One more sleep?

30 04 12

Today my wisdom teeth started aching. Add this to my suspected gastro and for the first time in about 6 years I found myself having a sick day. The advice? With gastro, if the symptoms are going to fully present, it'll happen within 72 hours.

My 72 hours is up tomorrow. That means the first of May will either be a joyful day of food, or a miserable vegan bonus day.

I haven't eaten much in the past couple of days; but tomorrow has been planned since the beginning. Steak for breakfast; Bacon and egg pie for lunch; Roast chicken for dinner. I'll be disappointed if May starts without all the food I've been dreaming of for a month, but there's no point eating anything if it won't stay in my body.

For tonight I will attempt to eat dinner. Not just any dinner mind you. For the last meal in my vegan experience, we are having tofu stir fry.

I wasn't kidding when I said I hate tofu. But we figure it's the best way to round out this experience; that and we're gonna fry the hell out of it to try to reduce that horrible spongy texture.

Sadly, this didn't prove successful. I managed to eat a couple of pieces, then ate around the rest. That rubbery, chewy consistency gets me every time.

So now it's a waiting game, and I'm not feeling too flash. One more sleep, or two. Either way, the end is nigh. THANK GOD.

Overtime.

29 04 12

No post for yesterday. Rather than spend Saturday watching sports and pulling weeds, I went in to work. I thought this would be a good way to forget about being blue and concentrate on getting a job done.

It was good to give my brain a break but by the time I got home, physically I was feeling a bit off. I tried to unwind but I had a tight feeling in my stomach, which kept me awake for most of the night. When I woke up today a familiar and unwelcome feeling had arrived (And no, I'm not talking about Derek Rose injuring himself again, although that doesn't help!)

 I'm quite proud of the fact that I don't get sick. I've never had the flu and have only had one cold in the past decade. I gloat about it too - to the point where I'm sure karma is going to serve me a big one any day now.

The feeling I have now is akin to the one ailment I have experienced a couple of times in my life (and which almost killed me as a child). Gastroenteritis. There are a few unpleasant side effects to gastro, which I don't think I need to detail here. The worst side effect for me, however, is that when you have gastro - you can't eat ANYTHING.

Two sleeps left and the potential of not eating anything at all on go date is just ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the idea that gastro is usually associated with poorly prepared meat products.

Oh the irony.

Blue.

27 04 12

With only a few days to go the questions from people have turned from hilarious and confused, to interest at the outcome.

"How are you?" "Do you feel better?" "What are you missing?" "Has it been hard?"

The answers? I'm missing bacon and cheese. It hasn't been hard - because I'm stubborn and it's only for a month. Had it been a year long quest, I don't think I'd have entertained the idea. (Although I am into month four of "a year with NO ANDERSON'S PIES." People from Hawera, you'll understand how hard that is!)

So, how am I? Do I feel better?

I am lethargic and no, I don't feel better. Physically  I feel worse, and mentally I'm becoming quite blue. It's Friday and all I want to do is have a bath and go to bed. My body is achy and I'm not enjoying anything, least of all my own company.

To cheer me up, it's been suggested that I'll have probably earned the right to a pie by the time this month ends, but I've never broken a New Years resolution before and as for veganism, I've only got three more days to get through.

A vegan food I like?

26 04 12

Falafel!

The man of the house, determined to find me something I'll enjoy for dinner, purchased some falafel.

My past experiences with falafel have been a bit hit and miss. Usually the vegeburgers or falafel kebabs I've had have featured patties that a about an inch thick and are kinda goopy. Making them myself, I've taken to flattening them out, letting the edges get crispy and bingo. Tasty, non-goopy meat replacement.

Don't get too excited, I wouldn't willingly choose this stuff over bacon or chicken. But as a filler it totally does the business.

Well done, man of the house. Maybe that chocolate bunny I'm having to wait for will be shared after all.

ANZAC Day.

25 04 12

Despite celebrating the Breakers a little too hard last night, we were up at 0530 to pay our respects at the dawn service. No matter how hard it is to get out of bed on the 25th of April, I always think about the men and women who spent night after night stuck in trenches all those years ago; then I jump out.

It's not that hard to do when you know you'll be able to jump back in in a couple of hours. Millions of people, most younger than me, would sleep where they fell during the wars, and many who came home would never know another nights peace.

 The rest of the day is a national holiday, so we have time to reflect and appreciate the freedom we have. The sense of living life to the full is never far from my thoughts on ANZAC day and it's during a conversation around this topic that the man of the house makes a very rational statement:

"Hollie, you are a meat eater. You love it, so why deny yourself? You've already proved you can do this, plus being a vegan is making you miserable. You should end this now, and get back to making the most of everything."

It makes sense. Meat isn't illegal, cheese isn't the devil, and not eating honey because it's an animal product is as ridiculous as it sounds.

 I have the freedom to eat meat right now, and the only consequence would be the odd "I told you so" - which only serves to further highlight what a sweet existence I'm lucky to be living.

With only five days to go, I'm not about to end this quest now, even though none of us can really figure out why I'm doing it.

What I do know is that this day has given me a lot to think about, and on the first of May when I indulge in maybe more than one steak I'll think of you, Grandad, and all you and your comrades did in the name of Queen and country; whether you chose too, or not.

Breakers. YES.

24 04 12

The usual suspects came over to watch our boys take on Perth in the NBL finals. This meant treats of the animal based variety were to be prepared. I can do this without a second thought now. It's the same as preparing food I don't eat for guests; you just don't think about it and get it done.

Other than that, there's not much to say about today. I just wanted to celebrate the Breakers, and thank them for giving me something to cheer for. I think I'm getting a bit down.....

.....but for now, here's some Dan and Jerome at the game to add to the happiness ;)

RUNgiaRUN

23 04 12

If you're from New Zealand and you're exposed to a lot of Maori culture, you were probably confused by that title for a moment. Just to clarify, it says "run gia run" (not "ru ngia run")

Carrying on from yesterdays effort to find positive vegan-ish stories on the internet, Gia's blog is a good example of positive reinforcement. I don't see much carnivore bashing there, and she doesn't appear to beat the vegan drum too hard either.

This is refreshing. On the surface, a lot of vegan/vegetarian content is kinda sanctimonious and annoying.

Gia appears to be completely in love with what she does (running) and has found the best way for her to go about it.

I get that for some people it's trendy to be a vegan. And for some carnivores veganism is a weakness; almost to the degree that there should be some sort of category in the Special Olympics for them.

But for others, like Gia, it appears that it's all about choices that work (for her) and a want to share the joy those choices have bought.

It's that kind of joy for what you're doing that makes people want to be relatable to your actions, and maybe enact change in themselves. 

Imagine if you liked something you did so much, you didn't have time to focus on the negative of it's opposite.

Pretty nice way to live, huh?