Words flow through my head on a regular basis, but I lack the willingness to jot them down on paper - or even, to type them on the computer. A lot has happened in my life within the last 6 months. These things have been good and bad alike. I've made friends, lost people that I thought would be in my future, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about life.
Recently, I began a temporary stint at Veganism. To date, it's going well. I've been able to incorporate my love for cooking with my willingness to try new things. Some of my dishes have been huge hit, and others have been just okay. But, I'm most proud of the fact that I've stuck with it this long.
I was in Massachusetts, then NJ this past weekend. I got to spend time with my family. I love them so much. And even though they represent a small portion of a larger entity, just being with those four people in New Jersey can light up my life.
I'm still grappling with the end of my last friendship. And, I guess it's really about time I got over it. But, I invested too much into it, and, unfortunately I am just not able to let go of the feelings that I still harbor. But, life goes on.
I believe that this was the weekend that I was supposed to be going to Albany for a function at my Alma Mater. While I wish I could have been in attendance, I've been out three days since the school year began. That is uncategoristic for even me. But, I don't feel so bad. There are those at my job that use EVERY last one of their days way before the end of the school year. I'm using a few and I'll still have many left over at the end of the year.
Anyway, it's 1:19am. I need to be in bed. Perhaps I'll come on here a little later and chat about what's really been on my mind.
So, here we go with day 2. It's been a good day. I woke up this morning with a headache so bad that I really needed to take a pill. But, before I take any pills, I have to make certain that I have something in my stomach.
Luckily, I'd purchased a few items that would prepare me for such a time as this - Fantastic World Foods' Tofu Scrambler and some Tofu. So, I walked downstairs and mashed, mixed, and scrambled. The outcome was pretty damn okay. Of course I needed to have some protein, so I had some Tofurky sausage. Pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.
As the day progressed, I got hungry but I was able to resort back to my Vegan Crabless cakes. I had one of those and was okay for the rest of that time. Later that evening, I prepared some Yellow rice, meatloaf (for my sister), and Pad See Ew (for myself and co-worker). The daggon meatloaf really had me wanting to eat meat again. But, I resisted. So, now at the end of Day II, I can say that it's all to the good.
Any of you who know
me, know that I do not believe in living without meat. In fact, I believe that
a meal is not complete if there is no meat or meat substitute on the plate. So,
you can imagine how hilarious it has been for people who know me to hear that I
am attempting to become Vegan, not Vegetarian, for 30 days. To tell you the
truth, I find it to be quite gut wrenching. But, what is funnier than the
thought of me becoming a Vegan, is the fact that obstacle one is simply
figuring out what a Vegan eats.
So, in true blog fashion, I felt that it would be a little
humorous for you to travel with me through my journey into becoming Vegan. Now
hear me when I say this – I could care less about people that are Vegan for
Political reasons. I’m simply doing it to challenge myself. What I look forward
to the most is that it will be right before Thanksgiving when I’m able to eat
meat again. And, I already know that I want an extra helping of OXTAIL. That’s
right, I said OXTAIL.
I grew up eating Vegetarian meat, so I actually don’t have a
problem eating it. However, many vegetarian meat products are extremely high in
sodium. So, I’ve resorted to buying the Asian brands. For some reason, they’ve
been able to really do a great job of creating vegetarian meats that are better
to eat and better tasting than the others. But, they are damn expensive. So, I’ve
been in the Asian markets and the Vegetarian markets to get stuff to make.Let’s talk about today:
I woke up at 6:30ish and began to clean my house (which, for
the record, looks like I never started). At 8:40am, I hopped in my car and
drove to the Potomac Book and Bible House to buy some veggie meat.When I got there, they were closed, so I
walked over to target. Keep in mind that I never stated anything about
breakfast. Before I left the Book and Bible House, I picked up my first Vegan
Sandwich. Let’s just say that this may be harder than I want to admit, not
because Vegan stuff can’t taste good, but because the Vegan stuff that you can
buy tend to be disgusting. I felt like I was eating flax with lettuce and
tomatoes. And if you’ve never had flaxseed then you ought to know that I’ve
never had it on purpose. But I imagine that that stuff that I was eating would
be what a flaxseed would taste like. Minus a few glitches, the sandwich was
palatable.
