DEAR FURRY FRIENDS- YOU DESERVE BETTER!

Last night I watched the special Lady Gaga episode of Glee. The theme was self love and acceptance (in honour of Lady Gaga’s new release, Born this Way). It was one of the better episodes of Glee that I have seen. I watch it for the music, not the acting or the themes, but there was a song that was sung by Quin and whatserface that really got to me. It was a mix of ‘unpretty’ by TLC and ‘I feel pretty’ that ancient show tune. It was about how Rachel was going to get a nose job to look like Quin. I am not going to lie, a tear or two rolled down my cheek.

Recently in the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy, they tried to take a page from Glee and make it a musical episode. I don’t know what producers approved it, but they should be shot. It wasn’t that the singing was bad, actually- it was quite nice, but people don’t WATCH Grey’s for the singing. They watch Glee for that. I don’t like my light hearted musicals mixing with my heavy Doctor Dramas! And I hate to say it, but the majority of the world HATE musicals. I can almost guarantee that Grey’s episode got terrible ratings because probably 90% of their audience HATES musicals, but they were forced to watch it because it was the season finale. What a trick!

Stuart says I have a veneer of hardness (lacking in emotion) most of the time, but that in truth I am a big softy (like my dad). This may very well be true. I have been finding that a lot of things have been making me cry lately. I cried watching 16 and pregnant when she delivered her baby. I cried during four weddings, during an especially emotional ceremony. I cried watching a documentary on Will & Kate’s Royal Wedding where they did an excerpt from Princess Diana’s funeral with that gay knight singing Candle in the Wind. I cried during 1 Girl 5 Gays (I LOVE that show) when one of the guys told a story and started crying. I cried during 'Dear Zachary' which was a heartbreaking documentary on Netfliks. I highly recommend it.

I think my recent crying spree was actually started by something very serious and heartbreaking. If any of you have ever heard of or seen the movie ‘Earthlings’ (I haven’t) - you are courageous to have been able to sit through it. I stumbled upon it accidentally in a shallow escapade to find a music video by Dani Shay (Justin Beiber’s female lookalike). I was scrolling through her videos on YouTube and happened across her video ‘Me & You’ which is essentially a vegan singing about how we treat animals like Happy Meals and are ignorant to the true processes behind mass produced meat. The whole video was supported by clips taken from the movie ‘Earthlings’ and I was so in shock by some of the footage I saw, that I wasn’t sure whether or not to scream, cry or throw up. Personally, I didn’t think anything with such gory footage should be allowed on YouTube of all places, which is why I was so unprepared for what I saw.

I have several friends that are vegetarians after seeing movies like this but never thought I could be swayed from my carnivorous lifestyle. I am close. I’ve had images burned into my brain that have been haunting me. Images like foxes being harvested for fur coats, where farmers will kill them by stepping on their heads to crush their skulls, as to not get blood on the fur. Clips of pigs being killed by having big rocks thrown repeatedly at their skulls (like Piggy in Lord of the Flies) and cows being left to suffer with broken legs and diseases until they are slaughtered. I couldn’t even watch the whole three minute music video. I have been trying to work through the trauma by talking to people about what I saw (and mostly people don’t want to hear it). They tell me “maybe in third world countries they do that, but Canada and the US have laws and regulations ensuring our slaughterhouses are humane”. I know for a fact that isn’t entirely true.

Many years ago, I had a friend named Cory Willshaw (R.I.P.) who worked in a slaughterhouse and his job was to slit the throats of the pigs that came by his station, hanging upside-down on a pulley system. It was his only job. A repetitive motion over and over again. Sometimes he said his arm would get tired and he wouldn’t make the cut deep enough. He says he would be able to hear them screaming as they were pulled away. The next station after bleeding the pigs was a Vat of boiling hot water, where the (supposedly) dead pigs would be lowered so get all the hair and grime off of their bodies. Cory told me that sometimes when they were lowered into that Vat, they weren’t dead and he would hear them screaming as they were lowered into it. He says it haunted his dreams. This was in our beloved CANADA!

