Screen Name: JaimieCS Joined: 24 June 2010 Location: VIC Recruits: 0 Lives Saved: 1,161

Fave Food: Fruit and tea. Fave Music: Sample: Josh Pyke, Pumpkins, Placebo, Paul Dempsey, Hole, Sigur Ross, Gotye (Musicals!) What's Hot: EcoFeminism What's Not: Tony Abbott

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I'm 23, I live in a sharehouse in Richmond, I don't have a real job and I've been at uni for too long.

I grew up in the 'mountains' in rural vic, moved to Melbourne for uni where I'm studying Marine Bio/Ecology/Botany.

I live with friends, (three omnis) they let me make bad attempts at composting and label all the left overs vegan or non. They never leave meat or meat covered dishes around and they don't make jokes about our meatless dinners. They drink soy milk in their tea when the milk runs out. They're a dream after my last omni sharehouse.

I play the flute and tin whistle, I read a lot of fantasy, I like outdoorsy stuff like camping and hiking and horseriding, beaches and rainforests....all the good stuff.

My dad had a sheep/crop/cattle/pig/pidgeon station and my mum bred horses for competition, so I've spent a lot of time on farms and among animals.

I've castrated lambs, branded horses and cattle, ear-tagged sheep and pigs, watched muelsing, seen factory pigs and birds crush their young and eaten huge slabs of meat 3 times a day.

I've always been aware of the conditions animals are farmed it, it just sort of never really occurred to me be that upset about it, that was my family's livelihood.

I got pretty left wing when I started uni, but being vego never really crossed my mind until I just picked up a leaflet one day.

I'd had a few inklings recently because of the live export scandals that got a lot of coverage, and that's something I've always disagreed with... but never really thought about. it's amazing how blind you can become to awful things just because they're 'normal.'

The leaflet didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but then I got to the quote section and there was something along the lines of this by Daniel Johns:

"I just like knowing I'm not contributing unnecessarily to the exploitation of other living beings."

That's what I like too.

I went straight to vegan, I didn't really see the point of being just veg. I no longer miss dairy but I do miss eggs. I'm a lazy vegan, I eat chocolate if there's a bowl of m&m's at a party, I often forget to ask for my 5am souvas without garlic sauce and If we're eating out I don't quiz the waiters about my food, I choose whatever looks vegan on the menu and try not to make a fuss.

I have a lot of friends who do things differently to make a difference, from vegetarians to organic/local supporters to friends who only eat sustainable species of fish and replace beef with kangaroo to friends who always try to drink 'green' beer. Everyone's choice is a small step in the right direction and I believe in just doing what you can.

I do wish I had some vegan friends though, just for the occasional stress free meal out.

I'm slowly converting my whole lifestyle to vegan/cruelty-free. My food is there, I don't buy wool or leather (although I've bought second-hand wool), and about 80% of my cosmetics etc. are v/cf, I've got a post-it on my desk with the remaining things I need to swap over when I run out. I always buy earth friendly products, but I don't try to control what my household does too much.



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** I can't believe it's been nearly two years!

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