howling winds

[threeplusfire]

Things are rainy, which is a better sight than hot and humid. The still, dank air makes me kind of nervous. Ten years ago on my seventeenth birthday, the giant F5 tornado from hell wiped out Jarrell and destroyed large sections of the Cedar Park area just north of me. I remember the way the air felt in the afternoon, the greenish tint to the thick sunlight, the way everything was so heavy and still. I also remember the black wall staring down at us up north on 183, and how the clouds were sucked up into the three tornados that combined into one. For this year, I would like to not see anything like that.

I had the moment of those Volkswagen commericals yesterday. We were talking about nothing important while sitting at a stop light, when a sedan slid into the turn and came right at the side of my car. I was looking at the driver, a doofy looking you guy with a baseball cap on sideways and three friends in the car. While I was bracing myself for the impact, and hoping my airbag wouldn't break my wrist, I found myself thinking Those guys look just like the jerk off kids in the movie Kids, which I watched the night before. Thankfully, the car missed me by a few inches. It rattled me though.

Dinner at Mesa Ranch was delicious. Steve Ray runs a fine, fine restaurant. He's even thinking about opening a second location. I had the grilled rainbow trout, made even more fabulous with the lemon and capers that made a fine foil to the grilled asparagus spears. The duck is incredibly meaty and tender, and is so rich you find it hard to imagine it is a bird. My father had them sing to me and give me a piece of the delicious chocolate dessert. (I cracked up when the old cowboy singer in the bar told everyone it was my nineteenth birthday. I can't possibly look *that* young.)

Kimberly gave me my first birthday present of the year. It is a shiny piece of howlite, all white and grey, wrapped in silver wire with silvered glass beads. I really dig the stone, and the way it gleams. Yay birthday shiny.

Despite my concerns, the post office handed over my package without any troubles. One never knows what type of postal employee one will encounter, so I had my drivers license, my government ID badge, my check book and my utility bill just in case they wanted to give me grief. The customs form is in both Russian and French. I am relieved it made its way safely from Saint Petersburg and now I just need to find wrapping paper.

Now for a poll, because the question came up in a comment made and I am sincerely curious.

[Poll #991362]

Comments

[rockstarbob.livejournal.com]

Of course people can say they're opposed to animal cruelty and still eat animals. People can do anything they want, but it's still a double standard that doesn't make any sense logically.

I do think it's bizarre when people say they are opposed to animal cruelty but still contribute multiple times a day to the slaughterhouse machine that produces their food. As far as animal cruelty goes, it's probably tops. Here are some links, but don't look at them while you're eating (oh, the irony):

Meet Your Meet (click to watch video)
The Free-Range Myth
Factory Farming

I have a few theories on how people are able to maintain this strange double standard, but this guy says it best:

It is human nature to want to feel that what we're doing is right, proper, and logical. When we're confronted with something that suggests that our current practices are not the best ones, it's uncomfortable. We can either consider that our choices may not have been the best ones, which is extremely disturbing, or we can reject that premise without truly considering it, so that we don't have to feel bad about our actions. That's the more comfortable approach. And we do this by searching our minds for any arguments we can for why the challenge must be wrong, to justify our current behavior.

Think about that for a moment: Our feeling that our current actions are correct isn't based on our arguments. Rather, our actions come first and then we come up with the arguments to try to support those actions. If we were truly logical, we'd consider the evidence first and then decide the best course of action. But often we have it in reverse, because it's too difficult to accept that we might have been wrong.

Obviously, I'm a little biased. ;)

I'm happy to continue talking about this with anyone who's reading along, if they're interested!

[rothko.livejournal.com]

happy birthday! glad you're okay, yikes.

i know that creepy green sky well... never a good sign.

[frostwalrus.livejournal.com]

I want free range cream of ticky soup please. Also on a rather jerky note, I think animals that have been treated unfairly by agribusiness taste better, but that is just my opinion.

[kuoirad.livejournal.com]

Weather doesn't feel tornado-y. Green tinges are usually the biggest indicator that they're coming...

And I haven't noticed greenness yet today.

[alainn-sorcha.livejournal.com]

Did you decide anything about your birthday? I need you to make plans, even if it's just movies and pizza at your house, because in one month, I won't live here anymore and I won't be able to see you any time I want to and I'll cry. So pretty please let's do something.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of movies and drinking. We will hang out Sunday evening, and it will be awesome. I will get some snacksof deliciousness.

[frostwalrus.livejournal.com]

I planned to sit around in my undies on Sunday evening!
WOE!!!!!!!!!!

[puella.livejournal.com]

Hey I'm glad to see that you've given my comments some thought
I agree with the first poster, people CAN be opposed to animal cruelty and eat animals, they are just clearly not being consistent with their beliefs