Questionable Judgment?

Every year, when the New Year arrives, I always question it's judgment. What's the difference between one year to the next? Why keep a list of "resolutions" that would defy the human logic and (usually) pitifully attempt to keep those resolutions throughout the entire year when, perhaps by the 2nd month, it'll be in the afterburner of your thought process. It never really made much sense to me, but then again, it's been going on for ages now where at the end of the year people would "forget about their past" and "look to the future"... which is also where I believe those phrases came to life from.

Then again, maybe I'm looking at this completely the wrong way. Having a resolution where you dutifully keep can be rewarding, knowing that you can stick to a plan and complete it... ok, so maybe there is something to all this.

... nah, it's just questionable judgment whether or not to actually make one of these, and seeing as how I live my life by the old quote I used to say, creating a list of "resolutions" is not going to happen anytime soon.

"No fears, no hesitations, no regrets... Live life the way it was meant to be, no matter where it leads you."

PSA: Shark Fin

My sister makes a very good point about life and the stupid things that we do with some "traditions"...

Hi all:

I wanted to reach out to all of you to tell you about an issue that I've learned about lately, that I hope you can help with -- not by giving any of your money or time, but simply by giving up shark's fin, a type of food that contributes to a barbaric and ecologically disastrous practice. It is especially important for me to share this issue with you this holiday season, as we are all celebrating the holidays with special festivities, giving our thanks for another year of good health, and looking ahead to a cleaner, more prosperous, and renewed tomorrow.

In the last year, I have personally decided not to eat shark's fin, because it is ecologically harmful. However, after learning more about this issue in the last month, I have decided to not eat shark's fin again from today forward, and to also veto shark's fin at any meals at which I am able to do so. I wanted to write this email to help you understand why I have come to this decision, whether we are lucky enough to dine together or not. For those of you with whom I will be dining over the holidays, I hope you understand that I will do my best to ensure that shark's fin is NOT on any of the menus. And I thank you for understanding and accepting my position, if you can. Below, I will try to explain why shark's fin is so harmful. Hopefully, after reading it, you will not only understand my reasoning, but also restrict your own consumption. If you love it, you don't have to ban it from your diet entirely, as I have. However, I would ask that you give thanks for your good fortune in this world to have had the opportunity to feast like no other generation of humans in history, and desist from regular consumption of this delicacy. Instead, please limit your shark's fin consumption to the ceremonial, rare, and special experience it was intended to be-- a feast fit only for emperors and royalty, for only the most special of lifetime occasions. Or in our case, a rarity enjoyed at most, once a year.

The event that really bolstered my personal interest in this issue was an hourlong documentary that I accidentally caught on CNN. As I learned from the documentary, what generally happens is that ships go to sea for months at a time, throw out thousands of hooks for sharks, harvest the shark fins (from wild sharks in the open ocean) by slicing off the fins as the sharks are still alive and struggling, and throw the fin-less sharks' bodies (still alive and struggling, but unable to swim) back into the ocean where they sink to the bottom of the ocean and die. The ships can sell the fins for up to US$1,000 each, which is much more valuable than the bodies/meat. Therefore, they fill up the ships with sharks' fins (much smaller and lighter) and eventually come back to port with hundreds and hundreds of the fins. Most of the shark's fin caught in international waters goes through Taiwan or Hong Kong, to the rest of Asia-- a fact that really hit home for me because I am from Taiwan. At the ports, the fins are processed in a manner that results in almost all of the shark's fin-- save for the skeletal cartilage-- being discarded. I was haunted by these images, particularly of the way these animals are butchered, in obvious pain, and mostly wasted. What upsets me even more about this barbaric practice is that this is all for a nutritionally unnecessary delicacy-- essentially, all caused by human greed. As the documentary explained, this practice is bolstered by the growth of the middle class in Asia, who can now afford to eat this delicacy. It used to be a luxury only for the very rich, enjoyed only on special occasions. Now it is a common treat for people across Asia, consumed regularly and sold at all prices, from cheap to expensive.

Even though sharks are endangered, the line fishing and butchering of sharks for their fins is not prohibited in international waters, so this is mostly legal. There are some regulations (such as that carcasses must be accounted for; and in some ports, the sharks must be brought in with fins attached), but these are generally not followed. Even in areas where the practice of hunting sharks is prohibited, they are policed only a few days per year. So the practice runs unchecked and is fueled largely by the seemingly insatiable demand.

In addition to the barbarism of the practice itself, the negative results trickle down all the way through the ocean's ecosystems, because sharks are at the top of the food chain. As it affects us, the destruction of the animal at the top of the food chain has completely changed the industries and economies that depend on the oceans.

Now, I know that all sorts of things we say in life could be seen as hypocritical. For example, I eat meat-- and the way meat is slaughtered is inhumane. Everything we do, from the clothes we wear, to the cars we drive, to the water we drink has its costs to humans and to the environment. Also, perhaps the worst human greed and selfishness impacts humans, not animals-- wars, genocides, and the like. The things we do to each other, and the world, are terrible.

But I guess all that doesn't mean we can't do things to help when we can. And also, there is a difference between eating slaughtered beef for food (where we eat most of the animal), and eating shark's fin where the animal is almost entirely discarded, just for the delicacy. Also, frankly, I think beef can taste good (and, I do try to only eat it when I think it is very good), whereas shark's fin, since it's just cartilage, basically has no taste.

