Epiphany in Baltimore

2002-02-14

Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com

As it turned out, it wasn't such a late night last night. I was back by 11pm.

Right after school and the short baseball meeting, I headed over to Michelle and Kristen's place and got ready to leave for the concert. Annapolis is about 45 minutes away (what a bummer that I moved to the east coast partly so I would be closer to more culture, particularly music, and the closest primarily acoustic venue is still the same distance as it was between East Lansing and Ann Arbor... actually, there could be one in Baltimore for all I know, but just haven't found it yet). As we were about to walk out the door, the girls checked their answering machine. A woman from the venue called and said that Todd Snider was ill, and that the show was postponed. Yes, a woman called to let us know. That was cool and weird.

After a short burst of hidden excitement (now I could go back and catch up on work and go to bed early!), we decided we weren't going to scrap the evening after all. Kristen needed to head to her parents' house to pick up some things, and we were going to eat there. She still needed to do that, so Michelle and I decided to come along with her. After all, her parents were expecting us and were excited.

Their house was just past Annapolis, and was beautiful. A huge mansion type place on the Atlantic Bay, it was easily the nicest house I've ever been in. Her parents were older (Kristen is five years older than me, and she's the youngest in her family; her brothers are in their late thirties) than mine, so they had the docile grandparent vibe going on. It was Ash Wednesday and they appeared to be very conservative and religious, so I didn't have to worry about being a vegetarian. They were obviously glad to have visitors, and both talked our ears off. We heard about how crabs are fished in the bay, how the cadets in Annapolis change from July until August, how the family used to go to Spring Training games, and how the Olympics opening ceremony went. They were a cute couple, and cooked us an amazing pizza.

Also, I may have taken a significant turn in my diet. I may now eat seafood. I accidentally ate this appetizer that the woman had cooked up, and enjoyed it. Upon hearing it was made from crab, I had another. And another. They were really good. I had been pondering the "shall-I-eat-seafood-or-not?" question for months, and sort of made a decision last night. It's primarily for health reasons (I don't think I get enough trans-fatty acids, and it's sometimes annoying or inconvenient to get enough protein), but also because things like grilled salmon and tuna fish look really good to me.

I figure my vegetarianism is now probably 60% health/diet and 40% ethics, so I am comprimising my ethics a bit if I eat seafood. But, for some reason, I don't feel as bad about eating fish and I do, say, mammals or birds.

It will be a huge shift if I do end up becoming a fish eater. I will no longer be a vegetarian. That label will be expunged, and since I've had it for six years, that's a big thing. But perhaps it's the right thing to do. I'm not sure.

I guess I'll have made my choice totally if I end up buying salmon burgers for my biweekly trip to Trader Joe's on Saturday.

Anyhow, I've veered far from my topic - last night. We left Kristen's parents' house at 8pm, stopped for a drink (I had a pop) in Annapolis, and were back by 11. We'll do it all over again on Sunday, March 3, when the rescheduled concert will be held.

Today has been another great day. I really feel this year that the students are learning something, much more than last semester. I can see the wheels turning, the lightbulbs turning on in their head.

I get observed 7th period, though. Let's hope the good vibes continue.