Me, me, me

Yes, I am actually going to talk about me! So exciting. I know you are all a-tingle.

And what can I say? Life has been going along pretty well. Way back last December, I got new orthotics, and they continue to make my everyday almost normal. Seriously, if I ever meet the doctor who designed them, I will kiss him for re-aligning my legs so nicely. I still have pain flare-ups where I wake up to every single joint on fire and spend the day trying not to touch things, which is really, really unworkable, no matter how much I don’t want to touch anything. Stupid material world needing to be interacted with in a material way. But the daily sick pain in my legs is gone and I’ve even begun to rebuild muscle. So sweet! I am grateful for this.

I moved back in June, and thus needed to get a new doctor. The new one is OK. He isn’t much into ongoing management of conditions, though, so next time I see him, I need to arrange to get an allergist and a pain management doctor. Maybe a rheumatologist, also. The bright side is, new doctor is completely uninterested in ordering tests for complaints I don’t have. The last doctor I had was all about the tests, and this was a sticking point since I strongly feel that, if it isn’t bothering me, don’t worry about it and let’s worry instead about what is bothering me.

What else? I feel like I am stuck without progress in learning Japanese, though I did manage, with a lot of internet help, to translate a short passage recently. I need to do that more often so that I don’t forget the meanings I learn. Still, even if I learn new words, I have very bad grammar so that makes it hard to pull the sense out of a passage.

I’m currently teaching a class in addition to my regular job, with the hope that maybe I can pay on my stupid student loan. But since that is semester by semester, there’s no assuredness there. The law on student loans really needs to change. Right now, it is pure usury with those earning the least ending up paying exorbitant amounts for the crime of not having been able to find a decent job fast enough.

Adios, blogger; hello, wordpress

After two months of not being able to log into my blogger account or comment on friends’ blogspots, and this not even being the first time I’ve had that trouble, I have had it. Maybe WordPress will be less user unfriendly. It would have to really try hard to be worse.

I’ve migrated most of Yet Another Never Updated Blog over here, and changed the name just because I felt like it. Perhaps the updates will be less unreliable now that I have switched.

New comment policy

I’m sorry to do this, but the increased number of spambot comment submissions make it necessary. From now on, you will need to log in with your Blogger or Open ID account in order to leave a comment. Real comments from real humans who have something decent to say (as opposed to trolls and spammers) will continue to be accepted.

computer woes

I won’t be online much for a while until I can get this dang computer to work consistently. So, please, I’m not ignoring you or unappreciative of you all. I just can’t get my power jack to work.

Pass along

Ooh, I have a pass-along award! This is the sort where someone tells you they like your blog, and then you pass the honor on to more people. It’s a good way of learning about other blogs, as well as of letting folks know you think highly of them. One Sick Mother gave me this one, a Premio Dardos award:

The Prémio Dardos is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

Now, who to pick, who to pick. So many good choices, and only ten spots to fill. Trying not to duplicate OSM, here’s the list:

• Moon Phases–Lisa writes engagingly about making her way through life after a work-acquired injury
• Mind, Body and Soul–the very best medical blog I read
• Frida Writes–musings on personal life and the world, through the lens of disability
• Bad Cripple–William is one of them thar uppity cripple types
• Through Myself and Back Again–always enjoyable and thought-provoking
• Cara Makes–a craft blog with stories
• Andrea’s Buzzing About–science, work, family, disability, art, humor
• En Tequila Es Verdad–atheism, politics, and lolcats
• The Old Foodie–astounding recipes from the past, of the sort that make you hold tight your Betty Crocker
• Media Dis & Dat–simply the most comprehensive blog on disability news

Shall I call it pain?

It’s creeping up on 1 am, and I don’t know if I will be able to sleep or not. I was having waves of (?)pain(?) flow through me. I’ve taken half a Darvocet in the hopes that my body will now leave me alone enough to let me sleep. I know, half a Darvocet doesn’t sound like anything, but indulge me my stubborn insistance that maybe this time, I can get away with it.

I put question marks around the word “pain” because I’m not sure if pain is the right word. It’s a terrible feeling–cramps, nausea, sundering…. I was actually moaning in protest, “No, no, no.” But while so uncomfortable that I found myself trying to move away from myself, I’m still not sure that pain is the right word.

I’m supposed to be keeping a sleep diary for a couple of months, to see if there is any connection with the migraines, and also because I get sleep attacks. I’ve never been able to sleep really well, and for the first time, I am wondering if I get these paroxysms while I’m sleeping and if that isn’t what wakes me up over and over again.

R!M knows just how I feel

Girl, Dislocated asks me what Raaaahr! Monster is.

R!M is a felt soft sculpture (that’s “doll for grown ups”) who understands just how I feel.

I fell in love the moment my eyes met R!M’s. You know how, as an adult, you stifle how you feel and just tough it out through your frustrations and pains? Maybe you don’t. Until I got R!M, I hadn’t realized how distant I was from my feelings. R!M is small enough to travel in my purse and very light, so I’m not weighed down (I can’t carry extra weight easily; it hurts my shoulders). And R!M made going to the museum much more fun. I don’t think I’d have been able to ignore my swelling knees and fainting feeling half as well without R!M to distract me by posing for pictures. I can’t take pix of MD because, the silly girl, camera flashes in her face trigger her seizures.

I know MD has some larger monsters, that I think she is asking $20-$30+postage for, depending on how complex they are. I will ask her if she still has some purse-sized ones, which are simpler and smaller. I think she may also have some mermaids left from her last round of soft sculpturing.

I have to say, it’s great for me to have a monster who can help express fierce emotions. R!M reflects my feelings, and is also handy for a cuddle. I mean, I do have a bear, but she’s long-since retired from being my emotional proxy and in much worse shape than I am, the poor dear. She’s currently hanging on a wall, striking fear into the hearts of kith and kin. My sister says she looks like she’s been crucified. But really, Theodora is just keeping an eye (she’s only got one) on things. She’s happy to leave blogging and trekking all over the place and getting shoved out of bed and stuck between cushions to R!M.

Meme pile-up

Via Kay at Gimp Parade: By the end of 2007, I will send a tangible, physical gift to each of the first five people to comment here, so long as each of those five people are willing to make the same offer in their own LJ or blog.

Be sure to email me at worldzend at gmail.com with your snailmail address so I can actually send something. I’m going to wrap for posting this week, and then send randomly. This holiday season, you can have the gift of something completely out of the blue.

Support All the Troops

Jeffrey at TopatoCo has a great T-shirt for sale. The shirts have the slogan “Support All the Troops,” with the wheelchair emblem stick figure wearing a military cap. A dollar from each shirt goes to Fisher House, which provides living space for family of injured troops.

Orders are only being taken until November 17, so don’t dillydally!

Another happy update

After BEAT’s campaign to get AirAsia to truly live up to its motto, “Now Everyone Can Fly,” the airline has announced sweeping new plans for inclusion. I especially like the frank manner in which AirAsia has admitted that it was wrong: A banner hung at the venue of the public announcement has the international symbol for disability access and a reworked slogan, “Now Everyone Can Fly, including the Disabled Guests.” Congratulations, BEAT, and way to go, AirAsia.