So as I mentioned at the top of this email, I guess there are a couple of things to draw from this. As I mentioned above, the most important thing you can do is very simple: push back on the demand for shark's fin, by eating less of it. A lot less. None, if you can. And the second thing you can do is to educate those around you. I think many, many, many people don't know about this issue, and if each of us just changed our habits and educated each other, it would make a huge difference.

Thanks for reading.

Love,

Emily

So, as in tradition, what have we learned?

Realization

You know how when you're sitting alone at a table and thinking about the things that have happened or just random things that seem to be going on in your life?

... ok, so I'm not doing that, but instead I'm sitting on the floor of one of the meeting rooms, lights off, and the only light source is coming from the screen of my computer. Regardless, I'm still thinking.

...

...

... of course, I'm thinking about what's been going on with my life regardless, I just thought that the change of scenery would be some random ironic twist. Shits and giggles really...

Alright, so time for some actual reason to type, even though it's been a long ass time since I've decided to become some sort of realist and chill here and type about what's been on my mind. A whole two months?! Man, I must've been busy as hell or something. Well, we'll give it a shot none-the-less. Really there's only one reason I'm up here typing...

I've recently found out how bad it gets being the 3rd wheel. I know that people have always talked about these things. "You know how it is being the 3rd wheel, it's just awkward." or "You just take it in stride and let it be."... well it doesn't really work out that way anymore. I find it strange, how I could always stand being in those positions yet not really in those positions. Maybe it was just the way it worked out. I really didn't care fore it much, so naturally I was just fine with it.

Though now it seems to have gotten to a new point, a point where being the 3rd wheel just bugs me. Although the people themselves don't realize it until I tell them, they are still trying to include me when really it's kind of obvious they just want their alone time. If it's something I'll never understand, it's why the two people are trying to make that third person feel included in something, when really they're thinking "why are you here?"... or something along those lines anyway.

... who knows, maybe it just isn't something you're supposed to get used to, but instead something that you're suppose to accept when you're the third wheel. What they say could very well be true, you just have to roll with the punches and one day know that you'll be like this to other people.

Leading the Mundane

Well, it's been awhile (at least, for me it has)... and some things to remind myself about before I continue on with this:

1. I never posted anything else about Boston other than that the airline had lost my bag.
What can I say, I just had too much fun being at my sister's house that I forgot to post anything that I did there... can you blame me?

2. I never really posted about Anime Expo 2008.
Ok, I really said that I would post stuff about this, but seriously you can't have known about the mishaps and just epic randomness there was about Anime Expo from a mere post. Seriously, there are some things that can be only told with a voice and a "Oh man, you remember thwhat happened there..." type of attitude.

... so one of these days I'll post about the true experience and what actually happened during those 4 days there. ^^-b

3. The First Week of College Life
This was a given... since I thought about what to actually write about other than the fact that it's over and done with. It doesn't really feel like anything different from high school other than that I see everybody virtually every day now and that high school life has passed me by completely.

... to be honest, there really isn't much in life I can talk about at this point, and it's just become a reutine to simply go out and do stuff, come back and sleep... some homework in between. I'm sure that if something ever happens that becomes exciting, I'll say something about it, yenno?

Seattle, an Outlook from a Wanderer pt. 2

Woke up about an hour ago, Jason's still passed out on his bed (an improvement from yesterday),and my stomach kind of is feeling funky from eating a microwavable chimichanga... despite that I decided that we should continue from where we left off yesterday.

Seattle, an Outlook from a Wanderer pt. 2 Went to the International District today, and needless to say that Jason and I got kind of sidetracked (or lost, depending on how you can look at it really) and wandered around the underground system for about 10 minutes before we figured out where exactly we were going. I officially have new-found support for the Seattle Public Transportation System, it's truly amazing. That have buses running underground, it's insane! I should've definitely have taken a picture, but compared to everybody else I was already looking pretty out-of-townish... that and my camera was about to die.

After arriving at the International District, we headed over to the Japanese Village of sorts, but really we first went to the Kinokuniya Bookstore, which in my strict belief is HEAVEN. I kid you not, I could've sworn that I died and went to heaven when I entered. It was just amazing... I mean, words alone cannot describe the awesomeness of it all. Only pictures.

Amazingly, this is only "one side" too... I swear there must of been at least 3000 mangas in this area alone (behind this shelf was, amazingly, another shelf the exact same length containing the same number of books). Needless to say, I was very stoked. It was pretty funny too, since I was wearing my infamous "Bai Ren Kan Bu Dong" shirt, and these two cute girls (they looked like they were from the graduating class of '08) came up to me and was like "We like your shirt" and asked me about it. Jason can attest to this, he was standing next to me when this happened. I swear that with all the advertising I give to them, I should get some commission or something. Anyway, I also finally finished getting all 4 CD's with finding the last two for my all-time favorite J-Rock group, ZONE. Woot!

Afterwards we headed to the supermarket area (which is right next to the bookstore) and we found the best thing ever. The picture says it all.

OH YES! A 6-pack of ramune and these extremely awesome pocky! It literally looks like the most expensive Pocky we've ever seen... it was 4 bucks a box, nuts right? You don't get this back in Vegas, not that I have found any yet anyway. lol Anyway, next time I'll upload some photos of Jason's apartment and we'll wing it from there. Till then. ^^-b