and i mean it, stanley! I finished a 5th track of 13 planned for my new album MetaTheories which will be due out at the end of this year. If I wasn’t such a slacker and could think straight at 3 in the morning, I would have remembered to get an mp3 on the podcast for your listening pleasure. Alas, it was not meant to be. Also I remastered some of the old tracks to give the bass more punch. My ears are officially bleeding in ecstacy. and i mean it, stanley!

xoxo

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Ok, so I know I’m not perfect and I know that no one else is. But with so much going on I feel like the world is on an exponential graph (f(x^2)). I digress. As many of you may know, I like to listen to talk radio when I’m driving in my car. It’s much more engaging than most of the commercial music drivel that’s on. Recently on one of the shows a guest to the show was presenting an argument for Animal Rights. (I wish I could remember his name and his book) While to his larger points, I disagree, one thing he said stood out to me. Paraphrased, he mentioned that the amount of grains used to feed animals was massively disproportionate to the amount of nutrition produced by food from those animals (meat).

To sum up my experience, I’m a species-centric person. I believe that human life is more important than animal life. In a life boat situation I have no problem throwing another species or lifeform out of the boat in order to survive. This is the way of nature. There may be some moral conflict in upholding rules governing fair treatment of other humans versus allowing poor treatment of animals for the “betterment” of human society (for food, for medicine, etc.) but in general I’m a much bigger fan of a human that I’m in competition with in the food chain with than another species I’m competing with.

And so, I’m left with this: Is my over-consumption of meat in conflict with my wish of betterment for the human species? My only answer can be yes.

If it takes so much grain to feed the cow that I could be fed and 100 other people be fed I am content with my loaf of bread so that 100 more can survive a day longer. And I say this with all gravity, that I am fully aware that I’m one person, and knowledge that I change little in my personal choices (or even that all my choices align properly to the same moral compass 100% of the time). I do not make this choice to make a change, and yet I do not wish to make this choice to in some way cleanse a guilty conscience. I am not guilty, I am redeemed. I will make this choice out of love and conviction.

On eating meat: After weighing what information I can find (and hopefully have linked on to you), I have decided not to swear off meat to the point of being an inconsolable prick or an ungrateful, ungracious guest (for still, in some cultures the providing and consuming of meat is a great honor for both guest and host). I have decided that the meals I furnish for myself will consider the greater cost of production. And in the case of mass produced meats I cannot find a defense for continuing to partake of their waste.

I started with the hopes of asking for suggestions for my own personal vegetarian manifesto, but found I pretty much knew what I wanted to say. Still, I would welcome comments, suggestions, critiques, and questions so that this manifesto of mine will be practical and yet responsible as well.

In addition to the links in the articles, here are some links I found to read up on before I came to this conclusion.

http://www.veggie123.com/
http://zenhabits.net/2007/08/how-to-become-a-vegetarian-the-easy-way/
http://www.goveg.com/index.aspx
http://www.theppk.com/
http://www.vegcooking.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_vegetarianism
http://www.all-creatures.org/cva/

(also since I’m about to be getting married this is subject to the approval of my S.O.)

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On a side note I have found Clint’s Angelwingz.

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Oh, the deadly frustration of waiting and procrastinating and actually having to work for money. I mean, what’s up with that?

Well, last night in the middle of scanning some pictures from Sarah, I decided to tinker around with some Reason and Ableton stuff I hadn’t touched since the winter. Boy have I missed it. I started a new album - Metatheories and the first tracks I’ve completed from it are totally off the hook. I’ve got two more in the pipeline that are continuing to push the boundaries of what I’m used to doing with those tools. There’s a lot going on in life these days, but I’m hoping for a late fall release. Chin up till then!

Also, I just want everyone to know, I like to review places I go, mostly restaurants. If you aren’t already plugged into my rss life, you can do so by going to either etherealnation.tumblr.com or www.netvibes.com/etherealnation. But what I really want to highlight is that I recently was awarded the coveted Review of the Day at yelp.com. You can check out the awesome review of Xochitl or any of my other rambling kernals of dining wisdom at etherealnation.yelp.com. Hope to see you there.

xoxo

It was a pretty lucid dream. I mean I thought I was actually there. I could feel everything, hear, smell and see every detail that I normally observe every day. But my emotions were totally wrong. I was really pissed off. I didn’t know why, but this guy just pissed me off. And there I was surrounded by all my new friends from summer camp, beating this guy until every last ounce of liquid in his bodied sprayed out. I crushed his ribs, ripped out his throat with my bare hands and flattened his skull until his brain matter was oozing out. No one interfered, no one stopped me. My ferocity in anger was so great that they all just ran away.

When I finally came to my senses I was in the deans office with the camp dean, my parents and police officers. I had killed that guy. I couldn’t even tell you what made me do it. The feelings of such pain and remorse for what I had done washed over me so powerfully that I had to force myself awake.

I woke up back in my familiar cot at camp. It was a bright, clean morning. My sheets were white and I was a little sweaty from the intensity of the dream. One of the guys in my cabin was moving around getting ready for breakfast. I asked him what time it was. He said it was time to get up and go to breakfast. So I did.

Then I had to wake up from that dream, my phone was ringing. My cousin had texted me about getting engaged. Then I went back to sleeping without dreams.

Watch the stars
As they glimmer in the sky
So much brighter than
The lights down here

Where they reflect on our faces
So frail and pale and worn out
Mindful of all the things
We’ll never be

The lights from the city
Hidden down in the valley
Look so bright from here
When its so dark all around us
We have nothing to fear

And we’ll say
Wake up!
And see the sun
How bright it shines
As it comes up

Hold my hand
We’ll walk together
Through this wilderness
Where we lost our selves

Walk with me here
On all the paths
Winding through this place
We’ll find the one
That will take us away

Into a sunset that burns so bright
And melts away to smooth moonlight
Look deep into the still wells
That will tell the story
Of how we met

It’s time to get a mystery party together. While I haven’t yet decided on a particular plot, the theme will be PIRATES! So all of you close to me who be diggin ma vibe, be on the look out for a freaking awesome costume. The date has been set for 2 months in advance - may 17th and official invites are bound to be seen in the next two weeks or so.