Big Steps!

So, I'm the kind of person who lives a very comfortable life. I work really hard to supply myself with sufficient money to sustain my life, pay my bills... etc. Taking risks is something I do not do. I wish I did, but I have this overwhelming fear of uncertainty... and it really hinders my adventurous sides want to experience life.  Welp, I've been getting pretty sick of letting fear take over my life, and I decided that I needed to start doing stuff that will actually make me happy, not just keep my bills paid. So, for the first time, I put myself out there. I know it's a longshot and I know it may be wishful thinking... but it's still a HUGE step for me.
This past weekend I was notified that Farm Sanctuary had seasonal positions available... (and I've been planning out the next couple years of my life in order to take time off work to do an internship at Farm Sanctuary)... so seeing that they were hiring... I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. I spent a couple hours deciding if it was feasible and trying to figure out what I would do if I miraculously got the job... and then I stopped thinking all together and decided to, for once in my life, not worry about how it was going to work out... and just fucking go for it! I spent 2 hours filling out the application trying to make it perfect, so that they might see something promising in me. I want this job so badly, I can't even begin to describe what it would mean to me, to live on an animal sanctuary for 6 months and work directly with rescued animals and just be in that compassionate environment away from the rest of life's worries.  Stop caring and worrying about myself for once and put all my focus on something I'm extremely passionate about.
So I did it. I applied for a job that I actually want. Something that will make me genuinely happy... not just something that's going to keep me financially happy. I don't know if I even have a shot in hell, but I'm going to hope for the best and be proud of myself for taking a step like that. I'm even preparing myself, just incase I do get it. Deep cleaning my room out and getting rid of everything I don't need and everything that's holding me down. I'm sick of feeling stuck in one place because of material objects weighing me down. So I'm changing that. Getting my life in order so that I can leave at any given moment, if an opportunity arises, and take it.
I'm so proud of myself and I couldn't be more happy or anxious. I feel like getting this job... would spark a whole new flame in my life. Get me going on the right path. Because I feel like if I do this... I won't be able to come back home and get settled back in with corporate america again. I know my heart won't let me do that if it realizes that there are other ways to get by.... and actually be happy doing it. So this is a start of something new and exciting.

Good luck, self. You deserve this. You owe it to yourself. Start taking risks and living life the way you see it in your heart... not the way you see it in your mind. <3

Animal Liberation.

I need to stop buying new books. I think I have an addiction. I need to finish all these books I've already ordered... but I keep coming across more books on Vegan Living and Animal Rights and I simply want to know everything I can... so I continue to purchase.

As of right now, I'm reading Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. Now let me start by saying how difficult it was for me to get this book. I looked in so many books stores and no one had it. At one store the girl even told me that they don't carry books of "that nature." WHAT?! You don't carry books on Animal Rights?! I found that to be rather absurd! Why any store would sensor such an important topic is beyond me.
But anyways... I've gotten through the chapter on Laboratory testing... and just as the whole book is going to, it broke my heart. Most of the test performed on animals have no relevance to human nature at all, won't help us in any way, and simply just torture these poor helpless creatures. It sickens me that this can be called science and the people who practice it can be considered esteemed and vital pieces of the human puzzle. America needs to catch up with other countries and get more regulation on laboratory testing, because most tests are plain unnecessary. God, it's sickening.Other countries have ethics boards that consider the possible benefits of the testing against the welfare of the animal involved. If the benefits will truly be greater and mean more than the harm done to the creature, the test will be approved but if it will not benefit and if the test has been done before and is no longer needed, it will be denied. And countless lives have been saved through this process (not as many as we might like, but anything helps. Yeah I wish I had faith in the abolitionist approach, but I believe that progress is progress. Abolition sounds fucking fantastic... but it's a lot harder to achieve, so I'll take what I can get, where I can get it.)
Now, I shall read on to the Factory Farming chapter... which I'm sure is going to be a lot of information I already know, that will, like the chapters prior, break my heart. As hard as these books are to read... they keep me motivated and inspired to fight for this cause. If my heart is truly breaking from words on a page... shouldn't I be willing to stand up and speak out about it? Shouldn't I be willing to do something about it?

Off I go, to fill my head with more heartbreaking knowledge that I hope one day becomes part of our History, and is no longer part of our Current Culture.

MEATOUT 2011!!

Alright, I know I'm a few days late... but I've been really busy and really sick! :( no good! But anyways... I'm just going to recap how our Meatout event went. Sadly, I live in southern California where people get scared and run for cover if it starts spinkling... so the rain put a slight damper on the event... But overall we feel it went really well. The people that did come were very open to hearing what we had to say, everyone LOVED the Primal Jerky strips and Jokerz and Twilight Bars! And the most interesting part to me was that most people were more interested in the literature we had to offer than the food we had for them to sample. I was expecting people to come and just want to take food... but people were genuinely interested in the cause we were there for. Which in my eyes, was the best thing we could ask for. If even one person wanted to listen to us... I would have felt it was a successful day, but a lot more than one person listened, and a lot more than one asked questions. It was really rewarding. We took pictures and I made a little video of the event. I only taped the first portion of it because I got into talking to people and just forgot to keep recording. So here's the video... Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8haFAnG9Hw

<3  

Senses!

It's so interesting to me how my taste buds and senses have been changing right along with my diet over the years. When I was an omnivore ... what 7 ago?... I liked the taste of meat, I liked the smell of eggs and cheese, I hated eating unsalted or unroasted nuts... I loved manufactured, unhealthy, cruetly ridden, bullshit excuses for food. They were what tasted good to me because they were what I was use to. Granted I've always loved fruits and veggies, but I liked these other things as well. Then I found myself as a vegetarian and the sight of meat was repulsive to me... the smell of it grossed me out... then I found myself as a vegan... suddenly disgusted by one of my favorite things in the world... cheese. The sight of it makes me want to vomit, the smell makes me cringe... yet it use to be part of my daily menu... now I've been vegan for some time and over the years have started eating healthier things... and now I find myself preferring raw foods. I won't eat salted or roasted nuts anymore... simply because they don't taste good to me anymore (though the health benefits are a plus). I just realized that I eat avocados, without salting them now... simply because I prefer the taste. It's as if every healthy step in the right direction also has an impact on my senses... I start wanting and craving things much better for me because all this manufactured and processed crap just isn't appealing anymore... and I love it. :)

Meatout is almost here!

In finding out about Meatout back in January, I immediately knew that I wanted to partake in this event and do whatever I could to be a part of it. (Meatout is a worldwide vegan awareness and animal rights event... where vegans all over the globe, give out free samples of vegan food and distribute information as well.) I had all these big plans and ideas of what I was going to set up and how great it was going to go... and then in trying to put these plans into motion, my lack of event planning knowledge put my imagination in its place. A lot of the ideas we wanted to do, we can't, due to not getting permits or insurance in place early enough on (lesson learned for next year). So we changed our plans and thought it would be easier to do the event on the local community college's campus... but they won't let us serve food on campus due to us not being in a club... all these restrictions were dimming mine and my friends spirits and we didn't think we were going to be able to do much of anything for Meatout... until we decided to just register anyways and see what we could do. Lucky for us, the amazing people at FARM USA found a loophole in our citys permits codes and now we're in business! It's a bit short notice and it's not going to be exactly what we wanted... but we are getting to do something now! 2 events even! We got a small grant through VegFund to purchase some food and Action for Animals donated tons of information packets and stickers and brochures for us.  Everyday we get a little more figured out and get a little closer to our events. And I'm really excited! I've been vegan for a while but haven't done any action.... this begins that change! :)