On Returning to Vegetarianism

So in November of 2006, I entertained the idea of becoming a vegetarian. Of course, when I shared the news with my parents, they would have none of that because they were good parents. I was still quite young and still growing; denying my body the nutrition it needs to develop was not the goal. And I was unclear as to my reasons why I would choose this diet. It wasn't about being healthy, it wasn't because I disliked the taste (au contraire, it was my favourite food group), it wasn't really about the animals either. I think at the time, I wanted to be a vegetarian just to be a vegetarian. To me, they were interesting and had my respect because, hey, finding meat alternatives is hard and expensive. Not to mention my family wasn't well known for holding back in the meat department (innuendo unintended but there nonetheless. Bite me.)

But, I became a vegetarian. My family would offer me a piece of chicken, and I would say

and that would be that. Sometimes, it was a little more difficult to say no. My dad makes the best steaks ever. I am serious, he has never made a misteak (badum-chhh!) So when I prodded the beans and rice and tofu chicken on my plate and my dad waved a piece of steak in my face, it was less of a "harumph!" and more of a

My artistic skills are unmatched 

Seriously. If I had three wishes, one of them would definitely be for meat alternatives to taste as orgasmically good as the real thing. Sadly, it's not true. Also, I know how a lot of people say that after they joined the ranks of the vegetarian, many great things happened. Their health improved dramatically, they had boosted energy, they lost weight and so on. None of that happened for me. Absolutely not one of those things. I developed low blood iron levels, resulting in constant lethargy, I was sick no less often than usual, and was actually a bit on the pudgy side for a while. I'm not claiming that this happens to everyone. For all I know, I was an anomaly and you really can get super powers from becoming vegetarian (I know, the pop culture reference states that only vegans get super powers, but for the sake of the joke just go along with it.) But I'm getting side-tracked.

Anyway, as you may have guessed from the title of this post, at some point I stopped being a vegetarian. I don't remember the exact date, but it was August 2011 that I ordered a chicken wrap at some random restaurant. Why did I stop? For many reasons, but mainly because I have had this strange ability to move my shoulder joint around in its socket. I've had this condition for as long as I can remember. I had it checked out when I was eight or so, and the good doctor told me I should grow out of it in time. It has been over ten years, and I still haven't grown out of it.

Dr Little thought this might be because my diet lacks enough calcium and magnesium and whatnot to develop  and maintain strong ligaments. My ligaments were weak, and they were causing this shoulder grinding thing. If this kept up, my ligaments would degrade. Right now, I am susceptible to shoulder dislocation, although it has not yet happened. In the future, I will be susceptible to arthritis I guess. So in order to combat this, I agreed to include meat in my diet once more. But not beef. The environmentalist in me wouldn't let me consume beef. I'll get into that in a later blog maybe.

So for about seven months, I partook in the chicken and the turkey and the pork, and I enjoyed it. Everything was so delicious! Of course, once in a while I fell back into my old vegetarian routine, which usually consisted of a roasted veggie-something, but that happened rarely. Now, I could once again have turkey jerky, one of my dirty little addictions.

I had gone into University, and started to lose some weight. Nothing substantial, maybe a few pounds. And the food I was eating was delicious! But I decided to return to my vegetarian ways. Why?

...

...

Honestly, I dunno. Maybe I still have that initial desire to be vegetarian. Maybe my conscience is kicking into high gear and I'm feeling guilty because in a developed world, there is little need to consume meat in the first place. If you think about it, the only real reason people eat meat is because it's delicious. It isn't necessary for survival; meat is a luxury item. I have to call into question which I value more; my personal craving for something that merely tastes amazing, or the life of the animal that not only died to feed me, but lived to feed me as well. 

Now, I may be a student of the environment, and I may be a vegetarian, but I am not a hippie. I'm sceptical, I'm a scientist at heart, and I'm a bit pessimistic most of the time. I do retain a little bit of hope though. And I figure that if I can take my supplements (I'm terrible at remembering to take those darned things) I should be okay. Life isn't about satisfaction on the physical level alone.

Sometimes, it is necessary to stroke one's imaginary philosopher beard to achieve understanding of what I just said.

Anyway. What this boils down to I guess is that I actually like being a vegetarian for the metaphysical benefits. It makes me feel good in- well- a spiritual way. And I'm not even into spirituality. It's difficult to articulate. I don't even feel like I need to explain myself or have a reason at all for choosing this lifestyle. It suits me.

Hey, maybe you should give it a try too! Maybe you'll like it! Or maybe not. Who knows?

When There's Trouble... You Know Whom to Call

Just as a note to start off, I know that's not how the lyrics actually go, but I'm a bit of a grammar snob and couldn't help myself. If I had a super power, it would be the awesome and totally useful power of proper grammar. Evil beware.

In case you haven't guessed, the title refers to a television series that is close to my heart. A little show called "Teen Titans," which aired for five seasons that ran from 2003 to 2006. When Teen Titans came out on Cartoon Network, I was 10 years old. I was the target audience; this stuff was specifically geared towards people like me. And I ate it up.

I wasn't able to watch each episode as it came out, so I didn't get to see the episodes chronologically. Sometimes, re-runs were thrown into the mix, so I would watch those as well. Eventually, episodes of Teen Titans stopped airing on Cartoon Network (or for me, YTV) in favour of other shows geared towards ten year olds. By that time, I rarely watched the station because, hey, I was a teenager now. I had just started high school, and teenagers don't watch Cartoon Network (yet they do, but more on that later.) I watched shows like So You Think You Can Dance, CSI, the one about finding the next Pussycat Doll (of which I am eternally ashamed for watching), and others like that. This was less about me liking the actual shows and more about having something in common with everyone else my age. This first year of high school was symbolic of many changes I went through, along with so many of my peers. It was the year I became a vegetarian; the year I got my first boyfriend; the year I stepped out of my comfort zone and didn't look back. It was probably one of the most influential years of my life.

