You do not offend me by being different than me

Listening to CM Punk on WTF with Marc Maron today and he said something along the lines that being straight edge people often take the offensive and assume that because they choose to do the opposite of him he must be offended by them and that they think he thinks he is better than them. Neither of these are true of course because he is not offended by someone being different than he chooses to be. Sure that happens, a lot of people are actually offended by someone being different than them but to assume that is the default way someone will react well I think that may reflect on the true nature of that person making the assumption.

I am tattooed and pierced. I am not offended if you are neither.

I have long hair I grew all by myself. I am not offended if you choose to cut your hair short.

I am not a fan of football. I am not offended if you are.

I am not religious. I am not offended if you are.

I am vegan. You do not offend me if you are not. Eat the food you want to eat, wear the clothing materials you want to wear.

I do not know why being vegan people assume I will be offended by opposite choices. I live my life, you live your life. Why would your personal choices affect me directly? I am not in your face with my veganism because I know it is my choice and not everyone can or wants to make that choice and they shouldn't have to.

I am not offended by someone being different than me, are you?

My new boredom cure

This was just a tutorial I watched and is actually very simple if you have the length for it

I saw this on Bo from the series Lost Girl and gave it a try. Not perfect but worked out pretty well for just trying it after seeing it on the tv.

I hadn't fishtail braided in years and needed to relearn how to do it and this is what I ended with.

A style inspired by Sansa from Game of Thrones. I don't watch the show but a friend does so I did this to make her jealous, I'm such a nice friend.

Well I was just REALLY bored and wanted my hair off my face and neck and back and just up and away. I did not leave the house like this. 

This I did from a tutorial inspired by Arwen's hair during the battle at Helm's Deep (Lord of the Rings for you non-dorks) Took me a bit over an hour.

I have a go to youtube for hair tutorials TorrinPaige. I just added another one (and where I got Arwen's braids) Loepsie. 

Work bag contents and it's a video!!

Apparently I find this video blogging addictive. Which sounds all fun and harmless but who knows what I will vlog next, hehe. This could be bad for you, my poor readers.

I've wanted to do a contents of my purse before but pictures and descriptions of what in my bag just don't quite capture what is in my bag well enough. I often have some odd/random things in my bag. Once I came home with a frozen mouse in my jacket pocket, oh aren't you jealous of my job? Nothing like that this time, don't worry but there are some funny things. So here you go, take a look at what's in my work bag.

Accent Video

Dorkyness alert.

Saw Ashley at Our Little Apartment do this (and seen the list elsewhere as well) and then my (twitter) friend Chel has been curious about how I say things and I am bored on a Friday night while my (drunk) husband snores it up in the bedroom, so here you go, a video of me saying random things and being a gigantical dork throughout.

Note: My paternal grandfather was grandpa not granddad. Don't you just love my leopard print PJ's!! :) The largest amount of pink I ever wear (the collar and cuffs, lol).

Bright colors

Want a look inside my colorful closet?
Here you go.

Not as dark as I thought it would look but I definitely wouldn't say it is colorful, I mostly wear dark colors, mostly black and browns really. I own way too many tshirts, thanks Teefury and you're awesomely geektastic shirts. As for the rest of my clothes, a handful of pants, mostly jeans, and a few skirts I rarely every where. My work clothes consist of tshirts, my non awesomely geektastic Teefury ones, and yoga pants or sweat pants depending on the weather. So that's my closet. 

I watch a lot of tv

If by chance you don't know I am a HUGE fan of Star Trek. I am currently going through and rewatching The Next Generation. I am about half way through season 2 right now. It will take me a while, there were 7 seasons and with the Stanley Cup playoffs happening right now it will take me even longer. Also more cable networks are starting their seasons so I will be watching more actual tv too. What do I have to say about all of this...I watch WAY too much tv. No really I do. My tv is almost ALWAYS on. I am trying to make it more productive, ha as if watching tv the way I do is ever productive, by not watching as much random repeats and having a point to my tv watching. What I mean is watching new episodes or working my way through Star Trek. I have tried in the past to limit my tv watching but it didn't last long. I could do it but I didn't find myself being more productive or doing other productive things. I would just sit on my computer and entertain myself other just as non-productive ways. I love tv and that won't change so I have decided to just deal with it.

My new way of watching tv seems to work well for me. I have gotten a lot of sewing projects done recently and haven't been as obsessed with needing the tv on if there isn't something for me to watch. The dvr definitely helps with this, which isn't something new I have but something I am using more than I did previously. Much to the disappointment of the tv industry I don't watch things when they are on, I watch when it is more convenient to me. I'm sorry tv industry I do love you and some of your programming BUT I gotta do things on my own time. Please don't hold it against me.

I do see myself watching less and less tv, especially at night, because I haven't been reading as much lately and I miss that too. Most of the problem is I am not sure what I am in the mood to read. There is a few Dresden Files book I can read, well one and another that is coming out this summer, and the same with Preston & Childs Pendergast series. I have their latest, a signed limited edition copy, which is why I haven't read it yet, I feel like this copy should not be read but I don't really want to have the library limit on me and I am not going to buy another copy just so I can read a book I already own.

