As I said in my last post, I went to my first local MDA event yesterday. It was in many ways a bizarre event for me personally, though all in all not a bad experience by a long ways. It was a fundraiser for the local MDA called "Locked Up" where volunteers are put in a mock jail and people take pictures of them, and people coming through the event pledge money to "bail them out" at whatever level the volunteer decides to set their bail. It was a clever idea, and made for cute pictures and what seemed to be a good time for the volunteers. The volunteers also seem to be treated very well, getting free lunch and lots of other swag for their troubles. There was an amazing amount of volunteers and people attending such a local event. It must've taken up almost half of the restaurant. My PCA and I were treated in a friendly manner, and some of the people even assumed that I was a volunteer and not a "client". It probably helped that my PCA that day was a friendly, outgoing person as I tend to not be in crowds of people, but I actually ended up talking to a mother of a 10-year-old with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. She thought that I was much younger than I was (I admittedly have a baby face) and was shocked when I told her that I was married, but I didn't feel disrespected or dehumanized in any way.

 So somehow this year I have become a member of the MDA. A "Jerry's kid". When I was younger my mother applied to the MDA for me and I was rejected because my disability was undiagnosed. My disability is still technically undiagnosed as of yet (though I know it's definitely not muscular dystrophy or ALS), but either their scope is changed or I just met the right people last month and am now magically a member of the MDA after 30 years. I am really not sure how I feel about that. As a low-level disability activist for much of my life the whole concept of being a "Jerry's kid" is somewhat repugnant, and after 30 years of having a severe disability without an identity or an organization to back me up I feel somewhat like I imagine people who are diagnosed or injured later in life feel when they suddenly have an identity that is different from the identity they have had thus far. However, the MDA does have some very good benefits that would definitely be of use to me, including the ability to meet some local people at their gatherings and events. We just moved to this area about two and half years ago and I still haven't made many local friends or developed much of a local network. I can't say that I am a particularly outgoing person when it comes to being social, but I definitely have a need for community and being social that I often neglect. Last week I got a call from the local MDA office inviting me out to a fundraiser lunch that they were putting on at the local Red Robin. They wanted "us" more involved and so are offering us free lunch. I think I will be brave and go and give them a chance. Maybe they won't make me squeamish. One never knows. I will blog more about it when I get back.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

We brought our little Grissel home almost three weeks ago. She is a pure bred English Mastif and is growing like a weed. This is her at eight weeks with Mr. Yak (which has since been shredded and needs replacing!). Both of us have fallen madly in love with her and her big floppy ears.

This is a screenshot of myself presenting (aleja was presenting as well, and that is confoozion in the background there) at the Dreams Community Fair 3 on Second Life for GimpGirl Community (gimpgirl). It went wonderfully and got one of the best turn outs for a support organization. Go us! You can see more pictures on the Flickr GimpGirl Community and read the transcript under "Event Transcripts" on our website.

YOU. WILL. PAY!

That is one happy dog!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6711071.stm

This is such a true article. I think a lot of people are brought up thinking perfection is the goal, especially in a society where there is so much neglect and abuse in families. I think a lot of kids grow up seeing atrocious behavior and don't ever learn what it means to really communicate or work shit out with other people. They just get overwhelmed by abuse, unhealthy treatment and retreat, dreaming of the perfect Prince Charming who will come rescue them from their shitty life. They vow to never act like their parents. That they'll do it right or better and find out that they have no idea how and get really frustrated and overwhelmed at what life is really like. Then blame themselves for how their life turned out, not realizing they were on a path to failure from the beginning. Its really sad and I see it time and time again. In my own life as well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6699441.stm

Ok, the death penalty may be a bit harsh, and it is really sad it took American pets dying for them to take any action when their own people were dying in many different ways, but I can understand why China did it. I mean, they are in some serious eat crow and kiss ass time right now to avoid some pretty serious trade embargos that could threaten their already shaky economy. They needed to send a fairly serious message that would make headline news. Now will they actually carry through with the seniment behind the sentence and not just use this as a scapegoat? Who knows.

The Nation Article

So, this may seem highly pathetic, but I am SO fucking happy because I decided this week to start getting water delivery!! I was so fucking sick of trying to conserve our good water (which we either had to haul ourselves or get khinderer to graciously help). I have enough issues with drinking enough without worrying that I'll end up drinking gag-inducing tap water. I was really worried about having to pay $30-40/mo for water delivery, especially if I wanted to get the cooler dispenser (which I REALLY wanted because I LOVE cold water but hate putting it in the fridge where it ends up tasting weird and archangelq likes room temperature water). So I did some research and called all over and found these people who gave me a FREE cooler, FOUR free 5 gallon bottles, DIDN'T charge bottle deposits, have NO minimums to buy, AND have the cheapest prices and best filtering method in town! Squee!! That cuts the price in half and that is SO totally worth the price! Plus they are nice and deliver every two weeks instead of monthly. I have water. SO so happy.:) :)

I *finally* got my mailbox down below 500!! Over 3,500 emails processed and deleted this weekend. Yay!! Thank goodness for pine. ..Or thank the UW anyways. *le sigh*

I'm gunna be an auntie!! archangelq is going to be an uncle! Yay!! I had a dream that my sister-in-law had a boy and it grew up and had long hair and played guitar and was very sweet. Now she is finally pregnant after trying for a while. They'll be giving birth while living in the lakefront mansion they are housesitting while they rebuild their treed house. Not too shabby a way to enter the world. Woot!!

Interesting disability video...

Ok, so I suck at games, but I find this highly amusing...

( Game Results... )

Oquawka the troll!!! Hehe.

So, yesterday I had hair all the way down to my waist. Today it doesn't even reach my ears in places. I chopped it all off! Hahaha!

In other news, my ears can hear within normal ranges according to a very tiny, spunky Audiologist. However, she wants me to get a central auditory processing evaluation done because when I really struggle with hearing is when there is ANY background noise (if you ever wondered why I'm really quiet and unresponsive in restaurants or group gatherings, that is part of it). I get to go in to NW Portland for that eval at Good Sam, oddly enough. I wonder if it is the same chain as the Good Sam I practically grew up in.

( D&D Meme... )

You're not a hoopy frood

You thought you were really with it and in with your younger colleagues but they just laugh at you because you can't hear beyond this! The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 14.1kHz

Test your own hearing at Ultrasonic ringtones

Well, I'm glad I'm going in for a hearing test next week.:>