19kgs in 17 weeks

This is a christmas countdown thing. Having had the usual fatty-wak-up-call of 'OHMIGOD-is that-actually-ME????' in photos, I have decided to lose quite a bit of poundage.
I'd like to say I'm only doing it for health reasons (and I am kinda, my BMI is 30.7 which makes me officially obese), but truly I'm just after rediscovering the 'hotness'.
Sorta.
So, it's back to dear od Weight Watchers, counting points and weekly weigh-ins and such. However, I did lose 9kgs on the programme last time, so I figure it will prbably work again.
I have a few things in mind that will motivate me;
* My sister in laws wedding in december (=lots of photos...)
* Increased fertility
* Swimming season returns...
* Soo many pretty summer clothes that look shite on fat people
and other noble concerns.
Truly, even If I can shift 10kgs or so I'll be (reasonably) happy. Want tummy fat to be a distant horrible memory, want to wear jeans and like it, want to put on a cozzie without major mental trauma, want my husband to be able to lift me without doing his back in, want to wear pretty things, lots and lots of pretty things!
So there it is. This blog will now be used for weekly weigh-in update and such and will therefore become quite dull to most everyone. So Ner.

Like a flag unfurled

I have the theme music of 'Against the Wind' running around my brain like a naughty toddler. Just when I think it's asleep it pops up again. In other news the 'i' on my keyboard now requires pressing with approxmately twice as much pressure as every other key to get it to work.
I cleaned the cottage for the inspection that never happened and I suspect I'm being frozen out due to non-attendance at fund-raising gala thingy. This is highly unfair as reason for non-attendance was financial. Now resent freezing people for expecting me to part with my last $20 rather than use it to get to work as I must.
I have exactly 6 days of teaching left before holidays and am going to mark them down with a big aggressive red permanent marker. I am going to bed tonight seriously worried that trees will fall through my roof due to gale force winds howling about outside.

The Veganomicon is better than every other book ever.

It is.

Last night (for my birthday) Mr cooked up a broccoli-polenta [pan-fried squares], a braised seitan/kale/brussels with sundried tomato and red-wine and an awesome pear/snow-pea sesame sprout salad. It was all from the http://theppk.com/ (that's Veganomicon grand-central) and it was gorgeous!! I mean, lip-smacking-why-isn't-my-stomach-bigger-so-I-can-fit-more-flavour-in? kind of delicious.

Broccoli polenta sounds odd, but it just makes the polenta go "rar!!".

So, this morning, being suitably impressed and inspired, I made their chickpea/quinoa pilaf and their chilli-chocolate Mole sauce to serve over steamed veges. The Mole is OHMYGODAWESOME. IT's 'Like Water for Chocolate' awesome, it's a mouth-gasm x 300.

So, I very very highly recommend that anyone who feels like making a Vegan happy buy this tome and start creating. So far, everything we've cooked from it has been utterly fabulous!

In other news, I did quite a decent beef seitan the other day, and quite a decent chicken one a couple of days later. I'm still no buddhist master of mock-meat, but it's certainly getting there!

I am having very definite fantasies about holding a dinner party in the next school holidays...I think my good friends probably need a vegan experience they will remember...

I think the menu will look like this

Entree: Sesame pear salad

Main: Broccoli polenta rounds served with choice of braised seitan in red-wine or Mole

Dessert: thick caramel pudding with hot sauce and soy ice cream

between coughs

I coughed alot. then tried sleeping in a sitting-up position, then lay down again, cos it just made me cold, then dreamed of a mansion, Hugh Laurie, hiding from people, bench-sex, a foldable car that was unpacked when we got to Dunedin airport (it needed hoising down though,-he told me to wait at the top of the hill while he fixed it), a leisure cruise where a werewolf and I had a stand-off with a pencil and a hand-drill and then decided, very reasonably, that we'd just be friends and NOT try to kill each other again. Other werewolves were very impressed with our forward-thinking.
Then I coughed a lot more.
Now it's Black-Bean veges and tofu for dinner or Schnitzel and mash....am having trouble with decisions due to severe lack of undisturbed sleep.
Have discovered that honey and cinnamon in hot water is a truly lovely thing but that doesn't help my motivation to clean the house. I'm not pregnant again, but am going to spend a couple of hours studying statistics while the rain falls in great wintery gusts outside.
Would walk to petrol station to get firewood, but think walking in rain with bronchitis may be silly. Will wear 3 jumpers instead and drink litres of tea.
In other news, Dale stole my mojo, but admitted it -so everything's alright now.