For now I will watch tv and find other things to entertain myself and see what happens and maybe I will decide I need to limit myself in certain areas so I don't become a giant couch potato again. If for whatever reason you are interested in what I watch, and don't follow me on twitter and/or facebook you can peek over at me on gomiso.com which is like a foursquare for tv watching. I don't check into the random repeats I find the tv left on but do check in to almost everything else I watch when I watch it. Mudnessa on gomiso.com

Back update

I got my stitches removed today and she said it looked really good and looks like I won't have much of a scar either. She sounded very very very pleased with the way it looked. I won't lie, I was beyond nervous about getting the stitches out, why? No idea I just was, fortunately I knew I was being completely irrational. Now that I had it done I say, can you do it again? Not put the stitches back in and then take them out but that sensation I got when she was taking them out, it was like a good scratch hitting the spot perfectly. I really had to suppress a pleasurable moan, it felt so fucking good. I had to suppress a few moans, after she took them out when she cleaned the area and when she applied something to make the steri-strips stick well. So I am all stitches and *almsot* tape free, I can barely feel the steri-strips and they aren't anywhere near where the tape from the bandage had been. I guess I won't know if I they bother me like tape does for a few day. I would assume not as much because I won't be applying and removing them everyday. Here's what I have right now. The discoloration is what was applied to help the strips adhere better.

Showering

I usually shower two or three times a week and wash my hair twice a week, if that. One thing I have had to do because of my mole and all that stuff is to shower daily. I absolutely hate it. Hate it. HATE IT, but the differences I have noticed will amaze you. So I will discuss them here:

NOT A THING!!!

To be fair Rich might try and argue that I smell better, which to be fair I probably do, but I never really smelled all that bad on a regular basis and you know he is the only person that gets *that* close to me. I haven't been washing my hair more often, probably less often actually. No change there. Oh wait I am wrong there is one big difference, I am spending a hell of a lot more money on soaps and lotions! I've gone through a whole bar of soap, it usually takes me MONTHS to go through a bar of soap. I have also gone through a whole bottle of lotion, which also usually only needs replacing after a few months. Usually I only wash my face every day or two or when I wear make-up and even though I have been washing it daily there isn't a difference. I don't have less or more breakouts or dryness issues or anything. Seriously I haven't noticed a thing that would make me want to keep up with daily showering when I don't have a wound that necessitates daily cleaning. That's good news and I don't have to change my name from mudnessa!

I'm a reader

*Which author made you want to be a writer (or blogger)?*

I know what reader made me a reader and love books. That would be my mom. I remember spending a lot of time in the library at elementary school looking at books. The first *real* (as in a more grown up) book I remember reading was The Hobbit when I was ten. A few years later my mom had me read Interview with a Vampire before she took me to see the movie. I've always been a reader because my mom is a reader.

My blog just came out of my interest in other peoples lives and wanting to let people get to know me and my interests. I started with a LiveJournal so many many years ago. I liked to see what other people thought and felt and felt weird not repaying the favor. At some point I wanted to change from journal like entries and made this blog. I had read a few and I can't remember all of them but I know Allie's Answers, now The Greenists and Ashley's Our Little Apartment were definitely two that lead me to blogging. I am pretty sure those are 2 I have been following the longest and I still enjoy every single post. I love how both have progressed into something more and both so inspiring. I think the real turning point of me and this endevour into blogging sprouted from me becoming more eco-aware and I didn't feel like LiveJournal really gave me an outlet for what I wanted share and I was getting most of my inspiration from. So here I am today writing in this blog.

BFI

*Tell us about your favourite band/musician.*

Favorite...I am so bad at favorites. I can't narrow things down, I can't tell you what is top.

I remember being very young and listening to Billy Idol. You know Rebel Yell, White Wedding, those great great songs. I still love Billy Idol. I go to his concerts when he is town, most often with my mom.

I could go on and tell you about Billy Idol, but if you don't know Billy Idol then you need to remedy that and I could never do him justice telling you about him. I will tell you he is still a lot of fun to see and is not showing his age. No really, go google Billy Idol and look at his recent photos, you won't be disappointed. In concert he just has fun and does not take himself seriously. I've never seen a bad concert by him and I doubt I will, he does it cause he loves it and it shows.

Most of my other music taste runs a bit darker, of the metal variety. The staples like Pantera, Slayer, and Megadeth. The obscene like Cannibal Corpse, Cephalic Carnage, and Napalm Death. Just to name a few of the bands that dominate what I listen to these days. I don't like much of today's popular music, I don't listen to the radio because I don't like 99.9% of what they play. I can listen to classic rock stations, can't really go wrong there, except when they play things like Nirvana and then I feel really old.

Sports girl through and through

The theme for June's NaBloPoMo is fan. So let's get this started shall we.

"Are you a fan of a sports team? When did you become a fan?"

