“Do you eat fish then?”

When telling people I’m a vegan I have come across the same question disturbingly many times; “do you eat fish then?” – (FYI there is different types of vegetarians. People who include fish and other seafood into their diets are called pesco-vegetarians)
To me this is shocking and confusing for fish is meat as much as any other meat. Why would it not be!? That is MY question. Is it because fishes live under water? Or do people see them as less significant living creature than pigs, chickens, cows or any other animals they eat and which live on the ground? For creatures that live are called animals but creatures that live under water are called seafood and shellfish. And that’s kind of racist isn’t it? They cannot live above it like we cannot live under it. For they live under water they are seen somehow more insignificant than some other living, breathing creatures who live on the ground.

Thinking of fishing, hooks and impaling lip with a sharp object (for example hook/needle), my lip piercing came into my mind and I instantly thought it as an example of when fish takes the bait and the sharp hook pierces its lip and how much it will hurt the fish – and to me it hurt like hell. If someone would have put a hook through it, trying to yank me somewhere with force I would be in pure and cruel pain.

When you are young and first learn about fishing, it occurs to every single child that it MUST hurt when the hook goes into the fish’s lip! The disturbing crunch-like sound when the hook is being pulled out from the fish’s lip made me felt bad – and I do not try to seem hypocrite for I have been fishing when I was a kid but I do now feel awful about it (and even then in some level). I never did like to “keep” the fish I rarely (and unfortunately) caught and even releasing them, I was thinking about the fish having a hole in their mouth and wondering if they heal and how long will they suffer before it? I don’t understand how I could’ve done that for I always felt bad for the fish and I never could kill one with my own hands. And felt horrible in every way when someone were killing them as the fishes were trying to catch a breath but they couldn’t for they were out of the water. Later on I stopped fishing at all and just had to look while other people fished and I remember when someone caught a salmon they yanked it out from its comfortable surroundings and were pounding its neck with a log trying to break its neck, killing it “fast” – they never, ever succeeded at the first try. It was never that fast they wanted to believe…

Just like dogs, cats, and humans, fish do feel pain. Scientists who study pain are in complete agreement that the fish pain response is basically identical to the pain response system in mammals and birds. Fishes are without any legal protection from cruel treatment – before they die they are impaled, suffocated, crushed OR sliced open and gutted all while they're fully conscious.

We are not talking about fishing from the dock or rowing boat – fishing is massive and hurts other animals too, like sharks, whales, seals, sea turtles, other non-target fish and even birds who get tangled in nets and hooked by long-lines. These unfortunate creatures are termed "bycatch" and are thrown overboard and they slowly bleed to death in the water or fall victim to swarming birds.

Whether the fish are raised on aquafarms, caught in the ocean by giant nets or long-lines, or hooked at the end of a fishing line, eating them supports cruelty to animals.

The U.S. fish industry slaughters more than 6 billion (just even think about that number) fish each year, and sport fishing and angling kill another 245 million animals annually.

Crying moss

On this weekend I saw my dad after a long time and it felt so great to see him since the last time we saw was two to three months ago. After he took me back home I saw this beautiful rock face which had been covered with thick layer of ice the whole winter but now it was dripping water, drops sparkling in the sunlight like crystals. So I had to go home just to grab my camera and head back trying to capture it.

This is what I did today.

45 minutes went by just like that and I started to notice that when the sun started to set and the light didn’t reflect from the water drops as much anymore. While I walked back home I saw this view (and an overexposured photo of it):

But I also noticed this:

Oh, go ahead and walk down those stairs - they under there somewhere.

I decided to bake Tosca Cake tomorrow. And I had just eaten the last cinnamon roll today (and I’ve been giving them away also). Friday was good. I felt good.

----
EDIT:
I didn't had time to make the tosca cake (vegan of course) the next day but I made it later. Here's how it turned out:

Cats & Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

I woke up quite early considering I had went to bed a little late. But a big good mug of rich, black coffee would cover at least an hour of sleep. I spent the beginning of the day on the computer surfing on the internet and stuff. During the day I destroyed the lentil goodness from last night already planning the next food.

