in one of my last posts, i promised future details about exciting news soon to come concerning my books. this news is a bit delayed, but it will still be forthcoming. i’ve been so busy gardening and working overtime that i haven’t had much time or energy to invest in other projects lately. we live in a society where we have to spend more time and energy on the basics of food and shelter now than we did just half a century ago. and we all thought progress meant things getting better, right? i remember when i was still in college a decade ago, watching minimum wage rise by 50 cents or more, and looking forward to continued increases. i just assumed that things work that way, you know? and now i’m so cynical and resigned, and delighted about my recent 18 cent pay raise. an extra $25 a month is sadly exciting.

one of the things that i’ve been thinking about lately is the disposable consumer packed goods culture that america has become. a long long time ago, people really valued things that were made to last, and they really prided themselves on the relationships they built with physical items that they used everyday. that hasn’t gone away entirely, but it’s a nostalgic spectre of what it once was. people actually pride themselves now on how new and fresh and recently-replaced their things are. from furniture to clothes to hairbrushes and beyond, cheap plastic shit that continually needs replacing is touted as progress and material advancement.

awhile back i read an article about the oldest toaster in england. is there any good reason why it’s the only one? i really hope it’s just the only one in the spotlight. it consoles me to think of scores of other quinquagenarian toasters, quietly functioning and taken for granted, throughout households around the western world. isn’t that much more impressive than serial replacements, each one with a shorter lifespan than the last, never getting a chance to contribute to the long-term character of a kitchen?

i am offering below a selective overview of some items (artifacts?) that sustain a long-term relationship with me. some have been with me longer than others, but one of my goals in keeping them is to keep them as long as i can. it doesn’t matter what brand new things might pop up from one week to the next in one store or another – i have no interest in replacements, because these items have no need to be replaced. i hope that my beloved readers will be inspired to fall in love with their own material possessions just a little bit, recognise those that endure and appreciate them for it. hold on to them lovingly, cherish them and reject unnecessary flimsy replacements.

green velvet couch – sometime in the first part of 2001, during my freshman year in college, i rescued a green velvet couch from the dumpsters. one of the campus frat houses was getting new couches, so they put the old ones up in the attic, and removed the previous-old-ones from the attic, and put them by the dumpsters to throw them away. i dragged one pretty much across the whole campus, and gave it a home in my dorm room. it lived in 5 more dorm rooms, and then my three previous apartments, until residing now in my attic. one of the arms is crushed. trials and tribulations were involved in most of the moves because of stairwells. but i could easily repair the arm, and only haven’t done so because it’s not imperative. whether i repair the arm sooner or later, it’s still fully functional, and i couldn’t even begin to estimate the number of people who have enjoyed sweet sweet sleep on its cushions. i could write a really thick book of stories just from this couch.

boar bristle hair brush -i think i’ve had this hairbrush since i was 4 years old, but it could have had it even earlier and i just don’t remember. i use it regularly, and it is a bit worn, but still every bit as functional as it was when i was a tiny child. it has a wooden handle and a few bristles have broken off now and then over the years, but they’ve broken off at the base rather than coming out from the socket, and i expect to continue using it for decades.

disposable razor – my day job involves customer support for consumer packaged goods, isn’t that ironic? so, in august 2010 when i was hired and trained, i was given a 3pack of disposable razors from the company i work for as part of my product training, to be familiar with the things people will call me to ask about. granted, i shave much less than the average american, but i’m still on my first razor out of that 3pack. and they’re disposables, not premium, designed for just one use. and it still is just as sharp as ever. i used to shave my head regularly, and that made me go through razors much more quickly. i never imagined that i’d be able to keep a disposable razor alive for so long. the company i work for certainly didn’t “design” these disposables to live so long. but they actually do if you give them a chance instead of thoughtlessly tossing them because you’re “supposed to”. i actually get testimonials from consumers on a regular basis about disposable-razor-relationships just like mine.

clothing  – i don’t even know where to begin with clothing. i have things from my mother and father and grandmother that are much older than myself. i have stuff from thrift shoppes that’s genuinely vintage. it seems like the older a piece of clothing is, the longer it lasts, the more wear and tear it can handle. mending certainly helps to prolong the longevity of fabric. but another secret i have, is to avoid conventional washing and drying machines. hand-washing or using my wonderful asian-style washing machine keeps clothing from becoming prematurely threadbare. the biggest antagonist to fabric, in my empirical observation, is putting it in a heat-dryer. i don’t have one of those, and i’m confident that my clothesline is helping my clothes to stay in shape.

