Well, the time has come again, ladies and gentelmen for me to move house... this will be the 4th time in two years (moving to Latvia, from Brivibas iela to GG's, from GG's to Blaumana iela, and now from Blaumana iela to Alksnaja iela)....and who knows what nth time in my life.
Funny thing is, for as many times as I've moved, I still really suck at it. Every time I moved when I lived in Kalamazoo, I just threw all my stuff in bags, clothes baskets, etc and into my car! Then I drove as many trips as I needed to get it all from one place to the other. When I moved to China of course, it was a very different deal. I packed clothes, lots of clothes and toiletries... and a few household items that were so special to me, that I just wanted them with me. Of course, over the next two years in China I accumulated a whole lot of stuff, a lot of which I ended up selling in my "getting the hell out of China" sale, or just giving away to my ayi (oh, how I miss my ayi). When I moved to Latvia, I actually had to pack boxes, and ship stuff. But then I got to Latvia... and every move here has been the same... throwing stuff into bags, baskets and suitcases and packing up some dear helpful friend's car.
This is what I will be doing again on Sunday. Actually, I have just spent the greater part of the afternoon throwing stuff into random boxes (most don't close on top), bags, suitcases, etc... and on Sunday we will start the big move. It scares me to look at how much stuff there is, considering how much/little space there is where I am going.
I have been looking forward to having all of my stuff in one place for months now, desperately so in the last month. But it will be interesting to see how it all fits, and what this will mean in JS's and my new life together. Although we have been "playing house" already for these last few months, there still was the opportunity to be separate if the need ever arose. Of course, it happened a lot less for me than for JS... but we leave that to different personalities and the differences between men and women. As more of my stuff accumulates at Alksnaja iela, but none of my shelves or anything are there yet, a lot of my stuff has just being left around in little piles. Sometimes, it does get overwhelming, and I wish I did have a place to put it all. But, at times, my pile of odds and ends is right next to JS's pile of odds and ends. JS's favorite comment lately has been, "What is this stuff, put it away!" And when I ask, where am I supposed to put it, and why do I have to move my stuff, but he doesn't have to move his, he says, "it's my apartment, and it's MY stuff!" Obviously, this little argument will no longer hold water in a week. (My official move in date is March 1, even though we're starting the moving now.)
Ah, so anyway... it will be interesting to see how it goes... how life changes, how our daily life changes... even though we for all purposes have actually been living together for a while, it will probably still be different now.
And, as many of you know, this will be the very first time that I live with a man in my adult life. It is a big deal. :) I am very excited about it. Now I just wish the moving fairy (Ms. NS, she's friends with the dish fairy, I think.) would come and finish my packing, and fly it all over, and up the four flights of stairs at Alksnaja iela. :)
Friday, February 16, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Why I became a vegetarian
Most of you will probably already know why.
So here it is...
Back when I was at university, I used to babysit a lot for a family that was vegetarian. They certainly never pressed their views on me... but we used to talk about it a lot. They were even so good about it, that when I babysat for them at seminars and such out of town (where they would put me up in the hotel with them, feed me, etc) they would be fine with me ordering meat, and paying for it. They were totally cool. We did have a lot of conversations about the violence involved in meat production though. I did realize that this went against everything that I believed in deep down gut style. I have always had troubles even watching very violent movies, so how could I continue my life knowing that a choice I was making was putting animal after animal through extreme cruelty and suffering? After a few months, there came a day when I realized I hadn't had any meat for about three weeks, and I decided to see if I could keep going. Sometime soon after I realized that not only had my horrible bowel issues seemed to lessen, but I didn't miss meat. And then the choice was made. I was going veg, and not turning back. It the only decision I've ever made that I didn't question or second guess. It felt completely right on a body and soul level.
The longer I continued on my path, the more I read about being a vegetarian, the more my choice resounded with me. I have learned that I have a less negative impact on animal lives, on my own body, on the environment at large. No, I have not gone vegan, but it is a choice I think about. I can see it being something I do someday.
Something I face in the future is how I will raise my children. My initial thought is to do it vegetarian. But there are things that make this choice more complex. For instance, the man that I hope will father my children is a meat eater. They will be his children as well, and he will of course have a say. This leads me to possibly allowing only hunted or organic meat on rare occasions. With no solid scientific evidence that children need meat to be healthy, I don't consider this aspect at all influential in my choice. In fact, for as much as I know... children who don't consume dairy products tend to be healthier, with fewer ear infections and colds in infancy and childhood. Also, on this same point, since there is no scientific evidence one way or the other... I don't see raising a child vegetarian as any different than raising them within a certain religion or other value. As parents, we make choices for our children until they are old enough to do so for themselves. We generally make these choices based on our own beliefs... and if we are good parents, we respect the choices that our children make once they do reach the age of personal decision making. Some would argue that if they have not developed a "taste" for meat during their formative years, that they will never want it. I argue this with the simple example of all the foods that I now eat that I never even heard of as a child. Tofu, many green vegetables, and loads of ethnic flavors fall into this category. If the taste is one you're meant to like, you'll like it whether you eat it from birth or not. So, we'll see.
