​Ashton Paulus

     My other artifact is my living deliberately journals. Our assignment was to give up 2 things that we take for granted in our life like soda or television and we were also instructed to add 1 thing to our life that we think would benefit our lives.

 

Monday September 16th

Today was my first day of living deliberately, I decided to give up soda and cable television for this week. I’m also adding in breakfast everyday, doesn't matter if its a waffle or a smoothie, as long as I eat something within the first hour I’m awake. The reason I say the first hour after I wake up is because on the weekends I tend to sleep in later until around noon. Today for breakfast I had 2 eggo waffles. I noticed I had a little more energy in the morning, and didn't feel tired until around fourth period. This wasn't too hard to complete. At lunch today I went to McDonalds and instinctively ordered a coke, because the lady at the window always asks, “Would you like a Coke with that?” So instinctively I said yes. After realizing that I couldn’t consume the Coke I dumped it in the trash can and had a Gatorade with my nuggets when I got home. Lastly I didnt watch any tv today, it wasnt too hard because the only thing I wanted to watch tonight was Monday Night Football, which I could keep up with online. I’m not sure whether I like the simple life or the busy life more, I like to have things to do, but at the same time its nice not having any obligations or worries.

Tuesday September 17th

Second day, had my eggos again this morning. Very tasty and sweet, and I like thats its super easy to make. Probably a lot more easy to make than whatever Thoreau ate in his shack. Didn’t have lunch today so I didn't have to worry about soda. I’ve got plenty of it at home, but as long as I have something else to drink like Gatorade, Muscle Milk, or purified water I can easily stay away from soda. Tonight the season finale of my favorite show on tv right now, Suits, premiered and I can’t watch it which kind of sucks. Hopefully its on youtube or hulu or something later in the week. And hopefully my friend won’t ruin it for me before the end of the week.

Wednesday September 18th

Woke up late today, so I grabbed a pop tart and had to hurry to school instead of making my eggo waffles. The pop tarts didn’t taste as good as the waffles, but at least it was something. I had pizza at home after school today, so again I didn't need to worry about soda. Although its easy not to drink it, I’ve had some minor headaches today. I think it may be the lack of caffeine and the withdrawl effects from the soda. It was annoying, but I had some tylenol and water and it went away. Tonight I really wanted to watch Tosh.o and the season premiere of Key and Peele, but again, I held off because I’m positive they’ll go up online in the coming days.Gives me something to look forward to for next week at least.

Thursday September 19th

Ate my last two eggo waffles this morning, so it looks like it will be pop tarts for the rest of the week. They aren’t too bad, I just feel I don't get as much energy or nutrition from the pop tarts. Oh well... Anyways, I had lunch with some friends at subway. I had Mountain Blast Powerade, which is a sports drink for your information. It was delicious and it replenished my electrolytes. I did run into some problems earlier tonight with the cable. My stepdad is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan, and my mom wanted to watch a movie, but the game was still going on. So he moved into my game room and watched the rest of the game on my tv. I occasionally glanced because my eyes saw something move in my peripherals and I had to check and see what it was. The best way I can explain it is when Dug, the dog from the movie Up, gets distracted by a squirrel and he instantly looks at the squirrel. It was like an instant reaction I didn't even think about.

Friday September 20th

Today I had first and second period free, so I slept in until around nine. I woke up showered, got dressed and treated myself to a Jamba Juice Strawberry Wild smoothie for breakfast. I think that this is my favorite and most ideal breakfast. It’s healthy, filling, and reasonably priced. I also like that it doesn’t contain any caffeine. Pizza for lunch at home, along with it my last blue gatorade. Cable tv wasn’t hasn’t been a problem all week because I forgot to mention I bought a new game on Tuesday. Grand Theft Auto V. That has been where most of my focus has been going. So its pretty easy to not watch cable.

Saturday September 21st

Today I awoke at 12:30 to find that my mom had made pancakes. I added a little boysenberry syrup and had my self an exquisite breakfast. I had already consumed my last blue gatorade, the only one left was yellow. I gulped that down in about an hour. All I had left was Muscle Milk and water, but it wasn't too hard to keep myself under control. But there were a couple of moments I would liked to pop open a cool Dr. Pepper or two. But I just stayed with water the entire day. Saturday Night Live was on tonight, but since I couldn’t watch it on cable I decided to watch The Best of Will Ferrell episodes on Netflix. They were scrumtrulescent.

Sunday September 22nd
Today I woke up at around one o’clock. I had my last strawberry pop tart. After that I had to play ultimate frisbee for 3 hours and I was dead tired by the end of it. Afterwards there was a barbeque at which I had a cheeseburger, some chips, a cookie and a lemonade. The lemonade was in a can, and might have been carbonated, but I don't think it had any caffeine. It was just a regular Minute Maid lemonade, so I think I’m safe. By the time I got home afterwards it was already seven so I just jumped on my homework and wouldn’t have even gotten a chance at watching cable. This week has been pretty tough, I think the most difficult task was not being able to watch cable. I usually watch the news in the morning with my mom, and I missed a couple of my favorite shows, but it wasn’t the end of the world I guess. I just went on my phone for news, and hulu for my shows. Overall I’d say this wasn’t challenging, but more annoying.