Sunday 22 May 2011

"deeeeeep"

I was perusing twitter, as you do when the biggest exams of your life are on the horizon and the pressure is turning you into a crazy person, and I found that someone had tweeted:

 ----» "The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank" | Dante Rossetti"


I #facepalmed, because this is about as deep as....

...my simile engine has failed me, it's just not deep at all.  According to google Rossetti was a painter and poet and more interestingly, he is Cristina Rossetti's brother.  Google also says that during the course of his life he turned away from the anglican christian doctrine of his upbringing, so it's interesting that this quote is attributed to him.  Unfortunately my five minute search couldn't find any context for it so I'll have to accept it as read. which makes it a bald faced lie.Admittedly there are certain times where any one raised in a Christian household, whatever their current religious affiliation, is going to need to call god's name in vain.  Some examples:

During a lottery win "OH MY GOD!!"

During sex: "OH GOD!" (doesn't really have an effective replacement, swearing is a little more vulgar and "OH DARWIN" is a passion-killer if your dude's name isn't Charles)

During labor: "OH GOD!" (apparently pushing a human out of your body is painful, who knew? Again swearing is more vulgar, but I guess in this instance you could substitute "god" with whoever knocked you up)

But these are just commonly used literary/ verbal constructs.  When something goes well for an atheist and he is thankful, he can thank all the people that a theist would thank in addition to god, his parents, his significant other, his dog! Whoever he felt made a positive contribution to his success.  He can thank himself and all the hard work that he put in to make something happen. If he's a young american he could even thank his haters (but that requires a post all of it's own).

So I guess this is just to say, thanks for the concern Dante, but I think we'll be just fine :-)

why you shouldn't thank your haters

Because you probably don't have any!

Yes there may be people in your life that don't like you *shrug* not everyone is going to like you. 
Yes there may be people at your job who don't agree with your method of completing a task *shrug* not everyone is going to agree with you. 
Yes there may be people on the street who don't smile at you *shrug* not everyone is happy for you.

These are not haters, these are people to whom your life is irrelevant, a very different concept.


Just to confirm that my stance was correct, I went to the urban dictionary to get an up-to-date definition of exactly what a hater is:

[NB: there are 17 pages of definitions]

1. A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.  
2. Overused word that people like to use just because someone else expresses a dislike for a certain individual.

All of the other 117 entries are variations on the above.  From my tone you can probably sense that I am in agreement with definition 2.  When it comes to people liking you and being happy for your success I say *shrug* not everyone is going to like you or be happy for you, and that is their right.  The only time that this should ever be a problem is if their negative words or actions have a tangible negative effect on you life.  The English language already has words for this, libel, slander, bullying.

I hate (ha!) the word hater even more when it is used to describe a person who has no interest in a particular celebrity.  Case in point, my response to the hijaking of all terrestrial television channels by kate and will's wedding.  My facebook status made note of the fact that I had no interest in anything but her dress, and when I finally saw that I was disappointed, I thought it was quite boring.  I may have also said that from some angles she looked like tiffany from eastenders (who I actually thought was quite pretty at the time).  The cries of "HAAAAATER" came in thick and fast.  Short of sending a wedding gift, I had no way of quieting the rabble.

When did expressing a negative opinion become hating?  What happened to balance?  As with many things that are wrong in the world, I blame america.  Maybe that makes me a hater? *shrug*

Saturday 21 May 2011

Pescatarianism



Three weeks ago (tomorrow) I gave up on chicken.  Since I already didn't eat pork or beef (except in lasagne - yum) and lamb was a very rare thing, I decided to do a month of vegetarianism, just to see if I could, and if it would have any effect on my wellbeing.  After the first week I was craving tuna, so I adjusted my goal to pescatarianism, and this may actually become a permanent lifestyle choice.

First things first - PLEASE don't tell my Dad.  He has been pushing his meat-free lifestyle on us for a very long time (he's also dairy-free, egg-free, shellfish-free, but eats fish - as with most things he supercedes classification).  I've told him that I'm doing this for a month, so we'll see if he notices that it continues.

I miss mum's roast chicken.  Sunday lunch is a staple in my house, at 3pm we're all around the table while Mum dishes out crispy roast potatoes, vegetables, my mac and cheese and either succulent roast chicken or a vegan tofu based concoction for Dad and J.  Now I am sure I can be pescatarian without ingesting the gelatinous white mass that is tofu - bleugh, but it will make Sunday's difficult.

Today I had the best soup (store-bought) I've had with no chicken.  Tesco's Finest Puy Lentil and Tomato - delish, it didn't even need the extra kick of hot pepper sauce that I added (I cried like a baby).  Please try it - and thank me when you see me.

When exams are over and I actually start cooking again I have soooooo many recipe ideas that I want to try and hopefully I can put them up here with some photographs - call it an early draft of Mama Eva's cook book.


[Just to clarify - NONE of these food choices have anything to do with having a particularly human attitude to animals reared for meat.  In that regard my attitude remains firmly carnivorous.  I will still eat eggs, fish, shellfish, wear leather shoes, sit on leather sofas, and if someone buys me a fur coat I'd wear that too, and woe betide any PETA activists that attack it with red paint - grrrrr!]