(no subject)
I've been really busy, but with good stuff. On Thursday, I drove out to a myotonic goat farm. It took me a long time to find it, as I got lost on the way there. However, I finally got there and got to play with the goats. The owner had about 100 goats on site. She normally has about 70 goats but she was boarding some for her uncle. She had pygmy dwarf and dairy goats as well as the myotonic. Myotonic goats are pretty rare. They originated in Tennessee and are also known as Fainting Goats or Tennessee fainters. When the goats are startled, their muscles stiffen up and they tend to fall over. The condition lasts for about 10 seconds.
We didn't make any of them fall over, but I took lots of pictures of them, and learned about them. Apparently they were used for meat and because they are friendly and easy to raise.
If you want to watch them faint, you can watch this video here . It's quite funny.
That evening, I decided to attend a Lit fest event. Dr. Gabor Mate is a doctor who combines psychotherapy into his medical practice. He is currently the resident doctor in the Downtown East side, where he works to give medical care to addicts. This is Canada's poorest area, where there is a lot of homelessness and drug abuse.
I had yet to pick up my volunteer pass for lit fest, so I decided just to go and take my chances on a ticket. It turned out that there was actually a huge lineup to see Dr. Mate, and I stood in line, taking my chances. I started talking to the woman behind me, who was a Cree woman and a psychiatric nurse. We got into a fairly interesting discussion and I could tell that she was a pretty cool lady. She was at the event with her 16-year-old daughter. We weren't sure if we could get it, but then a man came and offered us 3 free tickets to go inside. We considered it fate and took the tickets and decided to sit together and kept on chatting.
The crowd that came to see Dr. Mate was so big that they had to give people a refund for their tickets and turn them away, with the promise of another scheduled event. Dr. Mate came out and read to the packed auditorium. He read from his book and then we watched a film about Vancouver's supervised injection site. The film had previously been on television, but I hadn't seen it. After that, Dr. Mate came out and we were allowed to ask him questions. Most of the questions were pretty interesting and the audience discussion was enlightening. Dr. Mate's theory is that anyone who has any sort of addiction is acting in response to hurt or trauma in their lives. He said that every single addicted woman that he has ever treated in the Downtown East Side had been sexually abused at some point.
Anyway, it was an enlightening evening and I recommend seeing Dr. Mate if he comes to your city.
We didn't make any of them fall over, but I took lots of pictures of them, and learned about them. Apparently they were used for meat and because they are friendly and easy to raise.
If you want to watch them faint, you can watch this video here . It's quite funny.
That evening, I decided to attend a Lit fest event. Dr. Gabor Mate is a doctor who combines psychotherapy into his medical practice. He is currently the resident doctor in the Downtown East side, where he works to give medical care to addicts. This is Canada's poorest area, where there is a lot of homelessness and drug abuse.
I had yet to pick up my volunteer pass for lit fest, so I decided just to go and take my chances on a ticket. It turned out that there was actually a huge lineup to see Dr. Mate, and I stood in line, taking my chances. I started talking to the woman behind me, who was a Cree woman and a psychiatric nurse. We got into a fairly interesting discussion and I could tell that she was a pretty cool lady. She was at the event with her 16-year-old daughter. We weren't sure if we could get it, but then a man came and offered us 3 free tickets to go inside. We considered it fate and took the tickets and decided to sit together and kept on chatting.
The crowd that came to see Dr. Mate was so big that they had to give people a refund for their tickets and turn them away, with the promise of another scheduled event. Dr. Mate came out and read to the packed auditorium. He read from his book and then we watched a film about Vancouver's supervised injection site. The film had previously been on television, but I hadn't seen it. After that, Dr. Mate came out and we were allowed to ask him questions. Most of the questions were pretty interesting and the audience discussion was enlightening. Dr. Mate's theory is that anyone who has any sort of addiction is acting in response to hurt or trauma in their lives. He said that every single addicted woman that he has ever treated in the Downtown East Side had been sexually abused at some point.
Anyway, it was an enlightening evening and I recommend seeing Dr. Mate if he comes to your city.