The Volatile Vegan Learns Capoeira (Video)

I've mentioned a few times that I've been doing a capoeira workout. Well, I thought I would show you guys what I've learned so far.

My Own Stuff

You know how I said that I cleaned the kitchen yesterday? Well, I actually got a whole cabinet and a drawer cleaned out for my stuff. That is much more of an accomplishment than it sounds like, by the way. Our kitchen was completely overflowing with random shit that, for the most part, no one has even seen for years. So I now have my own little section of the kitchen with all my own stuff! I've been gradually buying my own dishes and whatnot, and I've finally gotten most of what I need and now I finally have places to put it all. It's almost like having my own kitchen....well....not really, but kind of......I guess.

Hey, Sam! Just because I don't cook doesn't mean I don't need my own kitchen space, okay?

Flying Pigs Jewelry Lives!

I finally got some things posted in my Etsy store! Including four ceramic pendants, and the Panteater. I know it's quite unlikely that anyone will want to buy him, but I just had to post him anyway. So yeah, if you're interested in some weird clay stuff, you should check out my store. In the next day or so, I plan to get at least a couple of the utility belts on there too. So keep an eye out for that. Also, apparently, the best way to get more views on your blog posts is to include half-naked pictures of yourself. Yesterday's post got almost twice as many views as I generally get. Go figure.

For Real This Time

I really am working on getting my Etsy store back up and running. Hopefully I will have some things listed in the next couple of days. I tried to list some things today but (shockingly!) our internet cut out while I was working on them. On a related note, last night, I spent a ridiculously long time drawing a picture to use for the new banner on my Etsy page. It turned out fairly shitty by most people's standards, but for me it was pretty decent. I'm actually sort of proud of it. Then I tried to put it on my page and it ended up all cut in half so you can't actually tell what it is. Hopefully I will get that figured out soon too. Anyway, here it is in it's original, non-goofily-cropped format.

Sometimes I Actually Do Stuff

So, I'm putting a hold on the whole metalworking idea for a little while. I'm really not giving up on it entirely but, for the time being, I'm going to try making jewelry out of the clay itself. I finally manged to finish a few of the pieces, and I kind of like some of them the way they are. Also, precious metals are expensive as fuck and I figure its better to make things out of good clay rather than shitty metal.

I also made a few of those utility belts I was telling you guys about, and they turned out pretty decent . I'll post pictures of them sometime soon. 

Anyway, my point here is; I'm actually getting some stuff done and I plan on trying to get some things back in my abandoned Etsy shop in the very near future. 

Here are the ones I'm fairly pleased with. 

I Did It! Kind of....

I kind of, sort of, made one of those things I was talking about yesterday! It really doesn't look much like the one I wanted to buy, but I'm still kind of pleased with the way it turned out. I wore it today, and it felt pretty badass. Although perhaps I am just delusional and it actually looks super pathetic. But, at least for now, I like it. Plus, I think it will be highly convenient because now I can carry the really important stuff with me and leave all the less important stuff, in my giant purse, in the car when I go places. I mean, you never know when you are going to be drawn into an epic battle of some sort and not want to deal with a big bulky purse, right?

Let's Review

I actually managed to accomplish quite a bit yesterday. Most of it was fairly pointless, but it still made me feel better. I still kind of hate myself for not working out, but then I knew that would be the case. Anyway, I did, in fact, do the things I said I was going to try to do. I finished American Gods, which was fucking excellent and you should totally read it! I also made something sort of pathetic out of clay; and then worked for a really long time on something that was almost not pathetic, but then it broke. Oh well, at least I did it. I even did some non-diary-like writing. Along with those things, I did dishes and folded up some laundry. Plus, my dad and I finished up Kingdom Hospital, which I don't think I mentioned we were watching? It was super fucking weird and I still can't quite decide whether I liked it or not. I even got to watch the new episode of S.H.I.E.L.D. so, as far as enjoyable wastes of time go, it was a pretty good day.

I decided to go with another Dinosaur Comics image today, because yesterday I forgot to tell you that the image came from Dinosaur Comics. So yeah. 

Also, mayhap I will share my writing from yesterday with you tomorrow. Or mayhap I will get embarrassed and not share it with you ever because it's pretty weird, even for me. 

The Road So Far

{Carry on my wayward son! There'll be peace when you are done!}

{ Lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more}

So here is my big summary of the past year, with Carry on My Wayward Son playing in the background. I am going to start by covering the things that I did and did not managed to accomplish from my resolution list from last year.

{Once I rose above the noise and confusion, just to get a glimpse beyond this illusions.}

{I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high}

{Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man. Though my mind could think I still was a mad man.}

{I hear the voices when I'm dreamin'. I can hear them say.}

1- I did manage to keep up with this blog pretty well. I only skipped a few posts, which is pretty good for me. I didn't manage to write a single post for The Flaming Vegan though.

2- I made it through one more semester of college before I gave up, yet again.

3- I don't think I did a single bit of real activism this year. In fact, I barely even did any slacktivism this past year.

4- I did actually get an article published in T.O.F.U. magazine. It's not like I got paid or anything, but still it was pretty cool. You should definitely check out the magazine.

5- Apparently finding a job I don't hate is just going to be a lifelong struggle for me. Who knows, maybe this whole handyman(ish) thing will actually work out.

6- HAH! Improve my social skills? What the fuck was I thinking with that one?

{Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done.}

{Lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more.}

{Masquerading as a man with a reason. My charade was the event of the season.}

{And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know}

7- Nope. Didn't take a martial arts class either.

8- Uh, yeah. I'm not any less angry either. Probably due to the fact that I haven't managed to make any progress in my life over the last year.

9- This one really pisses me off! I have been trying every day for the last year and I still can't do a single fucking pull up. I can now do six almost pull ups, but those last few inches are killing me.

10- I don't know, I might have been more creative? Maybe?

11- Again, maybe? I guess I may be acting a little more like I really am than I used to. Meh, who knows.

12- I did not make it back to Farm Sanctuary, not even for the Celebration for the Turkeys, which sucks.

13- Fairly certain I have not gotten any better at saying things that need to be said either.

{On a stormy sea of moving emotion, tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean}

{I set a course for winds of fortune, but I hear the voices say.} 

{Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done.}

{Lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more}

As for my bucket list, I have managed to cross off

#19- Find a way to stop my hands from getting all bloody and gross every winter. I'm not even sure what I did, but they didn't get gross this year. Yay! 

#40 and 41- My sister got me a really nice camera for Christmas, and I did use it to take the picture for yesterday's blog. 

#46- (Sort of) I don't know if I officially feel "good" about my body, but I feel better about it than I ever have in the past. 

#50- I did come up with fifty more things for the list. This one was a bit of a freebie. 

#63- My dad bought me a punching bag, and I have made good use of it. 

#73- I did buy an iPod. (I love how half of my goals were basically to spend money that I don't have.)

#82- I actually found an exercise that works on my legs. I'm not sure which one it is exactly, but something in my yoga routine is definitely working.

That's about it for those. 

{Carry on you will always remember. Carry on nothing equals the splendor.}

{Now your life's no longer empty. Surely heaven waits for you}

{Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done.}

{Lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more.}

Now here are a few kind of cool things that happened that weren't on any lists.

1- I went to the Festival of Colors. This is actually something that I have always wanted to do, but didn't even bother putting it on any lists because I thought they only did it in India and I knew I was never going to get to India. Turns out they have one in West Virginia, who would have thought?

2- Got into size 0 jeans. Size 1 actually fit but, by god, if I can squish my ass into those 0s I'm going to do it.

3- Impala came to live here which, now that he doesn't piss all over the house anymore, has turned into a really good thing.

4- I passed that police test. Even though it didn't result in a job, and was basically just a waste of time, I'm still pretty proud of that.

5- I actually read one of my poems out loud, in front of a bunch of strangers. It was basically a disaster, but I still did it and I guess that's something.

I have also watched SO MUCH Supernatural this year. So much. 

Just One More

Tomorrow, being New Year's Eve, I intend to write a sort of summary of the last year. I want to cover all the things that have happened in my life, especially the things I have accomplished from my various "To Do Lists". As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have accomplished very few of these things. So today I decided that I had to get at least one more in, before it was too late. My sister bought me a new camera for Christmas (I know! She's fantastic!) and I haven't really done anything with it yet. Then I remembered that one of the things I had said that I wanted to do was start taking some of my own pictures for this blog. So I took one. The following is a really terrible picture of my really terrible sculptures from yesterday. Enjoy. 

I Got Published

My life continues to grow more hellish by the second, but you are all probably getting pretty fucking tired of my bitching, I know I am, so I will talk about this instead. I got an article published in T.O.F.U. magazine. This issue is all about veganism and body image. I highly recommend it, the magazine not my article I only kind of recommend it. If you do read it, please be aware that I submitted the article several months ago back when I was much more optimistic. Also, please consider donating to keep the magazine going. Thanks.

