Lisa posted a link to this post that was started to help raise funds for the Japan earthquake aid relief. This post allows folks to donate money ($5) to a charity and receive some attention given to their favorite ship or fandom that gets less attention.
Other ways you can help:
If you can do something, please find a way to help.
It is 17 days until my 26th birthday, which isn’t all that exciting. I’ve decided to donate my birthday to the Support Autoimmune Research cause, which is the cause I started last year and is affiliated with AARDA (American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association).
My goal is to raise $130 for the cause. If you would like to help out, but don’t have the money to donate, then please join and promote the cause, or just promote the cause.
I’m not asking that people do this because I have autoimmune problems, but simply because so many people have them. They are such a prevalent problem and most people don’t even really know much about them. In America, there are around 50 million people who have them, which would equal about 1/6th of the population of the USA. Many of the disorders are more prevalent in other areas than they are here, though none are completely distributed equally. So to help stop the spread of them and help make these horrible problems a thing of the past, maybe you could join the cause.
Comments Off | Causes, Facebook, General, Sickness and Health
If you’ve ever argued with me, you’ll know that I may point out grammatical errors and word usage problems. This mainly occurs against conservatives who misuse the word Socialist. They think I’m being some hot-headed liberal. This is not the case.
Though sometimes even I make typos (which I still believe should be banned), I believe in having people carefully monitor their word usage when typing on the internet. Text is forever. This is not because of my political or social opinions.
I am the daughter of two people who would make sure I used proper grammar. They drilled it into me how to say things properly. They would challenge me if they thought I said the wrong thing. Sometimes, they taught me. Sometimes, I taught them. It strengthened my skills with the language.
When I was in elementary school, my mom would watch my friend Kristin after school. Kristin sometimes would misuse words. I would correct her. I would correct her until she threatened to kill me. She never killed me, and I never stopped correcting her. My friends from school all knew that I was a stickler for proper language usage. They also understood I came by this honestly.
I cut some people slack. If you’re not a native speaker, I’m not going to be a grammar nazi on you. If you’ve got a learning disability, I won’t give you an issue. However, if you are purporting yourself to be super smart or an expert on an issue, then by golly, you better sound like you work for a thinktank that only hires people who are members of MENSA.
I know I come off as a ditz to some. I do say stupid stuff. I also know that my word usage may sound childish, but it isn’t that I don’t know “big” words. I was taught, by very wise English teachers, that it doesn’t do anyone any good if you use vocabulary and language styles that no one understands. You can know the biggest words in the dictionary, but if no one understands you, then you’re not an effective communicator. Except when I’m in the depths of a Schizo-attack or I’m Manic, you’ll likely understand me. When I’m in those states, I’m not myself. (Of course, according to the lackeys of that great Dale Jackson and the radio talk show host himself, people with Schizo-spectrum disorders can be called “pieces of garbage” or worse, but I digress.)
A funny little sidenote is that those who typically misuse the language in arguments with me tend to be the very same people who are proponents of making English the official language of the country. These are people who believe if you live in the US, then you should be able to speak English. Clearly if they can’t, then it isn’t as easy as they believe it to be.
Oh, two things on Facebook: 1 Million Strong Against our SOCIALIST Fire Departments (it’s not a group for those who lack a sense of humor) and, of course, the cause that I think all should join – Support Autoimmune Research (if you know anyone who has autoimmune disorders, like me, then this should matter to you; besides, fighting autoimmune disorders means you don’t like idea of people suffering from chronic illnesses)
I hurt right now…really bad. I’ve had leg pain for the past day. It’s in my hip. My mom says it’s the fibromyalgia acting up. It probably is. Of course, there’s this funny little thing about fibromyalgia: it doesn’t always affect just muscles. This feels like a ligament or tendon. Those can actually be more painful than the muscles. With muscles you can find ways to maneuver that lessen the pain. When a ligament or tendon is aggravated, it basically feels like a bad sprain that has been worsened by like five million percent.
I know, I tend to exaggerate alot in terms of fibro descriptions, but that’s because unless you’ve actually had it, it is so hard to understand the pain. For example, most people have felt pain. Many have even felt bad pain. How many people get to experience the joy of being in so much pain that you’re physically sick? That’s one of my joyous experiences that my problems give me. It’s a pain overload, I think. Not something I would wish on anyone…not even Dick Cheney or the head of Summit Entertainment.
