Day 337: on living differently

i went from spending all day coding in my quarantine cocoon to spending all day meeting new people and hanging out with them

so much fun!

now that in-person social activities are in my life again in which group dynamics are factored into making decisions rather than just my own individual preferences, i’m reminded again of how my lifestyle and philosophy makes some things harder

some of us went out for dinner together, and i suggested a nearby vegetarian/vegan-friendly pizza place that had great reviews. another guy joined us there, and he was shocked to discover that none of the pizzas have meat. “i’ve never had pizza without meat before.” he thankfully ended up liking what he ordered, but it was clear that he was initially quite disappointed

since eating together is such a common way to socialize, things become tricky when most people prefer to eat meat but you don’t

a casual “do you want to come eat with us?” becomes a complicated consideration of whether you’ll have anything to eat and whether you’d make it harder for the whole group by having to find a place that can accommodate you

i’ve been in too many situations where we think that a place should have some options available for me, and when they don’t, it makes everyone feel uncomfortable because they don’t want me to feel left out but it’s also too late to choose another place at that point. it’s usually impossible to convince them that i’m actually perfect fine hanging out without eating. stuff like this is why i mostly avoided eating out socially in groups when i lived in japan because it was never worth the hassle.

taiwan is a bit better in terms of places with veg-friendly options, but it might be mostly the same here.

why is being kind to animals such a radical idea?