fo feaven, SEVEN WEEKS UNTIL I LEAVE INDIANAPOLIS.

But enough with the melodramatics.

In fact, I am quite fine, just feeling lots and watching Downton Abbey to give me an excuse to tear up from time to time. My last few weeks have been quite stressful, as starting May 1, I began a 20-day program to get through the huge piles of essay-based scholarships I had due by the end of May/beginning of June. I’ve basically gotten it all taken care of, but it wasn’t an enjoyable few weeks. That, coupled with increasingly mutual displeasure with the quality of my work (both myself and my employers have been displeased), I gave my notice at another of my jobs. This cuts me down to just one job, and the nice thing is that it allows me more flexibility of scheduling, and I can work less as at this job I’m leaving but still make the same amount. I would point out how this is good because I need to save money for Italy, but it turns out my car has a transmission problem in addition to the clutch, tires and radiator my parents just replaced, and my mom finally said today that we simply may not be able to afford Italy. I’m bummed, and I hate that we even tried to fix my car.

Like I said, roller-coaster.

I wrote though, and now I don’t know what else to say. Insipred by AnnaNotBob, I will then end with five things I’m grateful for today:
1. Free internet is back!
2. My handy, trusty iPhone.
3. Seeing the light at the end of the scholarship tunnel.
4. Only crying three times today.
5. The wonderful feeling I’m going to have in about seven minutes when I crawl into bed.

There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. — The Matrix

Though I was happy to report, when last we sat down together, that I was quite sure my perseverance and determination regarding this whole MBA/Hult/London thing, the undertone, the dark side of the moon if you will, was that there were doubts involved. Over the weekend, I felt a slight reprieve: as of Friday, a few good things were in the works, and I thought the wave had crested. I had possibly lined up a roommate for London, a girl who I think seems very neat from her online presence, who isn’t in my program (a plus), and with whom I share things in common. I also had spoken with an attorney regarding a big financial/work problem I’m currently in the middle of (mum’s the word now though). Today was supposed to be a very productive day: I’d hear back on my safety net loan, hear from another attorney, hear back on a big scholarship.

Apparently the universe is simply convinced I don’t really know patience or how to handle rejection. I think I do, but I am certainly tested.

Things came to a new crest today when I gave two weeks notice at yet another job. I’ve been struggling in my work there, compounding my anxiety, and was basically on the verge of tears when faced with any aspect of it. So even though I only have eight weeks left in Indy, I will only be spending two of those weeks at this job. Such is the way of things.

Sometimes, when you feel like you’re absolutely terrible at everything in the world, you have to fall back on the basic things you know that you know how to do. For me, that is swimming.

For the first time in a year, I jumped in the pool today, and felt my anxieties finally wash off. I felt clean, albeit waterlogged, and my mind is a bit clearer. What I realized is that I am looking at this entirely the wrong way, and that’s why I haven’t been able to accept the reality or positively impact the future with regard to my year in London.

The way I was viewing it was that it wasn’t fair that had either been rejected or hadn’t heard back on so many important things. I was impatient, worried, and frustrated that things weren’t perfectly falling into place because, gosh darnit, I’ve worked harder for this than anything I remember working for! I deserve more!

The way I am now viewing it is that I have been blessed already. First, that the opportunity should even present itself to me. Second, that Hult should be so kind as to offer me 20% of the amount I need in scholarships. That’s a lot! Third, that my parents should be able to support me as I struggle, and that though I whine and bitch and don’t always want to keep going, I am strong enough to weather this. I am lucky and grateful to have these things, not angry that I haven’t gotten more. More is even better, but this is definitely great.

Just needed a little chlorine to wash out all the negative ways I was thinking about it, I guess.

Actually, I hit a rock bottom, because there are undoubtedly other rock bottoms I will hit during my life. I should consider myself lucky that I’ve really only had a few so far. Many people my age—and trust me, they come into my work every day with symptoms that comprise an entire diagnostic manual—have fared far worse. I may be a (thankful) middle-class girl, but I’ve had a high class set of opportunities. As I get older, I appreciate that more.

But back in high school, at that first, or most important, rock bottom, my mother told me something. Like all teenagers, I ignored and repressed it. Like all young adults, I have come to realize the truth of it.

Everyone has a path. When you get off the path, God will bump you back on. The farther you go off the path, the harder the bump it takes to get back on.

I think it has primarily been struggle to define my own spirituality and faith that has made this hard to swallow. But that’s an entire other blog entry, eh? The key is that I can look back at the bumps I’ve experienced, and realize, they were just bumps back onto the path.

