I can't. I really can't. I've never hatedanything so much in my life. For the readers about to go into college and/or get a job, think about what you're doing. Think really hard. Think about what it is you really want to do. Do it now. I'll give you some time.
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Got it? Okay, now... Think about what you like to do and DO IT. I'm dead serious. Find a way to make it your living. If you love art, become an artist. Start an art gallery. Make art for people. Or maybe you love riding horses. Open up a ranch. Teach kids how to ride. Please don't make the mistake of getting a college degree and going into a field you are t even that interested in. College is NOT for everyone, so don't feel pressured to go. Don't waste the time and money. Don't to into $30k (or more) of debt to get a degree in something you might not even be able to use. Don't do something you'll regret.
Even though I say college is not for everyone, it is for some people. Doctors, Lawyers, and other career paths require you to have a degree. If you are passionate about one of these careers, then by all means, go to college. And do well. We need people who are passionate about their jobs. No one likes it when the lady at the front desk or on the phone is rude and you can tell she hates what she's doing. I deal with people like that all the time. It's sad.
Please just take this as a warning or something. Don't fall into a place where you don't want to be. Follow your dreams. Please.
I wash going to write more, but I stopped for a day and lost where I was gonna go with this. I'm sorry. Forgive me.
If you know me, I don't follow through on a lot of things. There was that one time a few months ago that I was trying to go vegan. That was a weird experience. I enjoyed though, because I was losing weight. In one week, I think I lost 2 pounds. I'm lucky enough to be one of those girls that loses weight easily. My only problem is that I'm not (wasn't) motivated to work out. Not to mention I'm weak when it comes to food. I was doing real well for a week, then there was that one day my parents and some friends went to McDonald's. It just smelled so good. (Not really, but I thought it did). So long story short, I ordered a Bacon and Chicken Club. It was delicious. But of course, I felt so bad afterwards, emotionally and physically. My stomach hurt. McDonalds does that to me...
The point of that story was to show you how little will power I have. BUT even if you don't have a lot of will power, you can develop it over time. You need to find that one thing. The one thing that inspires you to be great. For me, it's famous people. Does that sound strange? Let me explain. Every once in a while, I'll fall in love with a famous person. I'll want to be just like them. Right now, it's Lauren Conrad. She's one of the most amazing people I have ever heard of. I posted about her last week, so I won't get into a lot of detail about her. But basically, she's a great role model and I want to be like her. I've changed everything. The way I eat, my daily routine, how I wear my hair. The littlest details. I've even changed the type of pjs I wear to bed. It's not some weird obsession as you might think. It's more like I'm trying to be a better version of myself. As I'm changing the way I do things, I don't feel like what I'm doing is weird or unnatural. It feels right. Like this is who I really am. (Just to be clear, I have never felt this way about any other famous person.
So the moral of today's blog is to believe in yourself... how lame. But really, if you want to make some changes in your life, you can do it. Even if you don't think you have the will power, you do. You need to find your motivation. The one thing that will inspire you to get off the computer and follow your real dreams. You can do anything you set your mind to.
So until next time...
God Bless You and God Bless America!
xoxo Gossip Girl
No not really...
- Rachael ;D
Yesterday, June 4th, I was giving one of my coworkers a ride home. It was a little awkward at first, but then my favorite song came on and I couldn't help but sing... poorly. After that awful performance, I realize how chill this guy was. We ended up making some good conversation. I knew he didn't like what he does at work, so I asked him, "What is it that you really want to do?" He said he got a degree in marketing and he would actually like to use that degree. We got deeper into the conversation and I finally got a dream out of him. He wants to travel. Who doesn't want to travel? I certainly do. He said he wants to have jet lag. Everyone should experience jet lag at least once... or twice... or all the time. The Lord created the Earth so that we, his greatest creation, could explore it.
I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking lately. I don't want to live how I am living now. I don't really like giving the best hours of my day to a job that I don't really even like. I recently discovered a website by a famous reality TV star, now fashion designer/author: laurenconrad.com
Lauren Conrad was one of the main cast members on The Hills. From what I know, she is the only reality TV star that did not become corrupted by fame and, well, other members of the show. She went on to join Teen Vogue and pursue fashion. She now has a line of clothes at Kohl's (which is quite expensive) and her website is very successful. Not to mention, she has several best sellers. I plan on reading L.A. Candy here pretty soon.
My whole point in saying this is that I now know what kind of lifestyle I want to live. I want to be like Lauren Conrad. Of course, I can't be exactly like her, but I can try. What I want is to be lady like, have a good fashion sense, and great hair. Oh and I'd like to live in a big house in Laguna Beach, CA, but that will have to come later. I found so many pretty house. I can't choose one :( but here, take a look:
267 Crescent Bay Drive, Laguna Beach, CA - http://on.trulia.com/SzC2Mn
121 Emerald Bay, Laguna Beach, CA - http://on.trulia.com/1nUfdS1
846 Emerald Bay, Laguna Beach, CA - http://on.trulia.com/1uoEXFy
283 Upland Road, Laguna Beach, CA - http://on.trulia.com/1hCGaqL
2431 Riviera Drive, Laguna Beach, CA - http://on.trulia.com/1oyxujy
There's a lot more, but I have other things I need to talk about... Let me know which one of these you like best in the comments!
