When I was in elementary school, we used to have cereal every weekday morning. On the weekends, Dustin, Trisha and I would make Jiffy Blueberry muffins (Trish was probably 12, so she could cook, and Dustin and I could try to help.) Or sometimes Mom would cook pancakes, bacon, biscuits and gravy, waffles, french toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns--not all at once, but some combination.
When I was in middle school, the cool thing was to skip breakfast because food made everyone nauseous in the morning. So I drank chocolate milk every day in sixth grade. This was a terrible idea. My bones grew stronger and decided to grow, causing me to be 5' 6" and taller than most everyone else in my grade, especially every single boy in the school. Unfortunately, the damage had been done, so I continued to drink milk for breakfast. Instead of chocolate, I began adding Carnation instant breakfast packets to my milk.
In high school, after having to get up at 5:45, I usually just didn't eat breakfast at all until senior year, when free breakfast was offered to everyone. For the entire year I ate my individual bowl of cereal and my cinnamon toast. I actually didn't always eat the cinnamon toast. It was mass produced, frequently was crunchy, dripping with butter, or an outrageously cinna-tastic piece of not so good bread. I went through phases with the cereal: Trix, Lucky Charms, and Cocoa Puffs. Healthy, well-balanced meals!
When I went to college, these healthy breakfast habits continued. When I worked at Duvall over the summers (which I had a dream that the pool was flooded, so I was jumping around on fences to stay dry, but the swimmers, who just swam in the flooded pool area, tugged on the fence so I got drenched. I didn't work there, I was just passing through,) I would always eat. At college, I frequently had cereal. I rarely went to the meal plan place for breakfast--Why waste a meal on cereal when I had cereal in my dorm? Or I could make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Or a grilled cheese sandwich on the iron...
When we go home, we usually have Saturday morning breakfast, where Mom makes us all a big breakfast. Dustin and I pretend to help. After "helping" Trish make muffins for years, we're quite accustomed to hanging out in the kitchen, leaving the cook to think we're helping when in reality we are just giggling about some joke and watching the cook do all the work.
Today, I decided to be different and make french toast for breakfast! However, we were out of eggs... and I wasn't sure if the milk was good... and we don't own any cinnamon or vanilla... I briefly contemplated fried milk toast as a breakfast, and if it would satisfy my craving. Or test edible. Or get crunchy, because I'm 30% certain that the eggs make it crunchy.
However, I opted on the side of caution and made grilled cheese instead.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Awareness.
Having been writing all day for school, I will take a break from my assignment to do something else: blogging. I usually try to stay away from controversial subjects on my blog, like politics, religion, anything serious, etc. However, I began thinking about an issue this morning and planning out this blog, and as the situation has escalated, I want to write my say before too much more goes down via the Book of Face.
A few months ago, something happened on Facebook. People started changing their statuses to highly uncomfortable things, like "So-and-So likes it on a wooden peg near the door," or,"Whats-her-face likes it on a dresser next to the bed." Highly uncomfortable. When people commented saying, "Bro, why are you so awkward?" they respond with, "Oh, it's for breast cancer awareness! It's where I put my purse!" When I asked how this raises said awareness, one of my friends responded, "When people ask you why your status says that, you say it's for breast cancer awareness."
As of three days ago, I began seeing alot of animated profile pictures. Specifically, of cartoon characters from my past. They were interesting! I had absolutely no idea why this was going on, or who was part of the trend, but it seemed cute and I also wished I could make some part of my childhood cartoon days my profile picture! If only I knew why this was happening!
Well, eventually due to some roundabout status posting, I discovered it was to raise awareness! Child abuse awareness.
