Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A positive spin on public transit by Sarah.
Our next bus story comes from Sarah. She keeps a blog on her transit experiences, and says "I have to admit ... most of my stories are kind of all about the Public Transit lovin'. I really loved taking the bus, and thoroughly miss it. The types of people I met were always interesting, even when they were really fucking crazy. Actually, ESPECIALLY when they were really fucking crazy..."
So pretty much, she's like, the bravest person on earth. Take it away, Sarah!
---
Ernie
From late 2009:
I met a man named Ernie today on the 33 Fremont bus. I was heading home from dropping off a rental truck with a friend, and I was still tired and headachy from my cold. The bus was almost empty, other than two woman up front and one man in the very back. I sat in the back, close to the door, far enough away that I thought conversation with the man in the back would be impossible, as I'd seen him looking at me as I got on the bus.
Well, far away conversation is not in fact impossible for those willing to yell. He loudly told me I work at Safeway. I looked back and shook my head. He then loudly told me I work at another grocery store. I looked back again and said no. He caught my eye, stared at me for a couple seconds, and when I turned away again, he loudly asked me if I had a good heart. He had a strong Jamaican accent, and was yelling, so I wasn't sure I'd heard him right. So I asked him to repeat himself. He asked again if I had a good heart. I just looked at him for bit, and said "I'm not sure. I think so."
"AHHH!!! You're not sure!" he yelled "But you THINK you have a good heart!".
"Well," I said "I don't really think you can be sure. I mean, if I was sure I had a good heart, do you really think I'd have a good heart?"
This caused a giant laugh to swell from his chest, and I mean giant. The man sucked all the air on the bus into his prodigious lungs and expelled it in the loudest laugh I've ever heard. He then got up and came closer, sitting down right behind me. This prompted a muttered "Shit" from me and a frantic searching for my headphones and MP3 player. Before I could get them safely in place, though, he started a conversation.
"So", he says, "You're pretty, but if you don't have a good heart I'm not really interested in you"
"Oh yeah? Well, I might not have a good heart. I mean, I'm not sure, and while I think I do I could just be delusional."
"Well, I'm not always cheerful. This might be a freak moment of cheerfulness for all you know. I could be an incredibly gloomy person."
"No. You're cheerful. I can tell. You smile alot. And you're laughing at me instead of running screaming into the safety of your headphones."
With a guilty start I look down at the headphones clutched in my hand. "Yes, well... what's your name?"
"Ernie"
"Hi Ernie, I'm Sarah."
We talked for a bit, then. It turns out he's the owner of a shop I pass all the time, called New Born Tribe. It's a very Rasta shop, and I've never been in. When I confessed this, he proceeded to make fun of me. "Oh, yes. It's all the black men in dreadlocks. I can see why a little girl like you wouldn't want to go in. It's a pretty scary place. You don't know what we do in there."
Instead of the giant FUCK YOU this deserves, I say "Well, from the look and smell of it, I'd say you sell music, clothes, African flags, and lots and lots of incense. And probably a pipe or two." (I refrain from saying "And a misplaced sense of pride in an identity that most of you will never understand." I don't like Rasta very much.)
This prompts another GIANT laugh, and he tells me I have to come by and see what it's like. I say I will. He then invites me to a reggae show he's putting on at a club down the street from my house.
Now, this club is probably the last bastion of blackness in my neighborhood. It is the only place in this area that I still see a consistent sea of young black men out in front of. It's also rowdy, loud, and has a reputation for getting violent on the weekends. But, the show he's inviting me to is on a Tuesday, and I'm about to say I'll go when he starts teasing me for my hesitation. He starts carrying on a conversation with himself, pretending to be me in my own head.
"Hmm..." he says, "This old black dude is inviting me out. He's pretty sexy, maybe I'll have a hot date. But I don't know... this could be scary. Maybe I'll bring my friends. Yes. That's what I'll do. I'll bring some friends and it'll be nice and safe. I'll go hang out with the black people, and listen to this sexy dude singin' some good reggae, and it'll be scary but I'll have fun."