So because of the lifestyle change I want to make, there are a lot of things I am having to do. I want to read more. I am creating the habit of reading 30 minutes a day for a few weeks. Eventually, I'd like to read two hours everyday. No more Netflix. No more slacking off on Tumblr or Pinterest. The only computer time I will allow myself is blogging and research for blogging.... Or if I need to order something on Amazon of a clothing store. BUT other than that, nothing but reading.
I have already started to change my morning routine. I wake up at 5:30am and go to my mom's yoga class. Right now that's all I'm doing. On Monday, I am going to start jogging around the block after yoga. I need to get into some type of shape. I've been sitting around at work without incorporating any type of exercise into my day. One day I won't even have to worry about work. One thing I hate is thinking about work when I go home. I hate thinking about work even when I'm at work. But it's just for now. Nothing is permanent.
One day, I'll live the lifestyle I want. It's gonna take hard work, determination, and lots of motivation (looking at pretty houses).
"The first step to doing the right thing is doing something." - Tim Marks, Voyage of a Viking
Until next time...
God Bless You and God Bless America!
-Rachael A.
I remember when we were in 7th grade and it was the last band concert of the year. I was holding my bari and you came up to me and started putting eyeliner on me. You had only finished one eye when my dad wanted to snap a picture. We had looked back on that picture later on and you said that my bari sax looked way too big for me. It was true. I could play that thing while it rested on the floor. Even then it was still too big.
I remember when we went to UIL in 7th grade. The directors took us to Stonebriar before the concert. We were hanging out with some people, including Erum. We didn't really like her at the time (Erum, I love you now), so we kept running around trying to ditch her. This was also the day you gave me the nickname Niko Gaylord. I remember you wanted yours to be Watson Crick.
I remember in 8th grade, I went to your house for your birthday party. You were having a pool party but I couldn't swim because I was on my period. You offered to let me use a tampon, but I didn't know how to use them yet. By the time the party was over, I had a huge brown stain on my blue shorts. It was embarrassing, but I was still glad that I was at the party.
I remember in 8th grade when we all went to Kathrin's birthday party. We went bowling and then we went to her house to swim around in her huge hot tub. Your pants kept falling down and everyone was like "Woah, crack kills." You probably don't think it was funny, but it was at the time. You didn't care back then.
I remember one time when I was sleeping over at your house. I think I was there all weekend because my parents were on a business trip. We had just gotten to your house from doing something. The mall? FroYo? I don't know. But I remember being so tired when we got home that I fell asleep right on the floor. A few hours later, I found out y'all had gone to church and came back before I woke up. I was out like a light.
Here was our first day of high school.
I remember all of those times in Mr. Cox's class we wreaked havoc. We would ditch and not get in trouble. We would recommend a bunch of self help books to Mr. Cox. "I could write a book. It's gonna be called, How To Shoot a Freshman." Wewould throw tampons at that little Asian kid Imbum while making fun of his name. We weren't trying to be mean. I think he thought it was funny. I sure know we did.
We were the best of friends...
I remember when we went to Sandy Lake with my parents business partners. We went on all of the rides and I think I almost got sick on the octopus/spider thingy. We begged my dad to take us on the spinny do-hickies and get us spinning really really fast. We were all green after that. Later on, we secretly ate all of the fried chicken while the people were gone and had a water fight. It was the most pathetic excuse for a water fight, but it was still fun. If we were to do that now around those same people, I would not have been as carefree as I was back then.
You were the coolest Saxman ever. No one could play better than you. When your fingers pressed those keys and air came out of that horn, it was not the sound of dying quails, burning in oil. No, it was the sound of all the angels singing harmoniously as one.... Or something like that.
This was your 15th birthday. Your mom took you and I to Dickies and then to get our nails done. I remember this day because I remember going to the bathroom a lot. I had a bunch of vanilla pudding the days preceding this one, and it was giving me stomach problems.
This was pretty much our relationship.
You Loved me enough to accept my weird obsession with Pokemon. I wasn't allowed to dye my hair, but we loved to dye yours.
Rebecca Lauryn Jabr, you were once everything to me. When we got in an argument, I would call you, crying, to tell you I was sorry. I had no one else. We told each other absolutely everything. I thought it was you tearing us apart. I thought your chemical imbalance was a bunch of crap. I was brought up to believe that there is no such thing as mental problems. People are just making excuses to get medication so that they can become numb. I have come to realize that it is not the case. You were in pain. Deep emotional pain. And I realize now that I was only adding on that pain. All this time, I believe that I was the reason you were unhappy. Over time, my problems were becoming your problems. I was a horrible friend to you and you don't deserve that. You never deserved that. I understand you are doing much better now and I'm so happy for you. You don't need me anymore. That's great. After all of the pain and misery you have suffered, I'm glad to see you are doing well. I hope there are many more blessings coming your way.
