Lately I've been feeling like a slacker. a little bit.
Or maybe just a lack of motivation. Change of the season, anticipating change?
I'm still doing everything I usually do, exercise, volunteer, work, chores, trying to do art, planning the future... but I've not been pushing myself lately. I know there's some inspirational saying out there somewhere about how when we challenge ourselves we're more interesting, and full of life, and how it's important to continue growing and not become stagnant...etc....Anybody?
I think I'm snapping out of it now, but I still slept in this morning with a total of 9 hours of sleep! And for some reason I feel guilty about it- it's cuz I really want to make a habit of getting up earlier so that I can make time to pray and be grateful and ready for the day before rushing into it. It's hard to remember that when I'm in dreamland though.
I don't really like how I feel when I sleep that long, but at 7 hours I feel so deprived..I didn't have the motivation to drag myself out of bed at the perfect 8 either, what's the deal?
Is it important that we sleep the same amount each night consistently, or can we make up for other nights where we didn't sleep so long? If that's true, maybe i'm still making up for lost sleep during my college years? Or not. What do you think?...




....I decided to do an image personality test my sister has on her blog, it's pretty interesting.
According to www.imagini.net, I am a person who is a dreamer, an escape artist, a new wave puritan, and a love bug. I think I can live with that. You know maybe it's good that I don't get up at the same time every morning, I think I like the spontaneity of it...I don't think consistency is part of my personality, though at the same time I am a creature of habit...interesting.

On a different topic, I heard about this crazy race that happens every year in San Francisco- Bay to Breakers.

About 7.5 miles from the bay to where the ocean breaks- people dress up, teams race tied together, people register, people dont'---I thought it'd be cool to at least just go out and see...but alas the lack of motivation I was mentioning up there kicked in and I didn't go. Maybe that and I haven't been running 7 miles lately, usually only 2 or 3 a couple times a week....Okay, I could've done it if I had a running buddy, but couldn't scrounge one up on late notice and glenn and caroline definitely do not run. We could've walked, I know I'm just making excuses now.
Maybe next year.
Looks fun doesn't it?

You can go here to see more photos of people's costumes. What fun:)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I'm grateful for my mama. And my grandmas. And my boyfriend's mama.
And my earth mama. And all mamas really.

Caroline and I took five minutes of silence on Sunday as suggested during Karen Stokes's sermon (she's the pastor at the Montclair Presbyterian Church.)
We were sitting silently in the sun in Dimond park, kids playing with their parents, bees buzzing in the clover around us on the grass, blue sky...and one of the thoughts that came to me was that all life comes into being through mothers, just like our mother earth brings forth all life that lives and breathes and thrives on this planet. That's something we all have in common universally, we all come from a mother somewhere; regardless of our race, class, gender, nationality, or species if you think about the planet as mother of us all- that's all something we can relate to. Isn't it beautiful?

During Karen's sermon she was talking about how we all want our children and children's children and children's children's children to have clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, nutritious food to eat, good health care, and a loving community of people to support them...That's what environmentalism is for me and it's cool to think of it as being rooted in our love and appreciation for the all the mothers in the world. All that they work, and sacrifice, and live for to protect and support thier children.
And that's what the five minutes of silence was for- to appreciate mothers; to celebrate life; to show that we believe in that healthy and positive world, that we hope for that world to come into being, that we will do what we can to support peace and life and love and make this world better for the children to come.

Happy Mother's Day mothers!!

In Karen's sermon, she also mentioned some powerful, courageous woman in history who have stood up for peace and justice on behalf of their children : Julia Ward Howe,
Soujourner Truth (1797-1883) and the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo".
Truly courageous and powerfully inspiring women. Can we say role model? Wow. I want to be that strong in my convictions.

Soujourner Truth's speech was my favorite part. I didn't really know that much about her. Here is a quote from her "Ain't I a woman" speech in 1851 at the women's convention in Akron, OH:

"That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him."

Isn't that great? She had fayda that woman (courage and attitude in the Wolof language).

Oh ya, I have to tell you about a moving song we sang in the choir: it's about missing the tenderness and comfort of a mother called "Wanting Memories" by Ysaye Barnwell (a singer in Sweet Honey in the Rock, a soulful, powerful, inspirational group of women). Very rhythmic and beautiful. Listen here (link on left side).

So I'm feeling full of Gratitude for life and love and all the good things in life.

Cafe Gratitude

This is one of the coolest restaurants I have been to. It's up there with Cafe Diablo, maybe even better. Do you believe me dad? Besides all of the food being beautiful with wonderful service and a great atmosphere, Cafe Gratitude has named all of their dishes self affirmations, so when you order you have to say things like " I am fabulous" and when they serve you they have to say "You are fabulous" or "You are fulfilled", things like that. The cool thing about is that they actually sincerely mean it when they say it.
It's a really positive, comfortable-feeling, community-based place. They serve mostly raw, all organic, yummy yummy food. Their desserts are especially good with things like cashew cheesecake and raw cacao fudge- oh my goodness. so amazingly full of flavor!
I feel so grateful:)

I'm very grateful to be living and learning, struggling and growing, laughing and loving, exploring and giving...