I am a fan of a few sports teams, a lot actually, typical me, fingers in almost every pie. Let's start with baseball, the team sport I've been a fan of for the longest. Here have some picture proof:

Me and my brother in our 1986 Mets champion shirts! Grew up in San Diego so the Padres were the team we went to the most, we had season tickets for a lot of the 90's. I somehow became a fan of the Dodgers as well. When I was around 12 I got a Brooklyn Dodgers throwback jacket for having perfect attendance in school! WOO!! My parents grew up in New York, I wasn't just a So Cal girl who somehow became interested in NY teams. I'd say those are the 3 baseball teams I keep and eye on the most. In recent years I haven't followed baseball as much, the steroids issues coming out really got to me, all the guys me and/or my brother idolized were roiding, kinda took the fun out of the game. Have been watching it more this season and am really enjoying it. Baseball fandom here I come again.

Not sure when it happened but I am also a hockey fan. First team would be the minor minor (or something like that) league team the San Diego Gulls. The first NHL team I became a fan of were the San Jose Sharks when they formed in 1991. In college my best friends boyfriend (now husband) was a Red Wings fan so I spent a lot of those years rooting for them. I like a lot of other teams as well, might be easier to list the teams I don't like in truth. Since the finals start today I will say I do like the Canucks, would love to see them hoist the cup, hockey and Canada does it get better than that (in North America, cause those Russians and Europeans and all those other geographical areas I could butcher love their hockey too). To be honest I totally fangirl hockey goalies. It is totally their bendy/stretchyness and their obvious head issues, I mean who in their right mind would willingly put themselves in front of a net where guys shoot frozen rubber pucks at them! I am drawn to craziness just a fact of my life! Hey I am just a ball of female hormones, I will fangirl to my hearts content, call me on it all you want, I admit it! Hehe. Doesn't make me any less of a fan, just a fan with some ~other interests while watching the sport.

Speaking of fangirling...soccer. I never really followed a team or the sport really, I would read articles here and there, have known about it and all that good stuff for years. Ignited a bit more by David Beckham of course, have you seen him, finer with age if you ask me?! World Cup 2010 though immersed me into the lovely world of soccer (football for almost everyone else). I became a fan of the Spanish National Team, good choice I'd say as they won and all. I chose them because I am a big fan of quite a few Spanish tennis players and naturally they were rooting for their countries team so I joined the bandwagon, got to get your start somewhere, no? Once the seasons started I watched for a few months and chose some teams, Real Madrid and Arsenal. With soft spots for Liverpool and Chelsea, I know I know...hey I said fangirling...haha. They are quite fit men and again just a ball of female hormones here, what am I suppose to do pretend I watch it only for the love of the sport, nope, don't get me wrong I love the sport but I can't help but love the men who play it.

I've always been a sports girl, just part of who I have always been and that won't be changing anytime soon.

Taking part in NaBloPoMo

Haven't posted in over 2 months and even before then I was lagging. I just haven't had much to say that I felt like sharing. Annoying whining posts even get annoying for me to write, nothing major just everyday life etc. So I decided to join in on NaBloPoMo. Post everyday for a month. At the least it will get me thinking and writing things other than annoyances. So that will commence tomorrow. Click NaBloPoMo for all the info. Hope you and I can enjoy this together.

My Saturday afternoon

I got to lie down, but the whole arm over my head wasn't so fun and my arm under my head fell asleep a few times too.

All done in about an hour and a half.

Nikkei Yonsei

Fourth generation Japanese American (technically a broad term for immigrants not specifically Americans)

Wiki article on meaning if you are really interested.

Didn't hurt much, tattoos hurt, they do, anyone who says they don't must be immune to pain, they don't hurt that much, at least to me, I would suspect that everyone feels pain differently. I am a big whiny brat when it comes to pain. I say OW and whine about everything and anything but I don't find tattoos that bad or maybe I just know it's going to happen and it's totally worth it for me so my tolerance goes up.

This particular location wasn't bad at all. My leg was much much more uncomfortable for the record.

My 8 months as a vegan and how I got here

I don't talk about it much because it is just what it is and those interested pick up on my little mentions of it and ask me. I don't specifically care what you decide to eat so I don't see the point in making a point of trying to sway someone to eat like I do. With that being said if you are interested here is my story.

How I got here, the longish story. I've never been a fan of meat, I just never liked the way it tasted, I didn't hate it but it wasn't my favorite food. In high school or perhaps before I wanted to eat vegetarian but it would have been really hard seeing as I still lived at home and ate at home almost every night. I wasn't going to make my own food when my mom cooked every night so it never happened. In college I thought about it and I would have a hard time eating my chicken, especially when I had just come home from a zoology class and I was thinking more about what I was eating and how it worked in the animal, but my lifestyle got in the way. I just didn't have a strong enough desire to cook for myself, mom was still cooking for the most part. After college I again couldn't be bothered to think about changing my lifestyle and it really never crossed my mind. I didn't eat all that much meat but I didn't not eat it for any reason besides not liking it. When I started living with and then marrying Rich I was the cook and I had to pretty much learn to cook meals and again eating vegetarian never crossed my mind, especially since I married a devout carnivore.

