a different perspective

You did WHAT?!


Because of a problem with my foot, I've been wearing this fashionable Herman Munster-boot, and have been using a wheelchair for the past couple of months, and will be for several more months. (Details may or may not follow.) Using a wheelchair has certainly afforded me a new perspective on things. Benefit #1: I never have to look for a place to sit down. Irritation #1: Why do people suddenly think that because I am in a wheelchair I have gone deaf, or am otherwise "slow?" I've never had quite so many people speak s l o w l y and clearly to me before. Benefit #2: I get parking at the front of the lot. Irritation #2: What moron of a planner puts the disabled parking spaces over here, but the nearest cutout in the curb (the little rampy-thing) is 100 yards away, over there? Isn't that counter-intuitive? While I'm at it, Irritation #3: the people who design handicapped-accessable things, be they doors, ramps, bathrooms or parking should have to USE whatever it is, from a chair. Designing it on paper and walking up and down a ramp is not the same as wheeling up and down the ramp, believe me! Same thing for clearances - while you may have made the door wide enough for the chair to get through, did you take into account that my arms and hands are on the outside of the chair, and that's what makes it move? I can't just roll up to a doorway, and then will myself through it, I have to spin the wheels, and that requires some extra clearance for my hands. Benefit #3: my legs no longer get tired. Irritation #4: my arms and shouders get tired instead.

When I was a kid, and had Forrest Gump-style leg braces, I remember saying at one point that using a wheelchair would be much cooler, or at least easier. Granted, it took 35 years for that wish to come true, but I was wrong. The leg braces were easier. At least I could stretch.

We'll see if my mood improves as I go thru surgery (again) and the healing process (again) - though this time, hopefully without the post-operative infection.

Now watch your toes....

I have no idea who she is, but I want to go to a party with this woman!

Misc. Ravings
So today I was at a meeting of health professionals (meeting on: Variant, Atypical and Resistant HIV Surveillance. Sounds fun, huh?) At the end of the meeting when the presenter asked for feedback, an Oromo doctor said how important it is to have accurate translations of the materials. The presenter agreed, and the guy then repeated himself, adding that "(he is) not only a medical doctor, but an expert on the language" and then repeated - again - how important it is to have accurate translations provided. Once again the presenter agreed, and asked him if he would be willing to review the translation. This uncorked a ten minute diatribe on (yes, you guessed right!) the importance of accurate translation. At this point, people in theroom were audibly rolling their eyes. We all agreed that it is important and we get it! Now let it go! Because of this man's single-minded rant, no one else was able to provide feedback. Why must people beat an issue to death when they are in a public forum?

What?!?

So, it's been how many years? And I've finally caved in and started a blog. I don't know exactly what I'll be blogging, or if I will even keep the thing current. But we'll find out, I guess!

At the moment, a few things have rattled to the front of my mind:

1.) WTF is going on in this world, that the rabid-right think that they have the right - nay, the DUTY to inflict their beliefs on EVERYONE? Not just in the US, but around the entire world. I seem to remember Freedom of Religion being, oh, THE FIRST AMENDMENT IN THE BILL OF RIGHTS! (Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.) Some of you may have caught during the last Presidential Election the statement by more than a few RRW's (Rabid Right Wingers) that "the Constitution promises freedom of religion, not freedom from religion!" This is so wrong, it makes my head hurt.

I will say it slowly, so that even the most dense can understand:

Freedom OF religion would inherently INCLUDE freedom FROM religion. "Freedom" means that EVERY person - even if they happen to be brown, or ::gasp:: Muslim, or atheist or agnostic, or Pentecostal or Unitarian or Quaker or whatever - EVERY person has the right to choose what he or she wants to believe in or not believe in; the right to choose whether or not they want to be part of the social network of a church, or the social network at the corner bar. Other regimes have tried to dictate what religious beliefs are acceptable, and what everyone must think, and from that we have the examples of World War II, Jonestown, and the Manson Family. 'Nuff said.