Haven't posted in ages, but really it's because I just havent felt like there's anything that I can post about. Topics are pretty limited seeing as I decided that it would be great if I told EVERYONE I KNEW about this blog! 6 year old cousin, hey! no problem! 95 year old aunt! even better! come on in and read my posts! ok well maybe I'm exaggerating, as I have neither a 6 year old cousin nor a 95 year old aunt, but you get the picture! Needless to say, I think of brilliant things to write about and then realise that it probably isnt worth it after all the censoring. Seriously though, its wonderful having so many of my friends and family logging on to check this out, so thank you and I will try and post everyday from now on.
On another note, I started work today. Just temporary, nothing major. I havent sold my soul yet. Still though, its depressing thinking that I'll be working hard to further someone elses ideals; working for someone elses gain. Doing all I can to make sure that legally these people can get away with their capitalistic, earth-destroying actions and in the process slowing losing all creativity I possess. Quite depressing really, but like I say its only temporary and although I hate to admit it, I actually enjoy it to an extent. Well, it probably would be fairer to say that I enjoy the social aspect of it, and I suppose the fact that I'm a useful member of society again. Although, I do believe that society needs the poems I'm writing, the songs I'm singing, the paintings I'm painting. A few of you commented on the poem I have up here; thanks alot! However, the reasons I haven't posted anymore are firstly because I've entered my best ones in a competition and one of the prerequisites was that they be unpublished, and secondly, well we go back to the whole censoring issue I was talking about. Maybe an anonymous blog?? It's a thought...
Came across this FANTASTIC blog today! I've included it in my list of links on the sidebar of my blog, and now that I've figured out how to change the links, I'll be doing it alot more. Its called Fafblog and to me it's genius. Utter genius, pure and simple. Definately not going to be to everyones taste, but I'd recommend you check it out anyhow. The "interviews" they have are hilarious! If you do nothing else I tell you, do this: Read Fafblog!
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Meat-Free
I'm a vegetarian, have been for just over six years now, and the longer I spend being one, the more I know that I will never be able to eat meat again. Now, even the thought sickens me, and I don't know if it's because my body has reached the stage where it physically would be unable to handle the meat, or because mentally I would be unable to accept the fact that I would be eating the flesh of a once living thing. I'm not trying to "convert" anyone. It's a personal choice, and a choice that I made for myself. Right and Wrong are subjective concepts. What's right to one person is wrong to another. I have no problem with people who choose to eat meat, and I would even prepare meat for someone if I had to. No, what I have a problem with is the fact that for most people who eat meat, the slab of flesh on the plate is completely disassociated with the animal it came from. It's "beef", not "cow"; "pork" not "pig"; "mutton" not "sheep"; and so on. For the majority of people, eating meat would be an entirely different matter had they to kill the animal themselves. Look the sheep in the eye while they slit its throat. Watch it suffer in agony as the blood drained out of its body. Strip its still warm body of its skin, and pull the flesh from its bones. No, I think that if most people had to do this, they would choose to go without the meat they currently believe they have a right to devour so greedily. Instead, the dirty work is left to the confines of the slaughter house where machines systematically murder animal after animal. Perhaps I should have used a different word. Is it murder when it's an inanimate object doing the killing? More importantly, is it considered murder when it's a "lowly" animal being killed? Replacing the animal with a human, could the operator of the machine be considered guilty of the murder? Yes, legally I believe he could.
What of the circle of life? The food chain? Don't animals kill each other in the wild for survival? True, yet do these animals have the need to use implements to kill? Does a lion use a gun or a knife when killing a zebra? No. He kills using his own strength, using the tools nature gave him; that is, his teeth and his claws. I wonder how far we would get if we had to kill using our bare hands? Perhaps a rat. Maybe a rabbit if we were lucky. I know, our superior mind and our natural dexterity meant that we were able to design tools to aid us blah blah blah. It's a neverending circle this debate, it really is, and I'm pretty sick of it at this stage. I've heard it a million times. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and mine is that every living thing is sacred. We are no more entitled to take away a persons life than entitled to take away the life of an innocent animal. I suppose what put this into my mind is that I just got home and on the way home my friends brother told us about the sheep they killed last weekend while camping in the desert. Yes, a group of guys decided to kill a sheep to eat it. Pretty normal stuff really, alot of people regularly kill to eat. Anyhow, the knife they used wasn't sharp enough and from what I could gather (I was trying to block out the conversation) it took a long time to finally kill the poor animal. Can you imagine the pain and suffering she went through? The torture, the agony. The madness until finally death eased the pain. I wonder if she was all eaten, or was most of her left to rot after they had taken their fill? I wonder alot of things, but most of all I wonder why we as a race find it so strange to think that someone could choose to live a life that did not advocate the killing and eating of animals.