Fast forward to probably the beginning of 2009 when I was full swing into embracing an eco-conscious lifestyle as I could and making all sorts of new and interesting changes to make my life more "green" (I kinda hate that term). Vegetarianism weighed more and more on my mind, especially since I was trying to eat as much organic as I could. In the summer I started reading a lot about meat eating/production/farming and how it drains so much resources. Those things started nagging on my when I would force myself to eat chicken and other meats at almost every meal. Mid November and I just couldn't do it anymore. I gave up meat. It was a pretty simple and easy decision for me.

I went to the library a few weeks later to look for vegetarian cookbooks, needed some inspiration to be able to really commit and do it right. One of the books I picked up was Skinny Bitch. What I read in it about health reasons to be vegan and about farming practices cemented the idea that I needed to eat a vegan diet. It's a good informative read in an everyday type language, I mean bitch is in the title it's not an overly scientific book but it cites sources and has great information.

January 2010 is when I "officially" became vegan. I got a lot of support and my recipes from the PCRM's 21 day vegan kickstart that started at the beginning of the year. That was really helpful and I don't think I would have been able to commit they way I have. I participated in another of their vegan kickstarts in November as well but I was committed to the vegan thing and still ate eggs and cheese products at that point. (FYI PCRM is holding another 21 day vegan kickstart starting next week, if you are interested in that way of eating at all, just out of curiosity I strongly suggest you sign up. They send emails with the weeks meal plan, worst case you unsubscribe from the emails and that's that. Best case you find some great recipes and perhaps eat a bit healthier. Sign up here: http://support.pcrm.org/site/PageServer?pagename=21day_vegan_kickstart&JServSessionIda003=upegog3qg1.app234c )

I did have cravings and things to deal with but I was able to deal with them and have none now. Can't say I miss anything at this point, food wise. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of running down to a fast food joint and picking up a burger or a chicken sandwich but I don't miss the way I felt after eating that crap. I had actually stopped eating that stuff a bit before I changed my diet so it wasn't that hard. One thing I did crave was cheese, pretty much the only dairy product I use to eat regularly. A thick oily quesadilla or a lovely slice of NY style pizza, yum. I spent many dinners eating food like that in my vegetarian pre-vegan days. The first 3 or 4 months of eating vegan I did eat a lot of vegan cheese, I even posted about it: http://mudnessa.blogspot.com/2010/04/even-vegans-can-enjoy-cheesy-pizza.html

I haven't eaten that in a long time, basically I got over my "addiction" to dairy and even though a slice sounds simple I don't drool over one. As for other cravings I thought I would crave a big juicy bloody steak, I always have had occasional cravings for steak and about twice a year I would make my husband take me to a steakhouse so I could get a delicious prime rib. Surprisingly, no cravings for meat of any sort.

What do I crave, tofu, I have always loved tofu but I love it even more now. I also crave a great vegan "mac and cheese" recipe I found, such a great comfort food:

http://agreenspell.com/2010/04/16/15-minute-vegan-mac-n-cheese/

and a delicious tofu noodle soup: http://www.thecasualvegan.com/tofu-soup/

Quite quickly, within a month, of eating vegan, I noticed quite a few great "side effects" of my diet, I didn't notice any changes after changing just to vegetarian. First was my skin. It is not dry, like AT ALL. I often had problems with very very very very dry legs and would scratch myself raw in my sleep. My face is also a million times clearer. It wasn't bad before but I almost always had one or two pimples coming or going. It was annoying, oh don't worry you'll grow out of it in high school NEVER happened. Well it has now and it has NOTHING to do with growing but all to do with the food I was eating. The odd rash I have had on my back for years is also a lot less noticeable, it's not back acne, it's under the skin and no one knows what it is but it definitely isn't as "inflamed" as it use to be. Another great change was digestion and all that TMI stuff I could get into. I'll spare you the details but let's say me and my stomach/digestive parts are happy with each other and I don't have to worry about where I am if they have a restroom close that I won't catch something using or be interrupted when I'm trying to do something.

Last month I ordered a soup I thought was vegan, it wasn't, it had A LOT of mozzarella in it, I took one spoonful and I found it incredible rich and not tasty at all. I ate a few more spoonfuls cause I am an idiot and let's just say for the next 24 hours my stomach was not happy and my toilet became my unwanted best friend again. It was horrible. Lactose intolerance does run in my family (the Asian part) and I guess I have a mild case I never realized before or cared too.

As far as weight loss, I'm already a skinny girl but I have had people tell me that I look like I've lost weight since changing my diet. I think it's more of a people paying more attention looking for me to get all super skinny and sickly since I'm not eating like "most" people. Don't worry, according to the scale I have put on over 5 pounds, I don't care how skinny you are, that's never something you want your scale to tell you. I don't see or feel the 5 pounds and I did also start running so it could be mostly muscle (I'm hoping) and honestly some of my clothes do seem to be fitting a bit better.

