Homecoming/ My New Business

Well everyone I am, once again, back in West Virginia. While I'm still not exactly thrilled to be here, so far I do feel okay about it. It's really good to see all of my family again, both the human and nonhuman members. Though I must admit, I do feel a bit like I left some family back in Acton as well. Everyone on the staff was wonderful and I am going to miss working with people who understand and share my values. It's hard to come back to a place where compassion is the exception and not the rule. I also got VERY attached to the animals there and, while I knew I was coming back here to be with the animals who are in my care, I couldn't help but feel a bit like I was abandoning the ones I had grown to love so much in California. Thank you so much to all of you for being so wonderful! I miss you all.

Despite the fact that I have always wanted to move somewhere else, I have realized that it just may not be feasible and West Virginia definitely does have it's good points. It truly is a beautiful state and one of the few that is still not completely overrun by the expansion of civilization. However, if I am going to live here, I am going to have to make some changes. I just can't go on feeling like my life has no meaning and I can't go on feeling like I am the only person here who cares about animal rights. I have to find some way to work toward something positive in my life. I have to find a way to make a difference no matter how difficult that may be in West Virginia.

I have so many things that I want to do in my life, so many dreams and ideas for making the world, or at least my little part of it, a better place. But I have to find a place to start. The one thing that bothers me most about living here is the knowledge that I am never going to find a job that I care about. As much as I would like to believe that someday I will be able to find a job doing something that relates to animal rights in some way, I just don't think that is realistic. Those kinds of jobs are few and far between in even the most open-minded of places. However, I am just not willing to accept the fact that I am going to have a miserable, worthless job for the rest of my life and always have to try to make time for the things I really care about on my days off. So I am going to do whatever I can to make a living doing something that is at least somewhat worthwhile.

As I said before, I have about a million ideas and I would love to do something with all of them at some point, but for now I just have to choose a starting point. My first step is going to be selling vegan/animal rights themed jewelry on Etsy. I know making jewelry with animals on it isn't exactly going to change the world, but at least it would allow me to do something I enjoy while spreading the message, and it will give me enough free time to do all of the things that are important to me.

For right now, I am starting out with just a few designs and if those sell I will make more. I would love to make more right now, but alas, I am too poor to buy more beads. If anyone has any recommendations or requests for things they would like to see please let me know. I can't promise that I will do all of them, but I will do my best.

Now that I am back I am also going to try to get back into this blog. I will try to keep you all updated on any new developments and let you know any time I have new jewelry designs. Thank you for reading :)

For those who are interested, my shop is here http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlyingPigsJewelry and you can find Flying Pigs Jewelry on facebook.