I'm laughing hysterically at this point, because you can tell this guy is making fun of every little white girl in his head, but he's trying to make it sound like a good idea to me at the same time. It's barbed humor, because he's making fun of me, but it's actually pretty close to what I was thinking, minus the racial stereotyping. I'm charmed in spite of myself. I tell him I will be there, and that yes, I will be bringing friends. We shake hands and he gets off the bus.
So, I head up to the front of the bus to ask the bus driver about my stop, and stay up there to chat for a bit. The bus driver is an older black man, tubby and tired looking, but with a very sweet face.
He looks at me in the mirror and says "So. Were you just being nice?"
"Excuse me?"
"You really going to hang out with that dude? Or were you just being nice?"
"Uhh... I said I was going to, and I most likely will. Why?"
"No reason. Just wonderin' what a girl like you is doin' talking to a man like that. How do you know if he's nice or not?"
"I don't. Why? Do you know something I don't?"
"I'm just sayin'. He might not be nice. How do you know?"
"All I know is what people tell me. He seems nice, and that's all I've got to go on. He's charming."
"Oh, well, charming. You be careful, young lady."
Now, I don't know this dude from adam. I've never been on his bus before. And now he's lecturing me. This leads me to think he knows something about this Ernie character, so I try to pump him for some more info. Nothing. Eventually it comes out that "girl like you" = white, and "guy like him" = black. Which makes me sad. It's not that this guy is prejudiced. He just honestly doesn't think I could possibly be interested in getting to know this person. We chatted for a bit longer, and I got off the bus feeling invigorated by the conversation. It's so rare that people come right out and challenge both their own preconceived ideas and yours. It was interesting.
"No. You're cheerful. I can tell. You smile alot. And you're laughing at me instead of running screaming into the safety of your headphones."
With a guilty start I look down at the headphones clutched in my hand. "Yes, well... what's your name?"
"Ernie"
"Hi Ernie, I'm Sarah."
We talked for a bit, then. It turns out he's the owner of a shop I pass all the time, called New Born Tribe. It's a very Rasta shop, and I've never been in. When I confessed this, he proceeded to make fun of me. "Oh, yes. It's all the black men in dreadlocks. I can see why a little girl like you wouldn't want to go in. It's a pretty scary place. You don't know what we do in there."
Instead of the giant FUCK YOU this deserves, I say "Well, from the look and smell of it, I'd say you sell music, clothes, African flags, and lots and lots of incense. And probably a pipe or two." (I refrain from saying "And a misplaced sense of pride in an identity that most of you will never understand." I don't like Rasta very much.)
This prompts another GIANT laugh, and he tells me I have to come by and see what it's like. I say I will. He then invites me to a reggae show he's putting on at a club down the street from my house.
Now, this club is probably the last bastion of blackness in my neighborhood. It is the only place in this area that I still see a consistent sea of young black men out in front of. It's also rowdy, loud, and has a reputation for getting violent on the weekends. But, the show he's inviting me to is on a Tuesday, and I'm about to say I'll go when he starts teasing me for my hesitation. He starts carrying on a conversation with himself, pretending to be me in my own head.
"Hmm..." he says, "This old black dude is inviting me out. He's pretty sexy, maybe I'll have a hot date. But I don't know... this could be scary. Maybe I'll bring my friends. Yes. That's what I'll do. I'll bring some friends and it'll be nice and safe. I'll go hang out with the black people, and listen to this sexy dude singin' some good reggae, and it'll be scary but I'll have fun."
I'm laughing hysterically at this point, because you can tell this guy is making fun of every little white girl in his head, but he's trying to make it sound like a good idea to me at the same time. It's barbed humor, because he's making fun of me, but it's actually pretty close to what I was thinking, minus the racial stereotyping. I'm charmed in spite of myself. I tell him I will be there, and that yes, I will be bringing friends. We shake hands and he gets off the bus.
