This one time, at band camp...

No. I did not goto band camp.
But I did goto RYLA, which was one awesome life changing experience. And it's a camp.

I would post up a diary of my experiences... but it's currently on hold. I guess I'll get started on the intro part again tomorrow.

Jack Thompson is an idiot. Who has no life? You do. Stop coming up with ridiculous arguments.






Meh... here you go

Between the 15th and 21st of January 06, myself and 39 other RYLArians participated in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). RYLA is a life changing experience. They weren’t exaggerating when they made that claim. RYLA created a unique, positive, close knit community, which was the breeding ground for our personal growth. The camp gave us mental and physical challenges, activities that pushed us outside our comfort zones, and lectures and activities that focused on the elements of leadership.

To me, the most important element of RYLA is the positive, supportive and friendly environment. It is this environment that inspired us all to take actions which we normally wouldn’t do. Be it because we weren’t afraid of being embarrassed, or because we were inspired to be like the others. Everybody commented on my growth from being quiet and reserved to being out there, giving it a go, exerting more confidence, but also still standing back to examine situations, and how it inspired them to grow as well. The way I see it, is that in reality, our actions and behaviour can be stunted because we fear. There was no need to fear in RYLA, so we could be what we wanted to be. How we grew, and what we got out of RYLA was entirely up to us. But the environment we were in, and the others who inspired us were equally important in getting this life changing RYLA experience.




Sunday: The Beginning
The introductions

Like with any situation involving a large group of people who don’t know each other, it was awkward. Did I mention we started fairly early? So, for the morning, we had ice breakers. The standard stuff. You have a sheet of random questions and you go around asking fellow RYLArians and facilitators those questions, and learning their names and various stuff about them. Then there we stood around in a large circle, more properly introduced ourselves, got assigned a roll call number, and had silly name remembering games. I think I made the mistake of saying “My name is Justin, but my friends called me J.Lo...” because that nickname stuck, as well as variations such as “Jenny from the block” accompanied with “shake that ass!”. But on the plus side, I stood out more.


Small Groups

The 40 of us were split into 5 groups of 8 with 2 or 3 facilitators. I was assigned to the yellow group, with Benn (with 2 Ns) and Rachelle (someone who can’t spell Rachel) as our facilitators. I love my yellow team. Benn made things so exciting with his funny antics, and made it easier for us to open up to each other. Jade, with his passion for lengthy discussion topics in the wee hours of the night. Clare and Rachel with their YARRR pirate jokes, and “I wanna ride my bike” ADD kid joke. Manda and Jean-Marie with their ability to open up to us. Everybody in our group in one way or another contributed to us forming very close bonds.



We decided to give ourselves a team name and team chant. Benn had a little mascot, a little rubber chicken which we passed around during discussions. We decided on “The Nuggets”. Either because of gold nuggets, or chicken nuggets- it doesn’t matter. And our chant, was actually one which Benn’s facilitator used when Benn was a RYLArian. It’s a long one, and made absolutely no sense. For all we know, it could be “I need to goto the toilet badly” in a foreign language.



OOH CALELA

A PERI TIKI TUMBA

A MASA MASA MASA

OO ALLA EI ALLA AH ALLUEI

eat meat

It's been a while, so happy new year, yada yada *gets random administrative matters out of the way*

What is wrong with meat? Forgive me for being insensitive, but who the hell is allergic to meat? Allergic to egg, sure, but allergic to all kinds of meat, other byproducts of animals (eggs, dairy etc) and even extracts of the essence of some animal sourced flavouring? Yeah... I had to deal with a bunch of VEGAN customers the other day, who claimed they were allergic to anything animal.

In a society where many of us eat meat, well... there are quite a few vegitarians, but vegitarians are tolerable as they aren't as fussy, we don't really cater to vegans. From what I understand, a vegan is someone who does not eat meat, egg, or dairy products. A vegitarian is one who eats no meat. Then there are those other vegitarians who eat fish. Fish are not meat?

I do not see what the problem is with Sam Kekovich's adverts for lamb on Australia Day. Vegitarians and vegans found offense to it. For fuck's sake, take things with humour. He poked fun at Asian food, and being Asian, that is what we eat on Australia Day. Unless we decide to roast some lamb, which is what we may end up doing this year. The webber pwns!

This forum post from the somethingawful.com forums just affirms how vegans are evil.

"So, here's the setup. I recently moved out to western Washington state (from eastern Washington state, a hellhole I'm glad to be out of) to live with my brother and help him pay rent and stuff while he goes to school. I don't regret this decision in the least; the other side of the state is very not-good for alternative thinkers (see me be so witty, ha ha.)

In any case, my brother has somehow got it in his head that being vegan is the way to be. Realistically, I have no problem with this; it's his lifestyle, its his to modify and change as he will. However, there are a few things about my brother it is... prudent to mention.

