Going vegetarian

Well, as I previously stated in my blog about Skinny Bitch, I am going to give it another go to become a vegetarian. This time I really feel like the whole meat-industry and abuse of animals is the argument that was most compelling. Its hard to talk about the environmental impact because there are counter-arguments stating that soy-production WOULD be just as polluting if it were on such a scale. But still, the problem is scale. The problem is the over consumption. That was my inspiration last time. I failed last time  (2011) because I was going to China for 10 weeks. And honestly, have you seen all that amazingly spiced food?? Yum! Anyways, so I am going to take this seriously this time, even though we’re going to South America. I haven’t had any meat yet since last sunday. I know I know, it hasn’t really been a long time. And honestly, I have to agree with that statement, because going 4 days without meat for me is not really a big deal, its not something I have a problem with, it was in my habits. I’ve never “craved” meat, though I did appreciate it like any carvinore would.
What is going to be difficult will be fish, or sushi, when I’m in the mood… d’oh! But I think what I love the most about sushi is the spices (again), the sesame oil, combined with rice wine vinegar, etc. So I can still have the vege-bowl at Kazu! yay!! That may be my favorite meal ever.

So what helps?

1. I LOVE cooking, and I LOVE cooking healthy! finding healthy, vege-based recipes is just a blast for me. I have a few favorites, but I’m always finding more meal-ideas! Health is Happiness is one of the cool vegetarian /health blogs I am subscribed to, and I just love it. The images and the new use of different ingredients are enticing!
2. I work and study at a university which is fairly vegetarian, even vegan, friendly. There are 3 different student-run coop cafés which sell all kinds of vegetarian options like sandwiches, burritos or soups
3. I work and study DOWNTOWN in a part of town that is awesome and has lots of vegetarian-friendly options! I’ll have to find out about the vegan part (when I get to that) but even if I’m in a complete rush, I can have a quick falafel if all else fails. There’s also Le Commensal, a vegetarian weight-based buffet which has recently become controversial in its admittance of some flexitarian-oriented platters-read meat eaters.
4. As previously stated, my tastebuds are not attracted to meat per se, and now what I’ve read in Skinny Bitch has helped me feel more “icky” about meat-eating.

So that’s it for now. I have been meat and coffee free since wednesday now. The coffee bit is harder than the meat. I’ve been drinking lots of tea. But the no-sugar rule has been IMPOSSIBLE to stick to. I’ve looked at websites talking about sugar addiction and they are indeed usefull. So I have to keep that in mind.

Well, that’s all there is to say about that. I’m going to go back to my studying.

Love

The case of the missing wallet

Hello!

So I appear to have lost my wallet. BLERGH.

How annoying. I was biking back from the bike shop, and it must have just slipped out of my pocket. So I have been moochy-mooching off of my darling Marky for monnies… But no more. Since I didn’t find it, I finally had to make the fatal calls to the credit card companies, banks, health insurance companies… UGH. And they all told me to call Equifax and Transunion­. I think these companies are bullshit, who the (*?&*% gives them the right to have all our credit information and who we are and where we live and WE HAVE TO PAY THEM to access the information they’ve gathered on us???? Riiight… that makes sense. I don’t know my credit rating. I hope that I never will have to know it. Or anything about it. I hate that I already KNOW what the heck a credit rating IS! Little hippe old me is totally unhappy about all this corporate capitalist bullshit. I’m worth a TON more than my credit rating. I will never CRY over my credit rating.

Anyways, enough with the whinning. I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to call Equifax and that other one… boo

On the other hand, I have had some time to think about money in another way. I haven’t really had time to put this thought process to good use, but the idea of how I spend cash vs. credit/bank card money its really phenomenal. Its confusing! I KNOW I spend less when I only have cash on me. I used to be very thrifty with my money in CEGEP and the start of uni days. But as my paycheck grew… so did my spending. On utterly useless stuff sometimes. Or food which, though not expensive, I COULD buy cheaper… Hmmm… So I’m going to be pondering this… a lot.

Take care you lot!

