The Balance

I believe in animal rights.  I have done many blogs on the subject, the latest in relation to horse racing. 

I am pretty clear on what lines I will cross, what I believe is acceptable and what isn't.  For example, I won’t wear, and greatly oppose the fur trade.  Anyone wearing fur in my opinion is despicable.   Skinning an animal, in a lot of cases still alive, just for it’s coat and to then just throw away the carcass is something I will never understand.

There is a video on the PETA website, linked here which shows what happens.  I offer caution before you watch the video however, it broke my heart and I could not stop crying.

I an anti blood sports, including trophy hunting (see Trophy Hunting) and I don’t believe that animals belong in circuses or should be used for the entertainment of a crowd.

Because I have these beliefs, some people assume, and indeed think I should be, a vegetarian.  I’m not.  Whilst I am in no way the biggest carnivore in the world, this is purely from a taste point of view and not because I think that it is wrong.

All nature is a balance.  The lion eats the zebra.  The cat eats the mouse.  The spider eats the fly. Humans eat animals.  I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with that.  We aren’t built to live on plants.

I do believe however that we have a responsibility however to ensure that the animals we do eat should have the best life possible before the end.  So no battery chickens, championing local produce and most importantly, finding out where your food comes from and how it was treated. 

The lion may eat the zebra without a thought about it, but it doesn’t gather together it’s prey, ram them all together in a too small enclosure and sell off for a bigger profit.  It eats when it needs too.

Imagine a predator did this, but not to chickens, to us....

Tin Helmet at the Ready

IVF is a wonderful thing.  It gives hope to many people who want a child and although the success rate isn't the best, especially the older you get,  I can see why people want to use it.

IVF is also very expensive.  It is a choice.  Not a necessity.  You can, if you can afford it that is, pay for it yourself.  In the current climes not many people can afford the treatment and as such, they turn to the NHS to pay for it.

Whilst I support the right of people to have free IVF under the NHS, I do have a question.  Recent new stories have suggested that woman over the age of 40 are now to be given the option of having IVF.  The chances of success over the age of 40 are less than 5%.  Is this not a bad allocation of funds?

Currently cervical cancer checks are offered to women only over the age of 25.  Cancer can affect someone at any age.

I would think that than lowering the screening age for cervical cancer would be better, and would be infinitely more beneficial than funding IVF for woman over 40 which gives only a very small chance of success. Saving lives is what we should be aiming for.

Black Clouds

Sometimes, a few times a year actually, I get what I tend to call my black cloud.

Contrary to what you see on Twitter with my regular ranting, stroppy self, off Twitter I’m quite a sunny person.  Different aspects of your personality and all that.

Depression hits me a few times a year.  I’m not going to deny it.  It’s the price you pay for compartmentalisation.   If you shove everything that hurts/you don’t like in a drawer, now and again it’s going to escape and bite you in the ass.

Right now, I’m in a crappy place.  I’ve been there before and it’s not a nice vacation.  But it’s normally a short stay as opposed to the long haul.  If it ever becomes long haul then feel free to send in the men with the white coats.

I’m not saying any of this in an attempt to garner sympathy or whatever. But saying “I’m disappearing for a few days because I have issues” normally needs a least a short explanation.  Before people think that you are mental.  Which I probably am.  But you knew that already

Typical fucking me for entering black cloud stage right before the Monaco Grand Prix.   Although if the quali/race doesn’t pull me back, nothing will lol

See you in a few.  xx

We All Deserve Respect

I'm an atheist.  I believe that we are in charge of our own destiny and that there is no all powerful creator up there running the show.  That's my choice to believe that.

I fully believe in freedom of choice and if that means that you have religion in your life, be it Christianity, Hindusim, Buddism, whatever your particular choice may be, then you are free to have it.  We each have the choice to decide who we are, what we do and whether we choose to believe in a particular religion or not.

I have in the past, I admit, occasionally made jokes about Easter on a social media site which at the time I thought was funny.  It was, quite rightly, pointed out to me that the platform I was using had both non believers and believers there and perhaps my joke was out of taste.  In hindsight it was out of taste, and wrong for me to say, and I'm sorry for it.

