Fast-A-Log aka Fast-A-long
So a couple of days ago
a friend of mine asked me and my roommate if we’d like to participate in a fast during Ramadan and told us that if we did, company sponsors would donate towards an orphan fund. At Stereocache we are all about the orphans and relatively about not eating (no one likes a fatty.) I kept a little log for most of the day to record my experience.
The rules no food or water from sunrise to sundown
6:30 – The sun isn’t up yet. This feels wrong. I don’t think I’ve been up this early before except for when I’m trying to catch a plane. I feel like a farmer. When all is said and done though getting up is much easier than I expected. This is the first morning this year that I have not fallen back to sleep after my alarm went off.
6:45 – Eating breakfast w/ my room mate. Haven’t done this in a while. Kind of nice. I like drinking coffee without worrying that I’ll be staying up til 7 (this happens more than i’d like to admit.) I have a good breakfast of churizo on an english muffin with a side of rosemary potatoes. Normally I’d feel obligated to eat next to nothing for lunch anyways because I’m a hardcore calorie counter and when I eat out and don’t know the nutrition facts I’m forced to assume that I’ve already taken in a bazillion of them.
We plan an excursion to get materials for a table we’re going to make out of the debris of our old apartment building. Discussed grappling hooks. Ninjas. I can see the community building side of this already. It’s going to be sweet.
7:50 – Pimping my blog. Determined to live today like a normal person. Not going back to bed.
8:30 – Running out of things to do. Too much time on my hands. Try to read my Philosophy of Law book. Too tired. Eyes kind of burn. Maybe later. Should still be asleep. I end up taking a shower. So this is what it feels like to be clean at the beginning of your day. That’s kind of cool. (note I do shower. just not in the morning because there’s no time and not at night because I can’t fall asleep after I was my hair. That just feels weird to me. Afternoon showerers unite.)
9:30 – Manage to be late to class despite having hours extra to get ready. Initially having trouble finding words. The teacher is looking at me like I’m high. I think I’m pretty coherent by the end though.
11:00 – First appearance of thirst. I lick my lips, this seems to help.
12:30 – playing video games so I don’t think about eating. Works like a charm.
2:30 – Can’t take it. I take a half hour nap. I’m not feeling hungry hardly at all. This is really more a sleep test.
5:00 – Two hours until the dinner for people that participated. Indian and Chinese buffet sounds really good. I plan on watching Battlestar Galactica until it’s time.
6:00 – Although I have been loving watching BG (I just started about a week ago) I don’t feel like watching tv on my pc anymore. I look at my stomach. It feels awesome not being weighed down by food.
7:00 – At the dinner we talk about G.I. Joe and paintball. I don’t know much about either one but they sure are fun to talk about. Did you ever have the G.I. Joe toys with the spring firing rocket launcher? Best toy ever. This leads to talk of why kids like warfare toys so much which leads to talk of fps video games. Ramadan rocks. I meet to freshman girls and feel slightly guilty for telling them how much I disliked this school. They seemed pretty excited. Oh well no one listens to me here anyways. I also tell them their prospective major is easy.
7:20 – We break fast with a date. It is excellent. I’ve never had one before because I don’t eat fruit (with the exception of those tiny oranges-which i introduced to my diet last year.) I probably won’t turn down dates anymore if they’re offered to me.
7:45 Our table gets called for the buffet. They’re running out of food. I end up getting almost none. I can’t really say I care though. My body doesn’t really expect food anymore I guess. I make myself a tuna sandwich at home and thus concludes our fast-a-log.
The fast wasn’t nearly as hard as I’d expected and I have to say if the goal is just to show that you’re thinking about god and showing discipline and humility this is a great way to do it. Its also a pretty good way to bring the community together because you have something in common through the day and then you can all get together afterward and talk about it/celebrate.
**sidenote** I woke up at 7:40 today because I was so tired last night that I fell asleep at around 1. I am pissed. What do people do all morning?
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