2014 dawns with MC Pony in da House!
Happy New Year! Let’s start with a little bit of fun… here is the first ever MC Pony music video – the live performance of “Pony in da House” at Sydney’s 2013 Cruelty Free Festival. After several years of having to say “sorry, there’s nothing up online yet” when people ask about MC Pony’s music, I can finally change my reply to “check this out!” 🙂
Well, for what it’s worth, welcome to 2014 – and surely New Year’s Day is as good a day as any to mark my return to this sadly neglected blog! Given that it’s been six whole months since the last time I put anything up, I’m considering renaming the blog portion of this website “sporadically updated postings”… but, what with it being a New Year and all, I’ve reset my resolution to post more regularly and so will be holding off on the name change for the moment. 😉
2014 is really going to be a fresh start for me in many ways. The most significant in terms of my day-to-day life is that I’m returning to being a student once again after seven years away from formal study. I guess it’s my version of the seven year itch, because prior to my Grad Dip Ed in 2006 it had been seven years since my undergraduate days. This time is going to be a little different as I’m working by correspondence, so will be doing it at my own pace and reliant upon my own discipline and time management. You can therefore probably guess what some of my other New Year’s Resolutions are!
Of course, the start of a new calendar year is a fairly arbitrary marker, and it’s entirely possible and even desirable to consider and set resolutions or goals at any point during the year if there is something you want to work towards. (Hint hint if you’re reading this on any day other than New Year’s Day!) But the date 1st January each year still has a lot of cultural meaning and resonance in terms of reflecting on the year just past and an examination of what we might wish to accomplish over the year ahead.
Should you happen to have a resolution to explore veganism further in 2014, there are several great resources available to help you along the way. Here are three to start you off – one each from Australia, the US and the UK, just for added variety!
VeganEasy
PCRM 21-Day Vegan Kickstart
Veganuary
In the interest of public accountability and stating my intentions for future posts, I have a series of 5 short videos about dairy that will be posted up later this month. [UPDATE: see http://veganthused.com/blog/7-video/49-launching-the-cheesy-moves-video-series.html !!] They were a collaboration with long-term vegan and activist “Rap Attack” and were filmed in Glebe – some feature the Cruelty Free Shop and the range of vegan/plant-based cheeses and milks available there. So, after six months of silence around these parts, there should be at least six Veganthused posts up within January alone. I’m celebrating with homemade vegan caramel almond popcorn. Yum!
May your 2014 be like this popcorn – sweet, vegan, and slightly nutty! Here’s to being Veganthusiastic over the year ahead – and beyond!
