Yep. That was my week last week. Two interns, at very different stages of experience. While #1’s work needs very little going over, #2’s stuff requires heavy editing. But I was an intern once – it’s a rite of passage several times over in this field – so patience it is. #2 also gets bonus points for being a keen bean this early on in her education.
I also did what I’ve been meaning to do for about a year – do a few days of clean eating. I’m not sold on the idea of crazy detox diets, but I did like the idea of eating as close to natural for as long as I could hack it. I was guessing around four days. I ran out of fruit after three (and then had three days of an Indian wedding, and certainly wasn’t about to deprive myself).
Here’s how it went. Breakfast: fruit salad of melon, berries and kiwifruit. Bananas for snacks. Silverbeet and onion stirfry with rice, and lentil fritters for lunch. Dinners were corn fritters with a melon, carrot, apple and spring onion salad; eggplant and tomato with a bit of fish; and roasted veggie salad.
The idea was to cut out wheat, meat, dairy and sugar. I love my carbs and I have a sweet tooth like no other, but it was the grains I missed for the fullness.
How did I feel? Pretty darn good, apart from the hunger – I just couldn’t stay full up to lunch, and felt briefly nauseous in the mornings – I’m used to cereal, oats or toast, or occasionally pancakes or bacon and eggs – so fruit for breakfast was really the only shock. (Eat more of it, you say? I actually don’t like fruit all that much, so I’m not sure I would have been able to put any more into me – even my favourite fruits, which I specifically picked out. See nausea reference.) On the other hand, I never felt bloated or heavy, either.
Anyway, I’m glad to be back to delicious noodles, couscous, bread, ice cream, chorizo and baking. Also, corn chips.
A quick public service message
Hands down the best thing I’ve read was this Megan McArdle oped – What do low income communities need? (and her followup post here).
If poor people did the stuff that middle class people do, it’s possible–maybe probable–that they wouldn’t be poor. But this is much harder than it sounds. As John Scalzi once memorably put it, “Being poor is having to live with choices you didn’t know you made when you were 14 years old.” Which often means, he might have added, spending your whole life doing the sort of jobs that middle class people sometimes do when they’re 14. It isn’t that people can’t get out of this: they do it quite frequently. But in order to do so, you need the will and the skill–and the luck–to execute perfectly. There is no margin for error in the lives of the working poor.
Basically everything I tried to say here, but far more eloquently.
Special mention also goes to this disturbing piece on the slim differences between lad mag readers and rapists. Yes, it’s typically hyped up in Jezebel fashion, but it’s still a story that stands alone.
Oh, and RedHead Writing’s explanation of how to deal with the Facebook message purgatory of ‘other’.
To the rest!
WORK
Want to change careers? Here’s how to get started, via Ms Career Girl.
Susannah Forbes’ tips for getting on the telly.
At Make A Living Writing, one writer’s story of landing his first paid blogging gig (in the three digits).
And Sean Blanda’s excellent tips for startups pitching the media. Heck, it probably even helped me understand my job better.
LIFE
Dancing Through NC’s list of love myths she’s glad weren’t true.
Questions to ask yourself before quitting, at Yes and Yes.
Fabulous post from StacFace on the things she needs to own about herself.
Only stupid people never change their minds, says Matt at Life Without Pants.
Ah, technology. Andrea lists 35 things her son will never experience.
Cordelia Calls It Quits on the 10 signs you’re on the right track.
MONEY
One simple way to improve your living conditions on the cheap. Via You Have More Than You Think.
A couple of goodies at Get Rich Slowly: protecting yourself against sexually-transmitted debt and why financial literacy fails.
FOOD
Cate Linden’s rustic potato leek soup.
Asparagus tart. Deeelish. (At Wandering Food Lover.)
Smitten Kitchen’s caesar salad devilled eggs sound quite divine.
10 quick and easy side dishes, courtesy of Dinner: A Love Story.
Lemon meringue pie in 15 minutes? Jules of Stonesoup says yes.
These Christmas chocolate cookies by Iowa Girl Eats look super easy.
Mmm. Coffee blondies with cream cheese icing, via Hungry and Frozen.
And salted caramel apple bars thanks up to Dishing Up Delight.
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