So, I head up to the front of the bus to ask the bus driver about my stop, and stay up there to chat for a bit. The bus driver is an older black man, tubby and tired looking, but with a very sweet face.
He looks at me in the mirror and says "So. Were you just being nice?"
"Excuse me?"
"You really going to hang out with that dude? Or were you just being nice?"
"Uhh... I said I was going to, and I most likely will. Why?"
"No reason. Just wonderin' what a girl like you is doin' talking to a man like that. How do you know if he's nice or not?"
"I don't. Why? Do you know something I don't?"
"I'm just sayin'. He might not be nice. How do you know?"
"All I know is what people tell me. He seems nice, and that's all I've got to go on. He's charming."
"Oh, well, charming. You be careful, young lady."
Now, I don't know this dude from adam. I've never been on his bus before. And now he's lecturing me. This leads me to think he knows something about this Ernie character, so I try to pump him for some more info. Nothing. Eventually it comes out that "girl like you" = white, and "guy like him" = black. Which makes me sad. It's not that this guy is prejudiced. He just honestly doesn't think I could possibly be interested in getting to know this person. We chatted for a bit longer, and I got off the bus feeling invigorated by the conversation. It's so rare that people come right out and challenge both their own preconceived ideas and yours. It was interesting.
---
Thank you so much Sarah, I really enjoyed reading this! If you liked this post, let Sarah know in the comments, I'm sure she'd appreciate it. Also, don't forget to check out her Portland bus blog here.
If you want to share any bus or public transit stories here, whether they're good or bad, please email me at novaisawesome at gmail dot com.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
diptych: getting dark on y'all. Not for the weak of spirit.
---
Do you ever contemplate your own mortality? Duh, of course you do because that's what people do. I feel like lately I've been thinking about death quite a bit. Not in a suicidal way or anything weird or too morbid, don't worry. It's just that I've finally realized and understood that I am going to die someday. So is Ryan. So is my mom. So is everybody.
I mean, I'm not an idiot, I've always known the words that say that everybody dies and I have been to many funerals and I knew people who do not exist anymore...but for some reason the emotional anguish of knowing that it will happen to ME is something new.
I've found myself lying semi-awake at night for hours, alternating between that weird half-sleep twilight and full-on heart pounding panic. Because I am afraid of that single moment where I will realize I am dying. I'm not afraid of being dead. I am afraid of knowing that I am dying.
Damn you, sentience! Damn you conscience! That whole "knowledge of your own mortality" part of humanity is bullshit! Why do we need to know that? It's taking part of the joy out of my late twenties in a subtle yet very real kind of way. It's making me too cautious and a little bit un-fun.
You know when you look at tumblr and it's like "ooh a cute video of a kitty, naked lady picture, naked lady picture, naked lady with tattoos, kitty, naked lady holding a kitty, hipster with bowling shoes on in the forest, naked lady picture, hipster with balloons instead of eyes, DEAD BODY I WISH I NEVER SAW THAT LOOK AWAY LOOK AWAY"
If you're not on tumblr that's the gist right there.
Anyway that happened to me the other day, but rather than quickly scrolling away as I usually do, I read the article. It was about beheading...or rather it was about the experience of being beheaded from the victim's point of view. I won't post the picture because ew, but this is what I read:
Does Beheading Hurt?
On many levels, it’s one of life’s great unanswerables. Does beheading hurt? Who would know?
On a spiritual level, many would agree, beheading hurts us all. It’s designed to. The mere sight of a severed head seals itself into every witness; always we wonder as we tug at our throats: But does it hurt? Is there pain? Does the brain remain aware?
