If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

• 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;
• 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;
• 70 million gallons of gas — enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;
• 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;
• 33 tons of antibiotics.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

• Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;
• Million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;
• 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;
• Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/celebrate-animal-freedom-day-worldwide.html#ixzz21lR7ZjqL

A less cruel world in general

An experiment performed by scientists at the University of Cardiff, in Wales sowed kittens eyes shut to find out how the brain responds to sensory deprivation

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/scientists-sew-up-kittens-eyes-in-shocking-experiment.html#ixzz21lOnI2w5

A Night In Jesus's Precence (El Rey Jesus Friday night service, 9:00PM-? October 2nd)

First off, happy end of Ramadan everyone! First blog of October, hope everyone's pumped for Halloween. I know some people who are not.... Christians!

All jokes aside, this is the first post of a series of blogs following my search for Jesus. I'm not the religious type, so this is just my personal choice to better myself through some new perspectives.

Last night I went to a church to see if I could gain something from the experience. I gained a lot of positive, but the vibe at times seemed hostile towards me, who came (at first) as more of an observer.
To start at the beginning the reason I came with family-friend Anna to La Rey, a mostly Hispanic, Spanish speaking church, was because my new friend on my bus told me I'm going to Hell. This would offend average Joe, but I've been around Christians before, and laughed it off. I made a joke on how he spoke of praying and God, but then made a lot of vulgar statements. He asked me if I believe in God, I said no, and than he asked what do I believe in. I told him "a lot of things", and tried to explain what I think the "All That Is" of what he, and many other people say is "God". That's when he gave me the shit-face, and told me that I'm going to Hell when I die, and I'm not sure he was playing around. I know why he thought that, and continued the conversation. He told me that he goes to the same church my mother goes to, and that he's been going there for only 4 weeks, yet spoke of it with such passion. He had a hunch, and told me to come tonight, to the youth group where Pastor Frank spoke. What the hell, I see myself as an open minded person, I'll give it a shot.
It seemed like everything was at either extreme, really good or really bad. In the church, there seemed to be very humble individuals, who where very welcoming. It started with praise and warship as they called it, but it looked a lot like rocking out to their favorite songs. There was this one dude in the front who ran along the stage from one side to the other, headbanging, and jumping. 20 minutes in, this black clad, dread-locked individual was soaked in sweat. I didn't know if it would be appropriate to give the stage Devil horns, and scream "fuck yea!" to the guitarist, so I resisted.
At first I felt very much out of my element, Anna and her group brought me to the front of the stairs to the stage to watch the show and enjoy the music. The musicians weren't bad, the drummer brought good effect when the pastor came to preach. Pastor Frank kept the vibe going, preaching in a steady rhythm. He spoke of harmony, and love, the more beautiful side of Christianity. Then he made some comments that could have been taken as offensive to those who were not AS into it.
I almost thought he was speaking right at me (I'll admit to laughing a few times as people screamed out, and threw themselves on the floor, but you couldn't hear it over the music!) than I realized there was a few people behind me sitting, who weren't thrashing or raging in the name of God. He made two comments, that pegged them as the outsider, and said "this is not for you", in a way that was so blatantly negative. Maybe he was trying to get them out of their seats, but he was more effective in making them leave. It seemed unloving, and out of place, but no one but me seemed to take it that way when I was talking to the regular church-goers after the service.
Still, the energy in the room built up in ecstatic nostalgia. It reminded me of the rock concerts I've attended. People cried during the ballads, and they fist pumped during the faster jams. Anna told me that if I don't move, the Devil has me held. This was before she, and many others, fell to the floor crying, and screaming. I wonder if a mosh pit has ever started in a church.
What made me relax was how similar Christianity, and the Laws of The Universe are. Yea I said it. At one point I realized that no one was there for God, but rather what they could gain from being in this room. Which, to them was priceless. It was an outer body experience for the whole room. This is their venue, and the pastor was their rock star. It was being a part of something bigger than all of us, like being a fan, like alignment with Source. Source is their God, just like Alla is for the Muslims. The pastor said if you release, and feel good tonight than you will get all of your dreams to come true. That just a dream could feed a nation. He asked all of us if we felt that we were satisfied with what we've done with our lives, in other words if we were to die today, would we be o.k with it. Everyone in the room was young, so the majority of people where bound to raise their hand. It was close to the preachings of Abraham, and just like Abraham can seem arrogant in its teachings, so can Christians.
I teared up at one point, and was asked to stand at the front. The pastor prayed for me, witch I was, for the most part, O.K with. Then they started to heard those who where prayed over into a room to ask for our information. I felt imposed upon, and left. After the service, they chased me down. It was uncomfortable, and I told them. It seems like Jesus is an excuse to be rude. They insisted I come to a BBQ they where holding, kinda like the way time share people work. I told them I'm a strict vegetarian, and they told me to just bless my food. By that point, I was up and ready to leave.
In the car, me and Anna got into a conversation about music. She said, and I quote, "All music is from Satan." She told me that the Devil brought music with him when he rebelled from God, and that the church was trying to bring music to the good it should be. Mind you, me and Anna are not close, she does not know the music I listen to. But me equating the experience I just had with the power I feel when I watch musical acts offended her so deeply, that she spoke to me with such content. It was frustrating, because while I was waiting for the invitation slip to the BBQ, I heard a preacher say "The devil will have you think Christians think they're so better". From the beginning I decided to take the passive road, tonight was not about my beliefs, so I sat back and let her ramble. At one point she contradicted herself, and I told her I don't understand. She told me "you wouldn't" and left it at that.
This morning, I feel a lot better about the whole thing. Its in the past, and really was worth it. Life is all about experience, and if you can learn and experience something new, take the opportunity. I don't hold anything that happened last night against Christians as a whole, I'm just not joining the fan club any time soon. Its not my life style, and just because I don't fall under any category of religion doesn't make my lifestyle, or any person's lifestyle, wrong. Your not going to Hell kids, just enjoy your life with no chains. Don't hold yourself down by holding too tightly to ANY beliefs. In the end, we have this over-developed brain for the purpose of question everything, and driving ourselves mad with what we can't see. Just sit back, and make sure to never take yourself to seriously.


