Exploring my own city allows me to explore myself.

So, I have decided to take this summer off and not take any courses. I feel like I have been working my ass off the whole school year, never had a chance to reflect on myself, do things that make me happy, and I have not spent quality time with myself, exploring the city and coming out of my comfort zone. Although I traveled downtown with my friend this day (he took pictures of me, photographers love beautiful places to photograph) I feel like I have also been able to be in touch with myself, I had the chance to take some neat photos and do my own photography thing while my friend was doing his. I have come to realize what a beautiful city I live in with unique and beautiful hidden stores and underground life that is waiting to be uncovered by an adventurer with a serious case of wanderlust. 

I am that little girl, against the city, against the world, who has a serious case of wanderlust, who wants to find very corner of Seattle and expand outwards. I want to travel the world, I want to go to the big cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and such by myself. Explore, develop as a person, and being alone will REALLY allow for me to come out of my comfort zone.

I'm only young for so long, I might as well indulge in my youth before shit gets serious. I really want to spend this summer developing self confidence, traveling, reading, exploring, and coming out of my comfort zone. I want to dedicate this summer to self improvement; bettering and educating myself. Yes, this means I will be going out more for those who are wondering. No, that does not mean out doing drugs, drinking, partying or raving. These things are just not my scene, I'd much rather be at home wrapped in a blanket, drinking tea, reading a book, or out indulged in nature and seeping in the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. I would much rather spend my money on activities that brings me happiness through memories and experience. In nerd terms, to gain experience points by doing things that enhance me as a person. Why would I spend my money on material items, or experiences that don't enhance my character or provide peace to the soul?

I admire all the artists that reside in my city, the street art/graffiti/wheatpaste I'm sitting in front of, I appreciate this beautiful wall of art because it brings such life to Seattle. I love being reminded of all the talented people who live in this beautiful city along side with me and being able to see beautiful pieces such as above, allows for me to further explore my artist identity. To allow for me to pursue my art and define myself as an artist. Personally, I believe areas like this bring life to the city. Why? Because it is an outlet for creativity. Of course we wouldn't want ALL the buildings to be smothered in art, but at the same time, little areas being covered like this, truly, sparks my interest and draws my attention to the area. Art hunting is such an amazing thing to do in Seattle because a lot of the time, you don't realize it, but you are a looking at art everywhere you go. The beauty of this city is that art hides in very crack and corner. 

At my cousin's work place, there is a garden on one of the roofs. Yes, a beautiful garden, a mini-nature get away from all the computers and work, from the hustle and bustle of the busy city, a minute to escape all the concrete, cars, and sometimes even people depending on where you sit. As seen in the two chair pictures and the picture below that i have snapped, this area is very peaceful, quiet, a good place for reflection, reading, lunch, and an area for a much needed escape from either work or stress. I'm glad I was able to have found such a unique place, it truly adds to the beauty of Seattle. 

I love the view of nature, but I also love how when you get to the edge, to the railing of the roof, you have such a beautiful view of the city, of the waterfront and you really see everything there is to see in almost all directions; South, West, and North. (The East has more buildings to the building where the roof is on.) This really is a beautiful escape, and this area has added experience points to my character. Thank you Seattle for being so beautiful, please stay beautiful. 

Be eco-friendly: I'm a vegetarian now b/c I want to live sustainably.

My sister and I decided to become vegetarian for the rest of this year because of a bill that this guy in her delegation thing for her YMCA CONA trip proposed. He proposed that we should have labels on GM foods and such and also because we all have the right to know what goes into our foods. For all we know, we could be eating poison. How many re-calls on meat have you heard about recently? Did you know  that tilapia is a fish that is farmed? They are fed genetically modified things along with more than half the other animals that we as rich human beings eat. RICH people, aka rich nations consume MORE meat on average compared to the World. The more rich we become, the more income we make as a family, community, etc. there will be more meat devoured, increasing the demand causing us to feed our animals MORE. There comes a point where feeding them means giving them genetically modified foods to help them get fatter making our meat juicer. Eating less meat will allow for us to live sustainably, be healthy and contribute less of a carbon footprint thus contributing to the solution of global warming. You all should take a global warming class, the shit you learn is mind boggling and it really does inspire you to make a change. The class is not as literal as it sounds because you learn more than why the Earth is warming and that humans contribute to it. But you learn things such as why it is so hard to predict rain (for all you Washingtonians and Seattleites, quit scrutinizing the weather men, they're doing a fine job). You learn about the different eco-systems, the different parts of the Earth, and I could go on and on, but I won't because YOU ALL really should take a class. It is morally rewarding, and very interesting topics arise out from it. These are one of those multi-diciplinary classes meaning politics, laws, writing and all of that will come in handy. The environmental classes help open your eyes to what a beautiful BUT VULNERABLE planet we live on and it really makes you want to do something to sustain it. Trust me, our planet is the most beautiful thing ever, and if you live in Washington and have been out in the nature at all, you will understand my concern on global warming and how we as humans can be so indifferent and careless about this beautiful planet we are slowly destroying. Keep in mind, WE ONLY HAVE ONE EARTH. We might not be affected by global warming now, but it will all come and bite us in the ass when your children or grandchildren or their grandchildren can no longer live a peaceful life on this planet. It would be such a shame if they cannot see how beautiful this planet is because all the beautiful places are destroyed.

