Filling up the Calendar

Property of Stormberry

 I was thinking the other day about comfort zones and why on Earth would anyone willingly seek to abandon their comfort zone. Don't you want to live in a comfortable manner? It does rub me the wrong way when the phrase "comfort zone" is used to refer to a place of destructive, stagnant mediocrity. In my mind, a comfort zone is like that perfect spot in the couch or the sofa, where you like to curl up with a book to read, where the coffee table or the ant table is at that right angle for you to put your glass of wine, your cup of coffee, light a candle and put on a John Coltrane record.

I think that, if you are in a comfort zone, congratulations! A lot of people struggle to find a comfortable, livable life, so don't give up yours.

I am in my personal comfort zone, and I don't plan on leaving it.

However, in my confort zone there are also places that need work and organization. Part of my comfort zone is my studying, which currently is about working on my Master's thesis, so I'm working slowly and surely on that. I'm also trying to add some social activism, because in my comfort zone I also want to be able to do something for my community. Yes, that might not sound as "comfort zone" for some, BUT my concept of comfort zone is about feeling good, being able to relax and enjoy myself, and is not about being lazy. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't condemn being lazy, just as I don't celebrate hyper productivity. Allowing yourself spaces to enjoy laziness, and even have lazy days are something we all need. My comfort zone is about being happy, enjoying life and building a life where I can think that I actually succeed at this "life" thing (and I do!).

Next week starts with a holiday - May 1st, the International Workers' Day - and then I took Thursday off for a Thesis Day. I'll have a meeting with my tutor, so I'm really excited. And on Monday, if all goes well, I plan on joining the Workers' March in order to protest against a bill that would legalize 12 hour work days (12 effective work hours per day, where lunch and rest time won't be deducted from it) in the country. That's my activism, and I intend on seeking ways to get more involved in labour economics' activism.

Since I started my second YouTube Channel, planner and journaling videos have been a weekly task for me, but this weekend and the next are already covered, as I shot, uploaded and programmed the next videos. However, I already planned ideas for videos for the next weeks and up to September. I started already shooting some B-rolls and planning on how to do the rest.

At work I've also been pushing on my tasks and working to keep everything up to speed, and maybe even get ahead of some stuff. Just getting ready with everything. We are finishing April and I have still managed to keep a clean mail inbox, where the only three e-mails are about a seminar in two weeks, an in-person meeting next week and a notificatoion I keep as reminder that someone else has to finish something. And we are nearly in May!

Have I mentioned that we are in Mercury Retrograde?

I'm also amazed at how I have managed to keep my filofax "in line", with all the pages neatly fitting, passing the "ring test". I remove pages as needed, review what I have, what I need to take out, what needs to be included, and so I keep it manageable. I play in my mind with crazy ideas, such as buying a Filofax Heritage in Personal, just to try it out, but I seriously doubt that day will come (this year). I have also thought of getting a Personal Filofax Malden, but I must admit that I really dislike the leather penloops of the Malden's because they catch inside and the folded leather bunches up and makes it hard to use. Maybe I'm getting much into the "Planner+Journaling Content Creator"-mode there in that regard, or maybe my mind if flying ten thousand ways for some reason. Maybe I need to burn mind-energy. But be it as it may, I've been on a planner hype as of late, inspite of the Retrograde.

I write things down, I update my online calendars to make sure all my witchy rituals are in there, so I don't forget auspicious dates and so on, and they also get into my filofax, along with my cleaning schedule. And this is how I opened my filofax to check how my next week will look like, and Holy Mother of the Wenn, it looks full!

Should I take a page from the message of the Retrograde and go inside, introspect a little, retrieve into myself and stop filling my calendar to the brim? After all, in keeping my comfort zones, I also need to enjoy the peace and delight of them, of a life happy, relaxed and sans souci.

Discovering and Rediscovering

Though we agree that we can make the difference, that our stand does matter, more often than not we forget to act upon this believe. At the same time, where though we do have a stand, it's hard to balance our stand with the choices the world seem to offer. One of those for me is the activism against animal cruelty.

Testing on animals by performing things on them that you wouldn't do to your own kid or your own pet, isn't something I support, neither I support any sort of cruelty towards animals, and that includes the torturing of even the insects and rodents I don't like. Just because we are bigger and meaner, it doesn't give us the right to abuse of those we can subject to our will. However I'm not one to go vegan because I wouldn't have animals killed for my to eat, nor would I give up fur or leather for the same reason. I'd definitivelly avoid products that have been gotten through proved cruelty, but I won't pick a synthetic product over an organic one just because it's from animal origin. From the ecological point of view, I prefer organic products over synthetic ones, but I don't see the point in rejecting all animal origin products in order to avoid killing animals, because who said that the life of animals is more valuable than the life of plants? Just because they don't scream and make puppy eyes? I am a meat eater, but that doesn't make me less aware of animal cruelty, nor is this a contradiction. (I do tend to say that I like the meat of animals that scream when they are killed, but that doesn't mean that I like to eat tortured animals. It's just a way to describe the type of meats I like, but it has nothing to do with how much suffering I want into my tender loin or my baby ribs.)

