Going Veggie..

Maybe some of you hadn't realised it, but for the past past week, i've been a vegetarian..
No seriously, I didn't eat meat for a straight seven days. Hurah.

Previously, going veggie for even two days straight was a tremendous stretch for my meat-eating, meat-loving soul. I didn’t know what i was thinking trying to be a vegetarian for a whole week; it seems pretty ambitious for a carnivorous dinosaur called yours truly.
But hey challenges always make the whole thing even better, so i decided what the heck, ---just try it. The least it could do is make my arteries less clogged than it already is..

“I’m a level 5 vegan—I don’t eat anything that casts a shadow.” –Character on The Simpsons

Funny.
What level vegan are YOU Mr Derrick?? (o.O)

Well for starters, i must admit that i wasn't a total vegetarian. Eventhough my roomie got kicks out of calling me "the vegan", with a heavily sarcastic tone you could taste the salty SARCASM, calling me a vegan would be an insult to all vegans everywhere. This is because i also ate eggs and dairy products during my seven-day stint. ( I had to, if not i would DIE lorh..)

I actually did some research on the net, and the term for my type of "vegetarianism" is called Lacto-ovo vegetarian. Oooh.. glamorous.

1)Vegetarian (Lacto-ovo- vegetarian)

When most people think of vegetarians, they think of lacto-ovo-vegetarians. People who do not eat beef, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish or animal flesh of any kind, but do eat eggs and dairy products are lacto-ovo vegetarians (“lacto” comes from the Latin for milk, and “ovo” for egg).

Lacto-vegetarian is used to describe a vegetarian who does not eat eggs, but does eat dairy products.

Ovo-vegetarian refers to people who do not eat meat or dairy products but do eat eggs.

2)Vegan

Vegans do not eat meat of any kind and also do not eat eggs, dairy products, or processed foods containing these or other animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin. Many vegans also refrain from eating foods that are made using animal products that may not contain animal products in the finished process, such as sugar and some wines. There is some debate as to whether certain foods, such as honey, fit into a vegan diet.

Wow really? Very interesting indeed..

So day one of being a vegetarian was alright. I honestly didn't feel anything missing during the first day-- no yearning for meat at all.. Then came the second day and i realised that the nuggets in my fridge will have to wait next week for me to come and eat them.. *sighs*

"Wait for me, lovely, succulent, inductive i mean, seductive nuggets.."

But still, i soldiered on. No biggie. The third day was ok, and the following days vary from me feeling so desperate for animal meat, to not feeling anything at all towards meat.

Plus, my housemates were really supportive.
And by really supportive i mean really UNsupportive... Oh how dare they. ^^

I became the butt of their jokes. They liked torturing me by purposely eating burgers or nuggets in front of me-- oh so diabolical. God knows how hard it was to not to go crazy smelling their meat-laden cooking. Plus, they would question me if i was doing this to get a flat stomach, or whether i'm on a crash diet. The answer was (tiringly) NO.. I just wanted to see the world from a vegetarian's point of view.. gawd! (Napolean Dynamite style..)

My only comfort was the knowledge that at least I was eating something healthy, and they were all simultaneously eating their way to an early heart attack. Meheh!

I remember the first time i told them that i was going veggie for a week. Some were quite supportive, but my darling roomie just said " Heh. I'll give you two days..". *crunches on a biscuit*. I guess she didn't realise it at the time, but i totally took it as a challenge. In fact i would like to thank her for that, since it really drove me to complete the one-week vegetarian lifestyle. hah!

Plus, whenever I eat fruits or veggies in front of them, roomie would call me "the vegan" again.. Which was, really, so UNCREATIVE. At least embellish it with other words like "super-vegan" or "veggie superhero" instead of using the same words over and over again. Tsk2. I expected much more from your sarcastic emo powers Nana.. .

But i took it all in my stride. It's all in good fun. If they didn't torture me, i wouldn't have anything interesting to tell people, now would I?