And I owe it to my mama for carrying me around in her belly and bringing me into this world.

And taking care of me and supporting me for 25 years after. Thanks mom.

Well, I should thank my dad too, but we'll save that for Father's Day won't we?

Why I don't eat High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

So I've had a bias against High Fructose Corn Syrup for quite a few years. Many of you know this. I think it started back in my sophmore year of high school when I read a "How to be a Vegetarian" book my mother gave me to make sure I was getting enough nutrients without eating animal flesh....

Since then I have cringed at the idea of eating High Fructose Corn Syrup, checking every label before I buy bread or cookies or anything really. Though I admit, it's hard to avoid; it seems to be in everything. I hadn't thought that much about why I had this strong bias until Glenn's mother asked me the other day "what's so bad about it?" This made me really stop to think. What is so bad about it? (besides the fact that it's hiding in everything from soda and ketchup to bread and cake mix.) I started to explain to her that high fructose corn syrup is unhealthy for our bodies because the chemical composition of corn starch is significantly changed during processing, which changes the molecular bonds that then become unstable in our bodies when we ingest it...I realized that I had confused this explaination with partially hydrogenated oils, my other arch nemesis, and realized that I needed to re-examine where I got this firm conviction from.

One thing I was confident in saying before researching more was that any corn in this country that is not organic, is most like genetically modified, an industry that I do support nor want to ingest food produced from it.
But that wasn't enough. I had to find more research to back up my claim that HFCS is much more unhealthy than cane sugar, and very dangerous to eat, cancer-causing even. That's right, I'm still going to keep my bias, I don't need HFCS in my life or my bloodstream; but I do need to feel more educated about it.

So of course I looked it up on Wikipedia! Yay. Okay, I know that Wikipedia is not the end-all know-it-all, but you have to admit, it is pretty great. And it did have a pretty balanced explanation of the controversy I thought. That's where I found this really well-written article about the issue from the SF Chronicle "We're drowning in high fructose corn syrup, do the risks go beyond our waistline?" You should read it.

After doing my research, here are some things that I found unappealing about this stuff:
-Dulls taste buds (may not be true, but I definitely think it has a funkyboring phony taste).
-Possibly metabolizes differently in the body than sucrose
-It's in so many foods that you don't even know you're eating it- added sugar=added calories=added fat and added risk of degenerative diseases.
-Our society is consuming too much sugar in our diets!!
-"Loading high fructose corn syrup into increasingly larger portions of soda and processed food has packed more calories into us and more money into food processing companies"
-USDA reccomends only 10-13 teaspoons of added sugar per day; one can of soda has can have 13 teaspoons of sugar in the form of (HFCS most of the time in the U.S.)
-Research done by the American Beverage Association (almost all of whom use HFCS in their sodas) and corn refiners association (hmmmm) says that HFCS does not behave differently in the body on metabolism or satiation than sucrose (table sugar). Hmmmm.
-The U.S. has import quotas and tariffs on sugar, which is supported with campaign financing funded by agricultural corporations, namely Archer Daniels Midland, one of the leading sellers of HFCS and other additives. This keeps sugar prices high, which makes sweeteners from corn (an industry already highly subsidized by the U.S. government) cheaper and more attractive to most food and beverage manufacturers, thus giving more profit to those corporations in the industry at the expense of the heatlh and pocketbooks of us consumers. lame.

So you can come up with your own conclusions that work for you, but here are my personal reasons for not wanting to eat it:

-Precautionary principle- HFCS may cause degenerative diseases or other health problems, why take the risk? I don't need it in my life and I still want to be healthy in 50 years!
-I don't need more sugar in my bread, or in my bagels, or english muffins, or hotdog buns, or juice, or cereal, or peanut butter, or ketchup or anything else they're lacing with HFCS.
-I most certainly do not want added sweeteners to my fruit juice!! I think that's my biggest pet peve with HFCS, you think you're drinking something healthy and it's got extra sweetner, as if fruit need extra sweetness...That makes me mad. As for soda. I don't need soda. period. And if/when I were to drink soda, I would choose one with REAL sugar because it tastes better. That's right. I've tried it, it's better. ( Go to Senegal, or any European Country, or any other country that doesn't have a high sugar tariff and doesn't produce excesses of corn subsidized by the U.S. government to support rich corporations profiting off of corn products then using them to control poorer countries' through GMO "food aid", and you'll taste what soda is supposed to taste like because they still use cane sugar.)
--As mentioned earlier, I do not support what the Genetically Engineered (GE) or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Industry stands for and do not want to eat corn that is produced by it (which HFCS almost definitely is ).
-I like Michael Pollen's* philosophy: "If your great great grandmother didn't eat it, neither should you" and "if you can't pronounce it, or don't know what it is, it's not food and you shouldn't eat it" or "If it has more than five ingredients, don't eat it"

I can pronounce high fructose corn syrup, I think I know what it is and don't think it has more than five ingredients, but honestley, I barely have the patience to type out all four words and now that I know what it is (a fake imitation of the natural chemical make up of cane sugar that is highly processed thus eliminating any minerals or nutrients that may have been present) I'd rather eat the real stuff in as unrefined a form as possible, and not in excess.

