Given up red meat… it’s easy

I have made the leap and given up red meat to do my bit to help save the planet. Having been a vegetarian and a vegan in past incarnations I thought it would be a relatively simple step to take… and it has been so far. The ethics and politics of eating living creatures has always played on my mind and I am hoping that I may be able to take the next step and become a vegetarian again but I am trying little steps. Not going cold turkey like I did with trying to give up Facebook.

There has been some media coverage about how eating less red meat can reduce green house. Evidently 22% of greenhouse emissions are from agriculture and of that 80% from livestock production/processing. So if you want more information you can check out this article.

My children wont let me turn on the Christmas lights on the tree. Pity because I love them but I see their point. The tree looks lovely without the lights. It may also be the last time I have a real tree. I have tried buying living Christmas trees but I always manage to kill them.

I don’t want our worthy attempts to do our bit to suck the joy out of the festive season. But you too might want to consider cutting back on your red meat consumption.

Peace

The darker the chocolate the richer the taste…

No more chocolate please…. I am only human and my chocolate quota has risen exponentially the nearer we get to Christmas. Ordinarily I love chocolate but it keeps coming. I feel like Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Family with all the feasting that I am partaking in to celebrate Christmas and the end of the year.

I went to a fabulous Christmas Party in Kuching (Sarawak) I was sitting at a table with nine Malaysians, one Canadian (who now resides in NZ) enjoying roast lamb (with a Malaysian twist) and all the Malaysians we singing Christmas carols. We had a secret Santa and a real blast it was great fun. It has been my favourite Christmas gathering so far.

Fell of the Wagon…

I hate to admit this but I reactivated my Facebook account for about 1/2 an hour yesterday. A bit of a set back but I really didn’t enjoy it. So I deactivated it nearly straight away. I realised I really wasn’t missing anything and that I had made the right decision. I can empathise with my friends who are giving up smoking and then have a sneaky one when out socialising. My excuse - I was bored.

Today I am leaving on a jet plane for a conference in a far off land. I am not sure if I will be able to blog whilst away but I am looking forward to listening to practitioners talking about social networking in a e-learning context. It should be a stimulating few days.

Before I head off I am off to Christmas gathering number one for the year and getting my Christmas decorations out and putting them up around the house. I love unpacking the boxes and seeing all the beautiful decorations again. I enjoy the rituals of a secular Christmas (a bit of an oxymoron).

I am not religious but our family has lots of little Christmas rituals. The first is decorating the tree and putting up decorations.

Knitting Frenzy and New Year’s Resolutions

I visited my colleague whose Mum knitted a dalek. It really is beautiful. Now another colleague informs me that she only needs to finish the head and she will be finished her dalek. I met the Marketing Director at my place of work and she had a talking dalek on her desk and then we chatted about Cybermen. You never know who is a closet “Who” fan (Dr Who not the band…).

I wish I could knit. I have started thinking about “goals” for 2008. I know I am getting in early so far my list includes:

1. Learning to swim (a tragedy cos I live in Australia and I am not very confident in the water - earmarked January for this)
2. Learing to surf
3. Completing a triathlon
4. Starting a PhD
5. Learn to dance - the two step is a bit passe now and I like to bust a move
6. Be an advocate for librarians and libraries
7. Go to a least one overseas conference

I think this will keep me really busy. So I don’t think I will add too much more to it for now. With Christmas round the corner, the new year will be here before we know it.

All I want for Christmas

This is what I want for Christmas… Dr Who life-sized. No idea where to put it but I would love one. Actually available online - pity he’s made out of cardboard!