Sketchy Model-Apartments and Plans for MN

Saturday night...1am

I've been staying up really late these days. Usually around 4-5 in the morning...waking up around 10-11. I need more natural sunlight on my face when I wake up, because it really makes such a difference as far as alertness and feeling so much more awake. I have a loft in my bedroom but Ive been choosing to sleep underneath because I dont like having to go down and then back up on a damn ladder when I have to use to restroom at 4am. So I got a sleeping pad and my sleeping bag with blankets and its the best thing ever. It feels so much better for the back, and it just saves so much space.

I wont name names but I have some wise friends who tipped me off to it and when you start out as a model in Europe and even in New York you sometimes have to sleep on the floor. I have some really good stories that I'll have to write about sometime later on.

Milan would be the worst. The Celebrity One Apartments for those who know. Basically like a two bedroom apt with nothing on the walls, 3-5 people in a room, white tile floors, white walls. Very institutional. Milan really sucks. However the mice in the Paris Agency apartment were the worst. They would actually wake me up at night when they would run around under my bed. So horrible...


Something else Ive been working on - here is my rough draft layout for the possible MN plan...

All the trees and berry bushes and grape vines would come to $400.
In 3-4 years they would all be producing pretty well if the soil and sun are good.

You are looking at it as if you were the sun. It faces directly south. Trees completely surround the area. Square-shaped things are square-foot garden. Again...just a rough sketch...

We could go solar. I feel like I could honestly go without power if I had to (and if I was prepared to keep myself warm in the winter of course). One could use a wood or corn-burning stove in the winter (if youre even there in the winter) and when it gets dark in the summer, you sit by the fire outside or in the hottub, and then go to bed. No need for TV or lights. We could just use candles and flashlights, but I would just prefer most of our activity to go on in the day, and then just go to bed earlier like 10, and then wake up at 4 or 5am. Very much unlike now, when I am going to bed around 4 or 5am.

The Garden is Coming Along Nicely...

3 weeks, and they are doing far better than I expected.

We are adding on as well. Just put in about 25 more plants in a 2x3 area to the right of it.

Remember, this is what they looked like when they were first planted:


If I were trying to feed myself completely with what I grew, I'm thinking that I would need about 3-4 of these...constantly in different rotations. Its totally possible though.

Try and dedicate one week to eating as much local food as you can. Apples, peaches, plums, pears...and there are still lots of good local greens for sale. Actually soon will be the best time for soft-sweet kale varieties and snappy arugula. This would also be a good time to try and go raw for one week by just eating as much local fruits and veggies as you want.

In the garden, the collards are doing very well, and they are great for making veggie rolls and burrito wraps. They are actually sweeter after the first frost. Keep that in mind for next year...there are many good late season crops that can be put in after you pull tomatoes and all your other summer crops. Don"t break the rotation!

And everyone please check out the new poll! I just added this feature so it would be great if you could do it just so I can estimate how many people see this site. I dont know how to put a counter on yet.

Alright...more to come soon

Crossroads

Do We Control Our Ideas or do They Control Us?

Honestly, these days I'm just not feeling it. I'm tired of being in New York at this point. Its been just about three years now, and I need something new. I'm also far away from my family and most of my friends, and my girlfriend is even further away in Hong Kong.

How did I get into this? Well, when I came here initially, I had only been working for a year in Europe, and I was excited to work back in the States for a while. I was also single, so there was no one to feel apart from. Work is still good, but its not good enough to sacrifice my ideals and frankly my happiness at this point. WORK IN NY...SAVE LOTS OF MONEY...BUILD HOUSE IN WOODSTOCK...THEN TRAVEL....repeat that a billion times. Was this idea controlling me?

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to stay here well into winter though and just try and squeeze out as much $$$ as I can before taking my next journey. I'm so settled in now, and Ive only been here since May. I hate moving around.

