WTF Wednesday: A Fearful Fall

 

Image by Mark Payton

A response to this post:

https://pipersadventures.blog/2021/10/05/facing-a-fearful-fall

I love this rhyming anecdote and the perspective of meeting the end with humor. I have to say that I didn't react with humor either time that I was looking the grim reaper in the eye. On one occasion, I was angry and swore to come back and haunt the driver coming up my tail way too fast for me to react. (These thoughts occurred in the space of about 3 seconds.) Obviously, the jackass swerved at the last minute or I wouldn't be here to say this.

When a wave of water slammed into my car during a flood, I felt one moment of abject terror, and then I went into shock. I managed to brazen my way through, but I had PTSD following the event.

If you'd like to see my response to the above photo, sashay on over here.

https://poetryofthenetherworld.blogspot.com/2021/10/helloween-2021-day-666-two-perspectives.html

In other thoughts, if any of you have ever wondered why disabled people tend to shut themselves off from the world, wonder no longer. I can't speak for anyone else, but I am certainly tired of being treated like a retarded child, getting pep talks, having people ask me if I'm okay when I'm just fucking sitting there looking at the sky and trying to figure out what to make for dinner, having people offer me rides when I'm just trying to take the fucking walk that I'm told I should take more and longer of because I'm too fat (probably according to the same people), and having people talk about nothing but my fucking disability or my fucking mobility aid. It makes me really fucking grouchy.

"But how should I talk to disabled people, Ornery? I mean, they're special and handicapable and all that!"

If I am special (an idea that I find questionable) it certainly isn't because my back and endocrine system are fucked beyond repair. And if anybody ever uses the term "handicapable" in my presence, I will hulk out and drop a car on them. I much prefer the term "disabled, not incapable." 

I'm thinking about having a snarky bumper sticker made to put on my walker. Something like "I'm just taking a walk," or "not dead yet," or "disabled, not incapable." What I'd really like is a bumper sticker that says "fuck off," but I think that's probably a bit confrontational.

Ornery Owl is...

(Free-use image from Pixabay)

with everyone's patronizing shyyyyt

The Icky, Sticky, Nit-Picky Legalese If You Please (Or Don't Please)

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Quoting portions of the post for educational or review purposes is acceptable if proper credit is given.

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About Me Monday: Dis-Ability

 

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

A response to the following post:

https://rugby843.blog/2021/10/03/mlmm-saturday-mix-42

It may appear that I'm scolding the author for their thoughts. That honestly is not my intent. If I were still fully able-bodied, it is likely that I wouldn't have thought about the fact that being physically incapable of performing certain activities does not only affect the elderly. People can become disabled at any stage of their lives. There are elderly people who are more physically able than I am and young people who are less so.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am on the high side of 56 years old at the time of this writing.

Sometimes it isn't age hindering a person but physical disability. If my body had allowed me to, I would have been one of those people that participated in "youthful" activities at an advanced age. Unfortunately, by the time I hit 50, my crap endocrine system plus all the injuries over the years of working physically demanding jobs caught up with me and ran me over. At not even 60, I require a walker to ambulate more than very short distances.

This is something that I didn't mention in the original comment. There's a fellow in town who always takes it upon himself to give me pep talks whenever he sees me. "You're doing great, Honey, keep up the good work!" When I try to tell him that I'm just taking a walk and I don't expect any significant physical improvement, he tells me "you've gotta believe in yourself, Honey!" 

Sigh.

There's another fellow who always asks if I want help bringing my walker up the stairs. Unfortunately, we don't have the money to have a ramp put up. The walker isn't that heavy. It doesn't weigh more than 10 pounds on the outside, and I don't think it weighs that much. I leverage it so that "walking" it up the stairs doesn't hurt my lower back. 

I always tell this chap that if I can't do it myself, I can't do it, so thanks but no thanks.

It's one thing to offer help to a disabled person--or anybody--who is really struggling, i.e. with multiple parcels or such. I can't speak for everybody, but I've heard other disabled people say the same thing. We don't want pity, pep talks, or offers of help for things that we can do for ourselves.

If you really want to help me, you can come to clean my house. Housekeeping is something that I royally suck at. I sucked at it when I was able-bodied too.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Tanuj Handa from Pixabay

Ornery Owl has had enough of your shyyyyt. And by shyyyyt, I mean unsolicited pep talks.

The Icky, Sticky, Nit-Picky Legalese If You Please (Or Don't Please)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

This work is the intellectual property of Naughty Netherworld Press/Poetry of the Netherworld.

Reblogging is acceptable on platforms that allow it. Odysee’s reblog function is called repost, which makes things confusing since reposting is considered a no-no on most platforms. It’s fine to share the post using the repost function on Odysee. It is not okay to copy-paste the material into a new post.

Sharing a link to the post is acceptable.

Quoting portions of the post for educational or review purposes is acceptable if proper credit is given.

Want some poetry?

Get it here!

http://bit.ly/getmorepoetry

Buy me a coffee

http://bit.ly/NNPCoffee

Or buy me a coffee here

http://bit.ly/NNPKOFI

Join me on Odysee

https://bit.ly/POTNOdysee

Join me on Patreon!

Subscribe for as little as $1 per month.

http://bit.ly/NNPPatreon

Get the latest literary happenings and slices of life in your inbox!

http://bit.ly/NaughtyNetherworldNews

Come As You Are Party: Still Learning to Be Me

 

Image by Hieu Van from Pixabay

This is a response to a Haibun written by Donna, who expresses being in a post-trip funk.

https://www.djranch.org/2021/09/30/haibun-a-foggy-morning

I lost my main source of income in 2017 after my health became too compromised and it's taken me that long to finally stop browbeating myself for not being able to be all things to everyone. I was something of a workaholic. I was my job. I worked 12-16 hour days, often 60 hour weeks. I understand the feeling of wanting to do something but being unmotivated to do anything.

