I’m not sure who I am yet, but I know I’m not a professor, or a tough guy, or an atheist with anal-retention. I’m just an ordinary guy who thought he had it all figured out. I am Erick, and this is Erick’s Odyssey.
The past few days have been pretty busy. I’ve haven’t had a lot of time to blog. We’re in the middle of doing a refinance of our house. At the moment we are in a conventional 30 year mortgage, but if this goes through ok, we are going to be switching to a 15 year loan at a much lower rate. I was kind of amazed when I looked up the numbers and found that we had only paid off a few thousand dollars on the actual principle of the loan. The vast majority of our payments have been going towards the interest. Over the couse of this loan, we will pay more than twice what the home is worth in interst alone. Fifty years ago you could have been locked up for charging such an exorbitant amount of interst on a loan. It was called ‘usery.’ Today, the banks own the law, and can freely take advantage of people who are in desperate situations. Shameful.
Anyway, it’s kind of late right now. Denice is laying down, catching up on some much needed rest. I am sitting here blogging, and watching something on TV about Area 51 and alien conspiracies. The dogs seem a little on edge tonight. I’m not sure why. They have been going off at the slightest noises from outside. They’re good watch dogs, but it does get anoying some times. When I get done with this I’m probably going to take a long hot shower.
We haven’t done any videos yet for out Carnivore Rehab project on Youtube. It’s turning out to be more difficult than I thought it would. I haven’t had any meat, but both Denice and myself have had dairy and processed food. There is no doubt about it… this is a real addiction. Hopefully we’ll get to do some videos tomorrow.
I am currently reading Children of the Mind, the final book in Orson Scott Card’s Ender saga. So far it’s pretty good. I was trying to explain the concept of a monastic order where you have to be married to join, but also be celebate. Having sex is awesome, but if I had to give it up to be with Denice, I would do it. If you have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, read the book.
Till next time.
Today is the first day of 2012, and already things smell a little different. Ever since Denice and I started to get interested in this vegan thing, we haven’t been able to sustain any of the changes that we implemented in our diet. Without fail, we always reverted back to our old habits. I think this time is different. I haven’t had a scrap of meat since Christmas. We did go out to eat once, but we only got bean burritos. For the most part, I think I’m actually going to be able to do this, and the benefits are already beginning to manifest. Since Christmas, I have dropped ten pounds in weight, and my G.I. problems: heartburn, gas, and explosive diarrhea (sorry, TMI), have completely disappeared. I don’t really get the ravenous hunger anymore like I had when I was consuming animal products. I just feel good, and satisfied. And all this has happened in just a week, with little exercise!
We plan on really stepping things up this year. I know it sounds cliché, but I really think 2012 is going to be our year. This is going to be the year that we kick ass and take names. For starters, we are beginning a Youtube project that we have entitled, Carnivore Rehab. The idea is to document our rehabilitation from the diseased, meat-eating culture of American. I think the word ‘rehabilitation’ is appropriate, because I grew up eating Happy Meals, and never touched a vegetable. When we first started this I could not eat anything green without gagging. My esophagus would literally close up. The first time I took a swig of green juice I instantly barfed it into the sink. I have since overcome that response. Now, my biggest problem is an addiction to meat, dairy, and processed junk food. If I can be successfully rehabilitated, then I believe we can help a lot of other people who are in my position.
Denice is also seeing incredible results. She was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic about a year ago, and has had to take medication for it ever since. A few days ago, her fasting blood sugar dropped back into the normal range. In just a week, she has effectively cured herself of pre-diabetic symptoms! Then there’s the fertility problems. We have been trying to conceive for five years now, without success. Denice has a condition called PCOS, that prevents her from ovulating. Things are already showing signs of correcting themselves. Her monthly cycles are beginning to normalize, and she ovulated on her own, without the aid of drugs, for the first time last month. We really believe this will be the year that we bring a new life into the world.
So, with all that said, I want to thank all of you who have taken interest in our story by reading this blog. I think the next few chapters are going to be really good. I wish you all much happiness in this new year. Just remember… change will come only when you will it to. No one controls your life and your destiny but you, so make 2012 a good one!