Yes to all. Yes, it hurts very much to have your head cut off, and the longer it takes, the worse it hurts. Once your spinal cord is cut and your head is severed you will continue to experience the full spectrum of pain, without the heavenly numb of shock-absorbing chemicals, which are back there with your body. You can’t talk, of course, but you can move your lips and appear to scream, and you can focus and blink your eyes, as proved by dozens of deathhouse deals.
A severed head is conscious, and in some ways hyperconscious. The head knows it’s been picked up by the hair and shown to the crowd. The head sees the crowd, hears the crowd, smells the breath of the executioner, thinks happy thoughts, cannot believe how long 40 seconds is, because 40 seconds is how long the average head remains fully aware, if not alive. Forty seconds of indescribable pain and horror.
(by Curt Fisher)
I guess I read it because we were just watching the Game of Thrones series again and I won't ruin the show for you if you haven't seen it but somebody gets their head cut off. So I was more curious than usual about the experience that comes with beheading. But I've become obsessed with those forty seconds. Those forty seconds are what are keeping me up at night. Forty seconds is an awfully long time to be so helpless in the knowledge that something irrevocable has happened and it's too late and it's over.
Anyway I know I'm not coming up with something profound and new, talking about my own mortality, but it's been bothering me too much to not say anything. I had to get it out somewhere. Thanks, internet. You're my analrapist.
***
Strange, I wrote this a few days ago and couldn't sleep that night. Normally I go to bed and am sleeping in minutes, that night I was up for hours tossing and turning, again thinking about scary and morbid things. And the next day I found out a friend had died. I'm not writing this for sympathy or any 'thoughts and prayers are with you' bullshit, I just think it's a weird series of events.
There is actually something really weird about a young person passing away in this age of social media. I'm not sure how I feel about it. First of all I found out the bad news via somebody's Facebook status which is rather surreal. And then all day long people posted on his wall...some of the posts were of genuine, heartfelt memories and lovely "I'll miss you, may you skateboard in heaven" or whatever, that type of thing. But then there are the others, and these are the ones that kind of bother me.
I sometimes feel like people will latch onto others' tragedies for their own gain. A great example of this is during high school a few people I knew died of various causes; suicide, car accident, drug overdose, etc. Of course it is sad, and of course everybody has their own way of expressing grief, but there are always people who hardly knew the deceased who are ... can I say overly dramatic without sounding terribly insensitive?
Some people want it to be about them, and relish the drama of the situation too much. I mentioned high school because teenagers are natural drama queens and you can't walk two steps down the hallway without tripping over somebody who has fallen to their knees, sobbing, in those situations. But there are absolutely adults who still act this way. They're the ones who'll whisper the grisley details of the person's death to you in the back of the funeral hall. And today they're the ones who post facebook statuses with generic "RIP ____" and tag the dead person in the post.
Coming from a small town where people I knew overdosed on heroin more than I'd care to remember, you see this a lot. Maybe there's not enough excitement in the town, or maybe they just don't get enough attention and crave sympathy. Who can tell? I might be judging too harshly but really the other day I was real bummed out by the whole situation because although I didn't know this person super well, a lot of my friends are genuinely grieving and heartbroken, and I felt that because this person was well known in skateboarding and tattooing circles, people were latching on and demeaning his true relationships with people.
Or maybe I'm just angry because I'm sad? Anyway I can't imagine how the families of celebrities feel in these situations.
***
One of my friends is going to nursing school, and she is being forced into working the maternity ward for months. Like me and a few of our other friends, she is very anti-baby. It seems that quite a few of us have been born without maternal instincts. We never want to have babies. We don't think pregnancy is cute or beautiful. We don't want to be called "mama" and we hate when people put pictures of their babies or breastfeeding on Facebook. We feel weird when you hand us your floppy infant and struggle to be polite about it while looking at the clock and counting the seconds until we can hand it back. I almost feel like it's an evolutionary phonomenon, our species is overpopulating our habitat, it's time for us to stop breeding.