Food making continued later this night with vegetable lasagna and baking. For days I had almost dreamt about baking and cinnamon buns were the first thing that came in my head when thinking about baking and kneading a dough. To save time my mom made the lasagna while I was making the cinnamon rolls. It had been a looong time since the last time I baked and making perfect vegan cinnamon buns ahd been on my to/do /list for ages now. The buns were success overall.

If I would gain a pound for each thought of food I would weight a million pounds already. I like food. Once again, I ate way too much - but that’s ok.

Buns before and after the oven...

The cinnamon rolls turned out to be so airy and fluffy.

A perfect cinnamon roll.

Nice weekend

Today when I got home I went straight to bed and we had a serious nap with cats.

So this is what I’m dealing with...

Later that evening I ended up making a huge pot of pasta with red lentil sauce. I could’ve made it elegant and put the sauce on top of the pasta but I smashed it all together and it was gooood.

I was hungry and so I didn’t have time to arrange a nice portion with parsley on top. Not very elegant picture but tasted a thousand times better than it looks in here...

I wanted to watch a movie and definitely something humorous to “clear” my head. Purely coincidentally I noticed there was “Hot Fuzz” coming later that night and I think it’s hilarious so I decided to watch it.

After that I went to the computer for a moment and then I went to bed. Siru had been following me around the house all day and was entrenched in my bed half the time – so I didn’t have to sleep alone.

 
After going to my bed I felt absolutely blissed.

Self-Injury Awareness Day

** NOTE!! Even because of the subject, this post does NOT contain disturbing images or photos!! **

 

The orange ribbon of self harm awareness.

On every year, the 1st of March is designated as Self-Injury Awareness Day (SIAD) around the world.  It's a time when we can all come together to help raise awareness about self-injury and self-harm. Wear an orange ribbon for Self-Injury Awareness Day if you or someone you know has been affected by self-injury or self-harm. Today I wear a ribbon myself.

SIAD has been running for many years, and has become more and more popular in the UK over the last few years. It’s still a grassroots annual global awareness event / campaign. On this day, and in the weeks leading up to it, some people choose to be more open about their own self-harm, and awareness organizations make special efforts to raise awareness about self-harm and self-injury. Some people wear an orange awareness ribbon, wristband or beaded bracelet to encourage awareness of self-harm. The goal of the people who observe SIAD is to break down the common stereotypes surrounding self-harm and to educate medical professionals and people in general about the condition.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ON SELF-INJURY AWARENESS DAY:
Please reach out to someone. Whether you self-harm, if someone you know self-harms, if someone who’s dealing with self-harm or someone who has dealt with self-harm. Your story matters and needs to be shared.

Don’t judge people who self-harm but try to help and understand them - that’s what they will need. What people, who are self-harming, need is support. People who knows a person who self-injures and people in general needs information and facts rather than assumptions. Many seems to think it's just teenage girls or emos who cut - but they should think again, but it could be anyone older or younger, a female or a male, a student or an engineer or anyone else.

Cutting is cutting - whether the cut is deep or not. It needs to be taken seriously.

ABOUT SELF-HARMING:
Surprisingly many people self-harm. The number may be higher because people keep it to themselves. Many self-injurers hide it because they may feel ashamed, alone and scared. And what many may think is that it is a suicide attempt. It's not a suicide attempt. Most self-harmers aren't suicidal. Other than being a suicide attempt, it's more like a coping strategy. To help them cope with difficult feelings, such as depression, despair, self hatred, shame, grief, loneliness, stress, abuse and bullying. Someone may think that one cut just to get attention. In some cases this may be, because sometimes self-harm may be a cry for help without precisely seeking attention with (some can, people are different and self-harm by different reasons). Someone may be scared that someone will notice, but when they do, they find themselves kind of glad that someone are noticing their despair and someone is willing to listen and help.

It may start as “simple” as that, but in the end it becomes a problem of its own - It's an addiction. The self-injurers often feels they can't get help. Because of the stigma and what people think, because they are ashamed, because they don't want to hurt the ones they love.

But you are not alone with this addiction and that there are always people willing to listen and help you. There are. Don’t let it sound cliché – and even if it sounds like it that doesn’t make it any less true.

So remember! On each year, March 1st is Self-Injury Awareness Day - wear ORANGE to help support self-injury, and spread some awareness.

I’ve written this, so please don’t copy this straight away – if you want to distribute this text, please do add the source (this site). Thank you!