There is just so much out there! And seriously...a good deal of it is really affordable and so exciting. You dont end up staying somewhere for $100 or even $50 a night. You wouldnt believe how cheap lodging is in some of these countries. And with the WWOOF Program (www.wwoof.org) the possibilities are REALLY endless.

I want fresh air. Hell, I feel bad for large and even medium-sized dogs in the city...(you know what I mean...no where to really run around and do what dogs naturally do)...well how about feeling sorry for the HUMAN that's stuck in the city? This is all something very new to us as well. When you really step back and look at the whole picture, you will realize that life in this modern system is a completely new way of life on this planet. Civilization is NOT the norm...


http://www.yurts.com/default.aspx

Check this out. Im thinking about putting one of these on 2-3 acres and planting fruit trees and having big veg gardens and solar panels. A really nice one costs about $11,000 and then you can use your extra $$$ for traveling in the winter (although these things are very livable in cold climates...they were developed in Mongolia).

So, live in a yurt for 4-6 months a year, then travel on a frugal, yet exciting itinerary during the off season. A person could even rent them out to travelers who want to experience luxury camping. It could be really easy income.

If 20 people were to join together and split the cost of 20 acres, and then each bought a yurt, they could be living without mortgage and possibly food and electric bills for the rest of their life if they choose.

We have to do what makes us happy. Many of us cannot do that activity full-time or even part-time because we are stuck spending our productive time on what makes us money. If we can decrease our monthly expenses, we can decrease the hours of work needed to pay off the debt. That leaves more time for creation and playing, and that could be the whole idea about why we are here.

So for those of us that still have to trade our hours to pay for what we spend our money on, let us try to realize happiness in other things besides material wealth and in doing so reduce our required working hours. However, I have to fully support the idea of serious work coupled with low-luxury living for at least 3-5 years in order to save up enough to make a down payment on land and your house (or shelter...like a yurt).

A single person could devote 5 years to working around 12 hours a day, saving up and planning for the future. If they live simply, there is no reason they couldnt have $100,000 by the end of 5 years. This can still buy quite a good deal of land in rural areas even in the US and it can surely purchase you a yurt and enough money to set up a very productive permaculture system.

Lets keep working towards our liberation from bad debt and the lure of materialism.

Oh...and the pic on top? I was a bartender at an event where they were decorating with wheatgrass trays. They were going to throw so many away...but I was able to get all of these in one big carboard box and get it on the subway and carry it home. I really earned those...crazy kid. That was about two years ago.

Talk soon...feel free to comment! I love to read them!

Latest thoughts - Clothes, Philantropy, and Meetup.com

Volcano Apple - Random (?) Beauty in Nature

Note: The Youtube videos that are available on the blog are a little random. To add vids you have to type in keywords, and then what becomes available is what you have on your site. The one that you specifically want will be there, but a few others will as well.


So let's get started.

First off, a thought about new construction in the US and around the World. Couldn't there be some kind of public support for the idea that all new building construction must have energy harvesting equipment installed like solar or wind, and must be created LEED certified? (LEED stands for The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership_in_Energy_and_Environmental_Design

No more building in the old style. If its not sustainable, you dont get a building permit. A Grey-water system, Rainwater Storage Units, along with a greenhouse and garden spaces. This should be standard protocol by now.

For me, this isn't even about not making any more of a negative environmental impact, its more about self-sufficiency and survival. Not coincidentally, it completely aligns with being conscious about the environment, but now its for survival in the 21st century. If the grid goes out in August, and chaos is starting to break out, at least you would have refrigeration and would be able to feed yourself. We can't expect that someone is always going to ship our food to us and keep us warm in the winter. No more dependence on foreign countries for energy.

