School & Pneumonia

Lately I've been really busy with soccer and I've also been running at seven in the morning for cross country. The weather here has been insane! One day it's freezing, then it's warm, then it's raining, then it's a foggy mess....anyways, you get the picture. Because I've been outside all the time for over a month now and the crazy weather, I've been getting sick. It was pretty bad on Valentine's Day and yesterday at the soccer game I had a random pain in my back below my left shoulder. When I say random, I mean random. I had no clue what caused it! I hadn't lifted weights in a week, I wasn't hit by a ball, later discovered there was no visible bruise, and the strangest thing, there was no problem in the warm-up right before. I left school a little early today for a Dr.'s appointment that would hopefully clear up the whole mess. After some examination, an X-ray, and some hangman with mom we now know that I have pneumonia. Specifically, Atypical Pneumonia. The symptoms consist of runny/stuffy nose, sore throat, fever, and coughs, most of which I've had. Basically I have a bacterial infection in my lungs. It's not too bad but I can't go to school tomorrow, am on a lot of medicine, and can't play sports until next week which means that I won't be playing in the soccer game on Friday.

That all sucks but that's not all that happened today. It just so happens that today is Ash Wednesday. That means, because of lent, I will not be eating beef, pork, or chicken until Easter Sunday. Technically, we're allowed to take a break on Sundays but I'm still considering whether or not I'm going to. My favorite thing about Lent is seeing if you can do it and keep your promise. The problem though is that because of how active I am, it's really important that I get plenty of protein in my diet. That's pretty hard without meat so I'm going to be researching a lot. I guess that means I'll be eating a lot of fish and beans. I also might start making fruit smoothies with protein powder. I just ate some yogurt, and guess what! It had 5 grams of protein! Also, my mom buys these energy drinks called Boost. It's great just like chocolate milk, and it has 13 grams of protein. Who knows, maybe I'll survive without meat after all.

Also, today I got my first finished ceramic from the kiln. In my art class at school we have been making ceramics (clay figures and such). It's so much fun and we're just finishing up this week. Here's a picture of my penguins ceramic. Hope you like them, I know I do.

Lent

Hello people...it's been a while, but guess who's back?!

This upcoming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, and as a Christian that is the first day that we observe lent. Lent is a season of fasting from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday. You give up something (or start regularly doing something good like volunteering weekly at a hospital or something) as a sacrifice to God and as a remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for us (dying for our sins). Well, every year I give up some form of food. I don't know why, but I just do. Last year I gave up any form of potatoes (my favorite food) and the year before that I gave up sweet tea (my favorite drink). This year, however, I've decided to do something a little different.

As you may (or may not) know, I have been a lacto-vegetarian since August 2011 (about half a year) for various reasons (health, animal cruelty, and protesting the meat industry). I generally regard myself as simply a "vegetarian", but I am, more specifically, a lacto-vegetarian. That means that I eat no meat of any kind but I do consume dairy products and eggs. So, for lent, I've decided to become a vegan. Vegans are basically a more extreme version of vegetarians who eat a diet of mainly raw foods - they don't eat meat, dairy products, eggs, honey, some don't eat sugar, and most don't wear leather, wool, or fur. To simplify things, anything that is an animal product is excluded from their lifestyle. Well, I'm probably going to eat sugar and continue using leather and wool (I've never used fur in the first place), at least for now. I've been wanting to do this for a while and lent seemed like the perfect opportunity. And if it's not too horrid (how can it be? lots of people live perfectly happy & healthy lives this way) I might just continue my veganism after lent. Wish me luck!

Also, Savannah (the hooligan who helps me cause brouhaha on this blog) will be giving up any kind of meat for lent except for fish. That makes her a pescatarian (think I spelled that right...?). I'm so proud of my little hooligan. :)

-Alex (A.K.A. Tally)

P.S. I'm thinking about making a playlist of motivational songs to help everyone out with staying away with whatever you're giving up for lent or to help you continue doing whatever good deed you're doing for lent. Hehe, I make a playlist for everything. ;)

The Vow & Valentine's Day

Last weekend, I went with a friend and saw "The Vow" starring Rachel McAdams from "The Notebook" and Channing Tatum from "Dear John." It was a cute love story about a married couple who's madly in love and when there's an accident the wife (McAdams) looses her memory. It's heart wrenching to watch how the husband (Tatum) fights to win back his love from fate's cruel clutches. Was that a little dramatic? Either, it's a good film and you should definitely see it.

Also we recently celebrated Valentine's Day. I didn't do anything special but at my high school I was constantly crowded from huge bears, balloons, and flowers. A good guy friend of mine did get me a flower that the Art club had been selling. That was sweet. I hope that everyone had a good holiday. I don't know about other areas but here in Texas hardly anyone was putting "St." in Happy "St." Valentine's Day...I wonder why.

 Everyone who is doing Lent better get ready. Lent is a fasting period where Catholics as well as many other Christians give up something (like candy or eating junk food) for 40 days beginning on Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday. I'm considering becoming a vegetarian like my good friend, Alex (Tally), who I share this blog with so for Lent I will not be eating beef, pork, or chicken. I do like the way these foods taste and I don't want to give them up by any means but I saw a video about how many animals in mass food production are treated horrendously. In fact, I couldn't even finish the video; if you decide to watch it (click here) be warned, it's awful.

-Savannah (A.K.A. Shay)