Crips Should Have Equal Opportunity to SEX

No, I'm not talking about prostitution, but I do have very strong views on crips and prostitution. Take a look. In fact, I'm not even talking about sex at all. I just wanted a title that'd get your attention :-) I'm talking about sex stores. Specifically, the sex store down the street. It has been in business longer then the 4 years I've lived in town and ever since they've been open (well before that actually) there's been this step to get in the door. A step that keeps wheelers from being able to enjoy their wares. Now a bunch of places on that strip of road have a step or 3 to get in, however more places have sloped their entrances without causing havoc to the sidewalk (that's one of the 2 main complaints to completing a pretty easy renovation. The other is people in wheelchairs don't come in here anyway. I wonder...).

Man do I wish the sex store would fix there entrance. Not that I would go in there, the place doesn't impress me at all, but it's the principal of the matter. It's the principal that crips should be able to rent dirty movies or buy dirty magazines or vibrators just like everybody else. Geez, I'm totally preaching to the choir here but sometimes a crip just wants to enjoy herself and I don't want anybody putting up barriers to my being able to should I choose!!!! ARGH!!!!

Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. It's something that's been on my nerves for 3 years, ever since I went in there with my 2 closest friends. I hadn't ever paid attention to the place before so the fact that there was this step outside hadn't registered. Thankfully we had ventured out with just my quickie that my friend and I had decided to share as opposed to both of us being in chairs. So I got up and the other friend hauled it into the store for us. However, I can't remember the last time I went somewhere with my quickie and I'm not about to lift a 200+ lb powerchair into the store. I could walk there if I really wanted to, but I doubt I'd have it in me to make the trek home afterward, and even if I did I don't want to support an establishment that spreads ableist assumptions that crips are asexual. WE'RE NOT!!!!

Why do I bring this up? I bring this up for a reason that has absolutely nothing to do with sex at all. I bring this up because I went to an acupuncturist last week. An acupuncturist who is also a physiatrist (NOT a mental health practitioner although sounds similar, click the link to see what one does, I highly recommend that every gimp finds a good one). She says she can do something for my knee that doesn't involve injecting toxic chemicals into it every 6mos (botox). I wasn't originally going there for my knee, in fact it never occurred to me to acupuncture my f---ed up knee, but OMG I'm all for less toxic chemicals.

Her working on my knee means me massaging my scar tissue every day. Can do. Will do. No prob. SUPER EXCITED actually (although not so super excited at the prospect of now having TWO physiatrists bugging the crap out of me). She said to use lotion, massage oil, whatever, even olive oil, cooking oil. I went to a talk on infant massage given at a child life conference and they also mentioned the olive/cooking oil thing. Apparently olive oil is really good for your skin, learned something new.

[image description: olive oil being poured onto a plate]

I gave the olive oil some thought but using my left hand to pour it into my right hand didn't thrill me. Turning that wrist in such a way as to not spill it on my clothes would be a bit hard. And although there is a better chance of keeping it in my left hand it's harder to hold the bottle with my right. It's a lose-lose. Olive oil is just too slippery and I'm afraid of it staining my clothes. So then what kind of lotion do I really want? Do I want something with the consistency of lotion or do I really want something more slippery? Are there things on the market with an in between consistency?

You know who might have something like that? You know who might know? THE SEX STORE. The sex store I can't get into (see the connection now?). I repeat my AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! I ended up going to Nordstroms Rack and getting vanilla creme hand & body lotion made by the Simple Pleasures line that is carried there, which I just LOVE anyway (I've been using their giant bottles of body wash for YEARS). I probably would have gotten that in the end anyway, but that's not the point. The point is that I want equal access to the sex store! Their location 3 towns up is accessible I believe, but I won't shop there. It's the principal of the matter...

Something I Always Wonder About (Wordless Wednesday)

Chicken (it's a Savage Chickens cartoon): Everybody hates me!
Freud: I don't hate you.
Freud: But to be fair, I get paid not to.

From Shalom Sesame

Found on Two Women Blogging

Can anyone translate for me? (the versus, not the chorus of course)

Wordless Wednesday (Sort Of)

Life Makes no Sense!

What can you do about it???

A) Become ENRAGED. (RARR!)
B) Freak out! (AUGH!)
C) Roll with it. (SIGH!)

I LOVE my Facebook Newsfeed

If you're my FB friend, go read my latest FB note. Right after writing this I clicked home and the following video was posted. Coincidence? Thanks Erika for posting! Might send it to said professor.

One Sentence Journal

From clicking I got to this post about one sentence journaling. I feel like it is a concept somewhere along the lines of Thankful Thursday (the official blog), although different. As I'm coming to the end of my goal of Thankful Thursdays for 2009 (I have 28 out of the 39 I set for myself and 16 more Thursdays in the year) I wonder if I want to switch it up a bit and work on one sentence journaling in 2010. I would write one sentence a day and post all the ones for the week in one post every Thursday (to maintain consistency). What do you think?

[image description an Anne Taintor journal with the quote "medicated and motivated." I have the mug and apparently this design comes on all sorts of things like pill boxes (duh), key chains (I want one), and even flasks (?!?!?!)]

