Anyway, pressured writing has never done anyone any good (I tend to leave them as drafts, and you tend to never get to read them), so here I am on a break, to give you an update on the exciting life that is mine!
Firstly. I have turned vegetarian. I even bought a t-shirt to seal the deal on the day that I made the decision to commit, that's how serious I am about the whole thing. I only buy t-shirts with messages that I mean.
This picture is taken by Yuen, my officemate (to new readers of my blog). We are supposed to do a writeup about ourselves and send in a professional-looking picture, to put in the university website. This is the picture that I am putting up in the site, taken by Yuen with her cell phone. This picture is also a statement that the university does not pay us enough to take studio pictures. Yuen's is also taken with her cell phone, with a thinker pose, with a chin-propping arm in the picture.
But I digress. I've told my mum my decision, and being the cool mum that she always is, she gave me no beef (pun intended) and respected my choice. Right now she's on a mission to get more information for me on how to eat properly without denying my body of necessary nutrients. I love my mum.
Why I'm doing it? My primary motivation to change my diet is to lessen my footprint on the environment. It might be apparent for some of you who have followed my blog for a bit, that I am quite passionate about global warming. There are times when I feel that we are headed towards a brick wall, or off a cliff, or any mode of inevitable death that occurs to me at that moment.
It is deeply unsettling. I want to do something. I'm aware that just by living, I consume energy, whether I like it or not. It does not help that I have an insatiable thirst to travel, and flights contribute a lot to carbon emissions.
I've been thinking about vegetarianism on and off through about two years, from when I was travelling with Val and Robert. Along the way I met many others, who have inspired me incrementally - until the fateful last day that I spent in San Francisco, where I met this guy Jim on the train to Davis. Jim is a soft-spoken guy who used his credit card to help me buy a train ticket because I only had cash. We started talking about a variety of topics, until we touched the subject of vegetarianism. I don't know how or why, but I found myself telling Jim that I would do it. I would commit to never eating meat again.
The last time I promised some random person that I would stop eating something was at Motueka, New Zealand, where some people were rallying for a petition to stop McDonalds from being introduced into the small town. I signed the petition and promised never to eat McDonalds or KFC ever again. I have kept this promise for two years to date.
Most people I've met do it for animal rights. To be brutally honest, animal rights would not push me over the brink. I mean I do sympathize with all the animal suffering, but I've never been passionate enough about it to stop my meat consumption. But when I became aware that probably the most effective way to stop global warming and environmental pollution is to stop eating meat - each bite became increasingly laced with guilt. Maybe I will blog at length about it someday, I'm feeling rather sleepy now and am in no form to lay down cogent and extensive arguments. Read this and this instead.
I also realized today that a vegetarian meal has a pleasant side bonus of being at least 50 cents cheaper than the normal meal with meat. The narrowing down of my options mean that I spend less time wondering about what to eat, and just be thankful that there is something on the menu for me. Often there are not. Other issues that I am thinking about is my continuation of dairy and egg consumption, although they too come from the farms that cause the damage, but I don't think I can drop eggs and cheese for the time being. I am also wondering about whether to cut myself some slack when it comes to fish - although that would make me a pescetarian instead. Decisions decisions.
*topic change*
Today I viewed a room. True to my tradition of taking the first room that I view, I have decided to take it. So I am going over on Monday to shake (hands) on it. It is marginally cheaper than my previous room but much smaller. However the living environment seems to be much cleaner and I do appreciate not having to cringe at the body hair on the bathroom floor every time I enter the bathroom. So, does it mean that I am going to have a home soon? I certainly hope so, if there are no creepy landlords or crazy housemates out to get me. I will be staying with a Chinese family (pregnant mum, six year old kid, granny - three generations, oh gosh) and a Mexican guy.
I am going to Malacca tomorrow morning to meet my parents. I haven't packed. I haven't done my laundry. I haven't tidied up Jia Ling's room so she won't have a fit when she gets back from Shanghai on Sunday. It is 2:43am now. Woe is me.
Right, I better get going. I think I am actually inducing jet lag upon myself. I think I deserve it.
