The Vegan Life of Me, Myself, & I

The Vegan Life of Me, Myself, & I

In June I had been reading a book called "Skinny Bitch" It was a no bullshit book about eating habits and there was a chapter that went into graphic detail about how animals are treated at slaughterhouses. I decided right then and there I was done eating animal products. This includes all meat, eggs, seafood, milk, honey, and any food that says "may contain ___".

I was on a vacation with my son when I finished this no nonsense novel. I started these changes by drinking my coffee black. even though there was a gallon of milk sitting in my friend's fridge. My son doesn't drink milk either. Surprisingly enough, that was a change that was easy to adapt to.

The next day I quit meat, eggs, etc cold turkey. I would get phantom cravings of meat such as kielbasa but I could get myself to eat something else. I eat a lot of veggies and fruits. Tofu is one of my new favorite foods as well. I eat a lot of pasta and I can finish my son's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Cheap bread isn't made with eggs and peanut butter is just pureed peanuts. They also have alternative foods to dairy and meat. I drink Almond Milk which I absolutely love. I eat vegan sausage which is made out of Seitan and seasonings, olive oil instead of butter, they even make fake meat and cheese, things like that.

I wouldn't call myself a strict Vegan. I'm not strictly Organic and I don't shop at Whole Foods religiously. I am not cautious and don't do my research when it comes to the makeup and shower needs I buy, I have also cheated and ate a box of honey bunches of oats and on my birthday my mom took me to a nice mexican restaurant. They had zero Vegan options. I had a cheat day then and ordered a beef and chicken burrito combo plate. After adapting to being Vegan for a while, the sour cream was too sour, the chicken and beef from the burritos were ridiculously greasy as was the cheese.

When I was little my family drove to Las Vegas. On the way we passed a slaughterhouse my brother called "Cowchwitz" where there was a horrible stench coming from the warehouse. Had I not been so naive and young I would have understood what was going on and went Vegan then. You never really know what's going on behind closed doors unless you see it for yourself.

Since becoming Vegan I have also felt healthier. I'm not as depressed, i'm more productive, I just feel lighter. I also have lost around 38lbs. since I changed my eating habits. That itself makes me feel much better. Sure it's not for everyone but it was a change I felt I had no choice but to make. When a book tells you that during an interview with a slaughterhouse employee that they chop off snouts of pigs and stick em in the butt with a broom handle just for fun, there's only so much you can tolerate. Also many lie and claim no animals are harmed when the treatment is beyond cruel.

Racism Goes Both Ways

Racism Goes Both Ways

When you think of racism, it's always white ganging up on black but sure you never hear about blacks ganging on whites but it does happen. How about a white man getting shot just for driving through the hood one day? In fact there was an instance in my own neighborhood a few months ago. A white woman was driving through the neighborhood and passed a group of African American teenagers and they ended up shooting up her car. She escaped and ran to the nearest building for assistance. She was shot twice but luckily her child was unharmed. Bullets pierced through the second carseat which would have killed her second child had he/she been in the vehicle at the time. You didn't hear THAT on the news, in fact they kept it hush hush completely. Why is that? In fact if it hadn't been through a mutual friend I wouldn't even know about it.

I am not trying to be racist in this post. i'm all for bi-racial couples and children, befriending myself with my own "sisters" and "brothers" of color so this is nothing personal but my main point is not only white people are racist. In fact earlier I was on a controversial post about the actress Zendaya playing Ariel the mermaid in a remake of The Little Mermaid. Now it's all speculation and not a definite event but a lot of people went against it because she isn't white.

My opinion was this:

"If Brandy can be Cinderella, and an Asian man playing the prince when he has a black mother and white father, I don't see any reason why Zendaya can't be Ariel"

There was in fact a version of  Cinderella made in 1997 of this instance. Brandy was Cinderella, Whitney Houston the fairy God Mother, Victor Garber as the King, Whoopi Goldberg as the Queen, and a somewhat unknown actor named Paolo Montalban as the prince. There were also supporting roles, The step-mother was white and there were two step-sisters one black and one white.

My comment seemed to settle the pot of chaos. Many people were upset that some said "no way!" There was even one girl who was getting very nasty with others for stating their opinion and was in a Trump like trance where everyone is a racist when it was in fact her who was being ridiculous with her cruelty.