So what did i eat for the whole week? Well, mostly my diet consisted of tomatoes, pears, apples, oranges, hashbrowns, eggs, bread, and Campbell soup, (and some other stuff i can't remember).. It wasn't bad actually, since they were all reasonably tasty and become quite good after a while.. At least everytime i ate them, there wasn't this guilt inside of me; this inner conscience that says i'm eating something unhealthy or something pumped with hormones and additives. Plus, i didn't have to wonder how my food was prepared-- i've heard stories of chicken that were drowned in boiling water so that they would get de-feathered ALIVE. Damn humans are so cruel..

And i think i've got an idea of how it is being a vegetarian. Even if it's just for a small glimpse-- i can't confess to really knowing what a real vegetarian goes through, but i feel that at least i have a vague idea of how it feels. Going to restaurants were quite pains actually, since most of them don't offer vegetarian alternatives-- and even if they do, they don't look appetising at all (to me). Most of the time I ordered meals with meat in it, but donated the meat to my friends.. Why yes, i am that awfully kind.

Moreover, there's not much difference between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. They're basically just normal people who happen to prefer vegetables over meat. Well obviously, heh. Just because someone's a vegetarian, doesn't mean one is "special". When i was a (temporary) vegetarian, i preferred it if people didn't fuss over me or treat me as something else, or ask me why i do it.At times it gets tiring. Going veggie is just a personal choice-- just like how some people prefer cats over dogs. And how some people prefer not killing animals to killing them.

And, did you know that these celebrities are vegetarians??

Natalie Portman

Carrie Underwood (Voted Sexiest Vegetarian 2007)

Milo Ventimiglia

Tobey Maguire

Kristen Bell

Josh Hotnett, i mean, Hartnet (voted sexiest vegetarian.. by um, me.) :P

*Mr Derick*

^(-__-)^

(Sorry don't have a picture so just made a smily face..)

So the last day of my vegetarian escapade came to an end during the Chinese New Year open-house. Which was kind of sweet. It's as if i was celebrating the fact that i successfully completed my mission of being a temporary vegetarian. Hurah!

It wasn't easy, but i'm glad i at least tried a different lifestyle for one week. And it wasn't bad either.. *ponders*

Maybe next time I'll try being a vegetarian for two weeks~~ ^.^ Hehe.

We'll see..

For now, " infamous nuggets, come to mammah! How I've missed thee.."

(YAH. after all that preaching, i still can't let go of my tempura nuggets. Lousy.)

Documentary part 2

First of all, SORRY! (times a million) to Derick for posting soo late.. I was too tired the past two weeks running around interviewing people with my groupmates.. Plus, i don't have a computer so it's kind of hard for me to go to the internet.. (yeah.. excuses excuses .. tsk2.) (#^.^)

Anyways, back to the post..

Last weekend my group and I went harrassing, i mean, interviewing some people for our documentary.

14the February, 2009

On the first day, we went to the ever-popular One Utama shopping mall to hunt for interviewees. Valentine's day! Love was in the air and couples were evrywhere..

Meheh. I must say it was awkward and scary at first, since none of us knew how to approach total strangers and ask them; "at what age would you like to get married sir/miss..?" ( and some other questions..)

So, we devised a seemingly FOOLPROOF strategy;

I will approach people and explain to them what we're doing and where we're from
Fairuz will be "Karam Singh Walia" and ask the questions ^^
Nadiah will take down the important notes
Anneh will be camerawoman extraordinaire
& Liyana will be the "professional" photographer

scouring....

We brought cameras, camcorders, permission letters, questionnaires ; the whole shebang. Boy, we really looked like journalists. We felt like journalists ..

And then we asked.. and we got rejected. And we asked again; ignored. And we asked again-- same thing.. Oh my.

Then, a YES.

Yes! Our first victim was a random guy we picked out of nowhere. We were rejected quite a few times before, so when this guy finally said YES, we didn't actually know what to do! Haha.

