The RULES

I’ve been living the NoNewPlasticPledge for 8 1/2 months now. Some of you wonderful readers were there from the start, and others have discovered EnviroWoman along the way. From the emails I get and the comments you great folks posts, I thought it would be helpful to restate my rules.

Although originally posted way back on New Year’s eve, I was so plastic naive way back then, the rules weren’t that detailed so I’ve provided you with some clarification. And all the amendments to the rules I've invoked as I learn more about plastic.

Okay here we go:

Original Rule #1: I CAN NOT buy or accept products containing or packaged in plastic for the first 90 days of 2007

• Clarification: This INCLUDES recyclable and recycled plastic. Hey, it’s still plastic, so it’s a no no.
• Clarification: This DOES NOT INCLUDE any and all petroleum-based products. The magic word in my pledge is ‘plastic’ not ‘petroleum’. Yes, I know you can’t have plastic without petroleum. (But you can have petroleum without plastic.) Remember, I’ve taken the NoNewPlasticPledge, not the NoNewPetroleumPledge. My beef with plastic is that it’s everywhere, and it doesn’t degrade.
• Clarification: This INCLUDES plastic other people bring into my life. When my female kinfolk sent me a package covered in plastic tape, I had to accept that as my personal consumption and add it to my plastic shrine. If someone brings plastic packaged chocolates to work and offers me one, I have to say no. At restaurants I can't order something I know someone will serve to me in plastic which will be thrown out after I’ve finished with it, like water in a plastic bottle or a plastic glass or with a plastic straw. However, this leads into a gray area….because how far do you really take it…. If I eat at a restaurant or a friend’s place and they serve food that was once packaged in plastic, but not served to me in plastic then that’s okay because it’s their plastic consumption, not mine. Like I said, it’s a gray area…and I’m not always consistent in my logic but hey, they are MY rules, so I can do what I want.
• Clarification: I CAN touch plastic. Some people assume my pledge means I can’t even touch plastic. Now come on folks…let’s GET REAL.
• Clarification: I CANNOT get others to buy plastic for me. Several wonderful souls have offered “I’ll buy this plastic then give it to you, then it won’t count”. It DOES COUNT and it would be cheating. Even if you’rwe're talking chocolate….it’s still cheating. EnviroWoman doesn’t cheat.
• Amendment: The resolution was extended to the entire 2007 year
• Amendment: This INCLUDES not buying or accepting biodegradable plastic (which I didn’t even know existed before Jan 1st)
• Amendment: This INCLUDES anything which qualifies as plastic according to wikipedia like nylon, polyester, Teflon, synthetic rubber, acrylic, styrofoam ad plasticizers (though this last one is a hard one ‘cuz it’s hard to really know what has plasticizers in it). Let’s just say, it blew my mind when I read this wikipedia page back in February, ‘cuz that’s when it really hit me how much stuff I had actually sworn off. Like nail polish. Ignorance is bliss. Reality sucks.
• Amendment: I CAN purchase compostable bioplastic – because it’s not petroleum-based plastic (as with biodegradable plastics, I didn’t even know this existed before Jan 1st). I am well aware that this counters the logic of the second clarification point above. Here’s what I like about compostable plastics – they degrade way faster than petroleum-based plastics and into earth-friendly benign matter. Regular, degradable, and biodegradable plastics don’t.
• Amendment: This INCLUDES papers which obviously have plastic in them, like sticky labels and that foily shiny plasticy stuff all my fav chocolate bars come in. This amendment eventually leads into a gray area…because how can you really tell if some paper has plastic in it…
• Amendment to the amendment: This DOES NOT INCLUDE magazines and books. It did for the first 6 months, but now I just can’t live without them.
• Amendment: I DO NOT have to be uber-extreme at work. Work presents challenges. ButI have to admit I stick to my NoNewPlasticPledge guns about 99% of the time. Here are some examples…

A coworker noticed I didn’t have scissors and took it upon themselves to order me a new pair….which came packaged in plastic and had plastic handles. I graciously thanked my coworker for their thoughtfulness, accepted the scissors, but quietly returned them to the supplies cupboard so another coworker would claim them.

At a work sponsored conference I received a plastic binder full of wonderful paper stuff and accepted it graciously. Later, I returned the binder to the conference organizer but kept the wonderful paper stuff.

