I made a Twitter account yesterday because the media is so fucking annoying with all this talk about a glorified text messaging app. Twitter has been a buzz-thinger months before the pseudo state of the union. Now people can't toot without talking about tweets.
So I made the account as a protest. My intent is to be both annoying and informative. I'm starting to think that it also gives a better insight into my thought process when I can say one sentence and maybe have it be useless or nonsensical.
Whatever the case, I'm on a mission to write 100 posts a day for 100 days. That's 10,000 posts (tweets, toots, poots, you name it).
Huzzah?
Years and years of stress have pushed me to the opposite of work. I want to play. (Just not outside.)
So I'm getting back into videogames (or is it video games?).
For the iPhone, I've become hooked to SPiN and, in the last two days, Zen Bound, both by Secret Exit. Both games involve rotating 3D objects, but beyond that, they're essentially opposites. Each game is $5 at its lowest price (not sure what the normal price is), and they're worth every penny. I think Zen Bound is my favorite of the two. In third place is Blocked: simple puzzle game that has its highs and lows in complexity.
We've also dusted off and setup our Wii after maybe nine months of disuse? I finally started exploring the Virtual Console and bought Super Mario RPG and Metal Slug 2 (which I read has some amazing pixel art). Mario RPG is worse than I remember graphically, but it's been over 10 years since I played it. I don't think I'll be revisiting it. Metal Slug 2 is a really quirky 2D shooter, but it's fun. And the graphics are nice.
The Virtual Console is a really great idea. And the fact that you can download some Neo Geo and Sega games makes it even cooler. But I noticed with Metal Slug 2 (Neo Geo), the animation starts to get choppy when there are a lot of sprites. Not sure if it's a matter of emulation or if that's a normal thing for older systems in general.
Still, I remember wanting a Neo Geo when I was younger. Back then, the games cost something like $200 and up (yes, games) and the system itself was like $600. So even seeing a mention of Neo Geo brings back memories. At least now I can play some of those games for $8–$12. Yay!
We also bought Super Mario Galaxy last night, and that looks like it'll be tons of fun. Running around orbs is a little disorienting, especially after playing Zen Bound.
Once I fit in more outside activity (I've been running regularly at least for a few weeks now), I will have tons of balanced fun lined up for a while.
Speaking of which, tonight is Lost plus popcorn plus Wii.
I just found out that my once-favorite tortilla chips (after not having bought them for months) have whey.
Why whey? Why?
People might be annoyed at vegans: fine, sure, whatever. But when vegans can't even opt out of things they want to opt out of, that's just so… it's like saying you want to ride your bike everywhere to avoid burning fuel, but 95% of bikes have an engine built into it that does nothing but simultaneously needs fuel to burn for the bike to work.
I just don't want to buy into industries that explicitly hurt and exploit sentient beings. Why is that so much to ask for?
Oh well. There are plenty of other tortilla chip brands that don't have stupid fillers. Yay.
Trader Joe's is starting to worry me. Either they're losing all decency or they've got some stupid people doing or dictating store art: please do not show a happy, smiling cow on skates advertising beef jerky as 'food to go'. Unless cows love to be slaughtered [in the worst ways]. It's a superfluous disregard of reality. Happy animals sauntering around in the sun and grass as part of packaging? Fine, I accept it: it's a plausible reality that helps to hide the truth and sell the product. Happy cow on skates? Happy people being marching into concentration camps: they love what's coming to them.
Also, we've become aware of the fact that a lot of organic farming is not vegan. Specifically, their usage of animal manure and/or other animal ‘byproducts’ for fertilizer (either through buying the waste from factory farms or growing animals themselves). I think some people want to force use to narrow where we get our food from so much that we actually die out.
So, here's a new term: veganic. Vegan, organic. It's a strange concept that apparently didn't get humans far ever.
I should do a post that doesn't relate to veganism soon. Not sure that putting these frustrations here are actually helping me cope.
PS—I'm gaining new respect for fish. I've been tricked into thinking they're stupid and decorative.
Asma and I were down in Fresno yesterday and today for the northern Cali Vegan Freak meetup.
I don't know if I've ever had as much fun with a group of people as I have in the last day. It's hard for me to explain the connection… Everyone was as different as one can expect from nine different people. And yet the simple act of being vegan abolitionists kept things extremely open.
The best part is that I'm not active on the forums, and so I've never interacted in any way with any of these people, but there was a sense of comfort from the start that I rarely get from strangers.
Something that most people miss is that, once we've chosen this path, we've put ourselves in a spot where social norms and hierarchy start to crumble. These rules and traditions just stop making sense all together. It's not just about nonhuman animals (even though that is our focal point of frustration and anger and pain). We start to notice and dissect how deep-rooted everyday wrongs are. And we can vent and empathize openly about it, and have discussions that are non-confrontational, because everyone is receptive to learn and question and respond.
One thing that's understood but never really addressed, which someone at the meetup brought up, is our phases of depression and hopelessness once our eyes are opened. Asma and I are new vegans, and it is a normal feeling initially, but it looks like it's not something that eventually just goes away. Maybe it's managed better, or doesn't happen for long, but it seems like it's always lingering.
That was good to hear from other people, because I have been becoming increasingly negative recently. And being around them was a good outlet for that. The weekend wasn't one downer after another (where's the fun in that?), but even the downers were a good thing. It's something everyone shared, and no one seemed jaded by that feeling.
So, I'm excited to see these people again, in a month hopefully. And we might be hosting a meetup in May.
I never wrote about a vegan wedding we went to last weekend: it was amazing. On the same lines as the meetup. Except that the veganism was exposed to non-vegans in a way that [hopefully] wasn't confrontational. The couple, Victor and Miranda, were just open about their compassion and what they knew. And the gifts they asked for amounted to this: give veganism a chance through a handful of meals each week for a month, and even start to get some exposure to the truth if you wanted to go a little further.
We met the couple and were invited to the wedding somewhat randomly. The night before, we were invited to dinner with them through someone on the forum (Monica) who was supposed to stay the weekend with us. By night's end we were invited to the wedding. And it turned out to be a beautiful ceremony [with a great vegan buffet at the reception]. What more could you want?
On an unrelated note, we met an extremely pregnant and sweet cat in Fresno (one of twenty, apparently, hanging out around the apartment complex). I wish we could've brought her home.
