Lenten Update

OK, so perhaps I should have chose another sacrifice besides no meat/alcohol/caffeine for Lent. It hasn't been that difficult, and it's actually something I've embraced.

Perhaps it's the new, fresh way of living, but it's been a lot of fun actually. A challenge for sure, trying to find things to eat each day that don't contain any meat (fish is ok). And through that challenge, I've discovered a lot of tasty food that doesn't require a dead animal. For instance, peanut butter and honey on cinnamon bread is an AMAZING sandwich. Even a trip to Five Guys, home of the best hamburger ever, was made fun after eating their grilled cheese sandwich.

Alcohol is strangely one thing I don't miss that much. I used to love beer with a passion. But since I've started staying with the in-laws before marriage, an alcohol-free zone, I've adjusted really well. Root beer tastes better anyways. And caffeine? Well, a few weeks ago I had one of those Starbucks Frapp things, and the caffeine overload made me sick.

"I don't ever want to feel this way again," I told Allicia. And while the caffeine in a regular glass of tea or Coca-Cola probably wouldn't make me feel that way, I feel more refreshed after cutting out nearly all caffeine (chocolate excluded).

So in a way, this "sacrifice" I made for Lent has actually been a source of strength. Feeling better after sacrificing for God. Who knew?

Now, I'm not sure if I'll keep the lack of meat out of my diet in the long-term, as I LOVE Thanksgiving turkey, hot wings, and chicken gumbo. But if I never had another drop of alcohol (except for Mass) or caffeine, I wouldn't lose any sleep.

P.S. Since this style of living closely aligns itself to Straight-Edge, I started drawing big X'es on my hands. If you're going to make a sacrifice and a lifestyle change, why not have some fun with it?

Sunday's random thoughts

And now, random thoughts on a Sunday night due to the fact that I need to write something, but don't really have a set topic in mind.

• Amazingly, I don't despise my call-center job the way I should. Sure, my goal is to do some sort of writing or graphic design (dare I say, journalism?), which would make you think that I would absolutely hate doing the call center job, since it's the complete opposite of what I want to do with my career. But being able to help people over the phone is pretty rewarding, and the amount of overtime that my job has allowed me to work (long days, nice paychecks), has made me really see that apparently God wants me to do this crap for a while.

•Months ago, I loved going to find vintage gaming. Lately though, I haven't really felt like doing that. Perhaps it's that I don't really have much of a budget for free-spending, or that my set goal is getting that arcade cabinet I wrote about a few weeks back up and running, but that rabid desire to raid shops for classic NES and Genesis game doesn't exist as strongly. Maybe that means I just need to find some better games to go after. Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD) and Tengen's Tetris (NES) would be two I really want.

• I used to write poetry all the time in high school. Threw all of the poems away because of their ridiculous stupidity. Second-guessing myself on that one, but I don't lose sleep over it. Perhaps I need to start writing more again.

• Can't wait for this weekend. A trip to Philadelphia to see the Celtics beat the 76ers, and then off to Virginia Beach. There are so many things I want to do in VAB, but I have to keep telling myself that since my sister will be living in VAB for the next few years, I'll have plenty of time to do all that fun stuff.

Right now, my top three things I want to do in VAB (aside from seeing my family, obviously) are 1., Take my future bride Allicia to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. 2. Go to the Beach. 3. Go back to my childhood home, the Chimney Hill apartment complex, and get an order of Chicken McNuggets and Sprite from McDonalds like old times.

• That order of Nuggets could have to wait though. For Lent this year, I'm giving up meat, alcohol and caffeine. Since I don't smoke and won't be eligible for promiscuous sex after May 14, that could qualify me for straight edge. However, I don't want to disrespect people who dedicate their lives to being Straight Edge by claiming that I'm the same when it's something I have no idea if I'll commit to.

As a Lenten sacrifice, I think it will be a good one. I love soda, beer and hamburgers: giving up most of things for 40 days will definitely be something that will drive me nuts (in a good way). However, if it's something that I'm happy with, I'll have no problem giving up caffeine for life. Alcohol might be a little trickier, but as long as root beer is plentiful, I won't really miss beer that much.

Giving up meat? I don't think that will ever happen completely. I could give it up in most instances, but I know I'll have to break that commitment around Thanksgiving, and when I visit home. My father owns a lot of cattle, and to not eat beef would break my parent's heart. At least eating beef at my parent's place will be from cows not shoved in some factory somewhere: all of our cattle have plenty of room to roam and eat grass freely.

Whether it's something I do for life or not will probably be determined three days into Lent (if it gets to be too rough). But for 40 days, I owe it to God to suffer just a little.

After all, he did it for me.