Updates, Revelations, and Changes

It has been a few weeks since I last posted on my yeast-free/dieting or other weight loss endeavours. I'm a little exhausted with the whole thing. No, I haven't completely given up or made many seriously unhealthy choices. I'm just craving more variety to my meals. I think the doubt began to stir a little this weekend.

I went on a mini-vacay to OC, MD. During which I gave myself full permission to enjoy any food (sugared, dairy, or not) I desired. It started off well enough with typical beach and boardwalk foods (hot dogs, mozzarella sticks, cheese fries, pizza, crab cakes, some drank, lemonade, coca-cola :), taffy, and a tub of caramel corn). I thoroughly enjoyed it all and left with no regrets. But then I came home late Sunday and felt horrible. It was on a strange level too. I had pardoned all my food choices mentally, but I had not expected so much backlash from my body physically. I wasn't sick to my stomach but my body did not feel happy.

I resumed healthy eating Monday but it was a slow recovery. And I had a small relapse Tuesday night when a friend suggested we check out a new Caribbean Vegan restaurant. I had BBQ 'ribs' cabbage and mac n' 'cheese'. I don't know if it was the sugar laden homemade BBQ sauce or the mac pasta but I felt my body in revolt again. It also didn't help that later that night when in an uncomfortable conversation I reached for a few pieces chocolate and too many kettle chips. I wasn't even sure why I did that. It was like I thought 'well I feel like crap already so a little more junk can't hurt at this point.' Oh but it did. The best way to describe this type of "sickness" is exhausted, dizzy, feverish, unfocused, and not good. I couldn't wait to hit the sack so that I could feel like the reset button was pressed the next morning.

So, this week's episode has proven that my current 'healthy' regiment is good for me and thus bad choices are poison and to be avoided at all costs, right? Not really. Remember, up above I was trying to explain how my doubt has begun to stir?... So, really this week has taught me that maybe I should slowly start incorporating "normal" foods into my diet within reason. For instance, a serving of brown rice, wheat bread, or whole grain pasta a few times a week. Now, I know for fact that dairy negatively affects my digestion; so maybe I will continue to strictly avoid (but not completely rule out) milk products like yogurt, cheese, and cream. And to be honest, I have found perfectly satisfying non-dairy replacements for all of these things anyways. This way, I will not be completely thrown off my sanity every time I indulge.

I think it is most important that I keep in mind that every body is unique in their needs and what makes them feel best. And just because a certain lifestyle appears helpful at first doesn't mean that I have to prescribe rigidly to that set of rules forever. I should be open to some healthy tweaks and variations where my body deems necessary (note to self: 'necessary' does not include late night milk chocolate and chips binges every night, no fun at all).

I guess this post is steering my usual ramblings into the land of dietary advice. But really it's about food discovery for myself. It's very hard to prescribe what will work for others when you can only attempt to understand what works for you and your own well being. (Ooo, deep) Maybe I will work on reflecting on foods that make me feel well, balanced, and sound of mind. It's starting to sound all holistic and hippie-dippie, but what is so wrong with taking the time to shut-up your thoughts and emotions to better hear what your body is saying. Meh, it's worth a try.

Welcome Back Oatmeal!

So after a solid month of more or less abstaining from the white stuff (sugar, pasta, rice, bread, and oatmeal) today is the day I finally can consciously incorporate oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and brown rice back into my diet. I decided to start with my most favorite and sorrowly missed breakfast option: Oatmeal. And not just any oatmeal, oh no!

Over the last month I have visited several health blogs that suggest different approaches to preparing oatmeal. Before this day I only knew of plain instant with my own toppings (usually copius amounts of cinnamon and splenda) added. Today, my first day reacquainted with my lost love, I dabbled with the method known as overnight oats.

I always knew "old fashioned oats" were better for me than instant packets; and steel cut oats were superior to both of those. Although, I never tried either healthier option for fear that they would make for messy preparation. Well, the bloggersphere answered my aversion to cleaning pots extra work with the overnight oats procedure. Simply soak old fashioned oats in milk (I guess, roughly 1:1 proportions) and allow to soak overnight in the fridge. Easy peasy, right? Yes. And in the morning I was greeted with a creamy bowl of oats. Although, I admit, I did have to chew a bit more than instant; but who cares? I guess I could have added more milk and microwaved them a bit to make them resemble instant. But I thought it was kind of neat that I was eating a bowl of oatmeal sans actual cooking. And it was delicious.