bake ware – a lot of the bake ware in my kitchen today is what i grew up with as a child. it went to china with us in the 1990, it came back with us, and it’s still fully functional to this day. a couple years ago, my cats knocked a big casserole bowl on the floor and broke it, and that made me very sad. i’d thought these things are immortal. it turns out they’re still susceptible to feline interference. to keep them alive, they must be kept safe. i use them regularly and they remain in perfect condition.

television – in the summer of 2001 i purchased a television. it has a built-in VCR. it’s the only television i’ve ever had. now in 2012 the red goes away sometimes and you have to hit it to get the picture colours balanced again. but 11 years of flawless performance is still impressive, and even though it’s become a bit needy, it’s still satisfyingly functional. i kept it decorated with aluminium tape for a long time and i’ve never used it for television channels, only for VHS and DVD. i removed the antenna right after i got it. i wonder if that “asceticism” helped to prolong its lifespan.

mattress & box spring – when a friend of mine was living with me in 2006, he needed a bed, so we got a bed from another friend of mine. it’s a mattress and box spring that she slept on as a child. it’s probably 20 years old. after my friend moved to a futon (because he was too tall for the bed) and eventually moved out, the bed has alternately served as bed and couch, and even both at once. it’s still just as functional and comfortable as it was in 2006. i have no idea how that compares to its condition when my friend was a little girl, but i’m sure it hasn’t changed much.

living room rug – i have a rug from china. we came back from china in 1996. enough said, right? it’s been rolled up and put away from time to time for its own protection, but it’s a very hardy rug and handles cleaning very well even though it’s hand-dyed and hand-woven. it gives the lawn a bit of red tint when we take it outside and hose it down and clean it, but it only needs such treatment every few years.

coffee table – i got this coffee table at the end of my freshman year when one friend of mine gifted it to me as she was leaving school. she’d gotten it from her boyfriend at the time when he graduated. he’d gotten it from another friend, whose parents had purchased it for her when she came to my college as a freshman. this coffee table weathered more than a decade of debauched college very well, and weathered a lot of post-college debauchery as well, and is still in prefect condition today.

book cases – when i went off to college in 2000, i got a couple of “sauder” assemble-able tall book cases. and i have them in my living room now today. the shelves are just a little bit bowed, but i really do have to say, the put-it-together-yourself furniture out of a box that they sell now can’t hold a match, let alone a candle, to what they used to make. i’m pretty sure these book cases have at least another decade or so of life in them. they’ve withstood all sorts of abuse and overuse. compare them to some of the same sort of thing i got in 2006, the newer ones are on their last legs and will need extensive repairs in order to remain members of the household. the two from 2000 have still never showed any signs of needing any sort of repair.

woks – we used woks in china, of course. and i still use a couple of them today. i remember when i was just seven years old, watching my mother make stir-fry. they looked so huge back then! i use them very regularly. one of them has developed a tendency to rust over the past few years, but the other one is so shiny it looks new.

spice rack VHS cabinets – when i was home schooled before high school, my parents got some “sauder” style VHS cabinets that they put together out of a box. years later, a couple years after i’d graduated from college, they gave these things to me. and i’ve used them as “spice rack” cabinets in my kitchen ever since. they’re perfect for the size and shape of spice jars. i painted them a long time ago, and they’ll continue to be a highlight of my kitchen for years to come.

teapot – another thing from before i went to college. there was a little bluebird coming off the spout cover, but when it broke off, the cover still worked to make it whistle when the water is ready. it certainly doesn’t look new these days, but it purrs “age and character” rather than deterioration.

aloe plant – i wasn’t sure if i wanted to include this guy in this list, but the idiosyncrasy is irresistible. i’ve had this aloe plant since 2005. i don’t want to risk opening a can of worms and start something that needs its own post, but i do feel that people often regard house plants as disposable replaceable consumer goods as well, so i wanted to put some words in for my 7 year old faithful companion. s/he’s only been re-potted twice!

