| VEGAN LENT 2006: DAY 4 |
[Mar. 9th, 2006|04:15 pm] |
Last night I cheated God and ate about a tablespoon of honey on my toast, mostly because I can't bear peanut butter alone and did not want to cheat on the refined sugar front by cracking out the jam or the Nutella (EDIT: oh yeah, there's milk in that Nutella too. Sigh.). I understand why vegans don't eat honey, but I did start wondering: are bees generally treated poorly by beekeepers? I can't be bothered to google it, so if you know the answer, please do let me know.
That's screw-up number two, so I'm averaging one screw-up every two days. And I'll have another one on Saturday. But I'll do my best from now on.
In DEATH CANCER OMG news, I have a lump on the back of my neck, right side halfway between my ear and my spine, at my hairline. It feels like it's about the size of half a pencil eraser, or, on the London Bus sizing scale, the size of 0.000000000000000000002 double decker buses*. It hurts, maybe because I've been prodding it for 6 hours, and I think it's causing a headache (also could be the prodding). Also, hypochondria has convinced me that my right eye isn't seeing as well as my left eye.
*sizing may not be accurate |
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| VEGAN LENT 2006: DAY 2 |
[Mar. 7th, 2006|01:09 pm] |
About a fortnight or so ago (username: bugmenot, password: bugmenot), all of England was agog with the story of a man who beat a horse in a marathon race.
Across the ocean in the city of Conway, the news of the feat was greeted with middling curiosity by five citizens familiar with the vicissitudes of the man versus horse centuries-old argument.
Poll #686310 Emily
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllAbout a fortnight or so ago, were you agog with the story of a man who beat a horse in a marathon race?
EDIT: no wonder there was no mention of it "about a fortnight ago." It happened nearly TWO YEARS AGO. In Wales, not England. Oh, and the man's name was Huw, not How. Does Fred Petrucelli get his Britain news via steamship, and smudged?
If that entertained you, do now please read this informative and thoroughly fleshed-out article from earlier this year (same username and password).
Vegan Lent news:
I had a caffeine withdrawal headache earlier, but that has passed due to my taking a painkiller, which ooooooooooops had caffeine in it. Sorry, God. I won't do it again (and probably won't need to anyway).
Other than that, I feel energized! and strangely full even though I'm eating only rabbit food! Hurray for Alpro, which wasn't nearly as terrible as I imagined it would be! and Hurray for muesli with Surprise Dried Bananas! |
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| VEGAN LENT 2006: DAY 1 |
[Mar. 6th, 2006|12:45 pm] |
Yesterday was, of course, Cheesefare Sunday, the end of Cheese Week, and my final chance to have dairy products before beginning my Lenten fast*. I celebrated with a pizza covered in olives, pineapple, sweetcorn, and capers, which might be the Most Contentious Pizza EVAR.
( Don't worry, this LJ is not going to turn into 40 days of What I Ate. But today is a special day (Clean Monday, in fact), and so I present the following. )
*If you're wondering why my Lent didn't start last Wednesday, please see this post. Also please note that 40 straight days ends on neither Pascha or Easter; my 40th day is (Western) Good Friday. |
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| cheeeeese! |
[Feb. 27th, 2006|12:47 pm] |
Yesterday was Meatfare Sunday! I celebrated by having, er, no red meat at all, and in fact only chicken and duck. So this begins the precursor week to (Orthodox) Lent. I'm not eating meat this week, not because my 40 days has started, but because I want to celebrate CHEESE WEEK properly!
Yes, this is Cheese Week. Now, that doesn't mean that you have to eat a lot of cheese; it just means that it's the last week you can eat cheese and dairy until a week from today, Clean Monday. Next Sunday is, of course, Cheesefare Sunday.
None of this applies if you're a Western Christian, or indeed not a Christian at all. So all the westerners will be having pancakes tomorrow, then starting their fast on Wednesday, while I'll continue with the eggs and cheese and yogurt and so on until Monday, March 6th. Then, Vegan Lent begins in earnest.
Of course, since I'm doing 40 days straight like JESUS, I not only start fasting AFTER Western Christians, but I also end BEFORE Western Christians (and indeed long before Orthodox Christians)--my last day of fasting is Holy Saturday, the day before (Western) Easter Sunday. That's fortunate because I'll be in the US then, and my grandmother will feed me LOTS AND LOTS OF LARD!
EDIT: I had a brie and grape sandwich for lunch. CHEESE WEEK! |
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| lent 2006: this time it's orthodox |
[Feb. 16th, 2006|03:10 pm] |
Every year I try to give something up for Lent. I'm not religious,
but I like particularly difficult challenges, and giving myself
something to concentrate on besides the wet weather is always a good
idea at the end of winter.
In 2003 I didn't give anything up because God had taken from me the
use of my left knee.
In 2004 (which I haven't yet archived over to LJ, but I'm getting to
it) I went completely vegan for Lent. All 46 days of it. "46 days?"
you ask, tilting your head to the left in a quizzical fashion. "Yes,
46 days," I reply, "The non-orthodox Christian calendar starts Lent
roughly a week earlier than the Orthodox calendar, and it allows the
Lenten faster to have Sundays off. Here, look at this page and this this
calendar to see what I mean.
Well, just because God cheats doesn't mean I do. So I celebrated
Pancake Day and went cold turkey on animal products. I also went cold
turkey on sugar and caffeine and alcohol and everything else
good bad. And I stuck it out, ALL 46 DAYS. NO SUNDAYS OFF
LIKE THAT CHEATING GOD. I deserved a fucking medal.
I ate chocolate all day on Easter Sunday 2004.
In 2005 I considered repeating my vegan feat from 2004, but I wimped out.
THIS YEAR, IT CHANGES. I am doing it all again, but I thought it
might make sense to do Orthodox Lent. None of this 46 days nonsense;
Jesus did 40 days in the desert and I'm not proud enough to think I'm
better than Jesus. Are you?
Anyway, doing Orthodox Lent gives me a chance to celebrate Meatfare
Sunday (February 26, last chance to eat meat before Lent) and
Cheesefare Sunday (March 5, last chance for dairy and eggs) before
beginning my WACKY 40-DAY sXe FAST on March 6th (Clean
Monday) continuing through Easter.
But here's my problem. I don't know what's going on with the Orthodox
Christians, because Orthodox Easter (Pascha) is (as usual) on a
different date (April 23rd) from Western Easter (April 16th), but the
40th day from March 6th is Good Friday, April 14th, so the 41st
day--the end of the fast--is in fact the day BEFORE Western Easter.
W. T. F. Are the Orthodox Christians fasting for loads of extra days?
THEY don't get Sundays off!
EDIT: Oh, they do:
The Church in the East, on the other hand, added an additional week before the seven weeks, known as Cheese Week, to complete the 40 days of fasting in Lent before Easter, excluding the seven Saturdays and eight Sundays, which are non-fast days.
COME ON. Jesus did NOT GO HOME FROM THE DESERT ON THE WEEKENDS to get Mary to do his laundry. Cheaters, cheaters, cheaters.
Anyway, Vegan Lent 2006, 40 days, and you're all going to be here for me, right? |
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