Anyway, that's beside the point. What she told me is that in the maternity ward at the hospital there's a wing where she wants to work. It's for people who are having stillborns and people who had to terminate their pregnancies for whatever reason, stuff like that. But the nursing students aren't even allowed to go in there. They used to make them go in and attend these types of births, but it "bothered the students too much". So todays nurses will have never seen a dead baby until suddenly they will. Because that's their job.
Doesn't it seem like something they'd really try and prepare you for? Like, show you the worst case scenarios? She says it's all glitter and rainbows in their classes, talking about the 'miracle of life' and bla bla bla. That seems counterintuitive to me.
We also talked about the value that is placed on the lives of individuals who are suffering and just want to die. She's worked with the sweetest 90 year old women who have told her they're finished but the doctors and their families keep giving them drugs. No matter how tired they get they're forced to push on. I feel like I'm swimming into real controversial territory here so maybe I'll stop, but it's some food for thought anyway.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Things I Love Thursday
I love that mossy trees like this are literally in my own backyard.
I also love...
Koalas to the max. I found this very addictive and frustrating at the same time.
The cat scan.
These ice cream cone lamps.
Shit white girls say ... to black girls. The hair thing! haha Also if you 're thinking about making one of these videos yourself, click here for some ideas.
25 free attractions in San Francisco.
In praise of calling it quits. I'm not ashamed to quit something that's not working for me, how about you?
Free online university and high school classes and lectures. Amazing.
Underwater ice fishing. Wait, what?
Some
These Song of Ice and Fire illustrations - one, two, three and four. Unfortunately I don't know who made these, and no amount of Googling will help me. Damn you, Tumblr!
---
This high speed photo taken of a coffee splashing, by Jack Long.
Found via Laughing Squid's Tumblr.
---
Don't Even Reply - e-mails from an asshole.Yeti Spaghetti playing the part of mink stole. Très chic.
Japanese bodysuit tattoos.
The 15 funniest autocorrects from December 2011.
How to be a bicycle babe.
The 20 New Year's resolutions for 20-somethings. Very good ideas in here!
Pizza is my lover, the calendar. Hilarious!
Dreams don't just come true.
This Doritos commercial that never made it to the SuperBowl. It should have.
Don't fear the square and compass, ladies of the freemasonry.
How the internet has taken the glamour out of behaving badly.
---
I'm such a damn sucker for flashmob marriage proposal videos. It's ridiculous. Here's one Suzy posted a few days ago that had me in tears. I believe in the comments I called her an asshole for making me cry, haha. Sorry Suzy.
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I'm such a damn sucker for flashmob marriage proposal videos. It's ridiculous. Here's one Suzy posted a few days ago that had me in tears. I believe in the comments I called her an asshole for making me cry, haha. Sorry Suzy.
---
I know I must have mentioned Tattoo Rant before, but the newest post on there, 'funk', gives you a little look into what being in the tattoo industry can feel like sometimes. It's not all mohawks and tv shows.
That there may actually be a Party Down movie coming soon!
When disasters strike...help send Karen to Haiti.
The pictures of Zimbabwe on Lucky Pony.
Willow plays fetch in some leaves. (video)
The authenticity of contradiction.
Kristin Luna just got back from a year on Semester at Sea ... look what she has lined up for the future. OH her life!!!
How to put together a nice care package.
These pictures of the Trenton State Hospital. WOW
That there may actually be a Party Down movie coming soon!
When disasters strike...help send Karen to Haiti.
The pictures of Zimbabwe on Lucky Pony.
Willow plays fetch in some leaves. (video)
The authenticity of contradiction.
Kristin Luna just got back from a year on Semester at Sea ... look what she has lined up for the future. OH her life!!!
How to put together a nice care package.
These pictures of the Trenton State Hospital. WOW
And last but not least...
Living With A Lion, 1970s. WHAT? Two questions: Where can I get a lion to read on, and what is the dad wearing in these first three photos?
All images by Michael Rougier. Found here.