lamp – i have a lamp in my bedroom now that was in my bedroom when i was still in highschool. it also looks new.

trunks/footlockers – i got these when i was a freshman in college. i used to keep clothes in them back then. now i keep sewing fabric and scraps in them. they’ve been a consistent part of my entourage for years. i also have a cedar chest which is the exact same size and design of the footlockers, but decades older. one of the side handles is torn, other than that it’s in perfect condition. these are the sorts of things that never need to be replaced. they should be called “investments” rather than “purchases”. they’ll probably outlive me by at least one generation.

dressers – i have a number of dressers that belonged to my grandmother. they used to be red, but my grandmother was a cigarette smoker, so when she moved out of her condo in florida and my parents inherited many of her possessions, my mother painted the dressers to try to hide the cigarette smell, and she chose white. i kinda wish they were still red, but instead of stripping off the white, i’ve just continued to add more and more paint and pen drawings to them. they’re indestructible AND elegant, and they sure can hold a lot in their drawers. they’re heavy, but totally worth it.

chopsticks, knives & spoons – i have various flatware from my childhood. i’ve never purchased flatware. my mother bought me a set of knives, forks, and spoons when i went off to college, and i still have most of those too, although some of them fell apart from poor workmanship. but the chopsticks from china, and the knives and forks and spoons from china, are still in perfect condition. i’ve lost a few over the years but only due to other people not respecting my property as much as i do.

this is the sort of thing that grandmas and grandpas can relate to much more easily than most people my age. and that’s sad, because it means that their values and their wisdom were rejected by most of the next generation, and undiscovered after that.

there’s a romanticism in knowing something well and trusting its performance. there’s also a romanticism in the nostalgia and the memories evoked by things that have been your companion for more than a decade. beyond that, there’s a beauty in the continuity of maintaining possessions rather than replacing them as soon as something novel is available. what is teaching this to children these days? please, i beseech you, teach this to children today!!!!!

i made some comments, with the calm passion that is only possible at 7am over a delicious thermos of hot tea. naturally, the minute-taker captured none of my eloquence and didn’t describe my talking points very well, but nonetheless i am documented on the record in the following fashion: “Verud [...] stated one of the problems may be the way the Ordinances were created, introduced, implemented and enforced. There are a lot of problems other communities are having, but we are not the same type of community. If it is done right and we learn from other communities so we can succeed, but not to see those other communities as reasons why we shouldn’t be able to succeed at this ourselves. There will be people who will be responsible in caring for their chickens.” i want to state for the record that i find this summary grammatically disappointing.

there’s a group on facebook called appleton city peeps. they are working very hard to make chickens possible in appleton. it does entertain me however, how many of their “likes” on facebook are non-appletonian. i encourage all my readers to “like” them on facebook, no matter how far away you might be, just to spread the message that urban chickening is part of a healthy lifestyle and should be an option for anyone, no matter where they live.

i have adorned this entry with pictures of the ducks that wandered into my backyard in 2009 when the koi pond was new. they’re not chickens. but we were doing awesome things, so they came and surveyed the area, and they were very pleased.

back in february, i heard that paypal was no longer friends with erotica. i’m glad that i don’t have a shopfront or something set up with paypal for selling my writing. it makes me want to boycott paypal altogether, but that’s far too ambitious. does anyone want to share some paypal alternatives? i think that erotica is a very important part of literature in general, but that’s beside the point. whether a whole story is dubbed “erotica” or it just happens to have one or two intense beautiful scenes, the fact will always remain that there’s both supply and demand. for the money-handling middleman to say what type of content can be sold and purchased is beyond ridiculous. money is blind. and paypal won’t survive unless it’s equally blind.

meanwhile, if you prefer reading material of a more academic nature, library.nu was shut down after accusations of piracy. i find this very tragic. it’s just another version of book-burning, but in cyberspace instead of the town square. destruction, dispersal, or otherwise limiting access to texts is a predictable symptom of unstable power structures as they decline into chaos. i’d like to take this time to exhort everyone to keep their own library. digital and hard copies both is obviously the best method of collection, but even if you just have one or the other, nourish it and grow it and guard it and protect it. the seats of archives become the new seats of power, and the nature of the archives will go far in determining the flavour of whatever new power arises.

thanks to some wonderful people out there, some library.nu stuff can be found here and here. efforts like this maintain my love for the human race.

