March 2006 – A Writer In A Wheelchair

>Questions and Answers and a “Friday Sixteen”

>I almost did a list of all of the plays and musicals I’ve seen at the theatre yesterday for my T13. But, I didn’t think I’d seen anything like 13 so I did my memories of my childhood instead. Then last night I got curious and made a list of what I had seen.

And so, a Friday Sixteen:

Barnum

Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Rent

Grease (three times)

Rocky Horror (twice)

Fame

Sing-a-Long-a-Abba

Chicago

Lord of The Dance

The Full Monty

Saturday Night Fever

Oliver

Bugsy Malone

Cats

An Inspector Calls

Phantom of The Opera on Ice

Answers to Comments…

No, I never got to meet Tony Hart. You’d have thought Sir Jim’ll Fix It would have jumped at having a skinny little wheelchair user on his show but…
I can’t remember how old I was when I figured out about the Pillow Fairy. I think I might have been seven or eight but…

Lego pictures… my mum might have some but I don’t. I should ask her really. I can remember going back a second time a few days later because we loved it so much and we checked out the board of previous winners in the lego competition room and were shocked to see I won. My dad caught that on the video camera. And at LegoLand in Denmark (I dunno about the one in Windsor, never been) you can send a postcard and it gets a special Lego postmark… we each sent ourselves one and I wrote “I won, I won, I won… Wow!”

Chalet School books – I still love them and I’ve bought a few of the ones I’d not read off of ebay lately. They’re still good 16 years later.

>Thursday Thirteen About My Childhood

Thirteen Things about My Childhood

1…. I was born six weeks early and was in the SCBU for a while
2…. I had to have an NG tube then and pulled it out when I was a few days old – my first mischeif!
3… I was dx with CP when I was two and a half
4… I had three surgeries, the last when I was about 9.
5… I always went to mainstream schools but I had a degree of support there
6… I started horse riding lessons when I was 3 and kept them up till I was 18
7… I won a lego building competition at LegoLand Denmark when I was 8… I made a picture of a camel
8… I loved going to stay with my Gran and Grandad, there was a present under my pillow every night from the “Pillow Fairy”
9…. At 7 I learned to swim and I’ve been a waterbaby ever since
10… My dream job was a journalist
11…Most of my childhood memories are of being happy and loved.
12… I wrote to Jim’ll Fix It and asked to meet Tony Hart (art guy from TV)
13… I loved to read from a young age, Chalet School by Elinor M Brent-Dyer was my favourite.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Jane 9. Melanie Morales
2. IvoryFrog 10. Kontan
3. YellowRose 11. LibraGirl
4. Lingerie Lady 12. Laura
5. Courtney 13. Tanya
6. Kimmy 14. Elle
7. Kel
8. Shi

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>Flutterbys!

>I just went quote hunting, as I like to do. I was trying to find one to base a part of my book around… a quote about butterfly’s as the ones on this layout have inspired me. As usual however, I didn’t just find one… I found many. And so: Flutterby Quotes!

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun.
And find your shoulder to light on.
To bring you luck, happiness and riches.
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
~~Irish Blessing

“To make a wish come true,
whisper it to a Butterfly.
Upon these wings it will be taken to
heaven and granted, for they are the
messengers of the Great Spirit.”

~~Native American Legend

“Happiness can be as elusive as a
fluttering butterfly, But as easily
attainable as a crawling caterpillar
Put aside the next and let it happen.”

~~Unknown

“A good book is as marvelous as a butterfly in flight.”

~~Unknown

“I do not know whether I was then a man
dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I
am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.”

~~Chang-Tzu

“Just living is not enough,” said the butterfly,
“One must have sunshine, freedom,
and a little flower.”

~~Hans Christian Anderson

“Happiness can be as elusive as a
fluttering butterfly, But as easily
attainable as a crawling caterpillar
Put aside the next and let it happen.”

~~Unknown

“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued,
is always just beyond your grasp, but which,
if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”

~~Nathaniel Hawthorne

>Sunrise Over Uluru

I wish I could claim that I designed this template but whilst I can do HTML with some sembalance of success, everytime I attempt CSS it goes horribly wrong. So I am using a new theme which I found on the wordpress site. It’s very, very me and I love it so it’s all good! And I’m sure the image isn’t of Uluru but it’s what it made me think of and so…
It reminds me of a sunrise or maybe a sunset. And that makes me think of going to watch the sunrise over Uluru (Aboriginal name for Ayers Rock) and then going back later in the day to watch the sunset. That was quite possibly the most beautiful sight I have ever seen, or one of them at least.

I hated having to get up so early and I moaned about it. But it was so nice… Uluru really is an amazing sight to behold.

Wow, that was seven years ago that we spent that December “down under”… it feels like yesterday. But, I turned 17 when I was out there and now I am 24… and in that way it feels like a lifetime ago.

I want to go back, I really, really, really do. Australia and the Australian people with their “No Worries, Mate” attitude is probably the best place I’ve visited. Even in the middle of the outback at Uluru they had a fully accessible disabled toilet and if I asked people to hold a door open or pass me something I couldn’t reach they really did say “No worries”

I wish I could write well enough to capture it’s greatness well enough and do it the justice it deserves.

I can’t, so I’ll just say this – words don’t cut it – you just have to visit.

>A Question About Complaining

I think I must have my old friend writer’s block’s younger sister, Blogger’s Block. I have three different topics that I want to write about (although one I want to wait until the situation which made me want to write it is resolved in a few days) and I can’t make my thoughts make sense for any of them.

It’s muchly annoying me.

A question for my fellow Brit’s out there – Do you think that it is very “British” (i.e. is it a cultural thing) to want to avoid making a complaint and causing a fuss?