---
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The Quiet Vegetarian
I'm working at Sarah's Place as I'm typing this out. I suppose being surrounded by rad vegan stuff reminded me I wanted to tell you about this book.
I've just recently read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and can not recommend it enough. For all the defensive steak eaters out there who are already getting up in arms at the past two sentences, yes I am writing about a 'do not eat animals' book ... but it's not your typical vegetarians-patting-themselves-on-the-back type book.
It isn't preachy, it's based only on fact (with references for everything). It explores the difference between the farm you think an animal is raised on and the actual factory farm your meat comes from. The stories are heart-wrenching but very true ... one of the last chapters made me cry on the bus, it was so terrible, but I read it anyway.
I feel like everybody needs to know the information Foer is putting out there, meat eater or not. He sneaks into factory farms in the middle of the night, he interviews ranchers and slaughterhouse employees who are both for and against eating meat, he explores the environmental impact of factory farms, he does his research and cites his sources well.
This book was sort of preaching to the converted for me, I already knew most of the things he was writing about, but it was a really good reminder as to why I stopped eating dead bodies. Sounds gross, right? Well it's true! Carcasses. Corpses. You're welcome.
Do you want to know a few animal-friendly things you can do during the holidays?
Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving always seem to be the times of year when I'm most with people that feel the need to discuss/question/disregard my being vegetarian. We are by no means perfect, but here are a few ways our family keeps the holidays a teeny bit more animal friendly:
1. Well first of all...the food. I'm lucky that we are all vegetarians in our household, so rather than a turkey or whatever as the main course we usually end up eating tofurky. Do you really need bacon in that salad? Real butter in those potatoes? Ham in those peas? What's important is getting together and sharing a meal and good conversation. Not the turkey. Not the ham.
2. We don't shop at stores that sell furs, we don't support companies that use fur or leather in their clothing, and we don't buy anything down-filled or tested on animals. It's actually really easy to find awesome animal-free gifts pretty much anywhere.
3. Ryan recently started a tradition with his kids in which on every turkey-dinner-based holiday they drive out to a lake and feed some ducks. It's kind of like a giving back to the poultry community in a funny way. It's a nice outing and it makes the kids feel better about the holidays.
4. Hosting a vegetarian during the holidays? Here's a post I wrote last Easter that you should read.
Obviously these are very small things and there's so much more a person can do. Every small step, every time you eat vegan or vegetarian rather than eating meat, every time you use your buying power at a small real farm rather than a factory farm, every time you treat an animal right, you are making a difference in this world.
Imagine if you did one thousand small acts of kindness in one year, how much kindness that adds up to. Your actions can make a difference in the world.
I've just recently read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and can not recommend it enough. For all the defensive steak eaters out there who are already getting up in arms at the past two sentences, yes I am writing about a 'do not eat animals' book ... but it's not your typical vegetarians-patting-themselves-on-the-back type book.
It isn't preachy, it's based only on fact (with references for everything). It explores the difference between the farm you think an animal is raised on and the actual factory farm your meat comes from. The stories are heart-wrenching but very true ... one of the last chapters made me cry on the bus, it was so terrible, but I read it anyway.
I feel like everybody needs to know the information Foer is putting out there, meat eater or not. He sneaks into factory farms in the middle of the night, he interviews ranchers and slaughterhouse employees who are both for and against eating meat, he explores the environmental impact of factory farms, he does his research and cites his sources well.
This book was sort of preaching to the converted for me, I already knew most of the things he was writing about, but it was a really good reminder as to why I stopped eating dead bodies. Sounds gross, right? Well it's true! Carcasses. Corpses. You're welcome.
---
I grew up eating meat at nearly every meal until I was about 23 years old. But I kind of feel like my eyes have been opened to the truth and I cannot unsee what I've seen. I don't feel right supporting an industry that routinely tortures animals. I have, over time, become a quiet vegetarian.