Questions for the commenters: What do you believe in? Jesus a false icon, or are you on the Spiritualist train? Are you the praying type, or is science your squeeze?

with a softer heart from the smallish wave
lilwave

“Whitey” (Essay On Albinism and Being A Albino)

I was only a freak at school. Only a freak when I remembered or when other younger kids at banks hid behind their parent’s paint leg from my red hued Nystagmus eyes. I don’t blame them. This condition seems like something out of a low budget 70’s horror film. Pained by sunlight, I prefer night. I’m bone white and red eyed.

At home I was treated equally. I could forget more often what I am, but not at school. I wasn’t allowed to retrieve anything, or participate in feeding the class hamster like other students where. Though I tried to be understanding, little things like not being picked to read in class hurt more than any of the special treatment, much of which I was mocked for.

It’s the divide and conquer mentality. Make someone feel like an outsider, lesser than, a freak. Whitey, Polar Bear, cracker, floating cloths. All those words combined didn’t do as much damage as picking up their treys and moving to a further seat. I feel bad for that girl, but I guess the last thing she needed was more pity. She got her Pokémon cards stolen, and her parents very mad. They didn’t know they had to beat her with branches and juvenile feet for them.

All my friends would either move, or buy into the social rank system. I made my first friend in 6^th grade. She started the abusive cycle by slapping me over 5 dollars. I would later speak out about her random violent outbursts, but she was just as good as I at being a victim.