My toppings this morning: Half scoop of Jay Robb vanilla, a splash more of almond milk, packet of truvia, and tons of cinnamon (mmmm).

Maybe for my next attempt I will add cocoa powder or peanut butter and heat it up to make a warm fudgy oatmeal...Possibilities.

Phase One -> Two

Anybody who has ever embarked on a quest for healthier eating habits can attest that the world is not a friendly place. At least not if you don't plan to get along with it.

From day one of embarking to eat dairy free, grain free, sugar free, fruit free, and starchy veggies free I was met with resistance from every angle. Day one, a coworker brought a bag of bagels and cream cheese (all contraband in my new life style) and it was torture to see the uneaten remnants trashed a few days later. Perhaps those were the bagels I would have eaten in a regular ole week.

Secondly, there is an extremely decadent and hip food truck (as gourmet as a truck can get) that I recently found prior to starting these lifestyle changes. I've tried their Sliders with Bacon Bling, a "new york" style falafel in pita, and a Chai Brownie (not all at once, of course) from them. There were so many more things that I wanted to try. Like say for instance the mac n' cheese cone, a red velvet waffle, or a fish taco. But now those aspirations shall have to wait, until labor day, ie final oppurtunity for swimwear. Until then, I find myself trekking with coworkers to this forbidden truck every Thursday this Spring that they inadvertently "forget" their lunches, RIGHT! But I'm just a spectator, I swear!

Lastly, and more recently (This past Memorial weekend Sunday evening), I attended a wedding with a catered buffet. I was really hoping it would be a buffet so that I could exercise freedom of choice. And although, there weren't many choices for my lifestyle, I did find three things extremely satisfying and therefore gorgeworthy in the merriment. Fresh strawberries, mushroom caps with italian sausage, and Grilled Beef Fillet with Chimichurri Sauce (Oil, vinegar, and other spices). Okay, so I probably overdid the Fillet because a) I was hungry b) Two vodka sodas reduced my inhibitions or c)It was ridiculously good. Answer: All of the above. I will consider this a minor oversight thusly corrected with complete abstention from the dessert, cupcakes. Yea, I did it! [Takes bow] -_-

I'm trying my best with this lifestyle swap, but it gets increasingly more difficult on the weekend blowouts with family and friends. Because I want to relieve my conscience I will leave you with a short list of my indiscretions so far in phase two.

1.I had a beer pre-Hangover II opening night. Self Explanatory.
2.I had a little pineapple at the wedding. I forgot they were amoung the no-no high sugar fruits.
3. I had one fruity concoction signature drink at the wedding. It was brought to me and I couldn't say "no I'll be having none of your delicious drink" and it was :)
4. There were empanadas on the fruit table, yea still talking wedding, I took one, broke it open, ate the meat inside, and just took a tiny sample of the shell, just to see what it was like ;-)
5. At a special lunch this weekend my salad had bleu cheese and fried onion straws. I did my best to avoid them, but, you know...it is what it is
6. Soy milk is just so often more convenient than other non-dairy options...

All in all, I am very proud with my ability to avoid the obvious villains: Bread, Pasta, Rice, and Sugary treats. It hasn't been easy but it's getting easier. And although I haven't officially tried any recipes yet, I have been receiving special inspiration from this blog. This young lady is not sugar free but she just has a way of making decadent (yes, DECADENT) desserts seem possible for the health conscious. Check it out!

Phase One

It's been two weeks since I wrote a blog post. Mainly because I had started writing all kinds of interesting (to me) stuff last-last week and blogger rudely hit some reset button which deleted all my saved drafts... What can I say? I discourage easily.

So here we are two weeks later and I have been doing some things differently. I took the suggestions of this blog pretty seriously, at least for the last two weeks. I have completed the two week no white stuff-no fruit phase. I can sum up my experience with this graph:

Now, the graph looks horrible in blogger. So I can sum it up by saying there is a light the end of the sugar craving roller coaster. Mainly, I have successfully resisted sheet cake and free sandwiches and I am all the more excited to add back some fruit this week. Fruit has now become my most indulgent friend.

Although, I have come out of phase 1 fairly successful, I did have a couple flubs. Here are my confessions:

1. I have been drinking coffee mainly with almond milk, and occasionally (when almond was not an option) with soy milk. I think soy products are no-no's, so oops.

2. There was one instance when I had depleted my truvia stash and settled for a little splenda, only once, it was necessary.

