Just in case you wanted my opinion

(and if you didn't I don't suppose you'd be reading my blog, now would you?)

So here are my thoughts on a few (very random) things that have been floating around the world, the blogosphere &/or my brain for the last little bit:

Topic #1 -

Michael Phelps. Michael Phelps smoked pot. While not training for, or competing in, the Olympics. Therefore who the hell cares? Personally? I think the illegalization of marijuana is ridiculous, for a lot of reasons (and not just because of it's potential uses for chronic pain), and I think that making a big deal out of the fact that this kid (because he is only 23, and think of what YOU and your friends might have been doing then) smoked a little pot is even more ridiculous. Nobody should care... it was a 'mistake' only because it was illegal, and breaking the law: that's stupid (breaking the law while there are cameras there? even stupider. Breaking the law while there are cameras there and you are FAMOUS? Totally idiotic.) But pot can do that to you? Ever been with someone who's stoned? They're not exactly big thinkers just then, now are they? (Although they certainly think they are.) Should he lose contracts because of it? I think not, but the companies are certainly allowed to decide who should represent them. It seems to me that they wanted some superhero, and instead found out that they had hired an actual human being, and they might decide that's not good enough for them. Their call. My call is that everybody should just leave the poor guy alone - he didn't hurt anybody but himself here: From now on, every race, every meet, every record will have this asterisk next to it - at least mentally - and that's too bad. Just walk away, people: nothing to see here.

Topic #2 -

Now that I've just written all that pro-pot stuff, it occurs to me that you might wonder "Is NTE a pothead?" I'd like to just state - for the record - that I've never tried marijuana - but it's only because it's a smoking type of drug, and my asthma and smoke are not friends. I'd totally eat the special brownies that my cousin has promised to send to me, but so far - no go. If I did try it and it helped with my pain? I'd be putting it in my morning tea, people. Brownies for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Trust me. (Also, I have a lot of reasons behind the whole, "pot is not the devil drug that the government has made it out to be" line of thinking, but that would require resources, and I am not in the mood to go find them right now.. remind me to write my "legalize pot" post later on, will you?)

Topic #3 -

Valentine's Day. I. Am. So. Over. It.

There are times of the year where being single sucks more than normal. Valentine's Day is one of them. Mostly, it doesn't bother me, except that EVERYTHING is lovey-dovey, and it's making me feel very anti-love. I'd like to focus on the crafty side of it, like I usually do, but every time I take something out of the craft supplies, I have to think about how I'm going to sort it all out to pack it, and that gets distracting very quickly, and then I eventually run out of energy to do the actual craft. (It's a strange place, my head.) Mostly I'd just like to stop the commercials that try to convince me that everything from flowers to cars to jewelry would show someone how much I love them. It really wouldn't, but thanks for trying.

Topic #4 -

I have been reading an excellent book about disability, the experience of being a person with a disability, and how culture contributes to that experience. It's not a new book - from 96, actually - but I have just discovered it, and I have been Post-It flagging nearly every other page or so. It's wonderful: the author, Nancy Mairs, has MS, and she's able to say things so clearly, to explain the fears, the frustrations, the joys, the jokes of living this new kind of life, that I hardly want to write, because I'll never be able to say it better than she has. (This happens to me a lot: I think - "why even bother writing, because Joe or Molly has managed to say it better than I ever could?" It's a humbling and strange experience, because you're both grateful that somebody else is able to understand it and to communicate it, and sad because you can't figure out a way to communicate it too.) Anyways, here is a bit that I wanted to share with you today...

“In a society that prates about, but seldom practices, communication, the craving to be listened to, heard, understood – which originates with the first terrified wail, the circling arms, the breast, the consolatory murmur – is hard to assuage. And because a cripple, in order to earn a shot at social intercourse with “normals,” must never publicly lament her state, must preferably never even mention it, an other who treats disability as a safe topic of conversation offers immeasurable relief…” p7

Thanks, guys, for being my 'other'.