I think this is a record for me. I haven’t had any meat, dairy, or eggs since Christmas day. I felt like crap the first couple of days, but now I feel great. The hunger and crankiness has all but dissipated, and I have a lot of energy. I’ve even dropped over five pounds since Christmas. I really hope I’m able to sustain this
I think what pushed me over the vegan edge was watching the documentary, Earthlings. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever watched. The level of cruelty that we inflict on the other species of this planet is unimaginable. It’s bad enough that we kill and eat other animals (when there’s not really a nutritional need to), but we force them to live in Hell every second of their short lives. Watch it if you can, it is graphic.
Today marks another day of mixed success on my journey to become a Vegan Superhero. I started out the day ok. I made myself a smoothie consisting of spinach, bananas, strawberries, and blueberries. It actually tasted pretty good. Anyway, things were going well until lunch time. For some unholy reason, everybody at work decided to bring in candy and other junk food to celebrate Christmas. Of course I could have just said, “Bah, humbug!” and ate my organic, plant-based lunch, but I didn’t. I was weak, and partook of their accursed food. Man, and I was doing so good too.
I’m still reading ‘The China Study.’ It’s an amazing book that’s loaded with information. I’m pretty much sold on the vegan way of eating. I just hope I can make the change. I grew up on Happy Meals, so if I can do it – anyone can.
Nothing else eventful is really happening right now. Still trying to find time to make some videos for my Youtube channel. I’ll probably be getting back into that after Christmas. I’ve been thinking about changing the direction of my channel to make it more about humanist values, health, tolerance, and less about me whining about Christianity. I watched some of my old videos, and I felt like slapping myself. It seems like all I ever did was bitch about religion. I’m surprised I have any subscribers at all. Things need to change there, and they will
I’ve always loved dolphins. I’ve never had the opportunity to see one up close, but I’ve always had a desire to travel wherever they are, just to be near them, and maybe interact with them. They are a remarkable species; incredibly intelligent, gentle, and full of life. They are like living art as they glide through the water, traveling upwards of a hundred miles a day. Research has shown that these magnificent creatures may be just as intelligent, perhaps even more so than our selves. They use a sophisticated language that we are only now just beginning to understand and appreciate. They live in complex social communities. They love their children just as we love ours. And they are often as curious of us as we are of them. Human history is filled with accounts of dolphins rescuing people at sea, and even placing themselves in harm’s way to protect us from predators. Indeed, they are one of the few species on planet earth that we could form a wonderful, equal, and meaningful relationship with.
Tonight Denice and I watch the documentary, The Cove. My stomach is still turning from watching the horrific violence that is done every year to the dolphins in Taiji, Japan. They are herded from their home in the ocean into a tiny cove, where they are brutally slaughtered by the thousands. They are butchered live common livestock. In once scene a baby dolphin desperately tries to fling itself onto the rocks, to escape the fishermen’s spears. This is so wrong! These creature should not be treated like this. I’m sorry, but dolphins are beautiful creatures, and they don’t deserve this. The future will judge this generation for allowing such barbarism to go on.
The few “lucky” dolphins that are chosen to escape the bloodbath are the ones that are sold into virtual slavery. They are the ones that are forced to perform for us at Sea World, or places where people go to ‘swim with the dolphins.’ I had no idea this is how these dolphins were obtained. Denice and I had ‘swimming with the dolphins’ on our unwritten bucket lists, but after watching this I WILL NEVER TAKE PART in this sick industry. If I ever get to see a dolphin or be close to one it will be on their turf, where we are both free, or not at all!
I just started reading Dr. T. Collin Campbell’s book, ‘The China Study.’ The book is based on a twenty year scientific study of the nutritional habits and health consequences of 6,500 people in mainland China and Taiwan. I’m already loving this book because it’s full of real science, and as we all know… science cuts through the bullshit.
In related news, Denice and I have started juicing again. We’re doing one green juice in the mornings, but I hope to jack that up to doing juice for breakfast and lunch. Of course, the goal of all this is to obtain immortality, which will afford us the time to leverage our knowledge and experience to… take over the world. ((EVIL LAUGHTER)). Bow before us, you flesh-eating swine!
Seriously, we are attempting some pretty radical changes, and only time will tell if it will all work the way we think it will. Stay tuned.
Texting while driving… yes, it’s a problem. It’s something I have done, and I’d be willing to bet that you’ve probably done. We know it’s dangerous, but we do it anyway. This is one of the big weaknesses of mankind. We tend to overestimate our abilities, and sometimes with lethal consequences. Of course, instead of admitting our weaknesses and making common sense accommodations for them, we pretend we don’t have them, and then enact laws to punish ourselves for doing things that we really can’t help.