I spent my middle school years trying to find myself. My place, not so much a category than the person I am. So that I could be in the place I want, with the people I like. I tested dangerous waters, but none really stuck. By the summer of my 8^th grade year, I felt fucked, for what seemed like, no reason. I had been dealing with an underlying depression for years, but now I felt like I was drowning. A chaser to teachers who had never dealt with the burden of a visually impaired student of my degree, and my abusive chemical friendship, I also experienced a rollercoaster home life with a troubled father in the center of it. But he had left, and for the first time there seemed to be peace at home. I was leaving to an academy school to study to be a vet. Away from that bitch and to more mature, hopefully understanding peers. Hey, maybe I could find someone to build a healthy relationship with. I took tests from independent groups who evaluated my vision, and gave me the go ahead to move on with my career plans. Then why now were my four walls closing in on me? The last few months played out in bad quality, blurred from self prescribed pills, but still no sleep, CSI walls, and bad attendance.

July… August… September… She said “it’s not just a little disability… it’s a big one” I have amazing foresight. She apologized, shook my hand, and just like that I was useless again. Nothing going for me, and stuck in a school that reminded me daily of my short comings. It all hit me hard, and all at once. Incapable, that’s what I was suffering with. Incapable of reading without assistance, ordering from the behind the counter menu, of driving, of being the person I wanted to be so badly. This lone factor in my life felt like the biggest peg in my coffin. I have never been the type to contemplate suicide, but at that point I had no identity other than the tag society stapled on my ear, and I held tight to it.

Over the years I had developed an anxiety disorder that manifested itself as a feeling of not-all-there. When this happened, I drifted away and put on my headphones. Nothing made me feel more alive than music. Those where the true moments of clarity. Some people look for religion. I look for artists. Some look to the Bible, I look for lyrics. The venue is my church, and my musical idles are my preachers. I learned about none violence and freedom. Most of all, I found myself. Somewhere amongst a crowd of thousands. I clawed my way out and learned to live. I began to play music, my main outlet when I can’t breathe through my words. I am capable. Capable of creating and learning. Capable of moving and inspiring, having instant reaction. Even making friends through what I do that understand, and even forget, just like my family does.

Maybe, and this is just a thought, but perhaps I was always capable. I just never allowed myself to take the chances. Maybe the most detrimental to my own stability is not what others believe I am but my own habit of considering their opinion. Maybe if you measure the usefulness of your own existence but what you can’t do, then you’ll never be happy. I’m not as fucked as I think I am.

Albinism is a genetic disorder that affects the melanin pigment levels in the skin, hair, and eyes, and in rare cases, just the eyes. It’s a recessive gene; someone who the gene is active in cannot have offspring with the active gene. Meaning albinos don’t have albino babies. A common misunderstanding is that people and animals that are albinoistic have red eyes, but really what you are seeing is the true portal to their inner colors. From a lack of pigmentation, the blood vessels are visible through the eyes. That lack of protective melanin also make us sensitive to sunlight, and albinos generally deal with vision problems. Another comment misconception is that albinos go blind after a certa8in age, also not true. The way that I see (and other albinos would agree) is NOT blurry. If you where looking at the finer details of a painting, you would probably squint, and turn the painting closer. That is the way I see. Like everything is a fine detail, too far to see.

In the media, people with albinism are usually the butt of the joke, or the ‘bad guy’. For example, “Me, Myself, and Irene”. The albino characters name is “Whitey” and “Casper”, which is offensive right off the bat. The movie mocks the character, and how he uses a bioptic (a telescopic lens mounted on glasses) a device that I even used for a period of time.

There is a deeper underlying problem, deeper than slap-stick comedy. It’s how we treat others. It took me a while to realize that all those attacks weren’t personal, or about who I am as a person, but rather the mentality our culture has adopted. Making someone an outsider, in order to boost their own ego, or their own standing in the social machine.

I don’t expect to have all the answers at 16, but I think I am successful at learning how to function almost at the level I will need to be able to move out of my mother’s house, which is more than most can say. But more so, I am successful at finding ways that will keep me afloat.

Post VMA Excitment (I LOVE YOU KANYE, YOU DOUCHE!)

