The French Fry Chronicles...and other databases

I've always been vegetarian, and I will probably always be vegetarian. Hinduism as a religion generally advocates for vegetarianism and respect for animals, and in the state my parents are from in India, vegetarianism is the norm by about 86% give or take. I am not someone who actively participates in my religion, not for any one reason or another, but when it comes to not eating animals, it is a hill I will die on...for some reason. I will admit, this hill isn't exactly the most pleasant place to die--I'm pretty protein deficient and anemic, and I also don't eat vegetarian the way that baby vegetarians do, meaning that lunch is sometimes a handful of hot Cheetos and a Gatorade instead of a "green-goddess delight vegetarian whole grain sandwich". My family even sometimes dabbles in non-veg, but not without a little bit of shame. My dad eats chicken when he's at dental conferences or with friends that typically eat meat around him (Follower. Sheep, even), and my little sister will sneak Chick-Fil-A nuggets with her friends (traitor); yet, for some reason, I absolutely refuse to start eating meat. 

The point of this big long schpeel about my herbivorous conviction was that growing up in a primarily white area, where the only real thing to do was grab food, typically of the fast variety, or walk around Target for 2 hours, I had to figure out how to maintain the no-meat rule. My solution, unsurprisingly, was french fries. For about six years, or about the amount of time I have known how to drive, I have grabbed a small fry at McDonald's, Wendy's, Arby's, or any other common fry establishment, and I have created a system by which I rank them in a database. I call it The French Fry Chronicles. Almost every establishment that I consider "fast food", as in, any restaurant with a drive-thru, that I have had the pleasure (or displeasure) of trying a small fry at is logged, and here are the categories: 

• Name
• Shape (waffle, crinkle, curly, shoestring, etc.)
• Seasoning (just salt, mystery orange seasoning (Zaxby's fyi), house seasoning, etc.) 
• Sauce options( Restaurant name sauce, ketchup, spicy versions, etc.)
• Rating (1-5 Stars) 
• Reasoning (short blurb about why they received that rating) 

At this point, you're thinking "Oh, she's got something wrong with her", and I do not blame you at all for thinking that. It does sound kind of insane. But, it was a fun little activity that I get to talk about sometimes and it helps me during the classic drive-to-Florida car topic of "Who has the best french fries?".

The French Fry Chronicles isn't the only database I have made. I have one named "Eating through Athens", listing every restaurant in Athens, GA; this database has every restaurant listed by name, the genre of food, price, whether or not it has vegetarian options (clearly important to me), the 'vibe', how good it is, and highlights about it, like if there is outdoor seating or if it's in downtown.  I know it sounds absolutely like I have too much time on my hands or like I have some breed of mental illness, but it is incredibly useful, especially if I am trying to figure out Mexican restaurants to take my parents to with outside seating and vegetarian options that are open on Sundays. And, I am willing to share.