We need to respect other people's choices and not make fun of, or judge them.  I wouldn't expect a Christian to come up to me and tell me I was going to burn in hell for being an atheist any more than I would expect an atheist to go up to a Buddist and start making jokes about them, and their religion.  It's called mutual respect.

Recently though Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor crossed that line.  He was quoted in saying that 

"Secular values were behind the violence carried out in totalitarian states and some of the 20th century conflicts that have killed millions".

What I could say now is "People in glass houses should not throw sounds".  I could then start naming various dictators and leaders who have themselves and through their actions killed millions, but I won't.

That sort of thing turns into a game of "Well he did that so I did this".

I suspect that the Cardinal is really actually angry because he doesn't have as much power and sway over people as he, and indeed the Church, once had. 

No religion belongs in politics, healthcare and the way people can lead their lives.  It may have been the ways things were done in the past, and indeed in some countries it still is, but in Great Britain you have people from many religions with different beliefs and you cannot have one rule for one, one rule for another.

 

Consumer Whore

Someone sent this to me and it gave me a giggle.  So I've done it myself and here are the results.

RULES:
1. Put your mp3 player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Tag whoever you want including me (this was from Facebook)
5. Have Fun!

IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY....?
Lifted - Lighthouse Family (not bad so far!)

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Toxic  - Britney Spears   (ROFL!)

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
One and Only - Teitur (I swear, that was the next song.  It's beautiful by the way, get it in your life)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & the Comets

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
 Space Cowboy - Jamiroquai (this is awesome!!!)

WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?
My Funny Valentine - Billie Holiday

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Inside - Stiltskin

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Hello - Martin Solveig

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany (holy crap I can't believe I'm admitting I even have that song!)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Something to Sing About - Buffy!!!!!!!!!!!


WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon  (yeah wishful thinking lol)


WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING
Lollipop - Mika (er no, I'm not)W

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Don't Stop - Roc (at my funeral, I think I will have!)


WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Song 2 - Blur


WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Semi Charmed Life - third eye blind


WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis (oh crap, going to get stick for this one)

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
Price Tag - Jessie J (no, I've spent far too much this week!)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Consumer Whore - Lemon Demon

Thought of the Day

No matter how much you want people to like you, never change yourself in order to make that happen. 

If you follow the majority, only think what your friends think and do what people expect you to do, rather than what you want, one day you will look in the mirror and although the reflection may be the same, you will see the eyes of a stranger.

It unfortunately took for me to enter my 30's before I realised that the things that are odd about you, the things that make you different from everyone else, are the things that are most special and should be encouraged, not surpressed. 

So hi, I'm Vicky.  I'm odd, querky and I have a tendancy to rant.  Probably a bit more mental sometimes that I would normally admit.  I don't care.  I love it.  I'm myself.

Chirpy People are Psychopaths - Discuss

I'm not going to lie.  I'm in a foul mood that I can't seem to bring myself out of.  Writing usually helps so hence, you're getting this post and if you are reading this now, you have been warned, foul mood = evil pouring on to the page.

So basically, I am just going to bitch about things that irritate me.

Morning people.  I don't understand them and I really don't like them.  Actually I should qualify that.  Your regular John Doe of morning people I can tolerate, just, however chirpy morning people, well they clearly have something wrong with them.  

Not being a morning person myself and being frankly dangerous on the wrong side of 10.00am, I could happily throw things at the chirpy morning person.  There is a chirpy morning person in my office and there have been many staplers thrown at her head, although thankfully just in my mind and not in reality, I might get arrested for that.

Chirpy morning people brings me on to chirpy happy people in general.  I am not saying that there is anything wrong with being happy, but no one, and I mean no one is happy 24/7.  You show me someone who is happy, chirpy and cheery twenty four hours a day, seven days  week and I will show you someone who is mentally unstable.

I do not trust people who are smiling and cheerful all the time.  I honestly believe that there is something mentally wrong with them.  Purely of course on the grounds that they irritate the fuck out of me and at times, like now, I can be a complete bitch. 

I do actually feel better now I've wrote this.  I feel a little more cheerful haha