now, for a sign-of-our-times that’s technological instead of socio-political. after 244 years, the encyclopaedia britannica is discontinuing its print version. this should comes as no surprise to those who have been watching the accelerated rate at which touchscreens are taking over our world. i imagine post-it note sales are declining, both related and unrelated to the encyclopaedia’s pixelification. (i actually have a post-it note application that came with the desktop environment of my phone. i didn’t have any concept of applications or desktop environments when i first started reading the encyclopaedia britannica.)

it makes me sad, in a nostalgic way. but i think we’ll soon have a new breed of books in this world, that don’t have corners you can fold, whose words will never be highlighted or underlined indelibly, whose pages will never be dampened by tears; books that will have no spine to be broken or print to fade or cover to write your name in proudly. it makes these old books all the more precious and ghostly. like ivory piano keys and russian sable coats, these tree-corpse artifacts will eventually be regarded with pity and disgust, while collectors guiltily try to explain that their collection is a mausoleum, a respectful shrine…

so, how is all this accelerated change affecting americans today? let’s look at some disturbing trends, like a report that american high school students are only reading at 5th grade levels. i noticed back when i was still in college that each new class of freshman had, on average, read less and less than myself. i suppose that trend would have continued if i hadn’t left after the usual 4 years, but without the college context, the people i meet are much less easily organizable for statistical purposes. i get the impression though that the “younger people” that i meet each year are more and more academically anaemic and even emaciated. i can’t imagine what passes for a highschool english class in america today. when i try, i just think of ms bitters’ classroom in “invader zim“. the problem is very complicated of course, but i think the trend that highschools are becoming increasingly like correctional facilities is more than just a correlation.

the next time you have an occasion to give a highschool kid a present, think about giving them a copy of my book, or any other book. the world will keep turning no matter what you do. but what will keep the pages turning?

it’s only 56 degrees in my house right now. i’m really excited about springtime and my garden. the warm weather recently gave me the chance to do all kinds of important structural things that i didn’t have time to do last year. building and fixing fences, turning compost, etc. i spent most of the winter keeping a notebook in which i wrote down every random plan and thought for my garden, and drew various pictures and compiled divers lists of diverse things. now i’m going back to some of my pictures and diagrams and highlighting things that have become real. i intend to keep up with pictures and notes, and keep an account of my experiences this year.

i have a list of everyone from wisconsin who donated to scott walker since march 2011. i need someone to help me sort through it. i want to compile a “boycott these businesses” list, but the way this list is, people are affiliated with businesses even if they’re just a random employee who donated two bucks. so i need someone to look up all the names and cross-check them against the company, and pare the list down to companies whose CEO or other legitimate representative made a donation. please let me know if you’re interested! i have a zipped html file.

i started swimming again. that makes me happy.

i read so much. i spend eight hours a day, five days a week, at work in front of a computer screen. i answer phonecalls and emails and letters. i absorb words and occasionally regurgitate scripts to earn my wages. i never have the time anymore to create my own words, or even paint pictures… it feels mechanical. like i’m some sort of computer myself.

spring is a time for celebration and renewal. an upsurge of energy.

happy easter.

but there are so many alternatives. there are always alternatives in any situation. most of the things we use every day didn’t exist two hundred years ago. and most of these things are unnecessary. it makes me really sad sometimes, when i think of how america could have evolved and how advanced and happy and healthy americans could be today if materialism and consumerism hadn’t hijacked everything in the first half of the 1900s. but, we can’t change history. and the future is in our hands. so instead of dwelling on how sad this country is, it’s better to think of things to do about it.

so, here’s a thought. i bring my own containers to the deli when i get stuff to take home. when going out to eat, it would be quite easy to bring one or two empty reusable containers with me. when you go out to eat and have leftovers, the restaraunt gives you a take-home container. i’m seeing more and more recyclable or compostable containers, but most of them are still the standard cheap plastic. and the others aren’t really that great. the compostable containers take an extremely long time to break down. and recycling things, while it does lessen the amount of trash that goes into a landfill or into the ocean, often causes a lot of pollution and uses a lot of resources, because of outdated technology used in a lot of old recycling plants. etc etc.

