TFLN

(610): I think I'm about to go engage in vandalism

(443): Oh no!!! Do it.

(443):    

(610): Oh. My. God. 

(443): We're microwaving bubble wrap to see what happens. 

(503): 

(610): Uhhhh... Bad news bears.

Ideals vs. Ideas

I was thinking today about how a person can have really good ideals, but can have really bad ideas.

For example, you can really care about a issue but if you don't work toward resolution in the correct way, you can really turn off people who would otherwise love to join you and help you.

Train of thought.... gone.

oh well
maybe I can come back with more later.

a social experiment?

How much of a weirdo hippie must people think I am for me to walk around with LEAVES in my hair for 4 hours and have no one say a word??

I had leaves in my hair for chrissakes....


I mean... yes... I put them there on purpose... but I didn't expect it to go completely unmentioned and after the first 30 min I decided to see how long it would take!!! And no one said anything!!! They came out because I'm going to bed and I give the heck up!!!!

I'm going to go adopt cats now.... it's becoming obvious to me that owning lots of cats is my destiny.

no one gets my jokes

I drew this last year and no one gets the humor but I like it anyway.

 

hint. it's a pun.

Hey, we're not that dumb

So.... this thing was brought to my attention last night about hunting wolves.

So it's this traditional hunting thing where prey blood is put on a knife and the knife is frozen and put in the ground and then apparently a wolf comes along and licks the knife and cuts it's tongue and then keeps licking the knife because it tastes the blood and then dies.


Hm.


Speaking on behalf of the wolves (and the Woolfs). We're not that dumb. I don't completely buy it, sorry.

If that was such an efficient way to kill wolves why were all these other time consuming methods created/also used? Like pit traps! Why bother to dig a pit that deep and use all that energy if you could simply put a knife covered in blood in the ground.

I guess you could say in the few circumstances where this may have actually worked/happened I'm going to just label that as natural selection of specific wolves, not to be taken as a generalization of the entire species.

who you callin stupid?

My week of being grimy

This week is Eco-Olympics in the Treehouse. It's a competition between the upstairs of the house and the downstairs of the house to see who can be the greenest and most eco-friendly for one week!!
Here is how the points work:

Positive Points

1 pt for every day you don't shower

1 pt for every 5 sustainability pledges you get

1 pt every day you don't eat meat

1 pt for every hour you spend doing a carbon neutral leisure activity

2 pts for doing your laundry with rain water 

Negative Points

- 1 pt for obtaining a disposable shopping bag

- 1 pt for obtaining a disposable cup or bottle

- 1 pt for riding in or driving a car

- 1 pt for ordering a package

- 1 pt for doing laundry

- 1 pt for watching an hour of TV

- 1 pt for getting caught using unnecessary electricity (i.e. leaving the light on)

This week is about challenging ourselves to reach new sustainable living heights. It's about making the student body semi aware through our pledge getting that we are present and care about spreading sustainable living practices to as many people as we can. It may be that this week will also lead to discoveries that some lifestyle change that may have looked completely impossible before is not so far fetched once you do it. 

This will be a record of my week. 

Monday

I spent most of my day today gathering pledges from my friends around campus. I won't tell how many exactly though... I want to keep that upstairs team on their toes!! I found that it became easier and easier to go up to people and ask them if they were interested in making their lives more sustainable. It was a really great thing for me to make myself do because.... believe it or not Dickinson College... I'm shy. And quiet. I know, right???? But I actually can totally go into my shell if I let myself. I really try to make myself as outgoing as I am because when I was younger I would never speak up or jump off the cliff or stick my face in the cake (I don't know...) and I always always regretted it. I just go for it now. Why the hell not?? Anyway, I talked to so many strangers and talked them into signing pledges. It was a really good exercise for me. 

Another thing I did today is not eat meat. It was not overly challenging, they had vegan chili in the KOVE (Kosher Vegan) and it was amazing. Oh, and I didn't shower... but I don't shower on Mondays anyway so that was a simple one :-P

Tuesday

Today did not consist of as much pledge getting as the day before, I was pretty busy, I got some though.

I knew I was going to loose a point today for riding in a car because I had a riding lesson BUT I was going to gain 2 for doing a carbon neutral activity. However, I didn't want my points to cancel out when I came home and took a shower so.... hm.... brainstorming.....

I washed my hair with rainwater! 

I got rainwater out of the house's rainwater collection barrel and filled a big bucket with it. I brought it into the house to (hopefully) reach at least inside air temperature. Then I poured a large mixing bowl about half full and dunked my head in it. Then I lathered and rinsed in the original water, and after that I just kept pouring it out and refilling it and rinsing until the water wasn't soapy any more. 

It was honestly a really humbling and thought provoking experience to clean myself this way... why do we need all the long showers and hot water? We don't. I have to say... my hair looks just as good as it always does.... which is pretty damn good. 

here's your proof

I still eating veggie... so more props for that. It's been a challenging day, but now that I've done it all I feel pretty damn good about myself.