What concerns me most about the choice to be vegetarian is the way we can make a difference in the environment. The way that animals are raised, kept and slaughtered right now has a major affect on the environment. Living in a time when environmental issues are becoming bigger and bigger, living a "greener" life seems only to make sense. There is also the matter of all the shit that is pumped into animals while they are being "grown". That shit ain't meant to be going into our bodies! Even if meat doesn't in and of itself have a negative affect on one's body, meat pumped up with all that crap surely does. Another reason why I would rather not offer it down my children's throats. This of course, does leave the option of organic or hunted meat as an option...which is why I am not completely shut down to it.
I know this is a majorly hot topic... JS himself says that for every article or book or body of research that I can find supporting my views, he can find just as many supporting his own. Who knows... maybe he can. But are they funded by the cattle industry, the dairy farmers...all the people who are making money off of these products? Either way... when there is so much information out there, when taking into account having a positive or negative affect on the world at large, I would rather err on the side of positive, and not make meat-eating a part of my life.
So...there it is... why I became a vegetarian. And to this day, some 6 years later, I have never regretted it.
So here it is...
Back when I was at university, I used to babysit a lot for a family that was vegetarian. They certainly never pressed their views on me... but we used to talk about it a lot. They were even so good about it, that when I babysat for them at seminars and such out of town (where they would put me up in the hotel with them, feed me, etc) they would be fine with me ordering meat, and paying for it. They were totally cool. We did have a lot of conversations about the violence involved in meat production though. I did realize that this went against everything that I believed in deep down gut style. I have always had troubles even watching very violent movies, so how could I continue my life knowing that a choice I was making was putting animal after animal through extreme cruelty and suffering? After a few months, there came a day when I realized I hadn't had any meat for about three weeks, and I decided to see if I could keep going. Sometime soon after I realized that not only had my horrible bowel issues seemed to lessen, but I didn't miss meat. And then the choice was made. I was going veg, and not turning back. It the only decision I've ever made that I didn't question or second guess. It felt completely right on a body and soul level.
The longer I continued on my path, the more I read about being a vegetarian, the more my choice resounded with me. I have learned that I have a less negative impact on animal lives, on my own body, on the environment at large. No, I have not gone vegan, but it is a choice I think about. I can see it being something I do someday.
Something I face in the future is how I will raise my children. My initial thought is to do it vegetarian. But there are things that make this choice more complex. For instance, the man that I hope will father my children is a meat eater. They will be his children as well, and he will of course have a say. This leads me to possibly allowing only hunted or organic meat on rare occasions. With no solid scientific evidence that children need meat to be healthy, I don't consider this aspect at all influential in my choice. In fact, for as much as I know... children who don't consume dairy products tend to be healthier, with fewer ear infections and colds in infancy and childhood. Also, on this same point, since there is no scientific evidence one way or the other... I don't see raising a child vegetarian as any different than raising them within a certain religion or other value. As parents, we make choices for our children until they are old enough to do so for themselves. We generally make these choices based on our own beliefs... and if we are good parents, we respect the choices that our children make once they do reach the age of personal decision making. Some would argue that if they have not developed a "taste" for meat during their formative years, that they will never want it. I argue this with the simple example of all the foods that I now eat that I never even heard of as a child. Tofu, many green vegetables, and loads of ethnic flavors fall into this category. If the taste is one you're meant to like, you'll like it whether you eat it from birth or not. So, we'll see.
What concerns me most about the choice to be vegetarian is the way we can make a difference in the environment. The way that animals are raised, kept and slaughtered right now has a major affect on the environment. Living in a time when environmental issues are becoming bigger and bigger, living a "greener" life seems only to make sense. There is also the matter of all the shit that is pumped into animals while they are being "grown". That shit ain't meant to be going into our bodies! Even if meat doesn't in and of itself have a negative affect on one's body, meat pumped up with all that crap surely does. Another reason why I would rather not offer it down my children's throats. This of course, does leave the option of organic or hunted meat as an option...which is why I am not completely shut down to it.
I know this is a majorly hot topic... JS himself says that for every article or book or body of research that I can find supporting my views, he can find just as many supporting his own. Who knows... maybe he can. But are they funded by the cattle industry, the dairy farmers...all the people who are making money off of these products? Either way... when there is so much information out there, when taking into account having a positive or negative affect on the world at large, I would rather err on the side of positive, and not make meat-eating a part of my life.