Pickering's on holidays

And I'm between everythings. Not pregnant, am studying, am working, not happy.
Am endeavouring not to be pissed off at everyone, but am failing dismally.
Note: Am not pissed off at lovely Mr. Mr has to now wait until 'reasonable Cath' resurfaces. This will happen....eventually...but he's the only one likely to stick it out.
These are some of the reasons one gets married.

Choking on the sun

I have 300 bazillion Jerusalem artichokes to give away to intrepid foodies/gardeners. Please please please take them off my hands. I like the little buggers, but not THAT much.

Also planted foxgloves, primulas, pansies, jonquils, snow peas, sugar snap peas, NZ spinach, Kale and brocoletti for winter growing and am completely packed and organised for Caloola. Away for a blissful week of long walks, family time, biking around Burly Griffin and such. Toorah and be back in a week:-)

Results soon consumed...

What Brett gets for dinner when I'm on holidays...

All day to do very little, crisp autumn air, cool breeze,-obviously cooking is the thing that needs to be done.

So, in my endless quest to make Gluten 'meats' as well as those damn buddhists, I set about making 'Chicken' cutlets. I added and subtracted and included crazy things that shouldn't work at all. I kneaded and pressed and crumbed and fried.

Not too bad methinks. I checked a little bit off the edge of one and it is distinctly 'chickeny' although the texture wasn't exactly what I wanted....maybe I shouldn't have pressed.

So Mr gets chicken seitan cutlets, pepper gravy, roast spuds, roast pumpkin, carrot, kumera and cauliflower with ginger and preseved lemon, steamed greens and chocolate cake for dessert. In other news, this is the coolest artwork I've seen in ages.

A gorgeous little 'wunderkammer' of fairy artefacts. it's hanging in the revamped Edge Cinema art gallery. There's a surprising amount of great stuff up there actually. Catch a film, peruse the art and all that...we did this on our 1st wedding anniversary the other day. Oh, 'Race to Witch Mountain' isn't about witches. If you like aliens and teenagers and rotten storylines, you'll love it. Other than that, I would like a glass of champagne and $200 to spend at the Green Gourmet grocery,...and cooking classes with a buddhist chef, and to have my hair done all pretty and stuff, and another $200 for my garden, and to lose 10kgs, and to go horse riding in autumn colours, and the 'Wuthering Heights' soundtrack, and to be pregnant. Just today, I'll have to settle for chicken seitan and about a million veg. Cheers.

Hermit Days

OK. I am shit at communication in general. I have been upbraided and am suitably chastised. This big ol world is just full of stuff that needs my attention and so occasionally I 'zone out'. Every now and then 'stuff' is just too much and I spend my days having bubble baths, listening to music that makes me weep at its beauty, walking amongst trees and cooking fabulous things.
This does not make me one of the 'popular' people, to say the least.
I decided a good time ago that 'quality of life' was far better than quantity. I have been a hermit-type for many years. My heart got all broke and I discovered this particular part of myself.
I also discovered that people hate this about me. Quite the connundrum.
For now, I ask patience from those willing to give it, and send a big 'screw you' to everyone else. You want a happy Cath? Let me have my peace so I can find her somewhere amidst this maelstrom.

I found my camera!!! and other happenings...

Yay! Oh so very yay! I thought the little snap-taker was truly gone for good and lo! She was just hiding under a set of drawers....clever minx. This means that all and sundry get to be bored witless again by photos of my garden,-good times.

We've had a picture-perfect sunday. We slept til we woke, ate a leisurely breakfast in the crisp morning air and headed down to Springwood to retrieve 'Wuthering Heights' (Fiennes/Binoche) from Video Ezy. I may watch the whole thing, -I may just listen to the soundtrack. Then Mr gets all 'I-bizzarely-don't-want-to-sit-on-my-ass-all-day-and-play-computer-games' and suggests we go for a walk. So off we trot to the Terrace Falls walk in South Lawson (and I don't take the camera.....). What a wonder! The water gushed over pristine rocks and white river sand, little green and red yabbies frolicked happily in the waterfall spray and Mr sank into quicksand most comically. We walked for about an hour and were delighted to discover that we have many further walks in the same area to discover on ensuing weekends (WITH the camera).

