Confession: I Broke My Own Rule

I almost never buy fast food; I try my best to avoid it at all costs. It’s not good for you, and even though it seems cheap and quick, those little costs like a burger here or a milkshake there swiftly add up. Before you know it, you’re spending about 20 bucks a week on fast food. No thank you.

I try to avoid buying coffee to-go too. I almost always make it at home and use a travel mug. If you like frou-frou coffee—lots of syrups, flavors, and other embellishments—your addiction can be even more expensive than the food alone.

I commute about 40 minutes by train to campus each day. As the MAX was pulling in to Portland I was feeling exhausted and dizzy; the one cup of coffee I’d chugged, plus the yogurt and banana I’d eaten before I’d left to catch my train, hadn’t done me a bit of good. In addition, my nerves were starting to pick up because I had a job interview scheduled for later on in the afternoon.

Exhibit A: Professional interview outfit that says,
"I'm ready to talk business, but also can't breathe because this belt is too tight."

I feel so guilty when I give in and buy fast food. This morning, I killed two guilt-tripping birds with one stone: I popped into McDonald’s and bought an Egg McMuffin AND a cup of coffee. And not just the regular, small and cheap cup of black coffee that tastes kind of bitter and gross. I got the frou-frou coffee:  a medium pumpkin spiced latte. Because it couldn’t be that bad, right?

Well, all the syrups and spices didn’t get properly combined. So I drank watery gross coffee, then when I got to the bottom of the cup found a sickly-sweet sludge of awfulness. Never again. 

The Egg McMuffin wasn’t bad though. I often reminisce about the delectable PUB Muffins I used to get almost every day when I lived on Eastern’s campus. They’re indescribable, they’re that good, but I gained a significant amount of weight eating them regularly, so it’s probably a good thing McDonald’s don't even compare. I can dream, right?

My splurge cost me somewhere on the high end of five bucks. Which wouldn’t have been that stressful and made me feel so guilty, except for the fact that today is the first of the month. That means rent is due, I need to buy a train pass for the month, and it’s time to go grocery shopping again. What are you gonna do, right?

Exhibit B: The scene of the crime. Delicious, tasty crime.

Anyway, I stayed awake through class, Introduction to Book Publishing, which was the important part. It sounds like we’re going to be doing some awesome things throughout the term. Example: near the end of the course we are taking a field trip to Powell’s! I haven’t been there yet, but I intend to make a pilgrimage there before we meet as a class to do class-type things (hint: includes a tour of the rare book room). And I made it through my interview intact, with no faint-spells or embarrassing stomach growlies due to a lack of lunch (I forgot to pack one), and came out the other side with a new job!

That’s right, I am now a copy editor for the Portland State Vanguard! Woo-hoo! Which makes me feel infinitely less guilty about splurging on a second breakfast this morning. So that’s nice too.

My schedule is quickly filling up, but that’s the way I like it. I absolutely adore being busy doing things I love. Learning is the best, I don’t care what anyone says.

And on that note, I better get back to reading some manuscripts for my other classes. Oh darn. My life is sooo hard, you guys. So hard.

I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.