Our cellphone technology is at a place where they could easily be reprogrammed to simply not work, or at least not text when they are traveling faster than a certain speed. The GPS technology that can allow a phone or other mobile device to know exactly how fast it is moving is already there. All it would take is a download of a modified firmware, and wallah… your phone won’t send or received texts while you are driving. If you want to use it, then you will have to pull over. Or, even better, cars could be engineered to drive themselves, then you could talk or text all you wanted. If you take the human being out of the equation, then you take human error out of the equation.
People are going to keep texting while drive regardless of how many laws are passed against the practice. Laws get broken. This problem could be completely eliminated overnight with the intelligent application of existing technology. But, I know you’re probably thing, “That sound Orwellian. What about freedom!” Ah, freedom… I love it. Freedom is a wonderful thing, but like all good things it has a dark side. If freedom is absolute, then your neighbor has the freedom to not properly maintain his vehicle. One day he’s out driving his beater and the brakes fail. Guess what… his freedom to not maintain his shit mean you die. Does that sound like freedom? It sounds like stupidity to me. Let’s face it, there are some things that we suck at, and following vital safety practices is one of them. If we engineer our machines so that it is impossible to abuse them and endanger ourselves, then things will be better, not worse.
Ideally, I would love to live in a world where personal vehicle travel would be greatly reduced. Having machines cart us around everywhere is not healthy. It’s one of the big reasons why so many people are out of shape and unhealthy. You have two legs, use them every once in a while. Trust me, you’ll feel better.
Today at church we had a visit from one of the bishops of the A.M.E. Zion Church. He was your usual bishopy type guy, distinguished and well spoken. I had the idea (which I thought better of) to stand in front of him and say, “Mr. Bishop, I know your weakness. As long as I don’t get at a forty-five degree angle from you, you can’t attack me!” After listening to the guy, I’m sorry I didn’t do it. I think he would have probably gotten it, and thought it was funny.
The sermon he was preaching was, believe it or not, based on the classic novel by H.G. Wells, ‘The Invisible Man.’ I was actually not even paying attention to what he was saying until he mentioned Wells, who is one of my favorite authors. He was using Griffin, the invisible man from Well’s novel as a parallel to Joseph, from the Bible. In the New Testament, Joseph was the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. He is only mentioned a handful of times in the gospels, and because of this the Bishop likened him to an invisible man of sorts, who played a big roll, but was not really in the spotlight. It made sense I guess, but it did get a little awkward when he started talking about how the “black man” has been made invisible in “white society.” (Oh, for those of you who don’t know, Denice and I go to a self-proclaimed “black church.”) There were a few pale-skinned people besides us visiting that day, and I wondered if they felt uncomfortable during this part of the sermon. If they did, they didn’t show it.
I don’t consider myself a “white man.” I don’t claim membership in any race. In fact, I reject the whole concept of ’race.’ As long as we divide ourselves by something as frivolous as the amount of pigment in our epidermis, we will never be one people. And as long as we hold onto our individual cultures, we will always be a slave to the limitations and prejudices that come along with them. At some point we are going to have to stop being black people, white people, yellow people, and red people; and just start being… people.
In H.G. Wells novel, Griffin’s invisibility slowly caused him to lose his humanity. I don’t mean to get all Avatarish on you, but to all my darker skinned brothers and sisters at church… I see you. You are not invisible anymore, at least not to me.
I’ve been watching the backlash on Twitter from Gov. Rick Perry’s latest gay bashing political ad, ‘Strong.’ I only read a few hundred comments, but out of that I didn’t see a single positive one. the comments that I thought were really amusing were the ones that say something like, “Gov. Perry, I’m very disappointed in you. You are running for president, so you really need to get your act together.”
My friends, he’s a politician. What did you expect? He’s playing the numbers, and trying to gain support from his Evangelical Christian base. He will say anything to move himself closer to the end of getting elected. Most politicians are sociopaths. To expect them to be honest and moral is like expecting a gangbanger to start helping old ladies across the street.
Oh, and I just noticed that his ad now has nearly a half-million dislikes to just a few thousand likes on Youtube. I think that’s some kind of record.