One other racist thing that drives me nuts is "Black Lives Matter" what about Asian lives? Mexican lives? White lives? Human lives in general? we all matter equally. How is black lives matter not a form of racism? People of all backgrounds are being murdered every day. What about the Parkland shooting. That kid didn't target black people in specific did he? or Sandy Hook, did he? In my opinion being an American is about loving thy Neighbor. When people of your own color are the only ones worth a damn that's being racist and an overall selfish fuck. THE END

Pursuit of Happiness Pt. 2

Pursuit of Happiness Pt. 2

My last post was to tell you why I may be single as well as a perspective prospect. That all sucks and all but as of August 15th, I've been seeing someone. "Colby" was a bust. We never went on a date and he stopped texting me. It wasn't too bad because had we actually gone somewhere in turns of relationship I wouldn't have met this guy.

My whole family had gone out of town and it was just me lonely and isolated from social activity. Normally i'm ok with the solitude but this day it was really bugging me. I was chatting with guys on an app called Badoo where this adorable Indian man caught my eye. His picture was older than I thought but he was sweet, kind and funny. Three qualities that I look for in a man. I have a weakness for Middle Eastern men as well for some reason.

I was at work chatting with him through texts when he asked me out on a date for the evening. I figured no one home, not much to do so why the hell not. The whole day we chatted and got to know one another a little better until the evening when he showed up at my door. and we went out. He was extremely sweet and made me feel really special.

We went to a smoothie place because it is my favorite nearby joint, went to see a movie which he let me pick out which ended up being Christopher Robin. We cuddled while we watched the movie and both really liked it. We got hungry so we went to Burger King and I ordered a veggie burger which I didn't know came with Mayo. I had to wipe it off with a napkin before eating it. He ordered the same thing and later told me it was his first time eating one. I gave him the tour of the house and we grabbed a beer and went up to my bedroom. Rilow, the family dog really liked him

I did see him the following day. He came over and we hung out at the house with beer and a movie. even gave me a massage! He and I took some pictures and... but we have since become damn near inseparable. If we aren't together we are texting all day.

I have hope for this one and we both want to persue things further with one another. despite all our cutie emoji texts we are taking things slow. It does feel right though.

A Mother's Emotional Day

A Mother's Emotional Day

Dinky's First Day of School

No mother wants to see their child grow up so quickly. It seems with every passing week time grows more scarce. The summer wasn't long enough and I had to endure the emotions of my baby boy entering Elementary School.

I never was a very emotional person, aside from my pregnancy time that is, but his first day of Kindergarten got to me. I didn't cry his first day of Pre-School either year. I was actually excited for the break. I suppose elementary school is a whole different ball game.

After taking his back to school photos that morning, I walked him 3 houses down to my alma mater where they had all the students gathered on the black top of the playground. I of course took tons of pictures of him that I believe he had gotten somewhat annoyed.

The funny thing is his teacher, Mrs. Nelson was actually my teacher for 4th and 5th grades at a different school. Her name was Mrs. Annis back then and I got to witness the school teachers' scandal. That's for another time though. I was at least set at ease that I was familiar with his teacher and know that she was able to be trusted.

They started calling the classes in one by one. Then the most horrible thing happened to me, they called my baby boy's class in. I tried to hold it together but before I knew it I was wiping tears from my eyes repetitively. My mom was there and I was concealing my sadness. It was so difficult letting my son enter that world. I was overwhelmed with emotions and anxiety. "Will he behave?" "Will he be safe?" "Can he handle a full day of class?" "Will he get along with the other students?" It was an ambush of my own mind. My little boy was getting bigger and starting to explore new surroundings.

After I dropped him off, I went home and I was bored. I didn't know what to do with myself without my son's erratic behavior and the bickering between him and his older brother aka cousin (long story). I tried to find things to do since that Monday was my day off from work. I washed dishes by hand, worked on some laundry, tidied up my bedroom and then I had a beer and was watching a movie.

at 3:15pm he was released from class and he was exhausted. The full day really wore him out. The teacher said he did really well which made me happy since my anxiety was through the roof with worry. I filled out the paperwork that was sent home and read everything I was supposed to just to get it out of the way for the following day.

He went to bed at 8:30pm. I checked my watch at 9:00 and he was still awake. 15 minutes later I didn't hear any rustling, my little boy was fast asleep. It was a long day for us both and at that moment I smiled at his angelic sleeping face before showering. I was full of hope that it will be a good year for him and curious about how he will do when I start receiving his progress passport.