Vegan Month: Day 5, I'm Getting Too Old For This...
PHASE 1: SHIT FOOD
I finished work at 12, so I went to the University to get some cheap food. A good idea, right? Not when you are going vegan, because 'cheap' can so easily be mistranslated to 'shit', as I found out the hard way...
Literally took two bites and I was done like an overdramatic diva. So I left the food and headed off to phase 2 of...this blog I guess... My phone battery died so I couldn't take a photo of this monstrosity, but here's a random picture of when I was travelling through Europe to make up for it...
PHASE 2: NOT SO SHIT FOOD WITH THE COOL KIDS
So I went to Bee Vegan again. I know the food there is good and it's also comparatively cheap. I turned up and got chatting to a couple from Reading who are now living in Australia. We swapped travelling stories and I threw in being an author into the conversation hoping to win. I don't know if I did but the food was much better...
PHASE 3: STUCK IN THE RAINSTORM
Then disaster struck! It started raining bouquets and we were stuck at the restaurant. I try and do one nice thing every day so I bought some spring rolls for the three of us to share while we waited for the rain to die down. The three of us continued to swap stories and I fought with all my might to not look down her low cut top when she leant forward...
MY BOOKS!
PHASE 4: ASSASSINS CREED
I got home, bought some bananas and continued to dominate the Playstation like a woman holding a whip to a Japanese businessman. I plugged my phone on charge and sung "I AM A TEMPLAR!" To the tune of 'I'm a survivor'. Ever since posting that previous blog with the Destinys Child joke in it (Link below) I've had that song stuck in my head, and pretty much sing anything I can to that tune now...
https://steemit.com/funny/@lewisjfclarke/going-vegan-for-a-month-day-3-the-day-i-became-an-arsehole
Recycled vegan food photo because I didn't have my phone at lunchtime...
PHASE 5: FUCK MY PHONE, BUT NOT LITERALLY YOU SLUTTY BASTARDS! YOUR MUM WOULD BE ASHAMED...
Three hours later I unplugged my phone and saw I only had 16% battery on it. So when Keni knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to grab food with him and family of him, I replugged my phone in only to find it had stopped charging completely for some reason. So I cancelled on Keni and decided to buy a new battery for my phone.
So did you buy one?
Not quite. I went to the shop and explained the situation in broken Thai, and when they plugged my phone in it worked. So I bought a new charger instead and it seems to be fine. That's a lie; I keep having to constantly restart my phone to get it working as the touch screen doesn't work when the screen is locked, so I reckon I need to treat myself to a new phone once my visa is all sorted.
PHASE 6: A CHRISSY TEIGEN RUBY MURRAY
- A vegan curry for those of you who don't speak cockney. I would have also accepted 'Kevin Keegan' instead of 'Chrissy Teigen'...
I got hungry, so I cycled around looking for for a meal to satisfy my urges. As I went past all the beautiful smells of cooked meat I wanted to pack the vegan month in, but I relented and went to the Indian restaurant I usually go to. More smells of meat didn't help, but I got my usual anti-meat aloo gobi and stuff...
And that's it really. Just a whole lot of little things that I'm repackaging hopefully in an engaging way. Feel free to leave a comment to let me know how you feel about this vegan month, or anything else that is on your mind.
Cost So Far
I want to keep tally (for me as well as you) about what I've bought over the month and how much it cost. To give you an idea I round up 50 baht to the Pound. If you are dealing with Dollars it is around 35, but round it down to 30 to make it easier to tally up...
Day 5:
A big bunch of bananas (There's a joke in there somewhere...) - 10 Baht
Shit vegan food - 25 Baht
Less shit vegan food - 40 Baht
Spring rolls - 50 Baht
The Mumbai Mouthful - 165 Baht
Today's Total: 290 Baht
Overall Total: 1110 Baht
Hi mate, thanks for turning us down ya turd! Even offered to pay, stush date.
Anyway I have a question, which may also be the answer to another question which we will see if true I will tell thee below, if not so true then forget I ever put this on the blockchain.. hey wait?
Ok my question(s) dun dun dunn: What are your thoughts on Veganism as a lifestyle choice in general? Both the "aggressive" vegan activists and the discreet personal choice types. Where on the scale would you put yourself, if/when you finally commit to the cult lol!
Also please comment specifically on the ethical side of killing things? Like have you personally killed or in person witnessed the killing of any sentient being before and if so how did you feel about it? If not, how would you feel about it if you had to watch before any flesh meal? Discuss cheers and fank yews :)
A very open question which is probably going to bring out a very long answer, so I apologize in advance...