it’s very hard to avoid unnecessary disposable containers and packaging, and it’s certainly not easy to find ways to reuse most of it either. my faith in the human race is strengthened by news stories that many localities in america are banning plastic bags. but this is a somewhat difficult topic for me at the same time, because i don’t think laws solve problems and i don’t think laws should be necessary. my love for humanity would truly be nourished if stores would just stop using disposable grocery bags of their own accord. or if companies that make them would just stop making them.

i’m not naive, but i do daydream about fantasy worlds. imagine if everyone cared about the planet and everyone’s health and wellbeing. that would be a pretty trippy world, hunh?

well, here’s a picture of my sister’s cat Chun, wearing a beret. you can find more of her amazing photography at The Miao Chronicles.

but making resolutions can be a healthy thing. it’s a ritualistic act that really can promote focus and raise energy. so, this year, i have decided to make a list of reasonable achievable sustainable resolutions. i love the word ‘sustainable’, don’t you? it makes you feel like you’re doing something good before you even put any effort into doing it.

i resolve to write more. this is open-ended enough to be easily done. i would really like to update this blog more regularly. i have a novel distributed through the hard drives of three or four computers that’s been a work in progress for 19 years. i started working on a memoir about growing up in china and never got very far with it. i have a whole number of unfinished short stories that i’d like to complete. i haven’t written nearly as much poetry in the past 5 years combined as i did in almost every year prior. i don’t want to be unrealistic and “resolve to get another book published”, but if i write more, then i will certainly get closer that goal. in general i think that the more i write, the more ‘alive’ i am, and all sorts of other good things will follow.

i resolve to restore my health. i haven’t really been taking care of my body properly, nutrition and exercise and all that, due to environmentally induced laziness. i sit in a cubicle for 40 hours a week and for half the year the sun has gone down by the time i get out of work. it’s very discouraging. last year i hardly went discing at all, and i really miss it. i also really miss having muscles instead of this (albeit very insulating) layer of fat. the first steps of my resolution involve a healthier diet and hopefully a return to swimming laps. i used to swim 40 – 60 laps a day and i miss that even more than discing.

i resolve to make my yard and garden even more extraordinary than they were last year. in fact, for this resolution, i have even decided to dedicate a notebook to the process, and spend the rest of the time before spring gets here drawing blueprints and making lists and plotting awesomeness.

i resolve to finish the paintings that i’ve started. i have a number of paintings in my art studio that have been in progress for a very long time. there are many other bits of creative inspiration inside me that i haven’t even begun to release. completing old projects to make room for new ones is something i’ve been working on slowly in a back-burner fashion for a long time. this year i resolve to prioritize these projects and finally get them out of the way.

i think this is a modest list, and each resolution is well-supported by enthusiasm and optimism. nothing extreme, nothing futile, but still things that can be epic. especially the garden. i resolve that my garden will be epic.

some have a tendency to glorify the past nostalgically, and focus on how much better things used to be. others prefer to focus on how terrible things are right now. they all tend to regard the future with fear, and want to protect themselves from bad things or restore themselves to some land-before-time, rather than believing in and working towards a better tomorrow.

they both view the political stage as a pageant full of “good guys” and “bad guys”, in which the audience must figure out which is which and who to support, and anyone who supports or condemns the “wrong guy” is then a “bad guy” himself. divisions, antagonisms, american against american. they claim that the people are being manipulated, but really it’s not  government or politics that turns people against each other. it’s simply partisan mentality. they think the “good guys” love america and want to save it, and the “bad guys” hate america and want to destroy it. but really, regardless of whether an american is liberal or conservative, the vast majority of them love america with equal passion, yet they vilify each other so much that they’re all equally responsible for the fractured schizophrenia of american society.

liberals and conservatives alike are obsessed with religion. “muslims are anti-american terrorists”, some say. “christians hate homosexuals”, others say. accusing religions of hatred is a convenient way to avoid the human element. it’s an easy way to deny that hatred has a face, and it’s a great excuse to ignore the fact that hatred’s face is your own when you look in the mirror. returning to the tiny example i started with, many muslims happen to hate terrorists, and many christians happen to be homosexual. back when education was a pillar of america’s strength, little american children were taught that generalizations are more apt to cause problems than solve problems on a social level. but liberals and conservatives alike just generalize the hell out of each other and everything else under the sun – and the fact is that you really can’t BE a liberal OR a conservative without implicitly subscribing to a generalized worldview.