As I deliberated the decision to go to Hult, and you who watched my slow decision-making process know I deliberated, I wondered about whether this was the path, or something that would require a bump. Was it something I was doing because I wanted to, but not because it was the right thing to do? My OCPD has come to fruition in a way that makes me extremely rigid in my own beliefs (as I define them, not as say, the law or my friends or my parents do). I need to know when I am doing something that is Right. Right for me, right in the grand scheme, simply Not Wrong. I’m pretty black and white on whether something is right or not.

To make such a big decision, something that not only uproots my current life, but costs me tens of thousands of dollars, takes a year of my life, puts me on a completely different career course, and moves me overseas, had to be right. That many variables could simply not be left ambiguous.

But of course, sometimes we have to make decisions when we can’t know 100% that it will be the right one. We have to make leaps of faith, which only strengthen our faith in ourselves and in the Greater Plan and Master Orchestrater of It All. London was not a huge leap of faith, or maybe it was one so big that I can’t appreciate it. All I know is that at the moment I finally gave myself permission to embrace the reality that I could move to London and get my MBA, I wasn’t 100% sure I wasn’t going to get a major bump down the road, to make up for this possibly major diversion from the path.

The main question then, and now, was whether I was doing this to prove I could despite it all or because I had worked my whole life to be capable of doing this. I have a feeling the Path-Layer rarely sets things in front of us with the express intent of having us stick our middle-fingers up to Him. I think generally, He sets things so that we end up realizing our powers were there all along.

Four months later, I have put—please excuse my French—a fuckton of work into making this a reality. I have spent hundreds of hours searching for scholarships, researching and writing essays, begging reference letters, organizing, filing, coordinating, spread-sheeting and having a variety of Anxiety Disorder symptoms.

I have not gotten a single thing back at this point.

Not a single dime from a scholarship I’ve applied for (though Hult was kind enough to throw me a nice bone a few weeks ago that has certainly helped). Only one email even acknowledging that I had applied and been rejected. For all the work I have put in, I am unrewarded. Are these the bumps early in the diversion to push me back?

Don’t think I’ll leave you hanging, dear reader. This one’s got a Hollywood ending so far.

I never thought I would get to May, and looking back on all I’ve done since January, be able to say that I am confident I am now Absolutely Right in my decision to go to London. The skills I have practiced through tireless scholarship applications are not only academic, they are personal. I have dedicated myself daily to a goal, and for once in my life, actually stuck to it. I have finally found one of the few things so far that I am willing to work at Every Damn Day. It’s incredibly empowering, and self-sustaining. I don’t need a dime at this point: I know that when something matters enough, I’m going to be able to see it through.

It gives me hope I might someday get married and succeed at that too*.

I have a feeling that the Benevolent Smiling Man up above is absolutely laughing his butt off, because he saw this coming a long ways away. It’s a revalation to me, and as much as stepping foot off the plane in Heathrow will be a life-altering experience, so is this daily struggle. How can I not keep gushing about it? This is exactly the life that I was meant to have right now, and I finally know it.

(*This of course makes me think that until I had come to this point, I simply could not have sustained a truly marriage-quality relationship, and now that I know I can, the whole game has changed.)

I coming to learn and believe that I will never be that kind of person.

I’m trying to decide if this is a problem. You know, some grist for the therapy mill.

The issue is not that I don’t think the statement is true, or that if we did Evidence For and Against, it wouldn’t all align. It is true that I have never chosen a necessarily stable path. The issue is that I still sometimes feel a compensatory need to cover up the fact that while stability is great, I am a bastion of energy! passion! chaos, at times! The key is the cover up. I think of it like an inferiority complex: to appear not inferior I engage in behaviors which actually negatively impact my perception by others. To appear not instable, I engage in behaviors which actually constrain me.

I’d like to think we all have an “in(blank) complex” because something is always driving us to keep working on ourselves. If we didn’t feel in(blank), we wouldn’t feel compelled to work on a presentation that is (blank). Can you see what I mean? Other options for words include “inarticulate,” “inconsequential,” “indelicate,” “inept,” “inhuman,” “insincere,” “inactive,” and so on and so forth.

I bring this whole issue up, not out of jealousy, because thank goodness I’ve gotten to a point in my maturity where I can see the advantages to being stable and the advantages to being instable and don’t feel quite so bad for being the latter. I bring it up because I think it’s a great example of how to use Alternative Explanations on the DTR, which I haven’t had a good chance to do yet (in a non-cheesy way, as I always know the simple explanations I give clients).

The reality is that sometimes, the behaviors in which we engage when we choose to be the in(blank) rather than the (blank) don’t make sense to other people. And because we are so impacted by our perceptions of others’ perceptions of us, we end up feeling bad for simply being the way we are.