However as not many see it this way, it was hard for me to approach international organizations or accept them fully because of the often hard line some take.

Recently, however, I've got more aware about cruelty-free products, particularly cosmetics, and since I sadly discovered that many of my beloved brands don't check out as cruelty free (L'Oreal, L'Occitane), I decided to go on cheking for brands that are cruelty free. It's not so easy, and though there are many companies listed at PETA's database, many of those are not available where I live. Then, as I was checking them, I started wondering about how hypoallergenic could they be. If they are not tested on animals, can they be "clinically tested"? How do they make sure it won't kick up my allergies?

Well, there are actually other ways to test products without harming animals in the name of cosmetics. Some of those include testing on volunteers, testing on patients (I'm not comfortable with that. Just because someone is sick or even terminal, it doesn't give others the right to use them as test subjects. Unless they agree, in which case they should be called volunteers. However, at the same time, hunger shouldn't be used to get test subjects and submit them to barbaric treatments. All tests should be human and well informed.), as well as test on human cells. PETA says that these tests are quicker and cheaper than animal testing, which for me doesn't make sense why would nearly all big companies choose then to continue testing on animals.

Though Oriflame hasn't been listed in this year's clear-out list, it hasn't been black listed, and this company is famous for its long commitment to cruelty free testing. Brands like Avon, Revlon, Esteé Lauder, Johnson&Johnson, Unilever, Gucci, Channel and Procter&Gamble are, however, black listed.

So, once again, I rediscoverd Oriflame. :-) But I think I'll have to say good-bye to L'Occitane... until they choose cruelty free testing. :-(

Another discovery of mine today was in an entirely different area. I RE-discovered bikinies! ^_^ I haven't worn a bikini in AGES, and I do mean, like maybe ten years or more. I stopped feeling comfortable in them, specially because of the environment that surrounds you in Costa Rica. Not like women there don't wear bikinies, but I still felt vulnerable in them, so for years I've stuck with my trusty black one piece swimsuit. I love my black swimsuit - don't get me wrong - but since I've gotten a bit more generous in the middle, and my thighs are also quite generous, I decided to go as generic and non-descriptive as possible, taking the safest looking swimsuit I could find. However, as I've been living here and breathing the safety, acceptance, tolerance and freedom present in Europe, I have ventured once again in the world of bikinies.

I decided that there's no point trying to hide my thights - why would I? and anyways, one piece swimsuits don't hide them anyways - so why would I hide my tummy? Or what? Only flat bellies are acceptable? So I walked into a Calzedonia, where I looked at the different tops and bottoms (they are sold separatelly, which makes it awesome for mixing, or getting different sizes that fit you better), starting with the discount section. I found a lot of fun pieces, including skull bikinies :-D. I grabbed up a bunch for trying out - more bottoms than tops - when I saw a new collection piece that basically imitated the American flag. I grabbed it, and in the end I ended up with only that one. I paid full price and I loved it. ^_^ It's reversible, so technically you've get four different ways to wear it.

I might try it out at the baths, when Trish and Phil come to visit, or maybe some other time, but definitivelly in Hungary (or Helsinki?). I'll see how I feel already wearing it, and if I like it, I might take it with me to Costa Rica. Who knows? Maybe my second Bikini-Era starts now, and I'll be able to enjoy all the possibilities bikinies give you with their choice to mix and match between tops and bottoms, giving you a wider arrange of options than what our trusty one-piece suits give us.

Activist Sunday

A new week has started with the announced changes. I've started my labor day at 05:52 hours, and will keep it up to 15:36 hours. Kind of feels like a blessing, though I can see around all those who choose the 06:00 hours schedule playing "The Lion", a.k.a., yawning wide. The change so far has gone pretty much unnoticed, and side from the few morning birds here and there, people still get mostly at 07:00 hours (though some have the 07:00 hours entrance and still make appearance at 08:00 hours, with an excused perfectly lined and pulled entirely from yesterday's True Blood episode), and the elevators... well they keep letting people pool at the doors, with their usual rudeness, skipping floors or getting stuck here and there. Silence is also more resonant now, for some reason, though I haven't figured out why is so.