Taylor Swift, after winning Best Female Videom was so surprised, and bashful, repeating for the 2nd time that night that she sings country music. You could have swore she half-expected someone to run on stage and steal her award... huh.
For those who live under a rock (and I guess, only emerge to read blogs) this is what happened
http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/435995/taylor-swift-wins-best-female-video.jhtml#id=1620604
More funny than the moment itself, was probably Kanye's post VMA blog entry about the incident in ALL CAPS. Someone was anebriated... or caps crazy.

I'M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM. I SPOKE TO HER MOTHER RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID THE SAME THING MY MOTHER WOULD'VE SAID. SHE IS VERY TALENTED! I LIKE THE LYRICS ABOUT BEING A CHEERLEADER AND SHE'S IN THE BLEACHERS! ........................ I'M IN THE WRONG FOR GOING ON STAGE AND TAKING AWAY FROM HER MOMENT!................. BEYONCE'S VIDEO WAS THE BEST OF
THIS DECADE!!!! I'M SORRY TO MY FANS IF I LET YOU GUYS DOWN!!!! I'M SORRY TO MY FRIENDS AT MTV. I WILL APOLOGIZE TO TAYLOR 2MRW. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!!!! EVERYBODY WANNA BOOOOO ME BUT I'M A FAN OF REAL POP CULTURE!!! NO DISRESPECT BUT
WE WATCHIN' THE SHOW AT THE CRIB RIGHT NOW CAUSE ... WELL YOU KNOW!!!! I'M STILL HAPPY FOR TAYLOR!!!! BOOOYAAAWWWW!!!! YOU ARE VERY VERY TALENTED!!! I GAVE MY AWARDS TO OUTKAST WHEN THEY DESERVED IT OVER ME... THAT'S WHAT IT IS!!!!!!! I'M NOT CRAZY YALL, I'M JUST REAL. SORRY FOR THAT!!! I REALLY FEEL BAD FOR TAYLOR
AND I'M SINCERELY SORRY!!! MUCH RESPECT!!!!!

He felt so bad, I guesss this means the award showed didn't loose credibility over it. Listen, at this point we know how he gets. We can't get angry, because in the end, you KNOW you bought Love Lockdown. Besides, the merch that is going to come from this is going to put Poo-Girl to shame.
At the end of the night, if anyone noticed but me, influenced by Kanye, Lil Mama came on stage next to Jay Z and Alicia Keys. I thought there was going to be a purpose to her, but then she just stood there... I think MTV should incorperate invisable fences around their stage.
But I don't care that Taylor was to frazzled to have her moment, she didn't even know the names to the horses who carried her skinny as to the red carpet. So she named them "V" and "MA". Needless to say I'm not amused. The true hero of the night was Beryonce for being such a fucking lady. When she first showed up I litterally wowed at her beauty.

All and all, the MTV Video Music Awards was a fun night. Madonna killed that speech after the MJ tribute, which happened to kick as, and not because of Janet, but by the add of Janet. A collection of great performances like Empire State Of Mind, and East Jesus Nowhere, the night was ellectric (but no West Side Story). The best perfrormance of this years VMA's was Sober by Pink, THERE! I said it. Luckily for me, she didn't wear any corset. Instead, she wore the same dress Shakira wore (wait, that's not any better), sadly, she didn't fill it out the same way. She did, however, fill out a body suite because the bitch decided to do an acrobat's ACT! wow. How did she keep singing? Our little pop princes of the night. Sorry Gaga
In all seriuosness though, Lady Gaga put on a good show, but its going to take me a while to forgive her for coming on stage to win Best New Artist in a giant, used tampon. She changed (thank GOODNESS!) into a rat's nest. Pete introduced her for her perormance, and was wearing a shirt with Gabe Saporta's phone number on it.


question for the commenter: Agree, Pink took the night, performance wise? Love Kanye as much as me?

With a potty mouth, from the smallish wave
lilwave //(^.\\\