wordinista: (I shall conquer this)
wordinista ([personal profile] wordinista) wrote2009-09-30 07:45 am

Migraine, Grampa, and Hollywood douchery


It looks like my Wednesday is going to start out with a migraine. AWESOME.  I am taking measures to cut it off before it progresses, but that hardly ever works so mostly I'm sitting here until I finish my tea.

Mom took Gramps to the neurologist yesterday, and the news is... not so good.  His MRI showed significant shrinkage in the frontal lobes since his last MRI, which was a year ago August.  The neurologist has since diagnosed him with mid-stage fronto-temporal dementia, which, apparently, is the worst kind of dementia to be diagnosed with.  It doesn't affect memory quite as much as other types of dementia, but rather affecting personality and behavior.  It's progressive, and most patients, after initial diagnosis, have about a 2 year life expectancy.  The neurologist thinks he's had this since last August.  Mom is... understandably upset.  I don't think I've really let it sink in yet.  I sort of don't want to.

I almost didn't go to agility last night, because this news had left us... kind of out of sorts, but in the end I went and had a really good time.  I talked with my agility instructor, Vickie, a breast cancer survivor (who, this time last year, was bald).  She gave me a hug and talked a bit.  "Don't feel guilty for doing the things you like to do," she said.  I told her it wasn't so much guilt that made me almost skip class, but my concern that my head wouldn't be in the game, so to speak.   But... the funny thing is, I've sort of reached a point with agility where when I'm on the course and running obstacles with Darwin, I almost go to a very zen place.  (Well, this happens when we're running WELL. Not when I'm screwing up and giving miscues.)  And even though last night I was a little distracted, and definitely screwed up and gave miscues, I still left class feeling very centered.

In other news, I would like very much to rant about this Roman Polanski BS until the cows come home, because I am thoroughly OUTRAGED at how many people seem to have turned into rape apologists overnight, and am doubly outraged at the media for using what I personally believe is misleading language regarding his crime.  "Having sex with a teenager/minor" conjures a completely different picture than and is NOT the same thing as "drugging and anally raping an adolescent."  And what the shit, do Hollywood A-listers actually believe they are above the law?  HE DRUGGED AND SODOMIZED A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD, GUYS.  LIVING THE HIGH LIFE SKIPPING AROUND EUROPE FOR THIRTY ONE YEARS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE "PUNISHMENT."  HE HAS NOT PAID ANY SORT OF DEBT TO SOCIETY.  COME ON, PEOPLE.  HE IS NOT SOME SORT OF TRAGIC HERO.  HE IS A RAPIST.  SAY IT WITH ME NOW: RAY-PIST.

So, hopefully someone on my f-list will compose a lengthy and vitriolic rant about the subject, because that's about all I can muster -- this headache is looking like I'm going to be out of commission for the rest of the morning.

[identity profile] ankoku-jin.livejournal.com 2009-09-30 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
There's not much I can add to the well wishes of others, except my own well wishes. *hugs* Better to do the things you love and let your mind process events in its own than sit around waiting for it to hit you. :(

As for Polanski... I haven't the energy to rant at length as I would like to, but for me it boils down to the fact that this man got away with drugging and raping a child because he's white, talented, famous and rich. Yes, I'm sure he was in a bad space because of the Tate murder. Yes, he made some great films in his time on the run. Yes, he's in his 70s now. None of that changes the fact that he needs to face justice for what he did to that girl.

[identity profile] w0rdinista.livejournal.com 2009-10-01 11:26 am (UTC)(link)
I think the part that has me so very disgusted is how so many people seem to be falling back on the old "she was asking for it" argument. At 13 years of age, she'd been drunk before, she'd tried quaaludes once when she "was real little," and she wasn't a virgin. SO CLEARLY all of this excuses Polanski, really, because she was just a Lolita slut anyway. And I just want to bang my head against something (which I will not do, because while yesterday's headache is gone, today things in my head still hurt) because none of this eradicates the fact that NO. MEANS. NO. And I am so very thoroughly disgusted with how many WOMEN have taken this douchenozzle's side.