I have to say that is the hardest thing, dealing with all the questions. I don't mind explaining to people why I do it and what type of stuff I eat now but having people go on and on about me not getting enough protein or the right vitamin and minerals just because of my vegan diet really pisses me off. If someone is seriously concerned I do get that, a lot of people don't know all that much about the types of food I eat now, but having someone who eats a mostly processed, fast food, meat based, junk food diet get all high and mighty on me about my diet and how it can't be healthy and how they heard that so and so told so and so blah blah blah or that so and so knows someone who knows someone who got sick and blah blah blah, that really pisses me off. If you are interested that is one thing, do some research and then come to me, and not just random sites on the internet that have no sources (yes kinda like this post, but this is just more about me and not why you should or shouldn't eat a certain way).

So what do I eat: Most of my hearty recipes that really satisfy me are from the 21 day vegan kickstart. I eat lots of stew/soups with lentils or beans. I love beans, always have, black beans, white beans, chickpeas, all sorts. Homemade hummus is a favorite of mine. LOTS of fruit and veggies of course, I've always loved most veggies and oranges and pineapple are my go to fruits for my morning breakfast. Rice, mom ALWAYS made rice with each meal and I couldn't live without it. Lot's of greens, I love spinach, bok choy, and kale. Mushrooms, is there anything more tasty than mushrooms? Couscous so delicious, tasty, and easy to make and make/use in different recipes. I don't eat it very often because I'm not that good of a cook and for some reason it eludes me but I love quinoa as well.

As for as specific substitutes, I use soy/rice/almond milk, depending on what I am making. Vanilla almond milk is my favorite for cereals and sweets, rice milk is great for soups and making creamy things. I don't use much soy milk anymore actually. Earth Balance has a great vegan butter substitute, even my mom used it to butter her rolls and liked it, she's one of those persons who would just eat a slice of butter! She comes over every now and then and has dinner with me trying my vegan dishes, she's liked all of them so far, even the one I forgot to put mushrooms in.

I make my own veggie broth, keep all the scraps/extras from all the veggies and things I use, freeze them and every month or so throw them in the crockpot with a water for the day, strain and then freeze in an ice cube tray for use later. Homemade veggie broth is amazing, it is cheap, beyond cheap because I use almost all scraps, which I then throw in my compost bin, and I can flavor it any way I want, more onion or garlic flavor, or use a lot of something/anything specific to get a great flavor. I can control the salt levels to my liking, usually don't add any, add in all sorts of herbs from my patio garden. Use it to cook anything that requires water and it adds flavor and veggie goodness, yum!

This is just a list of things I eat that I can recall off the top of my head so if it seems like I am blatantly missing something important that's why. I do take a multi-vitamin (when I can remember) but I don't take it because I'm vegan, I've almost always taken one (when I can remember).

So that's my story and I am sticking with this vegan thing cause I like it and it likes me.

Need an adventure

I've been having serious issues with boredom.

I don't want to be a zombie in front of the tv or computer but I don't see the point of sitting on the couch doing nothing. I can't decide on a book to read, I started reading Fever Dream by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child last night but I'm finding it hard to read because I have a signed limited edition copy and feel like I shouldn't read it.

I have plenty that needs or could be done but who wants to do that. My pile of laundry is crazy big, the whole apartment is a mess, all my animals could use a good cage clean, there are 3 different piles of junk that need to be dealt with, but again why would I want to do any of that boring mindless "housework".

Boredom seems to grab a hold of me at night when I feel like I should be calm and do relaxing things and not get caught up in a new sewing project or even making noise with my sewing machine. Night definitely doesn't seem like the time I should take out my drill and other tools and finally get back to work on my beer cap light shade. It would be different if I had a garage to go into.

I've been itching to go on a trip, even just a local day trip. It's been YEARS since I've done anything in nature, since I've walked even a trail and taken in the scenery, since I've paid too much attention to some random critter foot prints or droppings, since I've just sat somewhere and watched the wild lives around me go about their business.

Almost every day I think about my trips to the Sea of Cortez and what it was like to walk where very few have before, to spend my day on a small uninhabitable island full of raw wildlife, to visit the nesting site of Elegant Terns and Hermanns Gulls, to spend a day in the water swimming with Sea Lions, having them tug on your flippers and swim away before you could turn around, to have them get right in your face and blow bubbles at you, tide pooling and finding a place with so many beautiful Nudibranchs you end up doing nothing else for the rest of the day, being on jellyfish watch as my new friends jumped off the top deck of the boat, learning that those weren't a string of some sort of eggs but a string of some sort of ctenophore (luckily their sting wasn't too bad), watching someone cursed the "stingray shuffle" and struggled with jellyfish wrapping around his ankles as he tried to walk ashore and being glad I decided to skip that snorkeling trip, making a small fire on an island in the pitch black and have scorpions come crawling out of the wood and straight for you feet in sandals (ok I don't miss that, I hated that).

