Last night I woke up at 2 in the morning with wicked bad indigestion. I ate too much, too late, with too much salt and oil. But I blame my genes anyway.

Anyway, it was so bad at one point that I was sure I was gonna boot, so I grabbed a bowl and went and tried to rest sitting up on the couch. I fell asleep with Boomer purring in my lap (I did not hurl at any point) and dreamed that Julia and I led a go-for-broke rescue mission to save Captain Malcolm Reynolds, who had been kidnapped, shot, and locked up in a utility truck. Also, he was the President Captain of the United States. Don't worry. Julia and I successfully stormed the castle gates and rescued his ass.

Snippets

I just looked at my Blogger "dashboard" or whatever, and found all these drafts for posts I started over a year ago.  They were all just titles, with no body.  I can just imagine myself starting each one, writing a few sentences, probably being in a rage, and then just holding down the backspace button to clear it when I realized I was being more aggro than I wanted to be.  So I have no idea where I was going with these, but:

1. "If it was real..."
2."Just STOP it Already"
3. "Mild Sexism is Irritating"

I actually think I can guess where I was going with the last one.

The Return

I am once again interested in logging my web thoughts. You know. Blogging. So here I am, one year later.

I was reading Julia's blog (http://partyparcel.wordpress.com/) and it reminded me how much I like just writing about my day.

That's pretty much it for now.

The Arbitrary Rules of What's Cruel.

Daniel and I were talking this morning about a case of animal cruelty that's on the front page of the Oakland Animal Services website.  Animal control found a stray mother dog who had recently given birth and was producing lots of milk, but had no puppies with her.  When her owner came to claim her, OAS found out she was being used as a breeder (without a license) and informed the owner that she would have to be spayed before she could be claimed. The animal control officers told the owner that the puppies needed to be brought in in the meantime so the mother could feed them.  In the end, they had to confiscate the puppies and the mom, and the owner just surrendered them altogether because I'm guessing he/she wasn't really interested in them unless they were making him/her some money.  And the sad thing is that all the puppies' tails had been docked with scissors, which is horrible. The owner is now facing criminal animal cruelty charges.

But here's the rub.  EVERY DAY baby piglets get their testicles sheared off with a hot knife, without any form of anesthetic. Their tails get docked with pruning shears, their ears get notched with a knife.  Chickens and turkeys have their beaks sliced off while they are fully conscious. Animals used for fur are beaten to death or skinned alive.  Cattle get burned or electrocuted regularly, and often are conscious when slaughter begins. NINETY NINE percent of our livestock is treated this way.

This person, who was raising and selling these puppies, was doing cruel things to them, yes.  But what makes some animals superior to others? I bet you there are plenty of meat eaters who would readily burn someone at the stake for cutting off a puppy's tail with scissors.  But pigs and cows and chickens are just as smart and just as capable of emotion as a dog, and it's considered totally okay to support the practice of torturing animals that are bred for consumption.

I get that I used to eat meat, and be part of the problem.  You can criticize me for that, I don't give a shit.  But I know better now and I'm trying my hardest to do a better job of being responsible for what I eat.  Because you can be extremely healthy and vegan, and the only reason*, the ONLY REASON to eat meat is because it tastes good. Which is pretty weak, if you ask me.

*maybe there are some rare medical conditions that might possibly make it harder to be vegan and healthy, but that's not an excuse for most people, so don't argue it unless you have it.

DIY

So I make a lot of my own clothes and accessories, and I "mod" a lot of clothes and accessories I get from thrift stores (or anywhere). And sometimes people say to me, "I could never make stuff like that." And my answer is, "Yes you can!" Maybe not everybody has a sewing machine or paints or any of that stuff, but there are some really basic things that I seriously think anybody can make. Like earrings for example. They're so freaking easy to make, it's ridiculous.

Step 1: find some weird trinket you like
Step 2: buy an econo-pack of earring hooks at like Michaels crafts or whatever. They're like 3 bucks for a hundred.
Step 3: tie/glue/wire said weird trinket to an earring hook.  Don't worry about matching earrings. They are so overrated.
Voila!!! You have a one-of-a-kind piece of homemade jewelry.

You can make circular eternity scarves from XXXL t-shirts from the thrift store by buying the XXXL t-shirt, washing it (please) and then cutting off the bottom below the sleeves. The bottom part is an instant eternity scarf, and the top part is, like, a pajama top or a dish rag or whatever. The jersey material resists fraying so you don't have to hem anything. Just cut carefully so the edge is straight. You can use the sleeves for headbands, too!

So there ya go. Make your own shit. It's really fun, and saves you money. Those American Apparel eternity scarves are like 30 bucks! The thrift store t-shirt version (which looks almost exactly the same) costs like 2 bucks.

I am angry/sad/frustrated today.

Sometimes it is just for no reason. Sometimes little things that don't usually bother you seem to bother you a lot.  Like when you walk the dog and need to fix her harness and someone comes by with a bigger dog that sniffs her belly and you know she hates it when dogs sniff her belly and she barks at the other dog and you're embarrassed because you want her to be perfect all the time. Or the chain of your bike gets derailed by your untied boot and comes off and you have to stop and fix it and get all greasy when you're already late to work. And then when you get to work, your first customer is really rude and mean.

They are all dumb little things, that don't matter in the grand scheme of my, honestly, very good life. But I'm in kind of a funk anyway.

I was thinking that on twitter, instead of Follow Friday, there should be a Fuckyou Friday.  I'm angry at a lot of famous people, politicians, and other jerkholes today. I suspect I will still be angry with them tomorrow on Friday.

Cool Stuff

Also, on the same topic as my previous post, these are some cool things that can help with being more... un-plastic? Eco-friendly? DIY? Fun?

Glass Dharma Unbreakable Glass Straws

SoyaPower Plus Soymilk Maker

"Country Uncle" Metal Safety Razor

Re-Usies Washable Sandwich and Snack Bags

Anybody else have some neat shit that would fit into this category? I hesitate to say "eco-friendly" too much, because I often feel like that opens me up for people to take pot-shots at how much shit I do that's NOT eco-friendly.  I'm trying, okay?