To start off, click this link and read about the meat in hot pockets, I swear it is not spam. That is disgusting and scary right? What if you had eaten this and then heard about the recall? Remember when I talked about how they are recalling meat and how most of it is QUITE POSSIBLY due to the fact we are feeing our animals POISON?! "Nestle says the products may have been affected by a meat recall… Rancho is recalling more than 8.7 million pounds of beef products after it's regulators said that it processed diseased and unhealthy animals without a full inspection… the products were unfit for human consumption." 8.7 million pounds of beef products. I'll admit chicken and pork is not too bad, but beef is the absolute worst because of all the genetically modified foods. How  do you think the meat product became diseased? Because we are feeding them diseased/poisoned things just to get enough beef to meet our demands. It's a lot healthier to just NOT eat it.

After my environmental classes the past two quarters, I’ve learned that eating meat contributes to global warming because of all the crops that they feed the cows and such to get them to become FAT ENOUGH to slaughter and turn into food for us. All the plowing, fertilizers, the mass planting, and everything leads to emissions of CO2, and the CO2 goes into the atmosphere and contributes to the warming of this planet. It is proven that as a family, or a nation, becomes richer, they will start eating more meat. Because we need more meat, they try to grow crops faster to feed the many cows in order to meet the demands. More than 2/3’s of the crops go to feeding animals. Crazy insane. A lot of these foods fed to cows are genetically modified too. It is a far stretch to stop eating meat just to help lessen the demand, but me and my sister are only two people out of the billions. 

I really want to make this planet a better place besides just saving energy, saving water, saving electricity and recycling. I want to live sustainably. I want there to be a planet, a bearable planet for my children and grandchildren and their children to live on. I don’t want to fuck this planet up anymore than it already is. So, in order to do so, I need to contribute to helping the world become more sustainable. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an extreme, tree hugging, eco-facist. But I do care for being green and eco-friendly. I’m beyond thankful I live in such an environmentally friendly state and that I go to such an eco-friendly school. I want to be able to preserve all the beautiful landscapes, and hiking trails, and all the national parks so the people in the future can see how beautiful Washington is. 

Washington, according to the EPA’s new CO2 bill announced on Monday June 2nd, is expected to cut CO2 emissions WAY MORE than the rest of the nation. Washington is expected to cut 72% of their emissions because of how well we are doing right now anyway. 8% of the nation uses hydro-electricity, while in Washington, 68% of our power is generated through it.

This image shows the CO2 emissions of each state through the emissions per megawatt-hour of power in the United States in the year 2012. Note that Washington emits 400 or less.

According to EPA's new bill passed for lowering CO2 emissions, Washington is expected to cut over 60% of it's emissions, WAY higher than the nations average, (mostly because we are awesome, most likely can do it, and are so eco-friendly) and if you read the bill specifically, 72% cut in emissions.

Again, I am proud to live in such an eco-friendly state. These are some of the reasons why I decided to become vegetarian. I checked my carbon footprint, and based on the way I live, if everyone lived like me when I ate meat, we would need one and a half Earths (keep in mind I take the bus, I carpool, I save water, energy, electricity, and use energy efficient appliances). Becoming vegetarian helped lower my carbon footprint a lot. Consider the things you do, the things you eat, and the things you buy and how much of an impact it all has on the environment. Think GREEN.

A lot of people cringe at the mere thought of becoming vegetarian. They question why and do not understand the reason as to why. Besides the positive impact on the Earth it is just straight up, plainly HEALTHIER.  I guess one of the things I should clear up about being vegetarian is that there are a lot of misconceptions. It is not JUST salads, greens, tofu and fruits. I mean look at this burger…

made 100% from plants. Veggie Grill serves food that we can feel good about, they are proudly committed to serving 100% plant based food, anything they serve has no meat, dairy, eggs, cholesterol, animal fat or trans fat. I’m sure there are other great vegetarian places, but this is definitely one of them on the list for me and my sister. I’m so stoked to go the rest of this year and possibly go into next year without eating meat knowing there are such wonderful eating options in Washington.