3. Peppers are fruits. But I ate them frequently anyways. Dipping them raw in hummus and salsa or chopped in omelets.

4. I wasn't supposed to eat fruit until today. But I was feeling deprived Friday night and ate my first ever Larabar (peanut butter cookie). And it was surprisingly better than I could have imagined. I expected a dry mash of nuts but I received a moist nutty brownie. Nom.

5. I was having a particularly low Sunday evening in yesterday. So, in order to not hurl myself on a box of cookies I opted to make a super light pumpkin pudding with Libby's pumpkin, almond milk, cinnamon and **gasp** a packet of Jello's sugar free vanilla pudding mix. Yea, I know aspartame is another no-no, but it did it's job lowering me off the sugar ledge.

6. Once or twice thrice I ate processed deli meat, pepperoni, or jerky. For the record their sugar counts were resoundingly nil and I reasoned that having passed up sheet cakes and bagels (from eagerly distributing members) I perhaps earned the right to some kind of flavorful indulgence (within a semblance of the rules).

I think those are all my missteps for phase one.

Now on to phase two, where I will continue to avoid the white stuff and add back some choice fruits to keep me sane.

LOL

This made me laugh!

I don't know what else to say about this. It's just funny to me, that is all.

The Live-It Diet

Upon blog surfing (compulsive jumping from blog to blog depending on who has an interesting blog title or shoutout) I came across the Live-it Diet. I was drawn, by the brave blogger's before and after shots, to investigate further. Now, this blogger's before was not too bad. Maybe she had 10-15 more lbs to lose to feel completely jiggleless. And that's really not alot of jiggle to begin with. So anyways, I started feeling hopeful and reading on because, you know, I have like 15-20 I'd love to say good-bye to (but not enough to stop eating awesome food). So upon dissecting the "plan" I began to think this sounds so simple, why haven't I tried this before? Maybe because the "plan" requires you abstain from dairy, sugar, bread, baked goods, pasta, and potatoes. Well that rules out nearly everything I eat.

Wow, that's like rewiring my entire go-to grocery list (milk, bread, cheese, yogurt check check check check). This list has allowed me to eat week to week while maintaining a minimalist approach to actual meal planning. In other words it supports my laziness. So then I started wondering how hard this transition might actually be... I forsee two road blocks: 1) What do I do with the existing bread, sugar, and dairy that I already own? I hate to throw that stuff out because its wasteful but I can't keep it because it would be too easy to fall off the "plan" and 2) How can I function with friends and family without 1) offending any pushy chef-like types and 2) appearing to have a vain eating disorder. It all just sounds so daunting. Ideally, May 9th-29th would be the easiest in terms of JW being gone and needing a project to occupy my freetime. But what happens when I go visit SN (at her parentals' home with her broken leg and a dad who should open his own restaurant). I can already see the astonished and dismayed faces as I reject homemade fried rice and spring rolls. Ackkkkk. Those are the tough times I am never really prepared for.

In conclusion, the live-it diet blog post I found has given me alot to think about (in terms of how bread and dairy will likely be the death of me) but I'm just not sure if such a drastic approach is worth trying.

Wednesday Funk Schlump

This is a dreary, rainy Wednesday for which I wish my mood didn't match. But it does. So I will listen to The Beatles Pandora station all day and try to quash any particularly low Wednesday thoughts. Not even the offer of Indian food could pick me out of this schlump :(

Funky Schlump oddly reminds me of Shake you wanny fanny funky song! Nobody else watched that episode of Sabrina?

You are welcome

Self Deprecation

See that there!


Do you see that roll of paper on my desk right now? That's a chocolate covered french crueller. Actually, its one of my favorite donuts (due to its half baked doughy center...yummmm). Anyways, I dub thee yonder post self deprecation due to the shame that has lead me to this wrapped confection on my desk. You see, today, my office had a box of donuts (12) for about 6 people. Most of which would never dare eat more than one. Can you see the conundrum. I floated into the office today on a cloud of sparkly fairytale dust after watching the royale wedding way too late for work. Greeted by the box of donuts and on a spectacular high I partook of two (neither of which were crullers, because there were none in there at the time, or so I thought) donuts. Come 3:30pm and there are still two donuts staring back at me in said box. Clearly, my favorite donut must have been hiding at the bottom of this deep box of awesomeness because now I see what was not visible before. I decided that in lieu of my donut heavy breakfast I should pack it for later. And here we find my shame laden donut for later.