I think about my 2 week trip to Belize, walking among Howler Monkeys, walking up and down ancient Mayan ruins, being forbidden from lying down on a sacrificial altar because it was creeping out the people I was with, having your new friends drag you and the guide over to a local at every new town and asking them what slang term they use for a redhead and then having the guide translate it (match head is the only unique one I remember), taunting a tarantula with a long blade of grass so we could get a picture, spending the day snorkeling, trying to follow and keep up with a large Spotted Eagle Ray (failed miserable), realizing that tropical waters are too warm for a wetsuit, having cute little tropical fish nip at my purple bathing suit, always knowing that if you looked over your shoulder you'd see at least 2 Barracuda "stalking" you, diving for conch and making fresh conch fritters on the boat, watching a small child in a tiny row boat smash fish to death as his father was spear fishing some where below and tossing his catch into the boat, seeing Manatee nostrils take a breath, learning that covering yourself with a sheet only up to your head at night results in mosquito bites ALL over your face, waiting to see if the enormous lump/bite on your leg was going to go all sci-fi movie on you and bare some sort of insect out of it (it never did), seeing for the first time and falling in love with Frigate Birds.

There are the family trips I've taken, many Yosemite trips, crossing a large stream via a fallen tree, travelling up and down the California/Oregon coast, summer in Vermont playing in the stream for hours on end making our own rock dams and creating a small pool, walking in the forest, looking for newts and toads, stepping on a garter snake barefoot and wondering why the grass feels like it is moving beneath your foot, being a co-pilot on the search for covered bridges on back dirt roads with no signs, finally finding a bridge getting out and finding ourselves in the thickest swarm of mosquitos, family trips to Baja to see the grey whales, fresh ceviche, giving chocolate chip cookies to the Federales while we change flat tires, being told not to get out of the cars because whenever I did I would hear a slow leak in a tire, petting grey whales that would come to the side of the boat, spending a day on a beach with the bluest water that was knee high for as far as you could see (or go because you knew you had to walk all the way back too), attempting snorkeling in freezing cold waters, always finding and visiting unique and cool places no matter where we were, my honeymoon in Maui snorkeling and watching a small eel among the rocks having everyone ignore me because they were just there for the turtles that I guess were further out, I just stayed at there watching the eel and little invertebrates moving around, walking to a black sand beach.

No wonder I've been so bored lately, I've never spent this long in one place without going on some sort of adventure. Doesn't help that my boss always tells me how great I would be in the field because he's impressed by my ability to spot creatures, being told how I don't seem to bother the animals with my presence, I just walk among them for the most part and they don't feel the need to flee like they do with others. (For the record Kinkajous do not fall under my spell, quite the opposite actually, I've worked with 8 or 9 different individual kinks at 2 different facilities and they ALL hate me, even the one that others could do anything to screamed at me!) Of course of late these creatures are the doves and bunnies that are in the back yard at work.

I would never use the word adventurous to describe myself but I think I might need to change that thinking. It was just normal for me, not adventurous in my eyes.

ABC's of me

I've really been lacking in posting lately, if you couldn't tell. I have ideas but I never get around to them. So I am going to post this which I found over at The Goat.

Now I have a post that has a bit of form and you can learn something about me, or not, without having to read a stream of babbling thoughts by me since I can't get most thoughts straight in my head right now, the real reason I haven't been posting.

ABC's of me

A- My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: it's actually unplugged (it's a window/wall unit thing) and a piece of duct tape is over the outlet because it doesn't work well and the cat started to play with the plug and outlet

B- My BEDROOM theme is: um girls I guess you could say, I don't think I ever really have a theme with anything. I have a few framed posters in my bedroom, this Erte, three of Bettie Page, a maid one and devil one and a classic pinup one, and another pinup girl poster. I don't spend much time but sleep time in my bedroom. My sewing machine is in there but haven't been doing much sewing lately. Otherwise there is just the bed and my clothes.

C- The CAR in the driveway is: the same car I've had for more than half my life. Thank you Honda. It is also beyond filthy at the moment, like really really filthy.

D- My DESK looks: Has my sewing machine and tons of excess fabric and stuff all over it.

E- The EXACT time I wake up daily is: Usually before ten, recently around nine, sometimes eight sometimes a lot later.

F- The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: my hair

G- My GARAGE is filled with: don't have a garage.

H- My HOUSE is: a second/top floor corner 2 bed 2 bath apartment.

I- If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: clothes EVERYWHERE, mine and my husbands, and an ALWAYS unmade bed.

J- My favorite JUICE is: I enjoy cranberry and cranberry blends don't drink much of it, mostly drink tea.

K- The best part of my KITCHEN is: the large amount of cabinetry

L- The LAST person who visited my home was: I think Rich's cousin came over the other night for a bit.

M- The last piece of MAIL for me was: That wasn't a bill or junk mail....I have no idea!

N- My NEIGHBORS think I'm: no idea, probably weird, I don't talk to my neighbors, call me anti social I guess, they come and go a lot too.

O- If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: lots of veggies, mmmmm veggies.

P- My last house PARTY was: a few months ago, Rich had a stout tasting night. It was a lot of fun.

Q- A QUICK meal I like to fix is: either tofu noodle soup or vegan "mac and cheese" neither are super quick but also aren't too time consuming and they are easy, very tasty, and my fav comfort foods.

R- My favorite ROOM of the house is: hmmmm, i really enjoy my animal room but it is always a mess and there is nothing to just relax on in there, I spend most of my time on my couch with my laptop next to me.