In regards to the first part of your question, I doubt I will ever become a full time vegan simply because of the smarmy 'better than you', aggressively put it in your face vegans. I've seen both sides, and to be fair have seen more 'normal' vegans whilst giving this is a go. However I've still met my fair share of pushy vegans who tell the world condescendingly that they are wrong for not believing the exact same things as they do. Hell, I even had one girl launch a full on tirade of abuse at me on the 'Aspiring Steemit Whales and Dolphins' page because I was only going vegan for a month and not forever. At one point she even said to me "Don't worry, you've been brainwashed since you were a child, it's not your fault..."
My thoughts in general are that meat is a perfectly normal food option and has been for centuries. Meat, fish and plants are on the food chain, and because our brains have evolved we are able to hunt animals we couldn't hunt before to give us more sustenance. On the flip side of that is that we have also evolved so much that we now don't need to hunt at all anymore, and have created a society where others can do things for us. This means that the majority of us have never - and will never - hunt for food, which has made us grow compassion for animals because we don't need to hunt to survive anymore and we never physically see an animal before they are killed for food, but at the same time cannot make that connection that the animal is in fact our food now we have 'middle men' doing that horrific job for us (although not that horrific if you are fighting for survival). If there was a global meltdown and money became worthless, I would die in a week. I don't know how to grow vegetables and I don't know how to hunt...
Sticking to the money topic; we live in a capitalistic society, where for some reason paper controls our lives. Because of this instead of there just being hunting to survive, or even having a few local farms here and there, we now have super-chains of farms that churn out millions of animals in inhumane conditions, in some cases even mutating them for more profit (I've heard about chickens having extra large breasts for the nuggets...)
I think this is why it has gone full circle and there has to be change. I don't think it's the killing of animals that is making people go vegan, but the way it is being done simply to make more money - that extra bit of paper in your hand. That's one of the main reasons I went vegan for a month anyway. I've said many a time on here and to other people, in theory if the whole world went vegan for a month every year (as long as the months are scattered) then in theory 1/12 of the animals in big companies would not be slaughtered solely for profit. Also the local farms won't suffer because the businesses buying local are so small that the ripple effect will go almost completely unnoticed for them
Of course, no one WANTS to kill another animal (In fact I'm sure plants don't want to die either...) but if it comes down to them or me, then I choose life. But now I'm in a position of relative comfort and can choose what I want to eat, I feel that we as a species should cut down on our meat intake just a little bit, especially as the human population has ballooned in the last few hundred years...
To the final part of this question, I was in The Philippines and I saw this guy carrying a pig in a bag. It was squealing in what I assumed was pain. It made me angry, I just thought "There's no need to make him suffer, just put him out of his misery." Killing to eat is one thing, but we have no right to torture other animals because we can. So ethically it is OK in my opinion, as long as it is quick and as painless as possible.However you obviously wouldn't want to build a bond with a living thing you are going to eat, which is one possible reason why society has separated certain animals into food and pet categories...
Sorry that was a long old answer, but I'm just glad this comment wasn't another bot comment of 'follw me plz'. I've been getting a lot of them recently...
Lucky I was just looking for a bit of light banter eh?
Where to begin? I might say a few things, just know I'm coming with love and respect. No cows ass aka "beef". The open question was cos as we know, you don't like pushy ones. I wanted a little more insight. Not really for me, for you and other not-yet-vegans who find this post (nudge VEGAN first tag will help).
I see in your answers some fairly common assumptions about evolution, nutrition and a few seemingly innocent contradictions. I feel you do of course care about "veganism", I simply wanted to learn more about your own personal why? Am I not being arrogant enough yet? Hold on..
Perhaps from your answers I get it's more financially fueled than ethically? That's just what I see, no right or wrong either ways. I know you care about animals and their "horrific" suffering. I know because we all do deep down. We are all born to love and be loved, to be part of a family and to simply live. Just look at the innocence of Kai and your nephews.
Anyway I get it, you know what's happening to animals, the effect it's having on humanity, our planet and our future. I get that you don't believe you alone make enough difference and yet still you are doing your best? Nice, I trust you'll feel better for it. Reducing your own harm by 1/12th per year is progress. No judgements, no doubt and in doing so you will help others think about the topic.
I appreciate your clarity when you said;
"Of course, no one WANTS to kill another animal .. I'm in a position of relative comfort and can choose what I want to eat .. it was squealing in what I assumed was pain. It made me angry, I just thought there's no need to make him suffer.."
My only follow up questions and please don't feel you have to do this publicly if you don't want to.
Do you still believe we have to eat animals or is it simply by choice?
What is your personal suggestion for a "humane" slaughter?
Thanks bruh and trust I'm doing my best not to let my inner "smarmy 'better than you', aggressive" ass show LOL. You're doing an amazing thing and congrats on your almost one week vegan!
This post has received a 0.45 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.