"The way to love anything is to realize it may be lost." -G.K. Chesterton
"I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough..." -Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook
Rachael Alterman
UPDATE: My bad y'all. OpenSSL is not a database. It has nothing to do with databases. So pretty much ignore this post until I have done some more research, which will be conducted tomorrow considering it is 12:30 at night and I'm pretty tired.
Heartbleed is a bug that has been around for two years, but did not surface until this past Monday. What the bug is is a flaw in security protocols. It allows hackers to infiltrate profiles and receive sensitive information that you would think would be super secure. As far as I know, the media has told everyone to change their passwords quickly. Unfortunately, you should be doing the complete opposite. Do not change any passwords. In fact, you probably shouldn't even be visiting the sites that are at risk. (ex. Facebook, Etsy, goDaddy, etc.) NOTE: Heartbleed is not a virus. It is not out to get you. It is simply a huge flaw in "secure" transferring databases, such as OpenSSL. I just wanted to make that clear before I continue.
It has been said by some people in the NSA that they have actually known about the bug two years ago when it first sprang up. They say that have been working to patch it up, but it's really up to OpenSSL. So you can guess where my first conspiracy will come from. The NSA is behind the whole thing and they are telling people to change their passwords to make them more vulnerable. I mean think about it, just a little while ago, we were getting mad at Obama and the NSA for spying on us with our cell phones and what not. They have been doing it all along. Heartbleed helped them out with that.
I have another theory that isn't as cool, unless they made it into a movie with the perspective of the person I'm about to talk about. There is a person working for OpenSSL and they were like a double agent and a super hacker. He works with an underground hacker society and infiltrated OpenSSL. He and his little hacker friends purposely thought up this flaw, Heartbleed and implemented it into OpenSSL. I bet that person is still working there too just laughing on the inside. Ha.
My last conspiracy (for now) is that Pinterest is behind this... What?! Why Pinterest? Well think about it, how many people this week got an email from ONLY Pinterest telling them to change their password. They were the only site to send out an email as far as I know. I don't know how they could be behind it, but it's possible. Think of how many websites are connected to them! Then again, I did not look at (or click on) the link in the email. So it could have been a phishing attack. But I wouldn't know. (Remember, this is an opinionated blog.)
It's strongly recommended that you avoid these affected sites until it is confirmed that they have been patched. It kind of sucks that they tell us to not change the passwords until after the fact. But I think we will all be safe... today. Tomorrow, probably not. It was unknown for two years and there weren't any hackers trying to steal information because they didn't know about it. Now that it has surfaced and is mainstream, hackers will be all over that. Not trying to scare you, but I am trying to warn you. Don't change your passwords. Hackers can smell fear and paranoia.
In the world today, people are more concerned about losing their cell phone than watching a tragic car accident. In the world today, people are more concerned with what celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber are doing, rather than thinking about what they are going to do with their life. In the world today, people are more concerned about the way they look than what their beauty products do to the Earth. I'm not some crazy tree-hugging hippie, but it really saddens me when I drive past Highway 121 and there is trash all over the place. If people did recycle or wait until they found a trash can to throw things away, Earth would be such a beautiful place. Don't get me wrong, there are so many places on this planet that still are clean and beautiful, but then there are places that are worse than 121. Much much worse. It's depressing to think about.
Disturbed wrote a song called "Another Way To Die." They got it right. It's like they have seen the future or something. It's a pretty intense song and the video is even more intense, so I wouldn't recommend your kids watching it, unless you're one of those parents that doesn't want to shelter them from the dangers of the world. Because you know, there are dangers and every kid will have to face them eventually. Why would you not want to teach them what to do in those situations? That was just a little sidebar. Here's the video:
It's hard to watch this video without sound. Not because you can't hear what's going on, but because the images shown are so powerful. Some of them seem a little unnecessary, like the pig being cut in half. But it is effective. Then when you listen to the lyrics, it creates more dramatic effect. Partially because their music is so heavy, but also because the lyrics are intense. Let's take a look at it line by line: *AUTHOR'S NOTE*
This lyrical analysis is biased and opinionated. This is based off of my own personal thought of what the song means and it is in no way intended to be the "official meaning." Don't want anyone having a hissy fit. Carry on my wayward sons.
"The indulgence of our lives has cast a shadow on our world Our devotion to our appetites has betrayed us all."
So already, things are scary. Basically, our obsession with how we live our lives is already corrupting the world.
"An apocalyptic plight More destruction will unfold Mother Earth will show her darker side and take her toll"
Here, Draiman is saying that if we keep doing what we're doing, eventually we'll be living in a wasteland. Or worse. Does anyone really know Mother Earth's darker side?
"It's just another way to die"
This was a great spot for them to put the title in. It makes sense in context. With the pollution that is described, it will lead to all of the destruction portrayed in the video and it really will be just another way to die. Terrible.