Around the time I turned seventeen, I started feeling very nostalgic. It started with movies from my youth: Don Bluth movies like the Land Before Time and An American Tail; Disney movies like all of them; movies like the Wizard of Oz, Tom and Huck, and Jurassic Park; home movies of Christmas in the early nineties. I'd watch a movie and get a rush of emotion that was both incredibly happy and yet sad as well. I remember one day I had gone to a Value Village to do some thrifty clothes shopping and was looking at a shelf of VHS movies and found Bambi. We never owned Bambi before, but I had seen it a few times when my sisters and I watched it in our Aunt and Uncle's basement. I felt an overwhelming need to see it again, and it was only a few bucks, so I bought it. I went home, dusted off our old 24-inch TV with a built-in VCR, popped it in and heard the long-forgotten but familiar clicks and whirs of the movie player. Then the movie started, and I was lost in the memories. I recalled my Aunt and Uncle's basement, with their black leather couches, dimmer lights, and cream-coloured carpets. I tasted cinnamon hearts, smelled potpourrie, and felt the sleeping-bag and air mattress that us kids were always made to sleep on. All this, from watching one 70-minute film. It was almost overwhelming. From then on, I was hooked on nostalgia.

Next came the video games. We got our first gaming console, the Nintendo 64, Christmas 2000. Of course, less than a year later, the Nintendo GameCube came out, and soon after N64 games were discontinued, so it was a short-lived part of childhood. There were a few games that I played very often. There was Yoshi Story, Star Wars Pod Racer, Pokémon Stadium, and (if you didn't see this one coming, shame on you) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I had beaten all the levels on Yoshi Story, simply got bored of Star Wars and Pokémon Stadium, and made the mistake of lending Ocarina of Time to my cousin, never to see it again.

Again, jump ahead years later to my late teens, and I had found a copy of Ocarina of Time- a gold cartridge no less! I inserted it into the console, picked up the N64 controller, and switched it on. Of course, the first time I tried to get the game going, it didn't start. But I knew how to fix the problem. After blowing into the cartridge, I was ready to give it another go. This time, I was greeted to the Nintendo logo and the sound of hoof-beats, followed by the all-too familiar title theme. I was once again transported to my old basement; the ugly floral chairs, the fear of what hid beneath the stairs, and the natural coolness that accompanied being in the basement. It was intoxicating; I needed more.

Finally, skip ahead to last week when I decided to watch each episode of Teen Titans in order. I may or may not have cried once or twice by the end of the series. There were some episodes which were so emotionally charged (I'm looking at you, "How Long is Forever?" and "Aftershock pt 1 and 2" and one more that I will mention later) and some that were so hilarious ("Mad Mod", "Episode '257-494'", y'know what, pretty much all of them). By the time I reached the end, that last FRIGGIN' episode broke my heart into at least 14 pieces. The final episode aired before the show was cancelled was a little thing called "Things Change", and it was hard to watch knowing it was the last episode. It's hard to describe this episode without explaining all the other episodes Terra has been in (in total, she's been in six or seven). But basically, Terra has a super power she can't control and is afraid she will hurt those around her if she loses control. She confides this information to Beast Boy, making him promise that he will never tell anyone, a promise he keeps. Terra goes on a mission with the Titans, endangers them, has a run in with Slade- the main antagonist of the series- where he tells her he can help her control her powers. She ultimately proves to be reliable as a team mate, and is offered a permanent spot as a Teen Titan. She initially accepts, but after Robin mentions that she has trouble controlling her power, she assumes Beast Boy has betrayed her and told Robin her secret. She leaves, and accepts the help from Slade and became his apprentice. Later, she re-joins the Titans and a relationship begins to develop between her and Beast Boy. I'd get into Terra's story more, but I think you should just watch season 2. My explanation is doing her character injustice.

Basically, what happens at the end is heart breaking and I cannot rest until I see that there is at least some closure to that storyline. I've heard that there are rumours that, if the new shorts do well, a sixth season might be made! Of course, these are just rumours, but when I heard them, I nearly cried tears of joy. It would be sweet, sweet justice to have this great series end conclusively, with each end tied neatly and each issue resolved.

So I will sit here and hope tirelessly for the unlikely to happen, and for a great show to come out of a 6 year hiatus as it should.

I am a Casual Photographer

This happens to be one of my older- but nonetheless favourite- pictures I've taken. I don't know what the deal is with downloading images on blogspot, but if anyone wants to download I will plug in my DA account address :3
Also, you will be able to look at other pictures and stuff. Not that I'm asking or anything. >.>
http://violetskye-heva.deviantart.com/
Have a great day!

What the Show?

Hey! You! The one reading my blog!
First off, thanks for finding me, I'll have likely been floating around for ages in the Internet by the time you read this.
I suppose you might be wondering why I'm bothering with a blog. I lack the charisma to really captivate readers, and nothing really interesting really happens to me. And I'm not going to say that this is just for me, because if that were true, I wouldn't bother posting it online for whoever to see. Hell, I don't even know if I'll even be able to maintain a blog without, you know, completely forgetting about it.
I want to find my niche, I guess.
I'm a bit of a casual photographer, so maybe I'll do a picture thing.
Maybe I'll do a list thing. You know, like, 5 Reasons Why I'm Single, or something like that.
I've been meaning to keep track of my dreams, so maybe I'll make this a dream journal.
OR MAYBE ALL OF THE ABOVE!
I'll be testing the waters extensively for the first few days or weeks or whatever, then I shall decide. I really hope at least one person will enjoy this blog eventually!