One month on a food stamp budget – Week 1

I accepted a challenge to live off $200 for food this month: $25 for the week and $25 on weekends, for my bank accounts and my waistline.

The first day I discovered the local grocery store overcharged me on two items, so that was kind of satisfying to catch that.

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On the other hand, my shopping cart looked way emptier after $25 than it had in over a year!

I’ve been, um, resourceful this week since I have other food I am still eating up. I think PB&J and noodles/meat would get old pretty fast otherwise. So I’ve mixed in small chunks of aged cheese for a filling “treat”, or used up my boxed soup for lunch. Cold soup is just as delicious btw!

Today I found protein bars on sale for $1 each so I bought 5. I’m finding I’m getting by on less carbs and more protein.

I’ve also been using my gym’s coffee shop, which is free and less crowded, compared to a chain store for wifi access.

So I’ve avoided a fair amount of extra calories from coffee shops, as well as even in grocery store checkout lines–no more impulse purchases!

Using my wonky bathroom scale I’m around 2 bills tonight, so all the more motivation to continue! I’m still healing from my ankle break, so diet will be key until I can push any vigorous exercise again.

Onto Day 4!

Out and Back

Impressed again
By the persistence of reality as I know it
To journey beyond
Again and again
Returning intact
To a functioning craft
With the same sensors
What is this game?

The luxury of guilt
The privilege of choice
The comforting repetition
Of a world controlled tightly

Stop striving
I tell myself
The whole human race
Wonders if I’m talking to them

I’m an outsider
Until I remember just how linked we all are
The same energy
Buzzing within

Born noble
And pointed
And convinced of our entitlements
We keep dancing with our weary partners

Looking for friends and enemies, fights and causes
Hero’s journeys
Because an idle mind
Is the devil’s playground.

So many characters to encounter.

Content

Earnest
Wrapped up in the pleasure of one another
A perfect bond
A strong bridge to the tomorrow of our hearts’ dreams for us
And resting in this moment
Happy for the security
Of a common purpose
Strength in numbers
No more weak links

Inequality

Live jazz in the airport
A chicken salad for lunch
Feeling the weight of our privilege
I discipline my mind:

“This too, will pass.” “Don’t give yourself too much credit, nor berate yourself either.”

I imagine
That sweet music born from sorrow
Now falls on spoiled ears
In a world full of inequality
So personal in my youth

Others have had it worse
I think
I should be grateful for my struggles
The lowest among kings
Is after all, still a king

But the bitterness remains
Lending a sadness to this moment
Spoiling the salad a little bit
A young girl wants to heal

Dreams, Virgo, Assuming the best

Fascinating
How others construct poly-dimensional
Dream stories
For you to walk into through the front door
This is who I am and what I want
Create it with me?

Reflecting
On how so many setbacks were made visible today
The Universe’s way of welcoming Virgo and her ever-perfecting vocality

In the age of information,
People might be less confused about how the stars affect man
And man affects each other
It’s easy to confuse the space between objects for something impermeable
But now that information bounces through us more quickly our pea brains will catch on, and might explode from the overwhelming ness of it all

Trying
To do my best to assume first that others are right and not wrong
Tired of my judgementalism
Just ego singing an old song

Redefining

Stunted
By dreams realized early
And the state of not-knowing
Continuous risk-taking
Fatigued

Cautious
Of the illusions that charm strivers
At their lowest points
I became an illusionist
Humiliated

Careful
Not to misalign my energy
With causes I can’t commit to
A friendship worth more than
Dollars

Naked
My weaknesses exposed
I put myself in a position to fail
And lived with its bitter
Aftertaste

Unsure
Of what the future holds
There is no more yellow brick road
We’re grown-ups now
Foggy

Open and Weird

Long days and strange times
Are you really listening
Do you care
Remembering a time when consciousness was altered
Highlighting the absurdity of polarity
And wondering how it is
That people could question
How goals lead to dreams
But of course they do!
Intention gathers momentum
Words guide direction
Thoughts become things
That’s the nature of nature
This year I got my love, my salary, and New York
(Not at all how I imagined I would)
But words matched opportunities
And opportunities are hows
Not whats
You can ask for hows too
If you are particular
So many means to an end
Chances good you’ll find one

Among the Rubble

Reorganizing
Taking inventory
Laying out the clothes ahead of time
Asking what I wanted
What I needed
Becoming me
Not having answers
Being lonely
Relying on strangers and the goodwill of God
That dick
Who drives both good and evil
Whose angel fell from grace
And is now stuck in a forever
Ping-pong match
With his creator
The men
Always fighting
The women
Always creating
The children
Who suffer our stories and fear the worst
And spend their years uncovering golden nuggets
Buried among the rubble