But don't worry, I don't beat myself up AFTER eating awesomeness (that's just a cruel waste). I just do it up until the moment I get to experience the culinary awesomeness. Please don't be confused by my GBLA. It was the bread's fault not mine!

Sorry I cannot proofread or spell check this confession because it is time to close up shop.

Thank you for listening.

GBLA - GOOD Bread Lovers Annonymous

Hi, my name is Minoo, and I'm addicted to good bread. Yes, I said GOOD bread. I can't buy any type of GOOD bread because it is guaranteed that I will eat it at an unnatural pace.

Let me demonstrate the power GOOD bread has over me.

This past Sunday I did my groceries with a standard list. (Milk, Eggs, Meat, Yogurt, Cheese, etc Bread) As I perused the bread aisle something possessed me to stand head-on with and stare at GOOD bread. In the past I have made a general practice of walking past GOOD bread straight to MEH bread. I usually buy MEH bread because its healthier and its mediocre flavor (and texture) limit its usage to sandwiches ONLY because that's the only way MEH bread can be deemed acceptable. Oh, and also, in this fashion MEH bread can last (as a meal option in my fridge) for up to 2 weeks. But Sunday, I had the misfortune of forgetting the "game plan" and gazed too long upon GOOD bread. I didn't stand a chance.

And neither did the GOOD bread in my fridge. It was gone in three days compared to the 14 days MEH bread lasts. Sorry love-handles, I have failed you with my poor decision making on that fateful Sunday.

Due to my addiction to GOOD bread I was forced to make a midweek grocery run for a new bag of bread, MEH bread of course. And now I am in a self imposed GBLA state until my next encounter with the enemy. But damn, why are things that are so good usually so bad for you?

Whooped Behind

Yes, Bikram whooped my behind Monday night. It was very humbling given that I had missed a week of yoga and thought I would be greeted with a superman feeling (you know, having rested and all). It was so bad I talked myself off the ledge (that is a psychological ledge leading to just giving up and leaving the torture chamber early) SEVERAL times before it was over. Well, Bikram sure as hell told me! (*arm wave* mmmm hmmm)

I'll drag my behind back tomorrow, as the shame has almost subsided.

Cheese!

Okay, now I know I can't be the only one on the planet who abstained from cheesecake for my first two decades of life because cheese and cake sound weird and therefore together must taste weird. But I decided to give it a chance in my twenties because apparently not liking cheesecake is perceived as weird by the greater population. Whatever. So, I planned to give it a try one day, probably in the company of cheesecake loving coworkers, because it couldn't be that bad if so many people are crazy for it. And it wasn't, it was pretty damn delicious, so I scratched it off the list of foods that I mentally set myself up to dislike (sorry raw tomatoes and cantalope).

This week I encountered another fateful food item off of my subconciously banned food list. Cottage cheese. Now, there must be an even bigger population of folks that can agree that cottage cheese sounds weird and therefore is weird, right? Probably. So, when I found out that a relative was praising the stuff I was perplexed to say the least. I knew cottage cheese is somehow related to weightloss. My thought on that: I will never want to lose weight THAT BAD! So anyways, the power of a family testimonial overcame my aversion to foods that (in my mind) innapropriately incorporate "cheese". My (low) expectations were that it would be like lumpy yogurt. Long story short, its just a bland crumbled cheese (yes, the lumpiness is the consistency of actual cheese that actually requires chewing, unlike yogurt) similar to maybe soft mexican cheese (no not shredded cheddar blends used on tacos) blocks sold in packages of 3. But with even less flavor, not even a sour yogurty taste. So my findings are that cottage cheese is not repulsive nor is it delicious. It's just sort of a blank slate that requires modification to suit the tastes of the diner, muuuuuch like tofu (actually almost exactly like tofu, minus the veggies add dairy).

I bought a 4-pack of Breakstone's Lowfat with mango. They are some tiny containers (4 oz!) with a teensy bit of mango. I thought it would be like mango yogurt but it was more like mango cheese (yucky sounding I know). It wasn't too bad, but I think I will experiment with more salty combinations after I finish this 4-pack. Oh, and I know why it is recommended for weightloss. That itty bitty serving kept me full for nearly 3 hours yesterday afternoon. Which is a tremendous feat for the hours usually designated for snack-binges. For a perpetual snacker it was almost a miracle :)

**Update**

Breakstone's Cottage Doubles Apple Cinnamon is disgustingly good. That is all.