It was a bit of a rush and very awkward when we interviewed him. Plus, he gave such short and simple answers, it took some effort to persuade him to talk more. Most of the time, he said "entahlah, tak tahu.. " (Beats me, I don't know..).
Sheesh..
But we remained courteous (so don't worry Derick.)

Thus our first experience was a bit discouraging, but it was pretty much smooth sailing after that .
I got rid of my nerves and grew confident, so i just made my 10 cent face and started walking up to complete strangers asking them for an interview--with my whole group in tow.
Here's what i learned:

1) My utmost RESPECT! to journalists. Fuih~

2) Never ever ever judge a book by its cover. Some people may seem stoic and stern at first, but when you approach them, they become totally affable and warm..( same goes the other way around though. Dang.).

3) Never underestimate the power of persuasion.. Some people might not seem to keen to help us at first, but with a little smile here, and a little encouragement there.. most interviewees let their guards down. Remember to put on your "sweet" face! haha.. (but don't be too fake either.. That would just be annoying after some time..)

4) Be brave. Just go for it. No second thoughts-- simply go up and ask!

5) Don't take rejections seriously. It's true that a huge majority said no when we asked them for an interview, but we tried to not be sad about it. Move on, it's nothing personal; most of the time people just think you're a salesperson or they simply don't have the time. Never let rejections discourage you-- and always be courteous to those who do it.

6) Patience. It's a must, after getting rejected for such an uncountable number of times. T_T. Plus, standing there waiting for willing interviewees is so tiring..
But then you get that one interview that's great; you feel so satisfied and all accomplished inside. Then, you realise that all the effort is worthwhile..

So our first location taught us a lot.


15th February 2009

The second day was much, MUCH better. We were pros, if i do say so myself... (hhehe.)
Alright, i'll eat the humble pie and say that we were better and more relaxed on the second day.
Thus, off we went to "The Curve" and "Cineleisure" shopping mall; a very beautiful setting indeed..

We decided to buy a cheap microphone this time; since the first recording produced unclear sounds (crud..).
The salesperson asked us if we were journalists, but we resisted the strong urge to tell him "damn straight we are.." and told him we were merely college students. hehe.
See how humble we are?

I was so used to doing my part of the job; that i eventually memorised what i was going to say..
"Excuse me sir/miss/encik/akak.. Sorry for disturbing. But, can we interview you? It's just for 5 minutes. We're from KBU college and we'd just like to hear your opinions on a few things.." *smiles* (as innocently as possible.. :P)

She was a wonderful interviewee....

Fortunately, on the second day we managed to get some really good answers from the interviewees.
Worth mentioning is that we had will power! The urge to shop was valiantly ignored; thus we managed to dodge most boutiques and handbag shops in order to focus on the task at hand. To be honest it was NOT easy.. Fuh.
If you're a woman you'd know... ;)
In total, we managed to interview eleven people during the whole two days. *gleams with satisfaction*..

All in all, our excursions were wonderful experiences for me.They were scary and tiring and eye-opening all rolled into one. Most of all, they were something completely new to me and i like experiencing new things. It certainly forced me to take the plunge and just straight away dive in..

Plus, I love my group members. They all worked so hard they deserve an award for it, yes they do. It may sound contrived but it's true. I thank them for all their sacrifices and brilliant ideas put forth. We have our differences; but differences are what make relationships interesting..

No matter how bad or good this documentary comes out to be in the end, i'm glad to know that at least we gave it our best shot. Thank you again to Anneh, Fairuz, Ya, and Yeanna. It's a blast.
Sorry for having thoughts of pulling your hairs out-- I'm sure you've felt the same way about me.. Haha.

So now comes the editing..~~~
Hope it goes well..

PS-All the best to other groups also~

Sex Education..

Yes Hamtaro. Yes it does.

