Christmas

So Christmas this year was great and fun. We went to my uncle's house on Christmas Eve, where we could have meatballs, pulled pork, or a chicken dish for dinner. They only served meat? And for the appetizers, I think there was about 10 different dips and only tortilla chips. Needless to say, I pretty much just ate my aunt's ricotta cookies that she brought. We stopped by a family-friend's house on the way home and enjoyed an hour of fun with them. It has been 15 years of friendship with them. I'll tell the story. In kindergarten, my mom asked me to select some of my friends to come over for a Christmas party and then she'd invite the kids' families. Well, I picked my friend Robert and now our families have been friends since then! Amazing! Anyway, Christmas Day was nice getting to see the entire family. It is a little different going from my dad's side where I'm one of the oldest to my mom's side where I'm one of the youngest. Absolutely crazy. I still feel like a kid in both situations! Overall, I enjoyed seeing everyone and celebrating the holiday together.

Running Again

Finally feeling good when I go for my runs. 85+ days of not feeling great has finally passed. Now I'm resembling my prime--back in 2002...when I was actually fast.

Eating Animals

So my first "fun" book of the break I read was Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I have read two of his other books and the library sent me this one first off my request list so that is what I started with. I don't really think much about where food comes from but recently I have been paying more attention to it because I have to buy it for myself. Foer reference The Omnivore's Dilemma, which I read last year or the year before and made me conscious (at the time) of eating food. There's many accounts and arguments for becoming a more informed eater in this book. Naturally, I have been thinking of becoming a vegetarian/vegan/meat eater only at Chipotle. Anyway, so here are some excerpts from the book that I found interesting. And also, you should just read the book anyway.

Foer talked with his grandmother about her experience fleeing the persecution of Jewish people by the Germans:
"He saved your life."
"I didn't eat it."
"You didn't eat it?"
"It was pork. I wouldn't eat pork."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"What, because it wasn't kosher?"
"Of course."
"But not even to save your life?"
"If nothing matters, there's nothing to save."

"It's always possible to wake someone from sleep, but no amount of noise will wake someone who is pretending to be asleep."

"The very genetics of chickens, along with their feed and environment, were now intensively manipulated to produce either excessive amounts of eggs (layers) or flesh, especially breasts (broilers). From 1935 to 1995, the average weight of "broilers" increased by 65 percent, while their time-to-market dropped 60 percent and their feed requirements dropped 57 percent. To gain a sense of the radicalness of this change, imagine human children growing to be three hundred pounds in ten years, while eating only granola bars and Flintstones vitamins."

Christmastime

Just a quick trip to center city today with the family to do all things Christmas-y. It was pretty much a Christmas zoo everywhere--so packed and crazy and so many people!!

Christmas Is Coming!

Christmas is coming soon! Only five days! The break from classes has been nice, with much time to sleep, relax, and do nothing. The one problem is that with all this free time, I procrastinate with the stuff I actually have to do and then I become more stressed out. Goodness! But it is a good time to just spend with friends, family, and yourself. I haven't really done much except watch three movies and consider becoming a vegetarian (more on that later). But I hope everyone is for the overall happiness that comes with December 25th, no matter how much the animals in the manger smell.

Fat baby Santa, aka me.

Santa--I Know Him!!

So I met Santa tonight. He always makes an appearance at the Boys Club every year. And plus, there was ice cream. Yum. I asked Santa for a pony for Christmas (I've been asking for 10+ years now) and he said I could get two!!! Yay! Two ponies. You'll be seeing me on my ponies heading to class in January. Look out. If you're nice to me, maybe you could try it too.

PS--That's one of my ugly sweaters!

PPS--Read this embarrassing article about me...or not. Please don't.

Pyro

So I like fire. Naturally, tonight was a great night to burn stuff. Cleaning my room is so refreshing and burning stuff is fun so I decided to combine the two. I took the demons of my past, stuffed them inside a paper bag and a box, and hustled out into the freezing snow rain. I felt a little homeless as I sat on my stool around the fire. I was worried that someone was going to call the cops on me! Or that I wouldn't be able to put out the fire. But it all worked out, except my basement smells like fire. Oh well. So I highly recommend burning stuff--it is a great relief to rid yourself of past baggage. Just don't burn your house down.

Hectic

Papers and tests and finals, oh my!! This past weekend was packed with meetings and events so naturally I've been feeling stressed. But there's nothing like just hanging out in the Union with Cody and Kristen today, enjoying each other's company. But here's to working hard the last week of the semester and hopefully I am more prepared next time!!

my snow-covered street!!