"There can be no other reason why You know we should have seen it coming"
It's true. We should be seeing it coming. Gas prices are rising and people are still filling up like we'll never run out. They're throwing their garbage out the window. Guys, animals aren't that smart. They will try to eat the crap that you throw away.
"Consequences we cannot deny will be revealed in time Glaciers melt as we pollute the sky A sign of devastation coming We don't need another way to die Can we repent in time?"
So the first line is saying that pretty soon, we're gonna see the results of our actions. Could be 5, 10, maybe even 20 years. Global warming is probably going to be the biggest cause of all of the poverty in the future. That, and an oil crisis. Can we repent in time? Can we really? Can we fix the Earth before it dies? It's up to us.
"The time bomb is ticking and no one is listening Our future is fading Is there any hope we'll survive?"
The world is fading now. Right as we speak. And no one is doing anything about it. Very few people even realize what is going on.
"Still we ravage the world that we love And the millions cry out to be saved Our endless maniacal appetite Left us with another way to die"
People are using up the limited resources as if they were inexhaustible. Pretty soon, it will all be gone and we'll be begging for help. And we will take advantage of whatever help is given to us, in a bad way. It will be our own fault and eventually, no one will be able to help us.
"Greed and hunger led to our demise A path I can't believe we followed. Black agenda's rooted in a lie Will we repent in time?"
So here, he's saying that we should have known better. We were ignorant to end up the way portrayed in the video. Either that, or we did know where we were going, but no one cared. Then he asks the question again, can we fix our mess before it gets worse?
Species fall before our very eyes A world that they cannot survive in left them with another way to die Are we dead inside?
These last lines are very powerful. We already know that species' are dying. Polar bears, whales, some birds. They're dying because of global warming, homes being torn down, or they're being hunted. Are we dead inside? This sums up the entire song. It's all our faults. Why is it our fault? Because we don't care as long as we are benefited in someway. We are like parasites to this Earth. The only way that the world will be saved is if we change.
I get that the point of the video is to scare people. Regardless, they are right. It's very possible that in the next 10-30 years, we will be headed right in that direction. I don't know about you, but I don't really want my kids to be living in filth and ultimate poverty. Like I said before, I'm no hippie, but I really do care about this planet and this country especially. It's one of the greatest places to live. If I had the time and resources, I would do what I could to clean it up.
If you haven't ever seen The Day The Earth Stood Still, I would definitely recommend that you watch it. It stars Keanu Reeves as an alien, reborn on Earth, who is there to wipe out humans. He says that it's because humans could not take care of the planet. Then the government intervenes and starts using deadly force. When the little alien bugs started decomposing everything, the government stopped what they were doing and allowed this woman doctor to try and talk to the alien guy. She shows compassion to him and says that humans can change. It's a pretty good movie if you're into stuff like that. But the point I'm trying to make is that people will keep messing things up until it gets to the point where we have no choice but to change.
I just want everyone to be aware of we are headed. Don't litter, recycle, and do things that are good for the environment. Drive a Prius or something. Really, do you know how fuel efficient those things are? Or even better, get a Tesla. Man those things are cool. Have you seen it?
MSRP: $69,900
Sweet ride. I'd totally get one.
This post was just a little Rachael PSA. Be aware.
Until next time...
God bless you and God bless America.
-Rachael
There are so many reasons why I hate the radio. I'm going to tell you every single one. If you're anything like me, you love listening to music. I like many different genres and varieties (NOT country). But unfortunately, the radio gives us the complete opposite of variety. Of course, that depends on which station you listen to and how often you listen. At my work, we have a radio that plays on our phones that is set to KVIL, which is supposed to be the "variety" channel. That's a terrible name because they play the same 3 songs over and over again. Counting Stars by One Republic, Royals by Lorde, and Say Something by A Great Big World. I used to like Counting Stars, nut now that I've heard it a million+ times, I can't stand it. I would rather listen to cats fighting than any of these songs. I'm sick of all the repetition. Everyone in that studio should be arrested for false advertising and treason against music.
I heard a song the other day that I really liked. For The First Time by The Script. It really touched my heart, but it was on that stupid station. You know what that means? They're going to play it out and ruin it. That's another thing i hate about that kind of radio. They'll play some songs so much that they lose their meaning. For example, I used to think that Say Something was a really serious song. It made me depressed. After listening to it once, I was so depressed I felt like dying. I don't even know why they decided to put that on the air in the first place, but they did. Anyways, now that I've heard it so many times, it annoys me. Whenever it comes on, I feel like taking the radio and throwing it out in the street... stomping on it a few times, smashing it with a bat, give it a few punches... I've seen Office Space too many times. But seriously, that's how much I hate that song and radio station.
Let's talk about news radio. I don't think it's any better than the other stations. Sure you don't have to listen to the same songs over and over again. But I think that's better than listening to the news. Let me get one thing straight, I HATE the news. I've always hated the news. "But it keeps you up to date on what's going on in the world Rachael!" So? I don't care about what's going on. Who really cares that a girl fell from 3500 feet and lived? I could have gone my entire life with out knowing that. I don't need to know what is going on in the world. What really bothers me about the news is all of the depressing stuff they talk about, like people getting murdered and raped. It's sick. I don't need to know these things.