I think the message here is, whether it's sugar or HFCS, it is clear that we need to eat less sweet additives in our diets in order to be healthy happy people into the future. I still like the "word of wisdom" I learned in the Mormon church which says "moderation in all things." As far as sugar goes, I'm still working on that one, but you can be sure I'm going to be trying extra hard to keep HFCS out of my life and out of my esophogus for good.

Any suggestions on cutting out the sweets?

* I'd like to read his book "The Omnivore's Dilemma"- it talks a lot about the corn industry including HFCS and the history of food and nutrition in our country.
I've heard him speak, he's really down to earth, interesting, intelligent and funny. Put it on the list.

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

I learned from my father and the help of wikipedia, that it is not the celebration of Mexican Independence day, but celebrating Mexican Pride, especially for Mexican Americans. It's apparently more celebrated in America b/c of commercialization than in Mexico which originated as a celebration of winning a battle five years before Indepencence against the French...)
Good time to get together with friends, eat good food and celebrate ya?

So I kind of slacked on posting last week. This whole week I've kind of felt like a slacker to be honest- haven't felt lin September- but ke jogging, eaten lots of sugar, feeling lazy...Maybe it's cuz the weather is getting hotter? I'm thinking we all go through our phases of being motivated or not...right?
I snapped out of it today after a moving sermon at church (welcome all to the table, regardless...reminds me of a saying I like: God bless everyone, without exception.) and a perfectly gorgeous day with a nice hike in the hills. So now I'm taking a week long break from sugar- I admit it- I'm addicted to sugar okay- especially chewy sweet chocolaty things like brownies, or cold chunky chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream...mmm. Glenn and his mom aren't much help, but when my teeth started hurting in multiple places, I thought "maybe it's time to take a little break..." Give me strength!














^ remember these?

Sugar makes Crystals!- do you think there's a connection?

....Anyways, i've been procrastinating posting a blog this week because I didn't know what I wanted to write about..I've felt the same way about painting lately...
Part of it is also because I'm having a blog identity crisis. I feel like it's turning into just a travel log... I want my fam and friends to know what I'm up to- but I also want it to be a place that I can express my feelings and invite discussion and share opinions ...so give me comments !:)

So I'm a little back logged-but here are a few things I've been up to lately:
I started balafon lessons with a musician from Guinea named Mohammed Kouyate.
I met him when I went to an African Dance class in downtown Oakland:) I wanted to take lessons when I was in Senegal but never seeed to have enough time, so I'm glad I do now. I don't know how long I will take them cuz they're a little expensive, but it's an ancient instrument and mesmorizes me everytime I play it. What's a balafon?
I just learned that one of the best balfon players is a man from Guinea named El Hadj Djeli Sory Kouyaté
kouyate, sound familiar? Apparently it's one of the biggest griot families in West Africa.listen to some of his songs!

Other than that, the most exciting thing I've done lately is seeing the new spider man 3 movie.
I know, just a movie, Krystal's usually not that into the pop culture scene..But this movie I really liked. So much that I am writing about it in my blog. It was actually fabulous, especially for a #3 movie, which I am getting increasingly annoyed with- what's up with everyone making 3 movies nowadays? But this movie was great - great message, good storyline, great effects, and lots of humor. Can we say emo?

You'll know what I"m talking about when you see it.

Plus we saw it at the greatest theatre in Oakland- the Grand Lake Theatre- it's a super old classy theatre that has a live organ player on Fridays and Saturdays, doesn't play any commercials before the movies, and they post political messages on the theatre board. If you come to visit, it is a must-see.






Oh ya, I went to Muir Woods last weekend- sorry, can't get away from the pretty nature photos.
I took seven international students from the EF international school at Mill's college, each from a different country (Russia, Germany, Belgium, Kuwait, Italy, France, and the U.S.) A great group of peopls, and we had a great time- had a BBQ on the beach (I even cooked hamburgers for everyone, though I still do not eat them nor do I wish to support the cattle industry anytime in the near future...I'm getting more blatently opinionated in my older age aren't I?...)
Anyways, the beach was lovely, a bit windy and foggy-but hey that's the northern CA coast- then went hiking in Muir Woods down the way...Honestly it's a beautiful place, but I guess I'm a little spoiled having spent four years at Humboldt State near Redwood National Park- it's not nearly as crowded up there, there are more trails, taller trees... I wasn't as awe-struck as I feel like I should've been being in the presence of thse amazing ancient wise giants...but humbled none-the-less.