Day 5

After my staple cereal, banana and almond milk, I brushed my teeth with Colgate toothpaste. John inquired, "Is that tested on animals?" Now let's be clear. John's veganism is not so devout as this. He'll eat honey, and yes, he uses my toothpaste. But he's making a point, and making me aware if how intricate and intense this lifestyle can be. I checked out Colgate's website which says they started a voluntary moratorium on animal testing of their personal care products... but later on said they test on animals only "after all other options have been exhausted." Not quite clear.

We needed a photo to accompany the first installment of this story. In order to illustrate my struggle, our photo editor, Indah, handed me a juicy, mouth watering In-N-Out burger. Walking that burger around campus was like holding a giant magnet, attracting the eyes of all SMC students.

"Is that an In-N-Out burger?" asked a carnivorous co-ed.

"Yeah... it's for a photo."

"So there isn't a place I could get one?"

"No, sorry. The ironic part is that I'm vegan, so I can't eat it."

He shook his head as he walked away.

Throughout our twenty-minute photo shoot, we (the burger and I) got a handful of lookey-loos and rubber neckers.

"Aww, man..." said a salivating student.

"Take a bite!" another called out.

Peer pressure.

I told John about the events of the day. He raised his eyebrow and stared at me intensely.

"You posed with a burger?" I had momentarily forgotten my vegan boyfriend's need to perpetually give crap.

I'm taking 14 units and of all priorities, sleep has been put on the backburner. I returned home exhausted and certainly didn't feel like cooking, so I ate a lot of junk. Some salt and vinegar Kettle Chips, vegan dark chocolate (which has been my savior for the past 5 days) and, of course, a couple of those vegan cookies. I'm not super excited to weigh myself in two days.