11:02 a.m. - 2008-04-01
Piled Higher and Deeper
Ask any academic what the abbreviations BS, MS, and PhD stand for, than they will readily tell you: bullshit, more shit, and piled higher and deeper. Compliments of my new puppy babies and the news, I’ve had a lot of shit on my mind lately.

I have two new puppies, so my life right now is too filled with puppy poop; that and the sleep-deprivation make me wax philosophical at times, typically when I would much prefer to be sleeping but have been awakened by the wimpering of said little poopers, so here we go, the Tao of Puppy Poop... Sometimes there's a little poop, sometimes there's a lot of poop, but there's always poop, and once in a while, you're bound to step in it barefooted in the middle of the night. When you’re cleaning up the yard, even if you're certain you've checked to make sure there aren't any piles lurking under the grapefruit tree or behind the AC unit, when you’ve searched the house, just to make sure there aren’t any presents festering behind the sofa, by the time you get to the trash can with the bag, have no doubt, there will be more poop somewhere. Either you missed some, in spite of quadruple checking, or, if not, the little darlings are happy to make more in the time it takes you to travel from the backyard to the garage to dispose of it and back again. Thus, the only possibility of perfection (in this case, a poop-free yard!) is through the imperfection of accepting that there will always be puppy poop, and the only way to avoid it is no not have puppies at all, which is just terribly sad.

On a different shit-related note, I’m vegetarian, and pretty strict at that. I used to be vegan but have started eating some dairy again, though I’d like to get back to veganism. As it is, I still don’t eat eggs, don’t wear leather/fur/wool/silk/etc, and, when I do eat dairy, it’s organic and can’t have gelatin or animal rennet in it. Consequently, it really pisses me off (guess this is the excrement entry!) that I am exposed to animal shit born illnesses because of contaminated vegetables and fruit. Spinach and cantaloupe should not contain e-coli or salmonella! I am very conscious of where my food comes from, and I try to eat as locally and as organically as possible. I put very few animal products in my body. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, and food doesn’t seem safe unless you grow it yourself.

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and other books, says that gardening and cooking have become subversive acts in this society, and I hadn’t really thought about it, but heck yeah, they have! It’s become an act of rebelliousness to try to feed yourself and your family healthy, natural food. While I don’t grow my own food (besides the grapefruits on the puppies’ tree), I do cook, and I’d love to have more fruit trees and a garden when I’m living somewhere I actually plan to stay for a few years. In the meantime, I’m gonna go eat a nice, juicy organic orange from my friend Sage’s tree. Viva la revoluccion!

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