Attempting to be a better person...

...for the world and for myself. I watched a documentary the other day called "King Corn." I thought it was great. It was basically all about how bad high fructose corn syrup is for you and how much Americans depend on corn (movies point: we are basically made of corn). Film is available on Netflix instant view, btw.

I am addicted to soda. Specifically Coke and Pepsi, and I would so that nearly half of my daily intake of calories, on days I teach and work at the restaurant, come from these two soft drinks. My day usually goes like this:
Breakfast - Pack of Peanut Butter Crackers and a 12oz Coke
Lunch - Peanut Butter Sandwich and 12oz Coke
Dinner - Whatever I can snack on at work and an outrageous amount of fountain Pepsi

As you can see the other half of my caloric intake is peanut butter and bread products. Sad I know. Thus, I have decided to attempt to quit drinking soda cold turkey. Not easy because I crave the taste of Coke... intensely. It has to be healthy to not drink that much soda.

On top of that I am trying to eat more sustainably, and more green if you will. I worked on an awesome farm this week during my spring break. I shoveled a lot of chicken crap, but it was fun none the less. I also had some great pork from their pasture raised pigs. They do everything there as natural as possible and sell their stuff at markets around the triangle. Check them out. I am also trying to participate in a virtual farmer's market in the Greenville area while I'm still here. Fresh local food with both produce, meat, bread, jams, honey, etc.

Who knows how long this will actually last for me, but it is nice to attempt. By no means will eat completely healthy, green, local, or sustainable (I say as I eat Moe's and drink a beer from Colorado) but I am going to try to do as much as I can.

If I could do it all again

Sometimes you make decisions that you realize later may not have been the best or the smartest. I am by no means unhappy with the choices that I made in the past but if I could do it all again I would probably change a few things.

1) 18 years old is too too too too young to sign a contract about anything. Turns out that I signed one that has taken away all of my big decision making abilities since I put my mark on the dotted line.

2) Being a professional educator is a strange, strange thing. My first six weeks as an educator in training has been eye opening to say the least. Teaching can be amazing and haunting and and terrible and ridiculous all at the same time. I'm not convinced that I like or dislike teaching. The jury is still out. Unfortunately, the aforementioned contract takes away my ability to even make that decision for the next four years. Students do not want to be in school. If they do want to be there its only to see their friends. Grades are becoming less and less of a leverage tool for teachers because they don't care about grades. All that being said, I am not upset that I have been in college for five years seeking an education degree. I have genuinely enjoyed my time here and learned a lot about myself and what I want from life.

3) 18 is too young to decide what you want to do with your life. Maybe there should be a 13th grade where all students do is try out different professions. Hobo and street musician should be included on the list of choices. The American education system is not very good because it does not prepare students for life or even for college for that matter. Oh well that is a whole different problem that I can not begin to discuss.

4) More colleges should allow a multi-disciplinary degree program. Me personally, I would love a degree focused around culinary arts, agriculture, business, and the history of them all. Practical? Applicable? Could it get me a job? Who knows? Who cares? That would be awesome and who says I'll get a job with my degree in History Education? But how would I know this is what I would want when I was 18? It took 4 years of a college education in something completely different to let me know this is what I enjoy. In the 8th grade I had to take a career placement test. Results? Nothing. I was not interested in any one thing or good enough at any one thing to even get a result. I jokingly said that meant I could either be homeless or the president (I was even cynical about government then, and they let me teach social studies). To be honest, that's how my whole life has been. I have lots of interests and I'm pretty good at a lot of things. Not amazing at anyone thing.

I am still left with that question from the 8th grade. What should I do with my life? The next four to five years are already planned out unless I come in to some money. But after that, everything is completely up in the air. Current plan is to move to New York to be a 30 year old entry level professional cook with no formal training. 4-5 years is a long time, and a lot of things can change and probably will.

Again, I am not unhappy with my life choices because these choices have led me down some amazing roads, introduced me to some incredible people, and it is never too late to change your mind.... I think. It may lead to me being a hobo but I don't think that would be such a bad thing either sometimes.