Oh, and PLEASE go VOTE for GILLETTE (the hospital's official site). We've suddenly, tragically dropped to 15th place. I thank you for your 10 votes every day.

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful because...

• Gillette has jumped all the way from 28th place to 13th! VOTE GILLETTE!!!
• I have not had 1 panic attack or nightmare these 1st 2 weeks of school.
• I'm learning that peer support is just as helpful as paying someone and way more convenient--you don't have to wait a week to see a peer!
• the 48 runs on time.
• I found someplace I might be able to ride (if they call me back and I find out it's cheap enough).
• I learned a lot about video games & infant massage/relaxation techniques at the Hopkins CL conference (& got credit for a class assignment for attending).
• I finally got the balls to unplug the TV last night.
• I am able to play internet radio right now.
• my chair still hasn't died in the middle of the street... someday soon...
• of my WONDERFUL apartment.

Quote of the week: "The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is like the difference between lighting and the lighting bug." ~Mark Twain

Oh, and Sept is Leukemia/Lymphoma/Myeloma awareness month according to the LLS as posted on my newsfeed.

Some Child Lifey Things

Chicago Hospitals Hold Pre-Surgery Tours to Put Kids at Ease

Glad I'm not the only person in this world that thinks hospitals are fun, although the surgery part, not so much... Seriously though, this is something that is becoming the norm but is not quite the norm yet. You know your kids (if you have kids that is). If this is something that is not offered to you that you think would be helpful, by all means, DEMAND IT!

Swine Flu Poses Risk to Kids with Neurological Conditions

What about adults with neurodevelopmental conditions? Should I be worried too?

Gameroom Give-Away

Microsoft has partnered with Children’s Miracle Network to provide three Children’s Miracle Network pediatric hospitals an Ultimate Gameroom experience - and they need YOUR HELP to decide which three lucky hospitals will receive this great giveaway and better yet, YOU could win an Xbox 360 as well!

Cast your vote for the Children's Miracle Network hospital of your choice, each time you vote you will be entered to win an Xbox 360 - the more you vote, the better your chances of winning!

You get 10 votes per day each day from now until October 16th. Vote all 10 for one hospital or spread them around. Not to trash talk Hopkins (it really isn't my goal) but I know for a 100% certainty that they have so many XBOXs that their IT guys are on a 1st name basis with guys from microsoft. So if you're in Maryland, DON'T vote for hopkins. They just got a whole bunch of new Xboxs through projectHOPE for a research study. They don't need any more. Vote GILLETTE in MN. You can't understand what Gillette does for kids/this room will do for kids unless you've been a kid there.

A Late Thankful Thursday

This week I'm thankful because...

• the weather was a nice 78 degrees today while I waited outside for TWO HOURS for my paratransit pickup after my shrink appointment this afternoon.
• both my shrink and I feel my life is hopeful right now.
• today I was told "You look a lot better then you did in May."
• I got a friend to agree to go with me to on our own next week which I think will be helpful for her and it didn't take too much work on my part.
• yesterday I ran into a friend who had graduated I didn't know was back for grad school.
• I have 3 coloring books and markers and colored pencils.
• I cannot remember the last time I had a panic attack or took baclofen or valium.
• my chair has not yet died in the middle of the street.
• 'new building' has a lot of plugs for said dying chair.
• New Mobility has kick ass articles such as last months I already linked to, and this one for this month.

Quote of the Week: "No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick."

Greg Walloch: Another CP Comic

Found this on my newsfeed, posted by a fellow ADAPTer

Therapy (of the Mind Kind)

Yesterday I left a comment on this post at Everyone Needs Therapy. The post itself didn't lend to me commenting at all. I felt compelled to comment about people's comments. Start reading peoples comments over there. The discussion is always amazing. The comment starts like this:

I've been in & out of therapy for almost 2 decades. I'm on my 8th shrink.

[image description: a guy up on a ladder yells 'HELLO HELLO' into someone's empty head]

This is not something I'm not used to saying (oftentimes to myself)-- I'm on my 8th shrink. It's the "in & out of therapy for almost two decades" part that hit me. TWO DECADES?!?!?! WTF???? I'm only 24 for pete's sake. If we add up all my stints (some people I saw less then a year, some multiple years) I'm guessing it adds up to 12 years. 12 years=HALF MY LIFE!!!

Half my life, and what do I have to show for it? Sometimes I think nothing at all, sometimes I think something--something small. Sometimes I think all the rest of my time doesn't count except for the last two years. I think about how I completely wasted my time with half of them (about 3 or 4 years). I think about how for about 6 years (broken up into 2 stints, same shrink) I was talked at for an hr a week. I'm not sure I got anything from that dude for the first 3 or 4 years.

Sometimes I think the last two years are going painfully slowly. I think that the last year managed to erase the year before it. I think about how I wasn't anxious at all 2 years ago (it's in black & white in my chart) and how now, well now I've been known to be so nauseous just the thought of food makes me feel like I'm going to throw up. Now I've been known to wake up in the middle of the night in so much physical pain that I end up in tears. So sometimes (like today) I have to remind myself of this. At least I'm not THERE.