Shayna spotted this while on the way to Peggy Sue’s in downtown San Jose. Couldn’t resist taking the picture.
I’m currently in the process of transcribing entries from my physical journal to here. I’ve already got a couple done today and most should be done by tomorrow or the next day. Next stop: Procrastination Station.
I took this picture today while biking to San Jose. Rather than taking the straightforward country roads into the city I went westward through the back roads. This picture was taken to the right of the road. Behind me was the reservoir.
The last month I’ve written a number of entries in my journal, but haven’t taken the time to post them here. I’ll get to it eventually, maybe even in time for Easter.
[Note: Bad things happen to the people we love. I found out about it that night when I wrote, but I don't want to share the details here.]
It’s late in the afternoon and I’m waiting for Shayna to arrive. She’s been having trouble with her car today: it keeps over-heating because the coolant is low. Her latest tweet tells me that she’s still re-filling the coolant at a Wal-Mart in South San Jose. I may have to pick her up. I may not. She’s pretty stubborn sometimes and won’t accept my help or advice until all other possibilities are exhausted. I’m hoping she resolves the coolant issue soon.
[Omitted: work stuff]
Yesterday was a great day [omitted: minor details]. The weather was clear & warm. The internet told me that temperatures would be in the seventies. I decided to go for a ride and ended up biking to the light rail station and taking it downtown. From there I went to the Santa Clara courthouse to find out about my ticket, as I have yet to receive a courtesy notice in the mail. The courthouse guy wasn’t that helpful, but that’s okay. I blame the system, not him. From the courthouse I went to the Falafel Drive-In on Stevens Creek for a delicious falafel-pita-and-banana-shake combo. Re-fueled, it was back to downtown to catch the lightrail to Shayna’s place. Once there, she and I lounged around in the sun like it was July. I love that her grandmother lives in a housing complex that has a pool. Shayna had to leave for work, so we said our goodbyes. On the way to the
[Note: I really have no idea why I stopped writing mid-sentence. I may have been distracted at the time.]
It’s been too long since I’ve written in this journal, and I feel bad because I know that I will not be able to spend a lot of time on this entry, or at least not as much time as I should.
Not a whole lot has actually happened during the hiatus. I’m still pluggin’ away at my job, still sleepy all the time, and still doing my best to avoid meat. The last thing as been more difficult than I expected. I’ve been having cravings, and these cravings are insatiable. Whenever I want ot eat meat I go and eat something fatty instead, like french fries or cheese pizza, but it doesn’t quite work. My body wants the tender flesh of slaughtered animals. I need this to go away.
I bought a bike from a guy on Ebay a couple of short weeks ago, a 1986 Schwinn LeTour. A good part of my free time in recent days has been spent making small adjustments to it to get the fit right where it needs to be. My first real ride with it was during the Bike Party pre-ride last Sunday. I didn’t adjust the rear derailer properly and the chain came off the gears and onto the spokes. I was very lucky that nothing broke. The route for the ride itself was gorgeous during the daytime, and the event was quite the experience.
I want to write about last night, but I don’t have the time. I’ll have to hold on to everything until tomorrow.
Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, the day that Catholics & other Christians indulge their vices before the fasting & sacrifices of Lent being. I say “fasting & sacrifices” hesitantly because whereas Jesus wandered around in a desert for forty days sustained only by faith, most practicing Christians give up something small, like chocolate, caffeine, or fast food. This, to me, is hardly a real fast. Jews have real fasts. Muslims have real fasts. I bet that many varieties of Hinduism do too. Maybe Lent was a real fast at some point, but devolved into its current state over time. I dunno I’m not a religious historian or a church scholar. I’m not even a Christian, having opted for a hard-line God-And-Freedom-hating atheism. However, I feel that I need a change in my lifestyle, so I’m joining the Lent bandwagon.
I indulged yesterday along with everyone else. I stepped on over to the local brewpub and ordered a delicious “Octorofest” beer and a turkey club sandwich (that had a good amount of ham & bacon as well). That was pretty much the last time I’ll have meat in a while. The goal this season is to eat as little meat as possible, though there are a few exceptions.
The Rules:
- Don’t purchase any meat to cook with.
- Dont order meat at restaurants if avoidable.
- Eating meat is permissible if it was purchased & prepared by someone else and it would be rude to decline.
- Eggs & milk are okay
- Don’t sweat the small stuff, like rennett or gelatin [update: I'm trying to avoid these too.]