I don’t order office supplies for myself that I know contain plastic.

If I must order plastic stuff for others, I delegate it to a team member so I don’t have to break my NoNewPlasticPledge. It’s kinda cheating, but kinda not.

Here’s the 1% where I have to ease up on the NoNewPlasticPledge... when I order print materials which contain varnishes (that contain plasticizers).

• Amendment: I CAN purchase plastic on behalf of someone else if it’s for them and I’m reimbursed. DesignGuru at work asked me to stop by the local ArtEmporium and pick him up some art portfolios, which I was reimbursed for. That was okay. But when I needed a white sheet for a backdrop at a work photo shoot I was spearheading, I couldn't buy it because the sheet was packaged in plastic – so we used white paper instead.
• Amendment: I MUST re-gift plastic gifts. When a person gives me something, like a gift, which contains plastic or is packaged in plastic I accept it graciously, then re-gift it to someone else. (Hey, hang with me and you get lots of great plastic cast offs.) In some cases I return it to the giver. For example, the local phone company dropped off a new plastic-packaged phone book (which I didn’t request). By my rules, I have to return it to them, or accept the plastic as a MINOR SIN and add it to my shrine – I chose to return it.
• Amendment: I can only plead ignorance once. If I had been buying something which I honestly didn’t know had plastic in it, then I don’t count those purchases as SINS. But once I realize it contains plastic, I can’t continue to buy it without committing a MINOR or MAJOR SIN. This has occurred with soda pop, and tin cans, for example.
• Amendment: Food for TheBeast is an exception. When I started the no new plastic pledge I didn’t know most tin cans contain plastic. Once I did know, I stopped buying tin cans for myself. But I still buy them for TheBeast. Shes 18, has gum and tooth decay and can’t chew or stomach crunchies. So she’s on a diet of soft canned food. It woudn’t be right for her to suffer because of my pledge.

Original Rule #2: I CAN borrow or rent products that have plastic. So for example, I can rent DVDs, but I can’t buy DVDs.

Original Rule #3: I CAN continue to use or re-use any plastic in my possession as of Dec 31 2006.

• Clarification: When stuff gets used up, that’s when I replace it with non-plastic alternatives. Some people assume on January 1st, I threw out all my plastic stuff, and that I never use plastic. Again, let’s GET REAL. Plastic is everywhere, and in everything – I’d have to throw out most of worldly possessions. That would be totally disrespectful to Mother Earth, and would mean I’d consume a whole pile of new resources replacing stuff unnecessarily.

However, I will admit, moving to a new abode gave me a great opportunity to send alot of plastic to the Thrift Shop, or to storage. And I have given things up, or replaced things, like highlighters, and pens, and kitchen utensils before completely using up my non-plastic supply. All in an attempt to accelerate my transition to a NoPlasticAtAll existence. But, it’s gonna take a couple of years to get there.

In retrospect, this is a smart rule for anyone attempting to make such a big change in their life. It’s made the transition more bearable. If I had had to shop for non-plastic alternatives for ALL MY STUFF during the first couple of weeks, I’d have given up on this resolution way back in January.

Most of you are familiar with my plastic shrine which includes ALL the new plastic I’ve let into my life during 2007 which is now ready to be trashed or recycled. But I have a second plastic shrine, which graced these pages for the first time in January’s PROGRESS REPORT and will again in December’s PROGRESS REPORT. It includes all the plastic I had on hand as of Dec 31, 2006 which I have continued to use, and which is now ready to be trashed or recycled. I’m keeping it so at year end we can all get a good comparison of how much I’ve been able to reduce my consumption during 2007, in comparison to 2006. It’s not an exact comparison…but it’s still a good one.

Original Rule #4: CRUELTY-FREE takes precedence over plastic-free. If alternative products contain animal byproducts or have been tested on animals I'll choose the cruelty-free option over plastic-free. For example, since I don't wear leather, I'll always choose plastic 'man-made material' shoes over leather.

• Clarification: Shoes are an exemption. And it’s not because I’m one of those women who lives for shoes, which I’m not. It’s just that I knew I wasn’t going to find plastic-free shoes and I absolutely refuse to wear dead animals.

So I think that pretty much covers it. Let me know if you’ve got any questions and if you think I’m UberExtreme, or UberEasy on myself.