What of the circle of life? The food chain? Don't animals kill each other in the wild for survival? True, yet do these animals have the need to use implements to kill? Does a lion use a gun or a knife when killing a zebra? No. He kills using his own strength, using the tools nature gave him; that is, his teeth and his claws. I wonder how far we would get if we had to kill using our bare hands? Perhaps a rat. Maybe a rabbit if we were lucky. I know, our superior mind and our natural dexterity meant that we were able to design tools to aid us blah blah blah. It's a neverending circle this debate, it really is, and I'm pretty sick of it at this stage. I've heard it a million times. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and mine is that every living thing is sacred. We are no more entitled to take away a persons life than entitled to take away the life of an innocent animal. I suppose what put this into my mind is that I just got home and on the way home my friends brother told us about the sheep they killed last weekend while camping in the desert. Yes, a group of guys decided to kill a sheep to eat it. Pretty normal stuff really, alot of people regularly kill to eat. Anyhow, the knife they used wasn't sharp enough and from what I could gather (I was trying to block out the conversation) it took a long time to finally kill the poor animal. Can you imagine the pain and suffering she went through? The torture, the agony. The madness until finally death eased the pain. I wonder if she was all eaten, or was most of her left to rot after they had taken their fill? I wonder alot of things, but most of all I wonder why we as a race find it so strange to think that someone could choose to live a life that did not advocate the killing and eating of animals.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Enlightened
Recently I met up with a friend that I hadn't seen in close to two years. It had been a long time, and yet she was pretty much the same as last time we saw each other. It's always nice meeting people that you went to school with. Seeing what they're doing with their lives now, catching up, and if we're going to be honest here, secretly comparing your life to theirs. I know! I can't believe I'm actually admitting this, but if you really think about it, when you meet someone from your past there's always this tiny teeny weeny absolutely miniscule little part of you that's racking up the points on either side! An innocent coffee turns into a fully fledged mental game of football. Or actually more like Gaelic football, if anyone's familiar with that, because the balls just keep flying! Point after point after point after point. Occasionally a goal, which throws the whole thing off balance! A little scuffle, a bit of (mental) name calling , the referee (read: waiter) has to step in...its an aggressive game and you walk away exhausted, you really do! Women can be cruel. I know that because I am one.
It really is something that you can't help. Especially if you're a woman it seems. Habits are hard to break and if you knew someone from school, no matter how old you get you will always revert back to the age you were when you first met each other. Old fears will come creeping back, old feelings will rush back to you, and more importantly, old rivalry will still exist. It's usually only for a few minutes though, just long enough to give your heart a bit of a work out. Afterwards you put your high school self to the side, and get to know the person for who he or she really is. You realise that maybe there was never anything special about him or her, or perhaps you're left wondering why you never made more time for this person, this witty, interesting individual who most people overlooked. It's an enlightening experience.
And I have to say, I've been enlightened.
It really is something that you can't help. Especially if you're a woman it seems. Habits are hard to break and if you knew someone from school, no matter how old you get you will always revert back to the age you were when you first met each other. Old fears will come creeping back, old feelings will rush back to you, and more importantly, old rivalry will still exist. It's usually only for a few minutes though, just long enough to give your heart a bit of a work out. Afterwards you put your high school self to the side, and get to know the person for who he or she really is. You realise that maybe there was never anything special about him or her, or perhaps you're left wondering why you never made more time for this person, this witty, interesting individual who most people overlooked. It's an enlightening experience.
And I have to say, I've been enlightened.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Got 'Da Cork Blues
Just wanted to say how much I miss all my friends in Cork! Daryl just started a petition to get me back to Cork, isn't that hilarious! And such a thing that Daryl would do. Seriously, what they say about the friends you make in university being friends for life...that's so true. So I just wanted to give a big shout out to everyone that I miss...you all know who you are! Looking forward to seeing you all again! xx
oh and the craic is far mightier in Cork!
oh and the craic is far mightier in Cork!
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Politeful Ignorance
I was getting my nails done at my usual place the other day, and as I was drying tham it struck me that we, as a race, are getting very close to perfecting the art of, what I have termed, Politeful Ignorance.
