I tried to explain to him that I might make an exception if I knew the animal had been killed humanely. Good hunters are taught to shoot for the heart, which will (hopefully) kill the animal instantly. I know, I've taken a hunter's safety course. For the hunters, it's so the deer cannot get away. For the animal, it's so they die instantly and do not run off to die in agony. Ideally, it would be much more humane than a factory farm where animals' throats are slit while they're still alive.

Anyway, he got over it quickly and didn't mention it again. He was mocking me about the deer thing, which I wasn't even able to finish a sentence on. I just said forget it and walked ahead of him. I was hurt by his reaction. He didn't do this when I decided not to buy from companies who test their products on animals.

I'm feeling very emotional about this right now. On one hand, I know it's the right thing to do. I know I need to also eliminate fish and poultry. On the other hand, I am anticipating people being irritated with it. I'm also feeling like I'm not really making a difference for the animals when so many millions of people eat meat. While the demand is there, the factory farms will continue to exist. Then again, there's no way to tell how an animal was killed or treated when alive. The government will never pass laws to protect them all, and how could they enforce any laws at all of the farms?

One bright spot has been my best friend Leigh. She has been a vegetarian for years, and has recently become vegan. She took me on a "vegan tour" of Whole Foods to show me all the meat alternatives. She has never said anything about me eating meat, but has been very supportive with my recent decision. She is not pressuring me to stop eating chicken and poultry. She knows I have to ease into this. I want to become familiar with the alternative sources of protein and how to cook them before I eliminate meat altogether. I want to make sure my diet does not suffer. She let me have one book and let me borrow another book on veganism. The one she gave me lists things like tempeh, cous cous, tofu, etc., how they are made and what they are made of. I need to research this and try some things so I can replace the meat I eat.

I eliminated beef and pork first because I did not eat a lot of those anyway. It was easy. Well, I was hesitant on beef because I always loved a good steak, medium rare. I began to realize it was silly and just added it to the list. It took some time to get used to the idea.

I've also been thinking about leather. I have several coats, and many shoes that are made of leather. I also have some that are not. I know there are now many alternatives to leather, especially with shoes. PETA's website has a whole pleather section. My car has leather seats. I don't think I'll pick that option again.

OK, that's enough for now. My head was already hurting. Damn insomnia.