Let me specify for the example: the behaviors in which I engage when I choose to be instable rather than stable don’t make sense to other people, and because I care what they think of me, I feel bad about myself.

Often times—too often—clients come in with this exact feeling (“feel bad”) and work to identify the thought, something along the lines of “being instable is a bad thing.” (There’s a core belief hidden there, but let’s avoid it for now.)

Auto-therapist, Engage!

You say that you have the thought “being instable is a bad thing,” let’s look at some alternative ways to think about “being instable”. Some other explanations beyond it being “a bad thing”.
Well, being instable is exciting to me. It means doing what I want to do.

And that can be good within reason. But it is exciting, how?
Because I can do what I want, the things I choose to do are the things that which excite me most. I don’t spend time doing things that other people might think are exciting. Also, being instable makes me happy, it makes me feel creative and alive when I’m doing certain things.

Go on.
Well, I don’t quite know how to describe it. It’s being able to follow my passions and not caring what other people think…
(Therapist thinks: Ah hah! The core belief comes out at last!)
…and just enjoying my life more.

Sounds pretty good to me. But you mentioned that part of it is not caring what other people think. That’s an incredibly tough thing to do.
Yes, which is why sometimes, okay a lot of the times, the “being instable is a bad thing” thought wins.

Keep going.
Being instable is not a bad thing to me, now that I say all the alternative ways of thinking about it. Being instable gives me excitement and happiness and allows me to do what I want and enjoy my life. “Being instable is a bad thing” is someone else’s thought.

Amen! Sometimes we internalize the thoughts and verbalizations of our parents, friends, lovers, peers, students… you name it. Early in life, we are sponges for all they share with us, and when we don’t find happiness in the same way they do, it makes sense we will struggle with that.

So the real issue, after all that, is NOT that I am instable. The issue is not that I’m choosing to move to another country, changing career fields, have no plans to marry or have children in the next five years, will probably travel the world extensively in that time, or have been known for rashness and instable interpersonal relationships. The issue is that I am letting someone else’s thoughts about all of those things come into my mind and tell me it is the wrong way to live. I know it’s not. It gives me joy to live a life that never feels boring. Separating myself from others’ perceptions of the life I live will be a struggle, though it’s getting easier as I get older and just don’t have the time or energy to give a damn what people think.

But what are you struggling to be or not be? Whose thoughts are in your head today, questioning the life that brings you joy? How entrenched are you in those thoughts? Can you shake off the shackles? Is this the Spanish Inquisition?

Is that a succinct enough explanation for my absence? No? Shoot.

Well, the primary reason in the latter part of this week is that the internet I use has suddenly decided that while it will still exist as a network, it certainly won’t connect to the greater world wide web, and thus I am isolated save for my wee phone. But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.

Two weeks ago started the most intensive scholarship push yet. in the course of one month, I have something like 12 scholarships due, eight of which require essays. And not the ’500 words on why you deserve this scholarship’ kind of essay. Essays requiring reading, research, citations, reference lists… Real work, in other words. I am about halfway through the whole dozen, but have only completed two of the essays. In the next ten days, I Will complete another six. So my day looks kind of like: get up, go to work, come home, go to the gym/Toastmasters, go to the library, come home, watch The X-Files and pass out, or don’t watch The X-Files, wish I had, and pass out. Rinse and repeat.

Nevermind last week also introduced the week I was quitting one job, shifting to another, and received a bad performance review at a third job (yes, I had three jobs… now I have two. It is relatively better.) I would come home from work really needing to switch-off and having to dive into “Corporate Social Responsibility and its Impact of the Progress of our Nation” or “Columbus and the Birth of American Mythology”. I hate this expression, but FML.

This is not to say I have only been working. I’ve had the pleasure to see both an Indiana Pacers and an Indiana Ice game with a friend, as well as to, albeit reservedly, as I’ve had an ear infection, celebrate Cinco de Mayo and St. Benno’s Festival (google it, that shit is great!!). I’ve seen some other homo sapiens in social interactions from time to time. I even heard from a long-lost character, JLT, as I had called him for his birthday this week.

So shit, I’ve been bad at writing. I’ve got a nice slew of entries waiting in the wings for next week, and will hopefully get even more efficient at managing my time since now when I come home, I haven’t got any internet to watch The X-Files on. In a few weeks, the burden will ease for a couple weeks prior to the June 30 deadline on a whole bunch more, but I’ll at least have time to breathe.

