Hi, I'm your cousin/nephew/brother/son, and I'm a pescitarian.

Okay, over Christmas, everyone found out that yes, I tend to follow a pretty strict vegetarian diet (only because it's healthier, and yes, I know what to eat to make up for what I'm missing for not eating meat), but still allow myself to eat fish, thus making me a pescitarian. I'll be honest, the only reason I still eat fish is because I love it so much.

Anyway, we quickly determined I couldn't eat any of the "anything you can eat with a spoon" entries, which even I was surprised at. While I didn't mind, and it's something I'm getting used to, mom and Aunt Carrie came to me Christmas morning, with an idea.

A vegetarian throw down.

I said it was good.

They then told me I had to come up with the rules, since it was assumed I would eat chicken stock (I will not).

So, here is where I'm coming from.

At first I said it could be a pescitarian throw down. I've since changed my mind.

I'm going to give my reason as to why.

I think that most of us are blessed with somewhat of a cooking ability (except Shae, let's be honest...I love her to death, but I've eaten too many raw pancakes growing up to say she can cook). So I think that we should challenge that. We're really going to broaden some horizons, I think.

I almost made the rules to be a vegan throw down (meaning no animal by-products such as cheese or milk could be used), but I think that's too much all at once.

Okay, finally. The rules.

1. No MEAT or MEAT BY-PRODUCT may be used. This includes the following, but is not limited to: chicken, fish, shell fish, red meat, pork, any broths or stocks made from meat, cooking in the same pan meat has been cooked in without washing it, bacon (yes, that really does count as meat).

2. Animal by-products are okay. They include things like cheese, milk, cream, yogurt, butter, etc... Eggs are okay.

3. Meat substitutes are okay (soy and tofu, though if you've had tofu, you know it's disgusting), and will probably be useful.

4. Your dish needs at least five ingredients (meaning steaming a bowl of broccoli doesn't count).

5. A vegetable tray also doesn't count.

6. Any dish. It's not limited to soups, or anything.

7. No bread bowls.

I will likely be able to tell if you try using a meat by-product. I'm extremely sensitive to the taste now.

There are many websites with very good vegetarian recipes.

Two brands that will help you GREATLY are Morningstar and Boca.

www.bocaburger.com

www.seeveggiesdifferently.com (Morningstar's website)

I tried to make these clear. If there are questions, feel free to ask.

Mainly for Shae and Scott.

I would probably say if Shae, Scott, and I shared a favorite viral video, this would be it.

Maya Rudolph and Shia LaBeouf.





You've just got to love Hulu (this video was taken off of YouTube).

Six of the same posts?

Though we talked about it, I'm still going to do a short Christmas recap, though almost everyone was there.

Quite obviously, I haven't been having the easiest fall and winter, thus far. 2008 has ended badly.

The last two days were just what I needed.

I'm so glad almost everyone made it out, and that I was able to relax for a couple days.

Within a few weeks I'll have the vegetarian rules posted.

They're pretty simple.

Okay.

It's Hulu time.

Break? What break?!

So I just found out that some people have are on "winter break" right now from school.

Allow me to explain.

I was having the best year of my life until around October. And since it has been constant stress and anxiety. I've been looking forward to these fourish weeks since October, thinking I'd have some time to breathe, and de-stress before next semester.

I've worked over ten hours straight (12 today) since the day after I got out of school. I have one day a week off, and it's been looking like the trend is calling people in who have days off. It doesn't help I already don't like my job, but we're now all working almost every day, no breaks, and I'm the lucky one to get the nice 10-12 hour shifts (the lowest ranked person in the store).

I'm more stressed out and anxious than I was two weeks ago, before finals.

Things probably won't be so bad, but I'm constantly talked down to, there's no order of operations (meaning I have to change daily, according to who I'm working with), I'm never told when I do something correctly, I'm only ever corrected.

This is, by far, the worst job I've ever had.

I'm ready to be done, and just collect my losses on this (being unemployed), and deal with it.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Spanish Assessment Results.

So I forgot to mention I had my Spanish assessment today.

Overall, I did okay.

For anyone who hasn't had a language assessment done, it's a pretty simple process. You sit down with someone who speaks the language, and have a conversation.

Between my nerves, and the fact I don't have anyone to speak Spanish with around here, I slipped up a lot. After I left, I realized there was a lot I could have done better, and a lot more I could have said, that I just didn't think of while I was being assessed.

The woman who did it is the head of Modern Foreign Languages for SVSU, and incredibly nice. She simply laughed when I'd get nervous and switch back to speaking English (we jumped back and forth a lot between Spanish and English).

She asked me a lot of basic questions like what I'm studying at SVSU, how long I've been here, my name, the date (I said it correctly, but said the wrong date), what time it was, what I like to do with my free time, where I've worked, how old I am, where I learned Spanish.

The end result: I get to skip all 100 level classes, which is awesome, since Spanish is my minor. I can go a lot farther in the program than I would have originally been able to, had I not learned more in Indianapolis (where I learned almost all the Spanish I know now). She said what I already knew, my grammar needs a lot of work.

She laughed the most when she told me she was placing me in Spanish 212, which is about the same as a third year high school class, and I said "Thank you very much" to which she replied, in Spanish, "Michael! How do you say that correctly?!"

The only downside to all of this is there's only one section of Spanish 212, and it conflicts with my Theatre class that my professor overloaded for me. So I can't take the Spanish class until next year now. However, the worst is over, I was very nervous for my assessment, and for being so out of practice, I actually did pretty well.

I am done.

Finally. I am done for the semester.

Semester recap: Bad. That's all I'll say. I didn't expect to do amazingly, it's been a long time, but I just didn't do well. I plan on working my head off next semester, and making up for that.

I have an interview at American Eagle to finish out the season. That'd be nice. After I not only wanted to walk out, but told my Supervisor I wanted to walk out, everyone at Subway seems a bit on edge with me lately.

On that happy note, I get about one day off a week from work from now on. That sort of sucks. The money will be good, but it'd be nice to have at least a bit of a break for my school break.

I hope you're all doing well.

See everyone at Christmas for the Throw Down.

(I still have no idea what I'm making.)

My birthday recap.

First off, happy birthday (again), John! 15. It's a good age. (Ha ha. Sorry, man.)

Secondly, thanks to everyone, for the birthday wishes.

My actual birthday was pretty uneventful. I ended up leaving mom and dad's house Thursday night to come back to Saginaw. I went to work at 11, ended up only really doing deliveries around the mall, and filling vegetables, and things of that nature. I got to leave early. It was a good day. Then I just hung around my apartment all day by myself. Quiet, a bit boring. Severely disappointing. Then about 11:30 my friend Kyle asked if I wanted to go back to Midland to see our friend Tyler (not the same Tyler as last post). I, of course, said yes, because I love hanging out with them, and Kyle's hardly ever around. So they managed to salvage my birthday. We went to see some band Tyler knew at a bar in downtown Midland, then went to our friend Jenny's apartment.

Last two weeks of classes. We'll see how they turn out.