Three Thirty Three

For at least the last 15-years, a strange phenomenon occurs in my life nearly everyday.  At first, it might not seem that strange to you...many coincidences; self-fulfilling prophecy perhaps...

Not everyday, but nearly...at a precise moment, regardless of my location...I happen to look at my watch, a wall clock in a cafe; the digital blinking dots between hours and minutes seem to always grab my attention, precisely at 3:33.  Even more interesting, is this same event occurs in my wife's routine...not everyday, but almost.  Looking back through my text messages recently, trails over months between she and I, note those three digits...as if they were our digital proof of some cosmic or karmic connection to one and other, who noticed it first, could the text be shot off before the seconds turned the minute just one beyond?  Often times one of us will awake from a deep sleep in the early morning hours, only to notice those same three's...again, seemingly instructing us to do something at that moment.

Why?  Believe me, I have pondered it for a long time.  And, after so much contemplation have found no logical, nor philosophical reason for these occurrences; not to mention the duration they have maintained in both of our lives.  I have decided, that until I can identify why this occurs, that I will, at a minimum, place greater importance on that time.  It will be "the" time, which when I notice, I will stop...and make a conscious effort.  An effort to reflect...and do something positive.  I will respect that as the time which we can all make a different choice...for a minute, for an hour, for an afternoon.  It will be the time I remind myself to not hate, to not accept the notion that "we" are better than each other or better than other creatures, a time to forget all of our differences...and to understand the one commonality which we all share.  It will be a time that I choose to make a difference, no matter how small it may seem.  At 3:33, I will remember.  I will remember all that I have taken, all that I have consumed; and all which I have wasted. 

Perhaps you have a special time, or a special place?  Whether you do or don't, if you happen to notice it's 3:33 sometime, we would welcome your giving a moment of your time, a moment of your mind...and a moment of your compassion.

A friend of mine found this in a journal she kept from 1985...I felt it an appropriate conclusion to this post...I for one have made my choice...you can make many of your own...but I will not go down this way.  It's time to celebrate our potential.

"We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form." -William R. Inge

For all those who have been emailing, calling, texting and basically craving more content here...stay tuned, we've been getting organized.  We have much to say and much to share.  Among some other outreach initiatives, including the planning of our next Vegan Fest, Pam, Susie and I have been experimenting, testing....oh who am I kidding...we've been eating a whole lot...and creating lots of amazing Vegan recipes....look for those to start posting in the coming weeks.

Peace,

Josh

Humane

hu·mane

characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, especially for the suffering or distressed

hu·man·i·ty

all human beings collectively; the human race; humankind

the quality or condition of being human; human nature

the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence

I call bullshit on the human race...

From left to right: Makeup Testing, Pharmaceutical Testing, Cast Out, Just plain sad that with all our technical prowice, we can't figure out a way to co-habitate without harming each other

I am . . . Vegan by Choice

Pam & Lucy

Although many of you following along know who Susie and I are, there is someone else who has been behind the scenes for some time...We are very lucky to have Pam as part of our Vegan by Choice family.  She has been an integral part of our vegan dinners, our Vegan Fest, as well as heads up various outreach initiatives...and she is an educator at heart (watch out Monsanto, she may be small, but she's darn mighty!).  So, with all that said...here's Pam.

I'm in a place right now, right this moment where I never imagined I would be a year ago, six months ago...or even three months ago!  So you ask, where is she?  I feel like I'm in heaven, I've got that dreamy, I can do anything, go anywhere, be anything I want to be and want to do feeling!  As the old saying goes it takes two to tango and in this case that is so true!  I couldn't possibly be feeling this exact way, at this exact minute, at this exact second in time without giving most of the credit to my good and loving, vegan friend...Josh Neimark!

My love affair with Josh, his wife Susie, his son Jack, and his daughter Lucy all started the day he walked into my place of employment in our little, sweet town down by the sea. That was two and a half years ago!  However, I had no idea about any such thing as a  love affair let alone a friendship with this beautiful, young family.  Josh walked in and told me that he had just moved to town and was in dire need of some MoJoe!  It was just he and I alone; while I prepared his coffee we did the usual chatting about where he was from, where he was moving to, his family, ordinary small talk then he paid and was gone just as quickly as he had appeared.

                             ..........................this is my love story!

In the days and weeks that followed after Josh's first visit to the coffee shop, Susie managed to come in with adorable Jack and Lucy for an afternoon snack at which time she introduced herself and the children.  I instantly fell in love with her...she reminded me of  "the girl next door."  Each time she paid a visit we chatted and slowly but surely began to know more and more about each other.  I found her and Josh especially intriguing when I discovered they were vegan.  You see the year before I met Josh and Susie I had met a beautiful young woman and her two very young daughters who were vegan.  I just couldn't understand how in a world such as ours; how you could actually avoid enough of the "bad for you mainstream food" to actually be healthy.  The quest for vegan knowledge began, and every time I would see Josh and or Susie, I would ask questions about what they ate, where they got their food, and how they cooked it.  Josh shared the story of his serious health condition of several years ago and how he made the choice to take the steering wheel of his own life, choosing to commit to a vegan diet (you can find Josh's story here on the blog).  I began to research as much as possible as to how difficult or easy it was going to be to find and prepare food for myself as I began on this new journey.  In April of 2011, a new vegan was born, but not until after I felt completely ready to take on this healthy, compassionate lifestyle...because you see I was determined not to fail at any cost.  I admit it was a challenge, but a challenge that I was ready to take on!  I found that I was in love all over again, this time it was food that I was in love with.  When friends found out that I had become vegan they would ask what I ate and always my reply was, "you just cannot imagine, but I am having a love affair with food", and I was!  I was amazed at how much there was to learn, and I was by no means unfamiliar with cooking since I had done it for many years.  I was thirsty for vegan knowledge, I could not get enough!  I discovered how to replace eggs in cooking and baking, how to make beautiful, flaky pie crusts without rolling out the dough, how to make delicious, non-dairy ice cream, how to make mac n' cheese without real cheese that fooled even the pickiest child.  I discovered products that tasted wonderful and contained no animal products.  I was hooked, there was no turning back!   This vegan journey has been one of the most incredible I have had in my life...a free CHOICE that every human can take!

At this moment I sit working beside Josh in his office beside the sea...loving my incredible vegan life!

Whole Foods Hidden Camera Sting - Censored by Youtube

I guess us Vegans are just too tenacious to let it rest.  You can take it off of Youtube, Vimeo or anywhere else you like, and we will keep defending our rights as human beings, consumers...and as earthlings.  Whole Foods...you should be ashamed of yourselves.