Basically, we could sum up this entry by saying that I’m NOT complaining. I enjoy working hard, I hope that some of these scholarships will pan out, and I am still pumped about London (though starting to freak out a bit about finances/loans/going to Italy just before). This is exactly what I know is the right decision for me, or I wouldn’t have the dedication to see it through; my doubts would eat at my otherwise. But it is work, as most things are, and it is taking time I really could use for venting/channeling my writing in other areas. Never fear though. I just renewed my domain a month ago, so I’m gonna get my money’s worth. Until the next time I can piece together an entry about my personal life that doesn’t sound like a tragedy, always yours,

V

30th “Friday”: Sweet Jeanius
Twitter: @sweetjeanius1
Price: $$
Food Tried:
- Grand Velvet Cupcake ($4)

I’ve talked and thought frequently about market weight, which I’m fairly certain is my term for what business people call something else entirely. By market weight, I mean how much weight the market can bear in a particular industry. For example, how many food trucks can the city of Indianapolis have before the market is overburdened and those trucks start to relatively lose business?

Sweet Jeanius has two things going for it that make me less concerned about their immediate business future as the economy continues to add trucks:
1. They don’t come downtown often, preferring to stay up north in Kokomo, meaning that when they do, all of the food truckies and food truck collectors want to try them.
2. They are a dessert truck. One can never have too much dessert. Okay, that’s not true, but having options in the dessert truck sub-market is a good thing.
Specializing in cookies, brownies, pies, puddings and cupcakes, Sweet Jeanius is a great end to a food truck based meal, and you’ll likely find them out and about with Rollin Wit Da Roux. It’s really a great setup.

I have been meaning to catch up with them since the Super Bowl (like I said, they’re not around often), with my eyes set on the Grand Velvet cupcake. There are some words that when used to describe food just exponentially increase the likelihood I will order them, and “grand” is one of them. The Grand Velvet has a Ghiradelli chocolate center, Grand Marnier infused cream cheese frosting. With that kind of product placement, you know it’s going to be good. Moist, fluffy, and the exact flavor to teach you how dynamic red velvet tastes. I was busy stuffing myself with dinner foods at the First Friday Food Truck Fest, but grabbed a Grand Velvet prior to leaving. When I started home, it looked great. When I got home, the heat had done a number on that pretty icing. Not to be dissuaded, I enjoyed every bite anyway, and it tasted just as good all melty.

For the size of the cupcake, which I have a feeling was really meant to be shared — you can bet there was none of that sharing nonsense when I tried it — it’s a very reasonable cap on an evening of street food. There’s also such a nice variety of desserts that you can find something everyone will like, in portions you can share.

Wah wah… Melted icing!

Closing thoughts:
1. You’ll never hear me say this, but I really love the plastic containers! They fit a cupcake perfectly! Do they make them from any other materials or are they recyclable?
2. I can’t remember because it was a while ago, but do you serve drinks from the truck normally? Like, local cider and homemade hot cocoa in the winter, and various milks in the summer? perfect with a dessert!
3. Do you have website? I wasn’t able to find one!
In general, I was pleased with my Grand Velvet, and how personable the ladies at Sweet Jeanius have always been when I’ve stopped to say hello.

29th “Friday”: Nacho Mama’s
Website: nachomamasfoodtruck.com
Twitter: @nachomamasft
Price: $$
Food Tried:
- Mama’s Ultimate Nachos ($6): blue chips & queso, topped with a mix of brown rice, black beans, bell peppers, onions, corn, tomatoes, and chipotle sour cream. Served with salsa fresca.
 

One of the only foods I can successfully cook is chili. This is because chili is my favorite food. But when I go to eat chili, wherever I am, I usually don’t crumble my crackers on top (unless I face a limited supply of crackers); I like to scoop the chili onto the crackers. Which is to say, I like to eat my chili, nacho-style. So really, what I love is nachos with chili on them, because this is the best combination of chili and eatability. Now, Nacho Mama’s Food Truck does not serve chili, but I’m guessing you can guess what they do serve…

NACHOS.

And some other Mexican foods. But mostly NACHOS.

Actually, Nacho Mama’s is the refurbished Indy Cheez Steak, this time manned by ladies doling out the nachoey goodness. It was no question that at the First Friday Food Truck Festival (May edition), I would be all about the NACHOS.

The Ultimate nachos were just that. Crunchy blue corn tortilla chips (always great for adding color and flavor to a dish o’ nachos). Smooth and creamy cheese and sour cream. Black beans, which I always order on my nachos, and brown rice, which I never order, together forming the heartiness of the nachos, and leaving every chip piled high with toppins’. Fresh tomato and onion salsa that cooled the whole flavor in my mouth. Can you see where I’m going here? (I very much enjoyed my meal.) Basically, a well crafted, flavorful, interesting and colorful plate of nachos. Thumbs up.

