Matt in a Tux

I hate when I get out of the shower, don't wipe my feet off, get the floor mat wet, go to use the restroom later and get my socked soaked. And what I hate even more than doing it once, is doing it twice.

Yes, that was the most eventful thing to talk about for the past couple days.

It's funny seeing pictures of people dressed nice and holding a can of Busch Light or Keystone Ice in their hand. It's like, hey, I'm here to look good, but I still know how to party.

That last sentence there feels like I'm ripping off Talladega Nights and Jesus in a Tuxedo shirt.

And on that note, I retire for the night.

Dear NIU,

Thank you for setting the bar to a new low concerning attractive women.


Sincerely,

Matthew

Let's keep this as abbreviated as possible.

I went to Nashville and Memphis for spring break and in that order. The drive was about 8 hours. It was a blast. Pictures can be seen on my facebook (1 & 2) and a couple videos on my youtube site.

• Night 1 -- Nashville: Drove around for a bit. Found a free wi-fi hotspot. Booked a hotel room from there. Went to hotel room. Checked in. Got a taxi to some billiards bar. Payed too much to play pool. Left. Went to a karaoke bar. Found out people in Nashville sing way too good. Had a few beers. Pretended I could sing well. Got a taxi to the hotel. Hangover ensues.
• Night 2 -- Nashville: Called up Sandy our newly-dedicated taxi driver. She was a bit overweight. Cab smelled like Arbys. Went to a blues joint and listened to Watermelon Slim. Met a guy from Chicago-area there. He was full of shit about playing music. Talked to another dude about NPR. Wished I could play the harmonica. Cab ride home from Sandy. Hangover ensues.
• Night 3 -- Nashville: Went to Dave and Busters during the day. Played games. Fun. Went to Broadway and 2nd via Sandy at night. Ate a grilled cheese. Mediocre. Went to a bar with 6 dollar pitchers of highlife and natty ice. Sub-mediocre. Hung out with some people from somewhere else. One was gay. Listened to a local country band while the locals tried to dance like they were from Chicago and the Chicagoans tried to dance like they were local. Left bar. Went to another bar. Danced with a woman-Albert-King-look-a-like. She spoke like a witch doctor. Left, went to another bar. They had a stand up bass. Called Sandy. Hangover ensues.
• Night 4 -- Memphis: Graceland. Cool. Beale Street. Awesome. Open containers permitted outside. Friend wanted to go home. Boo. (wtf.) Drove home. Got in at 3 am. Cried a little.

Overall, it was an awesome trip. I wish we could have stayed longer and that everyone would have had an awesome time. But, apparently, that was not in the cards. I spent too much money, but I am content with that.

Being a vegetarian down south was not fun. Pulled pork looked so good. I've been conditioned to love the meat. Instead I had a chef's salad. I smelled the meat with every bite, so it was kind of like a pulled pork salad. Weird. I did get a liking for veggie burgers though -- MorningStar foods are good.

Brief? Not really. But I'm done.

I felt the urge to post this. It is regarding vegetarianism and a friend's discussion with another friend.

My friend's friend made the claim that there are no direct effects on the environment coming from an individual's decision to not eat meat. The claim is that all efforts are only for selfish reasons. The simple argument is that the cessation to eat meat by one person will not impact the industry. When one person stops eating meat, the store which they do not buy from will still be ordering the same amount from the supplier. The supplier will continue to fulfill this quota. Therefore, there is no direct effect, but merely hypothetical promises for bettering the environment. He also made the claim that direct effects can be seen in other situations, such as taking shorter showers, changing out light bulbs, etc.

I partly agree with the selfish reasons. Many probably start out for health reasons or to feel better for not eating Mr. Moo-moo. However, I see greater effects coming from this. As my friend pointed out, when a store does inventory they will notice that less meat is being purchased and will therefore order less from the supplier. If his friend were to disagree with this, then he surely would not be able to agree with his own argument that his taking shorter showers directly helps, for somewhere else someone may be taking longer showers, thus making his efforts moot.

Furthermore, we can see historically that more people eating meat contributes directly to more animals being slaughtered for consumption. If one person stops eating meat, it will not save an entire slaughterhouse, but if that one, plus another, plus another and so on cease eating meat then there is a higher chance that animals will not face these deaths. Granted, it will not be instant due to the fact that animals are raised directly for consumption and therefore there would be a period between the efforts and the actions. Breeding for food would have to decline first.

Let me offer a last analogy to support the individual efforts. Say your friend murders another person. You have no direct relation to this act, until he asks you to help him hide the body. Here you have two choices: (i) help him hide the body, or (ii) refuse to help him hide the body. (This obviously forgoes other responsibilities to report him to the police.) (i) seems perfectly viable since you still do not have direct affiliation with the murder – the person is already dead so you would not be harming them. However, this does not seem right. It does seem like you have some kind of connection to this murder if you help hide the body. If you help hide it well, your friend may go without punishment. Furthermore, what if he decides to murder again and again you aid him in disposing the body? Your lack of individual efforts directly contributes to further harm being committed.

Much more could be said on this, especially based on animal rights alone. I've also left out all of the environmental and economical positives of being vegetarian as that is not the main topic at hand here in my opinion. It is simple logic that is being argued, and I fail to see the sense in the other side.

I bricked my cell phone last night. Luckily they are shipping me a new one overnight. Don't try to flash your own firmware on LG Voyagers without wanting to take risks I guess. Oh well.

As long as I have it for spring break, I'm good. I can't be lugging around a loaner phone while we're traveling down south. How would I keep up on my email and news without mobile web? I've become much too reliant on technology I think. I was actually debating on taking my laptop just in case. Thankfully I don't have to -- my luck it would get crushed somehow or just have the screen messed up a bit.

Tennessee should be a good time for break. If not, we're gonna just drive around a bit more southish and see what happens. The best plans in life are the ones without rhyme, reason or "must do" lists which take over each day. Road trips = epic.

Yeah, I used the word epic. It's time for midterms now. Yeahhhhhhhhh.

So, I am trying the vegetarian lifestyle after all. I ate one of these yesterday:

It was ok. I won't lie and sound excited -- it was actually quite different than the succulent taste of cow between bread. But it wasn't necessarily bad. Just as I have learned to love meat, beer and older women needing money working at a strip club, I will give this an honest chance. Note: that was not my actual meal, I got the fries instead of the salad and, since I'm not vegan, swiss cheese and mayo were on my "burger".

For lunch today I went out with my mother and grandmother. We ordered the Greek Pizza with avocado instead of chicken. It was damn good.

Overall, I think this should be a good thing. Except right now I am craving everything I see on TV with meat. This isn't just since I decided to do this, but mostly because I'm in love with food. Seriously. I could eat and eat and eat and, well, eat.

In other news, the Spaghetti-Sauce-Idealistic-Silence is still going on. It's quite the ordeal, but don't be envious.

I think one of my favorite The Who songs is The Ox from the album "The Who sings My Generation". It's a magnificent cacophony which I find awesome to listen to in dim light.