Monday, February 27, 2012

Lent Update

So the Fried Food thing hasn't gone so well! Whoops!

I ordered sweet & sour chicken on the day after Ash Wednesday without even thinking about it being fried. I was about halfway through when I realized my mistake!

Who needs to give up 3 things?

Proud to say that the no drinking, and no Facebook things are still going strong!

Here's my biggest problem with the Facebook thing though...

I just recently signed up for a free month of spotify. I am in no way musically inclined. I took piano lessons in 2nd grade, but they didn't stick. I don't have the coordination to play anything else. However, I absolutely love music though. All music! Seriously, you should see my iPod. I've got country, rock, rap, R&B, Spanish, etc. This was the great thing about spotify, just about everything was available on there to listen to.

Plus it broke of the monotony of the work day by having some great music that I picked in the background!

Well I was shocked to find out that you couldn't have a spotify account without a Facebook account. When I put my Facebook account on suspension, I lost my spotify access. Sad day. I must stay strong though. No Facebook for me, means no spotify. I'll just go back to Pandora.

So if for some reason, some spotify person accidentally strolls along this, pass on that the whole Facebook to join thing is not great business. I'd be more than willing to pay the monthly fee for spotify, but don't want to be strapped down to Facebook as well.


I'll step off the soap box now...

2012 has kind of been the suck so far. If I had the opportunity to do things differently, I would. Guess that's not a luxury that we're afforded though, so we must make the best of what we are handed.

Learn from our mistakes. Be strong, carry on!

Hope all is great!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Lent

It's laughable that my last post was about people celebrating Cinco De Mayo, without really knowing anything about it. Or even celebrating it and not being Mexican or of Mexican lineage.

Since my hypocrisy knows no bounds, I'll be celebrating Lent this year. Or at least trying. I'm not Catholic. I'm actually not sure where I'd slot myself in the whole gamut of religion. It's a topic that I usually like to avoid because I don't know a lot about it.

Back when my Dad was in the hospital, I got a book called Religion for Dummies. I read most of it, and don't really know if it helped me get a better picture of how things fit together.

So back to it...I'm not Catholic (although I've spent more time in the Catholic Church than any other). I wouldn't call myself an Athiest either. I've always heard the description of a God fearing Christian. Could I possibly be a God fearing Agnostic?

Back from that tangent, let us get back to the title of this topic, Lent. A lot of my very good friends are Catholic, so I always hear about what they're going to give up for Lent. Usually it's alcohol, or chocolate, or Dr. Pepper. By giving up some of the things you love, it is supposed to bring you closer to God. Although I've never understood how giving up Dr. Pepper could bring you closer to Him.

I gave up cokes several years ago. Not so much to bring me closer to anyone, but because I was challenged by a friend of mine to do it. I made it all the way to Easter, then longer, and here we are 7 years later and I haven't had a full bottle or can of soda since then. The only exception I've made is when someone buys me a mixed drink that has coke in it. Can't just let it sit there right??

This year, I'm debating giving up a few things. One of which I've already done on this Ash Wednesday Eve. I deactivated my Facebook account about 30 minutes ago. I'd already weaned myself from accessing it at work, and figure I can live with out it. I've actually been a little jaded with the whole Facebook thing as of late because I spend entirely too much time on it, and other than keeping me up to date on birthdays, I can't say I get a lot out of it. I started my profile in '04 I believe, so this'll probably be about as long as I've gone with out it. It'll be interesting to see if I go the same route with it, as I did with sodas.

Next up, I'm going to give the no drinking thing a try. I don't drink all that often anyway, so it shouldn't be so tough. I can't say that I'm usually too happy after a night of hard drinking, and the older I get the harder it is to recover. The most difficult thing will be to just remember it. I'm used to ordering a beer with dinner sometimes, without even thinking about it!

Lastly, probably the hardest one. I'm going to try, that being the key word (try), to give up fried food. This one probably won't last too long, but who knows. I've gotten so used to running over to whataburger or somewhere like that for a quick lunch in the middle of a hard day, that I'll have to do my best to avoid the french fries!

I'll update during or at the end of Lent, and we'll see how it went!

Sorry for such a shallow post after being away for almost a year! I just felt like sitting and typing. It's not something that I do nearly enough.

Hope everyone is well. Actually not even sure if anyone even still checks this thing.