Fun Facts About Dr. Bones' Brother (With important parts underlined!)

1. As already established, he is a vegan
2. He is a self-proclaimed Socialist
3. He sees the world in black and white... if you're not part of the solution, you are the problem
4. He argues vehemently about that which he believes is true
5. He is unbending in his ways
6. He gets his news filtered (usually via http://www.veganporn.com) so he can build 'stronger arguments for the right cause'
7. He has a Utopain worldview which I'll get into later
8. He takes pride in everything he does
9. He claims to be a pacifist...
9a. ...except when it comes to animals, in which case he's a guerilla militant
10. My brother has turned gray (as in, skin tone... he's quite ashy) from what I'm guessing is malnutrition. Sure, he eats 'protein-enhanced' soy, but... it's not really working, since he's rapidly losing pigment.
11. He's trying to convert me.

Now that that's taken care of, let me tell you a little story. I knew there'd be SOME tension in the household with me, the meat-eating heathen, living here and playing more than half the rent and utilities every month. Ever since I got here, however, everything I eat illicits gags and threats of vomit from him. Just yesterday, he spent two hours proselytizing to me about how I shouldn't eat meat. And he asks all these questions that I cannot answer, because he plays on ethics. Some examples include:

"Do YOU think that killing animals is correct? Do you think that MURDERING animals is correct? Should we murder them? Why? Because they taste good?"

"There's no reason to murder anything. Why would we want to induce pain on another living creature?"

"If you don't have an argument against veganism, why are you still eating meat? Does it make you feel better?"

"Slaughterhouses and meat packaging plants are just like the concentration camps in Nazi Germany! Did you think those Jews had to die?" (Fun Fact: He likes to equate cows and pigs and chickens to the Jews in Nazi Germany a lot. Like, constantly.)

"Why are you supporting the houses of murder?"

It's just... nn. For him being a devout athiest (ha ha), he sure does have some real near-religious moral compunctions about this entire thing. He's convinced that meat is murder and all this other stuff... but because he's playing an ethics angle constantly, I have no arguments. Do I think murder is right? No. Do I think killing the Jews was right? No. Do I think rounding all the homeless up and slaughtering them all is right? No, I really don't. So why do I still eat meat? I have no rebuttal to this, really. I'm convinced he's still part Catholic with the way he's guilt tripping me(no offense to Catholic goons; I was part of the faith for a long time, just have broken away.)

Have any similar stories? Feel free to share. I need some ammo to use against this guy, because having someone try to vomit all over your food, having someone in your face telling you that you are a murdering bastard every single day, having someone threaten to toss all your food in the trash on a regular basis? Gets old.

Meanwhile, I just bought a packet of bacon. I think I'm gonna go smear it all over his pillow before I cook it."



I know some are vegitarian for religious reasons. Vegan, I'm not so sure... Also for health reasons. But then they still need protein and iron, which is found in *drumroll* MEAT thus needing to take supplement tablets. But what I'm trying to get at is if your dietary preference is different to ours, do NOT try to change us. We choose to eat a balanced diet of fats, meats, dairies, veggies, fruits, cereals... and you chose not to. Don't tell us to change. Don't preach to us about how killing animals is wrong. I am against the killing of whales. They are not bred for our consumption. They are endangered species. I am rooting for the hippies and their little boat with a can opener attached to it and that they sink those so called "scientific whaling ships"

Don't make our lives difficult where we have to cater our meat/egg/dairy oriented dishes to your needs. You're vegan/vegitarian and the menu doesn't have enough vegitarian/vegan friendly dishes? You're in the wrong restaurant buddy. There is only so much pimping to your meal the cooks can do. Pimp my meal... adds stuff onto a meal, not take stuff out.

Hmm... if a vegan eats a substitute to meat, like those gluten or tofu fake chicken/bacon/whatever, are they hypocrites? Like the quoted example, that vegan is against the killing of animals (not because they are allergic to meat) so if eating animals is wrong, eating fake animals is alright?

Allergic to meat... BAH! Meat is flesh... muscle... we are made of muscle... we are meat ourselves... does that mean they are allergic to themselves? If it's allergy to DEAD meat, then would they flame up with a massive allergic reaction at a funeral?

Killing animals is wrong? I sure hope you protest against the war in Iraq, and are planning your own guerilla war against cowardly, sick, evil, terrorists. Hell, vegetables are living organisms too. Go argue with fruitarians you against animal killing type veggoes!

The moral of the story: have a fucking balanced diet. You know the food pyramid? Follow that. I believe that meat, eggs, dairy, fats, cereals (carbs) and fruits and veggies are on there. Those stupid fad diets that shun carbs and promote fats... they are not balanced. 3 meals a day- breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make that wholesome balanced meals. And you'll do fine.

Once again, apologies if you are vegan or vegitarian and took offense at my random ramblings.