I try to let people feel comfortable with their own decisions and I try my best not to judge people's choices. I certainly try not to say anything about what others are eating, because I know I could do better myself. I don't always eat vegan, (insert lame placation about cheese here) and it's something I'm constantly working on and thinking about.
This post isn't to ask you to change, but I am saying that you should know the facts about what you're eating and make a decision from there. If you're truly okay with what is going on then by all means, eat your steak and wear your dog-fur Uggs and I'll leave you in peace. But I believe it's wrong to just turn a blind eye and pretend all your hot dogs died peacefully in their sleep.
I try to let people feel comfortable with their own decisions and I try my best not to judge people's choices. I certainly try not to say anything about what others are eating, because I know I could do better myself. I don't always eat vegan, (insert lame placation about cheese here) and it's something I'm constantly working on and thinking about.
This post isn't to ask you to change, but I am saying that you should know the facts about what you're eating and make a decision from there. If you're truly okay with what is going on then by all means, eat your steak and wear your dog-fur Uggs and I'll leave you in peace. But I believe it's wrong to just turn a blind eye and pretend all your hot dogs died peacefully in their sleep.
---
Do you want to know a few animal-friendly things you can do during the holidays?
Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving always seem to be the times of year when I'm most with people that feel the need to discuss/question/disregard my being vegetarian. We are by no means perfect, but here are a few ways our family keeps the holidays a teeny bit more animal friendly:
1. Well first of all...the food. I'm lucky that we are all vegetarians in our household, so rather than a turkey or whatever as the main course we usually end up eating tofurky. Do you really need bacon in that salad? Real butter in those potatoes? Ham in those peas? What's important is getting together and sharing a meal and good conversation. Not the turkey. Not the ham.
2. We don't shop at stores that sell furs, we don't support companies that use fur or leather in their clothing, and we don't buy anything down-filled or tested on animals. It's actually really easy to find awesome animal-free gifts pretty much anywhere.
3. Ryan recently started a tradition with his kids in which on every turkey-dinner-based holiday they drive out to a lake and feed some ducks. It's kind of like a giving back to the poultry community in a funny way. It's a nice outing and it makes the kids feel better about the holidays.
4. Hosting a vegetarian during the holidays? Here's a post I wrote last Easter that you should read.
---
Obviously these are very small things and there's so much more a person can do. Every small step, every time you eat vegan or vegetarian rather than eating meat, every time you use your buying power at a small real farm rather than a factory farm, every time you treat an animal right, you are making a difference in this world.
Imagine if you did one thousand small acts of kindness in one year, how much kindness that adds up to. Your actions can make a difference in the world.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Lately...
Lately I've been...Listening to Black Breath. Terrible band name, it makes me think of rotten teeth! But man, it's been a really long time since I've heard a song and been like "YES". I...uh..."found" some new music on the internet and somehow I got it onto my computer, like, by magic or something. Anyway, all of a sudden I am excited about music again. Here's the song that got me all pumped.
*note* very metal and RAAAAAH so if you're not in that mood maybe skip it. But if you feel like running around and punching things then this one's for you.
I also got some Dimmu Borgir which I am really into, Adele (haha shut up, she sings prettily), Mastodon, Electric Wizard, Doomtree, Trampled By Turtles (some cool modern bluegrass), Absu, Liturgy (so far, do not recommend), Baroness, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Yob, Ellie Goulding (Ryan really likes her so I'm trying it out), Wolves in the Throne Room (not my favorite), 3 Inches of Blood (locals, woo! I've seen them play and my boss has tattooed them a bunch, but I've never had any albums before.) and the sountrack to Treme. Oh yes and The Sword, Corb Lund, Chingon, At The Drive-In, The Black Keys, Dio, Elvis Costello, Queen, Lamb of God, Metallica (I never had the Ride the Lightning album for some reason) and Lila Downs.
I'm still just wading my way through it all, it's very exciting. I have to stop denying myself some crazy metal, even if nobody else in my life likes it. It makes me happy, damnit. Even Dimmu Borgir, who makes me laugh because it's like, SO BLACK METAL but it's really awesome at the same time.
Watching...Treme.Have you seen it? Because if you like music at all you probably should. It takes place in New Orleans three months after hurricaine Katrina hit, and kind of focuses on the musicians trying to get gigs in the few places that are left, plus some of the injustices and hardships that some people had/have to face. I found it really heavy and didn't want to watch the second season, but Ryan is all over it right now.
Ryan also got me the movie Harold and Maude from the library, telling me "you have to watch it". I was really uncertain. It sounds so lame! And look at the cover! But whaaat, it's creepy as hell with a Ferris Bueller attitude. I absolutely recommend it to all the hipsters out there. I really enjoyed it.
Reading ... I was on book four of the Song of Fire and Ice series, and it expired just as I was on the last 300-ish pages. (They're huuuuge books and the library only loans them out for 3 weeks at a time. I was trying to read two of them in that time. Fail.) Luckily I got a super rad autographed copy of Chuck Palahniuk's Damned for Christmas! I read it in one day, no joke, no exaggeration.
I just found book five of the Song of Fire and Ice at the library randomly...like, a paper copy. Damn these things are HUGE.
So I guess I have to just find a brief summary of book four to catch up on the last few chapters and then zip through this tome. No problem, haha. I'd like to keep reading at this rate. I took all your suggestions in that 'who reads my blog' post and added them to my wishlist on the library website, but if there are any more suggestions they would be greatly appreciated.
Thinking about ... becoming a medical transcriptionist. It sounds like an ideal job. That, or a medical sterilization person in a hospital. Anyone out there do these jobs? Know anyone who does? Any advice?
Laughing about ... the fact that we got a microwave for Christmas and haven't even tried it out yet. We just don't have anything that really needs to be microwaved! Also, that Ryan's kids are so far removed from this convenience-based lifestyle that they were explaining this special type of popcorn that goes in a microwave to us as though we've never seen it before. "It's in a kind of flat bag but it has popcorn seeds inside of it." We played along. I think I said "NO WAY" and made a very interested face.
Ryan also got me the movie Harold and Maude from the library, telling me "you have to watch it". I was really uncertain. It sounds so lame! And look at the cover! But whaaat, it's creepy as hell with a Ferris Bueller attitude. I absolutely recommend it to all the hipsters out there. I really enjoyed it.
Reading ... I was on book four of the Song of Fire and Ice series, and it expired just as I was on the last 300-ish pages. (They're huuuuge books and the library only loans them out for 3 weeks at a time. I was trying to read two of them in that time. Fail.) Luckily I got a super rad autographed copy of Chuck Palahniuk's Damned for Christmas! I read it in one day, no joke, no exaggeration.
I just found book five of the Song of Fire and Ice at the library randomly...like, a paper copy. Damn these things are HUGE.
So I guess I have to just find a brief summary of book four to catch up on the last few chapters and then zip through this tome. No problem, haha. I'd like to keep reading at this rate. I took all your suggestions in that 'who reads my blog' post and added them to my wishlist on the library website, but if there are any more suggestions they would be greatly appreciated.
Thinking about ... becoming a medical transcriptionist. It sounds like an ideal job. That, or a medical sterilization person in a hospital. Anyone out there do these jobs? Know anyone who does? Any advice?
Laughing about ... the fact that we got a microwave for Christmas and haven't even tried it out yet. We just don't have anything that really needs to be microwaved! Also, that Ryan's kids are so far removed from this convenience-based lifestyle that they were explaining this special type of popcorn that goes in a microwave to us as though we've never seen it before. "It's in a kind of flat bag but it has popcorn seeds inside of it." We played along. I think I said "NO WAY" and made a very interested face.
What have you guys been up to lately?
Sunday, January 8, 2012
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