S- The SHAMPOO brand I use is: Alaffia Neem and Shea Butter Scalp Recovery Shampoo. Thinking of trying their shampoo with Shea and Henna when I need a new bottle.

T- My largest TELEVISION is: 36 inches. The only one we have.

U- UNDER my bed you will find: 2 long boxes one with various magazines and paper and things the other with my sleeping bag. My cute little kitten is under there a lot, especially if it's not the weekend or we have company or something random frightened her.

V- The last time I VACUUMED was: *whispers* 2 weeks ago

W- Looking out my WINDOW I see: palm trees, pine trees, other various trees, apartment building, medical building, and blue skies

X- I wish I had X-TRA: motivation

Y- My YARD is: non existent.

Z- ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: between 1130 and 1. I usually get to bed in the midnight hour.

Where it all went awry

I'm not what society calls "normal", I don't even know what that means or why one would want to be "normal". While at work the other day my mind started to wander as I got to the "routine" part of my day. I thought, "I think I know when things went awry."

I believe it could have been my childhood over identification with Pippi Longstocking. It must have been my 11th birthday if I am doing my math correctly, which I am probably not because me and math are like oil and water. That summer The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking came out and for my birthday I went to the movies with friends and then had a party.

I share her love of animals and like her I don't necessarily conform to preconceived notions. I don't have super strength like of course but also like her I would not, and still do not, hesitate to jump into a body of water fully clothed even in my best clothes, although now I wouldn't jump in with any of my fave shoes on, you don't mess with a girl and her shoes. ;)

As I've gone into here before I am not obsessed with cleanliness and I always thought of Pippi being the same way, we aren't walking around looking like Pigpen from Peanuts but that's because we're girls and it's cute when girls have a bit of mud smeared on their clothes and/or face. I would have given anything to live in a house with a monkey and a horse. Being older and having actually worked with a few different monkeys I've changed my mind on that one, they are just too damn smart and test you, although I do know a monkey (Gepetto) that loves his human mommy (Jess) and would love to have a relationship like that with one.

To this day I still love horses though. My uncle had a horse that wasn't ridden very often but I didn't hesitate to get on it bareback even on a few occasions. On a family trip to Yosemite me and my dad went on a horse back tour. When we got within sight of the stables my horse took off and I just went for a long bumpy ride all the way back to the stables. A guide was quick to follow me to try and get the horse to stop and make sure I didn't panic, I did quite the opposite. He apologized to my dad for the incident and was amazed I took it so well, I didn't just take it well I quite enjoyed it. It was the highlight of the tour for me, only thing I remember about it actually.

After contemplating all this I texted my mom and said I know where you went wrong (poor choice of words) and told her it was because of her allowing me (again poor choice of words) to over identify with Pippi Longstocking. She got back to me and said, "oh nice blame it on me." I really should have worded my text better. I got back to her and said well I guess I could have identified with Stawberry Shortcake, gotten obese and had friends all named after desserts. We had a laugh.

What other characters was a little red headed girl suppose to identify with? I never liked Annie much , think it was the way she was treated and while the story had a happy ending I didn't identify with her at all. I'm glad I chose Pippi. Even to this day I wouldn't mind being Pippi.

101...why mudnessa

Hey would you look at that, this is apparently my 101st post. So let's have a bit of a blabbering post letting you get a little more insight into mudnessa, you know a mudnessa 101.

If you come across a mudnessa it is most likely me, I did see a mudnessa registered on a racing/car/motorbike site something or other that wasn't me so it isn't ALWAYS me. Before I was mudnessa, way back when usernames were only used for email and IM, I wasWeeMadNessa. I used WeeMadNessa for years, many many years. It was fitting but the mad part only come out if you really really really piss me off or I love you with all of my heart, yeah major character flaw. I'm pretty sure mudnessa all started with a MUD (multi-user dungeon) game my brother was playing and he wanted me to play. It was the Discworld MUD to be exact, I didn't wanna be weemad and he suggested MudNessa because it was a MUD and that's just cool, right? We decided that all lowercase was good since the game is in caps. Didn't hurt that mud is actually a pretty fitting description of me sometimes, ok most of the time. From then on I was and will probably always be mudnessa. It is just so fitting.

Let's "discuss" why it's so fitting. Well my name is Vanessa so the Nessa part is self-explanatory right....I actually had a friend ask why people call me Nessa, not the brightest guy in the world. Nessa started when my younger, not little, I'm the little one, first started talking and he couldn't say Vanessa and Nessa was easy. I rarely hear my family call me Vanessa and even Rich almost always calls me Nessa or sometimes red. I don't actually get called mudnessa it's just used in print.

A few years back my mom asked me why exactly mudnessa, a friend asked and she said it was because I get and don't mind being dirty and muddy and she wanted to make sure that was why. I told her about the Discworld game and then confirmed that it stuck because I am usually dirty. I told a few stories of me being dirty over the years, one of which she hadn't heard/known about that she loved.

Here are a few childhood dirty Nessa stories. When I was a kid we had a LARGE veggie garden and I really enjoyed planting things and digging in the dirt. We had a BIG pile of manure brought over by my uncle. For weeks on end after school I would go and play IN the manure pile digging around for worms. I literally remember digging myself a big hole in the middle of the pile and having manure surrounding me almost past my head. My parents would just smile and shake their heads at me.