Think of all these developments that would be created or refurbished with full solar, and with fruit trees and fully edible landscapes...that would SELL, and sell quick. This is what the celebrities should be doing with their money. Not even building new places but coming in and outfitting a whole (previously built) development. Check out Permaculture on Wikipedia or Google.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

It gives an individual more independence against the fossil-fueled life.
We have to start thinking about this more critically. Food prices, commuting and heating prices, transportation. The less we have to spend, the less we have to work at jobs that we don't completely love, and the more time we have to chase our dreams and make this a better place to live and have some REAL fun.

I think there is strength in numbers. If groups can get together and support one another, while helping each other to become more sustainable and informed, we can make huge progress as individuals and social groups.
www.meetup.com

I really think this is the best website to meet people interested in the same activities as yourself. I was blown away by the number of groups out there. Search by zipcode.

http://www.chelseapiers.com/fhGym.htm

I'm also thinking about doing this - Beginner Gymnastics Class. A 10 class pass is $190, and that includes instructors. I used to do flips on the trampoline back in high school. Some of my best high school memories involve all of us bouncing around for hours and just hanging out. Really fun.

One thing that Ive always wanted to learn was a standing backflip. I could stand on the edge of the trampoline and land on my feet in the middle of the circle, but there was always this mental block about standing on firm ground. Maybe with spotting and advice on technique I can finally get it.

New Topic...Clothing - Don't we all have enough to go around at this point? Why are they still making more of it? I have so many old clothes in my closet from back in college and my teens, and I havent really purchased a new item in over a year.

I have good clothes from jobs that I've done over the past few years, and I still wear alot of t-shirts when I'm at home and running errands. The idea of continuously dropping money on more and more outfits just doesn't register with me. And please, don't take this as any offense if you like to dress well and like to go shopping alot. Its totallyyour choice. and you probably dress way sharper than I do. I used to do it alot and it was fine for me at the time, and we should all decide for ourselves.

I'm just trying to give voice to the other side of thinking. In the end, it can be trivial. Perhaps an alternative is reusing fabrics and using chemical-free materials. My girlfriend is in the fashion-design industry, and I do respect the artistry and the unfathomable level of skill that is required to create these pieces. I'm more about questioning the non-stop buying of it. We can support those artists and still not have to purchase many more pieces of clothing at this point. And it's also like we can't buy stuff that still looks great but is previously worn. There is just so much out there, I just cant see the point of spending so much on new clothes all the time. Again, take it for what its worth.

Here's a real head scratcher for me...People that buy the $500,000 cars, the 20 Million dollar mansions...you know...the people we are told that we should be aspiring to be. These people could be remembered at great heroes in our society. Instead they settle for a huge consolation prize called "celebrity". They could buy orchards and feed people, develop better transportation between cities and towns, and helping to make the US more energy independent. They could LITERALLY keep people alive.

The could be feeding people. How many Bengali lives are worth a Ferrari?

Instead they spend money on furs, jewels, and cars. When is enough, enough? What is sufficient? Please tell me. Why not a cool Mini Cooper for what...30K? And that's still alot of money. How can we admire such blatant arrogance? Puff Daddy is brainwashing many young people into thinking the goal of life is to have 24" rims and diamonds all over their hands and around their neck. Any of them. At the core of the issue, they are undermining true progress in the black community. Playing a large role in the brainwashing of young people, so that they focus on material wealth and usually hollow sex.


I for one, am not impressed. Why doesn't someone mention this? I cannot be the first.



More to come really soon...

Making the Transition

The Fundamentals for Getting Started

The Above Pics were taken 1 month apart. Raw food and exercise every day. Simple.

When I got pinched with the golfing bug when I was sixteen (this lasted an entire two weeks)...I went into it pretty enthusiastic, and when I realized that I couldn't destroy every ball I hit, I soon became tired of it and moved on. Im led to believe that this is common with alot of things in life. If we don't show promise right away, or aren't motivated in some way to keep on improving, interest wanes and something else will take our focus.

