breezeshadow: FML TIMES ICON (FMLBear)
Today, I looked at the ingredients of some Lindt Hello chocolate I had bought at the store.

To my horror, it contained palm oil.

For those unfamiliar with it, palm oil is yet another foreign product that first-world countries have latched upon, and thus significantly increased the demand for. Last time it was quinoa, which likely was not as bad as feared.

Palm oil, on the other hand, is used in multiple industries, many of them large-scale (ex. soap). To meet this demand, rainforests in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Colombia are being removed to plant the palm trees. Needless to say, this has a disastrous effect on an already fragile environment.

As if that weren't enough, there is also evidence that the big companies running these plantations are threatening and evicting indigenous populations from their native lands, leaving them displaced from their livelihood and home. We don't need to look across the oceans to know how badly that goes.

I sent Lindt an online request to consider not using palm oil. I encourage all of you to do the same for any company that you buy from that uses it. You're welcome to use this:

Letter here )

Changing it to fit your company, of course.

There are enough awful things going on in the world. We don't need to make it worse by demanding things that aren't necessary. Chocolate in particular is already mired in rainforest destruction; there is no need to add palm oil to the problem.

Feel free to signal boost this.

Tschuess.
breezeshadow: It's a wolverine, hey! (RogerAlone'd)
Tumblr, in a rare moment of proper privilege check, now hosts We are not Trayvon Martin, a tumblr where people of all races, sexualities, genders, etc. post how they are not Trayvon Martin; how privilege did (or did not) get them somewhere; and what we need to do to stop more pointless deaths from happening.

I highly recommend it as a read, and perhaps to submit your own story for why you aren't Trayvon Martin; but how you realize his death should never have happened.

Tschuess.
breezeshadow: It's a wolverine, hey! (Default)
I just got back from volunteering at the San Francisco Food Bank, something I am hoping to establish into a semi-regular routine. I've had this sort of community sense ever since I was a child, when I would donate some of my allowance each month to North Shore Animal League. I regretted throughout college that I did not have the time, energy, or sanity to go out and help those less fortunate than myself. Now that I have time again, I'm hoping to go to the food bank once a month, or once every other month, to help out people. I would volunteer at animal shelters too, but the ones around here require you to commit for 40 hours a month, and I don't have that kind of extra energy lying around.

The thing with volunteering for me is that it doesn't give me any sort of ego boost or anything of the sort. I just feel a sense of... I don't know. Like I did something right. Like I made up for being so privileged and fortunate. I guess you could call it karma, or maybe my inferiority complex but either way: good results all around.

But now for the part I imagine you all are REALLY reading for. A few weeks ago, I decided I was going to self-publish a book of short stories. SInce then I've been exhausted, stressed, and lazy, but I'm now trying to kickstart myself back into writing and planning. Thus, I've been brainstorming what I want the theme of this book to be, and as a result, what kinds of stories I will be writing.

That's where I want you guys to give me opinions. I've thought of a few things that I think would make a good introductory book to my work and world, but I'm not entirely sure on the logistics. Thus:

1) Which theme sounds coolest to you?

- Location-driven - a collection of short stories, each derived from a different area of Malanee, thus exploring different cultures and lives
- Species-driven - similar to location, but focused on Malanee's varied sentient species. Individual stories for faeries, Oerdum, vampires, humans, etc.
- Character-driven - a collection of short stories that would serve as a sort of sneak-peek introduction to major characters in my work. Stories for Nur, Rose May, Kader, Tegre, Bertram, Alden, etc.
- Something else? Let me know!

2) Which characters are you MOST interested in seeing more of?

- Kader, Tegre, EilĂ­s
- Bertram/Bakari, Alden, Batuuli (formerly Bertula)
- Rose May, Meander, Nur
- Nur, Almas, Lynette, Lin
- Anca, Victoria
- Gareth, Andy, Jacob, Duff
- Mahli, Malachi, Tadhg
- Anyone else I forgot

3) Which species are you MOST interested in seeing more of?

- Faeries (Mountain faeries, dryads, succubi, pixies, sirens)
- Wereanimals
- Vampires
- Oerdum
- Demons (Swamp, Mountain)
- Humans
- Demis

4) Anything else you'd like to see or recommend?

