In a Committed Relationship with Oatmeal

Hello friends! I apologize for leaving you postless for yet another week, but in case you didn’t know, college is kinda crazy. I had the worst week last week and just couldn’t find the time to post for you. I promise I am committed to posting Wednesdays and Thursdays again for a while, at least until finals week. I have too much to say to miss posts!

As you may have guessed, this post is about oatmeal. I know what you’re thinking, “What a mundane thing to write about Kate!” Well let me tell you, oatmeal is anything but mundane to me. That is the precise reason that I am writing this post in the first place. I am just trying to understand how a chill relationship with oatmeal has become what it is today.

After I decided to eat healthier I started scheduling out my meals. Every Sunday I use my fitness app to map out the next week’s meals. I love the organization of it all seeing as I am obsessed with scheduling and lists. There is not guesswork about meals and no temptations to cook up something quick and unhealthy. My meals have a bit of variety, but breakfast stays pretty steady. I have three bowls of oatmeal on a work week and two bowls of dry cereal (and no, I’m not torturing myself, I honestly like dry cereal, but that is a discussion for another time). The thing that confuses me is how excited I get about the oatmeal.

Oatmeal days are like the most exciting thing ever to me. I can’t wait to cook up a bowl, add some brown sugar and cinnamon, and chow down. I think part of the excitement comes from the huge amount of oatmeal one can eat for very few calories. I am in a feast mentality. The idea of eating a ton and not overdoing things is so exciting. I love oatmeal so much that I eat it for most weekend lunches or breakfasts as a sort of treat.

This phenomenon has been happening a lot since I went on the healthy path. I find myself lecturing my friends on how darn awesome sweet potatoes are because they are giant and low calorie. I get excited any time I can eat pancakes because they are so satisfying. It seems that my appreciation for food has gone up quite a bit since I became more choosy about what I put in my stomach.

I like the oatmeal phenomenon. It makes me excited for oatmeal days. I don’t get hungry as early and obtain a ton of fiber as well. Most importantly, I think it’s great to get excited about the little things in life. If we don’t, we are only enthusiastic when really unusual things happen around us. I say get excited about bowls of oatmeal, jump up and down when your favorite song comes on, and high five your friends when your hair looks supah fly. Keep appreciating the little things if they are making your day. I will keep loving oatmeal as long as it makes me pumped. Which hopefully will be forever.

Building Blocks for Stress

When I discuss stress with people, it is sometimes hard to relate my relationship with it. I have always been high functioning when it comes to stress. I don’t necessarily want to be this way, but my nature forces it on me. I am a worrier. Big time. I worry about the littlest things and the biggest things. This type of stuff doesn’t  really interfere with my life too much because I have all of these strategies to minimize daily stress. I don’t procrastinate very much, I plan my time, and I schedule like crazy. These kind of strategies show in even  the most simple moments, such as waking up in the morning. I don’t ever hit the snooze button. Rather than risk waking up late, I choose to get up and get things over with. Some people might think that this isn’t a way to truly live life, but I am happy the way I am. I choose to do adventurous things every once and a while and I can let the schedule get skewed. I think that that’s enough.

I bring this up because my past couple of days have contained overwhelming stress. I hate it when this kind of thing happens because it reminds me of my childhood and bigger stress-causing events that I couldn’t control. My reactions can be pretty bad when I feel that I’ve lost control. I used to have such anxiety over the dentist that I would make myself physically sick whenever I went. Luckily things didn’t go that badly this week, but I was pretty anxious regardless.

I had two tests on Monday and Tuesday, as well as two meetings, long readings, and a paper outline. There honestly wasn’t enough time in the day, especially because I had to cook and do laundry as well. I was having a terrible time coping with all of this, until I talked to my mom on the phone. I guess moms always know what to say. She really made me understand that I had residual stress from a bunch of other things.

One of these things was a certain something big that I’m planning for next year. I want to talk about it fully in a separate post, but let’s just say that there was a lot of stress with that situation. I finally figured everything out after a week of agonizing and I think the sudden lack of worry over this event left me very conscious of the things I had been ignoring that were also stressful. Suddenly these things became so big in my life that it left me in a panic.

I was also having a tough time with my eating habits. I have been eating really badly since the beginning of school, especially in the past week during Valentine’s Day. This problem sort of left me in an emotional downturn. There are several reasons for this. Eating is another area where I have struggled for control. I know that such talk is just fuel for eating disorder accusations, but I do not think of eating in that way at all. Honestly I just get angry at myself. Eating is just something that exemplifies my lack of control in my life. The whole reason I decided to eat healthy is because I had no control over eating. I would just eat and eat even if it made me feel terrible. Don’t get me wrong, I am so very proud of myself and my progress, but my past habits have really caused me to get down when I eat uncontrollably now. I feel sick afterwards and my body is telling me that I ate too much. It fills me with guilt. What upsets me even more is that I care. I want to be this great feminist who has come to terms with her body image and loves herself, but I feel like I can’t escape negative thoughts. I don’t want to think of food in this way, but I have been trained to do it.

My mom has helped me out of this hole and I am feeling quite well again today. She reminded me that I cannot blame myself for latent body image issues. I am trying my hardest, but no one can eradicate their enculturation completely. This is a battle I will have to fight my entire life. As she always says (and quite well too): No one eats in the same way. Some people will just always have to be more careful to stay healthy than others. There is nothing wrong with that. She also reminded me that it is scientifically proven that certain foods are addicting and give you the feeling that you want to eat more. I cannot throw all the blame onto my own sense of control.

So I guess this post has swirled around a bit, but the point I am coming to is that if you have stress in your everyday habits, they can affect your life so much more. I also want to remind myself that these stressful times do end if you can power through them. Most importantly, if you have someone as great as my mom to talk to, do it. Talking it out can be more helpful than you know.

I Have Failed You

I am afraid that my commitment to give you all an update post every weekend has not even made it to the end of this semester. They got shorter and shorter until one day, your precious post was not there. It’s not my fault I swear! I was so darn busy this weekend with being social and stuff! Okay, it’s kinda my fault. But really, I was quite busy. The election day post was the best I could do with three tests to study for. I spent Saturday baking some tasty muffins and having a date with Omuraisu. I also attended a great production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Most importantly, this weekend I was a social person and had coffee with Emo Yellow Delonge, who I haven’t seen in forever. The weekend finished out with a bunch of crazy people in Grimmauld Place watching Clueless and another dinner with my friends (Stir fry!). Did I mention the hour and a half Omuraisu and I spent watching random K-Pop videos and squealing? I live a thrilling life.

On a final note, after those tests I should be up to my normal post quota again. Next week is Thanksgiving break as well so I should have some extra time. I also refuse to give up on my goal to do updates on the weekends because it is the only thing that keeps me blogging during the slow weeks. I think I’ll just change it up a bit and make myself write a post, any post, on the weekend. Rain or shine my friends, I shall not disappoint you again. Here’s the obligation on your side though, don’t get mad if my ideas aren’t always golden. That is the price of writing more often when your brain is a jumble of crazy.

After that short update, I shall utilize the awesome new Instagram embed feature on WordPress to show you the goings on of my life. Hit the break for pictures!

October’s End

I swore I would post an update every weekend, and due to my busy schedule, this one is gonna be pretty short. This week was average as ever, although I did finally figure out next semester’s schedule. I will be taking 17 hours (craziness) and two infernal science classes. So expect some ranting my friends. Other bits of news? I wore my be bold red lipstick this week and it was a rousing success (according to me, myself, and I). Check out the post! I also lit a match for the first time this week. I know, things are getting CRAZY up in here.

I had some good times this weekend, including the first two Lord of the Rings movies, a slice of apple pie, a coffee shop concert, and a slice of pumpkin cheesecake. I also hosted a super successful dinner for my friends including matzo ball soup and cornbread (okay, that hasn’t happened yet, but it is gonna be awesome!). It was also nice to find out the head of the English department has been putting my newspaper articles on the English bulletin board. So sweet! I also got invited to Vietnam somehow (no money though) and am taking Asian American Literature (Whoo!)

There were also bad times sadly. A problem with tickets made me miss a wonderful performance of Merchant of Venice and I spilled a ton of nail polish on the CARPETED bathroom floor. Luckily we replaced the play with J.R.R. Tolkien and the nail polish came out after we poured a whole bottle of nail polish remover on the floor. The biggest bad is that I am plum tired, mentally and physically. School is just blah for me and I need something to reinvigorate me. Hopefully two cans of pumpkin and some new recipes can do just that. And perhaps the prospect of a New Year’s trip to Disney.

The last tidbit for this week is that I got a Pinterest on Friday. I’m really loving it, especially for collecting the pretty things that I like. Follow me with the button on the right side of the blog if you like!  For now, I send you off with some Instagram highlights. Hit the break for pictures!

It’s Either Really Good or Really Bad

Let’s not pretend that this post is anything other than a complete form of procrastination. Yes, I am supposed to write a blog update at some point this weekend, but what am I supposed to be doing at this moment? Choosing my classes. I enroll on November 1st and I really need to decide what classes to take before I meet with my advisor. “But pulling up all the descriptions is so hard! I don’t want to have to choose from all of these awesome options,” she says. Too bad Kate, because you are going to have to tackle this soon. You can’t blog post your obligations away.. forever. But for now, let’s do it!

As I have indicated in the title, this week was full of extremes. Either I was in a super mood with lots of great things in my mind, or a foul mood, ready to smack a bitch. In order to make sense of all of this and hopefully see that the good outdid the bad, I will make some lovely little lists. Enjoy!

A Journey into Instagram

As I mentioned yesterday, I got an Instagram, and I am not sure what this means for me. Do I need another social network in which people follow me? Am I turning into a hipster? Am I so unintelligent that I can no longer handle the couple sentences that a tweet provides? Believe me my friends, I have asked myself all of these questions. Yet, the truth is that I have taken at least five pictures today and I’m loving it. I got Instagram mostly for blogging anyway because I find it too risky to take my real camera to school in my backpack (you should have seen the state of my banana last week. Its guts were all over my notebook). Here are some samples of the pictures you guys can look forward to or disparage from now on (for my life is super interesting).

I took some pictures of my outfit today, including my new black boots. I also took some shots of my successful attempt at hash browns and my delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookie on Cookie Wednesday. My final pictures display the lovely fall colors of my campus. I love how the leaves are green and orange at this time!

New black zip up boots from Target via luciustheninja

Today’s outfit. New boots! via luciustheninja

Successful batch of hash browns! via luciustheninja

Cookie Wednesday! via luciustheninja

Fall colors on campus via luciustheninja

Red and yellow tree via luciustheninja

A Startling Entrance into Shopaholism

My week was not a very pleasant one. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I had a lot of stuff going on, including midterms and overall business. It is lucky that I have weekends to make up for things or these posts would be quite ranty. I was so busy that I breezed right by my 100th blogpost without a second thought! I’m actually pretty excited about having written 100 posts so far. I’ve only had this blog for about half a year and things have been going so well!  A short list of my accomplishments in this time:

1. I’ve written 104 posts and gained 34 followers! (Thank you all for reading!)
2. I’ve reviewed 16 anime, 11 books, 7 manga, 9 films, 2 K-dramas, and 2 visual novels.
3. I’ve written about engrossing subjects ranging from my food habits to my other food habits.
4. I’ve become a sophomore in college!
5. I’ve moved into my own apartment.
6. Did I mention that I’ve written 104 posts?

Confetti for a Special Snowflake(Photo credit: ADoseofShipBoy)

 

I have changed and learned so much after starting this blog and I hope that I can use it to track my thoughts well into the future! Now back to my weekend, which consisted of some life lessons and new life experiences as well.

Back up off my pie

You all know that I am a pretty chill lady. I may rant a bit, but it is almost always about a pretty serious issue, such as insecurity and feminism. I’m not going to punch you out if you insult my hair or drop by books. I save aggression and fighting for important situations, like rape jokes and discrimination. All of this is true, until we arrive at the subject of food. I pay attention to what I eat a lot on my own. I try to be healthy, I plan ahead, and I fill myself up. So when I’m at the grocery store I think I deserve a little bit more respect from the high school check-out girl. Honey, DO NOT look at my piece of apple pie with disdain. I’m sure you are quite happy eating lettuce leaves for each and every meal (which I assume you must be doing after judging me for a single piece of pie) but I am different my friend. Do you know what this pie represents? I ATE A FRIGGIN SALAD FOR LUNCH TODAY. I DESERVE A PIECE OF PIE. She has no right to judge anything in my cart. Yes, I need those eyeshadow colors dear. Yes, that instant oatmeal belongs to me. She better watch who she’s judging at the checkout counter, because I am the wrong muchacha. I WILL put every piece of individual fruit on your conveyer without barcodes. I WILL buy sets of cooking knives. She thinks pie is weird? Wait till I give her a cart full to the brim with feminine products and Depends adult diapers. Have at it my dear. I’ll be over here eating my pie.

MINE (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lazy Days and Chain Mail

My week was once again quite boring in my opinion, with much too much homework and too little fun stuff. The week to come is not going to be any better considering that I have two tests on Wednesday. It is surely some sort of conspiracy because my tests are always on the same days. Maybe it’s a game the professors play called “how many tests can we give before Kate eats an entire cheesecake in grief”. I do not enjoy this game my friends. The most positive part of the week was a delicious salad and some nice spats. The weekend however, made up for things as it usually does.

This stuff rules (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Saturday was a pretty great day. In the morning I had a football party with great snacks at my parents’ house. Our team was playing our rivals and we beat them big time. Now, you know that this game had to be pretty good because I care very little for football and I still watched the entire thing. It could have been the tasty bruschetta too. After the game was over Omuraisu and I went home, settled onto the couch with blankets, and watched City Hunter for five hours. We even got some tasty Chinese delivery and I ate delicious steamed dumplings. Dumplings complete my life in so many ways. We then headed to The Wankship to hang out with Salmon, Mounds, and Lemon. An old friend from high school joined us as well as Lemonheads. We talked for a long time which was fun in itself, and then we shrieked as we tried to play through Slender. The night was really fun in so many ways.

Never Judge a Week by its Thursday

Apparently this is the metaphor I’m making (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

As you may have guessed from above, my Thursday was a bit suck. I honestly have no idea why, because it was a perfectly normal day. Perhaps a small parasite entered my brain from about 9:30 AM to 6:45 PM because I felt completely BLEH. I just did not want to deal with the effort of being a human that day. Things picked back up when I arrived home from school. My roommate, Omuraisu, and I decided that we needed to stop being like piles of old newspaper and cheer ourselves up. We succeeded quickly with a plate of pancakes each and a lengthy rant on that annoying girl at our meeting and the idea that a guy’s puberty is supposed to be just as hard a girl’s (sorry guys, but I just cannot believe that). I have discovered by today that a less than extraordinary week can still become wonderful when connected with an awesome weekend. I don’t know about tomorrow of course, but things can only get better from here. Who cares about an uneventful Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday? I’ve got Friday and Saturday you bums!