Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Music for your Midweek: Procol Harum - "Whiter Shade of Pale"

3-12-2017
Learning this on the guitar this week, and it makes me cry every time. Every year I get older, I'm more and more of a baby:


And the version I grew up with:

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Feeling Spent for Lent

Got extra ambitious with Lent this year, and decided to go vegan. No consuming animal products. No meat, fish, chicken, dairy, eggs, pork, cheese, honey, ice cream... basically everything good. Day one started with all optimism, but ended with this for dinner:


It was even sadder than it looks. Ramen without the spices (whats the point?), olive oil, lemon juice, and avocado. Not exactly the pinnacle of health, but that's what happens when laziness and good intentions meet. Why am I subjecting myself to this? It can be summed up in a few tired bullet points that I kept re-iterating to friends and and coworkers but seemed less important by the minute GIVE ME SOME CHEESE:

  • Abstaining from animal products has been part of many Lenten traditions, specifically Eastern Orthodox, so there is a bit of a precedent
  • Going vegan does not only have potentially help your health, but benefits the environment as a whole ( a guy on Bumble told me that we have all these restrictions on pollution but we practically have no restrictions limiting how much we use animals for farming/food and they are one of our biggest polluters! Guys on Bumble say a lot of things though, so take that with a grain of salt)
  • It's a good practice in self-control (which I have had NONE of over the past year). I've been far too permissive, and challenges like this always encourage me to be more mindful.
  • Lent is meant to be a time of fasting, abstinence and sacrifice to help sanctify us. I'm basically giving up a lot of favorite things, and some unhealthy coping mechanisms along with it. It can really only be for my good, right?
  • I gained back 25 pounds I had previously lost since I started my new job last year, so it's time for some DRASTIC measures. See? It's not all holy.


Here's another article if you're like me and love getting swept up in these archaic rules. I'll be checking in daily (hopefully) to help keep me on track, so here goes!

ALSO

on Wednesdays, I used to post a song I've been thinking about. I thought this ol' thing fit the bill just fine for today: