Not the usual for me...

So this isn't a normal post for me, I usually use my blog to complain and gripe about something...

Butttt, today is more of an update of the things that are happening/happened to me as of late.

First off I did the unthinkable and bought a fixed gear bicycle a.k.a. a fixie...
I have to admit...it is really really fun to ride and thanks to a friend I fixed it up a little bit and upgraded some parts on it...
I hated on these bikes for a while because it was a trendy thing to have... but I have now looked pasted that and I am taking it for what it is worth...just plain ol' good fun!

As for my artwork, I have been working on a few things... Here is one of them... still a work in progress so its kinda half-done.

This is going to be an anti-Obama piece... I'm really not too fond of this guy... He is not doing what he said he was going to be doing in office... the name of this piece is 'Despair' which it contrary to what this image of Obama normally says. I will keep you updated as I work on this piece more and more..

Today I went to the dentist and got my wisdom teeth pulled. Just the bottom ones, but still it effing sucks, the dentist didn't give me any pain medication either... yeah im hurting pretty good. Although he didn't give me pain medication he definately gave me these...heh heh heh


Yes and Yes...that is my used-to-be left and right wisdom teeth!
Kinda funny the one on the right looks like just the bottom part of a normal tooth that sticks outta your gums, but nope its the root and all!

And finally last but not least it was my half-birthday on February 14th! My wonderful girlfriend got me the dopest balloon ever! It says 'Have the Happiest half Birthday ever!' I couldn't be more happier! What an amazing girlfriend!

I would like to say 'Happy half Birthday' to my friend Skye who I share a regular birthday with.

Also Happy St. Valentine's day to those who believe that you should celebrate the 14th in such a way. I just think that if you love someone you should show your love and appreciation to them everyday, not just one day a year. And if you don't show your love and appreciation to those you love everyday, as my friend Chloe would say, Spread The Love!

OH! and just as a side note my good old friend Erica is coming from Florida to hang out in Hawaii for 4 days next week from Thursday to Sunday, I am soooo stoked!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying life like I am. Good times with good people make for good memories.

It's in me...

Today I received the H1N1 Vaccination.

The past week has been the ultimate challenge for me...I had to go against everything I believe in because I signed a contract almost 9 years ago.

Let me digress...

As most people do not know or wouldn't even think about is that I am in the Navy. The other day my boss came around to my department and told all of us that we had to get the H1N1 vaccination. I had been avoiding this as I had avoided the other Flu vaccinations over the last 4 years, I just kept ignoring it. This time they were for real. I didn't want the H1N1 vaccination for a few reasons...
1. It was not tested as thoroughly as the normal Flu vaccination had been in the past. Think about this...the normal Flu took almost a decade to perfect before it stopped doing more harm then help in people. The H1N1 vaccination was a knee-jerk reaction by the government because of the 'pandemic' in 2009, therefore it was not as tested as the normal vaccination and had more potential in harming you.
2. Ridiculous side-effects that will make you even more sick. One side-effect can leave you with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, which pretty much is an auto-immune disease which can paralyze you.

3. The ingredients in the vaccination are absurd. Thimerosal (linked to autism in children), formaldehyde, egg whites(I'm Vegan) and many other things that I didn't want in my body.

So I ended up talking to a bunch of different people, some Navy, some friends and family, about the pros and cons of the vaccination. Of course the Navy people said that it was for the better good of the 'unit' aka the Navy. My friends, who all didn't and won't get it, all were like you are out of your mind if you get it. My father pretty much told me the best thing I could hear and later what I eventually did. I expressed to the Navy people that I was well informed of the vaccination and that it was against what I believe in as a Vegan. They came back at me with what I thought was what they were going to say is, "You wear a uniform, you signed a contract and this is a Navy-wide vaccination that everyone WILL get. If you don't get it you will be sent to captain's mast and/or court martial." Pretty much that means I would be disobeying a lawful order and I would get dishonorably discharged. If I get dishonorably discharged, I lose all of my school benefits for when I am done with the Navy in a year and more-so a DD looks bad when you want to apply for teaching positions later on.

My thought process:
-I absolutely hate everything that the H1N1 vaccination is in it's entirety, the ingredients, the possible side-effects, the lack of testing, and lastly it's not Vegan.
-I don't want to lose my benefits as I have been in the military for almost 9 years now and all's that I want is my benefits at this point; To be done with the military and go to school to be an Art teacher.

Yes, I succumbed to their scare tactics and pretty much let them run all over me, which is a horrible feeling by the way, and I got the vaccination. I feel violated, small, cheated and most of all emotionally drained. This has taken a lot out of me.

What would you have done?

It's a New Year...

Ok. So I am a tiiiny bit late with my New Years Resolutions but I figured that I would rather take a little longer and figure out what I really wanted to fix/or be better about in my life then have some not-well-thought-out resolutions...so here they are...

1. Remove myself from the 'grid'...there are 2 means that I will do this...
...Delete my facebook account...Contrary to popular belief I was NOT addicted to facebook. I just feel like I don't need to be sharing my personal life with anyone. The people I value in my life I stay in contact with by other means, so I feel facebook is useless to me.
...Get rid of my cellphone...I feel like that having this device attached to me at all times makes feel like I need to be checking it all the time to make sure no one has tried to contact me; anxiety I don't need in my life. I will cancel my contract and get rid of my iPhone. The things that my iPhone does for me I will transition back to the 'the old way' of doing it...keep an address book, write down notes in a pocket notebook, so on and so forth. I will purchase a regular land-line phone with an answering machine. YES! I know, super old school!!!

2. Be a better boyfriend to my girlfriend...
...I just feel like I haven't been the best boyfriend as of late in the past few months...not that I have been unfaithful, but I have definitely been a very jealous person. I need to respect past relationships that my girlfriend has had and get over the fact that she stays friends with her ex-boyfriends. This girl is so so loyal to me, I owe it to her to be better about my jealousy.

3. Be more productive in my artwork and build my portfolio...
...I would like to apply to art school later this year. I need to be more productive in my artwork and focus on the MANY, MANY ideas that I want to fashion into reality. I feel that I can build a really good portfolio if I focus more and put the pen to the paper.

4. Be more healthy...
...Yeah, yeah, I know, this one EVERYONE does but I have been on a downward spiral of unhealthy vegetarian eating. Kelli(my veggie girlfriend) and I have decided that we will both become Vegan. We both feel that this will be both a struggle and an amazing learning experience for the both of us. We both share feelings towards the way animals are treated and the grotesque manner in which animals are injected with hormones and steroids, treated, and raised to be butchered.

And last but not least...but most important...

5. Live my life with minimal impact on others and the environment around me...
...This will be a hard one and maybe one I will not achieve but I am okay with that...I will put a whole-hearted effort into minimizing the impact of the things around me. I will drive less and ride my bike more, use paper/not plastic, being vegan will be less impact, and just all in all be more conscious about what effect my actions will have on others.

So these are the things I will strive towards this year...
What about you?