So yes. Please let me know and hopefully, I will have some prose to share from the novels soon.

Tschuess.
breezeshadow: TEA TIMES ICON (ALLtheTea)
Hello all.

This will either be short and simple, or long and rambling. I can't really say for certain myself.

First off, I hope you all had a lovely holiday, or are having one as the case may be. Mine was quite relaxing, which is actually sort of frightening considering how it usually is. Unfortunately flying to CT and back left me with a stubborn case of jetlag, which has reduced me to spontaneous bursts of exhaustion.

I also got a raise at work, which is pretty awesome and allows me to look for places closer to my work to move to. Unfortunately, my mother and my former high school best friend's mother like to tag team me in a useless mother advice pile. I made an innocent comment about how I didn't know what I'd do with so much more space, and my mother said well just find a smaller place in the area. Because finding affordable apartments that aren't run by slumlords is totally easy in the bay area.

But yes, so basically I'm jetlagged but keep working and looking for a new home anyway because relaxing what's that.

Onto other matters, Minor TW for talking about food and dietary habits )

Oddly enough, this has caused me to really like fresh fruit. I ate two clementines for dinner Wednesday night when I got back into CA. Like, WTF?

On that note: if any of you have some unique vegetarian/vegan recipes you'd like me to try and rate for Dinner Time, now is a great time to post them! I made three of the ones I have in my bookmarks for Christmas. One of them was great, one of them needs a tad bit of work, and the last I give up xP

So yeah. Sorry for vanishing. I've been quite busy today and DW is usually the first thing I neglect when that occurs.

Tschuess.
breezeshadow: TEA TIMES ICON (ALLtheTea)
I was originally going to post something bitter and depressing, but instead, talking to [personal profile] raze has inspired me to post this.

Give me prompts. A situation, a word, a story, anything you think of, and I will write prose for it.

Enjoy.
breezeshadow: WRITING TIMES ICON (BellaGUC)
This post is for me to announce that I'm actually Dr. Seuss reincarnated.

Just kidding.

So I plan to participate in NaNoWriMo. At first I was figuring I would start a whole new novel about Kader and Tegre's life (check their tags for stories about them). However, [personal profile] raze is planning to just work on hir novel, so I was thinking that maybe I could do the same with AG.

But I work on AG ALL the time, and think I may want something new. At the same time, though, working on AG seems a good pursuit. A crazy part of my brain is like "Work on BOTH of them! Work on ALL THE NOVELS!" but it also woke me up at 6AM this morning when I don't have to get up until 9AM, so it's an idiot.

So, read list. What do you think? SHould I pick the shiny new novel, stick with the old one, or tackle them both (with the new one as the NaNoWriMo one)?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Edit - Also, I am looking back into publishing a short story, and currently switching from the succubi story, which I have tragically lost interest in, to a very gruesome, dark fantasy-type story about a fractured vampire who was kept in a private zoo. Fractured vampires in my story have become disconnected from the vampire subconscious and network, which usually leads to tragic and horrifying results. If you're interesting in getting excerpts or helping me edit it for a solid manuscript, let me know :)

Tschuess.
breezeshadow: It's a wolverine, hey! (Default)
Hello all.

The NP I am seeing for meds wants me to try drinking only white tea at night, since she thinks caffeine may be making my anxiety much worse. Seeing as I like any kind of tea, I am willing to try this out, and am thus switching to only white teas after about 3 or 4PM.

However, my stash of white tea is currently limited to only two kinds right now.

Does anyone out there have some recommendations for good white teas, whether loose or bagged? I'd love to hear about it so I can get a few more so I don't get bored with my selection and thus potentially slip off the path.

Thank you! Hopefully, writing this weekend. Having a bit of an off night emotionally so going to try reading, sipping some South Indian Oothu white tea, and playing Sims.

Edit - You may also recommend good herbal teas or even decaffeinated if you know of any really good brands, but I tend to be wary of both kinds (most herbal teas taste weird to me, while I just have a silly "it's all in my head" thing that makes decaffeinated tea taste not as good).

Tschuess.

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