Tuesday 28 June 2011

Beastly vs Beauty & The Beast


beastlyThe other day I was watching the new movie ‘Beastly’ which is basically a ‘modern' teenage version of the Beauty & The Beast story.
After I was done watching the movie it suddenly hit me: What do the guy in ‘Beastly’ and the Prince from ‘Beauty & The Beast’ have in common?
= MONEY!!!
That’s right, they’re both stinking rich!

The Prince in the Beauty & The Beast lives in this ginormous castle and has got the wealth to look after the girl. The guy from Beastly has a super rich daddy, which allows him to spend money on the girl, provide her with ‘security’, ‘safety’ and a limo ride to a “cottage” (read supermassive mansion) by a lake.

So the ‘Morale’ of both stories has got nothing, absolutely nothing to do with ‘Real Love’ and “Beauty on the Inside/Outside’ – it’s all all about the Beauty and Glamour of your wallet. Whether you’re a beautiful, handsome person whose a total ass – or an absolute freak of nature on the outside with the sweetest personality = as long as you have money you’ll get what you want.
And I mean, this guy is not the only one playing in a Romantic Story that girls dream of that’s got a lot of bucks. Take a look at the following dudes:vampire diaries

twilight-movie-poster
Anyone else seeing a pattern?

So what does this say about Relationships and what a girl wants?
Girls like MONEY –in fact – everyone wants money!!!
So we should just give it to everyone so that everyone can develop proper relationships with one another without fearing for one’s survival or whether someone’s going to stab you in the back for money.

www.equalmoney.org

Saturday 25 June 2011

Parronting


A few days ago Bernard & Esteni came home with two tiny fluffy baby African Grey Parrots.

The Parrots we got before were always at least about 12 weeks old and were very much able to take care of themselves. These guys were more like 8-9 weeks old, tiny, weren’t eating solid food yet (they are eating a bit of it now though) and did not yet have all their feathers. Which basically means that they would have to be handfed several times a day and the temperature would have to be regulated.babies first day

So I was a bit freaking out because I had not yet done this before and was a bit ‘unprepared’ as I hadn’t done much research in terms of taking care of little parrot chicks. When they arrived I went and prepared their formula mix because they looked a bit hungry. The food smelled quite a bit like the Pronutro mix we’d feed rescued wild baby birds, so that gave me some comfort because I knew that if we’d just get the feeding part right everything else would be fine.

After they’d eaten and we had set them up in their cage I went to do some reading on African Grey Parrot chicks. First thing I wanted to find out was what type of “housing'” requirements these baby chicks have. The box they came with was the box they had been living in at the breeder’s place. It was a cardboard box with wood shavings in it, and the wood shaving were scented. From previous research in terms of what bedding to use for our other parrots and cages, I knew that wood shaving were mostly a ‘no-go’. You never really know what type of wood you’re dealing with (some are toxic to parrots), and if the parrot digest the wood shavings it can cause internal problems to their digestive and or respiratory system.

So I was not surprised to find out that wood shavings were set as ‘not acceptable’ as bedding for Parrot Chicks yet here this breeder had put it in their box. What was worse was that the wood shavings were scented and you could just smell all these chemicals pouring out of the shavings – which would only bring about more damage if they would get it in their head to play with the shavings in their mouth (parrots absolutely love putting things in their beaks). The scent was so extensive it was making Gian and myself feel nauseous.
So I got a bit upset about that, especially since you’d think a breeder would know what the hell he/she is doing with the parrots.
We took out all the shavings and put in shredded newspaper instead (which is what we use for our other Parrots).

Parrots todayNext I researched chicks’ growth phases.
Turns out the chicks were about 8-9 weeks old  -- and the breeder had sold Bernard & Esteni food for baby parrots from the age of 2 to 6 weeks…. So that really starts to make you wonder if this person from which they got the parrots knows what he’s doing.
I kept feeding them the same formula until someone went to town and got us the right one. They were also not supposed to be living in a box but get a bit more space so they can start walking around and maybe start perching around on wood and play with some toys.

Before this whole chick experience it already became quite clear that most of the time, the people that breed for the pet market, or petshops = have no idea what they are doing (but only do so for money).
When we first got our Parrot we bought him a shitload of sunflower seeds and peanuts because that’s what they were feeding the parrots in the petshop – it seemed like a common sensical thing to do. Only after doing some reading up on Parrots and their dietary needs it turns out that feeding them only seeds is like killing your pet slowly but surely. Sunflowers and other seeds / nuts are very high energy/fatty foods and can create liver problems for birds (most pet parrots die after 5 years of purchases even though they are supposed to have a life expectancy of for instance 60 – only because their dietary needs aren’t being met, which accumulates over time resulting in death by malnutrition – or rather – lack of education).
The cages that are available for Parrots most of the time have terrible impractical designs or toxic coating = again showing that it’s not about providing the best care for you pet but only the best interest of the person’s wallet.