Plastic free: Motor Oil

Last year I took the pledge to take transit to work so MyLittleCar and I could reduce our CO2 emissions. From my new home, the commute to work takes 45-60 minutes via skytrain and bus, one way. But that’s okay, ‘cuz it’s better for the environment.

Secretly, I’m also hoping, that by taking transit I might be able to prolong the life of MyLittleCar who in car years, is quite ancient.

Oh, I know, it would be even better for the environment if I traded in my 18-year old car for a ‘good-for-the-environment’ Prius or a SmartCar, but I’m also very conscious that a whole lot of Mother Earth’s resources go into producing a car. Is it ethical to get rid of a perfectly good car (that only has 150,000 kilometers on it) and use more of Earth’s resources just to have the ‘newer better’ model? One of my pet enviropeeves is the whole ‘trade up to a newer model every 2 years’ mentality. To me, it’s the ultimate symbol of excessive consumerism and our disposable society mentality that’s causing the devastation of the planet.

And truthfully, (hold onto your shorts, ‘cuz this is where, instead of sounding like a WhackedOutEcoFreak who has grown balls, as EnviroWoman often does, I sound like a WhackedOutCrazyLady who’s lost her marbles…) I LOVE MyLittleCar. I just couldn’t bear the thought of it ever ending up in the hands of some TestosteroneTwit who might use it for one of those crash-em-up car derbys.

MyLittleCar deserves better. It’s been a faithful companion through life’s adventures and transitions. Loyal. True Blue. Trustworthy. Dependable. So like an old race-horse, it deserves a nice quiet retirement in the parkade pasture, only being taken out for a ride on the weekends.

EnviroWoman is also hoping that MyLittleCar will last long enough that it can be replaced with an electric car when those become widely available and affordable.

In the meantime, I need to take good care of MyLittleCar. And I do. Every year it passes the AirCare Test with a wide margin so I must be doing something right.

Last weekend, when MyLittleCar accompanied me on an errand, it had a nasty knock in the engine. When I checked under the hood I discovered, not only did it need oil, but also a new oil cap. EnviroWoman had a FewFriesShortOfAHappyMeal moment and not returned the oil cap to it’s locked position the last time she checked the oil. Now it was gonzo.

This proved to be a blessing in disguise.

For months now EnviroWoman has been searching for plastic-free motor oil. All to no avail. I remember metal cans of STP motor oil years ago, but nowadays, all motor oil comes in plastic containers. Instead of continuing my futile oil search, it was now time to take action.

So, I phoned my trusted mechanic Jerry, and scheduled MyLittleCar for an oil change, oil filter, and new oil cap.

Now you might recall, when I took MyLittleCar to the autobody shop to get the dent from a HitAndLeaveANote repaired, I was told the repair and repaint wasn’t possible without using plastic. So I had to cancel MyLittleCar’s visit to the auto spa. It’s just gonna have to wait until 2008 to get beautified.

But, ya gotta love my mechanic Jerry, because when I told him of EnviroWoman’s NoNewPlasticPledge, and asked if there was any way he could do an oil change without using plastic he said ‘Sure, we have a big underground tank of oil, and that’s what we’ll use.’ (Ya gotta love people who get on board with a crazy chick’s New Year’s Resolution, don’t ya?)

And the HorseshoesUpTheAss good luck continued. Because Jerry even was able to find an all metal oil cap.

So now, MyLittleCar is all gassed up. And oiled up. With no place to go.

So here’s how things add up:

Category: Motor Oil
SAINT: Jerry at Granville & Avery Autobody, here in LaLaLand. Not just a wonderfully honest and excellent mechanic, but a guy whose willing to cater to a WhackedOutEcoFreak. If you ever need to shop for a new mechanic, call Jerry. I've been going to him for 13 years
Price: More expensive than changing or topping up the oil yourself
Quality: The same
SINNERs: Shell Nautilus/Formula, Motor Master, PJ1, Troy Bilt, Quaker State, Mobil, Havoline, Autolab, Pennzoil, Castrol, Valvoline

Lessons Learned:

• The real problem isn’t the car. We like to blame others for the muck our planet is in. We point the finger at cars and say ‘There’s too many cars, it’s their fault.' We point the finger at car makers and say ‘They don’t make green cars, it’s their fault.’ We point the finger at cows and say ‘There are too many COWS, that fart, it’s their fault.' Some whackos even say ‘There’s too many people making and using plastic, it’s their fault.' Silly us…the real cause of global warming, and disappearing ocean life, and pine-park beetle ravaged forests, and endangered species and probably almost all the other ailments in the world….is that there are too many humans. And that’s our fault. What we really need to do, each and every one of us… is just stop breeding.

