To Eat or Not to Eat

I became a vegetarian about 3 years ago. I was at dinner with some friends in Miami at a ridiculous surf n turf sort of place where everything on the menu had had parents. The meal was fantastic: ribs, lobster, steak, porkchops. If we ate it, it had a zoologic name. But at the end of the meal, something happened. I sat back and looked at our work. The table was covered in shells, bones, and claws. As I glanced down at my full belly and back at the table, I was grossed out. Maybe I was more disgusted with my own gluttony rather than the fact that we had consumed things that were gluttonous consumers themselves. This was 3 years ago and except for rare ingestion of sushi at big social gatherings, I've been pretty conscientious about my diet. I even kept vegan for about 8 months this year. But I like what happened in Florida. I like having made decisions based on strong gut feelings and not the overthinking that I'm ever so prone to do. I stopped being vegan because it didn't turn my stomach to eat eggs or dairy. It made sense on the overthinking plane that if you didn't animals, you probably shouldn't eat anything ejected by them. But then it happened again. Yesterday, I was cooking up some eggs when after cracking one open, TWO yolks came out. I'm not sure if anyone has ever experienced this, but I was utterly grossed out again - the feelings of Miami rushed over me. This is the kind of base response I want. I want to make decisions based on strong gut feelings not vague, I should do this because of a, b, and c. Anyway, needless to say, I'm off of eggs for a while.

Happy Birthday, Mr Resident

They say that GWB woke up with such a terrible hang-over after his 40th birthday that he never drank again. The morning of my 30th (yesterday) was greeted with similar symptoms but also the reminder that I've made that promise to myself innumerable times over the years. So I doubt it'll hold for too long.

In additional growing older and more batty news, while nursing my hangover in the shower yesterday, my brain was flooded with songs that I hadn't heard in years. Included in this hit parade were Michael Jackson's "Black or White" and the Psychedlic Furs' "Pretty in Pink." I'm pretty sure my head is just overflowing with superfluous info and this is my brain's way of performing a q decade memory cache dump to make room for new crappy songs.

The Habits of Highly Effective People

After watching the first three seasons of 24 over the course of a few days like a strung-out junkie (pusher: Netlflix), I took a few months off - I quit cold turkey. But it didn't last. I couldn't stay away from the thrill of the thrillers. During those months, a friend introduced me to MI-5 - a smarter substitute with a mellower high and less of that "must stay up all night and watch next 12 episodes" feeling. So today, as I spend time unwinding before yet another big board exam, I've returned to my first love: 24, season 4. It seemed dumb at first in comparison to the BBC show, as their handling of political intrigue and inter-office bureaucracy is comic bookish at best. But then I saw quick-to-anger Jack Bauer back in action and remembered what's so great about the show:

Kiefer Sutherland + gun = results

Update: 4 straight episodes of 24 still go down as easily as I remember - like sweet, sweet gin. But as expected, I need another fix. Now.

Welcome, humanoid.