blue belt life

Last week I threw out a little underhanded statement about marriage to see if it might spike some controversy or debate. No one mentioned it so far, which I take to mean one of the following – my mom hasn’t read it, no one read it they just liked it on FB,1 or I’m right and everyone agrees with me. I’ll lean toward the latter, especially since this week I am going to break it down and prove conclusively that marriage really doesn’t matter. So what does matter? Well, as the word implies, something that is material – not in the sense of being tangible, like a piece of paper, but…

I got married recently. Now, we all know that marriage doesn’t matter, but weddings can. Naturally I shun social obligations of any kind and am partial to the Money Mustache approach. But MasterDebator and other friends have persuaded me of the potential merit of the public ceremony of a committed relationship. Here are some of the worthwhile aspects of wedding ceremonies: – growing filial love with close friends and family – proclaiming your vows publicly for the universal record – speeches – doing things that scare us – dancing And here are some of the aspects better left out: – writing invitations or thank you letters – long drawn-out religious…

*Note: do your research before fasting. Check the links at the bottom to see if it is appropriate for you. Lent and the season of sacrifice are upon us, so it seems fitting to continue our exploration of Love with a discussion of a dietary topic I have been experimenting with for the past year – fasting – from food in particular. Though there are many types of food fasting, for the purposes of this article let’s call it going without food for 16 hours or more. I had stopped fasting for a while as my research into Ayurveda led me to think it wasn’t appropriate for me.1 But my visit…

I visited the Philippines – mostly Manila – over the last couple weeks and was impressed with the life there on a number of fronts. I stayed with a fairly well-off family in Makati, a central area and business district in Manila. Here are some of my takeaways from the experience. Hospitality This is what the dining table looked like every morning, afternoon, and evening. To say we were well-fed would be understatement. I put on 3kg on the 9-day trip and not just from 3am Ube ice cream and an epic halo halo that no one would help me with.1 Many traditionally-minded cultures place great significance on how well…