To start this particular week, I had an amazing charge-up experience yesterday. I did activist work. Yep. There was a peaceful protest walk programmed by the Movement Against Open-Pit Gold Mining in Crucitas, a rural area of the provice of Alajuela in Costa Rica, carpeted with old-grown forest (or primary forest), which has been brutaly cut off endangering protected species such as  the  yellow almond tree, but also the Great Green Macaw. The mining is being sought both by the past Administration (Arias, 206-2010), and the Canadian Gold Mining enterprise, known here as Industrias Infinito. The community near which the Mine has been planted struggles with high levels of poverty and Government abandon. The mine offers them a solution to unemployment, though in the best of cases the created jobs would last only 10 years, after which the mine would pack up their belongings and leave a deforestated, poisoned land.

Though on first glance it seems like a good opportunity (bear with me and lets pretend it seems so), truth is that several things are off with the picture. Let's start with the fact that it isn't actually the job of a foreing company to build roads and give computers to schools (those that do not protest against the mine, of course), and procure jobs, but of the Government. I mean that's why the whole SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) programs and hedge funds have been created for, and that's why there's a Law and a Bank Ruling - managed by the BNCR and the BPDC -  in this regard. But then, okay, let's say we believe in the good and greatness of FDI (Foreing Direct Investment) and, yes, why not let a company go there and make jobs and help the population of the region out of the slums. Sure, but then, is a mine the only company willing to go there and do the job? When you could have hotels and other touristic and recreational businesses there, or agriculture oriented enterprises that would stay in the area for long, protect the nature and the endangered species and if they leave, they won't leave behind a poisoned footprint?

Here in Costa Rica there was already an attempt to do an Open-Pit gold mine in Miramar of Bellavista in the province of Puntarenas. Okay, in case we have forgot, I'd like to remind you that this type of mining uses cyanide to lixivate gold from the stones. Yes, cyanide, like that super-poison 007 has to take if he's compromised. That chemical that can kill a man in 30 seconds flat. You're dead before you hit the floor, and all that. The amount of a grain of rice can kill a man. In this project 80 million tons of cyanide will be used. The cyanide would be left in a pool, protected from the soil by a membrate. Top nitch technology keeps it from any accident happening. Yes, only that top-notch tech didn't keep the membrane from ripping in Miramar and lands and rivers around got poisoned.

In the protest of yesterday, Nicaraguan and Panamaian activists joined us (after being held up in the borders, as it was said they had no right to enter the country since they were going to partake in a protest and such a thing was forbidden to foreigners), and talking to them I learned that they had suffered the same misfortues and more. Farmers got sick and died due to chrome poisoning, but the company denied it. In Petaquillo, Panamá, a Canadian gold mining company's mine had also a rupture on the membrane holding the cyanide , poisoning the waters of ponds and rivers nearby. Fish turned up dead. The company said it was the local people who fished and then threw the unsold fish into the pond. Perhaps it would be important to notice that the local people fished in the sea, and sea fish are different from river and pond fish, and all the dead fish were river fishes.

It also happens that a Canadian company opened a mine in Rumania, at Transylvania, known as Rosia Montana. Disaster again as the membrane ripped and cyanide flood a valley. Left you the link if you wish to check.

So, in a world lashed by climate change, where forests are our way to survive, where eco-friendly sustainable solutions are sought, where the European Union forbids open-pit mining with cyanide, this country, claiming democracy, development and "peace with nature" tries to usher in an open-pit cyanide gold ming against the wishes of the 85% of the population, risking also crossborder ecological damage. All for a handful of jobs that might last 10 years, though Miramar's didn't, nor those in Panama, where the company closed leaving workers unpaid when the price of gold dropped, claiming there wasn't gold in the mine.

The walk was tiring, as I was up since 06:00 and the walk went from 07:00 to 11:30, but I feel happy and recharged about it. It was good to walk with others, share experiences and thoughts, feed on the words, hopes and wishes of those struggling with us, not giving up. It was heartwarming to see, to experience the support of people who came out to greet us, the drivers who slowed down and honked or rolled their windows down and cheered with us, bid us strenght and endurance, as their hearts walked with us.

I was humbled by the people who had walked for a week from the conflicted area of Crucitas, the village of Coopevega, where the Mine reings strong and bullies the population and bids them to bully the protesters, and yet they stayed strong and walked to save life and nature.

The movement wasn't all that big, and after living the massive protests against the CAFTA, this one seemed to me rather small, and yet, 85% of the population's hearts walked with us, and we felt that.

It was an amazing experience, even if after it my legs hurt like hell.

