Trev

Hello from another Canadian, but in not-usually-but-sometimes-freezing-because-of-global-warming Vancouver! Repeating, but you're definitely on the right forum. Gotta kick the dairy!

Welcome to the forum... never eaten meat? I'm green with envy.

Checked out the links you posted. You hava a lot of choice in the Chicago area! What are your goals for whatever martial art you choose? To fight? To get in wicked shape? Self Defence? Covert Ninja Operations Against Agribusiness? Hey, that sounds sorta cool... To grow mentally? (sounds cheesy maybe, but you will be amazed what you learn about yourself and your limits from martial arts, and how you apply them to the rest of your life).

great idea, pelicanAndrew... Don't worry about getting conditioned for fighting right away -- you'll likely be taking classes for awhile before you are allowed to fight more than short rounds of light-contact sparring. It takes time to get fit enough to fight. There's also flexibility to work on, and specific conditioning of all the muscles you probably haven't used much before, but you find yourself using. Working on cardio can only help tho, those first couple of classes are going to kick your a$$! In a good way... As for a style... I studied very traditional Okinawan Karate for several years, and now do a looser, fighting-based style of karate/muay thai with a little jujitsu (not enough to be good at mma fights yet). In the past I've done a little aikido, jujitsu, wing chun kung fu, kempo etc. I'm sure you've done your research, but I have a little input. Muay Thai - fight-oriented, pretty hard core, depending on the club. Hope you like bruised shins! Will definitely get you in shape and toughen you up. Not too much formal technique training (unlike Karate, which has more techniques and is more focused on perfection of those techniques). Unique because its traditions are Thai, as opposed to Japanese. Ninjitsu - I knew a Ninja once. And there's one on this forum? All I know is that it's probably self-defence heavy, and will mix lots of jujitsu? Maybe some cool weapons training! Jujitsu - BJJ is popular these days. If you like to wrestle, not striking. Very practical for self defence - I wouldn't fight a good BJJ or JJ fighter! There are others on this forum who can tell you more about BJJ. Aikido - is a very cool martial art. It's very gentle, and involves throws and holds, no strikes. It's all about using your opponent's energy against them. It takes a long time to get good at it, but would be worth it. Usually aikido schools are very traditional. There are also lots of mixed style clubs that combine the best of several martial arts and classes can usually be tailored to fitness, fighting or whatever you want out of them. Have fun looking into classes and trying them out!

Vegan Road Trip postponed due to blizzard in Vancouver! Barely made it home from 5 minutes away! Vancouver doesn't know what to do when it snows, so there's not a plowed street, or a grain of salt anywhere. Supposed to clear up by tomorrow afternoon, so maybe a later start, maybe leaving Friday.

I've sent many a milk drinker to milksucks.com -- love that site!

Thanks, _raVen_ -- Yeah, it's a hard film to watch. I still see those animals everywhere I look, in my own dog, when I'm at work. Can't get those images out of my head. But, I don't want to either. I was so angry with myself that I had been so ignorant all my life. I force myself to deal with it. I know many people proabably cannot watch Earthlings. You've been a vegan for 12 years, so obviously you don't need any convincing, or reinforcement of your ideals. I haven't been a vegan even 1 year yet, so the world is just opening up to me. I've had brushes with animal rights stuff in the past, and experiences which led me, temporarily, to question our treatment of animals, but nothing stuck. I'm getting angry with myself even now, just thinking about it. I think I'll write an article for my site about this. Getting back to Earthlings... I wish I could show it to all the meat eaters I know, my stupid co-workers, family who do not understand (we did manage to completely convert my parents into vegans over the last few months, and another couple we used to ride bike trials with). But most people wouldn't watch it, and they would turn away from us more. That's the whole problem with animal rights activism, and the truth in general. If it's not convenient, they don't want it. If it hurts, it's bad. I guess it's western, christian culture. I was brought up to believe that pain is good sometimes, and necessary. We learn from sadness. Anyway, I understand why you can't watch it. I've got a lot of ground to make up. As an aside, I've actually found some comfort in knowing the truth. When it's my 14th hour of work, outside, soaking wet from the Pacific Northwest rain and freezing cold, hungry because there are only animal products to eat at craft service and I find myself starting to wallow in self pity, I just think of the suffering of those animals, and the millions we don't see. Then I can stand up straight again and know why I'm alive. Llife is suffering, in some way, all the time. To seek to end suffering by self-indulgence, will only prolong suffering. I know this now.

Nice work, all who protested! Hopefully stores like this are a dying breed. The sign in the window brought to mind Schopenhauer: All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident... It would seem that the fur trade in North America is in the 2nd stage. AETA is another example of the violent opposition stage. I think all aspects of animal rights are experiencing this phase, actually. It is likely to get worse for activists before it gets better. The upside, according to Schopenhauer, is that eventually the truth will triumph. What we believe in will be the norm. loveliberate: don't worry about the poll on that site -- it's just an opinion poll that the authors (news channel of the website can use to keep their point of view in line with their readers. The news media is NOT objective. The article was thankfully not anti-activist, like so many of them are.