We headed home all lightly-sweaty and generally high on oxygen and Mr (again, -bizarrely) decides he will pull out the Vegonomicon and cook dinner for us.

A massive pot of spicy Jambalaya is now sitting on the kitchen bench awaiting evening consumption (Oh Lydgate...you really should have been here for this day!). I got all inspired and whipped up our soup for tomorrow at the same time, a lovely sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, ginger, cumin and coconut cream concoction, with plenty of chilli. I will buy some extra-yummo crusty bread tomorrow before work.

As if all this crazy activity wasn't well-enough for one day, I have also cut and collected kindling for tonights fire. It's now 4pm and I'm still restless and looking for other industrious things to do...I'd start the Brocade silk quilt, but have no backing material...payday tuesday though:-)

So, that was my day, and here's the shots of my luscious and fruitful little bit of earth,-particularly pleased with the corn. One feels oddly clever when picking produce that one planted as a wee seed. Very satisfying and wholesome and all that.

Completely impressive Mustard Greens. Lightly saute with Nuttelex, Garlic and Lots of Vegeta and Black Pepper. Oh soooooo goood!

The cannot-be-bought-in-supermarkets Hubbard Squash. Completely unimpressive next to my mum's effort. She has grown an ohmigosh-massive one in her garden, but as I'm not at all competitive, I shall just mention that her garden has better sunlight exposure than mine and besides she inherited really really good soil that someone else worked on for ages and stuff....

And finally, the umerow who (as a teenager now) prefers NOT sleeping with mummy or daddy anymore and has found various new sleepy-spots. The bag under the bed is a current favourite, as is the spare room bed (her own room.....spoiled much?) and the couch (as long as there's a nice big quilt on it for nesting purposes). Mr just showed me his truly heinous toenails that are 'less festy' than they used to be, but I will spare you the imagery....shudder.

outlander movie

Go on, tell me this isn't Jamie Fraser.

And this isn't Jenny;

And this isn't Clare Beauchamp/Fraser;

Course you can't. That's because it's a stellar example of perfect casting. Tweet.

Waiting for the Wicker Man

I am literally waiting for a 'Wickerman' double bill on television tonight. Sheer bliss.
In the meantime I am quite cranky at a lot of people and thinking I need to be a bit more pro-active on the performance front.
I have made vege pie and madeira cake with glazed figs, I have cleaned the cottage and I have planted calabrese broccoli.
I have been very pleasant to boring people and celebrated nothing to make them happy. I think it's my turn sometime soon.
Wendy Orr and Robin McKinley are worth every second. And that's all.

blogsvertise

This is an experiment in trusting internet earning schemes.
Plusses: No flashing lights or annoying cookies and doobies
It's like a random writing task; I just have to write about whatever subject/product they ask me to. It doesn't have to be positive. Just here.
Minuses: Stay posted. Who knows?
Curioser and curioser said Alice....
and before anyone gets all judgy and preachy,-I currently earn less than $400 a week, so any extra income is very very welcome.
I have teeth that need attending and a very urgent holiday in Scotland to prepare for.
these things are important in Lark world.
http://blogvertise.com

It's his party but I'll cry if I want to

Odd phenomena;
Take vegan food to a BBQ and meatatarians eat it before you can.
Friendly is good. Doormat is bad.
You will always spend the evening talking to the people that you didn't really plan on talking to.
Midnight always comes around very fast.
All babies that arrive will be gorgeous and make you jealous and weepy.
Weird things will fall out of trees and into your hair.
You will feel oddly fat and not at all 'the life of the party'
You are always left wondering why you didn't have a chance to speak to your best friends but wasted hours talking 'shop'
You resolve to be a size 8 and a brilliant but aloof conversationalist at the next event.
Lydgate will not come down with a case of the evil phlegm-monster next time.
You realise that boring brown is boring brown but aren't quite brave enough to go pink.
Everyone will see you as a complimentary cigarette machine and not realise that you have $20 to your name until pay-day.
You are vaguely perturbed that everyone else is going to mardi-gras fabulously while you sit in a coffe shop and talk business.
Your brother strokes your husbands hand in greeting, but barely registers your existence.
$200 flew away and you don't know where exactly.