This post came to be because i have no other idea on what to write about this week. I keep rewinding my past seven days, and nothing really stood out. Sometimes life just makes you feel like a drone moving through the days on the same old routine over and over again..

But then i remember Derrick saying, "You guys learnt sex education at school right?". And just like that, "ding!" came the title for my blog post tonight. Just because the title has the word s, e , and x in it, doesn't mean that it's anything raunchy nor sexy, so sorry for those who read this expecting to find anything at ALL that's pornographic. (And, you're SICK! tsk3.)



And NO derrick, we didn't have any sex ed at school at all. Well, at least I didn't. I wish i had though.. It would've saved me from many confused thoughts and silly conclusions.

I remember when i was 9 (or 10), that i used to keep my distance from boys because i figured that saliva from boys would make me pregnant. Haha!
Even in the school bus, i'd purse my lips because i was wary of stray salivas entering my mouth whenever a boy nearby is talking. You can never be too careful.. Shheesh..^.^

I actually came to that conclusion since on the TVs or movies, they'd show these couples kissing, and after the couples did it, the girl would get pregnant! I know this was the thing that we kids are not supposed to ask adults about. So i made my own conclusion; SALIVA makes you pregnant..... ! Yikes. And since then, boys were the enemy.. It makes me laugh thinking how i used to worry after talking to a boy for fear i might get pregnant afterwards. Haha.

But then in standard five (when i was 11), my bestfriend told me what sex really was.
I was shocked and i didn't believe her. I refused to believe her. Because it was disgusting!

So one day i picked up a dictionary and looked up on the word sex. It said something like "copulation; sexual intercourse". And that made me even more confused since now it's a longer word and what the heck's intercourse anyway?! So i look up 'intercourse' and it says 'sex'. Great. Even the dictionary writers beat around the bush when it comes to this topic. 'Copulation' means sex too. Aiyah..
So eventually me and my friend decided to go on the internet and find out what this sex thing really is.
Needless to say, i finally believed my best friend. Haha.


We Asians don't like to talk about sex do we? Coming from an Asian community, in an Asian family practicing Asian values, I've always had this idea that sex was a completely taboo subject to talk about. Don't even bring it up, because chances are you'll be lied to, or even worse, scolded for not being able to observe the "silent code". It's as if there's this tacit agreement that it is not something people talk over in public or even at home.

My parents tried to be a objective about it though. There was this one time when i was 12 ( i think), that i asked my mom. "Ma, what's a condom??". Because i read a joke in the magazine, and it stated that "chewing gums in India are made of condoms.." weeehh?? Now when i think about it it's not even a funny joke. Shheeesh.

Anyways, everybody was silent. Dad stopped reading the newspaper and eyed me. "What are you reading in that magazine anyways??".So i told him about the joke. He put on this perplexed face... Awkward! But then thankfully mom answered my question. " A condom is something a guy puts on when having sex".
"ah." i said. Now i was embarrassed because i unintentionally brought up the taboo subject again. But hey, at least she was honest. And i appreciated her for that.



When i think about it, maybe keeping mum about sex IS a good tradition, because it prevents all those awkward family moments and uncomfortable expressions from relatives and adults. But then again, this mindset doesn't really leave room for honest and frank discussions about sex; hence all the confusion and curiousness amongst children and teens alike. I know i was.

I still wished that my family had told me the real deal about it though, since it would've saved me a few headaches, i can tell you that.
Nobody really told me where babies come from. My mom told the five year old me that i came from her belly. That's all, no further details. Haha.

Nowadays, what's funny is even on the TV , there's all this stupidly hilarious ads about improving one's sexual prowess.. These make me and my housemates laugh, because they're so distastefully done! haha. But at least it shows the growing open-mindedness of Malaysians. People are more willing to talk about it now i guess.

At least I know that if i ever have children in the future, i'd be completely honest with them about s-e-x. It may be uncomfortable but at least they won't be worried and confused..!