People should be filling their heads with good information (or good music). If you don't have motivating audios or something like that, maybe you should try making a mix CD. It's fun and you can listen to your favorite songs. For someone like me, I make lots of different CD's with different genres and styles. So whatever I'm in the mood for, I can just pick out what I want to listen to.
That's really all I have for now. What do you think about the radio? Do you actually like listening to the same songs over and over again? Cause I sure don't...
Until next time...
God Bless You and God Bless America
-Rachael
Oh wow. Work totally wore me out yesterday. I was so tired when I got home. But enough excuses. This diet is getting challenging. I get the feeling that I'll be eating the same things over and over again. From what I can see, there isn't much of a variety when it comes to vegan food. Just about everything in the grocery store has either eggs, milk, or meat. It's hard to know what's okay and what isn't.
Day 4
For breakfast, I had the typical peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat. You know, I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to eat that kind of bread. Are there eggs in bread?
Lunch time! I had a really great salad. Iceberg and romaine lettuce with Greek vinaigrette. Barbecue kettle chips and some gluten free cookies. Nothing special other than the fact that I got to eat this at home. It was all super fresh.
Like always, there are parts of the day where I mess up really bad. I had kettle chips and ALL of the remaining gluten free cookies. I felt bad afterwards. Even though these those are supposed to be healthy, I still felt my insides screaming, "RACHAEL! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?" Now the cookies are all gone and I won't be able to make that mistake again.
Day 5
Like the day before, I had a PB&J. And like I said before, I'm running out of variety.
I wasn't able to make a lunch for today due to lack of time. Let's move on.
Dinner is always the best meal of the day (except for yesterday). I made a huge salad with iceberg and romaine lettuce, chopped onions, broccoli, carrots, and Greek vinaigrette. It was the best thing I've ever eaten. I had peaches on the side and for some reason, I made gluten free rice mac and cheese. Let me tell you something. That was the worst mac and cheese I have ever eaten. The box said to boil it for 12 minutes, and I never actually go by the box. So I boiled the noodles for 15 like I always do with regular mac and cheese. I put in the cheese powder, butter, and coconut milk. My mom had the first bite. Right there, I knew something was wrong. I took a bite and made the same face she did. They were so not cooked all the way. They tasted kind of stale. Yuck yuck. But it's okay now. All the mac and cheese is gone, so I will not be buying anymore.
Besides the lack of variety, everything is going well. I ordered a Warby Parker home try-on kit two nights ago. I hope to post a review next Friday. They have some really cute glasses on their website. They have this thing where you can order five pairs of glasses without prescription lenses so you can try them on and see what you like. And the best part is, it's free. You don't even have to pay for shipping. You get to keep them for a week then send them back when you're done. It's so cool. If you're interested, you can visit their website: www.warbyparker.com
I promise I'll do better. I'm going to a seminar today so I'm interested in seeing what I'll choose to bring for dinner.
Until next time...
God Bless You and God Bless America
-Rachael
I do apologize for that. I got so side tracked today. Sure enough, God answered my prayers for a break from work to get myself together. So I should have some good posts coming out soon. Okay, on to My Vegan Journey.
I was good and bad today. For breakfast, I had a RVL shake. If you don't know what that is, you can click here find out more. It was really really good. My mom makes them like, all the time. I don't really know how to make it, so she did it for me. Put it in a little to-go cup and brought it to work. Super convenient. Of course, I was hungry just a short while after finishing it.
This is the bad part. For lunch, I once again, had ramen. But it was shrimp flavored this time so that's okay. But like usual, it was just a filler. I was hungry once I got home and wanted to eat everything, again. But I didn't. I did good with that.
For dinner, and this is really bad, I had "natural" mac and cheese. It was Annie's cheesy mac. And that's cool, but it had cheese and butter in it. I substituted the dairy milk with coconut milk and it tasted pretty good. (By the way, don't ever drink coconut milk on it's own. It's the nastiest thing ever.) Even though it was a healthy meal, it wasn't vegan and I have therefore failed. No not really, I have a week grace period to let my stomach get used to this weird stuff. I'm just easing into the waters instead of doing a cannonball.
Okay, now you people are gonna be like "WHAT?! NO SHE DIDN'T!!!" I made gluten free cookies. Chocolate chip. I super messed up. It's a good thing I baked all of the dough. They had eggs and milk in them. That's no bueno. I ate 5 or 6 right after I made them. Just wait until day 4 when you hear about what I did with the rest of them.
So I did pretty badly today, but I'm still getting used to it. If you would like to be challenged today, shoot me a message. I'd love to be your accountability partner.
Until next time...
God Bless You and God Bless America
-Rachael
(All My Vegan Journey updates are written the day after they occur. Example: Day 1 is written on day 2, Day 2 is written on day 3, and so on. Here's a picture of a precious steak, I mean cow.)
