Home in Ithaca

On the veg front, I think I've made myself lactose intolerant. I had cut out virtually all milk and egg products for about two weeks (still using honey though-- I never said I was vegan!), but decided the other night to reward my dedication... with a pizza-sized quesadilla, split between Aaron and myself.

I have found myself completely drained of energy, and I blame the lack of animal protein. As an evolutionist, I know better than most that humans evolved as omnivores, our teeth and gut perfectly suited to both meat and plant foods. Our brain runs on fat and cholesterol, our muscles repair themselves with protein, our organs run on carbohydrates, but to ensure an adequate balance of all these things, I think meat is an absolute necessity. My on-the-go veganism has wiped me out, I don't lead a sedentary enough lifestyle to rely on solely plant matter.

So my new plan, although Aaron still questions my resolve, is to leave out all dairy, eggs, and meat with the exception of fish on rare occassions. Once I have more time to balance out my meals, I'm sure that my modified flexigan (flexible + vegan, aren't I clever?) diet will work out better, and I can ensure proper brain functioning with the supplement of animal-based fats and protein once a week or every other week.

Oh yes, and Ithaca? It's wonderful. Could surely use a job though, because I can't see myself paying rent next month with the money I have now.

The plural relationship

Big Love makes me want to be a fundamentalist Mormon. Although I'm sure it's not without its grievances, I would definitely benefit from another woman around the house. Or maybe I could just use a female friend.

Got a haircut today. Boyfriend does not like it. I love it. I have an interview at a law firm tomorrow. No clean clothes to wear. I often write lists of things that happen to me in paragraph format.

Of foot-aches and veganism

Wednesday around noon I decided that eating egg and milk products was not unlike eating meat. My cheese is cheap, though, with the exception of one bar of cheese I bought under false impressions, rennet-free. My eggs not of the free-range variety, but they are vegetarian-fed (though I have plenty to say about so-called "free-range" hens). Even so, these products that I am consuming come from animals that are in the same slum conditions as meat-source animals.

My reason for becoming vegetarian is not one of empathy. Although now I would most likely not eat meat even if it came from a wild source, I found nothing wrong with slaughtering animals for food. We are intrinsically omnivorous. Our teeth, intestines, even bipedalism is indicative of a meat-and-plant-based diet. Anyone who tries to argue against this point obviously knows very little about herbivorous animal intestine morphology. My reason, therefore, was strictly because I am absolutely appalled by how disgusting the practice of raising animals for food is. It's dirty. It's wasteful. Our cows and chickens and pigs are being pumped full of antibiotics.

This is DANGEROUS, people! Seventy percent of all uncooked chicken carries a form of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria which is the DIRECT result of feeding them antibiotics. The anti-biotic resistant strain of E. coli, the one that makes it into the media so often, evolved out of similar unhealthy animal factory farms in Britain. Organic meat is only slightly better. The USDA does not have as stringent regulations on what is labeled "organic" as I would like. I think only about 70% of a product has to be organic for something to be labeled as such.

That being said, I am transitioning into veganism. Once all the cheese and milk and eggs are out of the apartment, I'm through. (Why be so hypocritical and eat these? Because they're already paid for. I'm not sending anyone a message by tossing them out, it would just be wasteful and irresponsible.) Overall I want to live a healthier lifestyle.

So that's where the foot aches come in. Aaron and I, on good days, go running. Summer has been a little difficult for the two of us to run together, mostly 4-5 mile runs on the Rail Trail (flat, boring), or 7-7.5 mile runs to the campus from home, or from the campus to the city and back to the campus. We did very well for a while running every day, but that tapered off. It's a little disheartening that I went from an 8-minute mile (40 minutes for a 5-mile run) down to a 9.5-10 minute mile (6 miles per hour), but at least I'm doing it. I was in great shape a year ago, 17% body fat, 10mm skin folds, four nicely-sculpted abdominal muscles poking through, toned arms... bleh. I'm soft now. Anyway, Noakes says distance first, speed later. Okay, I can try that.

Wednesday (8/8): 3 miles (27 min.)
Thursday (8/9): 6 miles [3 miles (27 min.), lost my towel and stopped to pick it up, 3 miles (30 min.)]
Friday (8/10): 6 miles (56 min.), stop for water, then .5 mile walk on 6% incline (10-11 min.)
Total for three days: 15 miles

And now my feet are sore as hell. I probably need new shoes, I got these Asics (GEL-Cumulus) in March and certainly have not put 500 miles on them yet. The cushioning seems a little... well, compressed and un-cushiony.

There. Veganism and foot pains are inextricably linked. My logic is not flawed, seriously.

Okay, so here's the deal...

I hate "blogging." The very word is poison on my lips. It leaves a foul taste in my mouth, and the thought of entering a worldwide network of individuals brought together by the sheer need to say something, no matter of how little substance or significance, is revolting.

But I am not one to put myself on a tier higher than anyone else. Thus, I have opened a blog, hereafter known as my "public internet journal," my "pij," because the conjunction "blog" (for those of you who are unfamiliar with its parent word, similarly disturbing, "web log") sounds like a festering boil or tropical disease.

Who cares about me, or what I have to say? Not many people do, but to be fair, if you are a blogger, it probably means that no one cares about you either. Hence your need to start a blog and tell everyone the unsolicited details of your day. (Fifty potential new friends close my pij now... pij sounds a little dirty, doesn't it? I like it.)

So besides reading my inane ramblings, I will offer some things at least. I am a novice to baking and cooking, and I love both more than I love my cat. No, that's wrong. I love my cat, just not this morning when he threw up his breakfast and climbed up my back when I wouldn't feed him again.

My focus? Vegetarian cooking, of course! And my newest endeavor, vegan baking. It's amazing how much vegan baked goods taste like the real eggy/milky thing when you work at it. I'm learning how to modify traditional recipes without compromising the flavor and consistency of their tried-and-true ancestors. It's a task, but worth the trouble.

Likes: Sunny days, running, sleeping in on weekends (and weekdays), experimenting with seasonings, watching boyfriend smile through painfully overseasoned dinners, nursing said boyfriend's stomach the next day due to overseasoned dinner the night prior
Dislikes: Neighbors who open the door of their black Volkswagon and hit our car, then park two spaces down pretending like they didn't do it (I know it's you! You park in the same damn spot every day!)

Well, I suppose that's a misnomer

...because this is just another blog!