My issues with this scenario are numerous. Firstly, since most profile picture changes are not accompanied by any sort of child abuse information, anyone who is not part of the trend thinks it's just a cool fad, and has no idea about the awareness, as I did for three days. Secondly, I think everyone is aware of child abuse, and does not like it. When my good friend Leah questioned in a status how it helped, she got many negative responses, and about how it caused them to be more aware. I also commented, about how I was aware of child abuse for thirty minutes that morning and pondered the terrible truths, but that in no way affected any abused child for better or worse. To this, one response was that prayer helps, and another was that maybe .5% of the people would be inspired to help! To the first response: while I believe in the power of prayer, I'd maybe like to see a specific campaign about praying for child abuse, if prayer is your method of battle. To the next: instead of campaigning to thousands of people to be aware, why not campaign for change? Instead of telling everyone to be aware that child abuse happens, why not tell everyone to make a change for child abuse! To get the right to change your picture, donate to a cause. Something like that.
I don't wear breast cancer awareness ribbons or any sort of awareness shirts or anything of the like, because being aware of the problem does nothing. I know breast cancer exists, and it is unfortunate, but until I am donating money towards finding a cure, or until I actively am involved in helping the situation for the better, why should I get the right to wear something and act like I'm a hero for being aware that it exists? I was aware it existed before I wore the ribbon, the only difference is that now I can feel like I'm making a change. I'd much rather wear awareness shirts for issues like, "Things about Global Warming that you didn't' know," or, "Specific reasons why you should recycle cardboard," because those are things of which I'm not aware, and also prompt a change... although if I wore the recycling shirt and still didn't recycle cardboard, what would the point be?
A few months ago, something happened on Facebook. People started changing their statuses to highly uncomfortable things, like "So-and-So likes it on a wooden peg near the door," or,"Whats-her-face likes it on a dresser next to the bed." Highly uncomfortable. When people commented saying, "Bro, why are you so awkward?" they respond with, "Oh, it's for breast cancer awareness! It's where I put my purse!" When I asked how this raises said awareness, one of my friends responded, "When people ask you why your status says that, you say it's for breast cancer awareness."
As of three days ago, I began seeing alot of animated profile pictures. Specifically, of cartoon characters from my past. They were interesting! I had absolutely no idea why this was going on, or who was part of the trend, but it seemed cute and I also wished I could make some part of my childhood cartoon days my profile picture! If only I knew why this was happening!
Well, eventually due to some roundabout status posting, I discovered it was to raise awareness! Child abuse awareness.
My issues with this scenario are numerous. Firstly, since most profile picture changes are not accompanied by any sort of child abuse information, anyone who is not part of the trend thinks it's just a cool fad, and has no idea about the awareness, as I did for three days. Secondly, I think everyone is aware of child abuse, and does not like it. When my good friend Leah questioned in a status how it helped, she got many negative responses, and about how it caused them to be more aware. I also commented, about how I was aware of child abuse for thirty minutes that morning and pondered the terrible truths, but that in no way affected any abused child for better or worse. To this, one response was that prayer helps, and another was that maybe .5% of the people would be inspired to help! To the first response: while I believe in the power of prayer, I'd maybe like to see a specific campaign about praying for child abuse, if prayer is your method of battle. To the next: instead of campaigning to thousands of people to be aware, why not campaign for change? Instead of telling everyone to be aware that child abuse happens, why not tell everyone to make a change for child abuse! To get the right to change your picture, donate to a cause. Something like that.
I don't wear breast cancer awareness ribbons or any sort of awareness shirts or anything of the like, because being aware of the problem does nothing. I know breast cancer exists, and it is unfortunate, but until I am donating money towards finding a cure, or until I actively am involved in helping the situation for the better, why should I get the right to wear something and act like I'm a hero for being aware that it exists? I was aware it existed before I wore the ribbon, the only difference is that now I can feel like I'm making a change. I'd much rather wear awareness shirts for issues like, "Things about Global Warming that you didn't' know," or, "Specific reasons why you should recycle cardboard," because those are things of which I'm not aware, and also prompt a change... although if I wore the recycling shirt and still didn't recycle cardboard, what would the point be?
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