T.O.F.U. magazine

There Must Be Some Mistake

I got my final grades back today and I really don't understand how this happened, but I ended up with four As and one B. I honestly have no idea how that is possible. I was expecting at least two or three Bs, and I would have been pretty much thrilled with a C in the one class that I did get a B in. Once again, I feel like a huge dumbass for deciding not to come back next semester. How can something be so easy and so hard at the same time? Furthermore, what the fuck is my problem?

(Un) Important Updates

Well, I have nothing interesting to talk about today. So I thought I would just post a few updates about what has been going on in my life, in general.

1. I am still doing the whole raw food thing, and I'm pretty much used to it now.
2. I have almost entirely lost interest in school and am now just trying to make myself keep going until the end of the semester.
3. Impala has cut down a bit on the whole pissing on everything thing. However, he did eat one of my books and the other night he attacked his own tail so hard that he fell down the stairs.
4. I have multiple papers that I am supposed to be writing for school, but instead I have been doing pretty much anything else, including cross referencing actors from my favorite shows. I know, an excellent use of my time.
5. I am also currently watching three different shows. My dad and I are watching Supernatural (first time for him, third for me and still just as good as the first time I watched it!). My mom and I are watching Merlin (a great show despite it's "family-friendly" nature!). And I finally started watching Buffy by myself; I know I'm a bit behind the times on that one.
6. Since I decided to start running, last Friday, I managed to make myself do it every day but two. Sadly, it still hasn't gotten any easier.
7. I never did make that necklace I mentioned before, which really pisses me off every time I think about it.
8. Despite my utter lack of interest in school, my midterm grades turned out okay. I got three As one B and one C. Hopefully that last one will get a bit better by the end of the semester. Although, if it doesn't, I won't really care.
9. I'm loving my new yoga workout, and I would highly recommend it.
10. I was hoping to make this a list of ten but, despite the fact that I included the most pathetically mundane things, my life is so fucking boring that I can only come up with nine.

A Time for Celebration

Well, I finally got the results from my written test for the police job today. I got a 90%, which I guess is good. It's at least good enough that I am going to have to jump through the rest of the hoops. I still have no idea whether I'll actually get the job or not, because this is my life we're talking about here and nothing can ever be certain, simply or straightforward.

There is one thing worth celebrating that is certain though. The new Supernatural is tonight! Supposedly this episode is going to have both Cas and Meg. I wonder if he'll show her what he learned from the pizza man :)

Tiiiiiiiiiiime Is on My Side. Oh Wait, No It's Not.

I just had an entire week off from school. I had all these grand plans about all of the things I was going to do. I thought "I have plenty of time. I'll get so much accomplished this week!" So what did I do, you ask. I waited until the past two days to do anything, and managed to accomplish the bare minimum of things that I had to do before tomorrow. I thought I would get ahead a little on my schoolwork , nope! I thought I would make that necklace I mentioned before, nope! I thought I would get the house all nice and clean, nope! I did at least manage to clean the carpets. I also dyed my hair last night. My god what a productive week off!

Speaking of time, I think I may start posting new blogs in the evenings instead of in the mornings, at least for a while. See how that goes.

Looking Back

Well everyone 2013 is almost here, so here is a list of my twelve favorite things from 2012, some I would generously call "accomplishments" others are just random things that happened to me.

1. I interned at Farm Sanctuary's Acton California shelter. This actually entailed three pretty exciting things. The internship itself, traveling to California (which I have always wanted to do) and flying for the first time in my life.
2. I got paid for writing for the first time, thanks to The Flaming Vegan!
3. I ended up with As in all of my classes (the gods of laziness have smiled upon me once again.)
4. I spoke about animal rights in front of a room full of people (more than once.)
5. I learned how to go from standing into a back bend and then back to standing, quite awkwardly for now but I'm still working on it.
6. I discovered an affinity for British Television (thanks to my Pinterest friends) which has somehow managed to make my own voice inside my head speak with an English accent most of the time.
7. I learned to go across the rafters in the pig barn like monkey bars.
8. I have gotten into the habit of getting up absurdly early in the mornings, like between 3 and 5 early, which for some reason really seems to be working for me.
9. I had a class with a vegan professor.
10. I have gotten to the point where I am, at least sort of, satisfied with my body. Okay, maybe satisfied isn't the right word, but I don't completely hate it anyway.
11. I Finally got a coat that I like. I know that sounds stupid but I have wanted a sort of signature coat for years and I finally have one.
12. I have learned to stand up for my beliefs, at least a little bit.