Spring Fever

I went through some major spring fever last week. I abandoned all normal routine, abstained from indoor activities (like yoga), and tried to enjoy the week with someone special. Now that my fever has subsided, back to normally scheduled programming. So tonight, yoga; a week too late to start the group challenges. But oh well, spring inspires me to not sweat ( haha bikram-pun intended) the lost time and go forth with my own personal challenge. I'm thinking 5 days a week as I still need some time to take advantage of this season.

Another photo demonstrating my obsessiveness with spring flowers. Also see this.

Spring is in the Air

Okay, so what if it has been "Spring" since Mar 20ish, I didn't start REALLY feeling it until April 8ish, and now I have completed the Spring Welcoming ritual that I clamour to do every year: enjoy some seasonal flower trees.

Yesterday, started like any other day, with work and dinner plans. I showed up to my dinner a full 30 minutes early and had the fortune of stumbling on the best Spring Welcoming setup imaginable. It was warm out (70s), sunny (but not stiflingly humid), and there was a breeze enhancing the setup. Yet my ritual wouldn't have been complete without sitting under one of these...

Which, I did while reading a book and simulteneously going camera-happy.

And later, after dinner....

Swoon :)

Catchup on Goals

Last week went pretty well. Yoga'ed 3 times, ran 2 miles at the gym Sat. morning and spent some long overdue time with friends and family. And yes, Saturday night into Sunday morning consisted of a mess of comfort food (pizza, cupcakes, chocolate, cheese) at Gma's house. And I enjoyed it, no regrets. Back on track this week with eating well, purchasing less, and yoga. 30 and 60 day challenges starting Sunday at the yoga studio. I signed my name on the sticker chart, but I have no idea what I intend to accomplish with that. I'll decide next Monday.

On a completely unrelated note, thank you Spring for finally joining us this last week. All I need to make this transition complete is to visit GTCC and get the April special Thin Mint cupcake with one of my favorite people. :-)

Resolutions Day 2: Success

I accomplished all my goals for one day Tuesday. I ate right, purchased no outside food, and went to yoga yesterday. It felt so good that I forgot why I avoided it for 2 weeks. I thought I would be disappointed by my lack of flexibility and strength, but impressively it was a lot like riding a bike. I almost picked up where I had left off, and now I'm motivated to return tonight. I have a feeling the rest of this week is going to coast easily and the real trial will be this weekend... Where there's family there's opportunities to eat recklessly. We all know how this works. I just have to figure out how to avoid the danger...hmmm

Shaky Start

Not doing so well with my 2nd quarter resolutions. I kept intending to go to yoga, I really did, but my friend really wanted Chipotle and I haven't gone anywhere with her in over a month. So, Chipotle won this time. But not really because they only charged me for one of the two meals I intended on purchasing. I stood there signaling and waiting for her to ring up the other meal in my bag but the woman looked so preoccupied with other things and appeared to be intentionally avoiding eye contact with me, so I forwent paying for the second meal. So I kinda won, no? I would feel bad, but I cannot count the number of times they charged me for unordered extra meat or guac on a veggie bowl! So, the score is even.

Tonight, take two of trying to get to yoga.

Review of 2nd Quarter Resolutions (week one)

This weekend was to be my preparation weekend for the second quarter resolutions. It went decently in terms of food.

1. Attempt to purchase outside food once a week: Fail, I treated my family to Panera.

2. Limit lattes to weekends only. Ok, this weekend I had, one latte, one iced caramel machiatto, and one skim coffee frap. Meh. It was the weekend. And I'm happy to report that I have prepared my own coffee this morning, twice. I may have a problem...

3. Buy groceries each week with a plan for meal options. Well, technically I went to Target and bought instant oatmeal, 5 lean cuisines, and 5 packets of tuna.

4. Go home and cook said groceries into several meals. See 3.

5. Arrange said meals for convenient access throughout the week. See 3.

6. Eat aforementioned meals daily. Ok I will.

So not too shabby of a preparation weekend, aside from the familial splurge. As far as activity, I'll be at yoga tonight. And if the weather hold up I'll have some runs this weekend.

2nd Quarter Resolutions

In response to my recent cry for help (see Descension) I have decided that April 1st would make a fitting day to propose some 2nd quarter resolutions to myself. I really didn't have any concrete resolutions for the first quarter (Jan 1-Mar 31) of the year. Perhaps it was, to do my best. Which, I believe I generally accomplished minus roughly the past two weeks. Okay, so now its time to refocus on the things that make me feel like a well-functioning pseudo-adult.

