Friday, February 18, 2005

Million Dollar Baby

mom and i saw Million Dollar Baby today - very good movie. i had my doubts before going in - Mystic River had lots of similar hype about it and i just didn't get it, it seemed as though just because Clint Eastwood did it that it deserved a spectacular review.

so if you haven't seen Million Dollar Baby, quit reading here, cuz there are spoilers to follow...

conservatives like Michael Medved and Rush Limbaugh have gone about giving away the film's ending, because they're so pro-life that a movie that even brings up the possibility of euthanasia is not worth seeing. i disagree. i also disagree with people that say that the message of this movie is that if you're a quadriplegic, you don't have any reason to live. this movie was about Maggie (played by Hilary Swank) and her decision to end her life, with the assistance of Frankie (played by Clint Eastwood) - it was about one character, not a general statement on euthanasia. i think Maggie's life was so crappy before becoming a boxer that boxing was all she had to live for - with that taken away from her, she had nothing else. that's not to say that quadriplegics can't go on to live very productive lives, but this character had no reason to go on.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

where have i been?

...definitely not blogging, that's for sure.

still waiting to hear back from Social Security on my disability claim. with my luck, i'll be done with the brain surgery, all healed up and able to work by the time they get back to me. naah, probably not. i don't intend to be on disability the rest of my life, but i'm certainly not able to work at this point.

fiddling around with my medications is oh so much fun. at least now i'm just on the tegretol xr and keppra - no more topamax. being on three seizure meds plus everything else i take was seriously kicking my ass. i suspect i need to adjust the psychiatric meds, but that's not gonna happen now because dr. parrish has left and now i need to find a new shrink. crossing my fingers that the shrink that did my evaluation for the epilepsy surgery also takes patients, but i'm not sure at this point.

making some changes to therapy - the intensive outpatient program with richard wasn't working for me, so i need to figure out what to do next. methinks i need a queer group to discuss some of my issues, or at least one that i can relate to more than the one i've been in thus far. or perhaps it's time to go back to 1 on 1 therapy for a bit.

been volunteering at Hunger, Inc. - a food pantry down the street. it's been very cool, i definitely have needed an outlet for doing volunteer work for a long time. it's not quite the same as IYG or other things i've done, but still doing some good, nonetheless.

other than that, not much going on. i need to get out and do more things, and definitely blog more ;-)