both liberals and conservatives cling to the false hope or delusion that legislation solves problems. bullying, abortion, corruption, pollution, jobs, etc – all of these issues really require education and cooperation on an individual and community level in order to be addressed successfully. yet liberals and conservatives alike waste their energy arguing about what laws to pass and what laws to repeal. instead of educating and understanding, they seek to persuade and seduce, and they both fall prey to persuasion and seduction. a friend of mine recently wrote, “If I took the right speech and logic classes, what would keep me from being the wisest liar?” and liberals and conservatives, instead of striving to inform each other and educate each other and think critically about issues together, strive instead to “be the wisest liar” to each other. rather than trying to find ways to work together, they want  laws (magic spells?) with which to bind and manipulate each other. legislation merely controls the population – it doesn’t change the nature of people. how can any legislation be a panacea, if it’s just a rug thrown over a pile of broken porcelain? neither liberals nor conservatives consider the option of sitting down together, and with sweat and blood, shouldering the trial of gluing the broken pieces of society back together.

liberals and conservatives alike ascribe to a blame mentality. everything has to be someone else’s fault, and the guilty must pay for their sins or crimes, and that takes priority over rectifying whatever is wrong. for example, the economy sucks – do we blame obama? do we blame republicans? do we blame the iraq war? do we blame wall street? do we blame the EPA? do we blame mexicans? but it really doesn’t matter who we blame, the world is too complex, there is no single entity accountable for any problem. so much energy is lost pointing fingers, and at the end of the day regardless of whose fault it may be, nothing has gotten any better.

so, do you want to make america a better place? do you believe that a beautiful world is possible? do you think that a society in which everyone is happy is a reasonable goal rather than a pipe dream? if you do, then please, my friend, turn your back on what is archaic and brittle and stagnant. take this battleground we live in now, of liberals and conservatives, and work on turning america into a land of individuals with divergent viewpoints and conflicting opinions and bold dreams of cooperating to build a great future.

When the Gods assume flesh and blood, we never know their agenda, or how long they will stay. But Hathor walked among us, loved us, and we love him. His time with us was a small adventure in a greater context that we will never understand. We were the lucky ones Hathor chose to grace with his presence, and we will remember him and miss him always. When the Gods walk on Earth, they are like shooting stars, lighting up the whole sky briefly and brilliantly.

Hathor, 10 March 2011 – 24 December 2011

then, a new animal evolved. the automobile. it enslaved the humans and made them build huge breeding facilities, and then it reproduced rapidly. this life form was made of steel. it quickly traveled around the planet and continued to reproduce. it made the enslaved humans cut huge channels and tunnels into the planet, huge bridges, highways and skyways, to give it easy transport as it sped and swarmed over the continents. enormous flying automobiles and floating automobiles carried regular automobiles across oceans and over deserts. in areas where there were no automobiles, armored automobiles and flying automobiles arrived and detonated human structures and enslaved humans, then cleared away plants and animals and forced the humans to carve channels and tunnels, and build breeding facilities. automobiles feasted on a dark planet-blood called oil that the enslaved humans had to destroy the surface of the earth in order to access. this animal not only despoiled the earth of its natural resources, it also produced massive amounts of waste that polluted the air and water.

and so automobiles became the dominant species of the planet, the pinnacle of evolution, and as they flourished, the planet slowly died.

my garden was most productive with carrots this year. i learned a lot. next year’s garden should be very epic as a result of this year’s education.

one of the things i’m thankful for this year, is how awesome appleton actually is. there are some resources here, both community and material, that make life really beautiful, that continually remind me why the future is worth fighting for and that the world is worth loving.

i am celebrating black friday today by buying nothing and posting reviews online for all my favourite local businesses.

Green Gecko Grocer & Deli - this is my favourite place in appleton to get food. the owner is a dear friend. the quality of the ingredients is amazing, and they serve alcohol too. even though i’m pescatarian, i appreciate that they always have lots of vegetarian options, so i’m not stuck with having to get the same things all the time. and the owner and staff are so friendly. makes you feel like you’re in europe, even though you’re right in the middle of downtown appleton.