Skinny Bitch

Hey all! So I went and got a copy of Skinny Bitch. Because right now, nothing is working. And my foot still hurts. And I am super busy with my thesis. And it was a funny read. No new information, just a lot of good ol’ kick in the behind from this book. Reminders of what is good and what is bad for me.

So for now I’m going to try to go vegan eventually. Its going to be hard because 1. I love food and 2. people are annoying and judgmental when you do something like that. So I’m starting out with just avoiding meat for the first week, then I’ll cut back to no milk or eggs or dairy, then I’ll cut out the fish (my biggest non-vegan weakness). All of this is going hand and hand with a cutting off of sugar… which is truly going to be the hardest thing ever. But I am fat, bloated and unhappy. And I need to remember that. I need to remind myself that I can do it and that I am not (necessarily) going to fail.

Thesis thesis thesis…

Hey!

So, this post is going to fulfill one of the original reasons I wanted to blog: to avoid putting crap people don’t care about on facebook and being an attention-seeker.

Thesis, chapter 1: 9/20 pages are GOOD and DONE!

Lets see how far I can get today, friday!

 

“Obnoxious Friend Won’t Stop Attaining Major Life Milestones” on the Onion

The Onion, sometimes you suck. But sometimes you can hit the nail right on the head. This article is brilliant. It just about sums up what Facebook is like for a late twenty-something. Some of your friends are out there, getting married, pregnant, graduating, buying condos, bla bla bla. Some people seem even specifically motivated to do so faster and in the proper order. But what about those who aren’t busy “attaining” all these life mile-stones? We aren’t honoring and showering them with as much attention as those who are. Honestly, I kind of prefer those who have found something better to do. Rushing to attain these milestones are kind of life playing the video game of “life” on default, aren’t they?  Well, I think the Onion has done a good satyr of the perpetuating “life-goals” way of things. We aren’t focusing enough on what is good for one another. We should celebrate the fact that any person is doing well at being themselves, no matter what they are doing! Why do we all judge one another on the same basis? Isn’t it rather silly?

New Blog!

Hey! So in honor of having booked our flights, Marky and I have started a new blog: http://cycletheandes.wordpress.com/ which is going to feature nothing but the travel points. I will probably keep this blog up as well for the heck of it.

Just wanted to state that my foot is only sort of getting better… Which is to say that I feel like its still quite vulnerable to certain movements. We went to a lodge with some friends last weekend and there was a kinesiologist who is a friend of a friend and he said that walking is just not a good idea right now. DANG! I was getting really positive about the whole walking home scheme. I will probably still walk to Paul’s yoga class tonight nonetheless, because it is not quite as far as home. The kin-friend said to do some stationnary cycling instead of long-distance running. So yesterday, good as gold, I scamper off to the gym with all my gear and lo and behold there is not a cycle left free for me Having only a limited time for lunch at work, I gave up and went back to work. After my second (evening) shift finished at 8pm, I figured I could at least get some laps in before heading home. But after changing and getting to the pool, I realize they are removing the lane-separators. A Water-polo game is about to commence and the whole pool is taken. DAMMIT!

The fitness fairy was against me yesterday. 

Today will be good though!

Flights booked!!

Hey lovelies!

Well, its DONE! Officially, Mr Marky and I have booked out flights! OMG! So excited!

OMG I CAN’T WAIT TO CYCLE-TOUR SOUTH AMERICA!!!

Ok, so we started looking at the what and where of what we’re going to do in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia… hot DANG! I’m excited!

Making it online

Where to begin? We all know the web revolutionized the way we do nearly everything. One thing in particular is that it all gives us a chance to get out there and find our litter corner of stardom, whatever that may be. If you get to make a living off if it, incredible perks come up, one of which is the freedom to work from anywhere. This isn’t news to me, nor is it news to you, I bet. The reason I bring it up is that I just don’t understand how the heck THIS happened: 

http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/cedric-lizotte/freak-show_b_2717998.html#slide=2125248

This guy’s writing makes me think he’s an utter twat. Perhaps he isn’t. But his article surely makes me wonder WHY IS THIS GUY GETTING PAID to write this drivel?? Can’t they pay ME to travel around the world and do commentary. I would have some very interesting things to say about the exact same scene he is describing. But he is being a judgmental douche about it and as such leading his readers to the same attitude of contempt and disrespect towards the Chinese people.