Plastic free: Grapes

When EnviroWoman first decided on her New Year’s Resolution back in December 2006, she intentionally didn’t give a whole lot of thought to what she’d have to give up. In a way, she wanted it to be a surprise. She limited her forethought to those things she really loved and didn’t think she could live without.

But for most everything else, it’s been a year of surprises. Chocolate – hmmm, big cramp in that addiction. Meat substitutes – a no go for all of 2007. Crackers – fewer carb binges in her future. C’est la vie.

One day in February, as she was hunting Safeway for one of her all time favorite foods, globe grapes, she came to another sad realization. Globe grapes were gonna be off limits.

Yeah, it’s freaky isn’t it? It’s fruit. The brain synapses don’t naturally link ‘grapes’ with ‘plastic’ do they? But the grape growers and supermarket produce guys sure do. Green grapes, red grapes, black grapes, and globe grapes….all come nestled in plastic packaging.

In a way, EnviroWoman can see the rationale of this. Unless tethered, those wee little fruit beauties have a tendency to jump outta shopping carts and wire baskets and do kamakze dive bombs to the supermarket floor. But rational or not, it bummed EnviroWoman out majorly to find out those ambrosial beauties wouldn’t be part of her diet for 2007.

And then, one day in August, as she was scoping out the produce market in her new ‘hood’ she came across red globe grapes - completely plastic-free. Stacked carefully in green cardboard containers with not an iota of plastic in sight.

So she stockpiled. Yes indeedy, MyLittleWireShoppingBasket did runneth over.

Now, word traveled fast that EnviroWoman had an abnormally large quantity of grapes on hand. And even better - she was cruelty-free too.

Because every fruit fly in LaLaLand, (whose population has multiplied several thousandfold above normal levels because of a 7 week long city-wide garbage strike) has been paying EnviroWoman’s new realm a visit. She can practically hear them pounding on the fridge door and demanding‘Let us in, let us in’ in that same 'help me help me' voice from The Fly. All smug and bold, knowing that no harm will come their way in her household.

Yuppers, those little drosophila darlings have it made!

Lessons Learned:

• Small victories and abundance must be savoured, relished, celebrated, and shared. Even with fruitflies.
• Life is full of surprises. Some nice. Some not so nice.

PROGRESS REPORT: Jun/Jul/Aug

I’ve finished month #8 living the ‘no-new-plastic’ pledge. It’s been a while since I reported on my progress. Been busy holidaying, moving, then unpacking. But still living the NoNewPlasticPledge (except for those couple of days visiting kinfolk…but more on that later).

As you can see, I’ve added substantially to my plastic shrine (which contains all the new plastic I’ve let into my life during 2007 that’s ready for recycling or the trash. To give you some context, the round dark brown thing is a coffee lid from Tim Horton's).

Actually, let me rephrase that….OTHER PEOPLE have added substantially to my plastic shrine.

Here are the most notable additions:

Brown Packing tape: nope, not from moving, but from a package sent in the mail from loving female kinfolk. Now, if you’re like most people, don’t ya just love getting parcels in the mail? Alas, not if you’re EnviroWoman. ‘Cuz EnviroWoman knows that they usually contain some wonderful little object wrapped in plastic, or in the case of this particular package – swaddled in packing tape.

My heart nearly broke when I saw that package arrive. Especially since the kinfolk knew I was living the no-new-plastic-pledge. But how can I expect them to be ever-conscious of how pervasive plastic is, when EnviroWoman has her own share of plastic-blonde moments? I’d look like a total a-hole if I sent it ‘Return to Sender’ like I do with most of my plastic packaged mail. So I had to keep it and claim it as my own.

And it gets worse. Inside that package were 2 lovely little jackets, both size zero (so hard to find)….one made entirely out of plastic (well ya know, nylon, rayon, polyester) with plastic buttons (a total, yet pretty, SINNER). And one, entirely 100% cotton with metal buttons (yippee a total, and pretty SAINT). One SINNER, one SAINT. The story of my life in 2007.

