Shame on Hot Topic.

They're using Kawaii Not's artwork without her permission. Buy from her, not those vampires! I'm of two minds about artist protection. On one hand, I'm all for fan art and fanfic. But on the other hand, I don't want people making cash not crediting, not sharing the profit, just acting like they came up with the idea all by themselves and getting rich off of other people.

A Peeve

This shirt peeves me. The rest of the designs are about actual grammatical or word use errors, but this is just bagging on people's accents.

I love soap

I was a bit nervous buying soap from a seller I hadn't bought from before, but I really enjoyed this cinnabun soap. It took a little time to receive, but I received a bar that is huge[it barely fits in my hand], and was packaged very nicely. Very good in shower scent, and it leaves sort of a 'dark' musky aftersmell. I like it, as it's very unisex, even though it has a hint of sugar, it's still quite masculine. The lather is good, not excessive, and the bar itself has a nice graininess to it that is very appealing to the skin. I am also softer, which I also prize in a soap. Top marks to the maker. I think this bar will last a long time too!

Day Old Bread

Apparently, where people need day old bread, they can't get it. That reminds me that today on freecycle, I saw a strange offer. UNOPENED Walmart Cake. If you had a car, and a computer, you could get a whole free cake. I think we'll probably regress to more of this. Baby showers where instead of new boxes and bags, there will be bags of hand me downs, more potlucks, more people eating bread made with homemade zucchini. Live small.

For you who feel alone

I'd like to say something. For all of you who feel alone, remember, the other half you have been searching for was in you all alone. Even if you eat your chocolate alone, for you to eat that chocolate, hundreds have labored in the fields for the sugar, for the cacao beans, in the diary farms for the milk. To make the chocolate, there was a factory or a kitchen, with people working hard to form the chocolate into a shape, to put the raw ingredients together with the help of machines or by hand. Thousands of truck drivers drove thousands of miles to put it on the shelf. There are stockers, and cashiers to help too. Even the simple act of eating chocolate is a connection to many other beings, from cow to cashier.

Every day, you're connected to the rest of the earth, and to the rest of the people. I hope my words reach you, and comfort you.

Love Your Body

This probably has been linked before, but I'll link it again- The BMI project. Love your body. You live in it. It is what you walk with, what you sing with, what you cook with, what you hug with. Love it! You can't hate yourself for your own good. Love yourself.

It's Time for Radical Self Love!

It's time for us to love ourselves. To stop putting our hopes and dreams and good feelings on the back burner until we find 'the one' or until 'the kids are a bit older' or until 'we lose five pounds', and start loving ourselves now, without waiting for society or other people to put a stamp on us that says 'worthy'.

Yes, that's much harder done than said. The picture is boygirlparty's journal. It has blank, lined and graph papered pages! While I usually don't recommend buying things to make you feel better, having a new journal has given me a little lift.

Love LikeThat

My dad made a bookcase for my manga. It was truly a labor of love. With handmade things, you can see the energy that went into it. I jokingly tell my dad that when he retires he should become a bookcase seller. I didn't know this before, but almost all of the bookshelves in our house are ones that he built.

There's something wonderful in a useful craft- canning food, building things, working on cars... It's nice to connect to the physicality of the world- and have something you can enjoy for years to come.