The Heart of Our Sister: Honduras

This is one of those few times where I'd wish my blog had many, many readers, so that my words would carry away and get stored in many hearts and many minds. Words that I may type, that I may compose, but that do not "belong to me", but to the world. Today I run around and scream desperately to anyone willing to hear me, tears in my eyes. Today, after desperation has frayed my sanity, I fall on my knees, close my eyes and pray, begging God that the inmense darkness around this cyberplace is filled with eyes around the world, and that the message finds receptive hearts. I don't need You to comment, I need you to be aware. Please, be aware!

Among the blogs I follow there's one I follow carefully, Sin Pelos en la Lengua, (With no hairs on the Tongue, which is a Spanish saying for talking honestly and directly), dedicated originally to point out and write about the reality going behind the DR-CAFTA, and calling people, back then, to vote and manifest against it. Last year they finally said Good-bye to us all and closed the site. As a blesing, realizing that the DR-CAFTA isn't the only injustice going on, and there's so much more to point out, they came back filling us with article after article about the many abuses our Government, our President and his "court" commit against the population, as well as abuse witnessed elsewere.

Currently in Costa Rica many things are happening that shouldn't be happening. The Ombudsman was politically imposed, making use of the Parliamentarian Mayority controled by the President, mocking every regular and legal procedure to eliminate perfectly capable candidates in order to give the position to a politician who received it as "consolation prize" for not getting the presidency of the Parliament. A politician who, while taking a position where she must defend the population, promises to be "impartial" (she's a defensor, not a judge!!), and refuses to hear the people rejecting her (instead of inviting them to dialogue and giving them and herself the chance to prove her worth), telling to the media that "No manifestation, no person will deter her from her position, she won't resign, and she will do a magnificent job".

The fight of the population to stop the President's determination to give a large portion of protected areas (Las Crucitas) to a Canadian mining company to mine gold, still goes on, with a President fond of blackmailing the poor, holding up funds and aid for their agreeing into the fatal poisoning of the whole country. Over 200 dangerous, poorly paid jobs for our landscape, our protected areas (upon which there are SIGNED international agreements of protection), for the health of thepopulation, adults and children alike, and the poisoning with cianure of extensive water supplies that feed this valuable liquid to over the 40% of Costa Rica, and an uncharted (at least as far as I know) portion of Nicaragua. Our sister country, Nicaragua has officially sent complains to Costa Rica, demanding the stopping of the mining project, for it also threatens their resources.

Then, inspite of promising in 2006 to the ILO that Costa Rica will reinforce job conditions, and protect the workers rights to Unions, unions and unionists are being persecuted, and those workers who try to orginize into a union are either mobbed or immediately fired. Meanwhile people have no one to turn to when they are being abused at their jobs. Abusive contracts are being put in practice, ilegal practices are set up, and nobody can complain. Cleaning ladies at big companies go up to six months working without payment, and then fired without ever seeing a dime.

Yes, Costa Rica has a delightful, colorful array of abuse that actually makes you smile when someone complains about how awful it is in their country, because a politician happened to have an affair with his secretary. I am of the believe that you must help yourself, your country first and then go looking to help those abroad. "Start at Home", that's my motto. As so, I'm seeking to be actively involved in the movement to stop the Gold Mining in Costa Rica. The job is hard, but the worst thing we can do is abandon the ship.

However, reading among the entries of Sin Pelos en la Lengua, I came across this one about Honduras.

The situation in this country goes beyond the Coup d'Etat, which many countries rushed to ignore are such, and touches the most sensitive parts of it: it's population. In this entry, and subsequent entries you can read about a nation kidnapped, terrorized where death squads are a daily thing, where Opposition Media is shut down with bullets, journalists killed, tortured, kidnapped from a taxi and beaten into a quivering pulp. 70 year-old grandmothers thrown into a dark cell, insulted, yelled at, tortured for once being part of the Resistencia.

A De Facto Government that smiles at the world and pretends that "now everything is dandy" while they continue abusing the population. Ingrid Betancourt times 7,6 million. Public lands to be given to poor farmers to work are taken back and given to powerful Estate Owners. No, everything is not "dandy", the Coup D'Etat continues, under the nose of the world, where powerful countries arm up and swear war to terrorism, and yet at their doorstep allow a gory form of endogenous terrorism where the terrorist is the Government itself.

Things are not right and we shouldn't close our eyes and pretend it is. Please, be aware. I'm not asking for money or a signature in a petition list, or stop buying Honduran goods. I'm pleading you to be aware. What you do with this information is up to you, either you contact a local Aid Program, or investigate, or simply file it on your mind... is your choice, but whatever you do, please, do not forget.