veggie romance : vegetarian dating

Aside from oxygen, food and water? Hmm…well:

1) Companions: people need people to be people. Whatever your species, interaction with other sentient creatures is essential; if you lock yourself away, you'll end up like Saruman in LotR- seeing other creatures as pawns on the chessboard of life.

2) Art: I am very creative and enjoy all artistic pursuits: from music to embroidery, cooking to painting. I'd probably be unbearable if I couldn't channel my creative energy in to some project or other.

3) My voice: I enjoy conversation and, when alone, I always end up singing to myself. Also, as I'm training to become a barrister, my voice is my fortune lol!

A bit about me...

Hmm… I find it difficult to write about myself; I either sound arrogant or neurotic! Anyhow, I'll start of with some basic facts. I am a full time student. I'm doing my Bar Vocational Course this year and will be 'called to the bar' in November; this means that I'll be a fully-fledged barrister. I chose to study law because, well, if I was a fantasy stereotype I'd be a knight and Law is rather like a medieval quest; the only differences are that the dragon is called the Prosecutor, my voice is my sword and the damsel in distress… well she is looking at five years! (My official reason is that law is a challenging, varied career which revolves around human interaction.)

Before my BVC I read English at Kings College London, from which I graduated with a 2:1. Then I did a GDL, which was like three years of law degree rolled in to one. (I still have nightmares!)

I love animals, especially rabbits, horses and dogs. I have a giant rabbit called Ayame (it means 'iris'), a parrot, a snake and a dotty Dalmatian. My animal soulmate was a big, blond briard called Rufus: he was stubborn and fiery, yet very loving and passionately loyal…oh and heart-stoppingly beautiful. He died last year and, although I'll someday adopt another, it's a bit too soon at the moment.

As for personality, well that's difficult; who I am depends on who you are. I guess I have a bit of a Gandalfian personality in that respect; I am a totally different person in the eyes of 'orks', 'ents', 'hobbits', 'elves' or 'men'. (That does sound a bit arrogant, but no better metaphor comes to mind) As for the fundamentals, well I think the most 'objective' view I can offer is to insert the result of a personality test I took at OkCupid:

"Romantic, hopeful, and composed. You are the Sonnet. Get it? Composed?
Sonnets want Love and have high ideals about it. They're conscientious people, caring & careful. You yourself have deep convictions, and you devote a lot of thought to romance and what it should be. This will frighten away most potential mates, but that's okay, because you're very choosy with your affections anyway. You'd absolutely refuse to date someone dumber than you, for instance.
Lovers who share your idealized perspective, or who are at least willing to totally throw themselves in to a relationship, will be very, very happy with you. And you with them. You're already selfless and compassionate, and with the right partner, there's no doubt you can be sensual."

For me the benefits of being vegan/vegetarian are...

1) Knowing that the food I eat hasn't caused any animal any suffering.

2) Being able to avoid horrible foods, (organs, anchovies, eels, calamari, etc), with absolute impunity in social situations.

Funniest/worst comment I regularly hear about being a veggie/vegan...

Hmm. They're all pretty bad: any argument against vegetarianism is, if taken to it's logical extremes, an argument for cannibalism.

However I do get irritated when people hide behind religion: "It's okay to eat meat because God says so". There are 3 stages to any argument with a religious fundamentalist:

1) The technical argument: If God gave humans free will, then that means that the people who wrote/edited the Bible may have been biased or telling outright lies. It's a catch 22 situation: either humans don't have free will or the religious text is unreliable.

2) Many Christians DON'T follow ALL of the bible's instructions: the bible states that you'll go to hell if you cut your hair or wear clothes made from more than one material.

3) Bring in your own god: "Well Anubis gets rather upset when people eat his animal friends"

I advise skipping 1) and 2) and going straight for 3). Yes it's childish but logic doesn't usually work on fundamentalists.

(I am not anti-religion, I just don't like small-minded, bigoted control-freaks who think that, just because they go to church, they can treat other people like dirt.)

I am hoping to meet

At the moment, I'm mainly looking to form friendships: an ideal friend is easier to define anyway so I'll start there. I usually look for someone who is intelligent, creative and innovative. (There is nothing better than a long, winding discussion, punctuated by unchartered flights of imagination. Personality is also important: I can only really respect a person who tries to treat others as they, themselves, would wish to be treated and judges others as they, themselves, would wish to be judged. These elements, when spiced with a good dash of honour, courage and an erratic sense of humour is my recipe for an ideal friend.

As for relationships, well the username is a clue lol! I tend to only get in to relationships once in a blue moon and I also find it difficult to predict the type of person who will attract me. (Although I do love long hair) Therefore, friendship is always first.

If I could be any animal for a day, I would be a... because...

As my Egyptian birth sign is Anubis, I've always felt a strong affinity with dogs. Therefore, I'd probably choose to be a briard: my day would be spent running through the forest and splashing around in streams with my pack then, at night, we'd sit around a campfire, stargazing.

(I chose that particular breed because briards are large and powerful but also intelligent and kindly: there are many stories of briards protecting small, vulnerable animals against predators. Therefore, my briard instincts would be in sync with my human ideals. This, I feel, is an important consideration as some animal instincts are not too pleasant and who, as a human, would want to remember killing mice as a cat?)

If I won the lottery I would...

Pay off my student debts, invest in property and then share my good luck with my family, friends and various animal charities.

My favourite vegan / vegetarian meal is?

Satay quorn and sweet chilli rice noodles (with too much soy sauce)

Alternately, you can't go far wrong with Absinthe cake. (Unless you eat too much of it- then you're away with the green-eyed faries.)

My favourite vegan / vegetarian restaurant is?

I'm vegetarian and allergic to wheat so most restaurants can't accommodate me. However, that said, my Inn of Court, the Inner Temple, is pretty resourceful.

My guests (living or dead, actual people or fictional characters) to the ultimate dinner party would include...

FICTIONAL CHARACTERS: Inu-no-Taisho (from Inuyasha), Lord Vetinari (from the Diskworld), Faramir, Gandalf and Elrond (from LotR).

REAL PEOPLE: Robespierre, Trotski, Einstein, Oscar Wilde, Terry Pratchett, Descartes, Oliver Cromwell, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Robert Burnes, St Francis of Assisi, St Nicholas, Lord Denning, Jonathan Sacks, Samuel Johnson, Desmond Tutu, Freddie Mercury, Thomas More, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austin, the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell, John Wilmot (aka Rochester), Jesus, Budda, Anubis and Clifford T Ward.

Oh and you ;)

My ideal date would be (e.g. candlelit dinner)

On a boat: as a true saltwater junkie, I'm happiest when I'm in the arms of the ocean. Besides, it's pleasant to watch the world drift by whilst conversing.

Otherwise, I enjoy adventure parks (like Thorpe Park/ Alton Towers) and visiting churches/cathedrals. However, I think that, if you're with the right person, almost any outing can be enjoyable.

My ideal vacation would be

To spend spring in Katwijk, a lovely little fishing village in Holland. (When the tulips are in bloom, the Netherlands is carpeted with flowers.)