I lose sleep over thinking about these things. The same day I watched this video, was the day I heard about the cats that were found in a dumpster a few blocks from my home. Three cats that had had their right (or left) eyes dug out with what looked to be a pen. Two of the cats were just kittens and the third was an adult. Two of them also had all their teeth smashed out. That wasn’t a third world country either. That was right in my backyard! AND it wasn’t too long before it that a 14 or 15 year old girl was gang raped a few blocks (again) from my home. The cruelty of humanity knows no bounds. I am discouraged. How can I possibly think about bringing a child into a world like this? Are we fixable? I am a pessimist. I think that the world sort of works like that old saying ‘when a door closes, god opens a window’ and in that sense, when we obliterate one form of cruelty, another pops up somewhere else.

On a lighter note, I survived a week of puppy sitting. It was actually nice to come home to someone who is SO excited to see you; they can barely contain their excitement. Also, it is nice to have a reason to get out and walk to the park to throw a tennis ball. I would say the only downside is that Hanna is so big and my apartment is so small, so she just ended up doing the loop around the kitchen and living room all night. Also my slippers didn’t fare so well…I had to brush the dog slobber out of the fur. Blah! But other than that, it was nice to have a furry companion. I myself am more of a cat person than a dog person (mainly because dogs are more like babies and need more maintenance) but I imagine I will end up with one of each.

Anyway, I am done with my bleeding heart post. I am emotionally exhausted.Until next time loyal blog readers!...

All the SOMETHINGS and MORE...

Something I am concerned about:
My hair is falling out. In handfuls and clumps. In the shower my hair clings to the tile wall like little snakes and they slither down the drain by the dozens. I looked up what could be causing it and the results were staggering. It would be as simple as a hormone change or as complex as a vitamin deficiency. I have started taking my multi vitamins again just in case. My hair is too thick to be manageable on the best of days and so I am hoping this isn’t a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’.

Something I am happy about:
Spreading Blog-Love. I have several friends and acquaintances that have taken up the art of blogging and it warms my heart. I am under no illusions that my blog is eloquent, but I am finding that some of my friends have a true gift of the gab and I am really enjoying gaining insight into their world.

Something I am looking forward to:
Cottaging! Construction is almost complete on my partner’s cottage. I am excited because now I have two cottages to visit this summer and they are both so different! I can really take joy in the diversity of cottage life for the next four months. One is rustic and isolated and quiet and gritty and log cabin paradise and the other is air conditioning, flushing toilets, leather couches and pure urban delight in busy cottage country. I can almost taste the BBQ splendor…

Something I am angry about:
Politics! I am going to state a social taboo right now: I have never voted (GASP!). I am not entirely ignorant to the goings on in politics. I took at LEAST 3-4 politics courses in university. I understand how the system works and the general platforms adopted by each of the parties in our government. However, I find it difficult to follow election leaders and listen to them bash each other and spread lies and gossip. It is like the classist version of reading tabloids. People who know all the personal conflicts and juicy bits in the lives of politicians (in my opinion) are no better than the people who follow celebrity gossip and read magazines. I do neither. I know what my political beliefs and opinions are and I know that there isn’t much point in voting. Statistically speaking, the majority of people are either Liberals or Conservatives. Just to appease Stuart, I went online and went through one of those intensive questionnaires that tells you where you stand on the political spectrum (I already knew). They show the cross sections of your opinions and give you a little diagram of where you stand. Surprise surprise, I am SMACK DAB in the middle. I am entirely a social liberal and completely a fiscal conservative. I don’t think I could have been more on the line between left and right if I tried. Therefore, does it matter if I vote Liberal or Conservative? I am going to be equally happy and disappointed if either one wins. To be honest I have a better chance of getting what I want by voting Bloq.

Something I want to try:
Photography. So few people have the opportunity to use an amazing piece of machinery like the camera my Brother In-law won as part of a Future shop incentive. This camera (let’s be honest, could make ANYONE a great photographer) is probably worth $1600.00. I KNOW I have an eye for art and composition. I am not going to turn myself into a professional or anything, I just want to take some pretty pictures. However, even I can admit that I have a tendency towards ‘clutziness’ and I imagine my sister and her husband would be nervous even letting me HOLD the camera, never mind the experimental journey I want to take it on. So I guess only time will tell if I get to explore this desire.

