Handi… Disab… hmmm….

So,
I’d like to take a moment. A serious moment to discuss something I’ve been mulling about in my head.

Labelling the Handicapped, Persons With Disabilities, the differently abled etc.

It has come to my attention that there are committees, persons, groups, etc. that discuss what exactly disabled people need to be called, in particular the medical or social assistance fields of work. I find it curious that ‘abled’ persons feel this need to label us with kinder words, and by us I mean that I have a handicap. Labels are fine to some degree, it helps us define boundaries and comfort levels among many other things. What I find offensive is able bodied groups deciding it for me, that they know better than I do what category I fall into.

I hope these meetings at least have a representative of the group they are trying to compartmentalize. Actually no, I’m gonna play hardball on this one. Drop the need for politically correct labels in everday conversation altogether. Handicapped is not a dirty word. Disabled is not a dirty word. They are facts of life. We have evolved to a state where a certain form is normal and thats just the way it is. The problem is that there are so many varying degrees of handicaps/disabilities that people need that line drawn but its not possible to draw it anymore. We have people with artificial limbs doing things unthought of years ago, but in my case while I am doing many many things I couldn’t had i been born a different generation, I am still not able to do everything someone ‘normal’ can.

It gets tricky though because of this nugget:

The ‘Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990’ It prohibits discrimination against Americans with disabilities, not those with ‘handicaps’ or ‘retardations’.

That is a bit scary if it is true. When it comes to laws very specific labels are needed to ensure protection from well… everything, so a label allows a group to have equality. Like anyone I want to be treated as an individual but at the same time I might need more protection from discrimination than one who appears more ‘normal’ if I belong to a category covered by law.

From a law standpoint labels are needed, for everyone in this world. But I don’t think people should be ashamed to refer to someone as handicapped if they meet or see them on the street and have an obvious physical disability. It has to be okay to use words with their intended meaning.

TL;DR if you’re going to label me, ask me.

New year, New beginnings all that. As you can maybe tell I haven’t gotten to ‘reviews’ as I thought I would, but don’t worry my sanity is intact. Mostly.

I hesitate to express my opinions a lot as I think my opinion on things doesn’t matter or no one cares but you know what, there is so much stuff out there that it’s not about whether it matters to everyone but someone else. Even if it’s just me.

I’m on a break from work and it’s been really good, but taken longer to find my creativity than I hoped. Here’s to no excuses, no bullshit, no looking back on failure.

Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’…

The year is already rolling into August full force here. I’m ever so slowly accepting my iphone overlord and its app-ilities. Ha! word play.

Life has handed out a FiretrUCK load of lemons the last week or so here and recovering from it is a slow process. C’mon lotto tickets don’t fail me now.

Oh and stay tuned for some ‘reviews’. I figure doing them will keep me busy, keep my sanity, and give me something to focus on, and this time I will stick to it.

News day

Well I thought I would start posting about things that I know about. Which isn’t much but ‘stick with what you know’ right?
So… local news:
http://www.surrey.ca/city-government/8236.aspx
-First building goes down in the start of the new Surrey city hall construction project. WOOT. It was a good feeling seeing this thing go, the area does need some fixing up, especially with all these fancy high rise condo buildings going up.

Canada News:
You know how hard it is to find a non-depressing headline on major news sites?? Harder than you think! so let’s throw it to Gaga to make a kids dream come true

World News:
Charlie Sheen. All quotes taken from an interview done with 20/20. *sigh* At least he’s winning.

Game news:
I’ve been playing inFamous and it is a GREAT game. Play somewhat of a superhero that go go down a good path or evil path based on choices you make. You have a whole city to venture around in with missions to complete. Plus you are like a living electric super hero.

It’s been… one week.

So it’s been a week since the move in. I’ve had time to reflect and ponder but still many things to get used to.
We got the rods for our closets earlier this week finally. So the clothes are hung. Our toilet broke friday night…. Can’t be properly fixed until monday. Don’t ask.
Our shower has pressure, my god it’s like a dream come true to have a shower now. Instead of preparing for a disapointing rinse I can stand tall, run that shower and feel the dirt explode off my body to reveal a reinvigorated me.

On a totally unrelated note. Some asian kid faked his way onto a flight from hong kong to vancouver disguised as an old man. Really? He got on aplane without a passport. Really people. *sigh*

The move has occured.

It has been a gruelling week as the packing and cleaning commenced towards a big ol’ move.
Let me just say that it has been some of the hardest days to get through, I have so much to say but I’m going to let it sit before I rage. I will update but here’s a brief description:
Nearly everything we did, every route we took was hindered in some way by some one else’s poor judgement or decision making. When control is so constantly taken away from oneself the mind deteriorates into a mush of disrespecting chum ready to spew bile on any living thing trying to communicate.

I swear.

Weeds

Friendship can be a funny thing sometimes. We all have different expectations in life and some people that come into our lives misinterpret kindness for being a sucker and take advantage of it.

The same can happen in a larger community of people, for example (cause I’m part of it) the gay community. Acquaintences are made and smiles are shown but over time this cordial demeanor gives way to a more ‘catty’ persona. Everyone gossips, I think it’s something we do but some people take it to a viscious new level creating false rumours detrimental to that persons very existence in the ‘community’.

We are all here to live in peace, no one should want ill will upon others, and if you hate someone that is for you to decide not to spread amongst others.

rise n shine sunshine

I felt creative in a lazy way, and the result is the two ‘poems’ below.

itbegins here

then
it continues here

(here’s the secret. I made up a playlist of a lot of my music. I randomly shuffled through and wrote done the first line of the song and skipped to a new one. I rearranged the results to get them.)

Socially speaking

So… being ‘social’ is the new trend. Social is now no longer an adjective, a descriptor of your ability to mingle with others of your species but a Thing. An ethereally electronic theory of realness. To be Social is to be connected, constantly. Are you social? are you hooked in? switched on? available at a moments notice? Do you join all these sites, post updates by the minute then complain you don’t have any time to yourself?

Facebook is in the news lately because they are dealing with privacy issues. People are up in arms that their data, personal info and the like is being shared without their permission. So… you want to be social but you don’t want people to know anything about you?
I can understand, I’m very cautious about my FB page and who I ‘add’, but isn’t that the point? to meet new people?

I can’t tell you if this is good or bad, but I can tell you that I find it’s just another ‘tool’ to pull you away from being really social so you can be online social. The balance is getting lost where it used to be something to update now it’s something to do, constantly. The same people that used to deride other people for spending their evenings chatting online with people in different states and countries are now facebooking with complete strangers around the world.

Are you ready to become Social.

Gubment Cheese!

It’s that time of year (mostly) all of us procrastinate in doing…Taxes. Yep. Even though I know I’m getting a refund I’ve put it off until now.

I’m crazy like that.

So the other day I was pondering covers. Musical covers that is where Someone takes an existing song and covers it in their own style.
For example take this

and this

I feel the key to a good cover is to totally change the style the original was done in. This business of dance artists taking a dance song and making…. a dance song. Isn’t exactly how you say… fun. To me that is.

What makes a cover song good to you? is it the total change in music style? the flair in voice, just a change in tempo?