Welcome to Hobbiton!

    I am becoming more and more convinced, as time goes on, that I am some form of oversized hobbit. And, if not actually a hobbit, I sure behave like one sometimes. I love to eat, I love to dance, and I would very happily spend my evenings combining those two things in a cozy Hobbiton pub.

    The reason this is coming up now is because, this weekend, I'm performing as part of the Rhythm of Ireland show at the SCERA theatre. We've already had opening night, and now there's two more performances to go.

    Now, I am not the main event, as it were; I'm not a member of the Shelley Irish Dance Company (my dance school's pro-level dance company), rather, I'm a distraction for the audience during the show (so the SIDC can change their costumes and shoes), and participate in a grand total of two numbers.

    However, the second dance I'm in is what we call the Tír na Nóg dance--the dance that tells the story of the Land of Youth from Irish legend, and this year, the Tír na Nóg dance is meant to feel like a party in Hobbiton. Hence, all of us, except the boys, are dressed in brightly-colored skirts, white button-up shirts and aprons, and bandannas on our heads to match the skirts. So, when I'm on stage in this dance, I look like a really, really tall hobbit:

    My next piece of evidence that I am very similar to a hobbit is the fact that I eat. A lot. I'm pretty much always hungry--or, at least, able to eat--and within an hour or so after a large meal, I can plop down at my desk with an apple or an orange or a couple string cheeses and work on writing, or watch a video, or do some research or homework, while I munch.

    When I go to youth activities involving large quantities of food, such as a back-to-school barbecue, I eat until I'm full. However, that often means loading my plate with two or three hot dogs, eating those, waiting so everyone else can get what they want, and then going back to see if there are leftovers. And, naturally, I have surprised multiple people with this tendency to go in and eat. Like a hare from Brian Jacques' Redwall series, I tuck in and chomp away until my stomach is well and truly happy.

    I love food. To be more accurate, I love good food. See, the problem with a back-to-school barbecue with the youth from my church is that the bread (which is the part of a meal that's supposed to be most filling, in my opinion) is white bread--not the whole wheat sourdough bread I'm used to eating. Whole wheat is a lot heartier than white bread because it's loaded with bran, and so when I go and grab some hot dogs, when I put them into the buns, there's really no substance there but hot dog. White bread tastes really good, but I don't find it filling because all that bran has been taken out in the refining process. To quote the Wikipedia article on bran: 'Bran is particularly rich in dietary fiber and essential fatty acids, and contains significant quantities of starch, protein, vitamins, and dietary minerals.'
    Basically what that means is that, without the bran, white bread lacks a lot of the fiber and nutrients that make whole wheat bread so filling--because it is fiber and nutrients, not calories, that really helps a person feel full, at least according to my sister, who studies these sorts of things in great detail.

    That is why I can eat a breakfast like this:

 

     ... and be just fine for hours afterward. It's the fiber in the vegetables and fruits, and not the calories, that satisfies me and keeps me feeling full.

    And then, of course, because a breakfast of veggies and fruits is so low in calories, a few hours later, I can sit down and tuck into a couple sandwiches or quiche or a row of hot dogs and chow down on it without any fear of gaining weight. (Though it is true that my youthful metabolism will probably slow down over the next few years, so I may need to start being a bit careful as time goes on.)
    So I eat all day and I dance my heart out at night, and between those two things I am a very happy human hobbit. :)


P.S. Since I'm on a bit of an Irish/Scottish folk tale spree because of this big Irish-mythology-themed performance, the next blog post I write will include two of my favorite stories from those cultures: the legend of Tír na Nóg and the tale of the Salmon of Knowledge.