Go Green or Go Home

At the beginning of the summer I made a life-changing decision: I decided to go green. I had always found green people to be quite annoying. All my loyal readers can probably recall my astonishment towards Seattle's mandatory recycling that I experienced earlier this year. Part of me rejected it because I didn't believe the government should have control over what I do with my own trash, but the other reason was because the economics behind it doesn't make sense - it costs more to recycle than to make things new. It's just not efficient use of our tax dollars. So who cares about the environmental factors? Who cares about the dying whales? God made the earth and then gave mankind dominion over it. I never fell for the "mother nature" movement, that preserving the earth should be our first priority in life. I was no tree hugger. I gave my full support for oil-drilling in Alaska (in fact, I won a debate in high school over oil-drilling). And I thought the entire global warming issue was a hoax.

Well, I hate to break it to you, but none of those ideals have changed. I've only gone green so that whenever I do something that a liberal would find responsible, I can pat myself on the back and proclaim that I am now green. It's a way to gain instant respect and popularity amongst the Democratic community. I honestly really couldn't care less about what they think of me, but I get great satisfaction out of seeing them ignorantly light up when I say something as simple as, "I don't flush the toilet after every use because I want to conserve this beautiful earth's clean water. I'm green." Or when I explain to them that I am going to live close enough to campus to bike to class so that I won't use up the limited source of oil that our earth has left. Too bad they can't see past me to realize that the reason I am not using water or gas is to save my own money. I could care less about preserving the environment, but if that is a side effect of my actions, then so be it.

My family has really jumped on board with going green. For the first month of summer, we didn't turn on our air conditioning. We just kept the windows open and lived in harmony with God's beautiful creation. We may have been sweating, but we were putting our own desires aside to preserve energy for generations to come. Either that, or our AC was broken?

My brother has taken this to a whole other level that I am not dedicated enough to reach. He will wait until I am done drinking out of a glass or eating off of a plate and then use the same dishes I did so that we will have less to clean up later, conserving even more water by reducing the amount of dishwasher loads we have to do. He turns off all the lights in the house before he leaves, and turns of monitors on the computers, because apparently, "if 360 monitors would be turned off when not in use, the power that would be saved would be enough to power a car for an entire year." Good to know. I gave him a green high five for that tid bit of information.

So next time you go to flush the toilet, think twice. When you are asked if you want paper or plastic, choose paper. And when you want to grill out that perfect steak, do so with an electric or propane gas grill, because charcoal emits high levels of carbon into our atmosphere. Carbon emissions have the potential to kill the beasts of the field, such as longhorns, and who would want that?

The start of something new

I've picked up a new hobby recently, not one that most people find entertaining, but it has brought me great delight. It's the art of being anti-social. I don't know where it came from, but it has overtaken my life. I have deleted over 50 friends on facebook. Most of the victims are people that I have never talked to once in my life. I assume that they were soccer fans, and now that I am no longer anyone important, I figured they wouldn't be hurt by the termination of our "friendship". Nonetheless, the "Remove from Friends" link at the bottom of every profile page is screaming my name. I didn't care when my Newsfeed was announcing the marriage of John and Jane Doe. It is very freeing to unclutter one's facebook. You should try it. It's simply wonderful.

My new hobby has extended beyond Facebook too, as I have discovered there are many more ways to express my new-found love of being anti-social. I have developed a strong distaste for my phone. In fact, I rarely ever have it with me any more. I'll be honest in saying that I haven't had much activity on my phone since being in Kentucky, yet the few times that people have kindly attempted to call me, I haven't called them back. It's nothing personal, I promise. I am ignoring everyone's calls. I leave my phone in my purse on silent all day, and don't check it for hours upon end. This means that if you text me, you may get a significantly delayed response. While missed calls make me upset because of the guilt associated with not returning the call, text messages still make me happy and will always be replied to.

This new hobby may be a defense mechanism to combat my unpopularity. Or it could be my way of not wanting to move on and make new friends at UK as I hold on to the memories of Aggieland. I don't have the answer, but I do know that if you go a long time without talking to me, please do not be upset, as this is the same treatment that the Pope or Queen would get.

All-American...pssh

I have reached a point in my post-college athlete career where I am truly a has-been. Before, I liked to joke about it, but deep down I knew I could step onto the A&M field and contribute to the team. But that is not the case any more. I am now in the worst shape of my life. What used to be rock-hard abs, killer quads, and ripped arms are now nothing but flab. I haven't worked out in well over two months. You probably think I'm kidding. Well I'm not. The last time I lifted weights was in January. The last time I got out and jogged was in February, when Justin coaxed me into running the 5K at GLOW by telling me he expected more from a D1 athlete. So of course I wasn't going to take that trash talk...I stepped up to the plate and ran. And proceeded to make a complete fool of myself. Long distance running is the bane of my existence.

I've been spoiled being able to rely on my sport to keep me in shape. This is what makes soccer superior to every other sport. While I do feel like many sports out there require endurance to play at your peak (ie football or baseball), you don't get naturally fit just playing the sport. I may be biased, but I believe soccer players are the most complete athletes - heart, lungs, mind, and muscular strength. I want to get back to that. I need to get back to that. My self-esteem has plummeted in the last 6 months, especially when people bring up the fact that I am a Strength and Conditioning All-American. It's true, I was (am). But I am nothing but an charlatan now. So it's time to suck up my distaste for running and just do it.

I'll start tomorrow.