This is what happens when you weekend in Newtown.

Crichton vs Lovelock

but Lovelock's prognosis is much more bleak. He suggests that the current population of six billion humans will be cut to a more ecologically sustainable half-to-one billion people. "How will this mass cull happen? "It'll be worse than Hitler - Gaia's going to do it," says Lovelock. He writes about this chillingly at the outset of the Revenge of Gaia, where he considers the December 2004 tsunami. "That awful event starkly revealed the power of the earth to kill. The planet we live on has merely to shrug to take some fraction of a million people to their deaths. But that is nothing compared with what may soon may happen; we are now so abusing the Earth that it may rise and move back to the hot state it was in 55 million years ago, and if it does, most of us, and our descendants, will die."

Lovelock is often regarded as the nutty old grandpa of futurists and environmental scientists. He doesn't hold back with his predictions regarding the dire state of our planet. Temperate climates to rise by 8 degrees on average over the next 50 years would see the vast majority of food-producing land become desert. The science-fiction of the gulf-stream producing a new ice-age would be tempered by global warming, instead making the arctic and northern europe the only hospitable climes for human population.

Reading Lovelock's 'Gaia' philosophies and observations are enough to give anyone the screaming heebie-jeebies, and certainly enough for this person at least to take the opportunity to ask one and all to re-think their food production and consumption impact. With the very real potential of vast amounts of our food-production acres being rendered useless in the next 50 years by global warming, perhaps it is high time that we used what land we have for efficient farming. To meet the caloric needs of our population, we must turn away from unsustainable meat farming practises and cultivate grains and vegetable crops. We simply cannot continue to reclaim wild lands for food production. The earth as a living organism needs forest, swamp and ocean to self-regulate the air we breathe.

Please do or say something about the wholesale plunder of our oceans, from which we derive 70% of our oxygen. Oppose shark-hunting from purely neanderthal fear-response and realise that when you decimate the top of the ocean food chain you seriously alter the proliferation of sub-species, many of whom feed on the micro-algae that produce our oxygen.

Remember that as stewards of this planet, we must take active steps to ensure its continuing health. Just using energy-saving lightbulbs and taking shorter showers wont cut it people. these are 'too-little-too-late' bandaid actions designed to make you feel secure that you're 'doing your bit'. I urge everyone to use whatever land is available to you to start growing as much of your own food as you are able, Soaring food-prices will soon make this a necessity. Learn the basics now. Support local produce markets and vastly reduce your consumption of highly processed goods. Learn to live with less, a lot less.

http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock/

Ahhh memories

Just thought I'd re-post this to myself as a reminder of days-gone-by. It took me an hour to find it.


ANONYMOUS BOY
So now that Stephen has answered my question about monkeys making your lunch, I have a better question: If you were at the restaurant at the end of the universe and met that cow who wants to be eated, would you order the steak? What about if the carrots were genetically engineered to be intelligent and didn't want to be eaten but the cow still did?And you didn't answer THE LARK'S question about pregnant mare's urine. But surely the mare has to piss anyway? Wouldn't it be ok if it were free-range horse piss?
ANONYMOUS BOY.
Oh, I have another issue, re environmental impact. There was a bit of a debate in the Greens' newsletter a couple of years ago started by a letter written by an ex-vegetarian. She had read Mike Archer and Bob Beale's Going Native and decided to start eating kangaroo meat. Not everyone agreed with her but she put forth a pretty good argument.
9:29 AM
THE RAVEN AND THE WRITING DESK
That's funny - read my LJ post for today. Coincidence or voodoo?Stephen the Vegan is my new hero
9:49 AM
THE WRITER
I like to eat meat. What about kangaroo vs cow? Kangaroo would surely be better at least because they cause less erosion and require less pasture improvement?Another issue is that I was vegetarian for about six years but I developed an alarming tendency to pass out but that is beside the point.
10:40 AM
THE RAVEN AND THE WRITING DESK
Kangaroo is way, way better for the environment than beef, a fair bit better for the eater, and significantly worse for the kangaroo.
1:29 PM
THE LARK
Sigh. Until eating a steak will definitively blow up the planet (literally) people will find a reason to keep eating it. I don't know why people are so passionate about continuing the habit, but I'm sure Ken would be happier to drive his car less than give up 'real' food.Yes, eating Kangaroo would be better this country, but what's the bet we'd find a way to factory farm them too, and genetically manipulate their growth rates etc?And sorry THE WRITER, but a deficient diet is a deficient diet, vege/meat/fruit whatever. I've been a vege since I was 15 and a vegan for 4 years and the last time I passed out was entirely my fault (vodka is NOT a food staple and should not be consumed instead of dinner...).The easiest option is to take some responsibility for your diet/health and impact on the planet and read a few books to make sure you'r getting the nutrients you need. Oh, and TV is often not the best source of nutritional information. (Rant, rave, spit etc)
2:47 PM