Now, I have to believe through my own experience that changing your diet and lifestyle overall is comparable. I've heard of some people like Matt Monarch who said that they went from junk food to 100% raw overnight. Well...I have to admire that (if its true) but please know that this is very, VERY unlikely. Unless you had a personal raw chef pumping out the best meals ever for you every day, you are going to go back and forth for quite a while. These are deeply embedded habits built up over decades. It would be like trying to quit smoking while EVERYONE else you know is still smoking all the time and doesnt see anything wrong with doing so.

So start slow. A big component of the diet is to get fresh fruit for breakfast. A BIG fruit salad. Whatever it takes to fill you up. Remember, there is lots of fiber in here, so the sugar will be released more slowly into your system compared to drinking fiber-stripped juice. So eat an entire cantaloupe for breakfast, have 5 oranges if you feel like you need it...whatever. Get that habit in place first. Its often the easiest. If youre still hooked on pancakes and eggs, save it for later. Just start that day out right with lots of fresh fruit.

We all have habits, good or bad. Most of us hopefully brush our teeth twice a day. So why not make sure that we have a big salad or a green smoothie once a day?

2 Apples or Pears,

2 big handfuls of Spinach

A pinch or two or three of cinnamon

Its basically like green applesauce, except that your eating a salad at the same time. Try this out. Even if its still chunky...throw in some raisins and/or walnuts and eat it like soup. You'll be surprised.

I do alot of this kind of stuff. Its just easier. Food is fun to make, but when youre busy, making blended meals is just so easier on time and on the digestive system as well.

Living the G(reen)ood life Pt. 3 is next! Clothing, hypocrisy, and the rise of the neo-green philosophy...

Why I eat raw

It just seems so obvious after a while

All you have to do is be raw for 2 weeks..with no cheating and ALOT of greens, and you will feel the difference. You will know whats possible, and you will be striving for that feeling...possibly for the rest of your life. I was raw while doing green smoothies and two weeks later I was COMPLETELY alert and awake 20 hours a day. When you wake up at 5am wondering what to do because you have so much extra energy, you will realize that being raw is going back to the diet we were designed for. The diet that every other wild animal in nature eats. RAW FOOD that is natural and BEST for our digestive system and our bodies overall. Grown without chemicals and pesticides and all that horrible stuff. We deserve better, we deserve best. And frankly, we owe it to each other at this point to reach our full potential.

When you look at human anatomy it is quite clear that eating meat is a very recent occurrence in our history. The scientific community is in strong agreement that our diet consisted of green leaves and fruit, with some small sources of fat - for 99% of our history here on Earth. Our bodies are not designed for meat or cooked food. Look at the muscles of a gorilla. What do they eat? Wild fruit and leaves and roots. Think about this. This diet is not rabbit food, its gorilla food.

These styles of eating are new in the whole span of our time on this planet. We need to go back and re-examine WHY we eat the things we do, and where these meals are coming from. What is REALLY in them? And, this question...WHY are we the only animals that cook (destroy by fire) our food? When you experience the feeling, this "raw food high", its quite likely that you will realize that THIS is where its at. That there really is something about this way of life.

Of course it can be tough at first...we have DEEPLY established eating habits, and since we did it well over three times a day, every day of our life, pretty much since we were one or two...it may take a while to change.

You just have to embrace that, because I never experienced addiction before and its was something to eventually overcome (after many memorable failures). Even when you knows its bad (for you...maybe not in taste ;) ), the cravings are still so strong, and basically everyone else is still eating what you used to, so its so easy to join in again.

Its hard to be social sometimes...I have to admit. People like to go out to eat, and even though most might make an exception, there are those that would worry about losing that ultra-alert & totally ecstatic feeling thats experienced after a while in this lifestyle. Deep breathing and walking every day helped alot for me as well. The brain just feels so alive and alert and focused.

Thats why I eat raw, with lots of greens and superfoods. There is a strong change, and its worth experiencing.