I went to work with my dad, who works in construction, one day and ended up playing with wet cement with my bare hands. If you are familiar with cement you know how miserable I was later that night and the next day. If not, basically it pulled ALL the moisture out of my skin and basically "burnt" my hands. Not a happy day, not a happy day at all, but I sure did have fun playing in the wheelbarrow full of gooey cement.

Here is the story my mom loved. We had a sandbox that me and my brother played in a lot. One day I decided it would be fun to see how much sand we could get in my pants. I put on sweatpants and quickly realized the elastic on the bottom wasn't strong enough to hold in much sand. I ran inside, got some super thick rubber bands, something we had A LOT of, dad got a lot of large plans that were secured with large rubber bands. With a roomy pair of sweatpants on secured at the ankles with rubber bands my brother grabbed a bucket and started dumping sand down my pants. We succeeded and got my pants FULL of sand. They weren't really around my waist anymore but they were brimming with sand, it was like a heavy fat suit and if I remember correctly we were hysterical. Guess my pants didn't end up too sandy because mom was non the wiser while doing my laundry. My brother is currently and has always been the clean freak type, but not OCD like, he obviously had no problem helping me get dirty.

Probably somewhere around my 13th birthday I got a worm growing kit. I LOVED growing worms. Obviously I was the kid who had to be forced to take a shower. Which didn't work, as in as an adult I still don't shower that often. I've mentioned it here before but luckily I am not an overly smelly person and showering daily really isn't necessary. My hair would revolt if it was subjected to water much less washing everyday. As it is now as long as I don't get too visibly dirty or play with a stinky animal at work I only shower twice a week. I know gross right, eh, another character flaw.

However the other day when me and Rich were....um......."talking" my over active mind got working before our "conversation" got too "intense" and I noticed he smelled different, he had bought and used a new shower soap. You know how people have their own smell, whether it be their perfume, soap, or whatever. I don't use a scented soap, I don't use perfume or scented anything really so I just smell like me. I asked him what do I smell like, he sniffed my hair and said, nothing really. I had showered the day before so I probably did have little to no smell. Then I asked well if you had to from memory describe what I smell like what would it be, he just looks at me not wanting to piss me off. I say, "poo?" He smiles and snickers while saying yes. We had a good laugh and I realized why again I love him so, because he loves me despite the fact that he can't say his wife smells like roses, vanilla, or something sweet, he know and still loves that his wife smells like poo. Ah true love isn't it glorious, haha.

Now don't get the wrong idea I don't smell like a nasty sewage bathroom gag inducing walking poo stick or anything. It's more of a dirty, nature, gritty smell, perhaps with a little bit of pet shop/zoo on bad days. In recent years it hasn't been so bad because I no longer clean up and sometimes literally roll around with smelly mammals like monkeys, coatimundis, binturongs, pot bellied pigs, kinkajous, opossums, foxes, porcupines, prairie dogs, among a lot of other smelly things. Some days I use to have to drive home with the windows down or I would gas myself out of my car. Those were times when I would shower daily, if not more since I worked 2 short shifts at one job.

I now exclusively work with reptiles and don't do a lot of hands on with them beyond just my hands, as long as I don't spill/drop things on myself I don't get too smelly at work. I am working in rooms full of reptiles, it can smell like the reptile house at a zoo, it's not too bad. One problem though is that I get pretty immune to my work smells so I don't even notice it anymore. Unless something is dead, death stinks even when it's just a tiny little creature and there is no getting use to that or not noticing it.

Every once in a while I will pick Rich up from work right after I get off work and the first thing he'll say will be something about me smelling, I've heard, "YOU STINK!" "Did you play with the dogs a lot at work today?" Lovely things like that are often his first greetings to me. It is usually more my clothes that smell than actually me so once I change I no longer have dog or stink on me.

That's the story, evolution, and why behind mudnessa and why it has stuck with me. Hope you enjoyed. Let's end it with a picture from a few years ago of true mudnessa just home from work one day.

My week so far in pictures (and a video)

Monday I got my spot on the couch stolen by Harley Quinn

But she is so adorable I couldn't move her

When you don't make the bed in the morning it make it difficult for Otsego to find a comfy spot on the bed.

Tuesday was quite stormy, we had a Tornado warning in several spots in San Diego County. Here is a video I took out my bedroom window about an hour before the tornado warning.

This picture was just about an hour after I took the video.

Wednesday I got to work and pretty quickly cut my finer on this lovely rusty hinge while closing up the cage next to it.

Play in mud to stop allergies?

From Care2: Play in the mud to stop allergies?

This is just too perfect for me and my blog. Guess we know why I don't have allergies, I use to play in the mud and dirt and sad and manure piles looking for worms and other creepy crawlies for HOURS on end as a kid. I wonder why it took until my mid twenties for me to get the nick name mudnessa, before that it was just Nessa, guess it took an outsider to dub me with the really perfect nickname. It was just the way Nessa was to my family, hehe.