I've been away..Thank you Ady and Louie for bringing me back

I got discouraged and just too emotional over the whole Taiji situation so I had to take a step back. I've taken a month away. And I have to admit it did not help. My heart still aches for these amazing creatures.

Last night I saw The Cove again. Ady Gil, who is a very dear friend of mine, hosted it at his private theater. Ady is involved in Eyes on Taiji with Michael Dalton and a small group of individuals in Taiji right now. Over Thanksgiving I was talking with Ady and told him I wanted to help in some way so we thought of ideas to raise money. I suggested a screening of The Cove and to see if he could get either Louie Psihoyos, the director, or Ric O'Barry or even Lincoln to speak as a special guest. He was able to get Louie. I don't put people on a pedestal. I don't do the whole celebrity freak out thing, (I was next to Taylor Lautner at the People's Choice awards and kept my cool) but I have to say there is something about being around people who actually try to make a difference in our world. There was this sort of feeling that came over me last night and I snapped out of my funk. I needed that.

The most powerful part of The Cove for me is at the very end when Ric is walking through the IWC with the monitor on his chest. I have to admit I am tearing up right now just thinking about that scene. If ever a movie moved me in any way, that scene, that maybe two minute scene was the most powerful scene, it is the #1 best scene I've ever seen in a movie. Sorry for that weird possible, run on sentence. I'm a bit choked up. I pray to God that this stops in Ric's lifetime. He makes a comment about that in the movie. I even see the tears in his eyes during a few scenes. And I just want to reach out and hug him. Hopefully I get to meet Ric. Scrap that, I WILL meet Ric. Someway. Ideas??

We need to work together. We need to stop this horrible slaughter. It doesn't matter what group you belong to. It doesn't matter if you are Sea Shepherd, Eyes on Taiji, Blackfish or SaveJapanDolphins..we need to work together. I support all of the groups above. All of this fighting and outting each other on Facebook is very, in a simple word, stupid. Don't for one second think that Japanese people involved in Taiji or the Japanese government isn't watching the arguing going on on Facebook or blogs or whatever else. We all learned that during the Paul and Pete thing. They even went as far as to offer him a fake job or some shit like that. Bottom line it was a real mess. I can't tell people what to write on their personal Facebook pages or blogs. But I will tell you, as one of the few thousand, possibly million that read your pages and blogs, it hurts more than help the cause. Think about that next time you take the drama public..

Taiji maybe next year

I think yesterday I came to the realization that I won't be going to Taiji in January. I can not afford it on my own and I'm not raising enough donations. I know I still have almost 2 months to go but I'm afraid I won't raise more than the $200 that I've already raised.

I appreciate those that have donated and I will continue to try to raise more.

Through this whole deal of getting involved with trying to save animals, I've met a lot of people. I've dealt with a lot of egos and I've wondered why people claim to care but won't do anything other than put information out on Facebook. I'm not an armchair activist. I don't hang onto other people's work and then put information out there as if I've done all the work. I don't feel good copying and pasting the same information over and over. I do like when I call the consulate and get hung up on when I say my name. That is pretty cool.

I'm a doer. I'm really all about being on the front and getting things accomplished. I want to roll my sleeves up and get dirty. But it looks like Taiji will have to wait. At least this time.

World Wide Anti-Whaling Day, 5 Nov 2010

Well well..it's been a few days, almost a week since we had our AMAZING event world wide. I feel like a slug that I have not blogged about it. I've been so emotional with the event being over and then the dolphin slaughter. To hear that babies were slaughtered gets me right in my squeanie. And I don't know what that is but I imagine it's deeper than my guts.

At the LA event we had an amazing turn out. I think I counted 78 at one time. We had quite a turn out of familiar faces. My dear, sweet, kick ass friend Ady Gil came. Ady has such a giant heart. I feel extremely blessed to have him in my life. I'm going to invite him over to my condo. I hope he comes.

Then we had 2 Sea Shepherds. I have to say that was a surprise to me since it came out of nowhere. There had been no indication at all that they were going to be there. They showed up to several events. Shannon Mann showed up and let me tell you something...that woman is BEAUTIFUL! I don't know if she had make up on but she doesn't need it. Of all things I could ask her, I was a bafoon and asked her about showering on campaign! REALLY! I mean, us girls think about that type of stuff. Especially during thaaaaaaaaaaaat time of the month..ahem..moving on.. We also had the rockstar at ours. hehe We had Laurens De Groot. Let me say ladies, if you havent had the pleasure of looking into this man's eyes..well, I'll just say-he's got pretty eyes. I resisted the urge to touch the pretty..actually I take that back. I did touch the pretty but only on his back. I didn't want to go all fan girl on him. But if I can find out what his mailing address is, I think an electric blue thong is going in the mail!

Enjoy some pics from the protest below...

Why do I want to go to Taiji?

"Why do you want to go to Taiji"?

I had a woman ask me that yesterday. And it got me thinking about why I really want to go. It's no secret that we are all fans of the movie The Cove. Flipper was seriously my favorite TV show besides Rainbow Brite when I was a child. I thank Ric O'Barry and his entire crew for bringing to my attention about Taiji. I never knew anything about the dolphin slaughter and I was very ignorant to where dolphins came from. I just never thought about it.