Good luck everyone...and by the way the garden is doing really well. I give the tap water a pinch of celtic sea salt and some kelp additive, and they are just charging 100%. It really about the good soil, and simply being with them and paying attention to them and having fun with it. I have to pick off bugs underneath their leaves sometimes, but I feel like I'm helping them, so I have no problem with it at all.

"oh, i think that rawmodel guy is going crazy...i read he talks to plants or something..."

Take care everyone..spread the word if you can!

Living the G(reen)ood Life Pt. 2

Green it up...

Here I am picking wild plums in Minnesota. My girlfriend and I ended up picking about 10lbs worth, but what I have in my pouch here alone would cost about $15 at the farmer's market. Actually, Ive never even seen this variety for sale. Ah, the wonders of wild foraging.

Nature truly is a buffet. You just have to know where to look. During the spring and summer you can harvest highly mineralized wild greens, and of course wild fruits like apples, berries, and these plums here. Its so fun, and its free food. Well...what about the birds? You should see how many of these plums go to waste, and the fruits that are out of reach feed everything else.

Once a week a person could go out and get a week's worth of goodies. I was even doing it in Central Park for a while. Mulberries, Juneberries, Apples, wild spinach and other greens...free of charge. Sure you have to pick them, but who's against picking free fruit? Come on!

Another way to REALLY go green? KILL YOUR CAR NOW. I know I know...this is the car culture, and because we are products of it we assume that life would pretty much be impossible without one or usually two cars or more per household, but step back and analyze for just a moment.

I do live in NYC, and I used the subway and bus system for $76 a month before getting my bike. Now I bike everywhere. Except when its REALLY raining, I'm always taking the bike. I have not owned a car since the end of 2003. Lets add it up...

Insurance.
Gasoline. (when I dropped out of the car system it was $1.70 and I was freaking out. I don't know how everyone still participates in this madness)
Maintenance. (tires, oil change, and all the other small (and not so small) repairs that are needed each year)
Car Payments. ( I always bought used and paid for it in cash, so this was never a problem for me, but I'm willing to bet that this is not too common these days)

What else...I'm sure there are lots more. Parking fees and fines, speeding tickets, plus the fact that you are spewing garbage into everyone else's air so you can get around town.

I added up my costs in 2003 and realized that I spent $6000 that year just on car expenses. Remember, I bought the thing in cash in 2001 and in 2003 I spent all that money on just upkeep and gas and whatever else. So since 2003 Ive probably saved at least $20,000.

Eating is a big part of the equation, but when it comes to the pocketbook, you have to look at the car. Add up all those expenses and ask yourself if there are any other possible ways to survive without it. Carpooling? Telecommuting? Getting a job closer to home? We are talking about serious money here, so why not brainstorm a little...saving your money and the earth?

If you were to give up the car for JUST two months, think of the bike you could buy with that money. You would really want to ride that bike because it would be such a high quality machine...fueled by your body, not black sludge pumped from terror-supporting countries.

Lenin said that the capitalist would sell you the rope that would hang him, but in this situation, we are BUYING the rope that will hang us. Giving money to these countries that fund terror and fouling up our atmosphere at the same time just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Long post...so more on clothing and gardening next time.

Use your money to liberate yourself, not to push you deeper into indebted servitude.

Rawmodel

Living the G(reen)ood Life

Green is the New Black

I really do hope that all this green hype isn't just some fad. At this point, I really doubt it because we are facing environmental challenges like never before. Also, now with the help of both technology and ancient wisdom, being green is easy, hip, and actually really cheap.

Here is my breakfast above - A fresh Cantaloupe Smoothie made from locally grown cantaloupe. I take off the outer skin with a carrot/potato peeler, then blend the flesh and the seeds in the blender until its silky smooth. The cantaloupe had some minor blemishes, so I was able to buy it for $1. Half of it went into this smoothie. I'm no math genius (by choice), but I'm pretty sure that is a 50 cent breakfast pictured right there.