Something that makes me sad:
My Punta Canadian tan officially came off in my last shower. I saw it happening on my shoulders and stomach and realized I needed to stop living the dream and exfoliate. There’s no two ways about it. It’s gone. I watched it go down the drain in a stream of orangey-brown bliss. I am back to being pale me. No more exotic tan to make me seem more interesting then I really am. Sad face.

Something I am nervous about:
The time crunch for finding a new place. Our building is getting torn down in the next year or so and we have to find another place before then. Any day now, I expect to get the ‘90 days notice’ that tells us to get out. Stu and I have spent some time looking at our options in the area of yonge/Sheppard in North York and our conclusion is: there aren’t any. We have about $250,000 to spend and nothing in this area exists at that price. Even an apartment with 400 square feet and a pull down bed starts at $215,000. Looks like we will be renting some gross basement apartment from here on out.

Something I am proud of:
My lack of vices! I don’t regularly drink coffee or use workout supplements. I don’t drink heavily or participate in casual drug use. I am not addicted to anything. I don’t really need to fulfill a craving of a particular food, ever. I find it easy to diet ( I like healthy foods, but finding the will power is another thing all together). I see my friends that have to have their morning coffees or they will kill someone and it makes me happy I never indulged myself with a warm drink in the mornings.

What I am reading:
Stephen King’s The Stand .It is probably one of the very first apocalyptic books. Originally written in 1978 and was based in the late 90’s. It’s absolutely hilarious to see how someone in the late 70’s would write about the 90’s. The most astounding of all is the inflation. Gas as $1.00 a gallon, wages are still in the in the 4-5 dollar category and sometimes as low as 0.30 cents an hour. They still speak of computer and TV monitors as big tubes and colour TV as a novelty. I am struggling to see myself in this book, having lived through the 90’s and I know how wrong some of his descriptions are. But I love me some apocalypse books and will scrape my way through all 1100 pages.

What I am eating:
Uncle Ben’s Express rice; vegetable medley flavour. I love any meal that takes 90 seconds in the microwave, costs under $3.00 and is under 300 calories for the whole thing!

SPANGLISH IS BEST....over French.

Back safe and sound from Dominican Republic, Punta Cana. It was an excellent trip, the weather was great (except for one rainy day) and it was mostly 30 plus degrees every day. I had several epiphanies while on vacation though. One of which is that I am a terrible flyer. I had a bout of motion sickness on the flight there. I didn’t throw up, but Stu says I turned green and my whole body was covered in a thin veil of sweat. The flight home wasn’t as bad- less turbulence, but the pilot thought he was doing us a favour by turning sideways (I’m talking 90 degrees, both ways) so that everyone in the plane could get a clear view of the Niagra Falls and of TO. I won’t lie, my stomach was doing looptie loops and I thought I might pass out when he started the decent- VERY QUICKLY. Next time I will just knock myself out with gravol- the real stuff- none of this ginger crap.

The second epiphany I had was that I prefer visiting communist countries and that as beautiful as Punta Cana was, I will likely never go back. The star ratings in Dominican are significantly less than in other warm climate countries. So a 4 star in Dominican would be a 3 star in Cuba or Mexico. Also, they don't speak a whole lot of English. Their national languages are Spanish and French. I know a small amount of French, but I decided my Spanglish would be more entertaining for the locals.

The food was good (but everyone knows you don’t go on these vacations for the food). Excellent fruit and lots of interesting rice options, but the cheese and milk/cream are not to everybody’s taste. But the accommodations were pretty shoddy. The beds were hard and the tv and the fridge were ancient and none of the outlets but ONE worked lol (and I brought my hair straightener). I must have tried to shove it into every outlet, I even tried pulling out the plug for the coffee maker, to see if that one would accommodate my North American Plug, but I ended up ripping out the entire outlet in the process (it was painted on). Apart from the accommodations, I found that in Punta Cana, tourists are walking dollar signs to a lot of the employees on and off the resort. You get bombarded by people wandering the beaches and around the pools trying sell you shirts, photos and excursions and EVERYONE wants a tip, in fact, they demand it. Our baggage boy actually said “service complete, tip now!” in the airport, no less.