I EAT AND I AM
Re: cow at the end of the universeAfter not eating cow for over a year, I really have no desire to eat it. And something coming up to me and saying "eat me" tends to border on belligerency. But I'd like to have a nice vegan meal and watch the universe collapse in on itself! Who's up for it?Re: intelligent carrotIs the carrot still being grown in the ground? Yes? Can it feel "pain" when being picked and eaten? No? Okay, I'd probably still eat it, especially if it was pleading to be allowed to live. Mwa ha ha!Re: kangarooI guess I have no real environmental problem with kangaroo. It is a comparatively healthy lean meat and if anything should be farmed, paws are far nicer to Australian soil than hooves. This still leaves my moral dilemma against encouraging factory farming, which I can't see being reconciled if demand for kangaroo increased. Kangaroo overpopulation is apparently a huge problem too, although accepting this argument opens up a whole new debate about whether or not we should eat humans. I'm all in favour of eating humans.Plus it's difficult enough explaining why I'm vegan without having to add on: "but I eat kangaroo because...".Re: Steven the veganYeah, I loved that clip. The humour especially appeals to vegans, who've probably had to field all manner of stoopid questions like that. I like his response to the cooked pig bit at the end too. I wonder a bit about drinking human milk, though. If humans were being milked would they be adequately protected against exploitation? Technically human milk is designed for neonates to pack on weight as quickly as possible (as is cow milk for calves). Food for thought...re: THE WRITER'S diet, which may or may not be questionableI've had so many great suggestions from both THE LARKand THE RAVEN AND THE WRITING DESK regarding a healthy vegan diet. Perhaps you guys can help THE WRITER too? And THEWRITER, you can still have lychee sorbet if you're vegan! Plus you'll be able to relate to half the population of Newtown.

THE WRITER
Dear THELARK,In the nicest possible way, get stuffed.Love THE WRITER
4:50 PM
SOMEONE
Funnily enough I ran into this article today whilst procrastinating:http://www.shoutwire.com/comments/87719/Real_Men_Eat_Meat_be_Gone_Vegans
10:12 PM
THE COUPLE
I would take anything published in a country that justifies whaling as "scientific", with a grain of salt.Obviously not too much salt, as that would lead you to Ken's health problems...And the Japanese whaling is scientific. Do whales taste good? Well that one does. Let's harpoon another one and see if it tastes good too...
11:19 PM
THE LARK
Dear THE WRITER,In the nicest possible way...already am,-but thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure which way to go though. Hazelnuts are yummy with breadcrumbs, but I've alwasy preferred almonds and herbs. Any suggestions?
12:12 AM