I wrote a rant on Facebook about/to my friends in YSA. I didn’t specifically tell them it was about/to them, but I figure maybe they can figure it out. One of my friends from HS read it, I think, and apologized for my loneliness. It wasn’t really geared towards her. I have accepted that most of the people that I grew up with are actually too busy to chat sometimes, though she offered to. It’s the people who I know aren’t because I pretty much know a lot of their schedules and I’m fairly certain that if they can create random groups on Facebook, then they can check on their friends every once in a while. I also ranted about them not joining my autoimmune cause. Maybe I need to find some big celebrity who is big into autoimmune research to try and get them to see that research support is like really cool. It may not be supported by some big group or band that they listen to everyday, but it’s supported by someone…probably like the most famous knitter or something. Not that there’s anything wrong with knitting. Hey, sarcoidosis is apparently something that famous people have: Bernie Mac, Karen Duffy, Bill Russell, Reggie White, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Evander Holyfield, Travis Michael Holder, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., and possibly William Shakespeare. Michael Jackson may have had lupus, which is an autoimmune disease. I wonder if they care about any of those folks? Eh…if it’s not FOB, then it’s not a big deal to them probably.
For the Q&A, which I will take questions on through Friday: Ask Here. I’ll post the Q&A every week, btw.
Also, please, if you like Twilight even a little, try and help the effort to Bring Back Rachelle.
Comments Off | Friends, Sickness and Health
Over a year ago, I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormon Church). For a while, I went regularly. I went to YSA stuff. I did everything possible. I didn’t feel like I belonged, though. Yes, I believe in many of the spiritual beliefs of the church. I always have held those beliefs, but I also feel like sometimes I’m lying.
First, if you ever go on Fasting Sunday, you hear people say, “I know this church is true” or “this is the only true church”. I believe the church is true, but I don’t think it’s the only true church. I don’t believe the president of the church is the only person who might have some kind of special connection with God. I was asked before I joined if I believed he was the Prophet, and I said yes. This is true. I think in a way of speaking he is, but I don’t think he’s the only conduit to God. I believe the Pope has a special thing with God. I believe the Dalai Lama does as well. I believe that there are people who have no major position in a church that have deeper spiritual insight than others who may have a major position.
On the first Sunday of every month, we’re supposed to fast for two meals. If we ever have a major issue, we’re encouraged to fast and pray. I don’t understand fasting. I don’t think of it as a good thing. Maybe it’s the fat girl part of me or the hypoglycemic, but I don’t see how deprivation of resources makes someone closer to a religious ideal. Yes, it may give you some kind of insight, but you’ll find that often times when your sugar starts dropping, you start having all kinds of interesting thoughts.
Tithing is something that I’ve gotten frustrated about because I’ve heard people say that if you have a choice between paying for food/rent or tithing, you’re supposed to pay the church first. The church is good, in some cases, about helping. Right now, they’re helping my family with physical things, like mowing our lawn, but when my father lost his job and we were about to lose everything, they weren’t there. They didn’t want to help us. Possibly, they blamed this on the lack of money for tithing, but how was my mother supposed to justify sending the only income that our family was receiving at that point to the church and not paying for our medicines or food or house payments? How can you justify telling someone that their life’s necessities aren’t as important as funding for a church that can afford to decorate temples in such splendor?
We’re not supposed to swear, but sometimes I just want to scream fuck or shit or some combination of about fifty words put together to express how pissed off I am or how happy I am or something. Maybe that shows a degradation of my speech patterns or that I’ve “watched too many R rated movies”, but I think it just shows that, at heart, I want to be human.
Every week, my “friends” from YSA (the same people who don’t call, write, email to find out where I’ve been for the past six months) send me a new Cause/Group invitation on Facebook, which is really the same invitation to a different group that supports the same thing. It’s always about focusing on the family, which is LDS for one man-one woman. Well, I’ve never said that I support legalization for only straight couples. I’ve tried to speak up to my friends to tell them that there’s this vast world out there with people who don’t just fall in love with members of the opposite sex and that these people deserve shots at having loving families, too. I don’t want to tell any of my friends that they can’t marry the person of their dreams, even if that person is the same sex as them. (Now, if the person is underage, then I do have an issue with that, but otherwise, I don’t have a problem with it.)
Of course, any time I try to speak my mind about ANYTHING I get shut down. I said I was voting for Obama before the Halloween dance last fall, and Jennifer and Jamie tried to use peer pressure to get me to say I’d only vote for Republicans. I was at the ward YSA’s Break the Fast and people were talking about politics, and I started to say something and the topic was changed. I’ve gotten in arguments with people from other stakes because I refuse to follow this one way of thinking. I don’t think it’s right that we should all have the same opinion because I’m a big believer in Free Will (or as the church calls it “agency”) and to take away my right to say that I want to choose my own path in life, seems like it goes in defiance of what God wanted. I also get frustrated at people trying to force me to believe Creationism and giving up a woman’s right to choose. I feel like in order to appease the members of my ward and stake that I am being asked to give up myself. I don’t want to do that. I rather like me. I know I’m liberal. I know I’m the girl who believes in equality for all and I don’t feel ashamed of that. I don’t feel ashamed of my beliefs in different things and sometimes I feel like people want me to. It’s like I’m supposed to give up who I am to be a part of this group so that we can all feel good about being similar, but I’m not similar. I want to feel good about being in a group that accepts me for who I am.