We have to wake up about how much energy goes into making and shipping and cooking our food. We use more oil per person on food each year than we do for transportation. To me that is mind-boggling, but when you add it all up it really makes sense. Support local farmers either by joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, shopping at your local farmer's market, befriending a farmer if you live further out and buying directly from them, or best of all...GROW YOUR OWN. By far the best, and the most rewarding. My garden is two weeks old now and it is flourishing. Why? Good soil, and tender love and caring. I check them every day and make sure I take care of any little critters living under their leaves. Check it out...this is day 14:

Its a great hobby, it brings vibrant life into your existence, and provides you with the freshest organic vegetables and fruit possible. Right now there are 3 varieties of Kale, 2 Varieties of Winter Broccoli, Arugula, 2 Types of Collards, and a great strain of Lettuce that loves cold weather. Gardening is not just a spring-summer activity my friends...this can go ALL YEAR LONG. Start planting now! Its never too late!

I absolutely love it. The more I do it, the more I realize that I was meant to do this.

You know that feeling...when you are doing something that you love, you are totally focused on it...in the zone. Not thinking of anything else...completely in the now. That is the feeling I get. I cant wait to do more next spring. I can't recommend it enough, and probably everyone reading this has more space than I do.

More on the green life to come in part 2: Bicycles, Vintage Clothing, and more on gardening.

Keep it raw...one green smoothie a day plus lots of fruit and make a great salad for dinner. Two weeks of this and you will know....

Im powerwalking late at night these days as well, and it has made a huge difference. If you are in the Gramercy area and see some strange fellow powerwalking at 2am, it just might be me. Hell, of course its me. No one else is crazy enough to be out there at 2am. Keep an eye peeled.

Keep it real (exciting)

Rawmodel

Planning for the Future

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/


Lets all grow our own food.

Some of you might remember a post I did a while back about Peak Oil. Well...the research continues (which consists mostly of watching documentaries and looking at sites on the internet.)

The News my friends...is not good.

We must wake up and realize that our entire reality...everything we eat, wear, and use is based on CHEAP oil. Our very survival into the 21st century relies on this.

The food we eat was farmed with large machines running on oil. If we arent eating organic produce, the veggies and fruits we eat are sprayed with petrochemicals based from oil. The food is then driven by oil-powered trucks to our local grocery stores. We then drive our oil-powered vehicles to the store and then back home to eat our food. Before eating it though, we use machines both powered by and made out of oil...to cook our food. Are you getting the idea yet?

The clothing we wear is either made by machines powered on oil or made of out of oil directly. Again, shipped from across the globe by oil-powered ships and trucks.

This is all possible because for the past century, oil has been easy to find and pump, and it has been cheap....VERY cheap. You get something like 50,000 man hours of energy from just one barrel of oil. That is how compact and powerful fossil fuels are. And that is why civilization and the population of the earth has been able to grow, and pretty much explode to all corners of the planet.

But now, leading scientists (geologists, physicists) and also banking and investing insiders predict that the world supply of oil will PEAK in 2009 or 2010, if not already. After that peak, the supply will start going down...faster and faster as the demand keeps rising. Remember, China and India are importing more and more oil than ever before. Anyone who has taken a basic economics course knows that when supply goes down and demand stays high, Prices go UP UP UP. Do you think $3 a gallon is too much to handle? How about $9? Will it then be economically worth it to transport carrots from California or potatoes from Idaho? Will you be able to drive to your grocery store? Will you be able to feed yourself? Will your career even exist anymore?

One more interesting concept: When we first started pumping oil, we used one barrel of oil to harvest and process 500 barrels of oil. In 2005, it was 5 barrels of oil harvested for every barrel used to do all the work. When it reaches the 1 to 1 ratio...(THE PEAK) it will no longer be worth burning the processed oil already made in order to pump up any more. It won't make any sense to pump it up because we will be burning more fuel to get it that we will get back. Make sense????