- If you must splurge, do so no more than once every two weeks
The rules are basically two can’ts and three cans. The first two are designed to keep me from purchasing meant and perpetuating the industry. The third rule is to keep me from being a douchebag at social gatherings, like Thanksgiving, potlucks, and other dinnerish things. I don’t want to force my practices on others, and I don’t want to offend anyone by not taking what is offered to me in hospitality. The fourth rule is basically me caving in to my appetite. I know that by eating egg & milk products I’m sustaining an indusry that treats its animals horribly, but I figure it is a transitional step for me. I am not prepared to be a vegan at all. This also applies to rule #5. Eating the by-products of the meat industry is not good, but it’s better than going after the primary goods. The animals are slaughtered for their meat, not their cartilage. Best not to be wasteful. [update: see the note above. I'm avoiding things like broth, so I may as well avoid gelatin & the like too. Leather & wool are still in, though.] The last rule is in place because I know that I will be tempted and will probably give in. Hopefully this will minimize it.
Even with all these provisions, I feel that this challenge will be difficult for me. I love beef. I love bacon. I’ve had a long affair with fried chicken things. I’ve been known to live off of fast food. I have no real passions for animal rights or welfare. I just know that reducing my meat intake is good for the environment, probably good for me, and great for the animals. So it’s something I should do.
Even though Saturday wasn’t that great, Sunday made up for it. Shayna and I went to t spend the day in Berkeley. It’s beautiful. She showed me around campus and we got to see a bit of the city too. Though we drove up from San Jose, most of our actual exploring was by bus or foot. Despite the hills it is a very walkable city.
Berkeley has a very different feel from that of the South Bay. I can’t quite pin down what in particular, though. San Jose has its share of colleges, hippies, swanky yuppie places, etc., but Berkeley just seemed more… vibrant. The surrounding landscape is a bit different too, which may contribute to the sense of otherness I get from it. The air is more fresh there because it is closer to the water. This proximity to the Bay also translates to more foliage.
A complete list of all the places and things that Shayna brought me to would be too long for this entry. Some highlights include the dinosaurs at the VLSB, a really cool bench by the belltower, her old apartment building, the Jitensha Bicycle Studio, and the Free Speech Cafe on campus.
The things we ate that day were also worth mentioning. For lunch we went to Barney’s on Solano Ave. There I had the best turkey burger of my life, and also got to try a very solid BLT. Shayna approved of both. Later on Shayna took me to Smart Alec’s where we split their roasted turkey sandwich with fries and a bowl of chowder. The sandwich was good, but the bread on which it was made stole the show. It’s very chewy and filling. The soup was thick and flavorful, and I was surprised to find out it was completely vegan. And those fries! I don’t know what air-baking is, but it makes the fries delicious.
At the end of the day Shayna and I retired to a nice hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express in Fremont. It was nice to have a place to ourselves without regard to nosy neighbors, grandparents, etc. We got to relax and unwind a bit before going to sleep. I’m really glad she took me to Berkeley. It was easliy the best V-Day I’ve had.
This has not been my best morning. I got up early today so that I’d have enough time to get to class. 6:31 AM, to be exact. The first thing I did was step into my shower. This was a mistake. The water pressure was very low, and it took a while for he hot water to come on Being cold & naked under a dribbling shower faucet isn’t my idea of fn. Because of this lack of pressure the shower took longer than usual.
When I left the apartment I decided to bike into San Jose. The ride itself wasn’t too bad, but it was cold and I lost feeling in my fingers.
When I got to the lightrail station the train was about to leave, so I quickly boarded without paying. This was a mistake. As soon as I placed my bike onto the rack I was greeted by a VTA officer asking for my ticket. I didn’t have one, so I was cited. This was truly the only time I’ve not paid my fare on the VTA, and now it will be my last time too. The officer said that I need to visit the courthouse in Santa Clara and that the fee will range from fifty to upwards of two-hundred something dollars.
Once I got to SJSU I parked my bike and headed to class. Professor Hasan was nowhere to found. Jim, one of the classmates mentioned that he could not longer find the course section on MySJSU, nor did it show up on his class schedule. It may have been cancelled. So much for my Academic future. We all waited twenty minutes and left.
Just got to Shayna’s. Maybe the rest of the day will be better.
[Update: I emailed the professor twice, each time receiving no response. I understand having to cancel a class, but please let us know next time, Zaki Hasan and the collective heads of the Communications Dept at SJSU. I really needed this class so I could meet the qualifications to transfer to SJSU and finish my degree. Any hopes for doing that this year are pretty much shot.]