So the rule is, I gotta regift the SINNER so it doesn’t count. It’s a tad too small anyhoo. I’d bust a seam in no time. So a skinny-minny friend will get be to be the happy recipient of a ‘re-gift’

Clear packing tape: two instances occurred whereby OTHERS brought clear tape into my life.

1. Let me set the stage...it’s the end of July, and my little plastic shrine is pretty darn sparse. I’m busting with pride. I’ve even managed to go through my whole move without using hardly any new plastic (see #2)….so I get back to work from taking some time off to move….and discover my boss and her husband have sabotaged my work area – decorating it in a moving motif – the filing cabinets were all wrapped up in kraft paper to look like beat up moving boxes. There was a beat up box marked FRAGILE and one with HANDLE WITH CARE and another with ‘THIS SIDE IS UP’ written upside down. My phone was all wrapped up, as was my chair. There were ‘BOXED UP ENERGY’, and ‘HOPE CHEST’ and OLD TAX FILES – 1965 to 2003 (Hey I’m not that old!!!)….and even CHOCOLATE fake boxes. Even pizza coupons and a MOVING TO DO LIST which included ‘Remember TheBeast!’ It was an absolute hoot. I laughed myself silly for a solid 10 minutes when I saw it. Alas, they used scads and scads of clear packing tape. Now, I know THEY used the tape. But they used it for ME, so it counts as my SIN. And there’s no way I can ‘regift’ used packing tape. So there’s a big wad of clear packing tape in my shrine now as a memorial to moving. But ya know, Gotta love the boss (She is TheBestBoss). Gotta love the bosses’ husband.
2. As I mentioned, I made it through the entire move without using any new plastic – almost. Admittedly, I did use packing tape and plastic I still had in my life as of Dec 31, 2006 (that’s acceptable by my rules), but when that ran out…I had to use ‘plastic-free’ alternatives. This meant instead of using boxes that folded into shape and which required taping, I had to resort to:

• apple and orange boxes which came pre-glued and with a lid (very smart way to go for a plastic-free move – don’t require any tape or string, and most come with side holes for ‘save-yer-back’ picking up), or
• boxes that folded into shape, and instead of taping them shut, just folding the flaps in on themselves so they kept contents safe. Or so we hoped. Alas, the frozen food (one of the last things ya pack, right?) made it into one of these boxes. And the moisture and the cold made the box flaps unstable. I had warned the moving guys ‘WackedoutEcoFreak here has a new year’s resolution I expect you to abide by…no new plastic. This means you can’t use packing tape, and you can’t use shrink wrap. Only blankets, only string.’ Great guys that they were, they abided by the rules….except for that box of frozen food, which eventually gave way, and spilled frozen goodies all over the back of the truck. This occurred at the exact moment I happened to be looking at the truck from an upstairs window…and what to my astonishing eyes did I see…but MovingMan using packing tape to rebind the box. I wrapped on the window. He looked up at me doefully, caught in the act. Sheepishly in fact…then threw the tape into the back of the truck with a ‘who me?’ look on his face. So I had to claim the plastic packing tape from that box.

Plastic clothing hooks. Those who read EnviroWoman know that she purchased a new home. Alas, new homes have plastic. The previous owner had a love-affair with Rubbermaid plastic clothes hooks – those handy-dandy ones that use double sided tape to stick to the wall. EnviroWoman loathes them. They are ‘too-too plastic’ so she’s removed them from closets and bathroom doors. Because they can’t be regifted, they must be recycled, and so now live in her plastic shrine.

Good Plastic Fortune these past couple of months

Anyway, despite all of this here has been some good plastic fortune in the past couple of months :