I know, I’m a tad bit weird for making this post, but it’s just something I had to post. It's a thought that has been lingering in my mind and here it is out for all of you guys to read and understand why I decide to do the things I do. 

Normally, I always think things through before  I act. I am a over thinker, and I try to see the positive and the negative consequences of my actions before I do something. I've put a lot of thought into this, and the pros certainly outweigh the cons. It impacts the planet and my health in a very positive way, so why not do it? I do not do things on impulse, and this vegetarian thing is definitely not an impulse act. I have decided this is what I want to do, and the reason as to why is because I cannot see the negative. 

Get out there, take a global warming or environmental class, it will open your eyes. It will help you see how beautiful yet vulnerable this planet is. Now, to end this post, I will say thanks for reading why I decided to become vegetarian and thanks for reading my concerns about the planet's future. And please consider being vegetarian (;

Splurge post #3

I realize that I haven't been posting lately and that's because I'm super busy with school, and I don't have time for a full, long, drawn out, detailed post. This post will be one of the many that I'll be making from now forward since I will be a little less busy now. 

Right now, I'm really into the whole activist thing, standing up for certain issues and what not. I won't get super into that issue right now, because that is for a completely different post. That should be a post in itself. For me, I've grown up with my voice stripped from me. If not stripped, then it was always silenced. Since I lived most of my life without a voice, developing that voice has always been a little difficult for me, and now that I am grown, now that I'm basically 20, I'm utilizing my voice to speak up on issues I care deeply about. I'm giving a voice to those who have been stripped of their voices because I know what it's like to feel like you don't matter. Personally, I feel like amplifying the voice of others. I want groups to see that they matter, and that it'll inspire them to utilize their voice. Enough with this, haha I feel like a lot of my posts relate to self identity and reflection… 

I've been studying hours and hours for finals the past week and I honestly feel very exhausted. I study so much because I want to do well in school. This year has been by far one of my best years because I've been so focused on school and succeeding and set achievable, yet challenging goals for myself. But my friend Vinh brought up something yesterday that allowed for me to reflect on why I keep myself so busy. It could possibly be a reason as to why I'm so… hardworking and why I do things.

I do not mind being alone. I honestly do not. It's just a matter of whether or not I'm doing something or not. If I'm alone, reading a book, I'm doing homework, I'm studying… or I'm sleeping. My mind cannot reflect the way it does when I'm writing, or when I'm blogging. It's quite unfortunate for me. While writing this, I am reminded of how empty I feel. No, not lonely empty. I have friends, I have family, I have people who make me happy and bring joy to my life. However, I feel empty. For years, I have tried to find ways to fill this void. Why is this emptiness here? I'm doing what I love, studying what I love in school, I have all the people I want, need and love in my life, and I cannot possibly thing of anything more I want. (Except the perfect boyfriend)… However, I do not think this emptiness is a result of that thing I want or desire because I am independent. I don't need a man to make me happy or a man to fill this void inside me. But I do have this void inside that just never seems to go away. Even when I was in a  presumably happy relationship, I felt this void. 

It's kind of funny because my friend is feeling the same way right now and he wanted to know how to fill the void. That was when I reflected on his situation, because it was so familiar to mine. However, I did not google it like how he did. 

When I find something that fills this void, I will blog about it. 

Another thing, the school year is finally over. My sophomore year is done and I'm just thankful for everything. I am thankful for my supportive friends and family. This year I've made the deans list twice, I hope I make it this quarter. I made it into my major, I was allowed to speak at my work place's auction, I've met amazing people, I've take classes that I really enjoyed, I've gained a lot of confidence… This year was just amazing. I'm debating whether or not I should take summer quarter right now. Ugh. 

I've writing a lot in my journal lately, but I haven't really blogged. I need to continue blogging, document things. I don't think a lot of you guys really care about what  I have to say… eh whatever. 

My love life right now is really non-existant. I'm talking to someone, but I don't know where that is going. I honestly hope it goes somewhere though. It's hard to say how I feel exactly because this again is so new to me. I haven't really put myself out there like that since my last boyfriend because I do not want to get hurt which is why I feel like I keep to myself. I have a hard time opening up and letting these walls come down because of my past. I won't go any further with this because I'm just not comfortable talking about this right now.

Anyway, this is the end of this post for now. I will have a more meaningful post up by tomorrow night. This was just an update.