You know, this vegan diet isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Probably because I haven't gotten into the "real" vegan food yet. I'm still not looking forward to that, but I'll endure it when that time comes.
I still didn't have breakfast. Once again, I had no idea what I could munch on. I think I'll have a smoothie or shake or something like that for the next day. That might be fun. Even though I wasn't able to have breakfast, I did have a very nice, satisfying lunch. It consisted of a peanut butter and jelly (both organic) sandwich on whole wheat bread, barbecue kettle chips, some fruit, and a nutrigrain bar. I'm pretty sure that's all vegan. I'm only eating these semi healthy things until I learn everything I can or can't eat. Like I said on Day 1 (maybe I didn't say this) I would like to live the lifestyle of a vegan. Like, a raw vegan. Fruits, veggies, natural cleaners, fitness stuff, and driving around in a Prius.
*SIDEBAR*
I test drove a Prius the other day. Man it is a nice car. It was really quiet and comfortable. I like quiet. Did you know that the standard Prius speakers are JBL's? I've had really good experiences with JBL. Not only are the speakers really great, but so is the gas mileage. 50 mpg? That's unbelievable. The strange thing is, I used to make fun of people who drove a Prius. But now that I've tried it, I'm in love. It's no Rolls-Royce (obviously, idiot), but I think it will do until I can get my dream car.
*SIDEBAR END*
For the little dinner I had, it was also very satisfying. But that might be because I've been eating this for a long time. Ramen. Okay okay, you hardcore vegans... don't hate. I know that ramen is not very healthy considering the sodium levels, but my blood sugar was low and blah blah blah. Excuses, words, and justification. Technically, ramen is a vegan food, healthy or not. So don't get on to me like, "OMG Rachael! Ramen is sooooo totally bad for you. You shouldn't eat it. DO you know how much salt there is in that stuff? You're gonna die!" Just stop. Please.
Want to go through the vegan experience with me? Subscribe to my posts or message me! I would be happy to help people stay accountable.
Until next time...
God Bless You and God Bless America
-Rachael
I started on my Vegan journey yesterday. It was an interesting experience. It started with me waking up late. Yeah I know that's bad. I got up around 8 am. That gave me 20 minutes to get ready for work, which is fine because it usually only takes me 15. But there are some days where I just zone out in the mornings. Yesterday was one of those days. I went into the kitchen to try and find something to eat. But honestly, I had no clue what I could or couldn't eat for breakfast. So I thought, well maybe I'll skip breakfast today and make a lunch. That didn't turn out so well. Not because I didn't know what to eat, but because my ride got to my house as soon as I took out the bread (whole wheat). Basically, I went hungry for most of the day.
Already my vegan experience was going poorly. But it was my own fault. When I got home, I wanted to devour EVERYTHING we had in the kitchen. Don't worry, I held myself back. I had an organic peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some baby carrots and RANCH! OH NO! I HAD RANCH! I'M GOING TO DIE. I was planning on steaming them, but I was so hungry, I couldn't wait. Later on, I was still so hungry, I found some pre-cut broccoli in the back of the fridge. It looked pretty fresh. I was about to go for the ranch again, but my mom pulled out some nasty looking dressing. It was some Greek Vinaigrette. Man it looked so gross. But after I smelled it and tasted it, it was so good. It was better than ranch. And I always thought there was nothing better than ranch. I could drink ranch like it was water. So it goes to show that not everything that looks nasty, is nasty.
There are somethings I'm not looking forward to, like hummus and tofu. But like the dressing, I'm sure it isn't as bad as it looks. My mom says hummus is just mashed beans, which sucks because the only beans I like are baked beans. WHICH, by the way, I found some vegetarian baked beans at Kroger the other day. I bought 2 cans. It's cool cause there are some things that I like that I can still eat, for now. I'm still in the transition stage (obviously, it's only been a day). Eventually, I would like to be on a completely gluten, meat, steak, bacon, chicken free diet.....oh gosh. Sorry, I miss meat already. Now I'm sad. But really, I would like to eat only fruits and vegetables. And I'm cool with that, because I actually like (most) green things. The only problem I have is protein. I hear vegans (on blogs and forums) say that they do get enough protein from nuts and whatever. But my mother says otherwise. Nuts are more of a carb or fat than they are protein. Basically, if you look on the nutrition label of any food, and there are more carbs or fats than there are protein, then that food is a carb or fat. Therefore, I'm out of luck when it comes to nuts being my protein.
I'm not going to rate how this diet is going yet because I don't really have the experience to do that. BUT if you have any comments or just want to know the reasons I chose the vegan diet (which I will probably write about later on), leave me a message or whatever.
I posted on Instagram the other day about how terrible it is to be a grown up. But after thinking about it, I realized that I had made a mistake. It's really not so bad being an adult in the "real world." It's just a challenge. I could talk about the negative aspects of being an adult all day, but I'm not going to. There is no good in doing that. It would only scare the small children.
I will admit, I do sometimes regret leaving public school. I miss being around my friends (or even having friends). I miss band.
