Whoa, is it May already? Holy fuck! At the rate that things have been totally sucking lately, one would think that the perception of time would be going slower. Relativity is fucking weird, but oh well.

There�s actually nothing terribly interesting going on with my life, but then again what else is new? I do however, have plenty of boring stuff to write about so if you are into the self-punishment thing, or if you are looking for a quick fix for insomnia, by all means read on.

I�ve been making an honest attempt to eat healthy lately. They closed the Wendy�s near my office a few months ago, which sucks because that�s where I used to get my fast-food salad fix. Their Mandarin Orange chicken is probably one of the best fast food salads on the market. Of course I still work in downtown, so there are other places I can get salads but depending where I go, I could wind up paying almost twice as much for a salad of similar serving size.

So as of late, I�ve been going to McDonald�s for my salad fix. No easy task considering the Steak Egg and Cheese Bagel for breakfast and the Quarter Pounder with Cheese for lunch have been my usual menu choices from McD�s since I�ve weaned myself off of happy meals as a kid and have been regular cravings ever since. Morgan Spurlock ain�t got nothing on me bitches.

The salads at McD�s are actually pretty good too. They have the Bacon Ranch Salad, the Caesar Salad and the Asian Salad which recently replaced the Cobb Salad. I�d say the Bacon Ranch is the best tasting of the bunch, though I wouldn�t exactly say it was super healthy because bacon, cheese and ranch dressing aren�t exactly the healthiest of ingredients but it can prove helpful in transitioning someone from a pure junk food diet (like me) to something a bit healthier.

The Asian Salad comes in at a close second and it appears to be a product that was made to directly compete with Wendy�s venerable Mandarin orange chicken salad. The Asian salad comes with mandarin oranges, baby pea pods, red peppers, edamame (soy beans) and is topped with almonds and a sweet sesame ginger dressing and the chicken is topped with an orange glaze. I still like Wendy�s Mandarin Orange Salad better, but the Asian Salad comes pretty close. Oh the dressing is supposed to be �low fat� as well, which is probably good for those watching their fat calorie intake.

I guess the only thing that spoils it for me and the same goes true for all of the salads on McDonald�s menu is that they use way too much iceberg lettuce. I know that iceberg helps them cut the costs and they do mix in other types of lettuce and greens, but iceberg lettuce is boring and lacks flavor and color and texture. It�s like eating a watery leaf and in my opinion it should be left out of any salad that is marketed as a �premium� or �gourmet�.

With that said, I would have to say that their �Caesar� salad is probably the weakest of their offerings, mostly because Caesar is supposed to be made of mostly of Romaine lettuce. The Paul Newman version of the Caesar dressing not half bad and they are pretty generous with the parmesan cheese, but it�s not enough to fool my taste buds into believing that it�s a genuine Caesar Salad, but I guess it is probably healthier than the more traditional offering where the salad is tossed in with the dressing and seasoned with generous doses of parmesan. Oh if you want to go low fat, Paul Newman�s Balsamic Vinaigrette or Low-Fat Italian dressings are pretty good substitutions.

There was also a California Cobb salad offering a while back that was recently replaced with the Asian Salad. It was OK but not anything extraordinary. If memory serves me correctly it had some hard boiled egg and some bacon and was topped with croutons and Paul Newman�s California Cobb Salad dressing. I�d say it was on par with the healthiness level of the Bacon Ranch offering, but for some reason I didn�t find it as appealing, which is probably why it was ultimately replaced.

Although the veggie part of the salad is pre-prepared, probably the best part of the McDonald�s salad menu, is that the chicken that tops the salad is made to order and you can get it grilled or crispy. Although the grilled is healthier, the crispy offering adds flavor and when you eat it, it�s still warm which is a nice touch.

Oh and for the slightly adventurous, you can get the spicy chicken (the kind they put on the sandwiches) as well. I don�t think it�s officially offered on the menu, but all of the times I�ve asked they�ve given it to me. Although my palate is accustomed to spicy food and stuff out there that claims to be spicy doesn�t really do it for me the McD�s spicy chicken has just enough zing to get my taste buds to attention and consequently they are really good compliment to the salads in my humble opinion. When I need something quick I usually get the spicy chicken sandwich, no fries and bottled water and I�m good to go.

I�m not trying to be the next Jared or anything like that, but I figured I should have a little control over what I put in my mouth for health reasons of course and because I�m trying to get out of this sexual rut that I�ve managed to get myself stuck into for the past few years.

Although I won�t go so far to say that I�m unattractive, but in all honesty I�m not as attractive as I used to be and more often than not and the females that I�m attracted to hardly ever seem to be attracted back to me. I realize that a lot of my attractiveness hinges upon my level of confidence but I also realize in a roundabout way, that my self-image also affects my confidence. If I don�t see myself as someone worthy of attention, it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and somehow I actually do become unworthy of female attention.

Although I may not act like it, Derrick actually enjoys female attention and this whole thing where females don�t give me any of it has to stop. Of course I don�t expect for all this to happen magically at the snap of my fingers, I�ll have to continue watching what I eat and when the spring quarter is finally up I�m going to dedicate this summer to getting back to the gym and getting back into shape.

I�ll still be the same Derrick you all know and love, just a bit leaner and with more muscle mass. Besides, I�m going to need all the muscles I can spare for all that sex I�m going to be having. Kidding of course, I�ll probably still be living like a monk, but I�ll be a monk some upper-body strength. =p

Speaking of sex, I�ve decided to open my mind a little more to different sexual possibilities, meaning I�m not going to be so uptight and picky about whom I pursue sexually like I seem to have been for a very long while. I�m going to stop holding out for the �right� girl and just go for someone for right now.

As for Ray�s ex, the girl I mentioned in my last entry, I decided to give it a try. Of course I won�t know if I really like her in that way until after we�ve kissed, but the way things are going I anticipate that being a drunken weekend away. I guess we�ll just have to see what we will see...