I won’t go into the details for that is neither here nor there, but my main point is, gosh! If THIS GUY can get paid to travel abroad, why can’t I? I actually speak 5 languages and have travelled to 19 countries. What do THEY have that I haven’t got? There are mostly some extraordinary travel bloggers out there, my favorite being Legal Nomads. I LOVE Jodie! And really the overwhelming majority of travel-blogging sites I’ve seen feature really out of this world photography and penmanship. This Cedric fellow would have failed any class I would have been T.A.ing with that abysmal attitude.

So, that’s that about that because that’s enough!

On the other hand, and in recent news, I absolutely LOVE Questionable content! Jeph is an awesome writer, artist and social commentator. I am addicted to his characters and I absolutely associate myself with Faye! Who is sexy, chuby, outspoken (to say the least) and insecure. I feel like I’m secretly routing for her though the main character is Marten. Anyways, I’ll let those who don’t already know about them discover on their own. But I just want to say how much of an inspiration to me that is. I even bought a shirt from QC

So lets add to that something I found snooping about the shelves of the library, (I work in a library, in case anyone was wondering! Anyone?)

Tokyo Sanpo by Florent Chavouet

Here are a few images taken on the googles:

So what is is is a book filled with sketches and doodles of this guy’s travels in Tokyo, he was staying there with his girlfriend while she had an internship. But I mean, the idea is just pure genius! Why WRITE about it when you can draw? and its fantastic because I mean the travel photography thing has been WAY too done, but travel drawing?? YES YES YES! Now THAT’s a winning idea! I love photography. I actually to some contracts part-time with my lovely boyfriend, but this whole idea of drawing your way though the tale of your trip is just mind-blowing! Because you can add in snippets and categories of people and anecdotes and so on. Really, I am absolutely enthralled by this idea.

 

Listening to Stereomood…

Hi readers. Sorry for the absence. Life sure is a fickle thing. I learned a lot from my foot issues, and unfortunately I haven’t been diligent enough to put those teachings into words. First of all, and what a cliché it will be, but boy do we underestimate the importance of that which we already have. I had the ability to walk and it was (somewhat) taken away from me. As a sufferer of chronic fatness (yes, that is a thing, but it is not quite the same as obesity – more like a crappy metabolism) I do not take this lightly. Not being able to move around on my feet will inevitably result in me gaining everything I’ve ever lost (and more) back! Which would in turn bring on depression and self-loathing, possibly resulting in alcoholism. Anyways, I just don’t want to go there. Because well… feet are just fantastic! They are so extraordinarily taken for granted. It makes me want to shake those lazy people who take the escalator or use (HORROR OF HORRORS) a Segway. I will resist the urge of putting up a picture here, mostly because I want to avoid insulting anyone. So feet! They are just fantastic. Why pay for transport when I can walk there?? Even in winter, even if its an hour-long walk. Walking is just EPIC. As a matter of fact, it is one of my life goals to just walk in any given direction, no technology, no objective, just walk. I love walking. I think biking is the closest approximation to this, as you have time to see things you wouldn’t otherwise. I wouldn’t walk to Labrador, because the things and people to encounter are few and far between. But imagine walking around Europe, or South-East Asia. That would just be… fantastic. I don’t think I can imagine something better than that really.

I put my gimpy foot to the test last night and I walked an hour and a half to my yoga class. It went remarkably well. And Paul didn’t use any warriors or other standing postures. Which was a blessing for my dumb foot. Going back in to the yoga practice was a great healing for me, and I know it has been missing. I’m going to see what I can and can’t do over the course of the next weeks.

I am blessed for so many things. And I may just be blessed with profound healing if I be careful with my foot. 

I’m doing the Cabbage-soup diet to counter-act all the weight-gain I’ve been going through. I might follow-up with the Herbal D-Tox by Wild Rose. The thing is I’ve got many social events coming up, including presenting my thesis to the committee at the end of march! And I want to fit in my clothes. I’ll let you know how it worked. 

For now, here is a “before” picture of me with my cousins we took on Sunday: