Oh, Cruel Fate!

With the weather the way it has been lately, I've been forced to step outside my comfort zone quite a bit. You know how I've talked about how nervous it makes me to drive my mom's car on bad roads? Well, considering the fact that my road has been, at least partly, covered in ice for the last two weeks, I've pretty much had to get over that. Basically, I've just been doing whatever I was planning to do regardless of what the roads were like, and it's been working out just fine.

Then, today, I actually had plans. Not just going to Kroger like I do every week (I needed to do that too, by the way) but actual plans. You know, the fun kind. Now, I knew it was supposed to snow today, but I thought "So what? I've been driving on bad roads every day. How bad can it be?" To which Fate replied "Oh, have you been driving on bad roads? Let's see you drive through this two foot tall snow bank, I'm just going to drop right here in the middle of the road." Now, not only do I not get to do what I was planning to do, or buy any groceries, but I'm stuck in my fucking house all day with nothing to do!

Ⓥ Contradiction

I think most people pretty much assumes that anyone who is vegan automatically loves animals (as in loves being around animals, taking care of animals, etc.) However, over the years, I have come across a few vegans who didn't have companion animals, or who even claimed not to particularly like animals. I always found that to be contradictory. I thought, what would possibly motivate someone to become vegan if they don't even like animals?

I have recently come to the realization though, that one's personal feelings about animals really shouldn't have any bearing on whether or not those animals deserve basic rights. I, personally, have never been much of a people person. I don't particularly enjoy the company of most people. That does not mean that I would ever want to deny those people their rights, or that I believe that they should be killed or tortured. The same principle should apply equally to non-human animals. Whether you like a particular animal or not should not determine that animal's overall worth anymore than your feelings about a particular human should determine that human's worth.

So really, when you think about it, it's perfectly logical that there would be vegans who don't necessarily enjoy being around non-human animals. For them, it's simply a matter of right and wrong as opposed to a judgement based on their own personal feelings. These people simply understand that, no matter how you may feel about an individual, of any species, it's wrong to deny that individual his or her rights.

I think this is something that we may want to keep in mind when talking to non-vegans. I have always believed that it was crucial to our cause to convince people that all animals are lovable (which, of course, they all are, at least to the degree that all human are) but that really shouldn't matter. The issue should not be whether or not animals are worthy of our compassion, that should be a given. The issue is whether or not we are willing to acknowledge the rights to which they are entitled simply by their status as living beings.

Signature Look

I don't know why I do this, I know other people don't, but I am always searching for sort of a signature look. Most people like to have options, I don't. I want to have one thing that I'm totally happy with. Anything that I can get away with wearing every day, I will. The same jewelry, the same boots, whatever. I have been trying to find the right jacket for basically as long as I can remember. Every time I buy one, I end up not being satisfied with it for one reason or another. My dad just bought me one a few months ago that I loved, or at least I loved the look of it. But it's too constricting! This is the same problem I had with the last jacket I bought, you know the one from Lithuania. I need something that I like the look of, but still allows me to move the way I want to. I swear, I look for clothes the way other people look for relationships. I just want to the right jacket that I can spend the rest of my life with. Is that too much to ask?

And we all know the right jacket can make all the difference.

Planning Ahead

Lately it has been bugging the shit out of me that I don't feel like I have enough room in my exercise room. It's just not big enough for me to do everything that I want to do without bumping into the walls, or the ceiling, especially now that I have been trying to do this capoeira stuff. I mean, what I'm doing now is pretty basic, but if I want to do the more complicated stuff (which I do) I'm going to need to be able to move freely without having to worry about kicking the ceiling. I was talking to my dad about trying to raise the ceiling in there, and maybe take out this one wall that sticks out into the room. It's still just never actually going to be what I need though. Then, today, I realized that it would be much better to just clean out our basement and make it into my own personal little gym. There is a ton of space down there that is currently just being used to hod a bunch of shit that we are never going to use. It's filthy, of course, and full to the brim, but it could be pretty amazing with a little work. So yeah, I'm thinking this spring I'm going to work on getting myself a nice arrow-cave-like workout space.

We actually have some jars that look very much like this ^ in our basement right now. Gross. 

It's All Relative, I Guess

I can't remember for sure if I've mentioned this here before, but I know I've said it to just about everyone I know, so probably most of you have heard it. I've lived in this state my entire life, and we have winter here every year, how is it that after all this time I've never gotten used to the cold? Well, I realized last night that, at least to some extent, I finally have. I mean, I still fucking hate it, but not as much as I used to.

As I'm sure you know, it has been getting ridiculously cold the last few nights. Two nights ago, it was 5 degrees when I was feeding the pigs. Then last night when I went to feed them, I'm carrying the buckets down the hill and I think "You know, it's not too bad out here." Then I remember that, when I was driving home, the thermometer on the bank said 13. That was when I realized that, yeah, I've kind of gotten used to the cold.

Decisions, Decisions

I finally broke down and did my taxes yesterday. By "I did my taxes" I mean that my sister did them, and I told her some of the information that she didn't already know =. She also helped me deal with the whole healthcare website too, so I won't have to worry about getting fined or whatever next year. I really didn't want to do it, but I'm not going to get into why right now. Anyway, I didn't end up with a fine for it this year, which was nice. And overall, I'm getting nearly $800 back, which is really nice.

Now I just have to figure out what would be the best thing to do with that money. I keep reminding myself that "getting several new tattoos" is not the correct answer. I've pretty much narrowed it down to; paying off some of my debt, trying to get a car, or putting it in a savings account until I have enough money to do something worthwhile. I could actually pay off one of my loans with that much money, but then I still have another one and my credit card. I'm just not sure how much of a difference that will really make for me. I also can't get much of a car for $800. I may very well end up with something that will just cost me more than it's worth, in the long run. But the idea of just saving it seems sort of absurd when I think about how many different things I need money for. I just don't know......

Conundrum!

THUNDA SNOW!

Yesterday I went grocery shopping with my sister and her not-boyfriend. We knew the weather was supposed to be bad, but it ended up being a bit more than we were expecting. Specifically, it was THUNDA SNOW! (I have been told that is the proper way to spell it.)

We went into Target and everything was normal. When we came out, there was a rather surreal amount of snow coming down, which the wind was somehow managing to blow in all directions at the same time. Then as we were trudging across the parking lot there was this rather aggressive clap of thunder. My sister made sort of an excited high-pitched squealing noise, and her not-boyfriend shouted THNUDA SNOW! much to the delight of a guy who happened to be walking past us at the time.

After that, we had a bit of a near death experience on the roads, and then a brief power-outage while we were in Kroger. Overall, it was a pretty interesting day.