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That's about it. Even though I don't like that I left school, there are times that I remember why I did so. If it wasn't for me leaving, I wouldn't have been able to get started on my life. I'm working at a job in my chosen field. Soon, I'll be able to have the job and lifestyle that I want, all at an earlier age than most. Sure I won't get to experience what it's like to be a senior, but then again, that could be a good thing. I no longer have to deal with the stupid high school drama. I don't have to worry about being corrupted by my peers. And I don't have to worry about grades. The best part about starting life early, is that I make really good money for my age. You can bet I won't be getting a piece of junk for my first car.
I'd like to speak some truth into your life. It's true wen they say that after you leave high school, no one cares about you anymore. Someone might mention you now and then, but after a year or two, people forget about you. After four years, no one knows who you are. It's like you never existed. For someone like me, it sucks because I didn't have many friends. I was forgotten faster. But what makes this terrible is that I'm not only forgotten by the people that I considered acquaintances, but also by my closest friends. There is no worse feeling in the world than losing all of your friends. The people that you could confide in. It sucks. But I suppose it was bound to happen anyway. I was not the greatest friend in the world. I treated people poorly and in return, they treated me poorly. Now, I want you to know, I'm not posting this because I want pity or sympathy. This is just a segway to my next thought.
Looks like the Golden Rule really is true. You must give respect in order to earn respect. I hear all the time that people need to earn respect before it is given. While this is true, people make the mistake of being jerks to others then expecting to be respected.
Here's an example. This video was popular a while back. Some kid, Jeff Bliss, attended a school in Duncanville, TX, somewhat close to where I live. This kid tells off his teacher, basically telling her that she sucks and needs to get off her behind and actually teach something. He does this in front of the entire class, disrespecting her and setting a bad example for the other students. I'm not going to defend the teacher, but I'm not going to defend this Jeff guy either. While I do applaud him for taking a stand, I think he could have done it in a more civilized manner. Because he said the things in the tone that he did, the teacher respects him less and in turn will treat him worse than she did previously. Things would have been different if one of them had just been more respectful towards the other. It didn't matter who it was, but it needed to be done. Someone has to start it.
Now that you know where I stand on the issue of respect, tell me what you think. Was this guy in the wrong? Have you been faced with a situation like this? Let me know in the comments or send me a message.
Until next time...
God Bless You and God Bless America
-Rachael
Believe it or not, blogging is really hard. It's difficult to find things to talk about that are appropriate for the general public. I try not to talk about my personal life too much, but it's hard not to. We usually draw our topics from personal experiences. I'd love to write about serious things all the time and get on a really deep level. But I'm not that person. Maybe it's not that I'm not that type of person, but rather that I don't think on that deep of a level. At least, not yet.
I sometimes read other really good blogs. Terri Brady writes from personal experience, but she shows how it teaches a lesson. And would you believe I actually found a good blog in while using the Nav bar? Like I literally found it 30 seconds ago. It's called Hearing is Believing. It hasn't been updated in a long time (2010), but from what I have read so far, it is exactly the type of blog I want. This person writes about their favorite songs. How they found it, why they like it, a video of it, and the lyrics.
Here is the link in case you want to check it out:
I guess the only way to have a good blog is to just continue posting, even if the posts aren't good. I'm not that good of a writer yet, but with practice, I can be great. Practice makes perfect.
I do my best to post every week at least, but I'm quite disappointed in myself for not keeping up. I wish I could post daily. I'm just too busy with work. But let's face it, you don't care about my excuses. No one does. So how about this, I promise to try my best and do better with posting. Is that okay? Cool.
I know one of the greatest Americans on Earth. His name... is Clif Gibson. Man this guy is really swell. The swellest. He always has the coolest ties. I was told that he's actually in a "tie club." It makes total sense, especially if you've met him. He taught my dad about this thing called "Chatoyancy." It's like an optical illusion found in gemstones. I guess some companies thought this was totally cool and started manufacturing material to mimic these gemstones. You should check it out sometime.
Besides Mr. Gibson's formidable education in ties, he is very passionate about our freedoms in America. I love hearing him speak truth into people's lives. He may not have the credentials of a professional speaker, but man can he speak. He talks a lot about how we are losing freedoms everyday in America. Some Tuesdays, he speaks at our live open meetings. And while showing the plan, he will usually add in something about how the people have more control than they think. Unfortunately, he only has a certain amount of time to talk and doesn't really get to dig into how we can REALLY change America. I know this guy has some great ideas. But the cool thing is, I don't think these ideas came from him. In fact, I know they didn't. See, what makes Clif brilliant, is that he listens and understands. All of what he says comes from people "much smarter than [him]." People like Orrin Woodward and Oliver Demille (Top Leadership Guru's and Authors of Leadershift).