The price was very reasonable on their whole menu, ranging around the $6-7 range. Their portion for the nachos was certainly generous, as I only meant to eat half but it was so good I ate it all and then I felt kind of unwell because I was full of nacho average nachos. See what I did with that?

Because every reviewer is really a critic trying to avoid feeling bad about criticizing, I will give you my feedback as nicely as possible!
1. Styrofoam makes me want to cry. I know it’s cheaper, but it’s also spawn of the demon responsible for Ford Explorers and mercury in batteries. Recyclable, por favor?
2. It was a little bit disorganized with the giving of the orders and the giving of the monies and the getting of the food and the getting of the change for the monies I gave… I’m sure that’s a kink you will work out as the business moves along though. Or, was something different happening because it was Food Truck Fest?
3. I will admit, this could totally be me off in my memory, or it could be that the Old National doesn’t allow you to sell drinks. Either way, I don’t remember what you do sell, but it would be great to have a Mexican Coke with your meals. Just a thought on food-drink pairings!
But really, thank you for an amazing nacho experience. It’s my favorite food for a reason, and though it’s not great walk-and-eat food, it was a great meal.

29th “Friday”: Nicey Treat
Website: niceytreat.com
Twitter: @niceytreat
Price: $$
Food Tried:
- Mango-Ginger Nicey Treat ($3)

Okay, okay, Nicey Treat is not a food truck. I have tinkered with the idea of expanding my food truck search to include all kinds of mobile cuisine, and hadn’t really committed. Then I realized that Floribbean Flair, Der Pretzel Wagen, Mabel on the Move, Smoke House, and Chef Dan’s Indy were all trailers… In fact, I’m not sure they were the only ones! And really, trailers aren’t trucks, so I’ve already crossed the line into mobile cuisine and at that point, it would be simply rude to discriminate Nicey Treat simply because their primary momentum force is human-powered. No, they don’t have humans pulling a cart, but they are a Food Bicycle. It’s called the Nice-ycle, and it’s a pretty sweet blend of ice cream cooler and bike and umbrella and AWESOME.

Nicey Treat does popcycles, but they do them like taking those really great fruit popcycles that you weren’t allowed to have when you had to be on a clear liquid diet because they actually had fruit in them, and then they’re better. Think Pineapple-Basil flavored. Or Strawberry-Mint. ‘Not-so-hot Chocolate.’ Avocado. I tried Mango-Ginger, because like I am a Fan of food trucks, I am a Fan of mangoes.

Mango-Ginger is fresh mango, fresh ginger, juice concentrate and, I think the awesome Nicey man said, sugar. That’s it. Flash-frozen to lock in the flavor and creamyness of the blended mix. Mounted on one of Nicey’s own popcycle sticks (it’s always a nice day, when you’ve just finished a Nicey Treat, because the popcycle stick tells you so! And you’ve just finished a Nicey Treat!). Cheaper than an ice cream truck too, though not likely to be found roaming neighborhoods unless somebody at Nicey is up for some serious biking.

Given that Nicey Treat is not a food truck and offers only one type of food in many varieties, and they offer dessert, it’s hard to offer comparisons in some areas I normally do. I can say that I was pleased to see how many people were enjoying Nicey Treat as I walked into the First Friday Food Truck Fest, and they’re clearly in a niche in the food ‘truck’ market.

More ‘food’ for thought:
1. While I’m not the biggest fan of the plastic wrappers for the sake of our big Nicey Earth, I see the advantages of them (so many different flavors, gotta see what color it is to know what flavor it is!), and I appreciate that I didn’t have to dispose of the plastic wrapper myself–Mr. Nicey took care of that for me. It’s not that I’m lazy, but it’s more likely that an entire bag of just those little wrappers could be recycled. Or, I’ll just tell myself that.
2. It could be fun, but could you do Nicey flavor contests? Like, via twitter or something, that would allow people to make a combo for others to try.
3. I appreciate how many awesome flavors Nicey has to offer, but ten (if I counted correctly) is a bit overwhelming. I’d be interested to see how the sales distribution for flavors looks; do they all sell a lot, or are some big sellers? Could you cut it down to 6 or 7 so that people can more easily make decisions?
4. Would LOVE to see you grow. I’m thinking Victory Field on a hot summers day, Indians up by three in the sixth inning, and a Nicey in my hand…
Nicey is the perfect Indianapolis summer treat. Can I say anything more marketable?