At work the other day we were talking about wanting to deal with clients quickly and not keep them waiting (especially on the phone) and I had it put to me that that is a very “British” way of thinking and I need to learn to stop that.

And then yesterday I wrote a letter of complaint to my care agency (this is related to the topic I want to talk about in a few days) – I know that I had grounds to complain but my mum told me not too. Which seems lately to be an ongoing theme with her when it comes to problems/issues lately. And it took me several days to make the decision to complain.

It made me wonder if not wanting to make a fuss is a cultural thing – “Stiff upper lip” as they say?

So I wrote the letter and Sarah read it over for me. Then I gave it to yesterdays carer to hand in to the office this afternoon. All of last night and this morning I was debating whether to text my carer and ask her not to give it in. I wanted too, i really really did. But i held steady and made my complaint.

I know that complaining was the best thing to do, not only for me but for any other clients who may or may not have had similar issues with my care agency but for whatever reason either can’t or won’t complain. I know too many people like that, I used to be one of them. And a big part of me still wants to be one of them.

A bigger part of me however (my social conscious) knows that making the complaint was the right thing to do. And I’m going to benefit from that in the long run.

My brain knows that’s all that matters and I’m proud of myself for not doing the “British” thing and letting it go. But I wish my heart was happier about it.

Do you think that it is very “British” (i.e. is it a cultural thing) to want to avoid making a complaint and causing a fuss?

>101 in 1001: Progress Report

>I did number 38 – apply to be a reader book reviewer for New Woman on the 22nd, I’ve not heard anything but hey that’s one knocked off the list!

I wore glitter on Friday but as the goal was “wear more glitter” (number 90) I’m not ticking that off yet!

I wrote one letter of complaint and I have a letter praising good service planned (96 and 97) so those are started too.

and I finished another book on my “to read” list (number 80)

So it’s going, slowly but it’s going all the same.

>It seemed a fairly ordinary night…

Last night my Mum and I went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Oxford.

It was the second time I’ve seen it and the first time Mum saw it. She wants to go back though so I guess she liked it. I enjoyed it more this time because I wasn’t a Virgin (people who are seeing Rocky Horror for the first time are known as virgins) and so I knew more about it like to shout Slut whenever Janet’s name is mentioned and Asshole whenever Brad’s name is mentioned.

And as the pictures show I dressed up this time (click to view larger, as always). Mum dressed up too but she would kill me if I posted those pictures here. We went into Borders before we went to the theatre so we could go to the loo and as we were leaving there several people commented on our outfits, which was pretty cool. I knew people would dress up but Mum was in a right panic about it so she was relieved to see some very daring people in costumes as we got closer to the theatre. I was relieved too because it meant she shut up, LOL. I’d say we were kinda middle of the road, some people didn’t dress up and some people went a lot more dressed up. There were some pretty daring men in basques and suspenders/fishnet stockings too. Gotta Respect that!

I think the main thing with Rocky Horror isn’t the plot, the story line is weird and chaotic and it’s hard to explain. It’s the AP that makes it what it is (AP = Audience Participation). The callbacks and the costumes and waving torches during certain songs etc is what makes it what it is and thats why I love it. A lot of the callbacks are rude and/or sexual which I’m call with but my mother being who she is didn’t catch half of them and had me repeat them for her – repeating very sexual comments to my mother was not something I found fun.

I’m going again when it comes back here.

But for now…

Let’s Do The Time Warp Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>A Thursday Thirteen about CAB

Thirteen Things about my job

1…. I am a volunteer adviser for Citizen’s Advice Bureau

2. To start with I was an admin assistant there for a couple of months.

3. I started there on Sept 1st 2004

4. And I started my adviser training at the end of October that year, I think.

5. I’ve been advising clients since May last year.

6. I’m still training but I hope to get my certificate soon.

7. I have advised about lots of different subjects, the main ones being divorce, debt, benefits, employment, immigration, neighbour disputes, housing.

8. I never know what my day is going to be like when I’m there.

9. I prefer to do face to face client advice.

10. A lot of the time I advise on the phone which I struggle with.

11. I’ve always been something of a passionate activist but CAB has made me more of one.

12. I’ve learnt a lot of valuable lessons about myself and about life whilst working at CAB

13. I love my job (most of the time, at least)

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Ardice

2. Shi

(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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>Two Months!

>(another cross-post from www.pounds2go.net)
Today marks two months since I took control, starting focussing on health and start losing some weight.

Today I am focussing on what I have gained (and lost!) in those two months and how I hope to keep going for as long it takes.

My jeans are falling off

I fitted into a pair of jeans I haven’t worn in well over a year.

I’m beginning to have a neck again

I’ve got one less chin but still a few more than I should have. That’s OK, I’m working on the rest of them!
I’ve lost 15 lb and something like 7.5% of my starting bodyweight (started at 14st 4, currently 13 stone 3 or 200 lb to 184 lb).

I’ve gained the ability to sit in front of the mirror in the hairdressers and not feel like I’m the fattest person ever.

I’ve gained the ability to fit my clothes better

I’ve gained some control over my eating habits. Hopefully more will come but even if it doesn’t that’s ok.

I’ve gained an understanding of how strong I really can be.

I know that turning down some chocolate can be just as good as eating it.

I’ve gained an insight into just how true the saying “Nothing Tastes As Good As Being In Control Feels” is.

I’ve found out that I can do this

I’ve decided that I will do this and I have.

Today I am celebrating these two months and preparing for the long months to come as I continue losing it.

Today I am celebrating the fact that the journey may be long and the road hard but I will lose these remaining lb and I will get there.