meandering thoughts

Bleh. I'm fighting the post-imbibing blues today. I threw caution to the wind last night and spontaneously went out to a welcome back to school bar night. I don't really want to think much about my behaviour--I was the cynical girl who vaguely remembers punching several people on the arm really hard. Hopefully they'll forgive me. I think I should blame my dark 'tude last night on M.

M., a friend from school (or a "future colleague" as they encourage us to call each other) came over with a few other guys before we headed out last night. He was trying to push my buttons, and since I have so many big, protruding, flashing buttons to push I can't really blame him...I must look like a big jukebox with such selections as: "call my rabbits mittens and watch me flip out", or "compliment Stephen Harper's social values and hear me swear", or the one simply entitled "America".

M. told me that I was exploiting my dear dog and bunnies by keeping them as pets instead of satisfying their natural instincts to be wild and free (hopping through fields of sunflowers without a care in the world, presumeably). I first tried explaining the situations that each of them as individuals had been rescued from, and asked if he was suggesting they would rather be dropped off in a local park, or euthanized, instead of being safe and warm and loved in my house. He thought yes. He poked me again by restating that people shouldn't have pets at all. I counterstriked by saying that I could possibly agree with him one day (which will never arrive) when animals are respected as sentient beings with inherent value, rather than "property". At this point I was simmering--one of my "pet" peeves (haha) is when people choose to ignore existing problems by creating hypothetical platforms upon which they can feel just and righteous.

But today I'm wondering if keeping pets is a purely selfish desire then what of the desire to bring children into the world? I would argue that the main reasons people have kids include:
- creating little people in your own image
- wanting to have family to support you in your old age
- the pressure to conform to the 2 kids/dog/house in the suburbs lifestyle
- and finally, that pesky evolutionarily necessary drive to procreate

Perhaps this sounds distasteful. But what "gift of life" are you giving someone who doesn't exist? I'm happy to be here (albeit some days more than others) but I'm not idealistic enough to think that my life was initiated in my best interest.

As you can see, overindulging in the drink makes me melancholic.