Wednesday
Today was not an overly active day in the point getting for me. I didn't really get any pledges because I was super busy with classes and Soup and Bread stuff.
But I got passive points, I once again didn't eat the meat... although I am startin to feel myself slloowwinn down a bit.... not super but I think I can totally last out the week.
I also didn't shower soo... it's been since Sunday that I haven't bathed under running water? I'm tied for first with Ashley... am I proud of that? Jury is still out.


Thursday
I can't wait to take a shower tomorrow. Seriously. It's going to be so amazing and awesome. I've been looking forward to it all day.

I can't wait.

Friday
I took a shower... which was amazing. I honestly really really appreciated it for what it was after living without a modern comfort for a period of time. It made me realize that absolute cleanliness (which is debatable whether or not I pursue anyway) is not really important at all. It's a complete luxury. It doesn't make us smarter or better at our sport or better people. It's minor. Trivial. I'm really lucky and glad that I was able to have such a thought provoking experience just from taking a shower.

Then we had the Treehouse retreat which was camping at the Farm which was awesome because we were able to turn away from our computers and cell phones and just sit around a campfire talking and laughing. And we slept 14 Treekids in a 10 person tent. COZY!!

Saturday 
I was not able to really do a lot over the weekend for Eco Olympics. I did nothing detrimental for my team, I ate vegetarian and didn't shower, but I didn't do anything above and beyond.

Sunday
Today we talked about our experiences for the week. I'll summarize mine here:

I found Eco Olympics to be a great growth opportunity for me. I got 78 pledges, which means I approached 78 people and told them about Eco Olympics and got them to be on board with making their own sustainability goals. I washed my hair with rain water which was quite a gamble and it turned out fine. I'm really proud that I did that because I was wavering because I was worried mostly about how my hair would look when I was done but I took the chance and am happy I did. I personally did not drink any soda this week which is a big accomplishment because I don't think I've gone a day without a Dr. Pepper in months. I didn't eat anything that came in disposable packaging. I didn't get a disposable bag from a store. I ofset my driving by doing carbon neutral activities. The only TV I watched was a movie for class. I picked up a book for fun. I sat outside. I went on Adventure Thursday at a local location so I could walk instead of drive. I was a vegetarian!! I was even vegan sometimes!!!

And what did I realize? It wasn't hard. It's something that everyone can and should do, for at least a week. I don't think I'm going to go back to some of my old habits. I had a great week full of fun and laughter and camaraderie and did it without even missing the creature comforts that I thought I needed to be happy and took for granted.

This is me signing off of my Eco Olympics Experience. I hope you enjoyed reading about it!!

Treelove,
Amy

my life in a webcomic

What kind of friend would I be if I didn't plug my good friend, David's, webcomic?

This is one of my personal favorites, featuring MY character. :)

The comic is called "Caution: May Contain Nuts" and is hosted on drunkduck.com! Enjoy!!

Being Invisible in Love

Friday was Free Hugs Day at Dickinson, which I participated in. The event was in celebration of October being LGBT History month. As I stood on Britton Plaza holding my "Free Hugs" sign I figured out what it was like to be invisible.

People streamed around me avoiding my looking at me because they were too uncomfortable in their own skins to hug a stranger, or to even tell that stranger that "No thank you"

Some people didn't want to hug someone they didn't know, I understand that. And I have a lot of respect for those that looked at me and said "no thanks", it's polite.

Other than this observation, Free Hugs was awesome. I got so many hugs! Big hugs, little hugs, short hugs, long hugs, running hugs, picking up hugs. So much love on Dickinson Campus.

This was funny.... for the beginning of the event there was this older gentleman on the other side of Britton Plaza handing out free Bibles. I got a hug from us... but I think he was not able to comprehend the acronyms QSA or LGBT. If he had I don't know if he would have gotten a hug... love IS contagious you know.

Undead October

I'm going to see how many (valid) times I can dress up as a zombie in the month of October.

To kick this off right, I'm going to chronicle zombie costumes from the past....

Costume One:

Was a crime scene for White Dance, theme of the dance was Baltimore. Ok, technically not a zombie, but I was a murder victim walking around.... so if it looks like a zombie and is dead yet mobile, it must be a zombie!

Costume Two:

Halloween at Dickinson! Creepy Quads Haunted House!!

Costume Three:

Creepy Quads Year 2!!! Also fun, these are pictures from early in the evening and later in the evening.

Costume 4:

These were for a photo shoot I did as a crime scene, I didn't do the make-up on these, and they're a bit more graphic than the others... so click the bunny if you want to see it!

Whenever I dress up as a zombie I'll upload pictures the next day and give the context!!

*cough*check tomorrow*cough*


 Oct 1 - Zombie Numero Uno!!

 
My take on "Under the Sea"