I would also like to share my thoughts on a wonderful poem about an owl.

https://wordshophop.wordpress.com/2021/10/01/owl-at-the-pond

I used to work this dreadful job overnight in a rechargeable battery factory. There were two things I liked about that job. There was a guy there who was a recovering gambling addict, and I enjoyed talking to him. Then there was an owl that I would see in a tree outside on my breaks. 

When I look back on things, it wasn't the worst job I've had, it was just tremendously repetitive.

I love owls, which is one of the reasons why I came up with my handle, Ornery Owl.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Mes crazy expériences: WeWriWar 365: The House at The Crossing 73

Mes crazy expériences: WeWriWar 365: The House at The Crossing 73:   Hello everybody and welcome for a new Sunday of writing with  Weekend Writing Warrior  and  Snippet Sunday ! How are you doing?  Let's...

Sometimes it feels that way when I read my old work, like I have lost the part of myself that breathed magic into those stories.

Kestril's Rhythms and Groove: Becoming

Kestril's Rhythms and Groove: Becoming: Amid the soup of my innards, I am searching for hints of what I may yet be. Nothing is familiar in these runny remains of a life that no lon...

Nothing is familiar

in these runny remains

of a life that no longer exists.

I resonate with this. For most of my adult life, I was my work. Then my health started to decline and eventually I got fired. I found other work, but eventually, my physical abilities declined too much. 

Just as I was starting to get used to me, more crap gets thrown my way to make me ashamed of what I am again.

Guerrero Words: I See You

Guerrero Words: I See You: Bright souls terrify the weak-minded and weaker-hearted, the too self-blinded to notice glitter-shrouded gloom which senseless fear illu...

I think I had a bright soul once when I was young. There were a lot of people who were determined to snuff the spark right out. Now the only thing that can make it flare is outrage.

Abra-Ca-Duh, I Answered an Old Question

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Note: I am combining the questions from the Open Book Blog Hop with today's entry in my 30-day log that I'm creating by working through Self-Help Sucks by Tony Blankenship. https://amzn.to/3sCWA9q

I just realized that this was an old blog hop. I'll post my answers here anyway.

Day 19

17 September 2021

Spirit of the Universe, please set aside everything I think I know about myself, about my story, about my need for validation, and especially about you, Universe, so that I may have an open mind and a new experience with myself, with my story, with my need for validation, and with you, Universe. Please help me to see the truth. Amen.

I am having trouble remaining consistent with this project. I’ve noticed that the middle of the month tends to be an absolute fucking black hole. A whole bunch of things seem to hit in the middle of the month. Perhaps the beginning of the month starts out hopeful, and at the end of the month I feel like, “well, thank fuck that shit’s over with.” It’s always the middle when I have emotional collapses because I feel overwhelmed.

I’m going to tie this entry with the question for the Open Book Blog Hop.

https://daryldevore.blogspot.com/2021/08/my-inagural-visit-to-openbook-blog-hop.html

However, rather than share it on either the Naughty Netherworld Press blog

https://bit.ly/NaughtyNetherworldPress

or Readers Roost

https://bit.ly/ReadersRoost

I am sharing the answer at the Crazy Creatives Cheerleading Camp.

https://bit.ly/CCCCBlogger

Here are the questions:

What’s something you look forward to as you age? And what do you miss from your youth?

And here are the answers.

The thing I was looking forward to as I aged already happened.

Menopause.

I had 40 years of periods from hell. I had a relatively easy menopause starting at age 52. I never had the full-on blast furnace hot flashes that some women describe. I had what are known as ember flashes. These last longer, 20 to 30 minutes on average, but I felt warm rather than hot.

The only part of this experience that wasn’t so great was the post-menopausal bleeding that I experienced. 2018 was the year that revolved around my plumbing, and I didn’t enjoy it one single bit. A D&C revealed that I have simple hyperplasia with normal cells and a uterus full of tiny fibroids.

This condition presents with a 1.6% increased chance that I will eventually develop endometrial cancer, as opposed to a woman who has no endometrial hyperplasia. For that small an increase, I opted not to have a hysterectomy. If I had presented with complex hyperplasia or abnormal cells, the increased chance of developing endometrial cancer rises to 36%, and with both factors, the chance increases to 50%. If any of these scenarios had been the case, I would have had a hysterectomy.

I will have a hysterectomy if there is ever a compelling reason for me to have a D&C again. It felt like someone went up in my business with a cheese grater. I’m not using my uterus, so if I must suffer the indignities of invasive procedures, at this point I’d opt to have the damn thing removed and be done with it rather than enduring another cheese grater incident.

In any case, I think I’ve enjoyed what I was looking forward to with aging: the end to miserable menstruation. My periods were always painful and heavy to the point of hemorrhage. I’m glad to be done with them. As far as the rest of the aging process, maybe I can look forward to becoming even more of a curmudgeon while giving ever fewer fucks. Other than that, I’m afraid it sounds like more aches, pains, and things breaking down. Yay? Nay!

What do I miss from my youth?

That feeling of starry-eyed hope.

At this point, I’m too god damn jaded to ever feel that again without some sort of significant win. I’d have to get The Big One, and to be honest, I’m not particularly hopeful about that transpiring.

Sorry if my honesty is a bummer, but I prefer to tell it like it is.

Ornery Owl has Spoken.

Dear Divine Spirit of the Universe, please help me to keep learning and growing at every age.

 

Ornery Owl

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors