Uncertainty

I gave up the Maemone diet. I was feeling ill Thursday evening and I suspected I was getting all the nutrients I needed. Since I don't know any nutritionists, I decided to just watch what I put in my body and try to make healthier choices. Looking back on it, though, it might have been the somewhat dodgy-tasting sausage I'd eaten for breakfast. But no matter.

Before I gave up the diet, I made my first investment in my future; I bought a saucepan, a pot (for cooking, not for smoking), a bowl, and one of those big plastic bowls with holes in it for putting pasta in. I don't know what it's called, so I'll call it the fwerryxior [FWEHR eey sohr]. It wasn't very cheap, but I'll be able to make pasta (and sauce) instead of going to a store for food and have cheaper and potentially yummier and healthier meals in the future, and eventually it will pay for itself. It'll be a challenge lugging it across the border, though, so future wife? You listening? We're going to have to move to Oxford. So I can have my pot.

Step 1. Fill large pot with water.

Step 2. Boil large pot with water.

Step 3. Get some side-by-side buddy-cop-style pasta and pasta sauce boiling on. YEAAAAH!!!

Step 4: Pour pasta into the fwerryxior.

Step 5. Voila!

Step 6: Don't forget to take the sauce pan off the burner, too! 

(just kidding)

I had my collections, they didn't go nearly as well as I'd hoped considering how much time I'd spent studying. A friend of mine told me, though, that studying potential apparently improves more and more the closer you get to prelims, so that's something.

My reaction to collections

(actually a post-jog photo :P )

There was a bop last night, which was especially crazy since no one had any work after the collections (unless you do PPE…sorry, PPEists, that's horrible). No one got hurt, though, so it was a good bop. Some judge the quality of a bop by the quality of the songs,  I judge the quality of a bop by the quality of the injuries.

Apart from not drinking alcohol, this is the main reason why I'm never going to host
a pre-bop drinks meeting in my room in England. Believe it or not, that's not that messy by
pre-bop drinking standards. Only like nineteen bottles.

I just found out last night after bop that a very close and very old friend of mine (as I've said before, I don't use names on the blog) has chosen to become a firefighter! I am so incredibly proud of him for a variety of reasons. A big one would be because I have a lot of respect for firefighters because their job is literally to serve and protect people in the community, and one of things I love about my friend the most is that he, like me, is really passionate about service and helping others, and he has the perfect physical build for a firefighter as well, so I'm confident it will be an excellent fit for him.

Also, in these times of uncertainty amongst so many of my friends in terms of figuring out where God wants them to do with their lives, this guy has figured it out, and it's a job in service. Firefighting and being an EMT are the two professions for which I have the most respect for that reason. Finally, if I was on fire, and I could call any one of my friends in to help me put it out and get people to safety, I would absolutely pick this guy. Good on you, buddy :)

Yours,

   John Khouri, Fwerryxior Fixer-Upper

The Maemone Diet

I've returned to Oxford for Trinity Term. Only nine more weeks until a three-month break. Not a vacation, during which I still have to work, but an honest-to-goodness BREAK.

In the meantime, though, I've only two more days to study for collections on Thursday and Friday. Ack!

I arrived at Heathrow Airport yesterday at around 3:00 P.M. local time, which was 8:00 A.M. for my body. My trick with getting my circadian rhythm readjusted as fast as possible was to stay up on the overnight flight and pull an all-nighter, followed by staying up until at least 10:00 P.M. local time, so I pulled a day-and-a-half-er.

Me feeling cool in my $4.00 mirror shades, arriving back at Oriel College.

Me having just been completely drenched by the rain that awaited me shortly after my arrival.

It rained so hard yesterday that I literally have not seen such intense rain since my second-grade year in California. I remember because there was a party at Loyola Elementary that night which was The Velveteen Rabbit-themed and I had my first scone (which rhymes with "cone"; to read more about this unfortunate issue, click on this link: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/03/how-do-you-say-scone/), which I deemed untasty. It had raisins in it and didn't taste nearly as good as southern biscuits, and so I was disappointed, since my mum had told me they were English biscuits.

I eventually suited up to carry all my boxes out of storage.
Mom and Dad, you were right, I did end up needing a jacket this term.

And as I got totally soaked, I laughed a good-natured laugh, because nature is good by definition, stop trying to destroy our planet, ok?! Seriously, though, I honestly did laugh, because all I could think of was, "Well, it's about time." Finally got some proper English weather and not just some boring clouds. You may not have known this, but I love the rain.

I went to sleep on time and I woke up at 6:30 like I planned, but - jetlagged as I was - I chose to go back to bed instead of going on a run. I woke up at 11:30. It's cool, though, brah.

Inspired by a friend of mine who-shall-not-be-named-since-I-don't-use-names-on-this-blog, I've changed my eating habits. I call it the Maemone Diet. It basically entails eating no gluten and nothing with more than three grams of sugar in it. It's amazing how much that excludes: fast food, fried food, chocolate (ohhhh chocolate), and most other desserts (although why anyone would want to eat a dessert that doesn't have chocolate in it is beyond me). It also means that to get my daily amount of carbs, I have to go to the gluten-free section (or "Free-From" section, as is said in here in the U of the K).

For snacks, I now dip carrots in peanut butter that doesn't contain added sugar.
In case you were wondering, peanut butter is delicious with or without extra sugar.

Apart from peanut butter, carrots, and my trademark (but not actually, technically) ham, spinach, and gluten-free bread sandwiches, I discovered today while on the hunt for food that MISSION BURRITO sells gluten-free food! Woo-hoo!!! I can only get tacos, but STILL! God is good :)

I finally finished unpacking all of my boxes, so I'm good to go! I'm praying for a successful third term and hopefully a gluten-free one! I'm going to go to bed now and try to get up early tomorrow for a run.

God bless,

   John Khouri, former chocoholic