THE COUPLE
Has anyone also stopped to think about the environmental impact of factories created to produce soy milk, tofu and "not meat" products? These things aren't plucked from the ground in this form yet the damaged caused by this process is ok because they don't contain meat? One thing I've come to realise about vegans is that there are arguments for both sides and for people who don't want to be picked on or judged for their life choice they generally spend a lot of time trying to convince others that their way is right. If you don't want to have to justify why you are a vegan or why you choose kangaroo then just leave their choice to eat meat alone.And in regards to criticising Dale's diet as a Vegie no-one even stopped to ask what she ate before jumping to the conclusion that she had an inadequate diet. Some people need more than a vegie diet can provide, including an anaemic friend of mine who was ordered by her doctor to eat liver and kidney.Give me a scientific study that shows how bad meat is and i'm sure i could find one that says the contrary. Personally I don't care what anyone eats unless they use it to define them as a person, I am not what I eat, "Hi, I'm THE COUPLE and sometimes I eat animals, and sometimes i eat vegetables, but you know what i also have an interesting job, social life and home life but please don't judge me."
8:10 AM
ANONYMOUS BOY
Ooooh! THE LARK and THE WRITER having an online bitch fight! Someone get the virtual jelly!
1:03 PM
THE LARK
I think it was a reasonable assumption. THE WRITER mentioned (in sequence) that she was vege but kept passing out. I assumed, therefore, that her belief was that it was the vege diet that was responsible. Passing out would indicate a deficiency in diet (or possibly narcolepsy). What I was trying to point out was that a vege diet in itself, when well balanced, does not tend to make one pass out, but that a deficient diet of any variety would. I'm still not sure why this was so offensive?Ron & Rita,-yep there are many coparative studies out there on the relative environmental impacts of meat vs soy production. Most factory production obviously has a negative impact, but in comparisons of water and greenhouse gas emissions (methane), meat production really comes out as the most harmful.Just for the record, I couldn't care less what you eat (or THE WRITER , for that matter), I just wanted to point out the (perhaps unintentional) negative sway of the 'Oh I tried being a vege but it made me pass out' thing. Hey, I tried being an omnivore but it gave me high cholesterol...is that statement any fairer?As to 'pushing beliefs', I was respondig to I EAT AND I AM'S post, where veg*ism was brought up as a topic thread. I don't introduce myself as 'THE LARK the Vegan' either. Too much trouble.
1:57 PM

THE WRITER
Hmmmm. THE COUPLE has some valid points. LARK you seem to be a tad tetchy, perhaps you need some calming vitamin b? A deficient diet is a deficient diet after all.ANONYMOUS BOY, now its your turn to get stuffed.I'm rather enjoying this. Bring it on!
2:13 PM
THE LARK
Just off to fry up a t-bone THE WRITER. If I pass out, I'll let you know;)
3:26 PM

THE LARK
Oh, and THE COUPLE, I have answered all of your questions to the best of my ability on my blog.
6:18 PM

I EAT AND I AM
THECOUPLE, I'm pretty sure disregarding the entire Japanese scientific community on basis of 'scientific whaling', is fairly generalised and, dare I say it, racist?In particular, this article so obviously speaks out against meat consumption. It would indicate no vested interest towards whaling. Scientists are often the first people to speak against popular customs of their own country.This situation is the same as Europeans assuming all Australians are xenophobic because a subset of powermongers have practically closed our borders to refugees.And let's all calm down and have a nice cup of tea. Please.
7:14 PM
I EAT AND I AM
I should also mention that if we're being anec-dotal (which is actually the weakest form of evidence), I've been vegan for over a year now, and I've never had any problems with iron whatsoever. In fact, I recently gave blood and my haemoglobin was a very healthy 155. I take no supplements whatsoever.I know many doctors who recommend meat for people who are iron deficient. It doesn't necessarily mean it's the only way to build up iron stores. It does, however, bring up the issue that older generations tend to favour a meat-based diet. And it also encourages a concomitant dietary increase in saturated fat and cholesterol.Also, low iron levels inhibit formation of oxygen radicals, which age tissues. It has been inferred from this that chronically anaemic people tend to live longer and look younger. Rock on!But I should also add that I personally try not to be militant about veganism, because people get on the defensive, which doesn't get us anywhere. However I would also like to add that I frequently feel like I'm being targeted or laughed at for what I consider to be a huge sacrifice for the environment. Funny how no one has said to me: "Wow, you've given up so much for a good cause! I totally respect that." but lots of people have, however, simply said: "you're a freak", or indicated their frustration with me because I'm "so difficult to deal with now". I take it all with good humour. Yes, yes, I am wacky.Perhaps if I did something morally good that's also socially acceptable instead? Would I be complimented on my sacrifice then?
7:37 PM
THE WRITER
Interesting, all very interesting but THE LARK I think your (j) and (l) was rather poor form.
9:22 PM
THE LARK
I only just figured it out! sheesh! -Is there anywhere I can step from here that doesn't involve toes?
10:18 PM

