Return to things I'd like to learn;

I posted a list of things I'd like to learn, and now I know some of those things! So it's time for a new list. The stuff I now know is in italics. The new stuff is in green.

I would like to learn:
how to crochet
more about my family history
how to identify every plant in my yard
why i always lose my head when the tree turns into a gem display case (more on this later)
how to bake apple pies
how to grow the most delicious vegetables
what deer eat
a lot about the olympic national forest
how to fix the sewing machine from 1926 that my mom gave me
how to build my own house
how to raise animals to eat
how to train a dog real well (so i don't end up with a Miles to the umpteenth degree)
how to design patterns for clothing in my head
how to fix a drywall patch
what type of bird is hopping around my backyard right now (i see a sparrow, a robin, a stellar jay and a mysterious yellow one)
how to teleport
how to make time to paint
more about gabriel garcia marquez
how to be a better person
how long it takes to ride my bike to school
and other things...
how to maintain my future bike
how long it takes to ride my bike from Olympia to Ventura
how to run a farm
how long it takes to ride my bike to the lake
how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?
how to grow food year-round
how to make herbal medicine
how to play the banjo better
and other things...

Food, Bikes and other things;

One thing that I am damn near sick of hearing, is college kids saying they don't have money to buy good food. It's usually the case that people who claim they're broke are choosing to use their resources on other things. I hear people say, "I would buy organic, but I just can't afford it. I'm a college student." Well, most of you are at college because some kind person is helping you out. Be this your parents, a relative, a stranger, or the government, you're getting help from somewhere, and more often than not that help includes money for food. Or you have a job, and you're paying for food yourself. So really it's a matter of choice.
Choosing to spend food money on beer, or acid, or whatever you choose to do with yourself is very different from not being able to afford food. So I don't want to hear about how trashed you got this weekend and then see you in line at the food-bank. I don't want to hear that you live on ramen in order to buy new clothes every week.
And the reason I don't want to hear it, is because you're hurting so much. By supporting these companies you're hurting the local economy, your insulting the people that work hard to grow fresh, organic produce only miles from your home, and you're pumping bad stuff into your body. I guess if you're spending that money on alcohol or drugs, you probably don't really care what you're putting into your body, believe me your children will care, even if you never do.
But I guess it all boils down to priorities, and there isn't much you can do to change someone else's. I would think that Evergreen, which advertises itself as eco-friendly, and in a recent survey 96% of the school population said they were concerned with sustainability and the environment, at least that many people would be doing what they can.

Well, one rant down.

And now for another:
My car. She's a good car, has served me well, isn't a disaster, was inexpensive initially, and wasn't too much to maintain. My insurance. RIDICULOUS. It's criminal, what I get charged for being an unmarried 19 year old. The money I will save on insurance alone will pay for my new bike. And, I gave away the punchline. I'm selling my car to buy a bike. Which seems a little backwards to some of the people I've talked to, but makes perfect financial and ecological sense. I'm actually excited to get back into biking.
My (future) bike is pictured above. And boy does she ride sweet. I can only afford her after i sell my car, but with my insurance renewal fee plus monthly insurance plus gas equals a whole lot of money to deck out my bike.
Plus a little more money for good food. ;]