April 13, 2013
-
Report # 991
Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a wonderful weekend so far. The last few days have been just horrible here. It’s been rainy and cold, only around 8 C (48 F). I think the weather will gradually dry up and warm up in the next week or so, but after all of that super amazing weather that we had at the end of March, it just seems awful. I’ve still been running with the dogs everyday, and they’ve now both been out running 13 days in a row.
It was raining so hard yesterday that I got soaked and I ran so much I was actually bleeding by the time I got back home as my soaked shirt rubbed against my skin too much. As I’m typing this up, it’s pouring once again, but I’m hoping in a couple of hours it stops and I can take the dogs for a much more enjoyable run. The Vancouver Sun Run is next Sunday and I’ll have to head downtown one day between Thursday and Saturday in order to pick up my shirt and registration stuff.
It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already since the last Sun Run, but time just keeps flying. It will be nice to get this over with and beat my time significantly…. anything less would be extremely disappointing. On Wednesday afternoon I spent four hours mowing all of the lawns around the house. Seeing as I had no idea how to operate the riding lawn mower, I used the push mower for everything…. I believe this was only the second time in my life that I did everything in one day with the push mower.
I got through everything but the last lawn fairly easily, but the last big section was super wet and the lawn mower kept plugging up. It was a super frustrating experience but I just forced myself to get it done. By the time I got inside it was almost 7:00 pm, so I had spent four hours outside lawn mowing. And on Thursday I vacuumed the whole house and cleaned up as well, so everything was perfect by the time my parents returned home on Thursday afternoon.
Still no news about my visa this week, and I’ve continued to apply for jobs. I got an email for a job that I had applied for a few weeks ago asking me about coming in for an interview next week. I told them that I could come in on Tuesday and that if that doesn’t work I could come in another day. They’ll probably get back to me sometime on Monday. It’s kind of far away from here, but I’m not really getting many responses, so I can’t really just turn down opportunities get I get.
I got my tax money back the other day and it was just over $ 1,000 so that was a very nice return. It might have actually been the largest I’ve gotten back before. I also have been dealing with my BC medical payments, and it seems the government has been over-charging me for some time, so I filled out a form that I will send out on Monday, and then I will call back and ask if there are any sort of refunds available, because they’ve been ripping me off !
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve just been watching some probably one store horror movies online. I find them fun to watch sometimes, even though they can be pretty bad or utterly ridiculous. I’ve seen Home Coming, Anamorph, Forget Me Not, All of the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Teeth, My Bloody Valentine, Inside, Triangle, Walled In, and a few more I can’t even think of probably ! Maybe in another week or so I’ll start watching comedies or some different type of lousy movies !
Today I read an interesting article in the Vancouver Sun about some former vegetarians who have gotten into hunting. They we talking about how these people were “recovering vegetarians.” I thought that was a stupid way to refer to those people. The article made it sound like vegetarianism was some sort of condition or disease and that the people in the article had overcome it. However it’s very clear that vegetarianism is a personal choice !
It was interesting reading about how these former vegetarians had taken lessons and training and become hunters. They talked about how after eating the meat that they had hunted, they could never eat the packaged meat in stores, and that it is not real meat, but something that is trying to be real meat. The thing that surprised me most about the article was reading about how more young people had got involved in hunting, and specifically former vegetarians…. that was the most shocking !
An article like this just showed me that a lot of things can’t be viewed in black or white and there is so much more to some people than one would think just be viewing them a little. Everyone has their reasons for being a vegetarian. Some people do it because they are truly passionate about animals and don’t want to see any animal suffer, others do it maybe because of some rules in their religion, others do it because they think it’s a healthier lifestyle, and probably some people do it because they just don’t like any meat.
Now I certainly respect anyone who chooses to be a vegetarian for whatever their reason may be, however the ones who go out preaching to other people are certainly going overboard. No one should be ridiculed for being a vegetarian, and vegetarians can’t go overboard with trying to convert others to be vegetarians either. In this situation, the saying live and let live works perfectly.
Some places in the world are a lot easier to be a vegetarian than others. Here for example, there are lots of vegetarian products in the grocery stores, vegetarian offerings in restaurants, and even restaurants that specifically cater to vegetarians. In many other cities and regions of the world there really aren’t many options for vegetarians and that is very unfortunate.
It’s hard enough to be a vegetarian to get all of the essential nutrients, but living in a place where there is almost nothing available for a vegetarian would make the lifestyle very difficult, if not impossible to eat healthy. Clearly this has to change ! I’ve had soy cheese and soy milk before, and I enjoy both products, though of course I have no problem with milk and cheese, even if I’m not supposed to have it too often.
I’m not a fan of steak, pork, or roast beef, so I suppose I could be a vegetarian to some extent, though I do enjoy hamburger, chicken and fish ! I could never imagine being a strict vegan, as it would be extremely hard to avoid eggs and cheese and dairy as well, but I’m sure if I absolutely had to do it I could find a way. There is always rice and potatoes and cereal and pasta and of course fruits and vegetables, so it could definitely be possible !
