Not Now, But Soon!

I finally go approved for that credit card I applied for last week. It was a pain in the ass, but I got it. First, I received a letter in the mail from them, saying that my application could not be approved because it was "a duplicate" which is fine, since I did accidentally apply twice, but what about the first application!? Then I got a call from them on Friday, which I didn't see until 7:00. This was super convenient since they are only open from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. So yesterday, I finally got a hold of them. It turns out they needed to ask me a bunch of (multiple choice) questions about my own life. It was weird and annoying, but at least I finally got the damn thing.

So last night, I ordered a GoPro with my new card, and it shipped out today. Also, my dad and I worked on the salmon ladder last weekend and we are hoping to finish it this weekend. So sometime in the near future I will actually get my video blog going, possibly starting with one of me failing miserably at the salmon ladder. Then again, maybe I should save the humiliation for later......we'll see.

Not What It Looks Like

In the last week, I have had several different people ask me about what year I graduated high school. This probably shouldn't be a difficult or stressful question, but for me it is. First of all, I didn't officially graduate from high school, which sounds bad enough. Second, I am nearly two years older than everyone I would have graduated with. There is a whole complicated reason for all of this, which I always feel the need to explain, but then I realized how long it would take to do that, so I don't. Which, in all likelihood, leaves the person with the assumption that I flunked twice and then dropped out. Normally, I don't give a shit what people think about me, but I hate the idea of people thinking I'm stupid.

I don't know how many of you know this, but I was homeschooled as a kid. Back then, there was this rule that required parents to have four more years of education than the kid they were homeschooling. This means that, in order to homeschool the kid all the way through high school, the parent would have had to graduate from college, which neither of mine had. At that point, my parents had no intention of ever sending me to school, so they wanted to make sure that I would never have to. The solution was to make sure that, by the time I got to high school, I would be old enough (16) to drop out and take the GED. So they waited until I was six to officially declare me as being in kindergarten. This combined with the fact that my birthday is in December, meant that by the time I did go to school, I was well over a year older than everyone else in my grade.  

Then when I got to my senior year of high school, I decided it just wasn't worth it and I would rather get a job instead. So the official story is that I was homeschooled again during my senior year. What I really did was get a job at J.C. Penney. At the time I thought that none of this would bother me because I would have a college degree, but I ended up bailing on that as well. Still, it's not because I'm dumb, it's just because I get bored easily. I actually got pretty excellent grades the whole way through, I just couldn't tolerate all the bullshit.

I don't want people to think I'm Kiki or something. 

Where's My Car?

Yesterday, my sister and I had planned to go grocery shopping and to the mall (groan) so that I could get some new pants, since all of mine are falling apart. She had an appointment to get her hair dyed in the morning though, so I thought I would just sit around and watched some more Daredevil with my mom while I waited for her to get back. Well, it ended up taking seven hours, for some reason that I still don't entirely understand. I finally decided to just go to Fairmont and wait for her there. She finally did get done right before I got there, so we left my car in a parking lot and went to Morgantown. It was a pretty decent day, overall. We mostly accomplished what we set out to do, and got back at a reasonable time for me to feed the pigs. However, when we were about five minutes from my mom's house the though suddenly struck me that "Wait.....didn't I have my car earlier...? Oh right, it's still in Fairmont. Awesome."

A Pretty Good Friday

Believe it or not, I actually did a normal human thing last night. I went to listen to a band (gasp!). A guy I knew in college, that I hadn't seen for years, invited me to come see his friends' band play at Joe n Throw (which, in case the name seems a bit weird to you, is a coffee shop/pottery studio). It was really nice; we got a chance to catch up a little, the band was really great, and I get to say that I actually did something on a Friday night other than hit people.

I did still go to class, by the way. We worked on footwork, which is important but not especially exciting. It actually worked out pretty well though. I was rather uncomfortable with the idea of going someplace right after class, since I usually get pretty sweaty and gross, but I also didn't want to miss either one. So I just decided to do it anyway, and hope for the best. Since all we did was basically walk funny for an hour and a half, I got to do both without having to go to the show smelling like a foot. So yay!

Also, Daredevil came out yesterday and it is so very fucking good! 

Ⓥ Exposure

In the last few years, veganism has finally been starting to get some real recognition in the media. For a while now there has been a fair amount of coverage about various celebrities trying vegan diets but, for the most part, the discussion has been about the health benefits rather than animal rights issues, and it is presented more as a new diet fad than as a serious lifestyle choice. But it seems that is finally starting to change. It's still a rare occurrence, but animal rights activist have, on occasion, been making appearances in mainstream media.

Recently, Gene Baur, the founder of Farm Sanctuary, appeared on The Daily Show to talk about his new book Living the Farm Sanctuary Life. Personally, I was almost afraid to watch the interview because I kind of assumed that Jon Stewart would just turn the whole thing into a joke, and Gene wouldn't get a chance to really discuss the issues. Don't get me wrong, I love Jon Stewart, but that's just kind of how the show is set up, so that's what I expected. He didn't do that this time though. I mean he did make jokes, obviously, but he also really seemed to be listening to what Gene Baur had to say and gave him a chance to explain the issues. It was great! In fact, I think the most critical thing he said was that we needed a better therm than "meatless meat" which, I must admit, is a valid point; that term doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the quality of the food. He also made a few comments which, I thought, sounded very much like he was considering changing his diet.

