I used to have strings I could rely on.
Strings that would hold every dangling limb, when I couldn't hold them on my own.
Strings that would hold my chin up, when all I wanted to do was let it fall.
Strings that would never let me go.

I used to have hands that would hold me.
Hands that would never let me go.
Hands that would guide me and take me places.
Hands that would grip me tight, when I was to weak.
Hands that would reach to me, when I was too tired to reach out to them.

I used to have voices who would speak to me.
Voices that would calm me.
Voices that would warm me.
Voices that I could rely on.

I used to see your smile.
Such a perfect smile.

It made me smile, when I was too sad to smile on my own.

Now scissors cut away my strings, and your hands are too far.
The voices have gone silent, and your face only stares.

And now I don't know where to go.

1. How old will you be in five years? 22.9. Tomorrow, in 5 years time, I'll be 23!!... The dreaded number if anyones watched the movie!
2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today? Lots of people.
My mum, my sister, my nephew, my boyfriend... all the people at the eco expo in Hamilton!
3. How tall are you? 5'10"
4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks? My birthday dinners (Sunday with Matt, then Monday with my family).
5. What's the last movie you saw? Death at a funeral
6. Who was the last person you called? Matt.
7. Who was the last person to call you? Um... Matt probably. Or Amy.
8. What was the last text message you received? *checks phone* not sure, it's been so long... Daniel, palmy daniel not my ex-brother-in-law.
9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail? Don't think I've ever had one.
10. Do you prefer to call or text? Call, it's faster. Unless I have to say something unpolite in which case I prefer to txt.
11. What were you doing at 12am last night? Trying to sleep. TRYING.
12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? Divorced.
13. When is the last time you saw your mom? About 5 minutes ago.
14. What color are your eyes? Brown.
15. Do you own slippers? No, they make my feet feel clammy.
16. What are you wearing right now? T-shirt, bra, underware.
17. What is your favorite christmas song? Whtie Christmas.
18. Where is your favorite place to be? Hanging out with my family and Matt.
19. Where is your least favorite place to be? Ramols clinic He was the mean dentist who didn't know what the hell he was doing to my mouth!!!
20. Africa-NewZealand-Japan? New Zealand.
21. Where do you think you'll be in 10 years? Absolutely no idea.
Hopefully happy, stable, owning my own home, crazy in love with my garden and ... perhaps engaged. Don't need to be married I just want a ring!
22. Do you tan or burn? Tan. Unless I am in the sun for hours, then I burn.
23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? Fire and various characters in my nightmares.
24. What was the last thing that really made you laugh? When the woman at the expo said she was going to take all the olives from the olive trees in Auckland and suggested that everyone should steal more.
25. How many TVs do you have in your house? 1.
26. When did u last get in a arguement? Dunno, 7 or so days ago.
27. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer? I have a laptop, but there's also a family computer that my mother has now claimed as me and my brother both have our own lappys.
28. Do you sleep with or without clothes on? Depends on the mood.
Generally I sleep fully dressed even when it is hot, but if I'm tired and feeling uncomfortable I generally ditch the jeans or cargos.
29. What color are your walls? Cream and peach. Not what I wanted.
30. How many pillows do you sleep with? 2 for me, then 4 throw pillows on the other side of the bed.
31. What is your favorite season? Autumn.
32. What do you like about fall? All the leaves changing colour and the weather!
33. What do you like about winter? All the rain... being able to snuggle up in bed and how much you appreciate being "warm and cosy".
34. What do you like about the summer? Warm sun, being outside more.
35. What do you like about spring? The crazy storms and the new planting season!
36. How many states have you lived in? Uh... 2. Waikato for most of my life, then 4 years in the king country, then back up to the waikato.
Lived in 6 different town/citys though.
37. What states have you lived in? Waikato and King country.
38. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet? If it's cold, socks and shoes! and if it's warm then bare feet.
39. Are you a social person? When I'm in a socialable mood I am!
40. What was the last thing you ate? Home-made red wine tomato pasta sauce (tomatoes from my garden too!) with spiral pasta. Was delicious.
41. Have you tried escargo? Nope. No appeal.
42. What is your favorite ice cream? V

Meatless Like Me
I may be a vegetarian, but I still love the smell of bacon.
By Taylor Clark
(From: www.Slate.com)

Every vegetarian remembers his first time. Not the unremarkable event of his first meal without meat, mind you. No, I mean the first time he casually lets slip that he's turned herbivore, prompting everyone in earshot to stare at him as if he just revealed plans to sail his carrot-powered plasma yacht to Neptune. For me, this first time came at an Elks scholarship luncheon in rural Oregon when I was 18. All day, I'd succeeded at seeming a promising and responsible young man, until that fateful moment when someone asked why I hadn't taken any meat from the buffet. After I offered my reluctant explanation—and the guy announced it to the entire room—30 people went eerily quiet, undoubtedly expecting me to launch into a speech on the virtues of hemp. In the corner, an elderly, suited man glared at me as he slowly raised a slice of bologna and executed the most menacing bite of cold cut in recorded history. I didn't get the scholarship.

I tell this story not to win your pity but to illustrate a point: I've been vegetarian for a decade, and when it comes up, I still get a look of confused horror that says, "But you seemed so … normal." The U.S. boasts more than 10 million herbivores today, yet most Americans assume that every last one is a loopy, self-satisfied health fanatic, hellbent on draining all the joy out of life. Those of us who want to avoid the social nightmare have to hide our vegetarianism like an Oxycontin addiction, because admit it, omnivores: You know nothing about us. Do we eat fish? Will we panic if confronted with a hamburger? Are we dying of malnutrition? You have no clue. So read on, my flesh-eating friends—I believe it's high time we cleared a few things up.
To demonstrate what a vegetarian really is, let's begin with a simple thought experiment. Imagine a completely normal person with completely normal food cravings, someone who has a broad range of friends, enjoys a good time, is carbon-based, and so on. Now remove from this person's diet anything that once had eyes, and, wham!, you have yourself a vegetarian. Normal person, no previously ocular food, end of story. Some people call themselves vegetarians and still eat chicken or fish, but unless we're talking about the kind of salmon that comes freshly plucked from the vine, this makes you an omnivore. A select few herbivores go one step further and avoid all animal products—milk, eggs, honey, leather—and they call themselves vegan, which rhymes with "tree men." These people are intense.


Vegetarians give up meat for a variety of ethical, environmental, and health reasons that are secondary to this essay's goal of increasing brotherly understanding, so I'll mostly set them aside. Suffice it to say that one day, I suddenly realized that I could never look a cow in the eyes, press a knocking gun to her temple, and pull the trigger without feeling I'd done something cruel and unnecessary. (Sure, if it's kill the cow or starve, then say your prayers, my bovine friend—but for now, it's not quite a mortal struggle to subsist on the other five food groups.) I am well-aware that even telling you this makes me seem like the kind of person who wants to break into your house and liberate your pet hamster—that is, like a PETA activist. Most vegetarians, though, would tell you that they appreciate the intentions of groups like PETA but not the obnoxious tactics. It's like this: We're all rooting for the same team, but they're the ones in face paint, bellowing obscenities at the umpire and flipping over every car with a Yankees bumper sticker. I have no designs on your Camry or your hamster.

Now, when I say that vegetarians are normal people with normal food cravings, many omnivores will hoist a lamb shank in triumph and point out that you can hardly call yourself normal if the aroma of, say, sizzling bacon doesn't fill you wi