We went on two excursions, a buggy tour though a farming village and horseback riding on the beach. During the buggy tour the children surround all tourists yelling “give me money, give me money” and if you don’t, their little fingers and grasping hands find their way into your purse or your pockets and the next thing you know, your tour guide is pulling children off of you, scolding them for trying to rob you blind. I had brought a couple pens from the resort to give to some of the nicer kids and while trying to hand them to a child, another ripped them out of my hand with a glare and I had to yell at him in Spanish to share with the other child. In Cuba, people didn’t care about your money because they couldn’t keep it. Wealth gets redistributed to the people and they like to be tipped with ‘stuff’ over cash, which I prefer.

The horses were great. They were all fast and spirited, even Jordana (who hates horses) enjoyed it. The tour guide noticed in the first 15 minutes that I was a fairly advanced rider and so he traded me horses. He says “you, get off” and at first I thought I was in trouble. So I dismounted and he hands me the reins for the horse he was on. “You rider girl, you take my horse Spilio, he is mine and mucho faster”.

He gave me his OWN PERSONAL HORSE that isn’t used for tourists. It was UNREAL…this horse was so fast and spirited and they let me run ahead of the group at a gallop. They gave Steve the biggest (north American looking) horse, that was a big stallion, but he was lazy compared to the geldings that everyone else rode, which seemed odd.

We played some beach volleyball, where I was an MVP and then we played tennis, where I was useless under the glaring mid-day sun. The boys played a lot of chess with those gigantic chess pieces and I think Stuart may have won a single game out of 5 or 6. We didn’t buy much there because the prices were criminal. They tried charging me 43 dollars for flip flops and 36 dollars for SUNSCREEN!! The prices on the resort were appalling.

But we did catch some of the local vendors and bought some jewelry and trinkets (the turtle is like their mascot). I didn’t get much colour and either did Stuart. We found out pretty early that he is allergic to sun, or the sunscreen because he broke out in boils all over his body. I swear though, because Americans go to Dominican, I have never seen so many TERRIBLE beach bodies! HUGE woman in small bikinis and EVERYONE was topless (Euro style). Nor have I seen so many men in banana hammocks or tiny little euro shorts. Also,I have never seen so many ugly wrinkly sagging boobs in deep tan brown in my LIFE lol. Stuart was shocked at first but said by the end of the week, he was numb to boobs.

And of course, no trip would be complete without me getting some sort of virus before the end of the trip. Sore throat, congestion and the D’s. I am pretty well over it now, but there is nothing like being in warm climates or in an airport with the grumblies in your tumblies.

The last epiphany I had was that I am definitely 26. Yeah, it sounds young until you start trying to drink with the 18 year olds that you befriended on the resort. Or try dancing with them at the Disco (which is another thing I didn’t like at the resort. It was a PAY BAR. At a resort where every bar is free and flowing, when you finally really want to party at the club, you gotta fork out the Americana deniro). We made a few friends on the resort ….two of them were these 45 year old cougars that left their husband and kids at home to come and mess around with the staff. Good looking and REALLY funny ladies, but they were hooking up with locals and I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring their husbands more than souvenirs when they get home.

All in all, it was a great experience and gave me a taste for the vacation lifestyle. It’s an itch I want to scratch again, and soon. It was Stuart’s first All Inclusive experience and I don’t think he is complaining, but he does like a vacation with a little more structure. He once told me he thought it would be like the ‘Hard Rock on Sundays’ where everyone is good looking and dancing and partying the entire week away. I think he was a little shocked and appalled at the beached whales that were staying at the resort. Oh well, we could have gone to a more ‘spring break’ type of location and the problem would have been that WE were the beached whales. I definitely don’t prefer the latter.

Until next time, Loyal Blog Readers…