While I was there, I checked out the variety of Vegan meat
substitutes and I was actually surprised to see that there was a great deal. I
purchased two Vege Tunas, Nayonaise, and some other stuff. Then, I headed to
the Asian Market. There I bought noodles for Pad Thai and Pad See Ew. Also, I
bought some Coconut Milk, Coconut Cream, Sweet Soy Sauce, Baby Bok Choy, and Brussels
Sprouts. Finally, I headed back home.
Generally when I’m hungry, I can go in the fridge and grab a
Laughing Cow cheese and some crackers, but that was impossible with my new found
veganism. So, I grabbed my Vegan Big Frank. I ate that plain and went along my
business. Later on, I got hungry again, so I ate the kale and baby bella
mushrooms that I prepared this past week along with the last two Vegan Tempura
Shrimp that I prepared as well.
Then, I took some of my Vegan Tuna, some Tofu, and some
other stuff to make some Crabless Cakes. They are very delicious – if I do say
so myself. So, to sum this all up, Day 1 of becoming a Vegan went pretty well.
I already know what I’ll be making for breakfast tomorrow. I’m kinda excited
about it. I just hope it tastes okay.
I don’t have a camera, so I’ve been using the one on my cell
phone. I didn’t plate the crabless cakes or anything, but I’m going to try to
do that from now on so that you all can see how I’m eating.
When I started blogging back in the late 90s, I had nothing to do with my life. At that time, the most responsibility I had was to figure out if my $20 was going to pay for a pair of red sneakers or some black ones. I wrote about stupid stuff - mostly things that made me laugh. Sometimes, I wrote about my relationship situation. But, for the most part, my writing was light-hearted, "for-your-enjoyment" banter. Back then, I had a great time reading other people's blogs. Little did I know that it would become a phenomenon. Unfortunately, I never became a popular blogger. I guess I never really felt like putting in the thought that I believe it takes to truly captivate an audience. If people read, then great, but if they didn't - it was just as well.
During my first year teaching, I used one of my free periods to blog about silly kids, and situations in general. But after a year, I entered into a new potential lifelong career. I began working as a development assistant and then to full time special events planner. The grant-writing portion was difficult at times. I felt it to be a lot of work and then a prayer for a philanthropist to consider granting us some funding. And, if grant monies didn't come in, our salary was in jeopardy. But what was worst of all, was the fact that I had to be to work at 9am and then stay until 8ish on most evenings to listen to a bunch of old elitist men and women talk at me. I couldn't take not getting credit for the funding that I brought in. And finally, I couldn't take the fact that I couldn't blog about it.
By the time I got home, I was generally so tired that I could literally sleep in my work clothes. It was just tremendously stressful. So, I went back to my first love -education. I couldn't be happier (well, I could would a $50,000 raise). I have the greatest co-workers and the greatest Principal. I even like my students. And while there are days that I am dog tired and ready to just fall out on the floor or even sleep in my car, they are worthwhile days. Unfortunately, I find that I still can't blog.
The fact of the matter is that this career pays my bills. When certain bloggers used to take hiatuses, I used to wonder what they had to do why they couldn't keep entertaining us. The fact of the matter is that many bloggers have a career - one that consumes them. Then there are those who are just able to multi task and do both. I look up to those people. It's always crazy when I see their faces or names in other avenues of business and realize that these people, like me, have other things to do in their daily lives. Yes folk, some bloggers really do have real jobs, yet many of them still find time to entertain you.
The point of this whole post is to say this- the next time you want to go off on a blogger for not posting something, think about them commuting an hour and a half to work for 9 am, being there til 8, going home to be with their sig O, finding something to eat in between there, and then sitting down to blog, just so that you can have something to laugh about at your own job. Some of those bloggers don't just have jobs - they have careers.
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