There does seem to be a sort of stereotype that goes along with vegetarians though as being kind of urban young hippy punk people, but clearly this is a stereotype and there are vegetarians from all age groups, cultures and walks of life. And besides I could make the same case of there being a stereotype for some meat loving hunter as someone who is very country/hick, has a beer belly, drives around in a pick-up truck and blasts country music from the speakers.
In the end these are all just silly stereotypes and people would be foolish to think of them as being 100 % representative of the true people in those groups. So while I don’t have any plans to become a vegetarian, I like that I’ve been able to enjoy some products and knowing that I really could get myself to do it one day if I ever had to or decided to for whatever reason. Most importantly in this whole discussion is the treatment of animals, and that is something that is of utmost importance to me and many other people.
If any company is treating animals inhumanely in their practices, they should lose their licenses immediately and be fined heavily. Clearly the world has a way to go to start treating animals as well as they should be treated, and the ones who are raised for meat should be treated as well as they possibly can be treated…. no exceptions ! So my whole point today is that we should all respect people’s choices when it comes to what they eat, and we should be open to understanding people who choose to eat differently than ourselves.
Increasing the options of vegetarian choices in many regions around the world should be a focus for companies, as they truly have an opportunity to take hold of a marketplace that they’ve been missing out on. And everyone should be open to trying some vegetarian dishes, even if they aren’t vegetarian. Some of the products like soy cheese and soy milk are very good, and I can imagine some of the restaurant dishes out there would be amazing !
Anyways, for the next question:
Have you ever tried being a vegetarian before ? Is it something you would consider, why or why not ? Do you think animals raised for food are treated humanely enough ?
That’s all I have for today. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.
Comments (6)
Yes, I was a vegetarian for a number of years. It is hard to stick to it! When I got with my husband he had me cooking meat for him and before I knew it I was back to eating meat. It took awhile but now I eat everything that I cut out. I am shocked at how many people look down on people who don’t eat meat. It was really hard to get grills to clean the grill before they cooked my good because I didn’t want to eat off a grilled that had meat on it. It is really hard to find places that will be fair in price and food. If I get all veggies you want to charge me whole price. It is really hard to find places that don’t season their veggies with meat and the list goes on and on. I have had people make comments to me like the article suggested and I just ignore them. They are completely off the wall comments. I will say that I did get sick from not eating meat because my iron was dangerously low so I really needed to go back to meat. I will also tell you I am pretty sure I will go back one day. I just am not sure when that will be.
congrats on your tax return. and yes, i too dislike the term ‘recovering vegetarian’. sounds so dumb. as someone who was a raw vegan, i have learned a lot about vegetarianism, and met many people whom i have tremendous respect for. i get their reason and stand for being a vegetarian. and you are right, its a ‘personal’ choice.
animals are not raised for food, philosophy explains this, people would be brainwashed if they think that they are the highest and the chosen creatures, some religions believe that human are the chosen creatures and animals were raised to be used by human as food and clothes, this is very stupid and illogical!!!! everyone has their own lives everyone love life, and the most greatest thinkers believed in this idea, as the indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo said “Life is life whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man’s own advantage.”, i believe that in the far future, people will believe that killing any creature is very wrong, our ancestors in the past believed in some silly beliefs too but now, people their eyes are opened to the truth. sciences say that there is no difference between a baby human and baby kitty and baby lamb, so if choose to kiss baby human and feed baby kitty and kill baby lamb that would be very ridiculous and illogical!!! the way how human treat animals in farms factories are really cruel and has no relationship with humanity. do u know that in farms, they grind baby chicken alive by machines ??? it is really chamless to call myself human after knowing that human treat babies like this!!! i’m embarrassed to call myself human!!! look at this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ–faib7to I’M ASHAMED TO BE HUMAN!!!
I can understand your feelings about the weather. 48 degrees isn’t really bad at all, but from 60+ sunny weather dropping to cold and rain, those 40 degrees don’t feel so pleasant.
It is crazy the run was just a year ago. It’s like you posted about your experience for the second time last week!
4 hour yard work. Sounds fun.
I’m not a vegetarian nor do I plan to become one. I do feel for the animals, but I think that’d be too difficult, especially to be a vegan. The little restaurant I worked at in high school served special sandwiches and drinks for vegetarians/vegans. I knew a few people who would go in just for those sandwiches. I think it’s nice that the restaurant made sure to offer food for everyone.
I don’t really know if I could ever survive on being vegertarian, maybe just eating healthy.. I need a burger and steak every so often
That is a nice tax return and hopefully you get some sort of refund from the medical stuff.
I did a bit of a vegetarian stint in college. I just got grossed out at the the thought of where the meat came from. I couldn’t balance it well and ended up sick a lot. I do have iron deficiencies and I just crave red meat from time to time, so I’m not anymore. I do still have issues with how our food supply is handled in general, but I can’t afford to eat the much higher priced organic/ethically raised foods very often. I can’t bring myself to eat veal or lamb or any meats sourced from baby animals though. I don’t think that will ever change.