Wood You Come to My Birthday?

Yesterday was my birthday.  I turned 24 and had a wonderful time in the process.

For one thing, I finally have a full-time job!  I now work at grocery 
store that is a 7-minute walk from my house.  Everyone I have worked with so far is very nice and I'm glad that I will at last be able to have some stability.  I even get paid every week instead of every other week.  When I first thought of working at South Square, I thought how the job would offend my vegan-self.  I still have these thoughts.  You should see me as I gingerly pick up the very tips of a cheese or meat package to scan it.  I also worry about how my paycheck is partially coming from animal exploitation.  It's not an ideal job for me in this respect but the way things have been for about a year now, I've barely been getting by.  I've been surviving more than living but this is more than I can say for the animals' whose body parts and products I slide across my scanner and announce the price of.  What would my thighs go for?  What about my life?

Sadly, the job that I was barely getting by with ended and I needed another job.  This was the first one that I could find that would pay my bills.  I will continue to look for better options for me but in looking at the situation as it is, I see an excellent opportunity to do some activism.  Here I am, being presented with pieces of people's lives.  I recently listened to a debate between Gary Francione and Erik Marcus and Gary mentioned he always starts the conversation by asking about people's pets.  At my job, I'm ringing up their cat and/or dog food.  What a perfect lead in!  I've ordered some free business cards for The Abolitionist Approach and as soon as I'm finished my training I'm going to start talking to people about veganism and giving them cards at the end of our conversations.  I'll probably get myself into some kind of trouble but as long as I'm not selling anything, I don't see what's so wrong about having a conversation made relevant by a person's pets.  So, I'll see.

For my birthday, I worked and then I went back to my apartment where my boyfriend was waiting for me.  He got me tasty vegan pizza and a delicious vegan dessert.  After eating, he gave me a present which was a ukulele!  How exciting!

Then, I dragged my roommates, friends, and boyfriend to Woody's, a wonderful, gay bar and I think that everyone had a good time.  I had a good time.  Sunday is 80's night meaning some drinks are 80 cents and there is lots of 80's music.  I love Woody's!  Everyone there is so full of joy and there's so much love in the room!  This sounds corny but I don't care.

Oh, and P.S. I got a popcorn maker as a birthday gift!  Hooray!  The lid turns into a bowl!

Day 1 of Mission Blog

Staring this week, I have started the goal to blog Monday - Friday, each day on a different topic on a different blog. Mondays will be about me.
Tuesday - Movies
Wednesday - Veganism
Thursday - Books
Friday - Music 

The idea behind why Monday will be my personal update day is 1.) the alliteration of Me and Mondays and 2.) the hope that I will have done exciting things over the weekend.  This weekend I am happy to say that I succeeded!

Last night, I went out dancing at a gay bar with a bunch of girlfriends!  It was on my list of things to do and I did it!  And I had so much fun!  It was 80's night, and as my movie and music blog will soon reveal, I love the 80's!  I went dressed up and if I had any batteries for my camera, I'd include a picture.  But, since I don't you'll just have to use your imagination.  You'll also have to imagine my surprise when I got there and discovered the idea was more so that drinks were 80 cents and no one else was dressed up for the 80's.  They didn't even play all that much 80's music.  Not till the end.  I wanted to bang on the DJ's glass window and say "Where's the God damn 80's music?!"  Lady Gaga is cool and all but she's not 80's.  80's inspired, certainly, but that's not the same. 

I'm also proud to say that I danced when no one else would.  When my four new friends and I got there, only a very small group was on the expansive dance floor.  I danced by myself sometimes which was scary but liberating. There was one time I got out and danced when it was only me.  Scarier still but a bonding experience when my friends did join me.

Once the night really got started, "Love is a Battlefield" "Take On Me" "Rapture" "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" "Like a Virgin" "Another One Bites the Dust" (Since I requested QUEEN!) got played, making it a night more like I pictured.  I was told that I had a "nice look" and I was "adorable" and  it was nice to get some friendly compliments from strangers that I didn't have to have any worries about.  Mostly, I was glad to have made the effort to get out there, make new friends and have new experiences.  Outside the comforts of a work setting, my natural tendency is to be introverted so socializing doesn't always come easily for me.  But the good news is, with a little extra effort, it does come.