And we’re not supposed to have multiple piercings (I have 3 in one ear, 2 in another [used to have 3 in both, but one fell out and healed in like 2 days]) or tattoos. This is evident on tattooing and body piercing. BTW – this quote bugs me: “They will someday regret their decision.” Do you know what I regret about my piercings? That I don’t have more. As for tattoos, I would love to have tattoos. I really would. I like tattoos, but the reason I don’t have any is that my father would really and truly kill me if I got any.
And modesty? If I had the right body, I would totally wear “immodest” clothing. I like strappy tops. I like shorts. I like things that look like they’d be fun to wear. I don’t like the idea of wearing clothes that make you sweat like a pig during the summer.
But my main issue is that as a woman I will never get to be a church official. Yeah, I could repent of all my eccentricities and end up in the Relief Society leadership, but I don’t see how that compares to the possibility of leading a congregation or a stake or a mission or a temple or the entire church? How is it right that because I got a little extra on a chromosome that I’m suddenly not entitled to priesthood secrets?
It’s weird. Two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have thought that I would be writing this. Two weeks ago, Tad was still alive, and illegal immigration was just a theoretical issue to some of the people around here. (They claim it’s epidemic, but if you watch our local news, the only reports of illegal immigrant related “crimes” are related to the accident lately. Before that, it was mainly illegal on illegal stuff.)
When Tad died, I decided to start looking up what people were saying on blogs and stuff. I knew that there had to be people around here who knew him or something who were saying stuff. Apparently, there were a lot of people saying stuff, but very few actually had a clue about Tad or Leigh Anna. Very few even cared.
At first, they were somewhat sympathetic to the families. Then, when a story broke about how Leigh Anna’s mom had solicited the help of the man who ended up driving the other car that ran into Tad’s Supra, everyone decided to jump on Leigh Anna’s mom for causing the accident. I thought this was selfish and cruel of them to claim, but they did not listen.
Meanwhile, they were posting about other local political news. I, being the always political girl, decided to get involved in these issues and respond. I felt it was only fair if they were putting their opinions out there, I should have a right to put mine out there. One issue was about state funding for affordable housing. I think that sounds good. People deserve to have a decent place to live.
Well, suddenly, they were telling me that I didn’t know what it was like to own a house. Um, I do. Then, a trailer doesn’t count as a house. Well, that’s nice, I live in a house with a nice firm foundation. Now, I see this stunner:
Don’t sit in judgement of what we do for society since it is a damn sight more than what you do. If you’re getting SSA disability then we’re funding your disability payments.
I have to ask, because the situation you describe makes absolutely no sense – if you have no job then how in the world did you buy your own house at the ripe old age of 21? How do you keep paying for it? Do your parents live with you or do you live with them?
Followed by:
Actually, when you say she gives “nothing in return” you show why this system sucks. She is not the least bit appreciative of us funding her existance. She doesn’t even give us the courtesy of a heart felt “thank you.” If she had to rely on charitable giving instead of government confiscated and distributed money she probably wouldn’t have such a sour, spiteful disposition towards those who put food on her table.
Ooh, he sounds like he’s pissed off because he thinks I’m cheating him out of his money. Yeah, I bet when he learned at a very young age that he has a chronic debilitating illness, he was dead set on working the rest of his life. Oh wait, I was the one diagnosed and I was planning on working until the age of retirement. That was when I was just “crazy” and had arthritis. Then came Fibromyalgia, followed by over a half a dozen other physical ailments, two possible autoimmune disorders, and finding out that I have scoliosis and will possibly be in pain every day for the rest of my life because the school system couldn’t get a nurse to check me as a child…yeah, when you count up the number of conditions I have been diagnosed with that qualify for disability, it’s around 12 or 13. If there was a bad gene in my family for something, it got passed to me. Forgive me if I’m not in a hurry to get up and go to work every day, especially when I struggle to get out of bed some mornings because of all the crap that’s wrong with me.
People assume that if you’re on any kind of government assistance that you don’t need help. Well, people are wrong. Most people don’t want a handout from the government. It’s a very painful process. You feel so degraded by the end of it, and then your status is left up to people who have never even met you. It’s not something that I enjoyed going through, but it is something I had to do.
And as a member of this society, he is expected to pay Social Security taxes. He may hate that he gets to help me be all enabled or whatever he’ll want to call it, but it’s his responsibility. Besides, I don’t see him or his friends being big humanitarians, so I doubt they would actually donate anything if they weren’t forced to by the government.
Not really sure that these people have hearts.
(Oh, and you all should know that the English major in me really wanted to point out the idiocy that is someone who cannot spell judgmental and existence, yet drones on about issues like some great intellectual.)
