I miss blogging! But everything's been so busy and crazy and I haven't been able to upload photos to my laptop. Right now I am in the United States spending the holidays with my family in the Bay area. I really should blog about it because: it. seriously. is. a. legendary. Christmas. It's been the best holiday so far, meeting up with my 2 (out of 6) brothers that have been living on other sides of the earth the past year as well as spending time with my cousins from my mom's side who live in California. My whole family hasn't been in the States in 6 1/2 years, hence the legendary status.
Here's a rundown of issues about this trip so far:
- Finding a vegan winter coat was almost impossible (vegan = not wool, not containing down or feathers, not leather)
- How we were able to surprise my 2 brothers with our visit -- while wearing graphic tees with their faces on them!
- First trip to Lake Tahoe, first time to see snow, first time to sleep in a cabin that had the temperature of 40 deg F (5 deg C) because of broken heater, first time to snowboard
- How San Francisco is so Goddamn easy to be vegan... I'm jealous of all you Northern Californians, seriously
- First time to eat at a fully vegan restaurant
- First time to eat a Tofurky roast for Christmas dinner and Tofurky sausages for breakfast
Will be back home by the 7th of January! You will find my next blog post shortly after I arrive.
Happy holidays everyone!
PS I miss Pinoy weather where it's sunny year round and you can go out in tsinelas... My Pinoy skin is not used to North American coldness.
PPS I just remembered: today is my vegan anniversary! I have been vegan for exactly 1 year today! I turned vegetarian on October 8 2007 and vegan on December 31 2008.
PPPS I have sad news about my cats :( We recently found out that my youngest brother is allergic to the cats we adopted. He gets violently sick every month and apparently it's because of the cats. My mom is putting her foot down and is demanding that they all (I have 3) have to leave the house. Either find them new homes or turn them to the streets. This saddens me immensely as I consider these cats my babies. I rescued them from a cruel world and now I'm forced in a position to give up on them and be like any other cruel human they have faced. The thing is, Manila is very unfriendly to moggies / non-purebreed cats. Actually Manila is unfriendly to cats in general. I have no idea how to find them good homes.
My mom said one option is for them to live outdoors. My first cat Lucky has been human-raised since he was 7 days old and is completely unaccustomed to the outdoors. He goes out sometimes to play in the garden but always under human supervision. He has no means to survive in the outdoors... He may run into the road and get into an accident... he may get into fights with other cats... I think I would get a heart attack if I come home to the roadkill remains of one of my cats...
Velma is our only female cat. She is unspayed because of her leg deformity -- her right front leg is unusable and is a 3-legged cat wonder (see a cute picture of her here). Turning her to the streets would be disastrous... Because of her deformity the vet said she can't be spayed (something about her immune system or the risk of the surgery) and mustn't get pregnant. I'll be consulting with the vet again regarding the spaying issue. I can't turn an unspayed female cat into the streets in full conscience.
I haven't blogged yet about my 3rd cat, Francis. I will dedicate a whole post on him soon. He is an orange tabby like Lucky and he came into our lives in October. He lives in our garage right now because my mom didn't want any more cats. He is completely street smart and will do fine as an outdoor cat... When he first arrived we tried to get him, Lucky and Velma to be playmates but Lucky and Velma thought they were too cool to play with him. They'd hiss at and ignore each other. Now they are all BFF's especially Lucky. I think Lucky enjoys playing with another male who's not as good as wrestling as he is (believe it or not Velma is an awesome wrestler and runner, despite her 3 leggedness). Francis is just about 3-4 months old while Lucky and Velma are 9 months old.
Anyway, I ask for your prayers regarding the cats... When I go back home I will be forced to address this issue. Have the cats live outdoors, subject to other street cats, cruel humans, and cruel drivers, or find them permanent homes and have them separated from me completely? What would you do in my position?
Would you have the courage to give up your own babies?
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1 comment:
Well I guess you're home now, so glad to hear you had such a good christmas. You should check out Vegansaurus the next time you go to SF. It's a blog completely dedicated to vegan eateries in the bay area - and there does seem to be a LOT there.
Happy New Year anyway
(I'll say a prayer for the cats, I lost one of mine on Dec 21st to kidney failure. He was only a baby, 4 years old. Very sad :(
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