I can't wait until Clif starts speaking at seminars. He will be (already is) great. He, like many of the men he associates with, is doing something great for this country. The greatest day of all will be when he achieves the level of Policy Council. I want to be there when he delivers his PC speech. In fact, I want to be front row. I might not be in his association, but I want to be right there cheering him on. I wish I could go into depth about how he speaks and his lessons, but I'm so not on his level. I don't want to sound like a fool, in turn making him sound like a fool. So I'm not going to try. Instead you should hear him for yourself. Just you wait and see. This guy will be on so many audio CD's. If you ask nicely, I just might loan some to you.
There are too many nice things to say about Clif and I really wish I could say more. I would love to get into really deep thoughts about how super cool he is, but I'm not that deep. Yet... So as I am still working on being a great writer and edifier, feedback is much appreciated.
Thank you for reading this unintentionally short post.
God Bless You and God Bless America.
-Rachael
One of the features of Blogger is being able to randomize your blog search. On the top of the page, there is a Navbar, in which you can navigate in between blogs. The thing is, there are some pretty lame blogs out there. I'll occasionally use the Nav feature and if I'm lucky enough, I will find a pretty decent blog. But the only stuff I find are blogs in Spanish, and blogs about people's children. I understand that some people are totally obsessed with their children, but to create a website showcasing the mediocre achievements they make, it's kind of weird.
It's difficult to find blogs like mine. But that's my own fault. So far, I've only seen two blogs that are like mine. (terribradyblog.com and i-gave-up.com) Maybe I should be doing research. What is a blog? I always thought it was just something that people write their feelings and things that happened to them that week. Like a diary. Blogs can be so much more. It's a website. You can do whatever you want with it. Literally. You can have a blog even if you aren't trying to get people to follow you.
I created this blog back in March because I was bored and was hoping for some type of interaction. That never happened. But as I did research and started posting more, I knew what I wanted to do with the blog. I wanted to talk about music. It is my first love after all. I decided that I wanted to turn this into a music blog. Now, I don't really know how to write content for a music blog, which makes this pretty difficult. I've looked at other blogs, but what they do is talk about indie bands that no one has ever heard of. And all I can think to do is review songs, albums, and artists. I could go to a few concerts and what not, but who really cares? People want new things. I simply don't have the resources to do that.
BUT, who says I need to be limited to only talking about music. This is my blog. So technically, I can do whatever I want. I have a bunch of ideas and it's like, if no one likes them, it doesn't matter. I don't get paid to do this. (For the record, I don't ever plan on accepting money from this website. IF it were to happen that I was offered compensation from this site, I plan on donating it.)
I've thought about it some more, and I think what I've been doing is just fine. I don't need some set schedule (except Mondays. I really want Music Monday to be a thing), and I don't need to limit myself to one topic. There are so many things I want to talk about. Politics, family, life experiences. The point of this blog is to relate to people and give an insight of how my mind works.
We'll figure this out together. God bless you and God bless 'Merica
-Ra-Ra-Ra-Rachael
When I was a Junior, every Monday (or almost every Monday), I would post a picture of what I was listening to on Instagram. That was my thing. IF you haven't noticed by now, I'm a music junkie. So now that I don't really care for Insta anymore, I will be doing Music Monday on my blog! I know, so exciting. I'm not really sure what I'm gonna talk about. The best thing, I think, would just be to start talking and see where that goes? I'm still open to suggestions...
Something I really love to do is just sit on the couch for hours listening to music. I'll turn on Pandora, make my hot tea, and sit there. Luckily, I have a bluetooth JBL stereo in my living room. And it's not some cheap stereo you get in a little Radio Shack. It may be small, but it has HUGE sound. I love it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a stereo like this.
JBL OnBeat Venue - MSRP: $199.95
When I was in school, I would listen to Alt. Rock and Alt. Metal, my favorite genres. There were some classes that we were allowed to listen to our iPods. I was the person in the back or side of the class that was gently headbanging in my seat. One time, the guy that I sat next to tapped me on the shoulder and asked if the music I listened to made me angry. I wanted to laugh, but he did have a point. The music should make me angry, but it doesn't. It makes me really happy. There's something about Alternative that really gets me pumped. Maybe it's the fast paced tempo, maybe it's the fact that male Alt. singers have the most amazing voices. Whatever it is, I feel as if I couldn't live without it.
I grew up listening to alternative. My dad was big on Disturbed, Drowning Pool, and Godsmack. My mom liked Metallica, Linkin Park, and others. I got most of my love for 80's music from her. And from my dad, I got my love for loud music. In 2002, he got a really cool truck with an AMAZING sound system. We would jam all the time. Our favorite song to listen to was Indestructible by Disturbed. Great song. Great to listen to. If you have a good sound system and haven't heard that song turned up really loud, you haven't lived. You should try it sometime. That song is like my dad and I's theme song.
If you're interested in seeing what kind of music I'm listening to, which you probably aren't, follow me on Pandora or Spotify. I'm always adding songs to my playlists. Check out "A Little Bit of Sunshine." That's the playlist where I keep all of my favorite Alternative songs.
Give me Music Monday topics please! I can review songs, videos, albums. You name it, I'll do it. We are on our way to being the greatest music blog EVER. Now if only I knew how to correctly do a music blog.