THE COUPLE
Just for the record i don't have anything against vegans. I frequently cook vegan friendly meals at my house, my problem is with people who complain about being judged for choices and then judge other people's in the process.
10:21 PM
THE LARK
Fair enough. That is annoying. Can I mention again that I wasn't 'judging' THE WRITER, just commenting on her possible diet choices that led to the unpleasant 'passing out' stuff. Judging people on food is nuts. I have never and will never cry 'You eat Peking Duck? I hate you immediately, now and forever!' My family are omni and my best friend in the world is something of a dead-animal gourmand,-I love her to bits. I luvved I EAT AND I AM when he was a meat-a-tarian and I luv him now.As those other annoying preachy types would have it; 'Judge not, lest ye yourself be judged':-)
10:47 PM

THE LARK
Oh christ, it was the TV comment wasn't it? That was bad typing, not intentional put-down. It was NOT directed at THE WRITER but at everyone who's ever said 'but I saw on tele the other night....' Having read THE WRITER'S writing, I have nothing but respect for her intellect and am heartily sorry if my poor sentence construction implied that she, in any way, relied upon the idiot box for information. Honestly. Ok, I'm now shouting a round. My bad on that point.
11:20 PM

THE WRITER
Woo hoo respect the intellect, oh yeah! Sorry got a bit carried away there.
11:24 PM
THE LARK
I EAT AND I AM, sorry! oh, and sorry...and um, well sorry.It's all your fault though you know..:-)
12:27 AM
THE COUPLE
I EAT AND I AM, what made you think the whaling comment was THE COUPLE? And I don't know if my tongue could be any further in my cheek when I wrote that.I love the Japanese. They stop the whales from shitting in our oceans.THE COUPLE
11:11 AM

JAPAN
Funny how no one has said to me: "Wow, you've given up so much for a good cause! I totally respect that."-Haven't I said this before? If not, I thought it. I think I told you in Japan that I was all set to cut meat from our diet. And I did...for a while. It takes effort to be a vegan, or buy only organic food, or seek out 100% Australian products. Most people couldn't be fucked going to that effort. My lazy ass needs a helping hand, like just stop producing meat, so the public cannot buy it anymore, so we all eat better and live happily ever after. See, I have such brilliant solutions, I have no idea why the government doesn't consult me more often.
2:28 PM
THE WRITER
Poor old I EAT AND I AM, getting left out of his own blog comments. Hi there I EAT AND I AM. Nice discussion you started here.
2:54 P
I EAT AND I AM
That was you commenting THE COUPLE? Hmmm... caught me making an assumption there. I didn't realise you read the blog. As for the whole tongue in cheek thing, I'm afraid I'm a little autistic when socially interacting.And thanks for the support JAPAN. I think I remember you saying that in J-Pan, actually. At the time I was shoveling into my mouth all manner of Japanese animals and generally experiencing Japan through my stomach (mmmm.... sashimi and takoyaki), so I probably dismissed it as too food restricting for my tastes. Yes, I was a carnivore once.THE WRITER, I love people arguing on my blog. Makes me feel like a big man. Argue away, folks!
3:30 PM

THE COUPLE
Autistic? You are far more fucked up than that I EAT AND I AM.I have photographic evidence of you drinking what appears to be urine from a specimen jar...And speaking of drinking bodily fluids, would you spit or swallow (as semen would technically be an animal by-product)?Moral dilemma. Perhaps we need an online poll.
11:33 PM
THE LARK
Oh Lord,.......
11:57 PM
I EAT AND I AM
I have no problem with human by-products. Eat humans, I say!As to the 'contents' of fellatio, I've actually been asked that question before by a gay friend, and I just looked him in the eye and said: "You wish."Can I have a dig copy of that photo? That was so funny, I want it as my facebook picture.
THE COUPLE
I have it printed out if you want to come up sometime and grab it. Any excuse to see you ;) I'll even make you dinner.
3:47 PM

I found, I copied, I reproduced with all identities safely intact. I am annoyed with myself for responding at all (in retrospect). Recent events reminded me. Sometimes you need to be reminded lest your dozy hippy nature blind you to past insults. I can forgive, but I rarely forget.
It's amazing how the world changes. It's incredible that what may have been a long dead memory can be copied and pasted into new life. It's somewhat infathomable that I even bothered.

Humanoids....