Food
1. Attempt to purchase outside food once a week, unless someone else is paying :)
2. Limit lattes to weekends only. The workplace coffee shop is geared towards doctors and it ain't cheap.
3. Buy groceries each week with a plan for meal options.
4. Go home and cook said groceries into several meals.
5. Arrange said meals for convenient access throughout the week.
6. Eat aforementioned meals daily. You'd be surprised how hard this can be on some lazy slash overwhelming days.

Activity
1. Go to yoga every day. AKA...drink lots of water, eat healthy, maintain clean workout clothes, and drive to yoga studio everyday. It amazes me how when one of these fails this whole goal fails.
2. Dust off the running shoes with warmer weather.

Is that really all? It doesn't look so bad in one post. I will use this weekend to prepare/organize and strive for full participation by Monday (because Mondays are the best to start stuff).

Descension

It has been brought to my attention by a well-meaning observer that I have lost touch with much of my usual routine. Yes, I can admit that I haven't used my kitchen in over two weeks; nor have I performed a proper grocery store visit since St. Patty's Day. Ok, and so I haven't been to yoga since 3/21 and I've eaten frozen meals and outside food more than I can count. Hey, it happens. We all go through cycles in our seasons where we are on a roll with many good habits and then slowly they start to fall away until you realize that you've had CPK frozen pizzas on 3 occasions this week and have purchased nearly a latte a day for the past 7-14 days, right?. This decline in healthy habits happens so subtly that you barely notice any change at all. Today, however, the jig is up, because a third party observer has recognized my downward spiral,crap, and I guess I can appreciate the wake up call. It has been getting a little scary. I need a fresh post to remedy this situation, asap.

Shouting in my head

I work in an educational setting. As such, I take school provided shuttles to and from work everyday. The majority of the shuttle population are undergrads, as in, annoying to listen to. For which reason I practice tuning them out every day. But have you ever unintentionally eavesdropped on a conversation just because it was so disturbing. I encountered one such conversation yesterday afternoon. There were 3 girls chatting in front of me on the shuttle and it was immediately apparent which roles they each played. The first girl can be called Yeah-chick, she said yeah to almost all the points made by the second girl. We can call the second girl Jealous-psycho because everything she said in the end made her seem like a jealous instigator. And the last character was Meekone, because she remained sweet and soft spoken in spite of Jealous-psycho. This is approximately the general discussion that ensued on this bus ride.

Yeah-chick: Yeah so what are your plans for next year Meekone.

Meekone: Well, I'm transferring pre-med schools so I'll be moving to That City this summer and-

Jealous-Psycho: That City!? I'm from That City, my mom still owns a complex there. I love That City, I can't wait to get back.

Yeah-chick: Yeah

Meekone: This summer I plan to get my license, my parents are giving me a car and I will keep it with me in That City.

Jealous-Psycho: What are you crazy? There is no place to put a car in That City. I should know, my mom owns a complex and she charges an "arm and leg" to store her residents' cars.

Yeah-chick: Yeah

Meekone: Well, I know it will be difficult but I think the convenience of getting around greatly outweighs the costs for me.

Jealous-Psycho: It's going to be really hard to pay for! Are you trying to get around the city or are you going to use it just to visit home? Because its not worth it in the city, there's no place to park! And airfare once in a while is cheaper. Plus, where are you planning to live?

Yeah-chick: Yeah!

Meekone: Oh, well, I've been in contact with Apartments R' Us. They are working with me to find an apartment that has utilities included and a garage. Because, you know, I don't want to be overwhelmed with such things while studying.

Jealous-Psycho: You are gonna WHAT!? Yeah-chick, are you hearing this, Meekone is actually considering using A.R.U. to settle down in That City! That's insane. You can find a perfectly acceptable place on your own and save a few bucks. And listen, Meekone, I want to tell you this from the bottom of my heart, one day you are going to be a doctor. I mean it, one day you are going to be someones doctor. Don't you think it's time to learn to pay utility bills?

Seriously, Jealous-psycho actually kept repeating the last two sentences (LOUDLY) as if it was the most clever thing she had ever come up with. As she was a public policy major, it may as well have been. But seriously, what gave her the right to berate and criticize every well-meaning decision Meekone was making? Why did she have to assume money was an issue? Hell, Meekone's parents might be loaded and providing the goods, Jealous-psycho much?

Like I said, I hate listening to undergrads. But in this one instance, upon hearing "seriously, you are going to be someones doctor one day" too many times, I had to put my phone away and stank-eye-glare at this Jealous-psycho in disgust.