Our first three parrots : Parrot, Papegaai and Munchie were all clipped before we got them (the two babies still have their full wings and we are going to keep it that way unless it becomes problematic). In our room we were having problems with the parrots “flying” and crashing into things (they were also hyperactive initially because of the sunflower seeds and then later as withdrawal symptoms of not getting sunflowers as their staple food) and then hurting themselves due to the bad landings. Since they were already clipped we thought that maybe they’d had to be clipped more severely so I went to check out the whats and hows of parrot wing clips. Turns out that it was not a case of not being clipped enough, but rather of being clipped too much. African Grey parrots are heavy bodied birds and need quite a bit of wing just so they can glide down smoothly and not crash into things. I went to inspect the parrots their wings and found out they were all clipped in a different way and all terribly off from what it’s supposed to be….sigh….again.

When we are doing the whole Exotic Pets Sanctuary / Rehabilitation we are definitely going to be giving educational programs so that new pet owners will be able to give the best care to their pets. There’s just too much abuse going on in the pet industry resulting from a lack of education and general care about the actual animals. And all of this is just from exploring African Grey Parrots --- they only represent a fraction of the animals existent within the pet trade industry, one can only guess what other abuse is happening to all the other remaining animals.

Sunday 12 June 2011

Arguments within Agreements

The first year that I was in an Agreement with Gian, our Agreement revolved around one thing: Self-Forgiveness. Most of our discussion ended up in misunderstanding, disagreements and fights.
When we’d both cool down and look at each person’s “side of the story” – we could see where the other was coming from and “where it all went wrong”. It’s amazing how assumptions, opinions and ideas can create this whole “alternate universe” right then and there as your having a conversation with your partner – and your partner is also participating in his or her own “alternate universe” and none of the two are actually participating in the only universe that matters, the physical one right here.Argueee
So the first year (more year and a half) – we applied Self-Forgiveness, a lot of it. This was exactly because of these ‘alternate realties’ we’d create inside ourselves and then project unto the other person. Only after we went through this phase – the deconstruction phase – we were able to actually start communicating and hearing each other. And the Self-Forgiveness we did, was never about the other person – we’d simply each time take the point back to ourselves, apply Self-Forgiveness and then that’s that.

In the beginning we were very easily tempted to “point out each other’s dishonesties” and to “stand up” (well play out an ‘idea’ of what it means to “stand up”) but then all we’d do was point fingers at each other, get angry / hurt and not get one foot further. See, in the initial stage of an Agreement, there’s just no way that you can immediately effectively assist the other by “pointing things out” because you’ve got so much shit of yourself that is filtering and moulding your perception of the other – that you never get a clear picture of what is actually going on – and that most likely, your just projecting your own shit. So once you realise this point – you’re ready to get somewhere lol.
 
Before I was in the Agreement I am currently in with Gian, I thought that I was pretty stable and was easily able to assist myself in terms of dealing with my inner world. Because of that, I had created an idea about myself that “I was pretty stable” and that thus the Agreement should go pretty smooth. Boy, was I wrong! LOL – all those ‘issues’ and ‘points’ that I had worked through in my Process while walking ‘alone’ suddenly looked very bleak and small compared to what I was facing within the Agreement. Sometimes it looked like the end just wouldn’t come in sight and every day was just a struggle within myself to get through the day without getting each other all agitated. But whatever happened , we just stuck to the basics: breathe, forgive, don’t give up.
And then, one day it suddenly hit me: I’m not struggling anymore.
Our agreement was effortless.
So whenever you find yourself in an Argument with your Partner take note to a) Not take it personal (god, if you do this, you’ll make things very hard for yourself) and b) to realise – that mostly when you are having an Argument, YOU’RE BOTH WRONG!!!.
The moment you see /realize that you (and your partner) are wrong, you’ll find that it’s very easy to stop and give up the argument because you’re not fighting to be proven right = there’s suddenly nothing to win and then all of a sudden your actual starting point within the fight will be clear for both parties to investigate (mostly just ‘I am right, you are wrong, lemme steal your energy so I can feel goooooood).

Ok that’s it for now.