Super power!

The Fat Cyclist often writes about his self declared superpowers.  One that sticks out in my head is his ability to eat while exercising.  It's a power, to be sure, but how super is questionable.  I think if I had to name a superpower for myself, it would be the ability to do the same thing over and over.  Commuting is a good example of this.  According to Jill, commuting makes me a Labrador Retriever:

 

Commuters are the Labrador retrievers of the pack. Throw them a good bicycle route, and they'll keep coming back. They love a good game of "catch" — that is, they race to catch green lights. They're highly sociable, largely domesticated and don't mind being leashed to the same roads day after day.

 

This superpower also extends to lunch.  I'm a cheapskate, so I bring my lunch from home.  I pack the same old lunch, with minor variations, every day.  It consists of:

a sandwich (lunchmeat of some flavor or another)

fruit (usually an apple)

grain (peanuts, soy nuts, pumpkin seeds, etc.)

 

I have eaten a variation of this lunch nearly every weekday for the last 10 1/2 years.  However, this was thrown into somewhat of an uproar a few weeks ago when my non-Catholic wife decided our family should give up meat for Lent.  Lent?  I've never given anything up for Lent.  For one, I wasn't raised Catholic.  For two, I never saw the point.  "Let's give up our worst vices with the understanding that in about a month we'll indulge them with twice the fervor."  Lent.  But the kids and I half-heartedly agreed that we would honor a custom of a religion none of us had any stake in and give up meat.  We didn't eat a ton of meat to begin with, and the transition has been mostly painless (The kids wailed mightily when they realized that chicken nuggets are meat).

 

The meat free zone known as Lent has had an impact on my lunches.  Making a sandwich was the default.  Bread, mayo on one side, mustard on the other, grab whatever lunchmeat was in the drawer, done!  Now, not so much.  I've made sandwiches with hummus, with cheese, and with avacado.  And sometimes a combination of these.  I've also, gasp, brought other things.  Leftovers, usually.  This week I brought leftover lentil soup on Monday and leftover tomato basil soup on Thursday.  And in both cases, they leaked all over in my bag.  Soup is not a bike commute friendly food.  A pox on you, foul soup.  I shall not be bringing you along to work again.  Fie, I say.  Fie!