Monday, January 18

the good, the bad, and my second resolution

1. Those earplugs that are made of wax.
GOOD: I love how it sounds like you're underwater--whatever noise you can still hear when you are wearing them is heavily muted. My mom is now unable to sleep without them because they work so well. I usually just end up wearing them while traveling, but once in a Mariachi blue moon I will need them at home; the house next door to where I live in Sacramento is full of Hispanic families and about once a month they have an epic party with pinatas, lots of kids, and loud music. I love love love that they do it and am quite jealous that I'll probably never be invited, but by the time I am ready to sleep, I am usually tired of trumpets and vihuelas.
BAD: This morning I woke up and quickly realized that I was missing one ear worth of wax earplug. I didn't want to be noisy and wake my friend Jill (whom I am vacationing in Seattle with) up while I searched for where it could be, so I snuck out to the living room of my sister's apartment to use my laptop. While the computer was turning on I put my hand up to my head to fix my pony tail and found the earplug smashed into and braided through my hair. Not so in to that. Yesterday morning I found one of them stuck to the wall and still cannot figure out how that happened.

2. Seattle!!!
GOOD: My friend Jill from Sacramento has a photography workshop here tomorrow, so we decided to make a trip out of it. I went to school in Tacoma, Washington, but for those of you who don't know, without a car it takes a little too long to get up to Seattle on the bus if you want to be here frequently. I think we would get up here more often than most, but we'd usually have to borrow a car or find someone else who had Seattle plans.
Anyway, I love it here. I love the air, the people, the food, the neighborhoods, the everything and I am thankful to have had a small handful of days to explore and play.
BAD: That I leave soon and don't get to come up as often as I'd like, especially since my sister lives here (we are staying with her and it is been perfect).

3. GOOD GOOD GOOD: Supporting cruelty-free companies: my second new years resolution.
It is easy to say you're going to support companies that do not test on animals, but the more you learn about it, the sooner you realize that it isn't as easy as shopping at a 'natural' food store or joining a local co-op.

I read somewhere that something like 115 million animals (that number does not even include many species as the government has ruled that some do not have to be included in the count) are experimented on and killed in labs each year in the United States, and that most of this experimentation is paid for by our own tax dollars. This experimentation is a multi-billion dollar industry that involves a lot of different manufacturers, companies, and people; and starts and ends with tons of animals in misery.

I won't go on and on about it now, but I've resolved to make a serious effort to stop buying and supporting products from companies that use or involve themselves in animal cruelty. If you'd like more information or want to jump on the bandwagon THIS SITE is a great place to start.

3 comments:

leo said...

This site fits in to your resolution, not all about animal testing, but a good corporate watchdog type site.

knowmore.org

Renai said...

Love this post.

Oh, yeah- Hi!

knitalatte said...

Looks to me that you are trying for a balanced life. Some work, some travel, some art, and caring for animals. If anyone is amazing with animals, it is you!

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