So...there it is... why I became a vegetarian. And to this day, some 6 years later, I have never regretted it.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
So...
I've been MIA for how long? Well... I'm pretty sure Ms. Non-Sequitor is the only one who ever checks in here anyway... :)
The holidays were great... check out assorted pictures at the Aussies flickr site. There are some from his trip to Thailand for his younger bro's wedding as well. (Oh and yes, if you're wondering... he is one of 4 brothers, and he is now the only one left unmarried. Just sayin'.)
Now, it's January...oops, no, that's over... it's February. Winter has arrived in Latvia with no welcome from me. It's been snowy and last night as I walked home from the Aussie's, I heard it was -18C. Yeah. This morning I said fuck it, and actually put on long underwear under my pants. Can I just say that I am SO against long underwear? I don't ever want to live anywhere else where that many layers are necessary! If someday I suddenly desire snow, I'll go on a trip. Really. Is it spring yet?
Well, the nice thing is that even if the weather has gone to shit, at least the sun is doing it's bit in becoming a part of life around these parts again. It's officially getting light before 8am again. I'm no longer walking the whole way to school in complete darkness. That is very cool. And even better than that, it's staying light out until nearly 5:30! Whooohooo!!! Well anyway... that's the weather report.
Very cool thing? My little brother is here! When I say little I, of course mean, like two feet taller than me, but none the less younger. :) He flew in just this past Tuesday, and will stay until the 20th. So far, it's awesome to see him, and catch up. We haven't seen each other since the summer of 2005!
In other big news... I have a change of address coming in about two weeks. Yes, I am happily turning the page on my days at "God's price" apartment, and moving in with, yes, that's right, the Aussie. Yes, it will be a tight squeeze. Yes, I pray for the safety of my cat. Yes, we will have to move again soon because the Aussie's landlord is selling soon, and we'll be outta there. But, it will mean no more hlaf my stuff here, half there. No more missing my cat, and feeling like a horrible pet owner because I haven't even seen him in a week. No more not having something I want or need. No more running out of clean clothes and having to wear dirty ones. And, yes, it will somewhat officially now be "we" instead of me. And certainly "ours". :)
OK.... I have some other thought swirling in my head about things I could blab on about here... family, being a vegetarian, and why, and others...but for now... I'm going to leave it at this, and hopefully come back soon to touch on those others. I know I'm letting down my public (even if there are only two of you - AW I think you might be a loyal checker-in too). So I'll try to come back... oh, and maybe I'll even touch on the evils of "reality" tv. :)
That's it for now.
The holidays were great... check out assorted pictures at the Aussies flickr site. There are some from his trip to Thailand for his younger bro's wedding as well. (Oh and yes, if you're wondering... he is one of 4 brothers, and he is now the only one left unmarried. Just sayin'.)
Now, it's January...oops, no, that's over... it's February. Winter has arrived in Latvia with no welcome from me. It's been snowy and last night as I walked home from the Aussie's, I heard it was -18C. Yeah. This morning I said fuck it, and actually put on long underwear under my pants. Can I just say that I am SO against long underwear? I don't ever want to live anywhere else where that many layers are necessary! If someday I suddenly desire snow, I'll go on a trip. Really. Is it spring yet?
Well, the nice thing is that even if the weather has gone to shit, at least the sun is doing it's bit in becoming a part of life around these parts again. It's officially getting light before 8am again. I'm no longer walking the whole way to school in complete darkness. That is very cool. And even better than that, it's staying light out until nearly 5:30! Whooohooo!!! Well anyway... that's the weather report.
Very cool thing? My little brother is here! When I say little I, of course mean, like two feet taller than me, but none the less younger. :) He flew in just this past Tuesday, and will stay until the 20th. So far, it's awesome to see him, and catch up. We haven't seen each other since the summer of 2005!
In other big news... I have a change of address coming in about two weeks. Yes, I am happily turning the page on my days at "God's price" apartment, and moving in with, yes, that's right, the Aussie. Yes, it will be a tight squeeze. Yes, I pray for the safety of my cat. Yes, we will have to move again soon because the Aussie's landlord is selling soon, and we'll be outta there. But, it will mean no more hlaf my stuff here, half there. No more missing my cat, and feeling like a horrible pet owner because I haven't even seen him in a week. No more not having something I want or need. No more running out of clean clothes and having to wear dirty ones. And, yes, it will somewhat officially now be "we" instead of me. And certainly "ours". :)
OK.... I have some other thought swirling in my head about things I could blab on about here... family, being a vegetarian, and why, and others...but for now... I'm going to leave it at this, and hopefully come back soon to touch on those others. I know I'm letting down my public (even if there are only two of you - AW I think you might be a loyal checker-in too). So I'll try to come back... oh, and maybe I'll even touch on the evils of "reality" tv. :)
That's it for now.
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