After a delicious weekend roaming Kangaroo valley and surrounds I returned home to have my faith in humanity (such as it is) challenged again.
A distressing message from a web-friend detailing her sudden encounter with apparently pointless, obsessive dislike.
This friend is a blogger-extraordinaire. An enormously talented observer of the human condition with a quicksilver mind and a pen that drips honey. I don't always agree with her ruminations, but always appreciate the finesse with which she ruminates:-)
Her new nemesis has taken such a dislike to her online warblings that he or she has set up a whole website dedicated to smug villification. I reluctantly read said site (something about 'better the devil you know' motivation), and was disgusted by both the ridiculously bad writing and the peurile attempts to out-master and out manouver.
If my gut didn't know better, I would assume this site to have been set up and written by a young teenager, -such is the 'playground politics' nature of the attacks posted. This patently bored and obsessive individual has no skill with words, and less with subtlety.
It seems outrageous to me that this person could even consider themselves worthy to be in the same boxing-ring. But then arrogance and stupidity often stroll easily hand in hand grinning smugly at all and sundry.
Even more disturbing was the sudden venom spat by seeming 'friends' over (IMHO) rather innocuous comments about Train-Drivers. What the?!!
The words 'witch-hunt' spring to mind. A great big part of my 'need for justice' wants to seek out these hobbled fools and bring them out from under their slimy rock and into the harsh light of exposure. But knowing such types, this would only fuel their egomaniacal quest for attention.
Saddest of all are the attacks on my respected bloggers education. It's the old (and not very creative) 'You-went-to-Uni-so-you're-a-snob' chestnut. Puhleaase.
I know, it doesn't even warrant a response.
This makes two such cowardly attacks on friends/acquaintances in the past 6 months. What is going on? Are people really that bored/frightened/threatened/directionless that they must indulge in pointless attack? Stupid question. Of course they are, and always have been. Scale is irrelevant.
Note to said people; why not fight for something other than your own ego? Sharks are being killed up and down the coastline from purely neanderthal fear-responses and we're letting it happen. We are fucking with the ocean food-chain on a massive scale and forgetting that 70% of our oxygen is created by the delicate balance of the waters. If you knock out all the top predators, what do you expect will happen? Do you think the oceans will find a magical balance?
Then there's human rights, thousand of animals slaughtered inhumanely every minute keeping the third world starving and water usage beyond the pale, african women still suffering from fistula and no money to help them, the Murray-Darling in constant and severe crisis, animal experminents still performed by pharmaceutical and tobacco industries, childhood obesity on the rise, domestic abuse of women on the rise, rape, murder, torture, racial hatred....pick one...just ONE! If activism aint your thing, why not try to educate yourself further? There aren't enough doctors, nurses, teachers....no one knows how to grow their own food, children are growing up with no idea where a potato comes from. Introduced weeds clog our bushland. Fire victims need constant hep and support. Your local arts industry is choking on bueraucracy and apathy, your painters, writers, scultors and musicians are not creating anymore.
Get of your whining selfish pedestal and make a goddam difference in the world before you start attacking someone who does.

2WW

Ok> so what seems millenia later, I am again on the ubiquitous '2 week wait'. It's obscene. I am a reasonably intelligent woman. I am lefter than left. I am obsessed with charting and temperatures and CM indications.
I am overwhelmed by the lingo of the baby-needing online community.
' I am 4 days past OD and have done numerous OPK. Hunny and I BD'd on the...4th...the ...5th and the ..6th.Am waiting for AF but am sure my OPK is pos?'
What the? what's the 'CD' and what's with all the blinky lights?
Am starting to think that only very very crazy women have babies.
This is all very confusing. And here I thought having sex was the thing..generally, for baby-making. Oh no. There is a whole new language.
'My Doc tested my HcG levels yesterday'....my luteal phase is longer'..,'I'm down to 1oo HcG, =can I still get pregnant?'...I don't know. I have a womb and I don't know. They test levels? Who? Not my GP. I get a wink and a handshake. Grumble. t's all too difficult. I haven't the intellgience to decipher the acronyms nor behave like a doctor. I am a music teacher.
t

Soooooo.....

So Me

So not me

So me

So not me

So me

So not me

So me

So not me

So me

So not me

So me

So not me

So me

So not me

Soooo.....