I honestly think this interview has the potential to make a great impact. I think the Daily Show is the perfect outlet to get this message out to the proper audience. I've seen animal rights advocates on other news shows before, and I have rarely felt that they were particularly productive. The hosts seldom let the guests finish a sentence and, even when they did get a chance to say something important, I always wondered how many of those shows' viewers actually cared enough to listen. I suspect that The Daily Show's viewers are probably a bit more open to new ideas than the viewers of traditional news shows, and might be willing to give real consideration to what people like Gene Baur have to say. I sincerely hope that those involved in the animal right movement have more opportunities like this, in the future. If they do, we may finally start making some real headway toward a more compassionate world.

36 Questions Part 2: More Questions

Continuing on the topic of the 36 questions, as interesting as it is to think that you could convince yourself to fall in love with anyone simply by asking each other questions, it seems a bit irresponsible to me. What if you do fall in love with this person only to find that the two of you are irreconcilably incompatible? I, personally, think that there should be another set of questions that you ask first, to ensure that this is someone who you really want yourself to fall in love with. That said, here is my own list of 36 questions that I think should precede the other list.

Set 1

1- What are your thoughts on marriage?

2- Do you want children?

3- Do you plan to travel or stay in one place?

4- How important are material possessions to you?

5- Do you like living with companion animals?

6- Do you like things in your home neat or messy?

7- How concerned are you about germs?

8- What are your feelings on religion?

9- What are your feelings about politics?

10- How concerned are you about animal rights, environmental, and social justice issues?

11- How important is intelligence in yourself and your partner?

12- What are your preferences when if comes to physical displays of affection?


Set 2

13- What are some of your favorite activities?

14- Do you prefer peace or excitement in your daily life?

15- Do you enjoy challenges?

16- What are your feelings about indulgence vs. moderation?

17- Do you consider yourself a fan of anything? If so, what? (Books, shows, sports, etc.)

18- Do you prefer to share things, or keep them separate?

19- Do you consider yourself to be easily embarrassed?

20- How important is it to you to be informed about things that don't directly affect your life?

21- Would you rather live in a house or an apartment?

22- Do you consider yourself a morning person or a night owl?

23- If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be.

24- Do you consider yourself to be ambitious?


Set 3

25- If given the choice, would you rather your life be meaningful or pleasant?

26- How important is it to you to be emotionally open with people?

27- Do you tend to see the world more in terms of absolutes or do you think things are more subjective?

28- Do you prefer your down time to be more productive or relaxing?

29- Overall, how healthy do you consider yourself to be?

30- When you have extra money, do you prefer to spend it or save it?

31- How important is routine, in your daily life?

32- How important is it to you to live up to other people's expectations?

33- Do you prefer to conform to society's standards or to stand out from the crowd?

34- How important is it to you to understand other people's perspectives?

35- How do you feel about social situations?

36- What are your habits with regards to diet and exercise?


Bonus question

36 Questions Part 1: Dinner Party

Yesterday my mom and I were talking about The 36 Questions That Lead to Love, based on the study by Arthur Aron et al. In case you haven't heard about it, the idea is that you can make yourself fall in love (or at least develop a strong sense of intimacy) with someone, just by asking each other these questions. There are three sets of questions which are intended to get more personal as you go. The funny things is, as I was reading through them, I felt like I would be fairly capable of providing decent answers to most of them. The ones that I feel like I would have the hardest time answering were the (supposedly) easier ones. In fact, I think the very first question would be the hardest for me; it goes "Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?"

I honestly have no idea whatsoever who I would want to have as a dinner guest. The reason for this is, as you all know, I am terrible at talking to people. So no matter who I invited it would be certain to be an awkward and uncomfortable situation. In fact, there have been times in my life when I was practically in that situation with people who I would have chosen as answers to that question, and I managed to completely waste those opportunities.

If I had any sort of social skills, probably the person I would pick would be Gene Baur, the founder of Farm Sanctuary (who, by the way, I will most likely be writing about on Friday due to the fact that he recently appeared on the Daily Show). I love Farm Sanctuary, and he has done so many great things for animal rights, and I feel like I could learn so much from him. Here's the thing though, I actually did have dinner with Gene Baur back when I interned at the Watkins Glen shelter! He just happened to be in town, and took all of the interns out to dinner. There were only (I think) six of us, so there was plenty of time for each of us to talk to him. But, of course, I didn't.

There was also a time, a few years ago, when some friends and I went out to eat before going to a concert and ended up sitting right next to the band we were there to see. The lead singer, Conor Oberst, is still one of my favorite musicians and at the time was my absolute favorite. I assume most people would have at least said something to them, but again I didn't. I didn't feel quite so bad about that one though, since no one else did either, but still.

So yeah, the person I would want as a dinner guest would be any random person who I might actually have a decent conversation with.

Hooray for awkward dinners.