We are living a life that is NOT SUSTAINABLE. It is based on a finite resource (oil) and the party is about to end. I would advise planting fruit trees and learning how to garden. Buying a nice bike isnt a bad idea either, along with a wood-burning oven and solar panels.

I want the world to be peaceful and life to be easy, don't get me wrong. But block out the daily distractions and pay attention for a second....we in the US are in for a DRASTIC change. Europe was constructed before oil was everywhere. They have compact cities with a good train system. We depend on cheap oil for everything, so what will happen to us? Life will continue for the family living in a village in Indonesia, but what about the family living in the McMansion outside of New York? How are they going to feed themselves? An interesting turn of events. Grocery stores will empty pretty quickly, I'm sure of that. Canned meat, anyone?

So I have now dedicated my time to studying about Permaculture (do a wikipedia search) and am going to pay for a solar system for my parents. I also want to plant more vegetable gardens in their backyard along with fruit trees. My dad eats alot of eggs, so maybe even put in a chicken coop so we can have fresh eggs for him everyday. The chickens eat bugs and kitchen scraps, and their manure fertilizes the fruit trees. That is what permaculture is all about...making all of it work together. Check out some videos about it on youtube if you're at all interested.

A person could live without electricity, but if we can, we should at least try and make the transition a little less painful. I am likely going to do an internship at the Solar Living Institute next fall, and plan to travel MUCH more before it becomes way too expensive because of rising fuel costs.

We have been living in a dream world for 100 years. Its time to wake up. Deal with Reality, or Reality with deal with YOU.

This is the greatest challenge our culture has faced because the enemy we are truly fighting is our current way of living. That is hard and painful to change, but I really doubt we have a choice anymore. Some probably think I'm crazy and paranoid, but they are too busy with school or work to pay attention to the world outside. I would advise everyone to at least look into this and judge for yourself. I'm just trying to bring the subject to the forefront.

Good luck...and travel travel travel. Forget the cars and fancy clothes and the houses...they are all false idols. Live the life worth writing about.

More to come...up next, my ideas about a 3 generational household and living a life without the major expenses of modern day society.

RawModel

Get back in the Game Rawmodel

The New Year has begun

Most people assume the new year starts in January. Maybe so, according to this calendar that some people made up a long time ago. But in reality, the year of our lives begins again in Sept. Late summer is the end of the work year. So in that frame of mind, lets start the new year off right.

I have to be honest with all of you. Rawmodel wasnt so raw the past couple of weeks. I was invited out to eat quite alot, and in order to not alienate myself and to just feel "normal" again in this crazy world, I gave in and had a pretty good time while I was at it.

In that aspect it was worth it, however, I did pay a price. My mind was slower, my sleep MUCH longer. When I was full raw with lots of greens, I was waking up fully energized after only 4 hours of sleep. Now, its about 8hrs, in late august it was around 10hrs. Can you believe that?

When you pollute your body cooked foods, it drains energy from you. Your body is busy breaking down everything, and it saps you of your vitality. I also felt mildly depressed too. Just sad and down for some reason...focusing on the bad things in life...very unlike me. After just 2 days of eating fresh melons and green juice, I felt really happy again, even smiling as I was walking down the street just because I felt so good.

So there is a give and take here. The optimal choice would be to create or join into social circles where raw food is the norm. And if for some reason you have to eat cooked food or even animal products, try and do it earlier in the day and balance it out with alot of green leaves. Your recovery will be much quicker. You want to enjoy life though, and if that means fitting in with your friends and family, then that is a choice you will have to make. I just feel SO alive and alert when I am full raw...I want every second to be like that, and I get mad when I feel like Im sacrificing my social life in order to keep that feeling. Wine is raw though...

I apologize for the absence of posts lately. If anyone is reading this...I assure you that its business as usual again and there will be posts at least twice a week.


Next post...my plans for the upcoming year, and my thoughts on the future of life in the good ol' USA.

Much Love

RawModel