Long Lost Friend

Today I ate at McDonald's all by myself. While this may seem like no big deal to the average person, my circumstances are a bit unusual. See, McDonald's and I haven't been on speaking terms for the last year.

It all began with my disdain for Wal-Mart. Three years ago Matt and I decided to give up Wal-Mart for our New Year's resolution. For lots and lots of reasons (which I'll spare you of for now) we think Wal-Mart is a big, fat bully. So we decided to boycott the company for a year. And it was a rousing success--the first New Year's resolution I've ever kept. (Well except maybe for those silly ones where I resolve to eat lots of chocolate or potato chips in the coming year. Those have always been successful.) So when the next New Year's Day rolled around, we felt we had to choose another boycott victim. We added McDonald's to our list. It's not that we despise the McDonald's corporation, but rather I think it's an easy target. To further matters, Matt and I had been eating off the $1 menu far too frequently (effecting our waistlines accordingly), so we decided to eliminate it from our diets for 1 year. And, that too, was a success.

So this year rolls around and while we're pleased with ourselves for having had such strong self-discipline, both of us are feeling a strooooong hankerin' for a Big Mac. It's been exacerbated by moving to Hong Kong, the land where all meat scares me. While I don't know exactly where McDonald's gets its meat, I appreciate that it's most likely heavily regulated. (Many Hong Kong restaurants specialize in "mystery meat". It gives me the willies.)

So do we continue to abstain from McDonald's (keeping Wal-Mart on our list is an easy decision) and add a third corporation to our list, or do we give in and withdraw the Big Mac from the chopping board? Well, as you gathered from the first line, McDonald's is back on our good side. In fact, it's our new best friend. We ate their twice on New Year's day (starting at 12:08am, Jan. 1, 2007), and at least once a week since. But still it feels weird. I mean, it's hard to act normal around someone that you've been ignoring for the last year, even though you've made up. I still don't think it's a fabulous company or anything, and the food is really, really bad for you, but, dang, those breakfast sandwiches are tasty. And they serve them all day long here.

Since we don't know enough about Chinese companies, we haven't picked a new culprit this year. If anyone has any suggestions, let us know. For now, we have to be content with our non-corporate resolutions to quit eating on the couch instead of at the table, and to do our dishes every night before going to bed. Those resolutions feel lame in comparison, but so far, so good.