Moonlight.. Chand, Chanda, Chandi, Chandani

So, as I make my pre-dawn journey to work, through the urban sprawl and rancid tunnels of Boston, occassionally something pops out at me that reminds me that I am alive.  I was riding the B line, and it was 5 am, and still dark out.  A moodiness had over taken me, that I am not a stranger to, and I really was not looking forward to working.  Then maybe because I was exhausted, but I looked up, and I could see the full moon from the trolly.  The curious thing, however, was that I could see it from the other end of the train, through some bars.  I got this eerie feeling like I was being watched.  For a moment, I minorly flipped out, then I just enjoyed the pretty sight.  I went to grab my camera to get the shot, and when I looked up, the train had shifted slightly and it was gone….  Haha, what a parallel for my life, eh?

My energy level has been nil, but not because I am out all the time, but because I don’t eat correctly for a vegetarian. My work place does not provide for a veg lifestyle, so all I eat are salads and pasta.  I am dying for protein, and I think I am going to have to start cooking for myself again.

Saddest Story

I know that I have been MIA, lately. Today is my first day off in nine days, so I thought I would chime in with the saddest story ever. Amanda comes tomorrow, so hopefully I will have more to say then.

Saddest Story: Newborn falls through train toliet

AHMADABAD, India (AP) — A newborn baby girl fell through the toilet in a moving train and onto the tracks moments after her mother prematurely gave birth, surviving nearly two hours before being found, relatives said Thursday.

The child’s mother, who uses the single name Bhuri, was traveling with relatives on an overnight train when she went to the bathroom shortly before midnight Tuesday and unexpectedly gave birth to a baby girl, said Arjun Kumar, her brother-in-law.

“Later, she fell unconscious and the baby fell through the toilet,” he continued. “Two stations later, we knocked at the door.”

Bhuri opened the door, soaked in blood.

“When we asked her about what happened, she said the baby had fallen through onto the tracks,” Kumar said.

Poor child. Not a very auspicious start to her young life.

VEG

The other night, I got to experience my first Kaze Shabu Shabu. A group from this social community that I belong to, decided to have a Vegan/Vegetarian night on Monday. I signed up immediately, of course, because I have almost no veg friends to eat with. I have been on/off vegetarian for 2 years now, and I have been trying to adhere strictly to the lifestyle since I moved to Boston. Over the course of the two years I have been vegetarian, piscetarian (who eats fish), and a omnivore. When I am in West Virginia, it is difficult to find vegetarian food, and my family is one of meat eaters. Steak, ham, or chicken every night. When I was in Cardiff, I occasionally had sushi or salmon, which lead to me being piscetarian, and I am having a hard time giving up fish.

Since coming to Boston, I have been a much stricter vegetarian, but I could never be vegan.  Anyways, the Shabu was really good.  It is like fondue, in that you have a broth instead of oil to cook your food in.  I had a hot pot with a Miso broth, and I got the Vegetarian delight platter, which included mushrooms, tofu, greens, and various other veggies.  It was a lot of food, and I was extremely please with it.  It was a lot of food, and it was fairly cheap, especially with the free green tea.

Boston has a lot more choices for me, and I feel like I can eat what I want now.  I just wish work would recognize vegetarians, and actually have food for us.  There are two vegetarians in my department, and we have a hard time finding food for us in the cafeteria.  We have decided to bring our own to supplement the salad they have.

So much to doooooooo!

Yeah, I suck at this blogging thing. But, it was Christmas, and Chewie was here, and I have been having a helluva good time! So there.

So, to sum up my absence: Chewie arrived, yay, spent time with grandrents, went skiing, Orin and Chewie met each other, had Christmas and made out like a bandit, flew home, shared Boston with my best friend, at Malaysian and Indian food, shopped, Bhutto assassinated and thought of my Pakistani friends, worried about Shyam due to all the bad news coming out of Kenya and no news from him, finished my first scarf, played Kingdom Hearts on Ps2, heard from Shyam, said goodbye to my best friend and cried, experienced the coldest day I have ever had, and watched Obama win Iowa! Woot!

It was great having Chewie here, and it was even more heartbreaking watching her leave. I don’t know when I will be able to see her again. She is my best friend and sometimes, I feel lost without having her to talk to.

So, yeah, I made a green scarf out of crochet, and I sent Chewie home with it. It didn’t turn out too bad, but man, crocheting is addictive.

Yay for stream-of-consciousness entries!

I am reading The Geographer’s Library and it sucks… but I can’t stop reading it, because I paid for it and I feel like I have to finish it.

Pakistan…scary….

Kenya… scarier…. I miss Shyam and Sheila, and I am praying for their safety and their families’ every night.

Obama! Obama! Obama! I may feel differently about him when it comes time to vote, but right now, he is the candidate that least repels me. Although, I am a little nervous about his views on Pakistan.

Today was WICKED COLD! It was 5 degrees fahrenheit today when I went to the gym… AT 11:30 am! It is that cold that steals your breath. My apartment has been frigid, so I have spent most of the day in bed with my robe wrapped around me. Summer… Please!

Okie, I am going to bed. Night.

Vegetarians and Vegans leave less of a carbon footprint?

Is it better for the enviroment to be a Vegan or a Vegetarian?

I work very hard to maintain a 98% vegetarian lifestyle.  Fish, especially sushi, is my one meat weakness.  Since moving back to the US, I have found it increasingly hard to maintain my food choices due to lack of options.  Eating ethnic food helps because Asian and Indian food contains lots of vegetarian dishes, but here in WV, vegetarian tends to mean salads.  I love salads, but I can’t eat them  every day.  I have also started to become more worried about the quality of the food I put into my body.  Chemicals, sugars, and other nasties in food have me hostage.  Once I get into my own place and eat more of my own foods, I think I am going to make a change to more organic produce and simple foods.

Eating less meat makes me feel good, and if I can help the environment while I am doing so, all the better!

Inheritance (But not the good kind)

My love of documentaries, especially British ones, has enlightened me once again. This time I was watching another BBC Horizon documentary called The Ghost in Your Genes. This show outlined how things that your parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents were exposed