• Moving into a new neighbourhood that has one fantastic fresh produce market (whose tellers thinks MyLittleWireBasket and plastic-free way of shopping is so eco-nouveau) and even better…two fresh produce farms (grow their own, and plastic free, gotta love that). This has lead to the discovery of plastic-free cauliflower and grapes. A cause for celebration and gluttonous feasting.
• Finding mascara that’s as plastic-free as I’m gonna find. Plus cruelty-free. And that the wee beady eyes don’t seem to adversely react to.
• Seeing others follow in EnviroWoman's footsteps. I think I was the first to go plastic-free, but now there are other fellow bloggers that have taken the pledge in the past couple of months. That’s kind of exciting. The start of a new wave of consumerism – begun right here in LaLaLand.
• Body lotion. EnviroWench had to travel to far away lands to find it, but she finally did, after months and months of searching. Her skin was getting pretty dry, so she found it just in the nick of time.
• Pileated Woodpecker. Okay, this has absolutely nothing to do with plastic. But I saw a Pileated Woodpecker in my new neighbourhood last week. I haven’t seen one since I was a kid camping in the Cariboo. I thought it was a Flicker when I first heard it calling in the forest….and then this prehistoric thing wafted out across the road. Could you hear EnviroWoman squealing with glee? What a fabulous new neighbourhood.
• Plastic-free chocolate. There are 2, count ‘em 2, places in the new neighbourhood that carry Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut bars that come packaged in the old fashioned paper and foil wrapping. EnviroWoman is in her glory. Like I said....What a fabulous new neighbourhood.
  

Plastic Challenges these past couple of months.

• Clothes. I put off buying new clothes for six months until I knew which fabrics were plastic-based (nylon, polyester, rayon, viscose, spandex, etc). And then I dove in. I managed to buy all cotton clothes except for a beautiful summer coat that was wool with an acetate lining (but no plastic buttons). I wonder if it will be as easy when winter hits.
• Visiting kinfolk. EnviroWoman TheVegetarian is hard enough for kinfolk to deal with. So she keeps her cruelty-free and plastic-free way of life quite quiet. Don’t want to make it too much of a challenge to have her as a house guest. So when visiting country cousins I had to throw a moratorium on living plastic free for a couple of days. I quietly practiced my ways, avoiding bottled water, and pop, and yogurt, unbeknownst to the relatives, but wasn’t quite as a-retentive as I usually am…there was that one bag of chips which had that plasticy-foily wrapping which CountryCousin was serving up that I guiltily enjoyed.
  

MINOR SINS for June/July/August 2007

I can’t blame all my accumulated plastic on others. Admittedly, I’m guilty of adding some of it myself:

• Soya sauce jar lid
• 2 toothpaste caps
• a little plastic gizmo they put in the center of pizza box to prevent the lid from squishing the toppings. I learned quickly when ordering to say ‘hey, can ya do EnviroWoman a favour and not include that little plastic doodad?’ And ya know, THEY DON’T. Gotta love the Panago Pizza.
• Plastic pour spout from an olive oil jar (wasn’t expecting that one, I thought I’d really lucked out when I found olive oil with a metal lid and glass jar, who knew the evil plastic was lurking under the lid)
• A plastic-foily wrapper that came inside a cardboard-packaged bar of Swiss chocolate. Damn! Even chocolate is turning against me!
• One little plastic cello doodad from a sandwich’s fancy toothpick
• Five little plastic t-thingys that attach sales tags to clothes
• Tampon wrappers - now some of you ladies don't understand this one....but I bought them way back in January and I gotta use 'em up before shopping for non-plastic alteratives.
  

MAJOR SINs for July, August, September 2007

• A new home and the crap-lode of plastic appliances, light switches, floorboard trim, shelving etc which comes with it. And those nasty clothing hooks.
• Paint scraper blades, packaged in plastic. Hey, I’m still desparate to get that fireplace glass clean. Nothing’s working. Not even the steamer.

Challenges ahead:

• Telephone batteries. My little portable phone is nearly dead. I can talk for about 10 seconds, then it craps out. Replacement batteries come packaged in plastic. I may have to become a recluse.
• Protein. My place for bulk tofu-buying has let me down. I discovered it’s not so ‘bulk’ after all. All they do is take a 5-pack, packaged in plastic, and break it apart. I’m not really saving any plastic buying it this way. I rebounded quickly from this disappointment and thought I had found an alterative - a fab fab FAB fresh edamame salad from the local mega-store deli that would fill up my corn-based-bio-plastic container from home, rather than using one of their plastic ones. They were cooperative several times, but turned me down ‘for health reasons’ the last time I made a protein pit stop there. I suspect I’m starting to get protein deficient now. I’ve been suffering with a cold and a lot of jaw pain (do I hear ‘root canals’) for the past two weeks, and don’t seem to be able to overcome either. But, I'm positive I'll survive another 4 months.