You know what I'm talking about. You're in an elevator and someone gets on. Immediately he or she moves to the opposite end of the lift and you both spend the rest of the ride staring at the flashing floor numbers. Politeful Ignorance. Or let's say there are ten people on that elevator. You're all squashed together, sardines in a tin style; The person next to you is so close you can hear him breathing in your ear; It's a stressful situation! The tension in the air could be cut with a kinfe because, let's be honest here, it's alot harder to practice politeful ignorance when you're pretty sure you can accurately guess what the guy next to you had for breakfast! Still though, you persevere, and all ten of you somehow manage to angle your heads in such a way that you can all safely stare at the flashing floor numbers and pretend that noone else exists. Politeful Ignorance.
So there I was, my hands and feet stuck into these dryers they have along the walls, pretty much immobile for twenty minutes at least, and do you think I said a word to the girls on either side of me (who I must add also had their hands and feet stuck into the wall) ? Not a word! Not even a hello! I know, it's terrible isn't it? There we were, three women in search of the perfectly manicured nail, making the rational adult decision to pretend we didn't notice each other. So 'engrossed in the latest going-ons of "Fashion TV" we didn't notice somone sit beside us'. So intent on 'positioning our fingers and toes in such a way as to get the optimal blast of hot air' that we didnt notice someone else next to us doing exactly the same thing. Politeful Ignorance.
It's a funny world isn't it when you feel that others would be happier to be ignored. Granted half the time most people would be happier just left alone. I know that sometimes I just don't want to talk to anyone, that sometimes it physically pains me to have to make small talk, although luckily I seem to have been born with the ability to talk about the most trivial things for long periods of time with complete strangers! I think that's why cab drivers love me. I can talk about the traffic, the weather, and the state of the roads almost as much as them!
Today's society does not encourage people to interact face-to-face. Most of the time there's some medium the conversation must flow through. A telephone, a text message, the internet, television, the foggy smoke of a nightclub, a mirror. How many times have you gone to the hairdressers and had a conversation with your stylist through the mirror? He may have been standing next to you but for some reason if felt more comfortable if you both looked at each other in the mirror and talked.
I ask the question, Have we spent so long interacting with the "absent person" that we've forgotten how to deal with the real thing?
You know what I'm talking about. You're in an elevator and someone gets on. Immediately he or she moves to the opposite end of the lift and you both spend the rest of the ride staring at the flashing floor numbers. Politeful Ignorance. Or let's say there are ten people on that elevator. You're all squashed together, sardines in a tin style; The person next to you is so close you can hear him breathing in your ear; It's a stressful situation! The tension in the air could be cut with a kinfe because, let's be honest here, it's alot harder to practice politeful ignorance when you're pretty sure you can accurately guess what the guy next to you had for breakfast! Still though, you persevere, and all ten of you somehow manage to angle your heads in such a way that you can all safely stare at the flashing floor numbers and pretend that noone else exists. Politeful Ignorance.
So there I was, my hands and feet stuck into these dryers they have along the walls, pretty much immobile for twenty minutes at least, and do you think I said a word to the girls on either side of me (who I must add also had their hands and feet stuck into the wall) ? Not a word! Not even a hello! I know, it's terrible isn't it? There we were, three women in search of the perfectly manicured nail, making the rational adult decision to pretend we didn't notice each other. So 'engrossed in the latest going-ons of "Fashion TV" we didn't notice somone sit beside us'. So intent on 'positioning our fingers and toes in such a way as to get the optimal blast of hot air' that we didnt notice someone else next to us doing exactly the same thing. Politeful Ignorance.
It's a funny world isn't it when you feel that others would be happier to be ignored. Granted half the time most people would be happier just left alone. I know that sometimes I just don't want to talk to anyone, that sometimes it physically pains me to have to make small talk, although luckily I seem to have been born with the ability to talk about the most trivial things for long periods of time with complete strangers! I think that's why cab drivers love me. I can talk about the traffic, the weather, and the state of the roads almost as much as them!
Today's society does not encourage people to interact face-to-face. Most of the time there's some medium the conversation must flow through. A telephone, a text message, the internet, television, the foggy smoke of a nightclub, a mirror. How many times have you gone to the hairdressers and had a conversation with your stylist through the mirror? He may have been standing next to you but for some reason if felt more comfortable if you both looked at each other in the mirror and talked.
I ask the question, Have we spent so long interacting with the "absent person" that we've forgotten how to deal with the real thing?
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