Today's Challenge, Tomorrow's Acceptance

Today's challenge is reaching tomorrow's acceptance that my body's limitations will cause me to RSVP "maybe" to every invitation from a friend.

Today's challenge is reaching tomorrow's acceptance that sometimes I can...and sometimes I can't.





Today's challenge is reaching tomorrow's acceptance that there will always be a pile of papers to sort through.

But I try not to overlook the battles, no matter how small or how large, where I come out victorious:

Throwing out expired medicine is therapeutic. 

Dressing up every so often is fun, especially Halloween! 

Happy Friday!
xoxo

International Walk To School Day

"Despite the clear public health and safety problems presented by pedestrians being hit by cars, pedestrian safety is still neglected in the United States. Little federal spending goes to protect the most vulnerable road users. Most traffic safety programs are aimed at ensuring the safety of motorists, and too often pedestrians are considered at fault in accidents." (http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=156)

     Why not turn International Walk To School Day into a lifestyle? The line of SUVs in front of our local elementary drop off/pickup is usually about a half mile long (and I'm not even counting the SUVs that try to cut in line by doing crazy maneuvers). For the most part, these families live within a mile radius of the school. What gives? Here are some interesting statistics directly from AmericaWalks.org. I am shocked at the decline of moving legs.

• Less than 6% of Americans’ trips are on foot, yet 13% of all traffic deaths involve pedestrians.
• Each year 6,000 pedestrians are killed and 90,000 are injured. One in five is a child.
• Among students living within 1 mile of school, the percentage of walkers fell from 90% to 31% between 1969 and 2001." (http://americawalks.org/resources/walking-facts/) 
• Parents driving children to school comprise 20-30% of morning traffic congestion in urban areas.
• You are 36 times more likely to be killed walking than driving a car.
• Almost 60% of pedestrian deaths occur in places where no crosswalk is available.
• Being hit and killed by a car is now the second leading cause of fatal injury and the fourth leading cause of hospitalized injury for California children aged 5-12.

     I was hit by a minivan when I was 19 years old. I crossed in a crosswalk. The person admitted he wasn't looking and only saw people crossing when it was too late to brake. For those of you who don't what that feels like: it's scary, your life flashes before your eyes, you're pretty sure you are going to die (especially the part where you go flying through the air), and it also fucking hurts. The driver's lack of respect for his vehicle's power and lack of attention to pedestrians crossing the street probably has stayed with him a little, but I am reminded of it every fucking second of my existence. Some days my arthritis and fibromyalgia are so bad that I can't do much at all, let alone walk. 

     If you are healthy and able, you should skip the car as often as you can and walk on your two legs. I guarantee you will miss being able to walk when your body tells you that you aren't allowed to walk anymore. Perhaps people's respect toward pedestrians would also improve if erratic drivers had the experience of "trying not to die" each time they set foot onto concrete.

Vehicles are killing machines. It's time to take them a little more seriously. 

     
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/photos/tn-gnp-me-walk-pg,0,755379.photogallery

Therapy In Disguise: The Brain Drain

     There is nothing more therapeutic than messing around on my computer.  I can play video games.  I can be a hero or an asshole in The Walking Dead Game.  I can be a jerky merc or a humble hero in [Insert Alien/Zombie Invasion Tower Defense Title Here].

Watch out for those high-range power-sucking frigate thingies. Or whatever. 

     I can look up information on experimental music, 

like John Cage's Aria.  

...which inspires me to compose some crazy music if I have a second or two.

~~~~~~~~~~~

     I have endless possibilities for how to entertain my brain.  I can look up mindless factoids and additional information and cool videos from something I discovered through StumbleUpon.com .

I mean, who knew that places like these exist? 

     I use Google Earth to find random places such as the 

giant rabbit art display in Italy's Piedmont region  

or to look at the gigantic Richat Structure in Mauritania. 

   
     Wow, I could go on and on. And I will.  There's also the abandoned city settled on a coal mine that has been been burning since Memorial Day 1962.

   

     There are also some dudes who are crazy enough to film our diminishing glaciers.  They managed to capture the largest glacier calving on film. This one is seriously jaw-dropping. If you have Netflix, check out "Chasing Ice" and proceed to shut-your-mouth-you-look-like-a-codfish and have an extra Valium on hand.

   

     Filling my head with information seems to soothe my head and fill a void, that aching need, for knowledge.

Body & Mind: Mentally Minced

Crossword three-down says ennui
But do they really know what it means?

Sitting there thinking, thinking, thinking
Sitting there drinking, drinking, drinking

Trying to separate logic and hate
And all the connections your mind creates

Walking around grieving, grieving, grieving
Smiles without meaning, meaning, meaning

Knowledge seems infinite
And, too, the academic ascent a struggle

You reach out, hoping to not allow the limitations of your body
To limit your eternal yearning for happiness
For pleasure
For compassion
To limit your everything and true pain.

To remember a smile (or a warm feeling) is to break past a brick barrier.
The regenerative wall is fisticuff-ready,
But you are stronger and have a hammer.