hi everyone, no one - whoever's out there and knows about this (i think there may be two of you.)
it's tuesday morning and i just voted. i gotta admit, i *LOVE* voting. there is something so classicly kitsch about the setup - in some random church with 5 senior citizens sitting cutely behind a card table fumbling through the process of finding your name, crossing it off, and asking you to sign. then you're handed your BALLOT. i love the little standing desk areas with their own personal fluorescent lights - and the big marker. i love the ballots. i love how 1968-school-document they look. i love the sense of completing my civic duty. i believe so whole-heartedly in the concept of democracy. it is so radical and so awesome - or it was in its day. sort of heading back to the ways of despotism, it seems. (i've never used that word before, hope i'm using it right.) i've been REPREZENTIN' with my "NO ON 73!" pin for the last few weeks - and i was actually asked to remove it at the polling place. pretty cool.

the last two weeks have been interesting ones for me:
1. i interviewed with the animal rights group PETA.
2. i applied for nursing school at Columbia University
3. i volunteered with and became a founding member of Helmets for Life.
4. i administered an anatomy lab test.
5. i started volunteering at Planned Parenthood.
6. i became vegan.

it feels like change is entirely afoot. i feel like i'm about to move out of my 6-year-home of Santa Cruz, CA. within 6 months, i should be living in either Seattle, NY, Baltimore or San Francisco (god-willin). i will no longer be Walmart's Bitch - and i will no longer be a 9-to-5'er. it is with some sadness that i will be leaving the marketing profession, as i've discovered i'm quite good at marketing. The whole PETA thing is very tempting. it's a marketing position and i could do it from ANYWHERE (portland OR! portland ME! asheville NC! brattleboro VT! ANYWHERE!!!) - and that is damn tempting, people. but the truth is, i think i need to work in an environment that's not my home. i'm a social cat, honestly. i'd go nuts in my home alone all day. even IF i were being alone for the animalllzzzz.... dammit i love animals. and i don't spend enough time with my cats. shoot, options can be confusing.

so VEGANism. this is a really fun game. i feel so strangely RIGHT ON about this. like, the timing is just right and it is so right for me, physiologically and otherwise. i suddenly have no nasal congestion, and my (sorry) GAS has abated considerably. i've also been eating more and smaller meals during the day - as opposed to 3 giant ones that invariably leave me holding my gut or rolling around on the floor and ALWAYS complaining about my stomach hurting. i'm like a cartoon of a caveman, i swear - like "Urg hit head on wall. Urg hurt. Urg hit head again." doy.

well, i have to go to work - but this is fun. i was inspired to write this morning by the lovely SUMMER PIERRE's blog (www.summerpierre.com). i haven't sorted out how to make links in here yet.

anyway. life feels good right now. i'm off to get my second coffee of the day - not b/c i need one, but b/c there is a CUTE BARISTA in this little coffeeshack near my work, which my friend and i have coined (for reasons you might guess) "Hair Coffee." actually, maybe you're thinking barista-boy has great hair (which he does) - but the fact is that my friend found not 1, not TWO, buT THREE HAIRS in his iced coffee one day. hahaa, makes me laugh thinking aobut it.

OH, and i forgot to mention that i met two ADORABLE AWESOME OLD EAST COAST MEN in my coffee shop here this morning. Henry and Mel. Mel's from Brooklyn and Henry's from Detroit via Baltimore via Fort Collins. i friggin love east-coasters, they are so easy to talk to and accessible. californians...? my jury is still out on them. ok, really - off to work.

jz