Thanks!

I could run the idea by him and see what he thinks. I got the impression he's a very busy guy, but a screening in a decent sized theatre might entice him out of L.A. Can the theatre screen video, because I'm not sure if they ever made film prints? The other big consideration is can you fill the theatre? Shaun told me he doesn't lie to people get them to watch Earthlings, he wants them to have some idea of what they're in for. Are there enough people in your area who would go to Earthlings, knowing what it is? The Food Fight folks have put on a couple screenings of Earthlings, have they not? How did they go? I'm sure they'd have some good input on this, and I bet they know Shaun fairly well. I think having a large screening is a great idea, and if you can get Shaun to come out and host it, and speak at it, that would be amazing. It's definitely worth trying.

Right now, just making it to Portland in one piece! We're supposed to get a bunch more snow the night before we leave. Oh well, I'm from back east, a little frost ain't gonna stop me. We're planning to go straight to Food Fight on Thurs. Proabably be there between 10 am and noon, depending on the weather, and if we manage as early a start as we're hoping. Didn't plan anything else, other than checking the place out, stocking up on some goodies, and meeting Robert and whoever else might be there! Would be cool to meet a few of the forum members in person! Unfortunately we can't hang out in Portland all day (we'll save that for future trips only to Portland) because we want to get pretty deep into Cali for the night. We don't have a real strict itinerary tho.

I retract what I said above in parnenthetical about biodiesel. I didn't realize that a lot of it's animal fat, especially around thx-giving when it's a lot of turkey fat leftover from fried turkey. I haven't put it in my car yet, and I don't think I will. Unless I find a source that I know is vegetable oil based. Sorry for the digression.

Guess those whole grains are a good thing to keep eating, being that they are the only iron-absorption inhibitors in my diet right now. Yikes!

Welcome, Luke. I'm sure you'll find your answers here. I'm not personally keen on supplements other than Vega, which I use more as a meal replacement, and less for its sheer protein volume (I only ever have 1 scoop at a time). I've had good success for me, mostly just eating good whole foods. But I'm no bodybuilder, I'm a fighter. Different goals. Retaining too much water (like with creatine) would just put me out of my weight class, which I have to cut to make right now anyway. All of my workouts are body-weight and cardio. And, remember, the strength to push walls over is not in the arms and legs - it is in the mind.

Just talked to Shaun Monson, the filmmaker behind Earthlings, phoned me out of the blue after reading my review. He's a super nice guy who's obviously given so much of his life for his film and his cause. My review is apparently making the rounds... Anyway, I just want to encourage everyone again to see Earthlings. Pass it around, hold screenings, order copies and give'em out for xmas, whatever. This is a great film for an even greater cause. I know a lot of people have been doing just this, but hearing from Shaun just kind of got me going again.

Vega. or the real thing.

Uh, I thought this was going to be about pumping iron...

tofuPUNK, a day and a half isn't long enough to get over those symptoms. Maybe try a more gradual transition. I started with a couple of raw days in a week, but that quickly turned into more. I now eat about 80% raw, kind of all the time, but especially before work outs. The headaches are long gone, and I find myself always craving fresh fruit and raw vegetables instead of my old cravings which were whole grain bread and peanutbutter! I'm no raw expert, as I'm very new to it also, so hopefully some of the raw pros while chime in here. Read Big Bwii's posts above too. He knows a thing or two about adjusting to raw!

Welcome!

Welcome! Giving up things like milk and dairy is a huge step in the right direction! I"ve found this forum to be a wealth of info and inspiration, I'm sure you will too.

Welcome aboard!

Thanks, EatRaw! That menu looks amazing! Might have to move there. I'm really getting excited about the trip now -- leaving in 4 days... jonzen: really looking forward to Millenium too. We might bring our non-vegan friends here. Cheers!

I start every day with a single-shot short Americano, made at home, with a little soy or rice milk in it. Sometimes I'll make a soy latte. I've cut down over the last 6 months. Used to have at least 2 double shot Americanos every day. Bad! I still go out for a coffee on weekends (not to Star-yucks!). It's tough to resist at work, because the camera truck has an espresso machine, craft service has coffee all day, and a coffee truck guy comes around everyday selling really good coffee drinks. It could easily get out of hand. I do avoid drip because it has more caffeine than espresso, and I only buy organic, fair-trade beans. My parents have a property in Costa Rica and they always bring beans back from a local grower near them. What is it with the Pacific Northwest - we drink a lot of coffee! And just because I'm Canadian, doesn't mean I go to Tim Horton's! I don't step foot in those places! North Van and Van have so many great coffee places...

Sweet potatoes are delicious. Also try cutting them up in strips and baking them on a cookie sheet with olive oil -- sweet potato fries! Season as desired (I like'em just how they are).

Buddhists believe this, but for them it is a reason to live a good life, free from hate, violence, or clinging to material things. Everything, including us, is impermanent. Western culture has borrowed the idea, mashed it up with some hail mary's and presto! A convenient justification for all its excesses. Don't worry, the morons that frequent a place like this are just speeding up the process of natural selection.