I'm not a celebrity. I'm a Navy veteran, mom of 2 boys and a college student. I don't have thousands of dollars to travel all over the world. I don't have a fanbase large enough to put comments out on Facebook and instantly receive hundreds of comments in minutes. I don't reach many people. But my heart is in Taiji. My heart aches for those mommies and babies that will forever be torn apart by death. My heart aches for the dads that will die trying to fight for their families. I look into my sons' eyes and try to imagine the impact it would have on them if we were to forever be ripped apart and them to live a life of captivity. Or worse, what would their mental capacity be like if they were to see me speared and cut up right in front of them.

I took my son to the WWAWD protest in LA. I was the organizer for the LA protest and he wanted to come with me. I was so proud to watch him stand there and chant to stop killing whales and dolphins. He held his signs up high and he walked around with them. He talked to so many people that day and the poor guy was so exhausted, he was asleep before I hit the freeway. The next morning I was looking through the photos from the different cities around the world and I saw two of his pictures. I immediately started to cry. We had reached so many people yet the dolphin drive continued that day in Taiji. I saw several pictures of the killing barge and the men sitting on there eating lunch while dead dolphins and guts lay just a few feet away. I watched a video of the trainers in the water and watched one of them elbow a dolphin in the face. These people are supposed to love these creatures? I will tell you what love is. Love is putting your life on hold for a couple of weeks to travel to the other side of the world to witness something that most people shy away from. Love is to stand with others to try to stop a horrific event. Love is sitting down with your children and telling them there might not be a Christmas this year because mommy needs to save all of the money she can to try to stop the killing of our beautiful dolphins. And lastly, love is when your five year old looks you in the eyes and says "It's ok mommy, I don't need presents this year. Please stop the fishermen from killing the dolphins before I get a chance to see them again. And please bring me back a toy".

WORLD WIDE ANTI WHALING DAY!!!!!

This is the speech that I wrote for today..hope you like it!

• Today, residents of Southern California, ask you Japan, to cease whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary! We ask you to stop the inhumane and cruel killing of Earth’s majestic creatures. Your murder of humpbacks and finback whales, both endangered species, is an atrocity and you should be ashamed of yourselves. We DEMAND you to stop!
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• Your disguise of whaling for research purposes is widely speculated to be false and we ask that you publish your research to prove your reasons for whaling. Until then, we will maintain you are whaling commercially and you are breaking the global moratorium of 1986 and the 1994 moratorium in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
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• Whaling has no place in the world today. You ask us to respect your culture but you cannot respect the world’s oceans. You do not own the oceans so stop acting like you do! We will be here every year Japan as long as whaling continues.
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• Today, November 5, 2010, in 57 cities worldwide, we demand you to stop whaling!endangered species is an atrocity and you should be ashamed of yourselves. We DEMAND you stop! 
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• Your disguise of whaling for research purposes is widely speculated to be false and we ask that you publish your research to prove your reasons for whaling. Until then, we will maintain you are whaling commercially and you are breaking the global moratorium of 1986 and the 1994 moratorium in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Remember, it’s not research when it shows up in Japanese fish markets![Soft Break]Whaling has no place in the world today. You do not own the oceans so stop acting like you do! We will be here every year Japan as long as whaling continues.
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• Today, November 5, 2010, we demand you to stop whaling!

WWAWD Eve

You know that feeling you get on Christmas Eve? That over excitement and hurry up feeling? I so don't have that feeling right now. More like nervous and anxious. But so freaking happy at the same time! Maybe I need a zanex. Or a a shot of rum. Or both.

In a little over 12 hours I will lead a demonstration in front of the Japanese consulate in LA and I'm excited. It's been a long 5 months. I got involved back in July when it was still pretty new and not many cities. But now we are over 50 cities. I've met a lot of really awesome people and made a lot of connections. I even hung out with Pete Bethune for a couple of hours! And we were sober! LOL

It's great to meet so many people who have the same views as you do. I didn't realize that many people cared about anti whaling and dolphin killing.  The world needs more people like that.

Can't wait to meet you all tomorrow!!

Clean The Oceans For Lily

Gray whales are my favorite whales. They are so haunting looking and so beautiful and I just want to swim with them.

In April of this year, San Diego had a whale swim into the bay. It wasn't here for very long at all. If you blinked, you missed it. In May a baby gray whale died in Dana Point, CA. At first the whale was thought to be a male but was a female and she was named Lily. She had become entangled in 30ft of fishing nets and lost her pod. Part of the net was in her mouth. She died after a five day struggle.

Jacinda Smith is the creator of the Clean the Oceans For Lily group. They are dedicated to ridding the oceans of the unwanted, free floating fishing nets that are no longer used. Tonight they will hold their first annual dinner party and you are invited!!

What A Dish Restaurant, http://www.whatadishoc.com/  Location What A Dish 24921 Dana Point Harbor Drive Dana Point, CA 92629 (949) 276-4884

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151844208169318&index=1