peace

listening to: my top 25 most played tracks

Lisbeth is amazing. What a witchy, witchy woman. We've been trying to get together for weeks so she could practice reflexology on me. She's still working on her certification, so she trades free reflexology work for a willing victim's time. And I have a lot of that!

I've been a little skeptical of reflexology in the past. I recognize the value and efficacy of things like massage, acupuncture (my dad swears by it), and even chiropractic therapy. But reflexology? Give me a break, right? But my opinion has changed. I feel phenomenal.

She was a gracious host and sensitive to how I felt the session was going. Her bedroom was well-lit by the sun, through lovely pink tulle curtains, smelled awesome. The new age CD that was playing was actually a really nice and soothing new age CD, nothing campy. She asked me to let her know what I liked so she could repeat them later in the session for my enjoyment. We talked a lot about all sorts of things, but a lot about Edge and roommates and people. She tried to keep the atmosphere light, because this was a healing session. She commented on how soft my feet were.

During the session, I could feel the moisture leave my mouth. Hence the instruction to drink water throughout. It was a milder version of cottonmouth with pot. Like.. there's somewhere more important that this water needs to be. Lisbeth said I would be detoxifying, so that makes sense.

So, phenomenal. I am happy to be her guinea pig! The ride back home was mostly downhill (the incline when you enter Westville on bike is just radical), and it was sunny and blue skies, and nobody tried to run me over and I wasn't tense or worried. I even took an early right turn and came down Maple another way.

I just finished some lentil soup I had sitting in the fridge from last week (I think) with some toast. It was good to begin with, but letting the flavors meld together privately makes for some damn tasty leftovers.

Lisbeth reminded me of a book I read a few years ago called The Four Agreements. We were discussing Jamaar at Edge, how he's not only cool, but a genuine and giving person. I asked, "How does someone become that?" And Lisbeth brought up the book. "It's like the Bible," she said, "You come back to it and read it to remind yourself. I read it when I'm down about something and a few pages in, a light goes off, and I'm like, 'oh yeah'." She requested that they order it for sale in the vitamins section, so I'll wait til then.

I could mayhap use a nap. But I've missed all my opportunities lately to buy groceries, so maybe I should wait a while. I do need a catchup tho, and what with this detoxification and all.

your soul are belong to us!

listening to: adam freeland - 'we want your soul'

Too many books. Usually I have a thing against buying them, new or otherwise. I hate having ownership of too many things, because I've moved so much. Now that I'm a settled for the moment, that attitude still stands, because I'm scared of being owned (or pwned) by the stuff I accumulate. I have a lot of friends who feel differently. In fact, my four adult roommates (two couples) have filled the house I live in with so many items, large and small, that it boggles my mind. My older sister and her husband are conversely raising their kids to be mindful individuals, and among other things, they celebrate Christmas in ways that don't revolve around gifts.

Ah, so books! After finishing my vegan primers (Vegan Freak, Making a Killing and Becoming Vegan), I've been so absorbed in fleshing out that knowledge through podcasts and blogs and such that the few precious books I've bought recently were promptly pushed to the backburner. It's very unusual behavior. These are those titles:

from Booktrader Cafe:
Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time by Jay Griffiths
The Anarchists' Convention and Other Stories by John Sayles

and from a superb trip to the Orange Goodwill:
Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment
The Enjoyment of Music by Joseph Machlis
Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Breakfast At Tiffany's
The Philosophy of Kant edited by Carl Friedrich
The Republic of Plato

In order to type up all the titles, I just gathered all the books and now they're in a huge stack on my desk and totally up in my grill. They cannot by ignored. Problem solved?

Yesterday I happened upon the roommate that is of my age, who's become something of a friend over these past nine months even while sharing almost nothing in common. We were just bantering back and forth for a minute, catching up, and up came the topic of animal testing.
Now, I've been vegan for just over a month. My attitudes are still being shaped, and all the information I've soaked up is a deep warm puddle slowly solidifying. At the moment it's gelatinous. But I'm convinced and passionate, so eventually I'll be able to relate these ideas to others in comprehensive terms.
I really thought I could 'introduce cognitive dissonance' into her sphere in this debate. This looked especially simple because she has a mouse and two rabbits as companion animals. We spent forty minutes hashing it out. Why is animal testing considered necessary? How can we justify using animals for our own ends? What makes her pets any different from those species in a laboratory? We went for it with gusto. We even somehow meandered into fetus and Nazi territory. But she stood her ground. What made it difficult for me was that she is currently a nursing student, for which my high school graduate-level generalizations were no match. Instead of focusing on the point I was trying to make, she couldn't let details slide and didn't get it. We were interrupted before things got really heated.
Just before we left the house together, my fragmented arguments pieced together and I thought of the perfect comeback. Unfortunately I couldn't find the right timing to jump back to our discourse, so I let it go. It went something like,

If laboratory testing on your two rabbits lead to the development of a treatment that cured one million people suffering from AIDS, would it be worth it?

I wish I could communicate what her pets, and all the animals that are used for medical testing, would endure, succinctly. Does anyone have an idea?

Ngi Ne Themba

currently listening to - Hanson, The Walk

Good morning, everyone,

I'm up late again tonight. Last night it was beers and karaoke, tonight it's dealing with resolving my quiet frustration related to living and breathing. Most of these feelings come from having to deal with people, all day long. (I usually do fairly well as far as breathing goes. Cross your fingers.) Maybe I really am a misanthrope. Or just unfulfilled.

At the moment, I have one job at the coffee shop. Yes, I'm 22. No, I'm not in school. I don't own a car, eat meat, have a boyfriend, or have a plan for the future. A friend of mine calls me "a free spirit", but the connotation that conveys is a little, well, optimistic.

A cool thing about the city I live in is how it just opens up in the spring and summer. After a winter that's too long, windy, bitter, and hard, the sight is as lovely as can be. The winters here somehow grind an edge into everybody, myself certainly not exempt. I've survived through hibernation, leaving the house as infrequently as possible.

But what with the changing of the seasons coming on, I'm feeling a little more, oh, skookum tumtum. Do many other people feel this way? Like hope springs when winter ends. You can stir up more faith in yourself and the world than you could before.

While this feeling's just starting to roll, I figure it's a good a time as any to lay down a plan.
This year should really challenge me. This article intrigued me, How To Get Wealthy On Minimum Wage. And this one, How Would I Live On A Minimum Wage Income?. It's easy to forget that not having a lot of money doesn't have to be painful, as long as you stay conscious of your choices.
So, Goal #1 is to live well at the job that I like, that happens to pay just a few bucks an hour. I won't kill myself working 2 or 3 jobs, nor will I suffer on a limited income. This means budgets and saving mercilessly, and spending less on food (probably experimenting with dumpstering).

Goal #2 - Be a better vegan. It's been about a month since I made the leap from lacto-ovo vegetarianism, and I'm not looking back. But after the technical wellbeing concerns have been dealt with, what's next? How do I go about representing veganism and AR in everyday life?

Goal #3 - Learn how to get along with my fellow man. Deal with those bastards efficiently and to the benefit of all parties. I'm sick of common disrespect and hostility from others, but I'm sure I feed some of that back into the system. Want to learn how to disarm that kind of negative behavior without rewarding them for it. Want to connect with people genuinely. Etc.

capoeira, karaoke, foodnotbombs, dumpster dive,
info newhaven, bike delivery, vegan potluck, vegan meetup,
college class, volunteer,
write, draw,
travel... visit: CA, FL, NH, MA
see: Europe, Mexico, Canada, Portland