Fuji Sushi - delicious and inexpensive. the owner is chinese, she studied sushi making at a chef school in california. they’ve been open for awhile and keep improving. the ambiance and interior decor is really amazing now. they serve alcohol too so it’s a great place to take someone on a date and feel like it’s exotic and special, even though it’s completely affordable. they’ve got really high standards for their quality of ingredients and the owner is always experimenting to come up with fun new unique recipes. she’s got a variety of spicy mexican-inspired rolls, as well as a lot of vegetarian options. (not that i’m vegetarian – i want to make that clear. but vegetarian options are good for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike, and the greater their presence on a menu, the more it reflects a balanced sustainable approach to food.)

Just Act Natural – i love this store. they’ve been open for almost 3 years now. i get toothpaste here, and various gardening supplies, and other household items. it’s a convenient downtown location, walking distance from my house. they also have clothing and a variety of other things. the owners are very sweet and friendly. they host a free film night once a month and show an educational film after which they encourage discussion, which is really awesome. they’re very committed to community building and focused on green ideals.

Mai’s Deli - this place is amazing. very clean and simple inside. they primarily expect take-out orders i think, but i like to take the time to sit down to eat. they serve beer. the food is served really hot, in huge portions. i was extremely impressed by how many vegetarian options they have. until Mai’s Deli opened up, i used to go to Taste of Thai a lot, and really loved their food. Taste of Thai is an extremely upscale award-winning restaraunt right next to Lawrence University. but i tell my friends, “Mai’s Deli is Taste of Thai quality at working-man’s prices”. it’s sooooooo delicious. and it’s family owned/run, and the owners are sooooooo friendly. they’re gonna be celebrating their one year anniversary in january.

The Kangaroostaraunt – the concept alone is delicious. food on wheels. a kitchen in a bus. it’s getting really popular in bigger cities apparently. and it reminds me of the people who used to sell food on the streets in china, carrying ovens and steamers etc on poles over their shoulders. the kitchen-bus is like the modern version of that. the kangaroostaraunt is relatively new – this will be their first winter – and i hope everything goes well for them. they use local ingredients, their menu changes every day, and their blog is really awesome.

The Stone Cellar – a very upscale place, but an awesome treat. they have their own microbrew with great beer and a lot of live folk and bluegrass music in the summertime on a lovely outdoor patio. they are literally situated in a the cellar of a big stone building that’s more than 150 years old. they won’t use anything that’s not locally produced, and i think they’ve been really significant pioneers in getting the wisconsin buy local movement going in appleton. the food they serve is absolutely delicious.

Josef’s Gyros – they’ve changed locations a lot, but the menu doesn’t change. delicious, simple, quick gyros. and baklava. fast food that’s actually healthy. and they even have some vegatarian options, salads and falafel etc.

Jacob’s Meat Market – for a long time, this was the only grocery store in walking distance from my house. and when i was still in college, it was the only grocery store in walking distance from my college. they’ve got a traditional butcher with meat and cheese. they have milk and orange juice in glass bottles that you can return for them to reuse. and they have a daily selection of local produce. it’s a tiny place. i love it.

Habitat For Humanity ReStore – i like to call this place “my favourite thrift shoppe”. they keep stuff out of landfills, they help build and rebuild houses, and they have great deals. they always have the same set of supplies, but you never know what random rare thing you might find from one day to the next, because everything is donated from people in the community.

Oriental Food Market – they don’t have a website, but they’re at 343 West Wisconsin Avenue, Appleton, WI 54911-4302, (920) 997-8250. they have a huge selection of produce, frozen stuff, and nonperishables. if i didn’t go anywhere else for groceries, i’d be able to stay happy and healthy. they also have a deli counter where they make fresh food daily.

Bangkok Oriental Foods - they don’t have a website, but they’re at 706 East Wisconsin Avenue, Appleton, WI 54911-4830, (920) 733-7899. much smaller selection than oriental food market, but they’re only a few blocks from my house. they opened very recently, hopefully they will grow.

Fox Valley Thrift Shoppe – it’s nice and big. the prices don’t always make sense, but there are specials every day on different colors of pricetag, so that makes up for it. it’s located right by telulah park. i go here when i need things like candles or shoes, furniture or fabric etc. a lot of the stuff is really really old. it’s fun just to wander through and look at things without buying them.