So I figured today is a good day for all of you to ketchup with my life.
I got accepted to UofT a few weeks ago - I'm starting in January with something called the Academic Bridging Program. I'm going to be a part-time student from January till around mid-June, when my final exam happens. Then, to paraphrase a dear friend, I'm probably going to fuck off to BC for the summer.
Then in September 2012, if all goes well with the transition program, I'll be majoring in Philosophy, still deciding on a minor. I might even decide to do a double-major if I think I can handle the workload.
Right now, I'm employed with Katimavik, doing recruitment at various schools and career fairs for min. wage, but it's a sweet job and I've done it before. It really gives me a sense of doing something positive for the world instead of working at say, Mc.Dic's (making the world a shittier place for just about everyone since 1940!).
Today, I'm hopefully going to go play badminton. I'm not practicing nearly as much as I want to, but I don't have a reliable partner available right now, and that really sucks.
So after a lot of reflection, I'm rediscovering my childhood.
I think it's a great thing, especially with all the heavy shit I've been dealing with lately.
Today I went to a games hobby centre (where the nerdiest of the nerds congregate) and challenged a couple people to a duel in Yu-Gi-Oh. SO MUCH FUN!
I brought my deck which I hadn't touched in... oh, EIGHT years, and promptly got my ass kicked.
Apparently, 8 years worth of new booster packs, new rules and a new set of forbidden cards is enough to destroy my beautiful "Legendary Ocean" water deck.
The game got SO much more complicated.
If you don't know about the game, it's similar to pokemon trading cards. You're trying to defeat your opponent by bringing their life points down to zero, using cards that inflict "damage". It's so sweet. It's similar to Magic: The Gathering, as well.
In another news, here are some fruity noms for you:
So apparently, my blog audience has grown substantially since my last few posts. I'm really happy about this!
And thank you to all those who sent me heartfelt compliments on my writing, I really, really appreciate your support.
However, it seems a few people seem to think they know what's "best" for me. Some of them close friends, others mere acquaintances. To those people, please don't try to tell me what's best for me and my body. You're definitely not helping. I appreciate your concern, and I know you're trying to help, but please read on.
It's true, I don't really trust psychiatrists. I'm not saying they're all evil, but after going what I've been through, I feel I'm in a good position to relate my story from a patient's point of view.
Drugs aren't inherently good for the human body. Especially not pharmaceutical drugs. That's why there are side effects. The body doesn't recognize the foreign substance, and tries to repel it. The human body is smart.
I'm not saying drugs are bad. Some drugs have saved plenty of lives, and that's fine.
HOWEVER.
Trying to treat things like "psychosis" with pills and denying all other forms of therapy as potentially equal or better, in my opinion, is a terrible, terrible mistake.
Psychiatrists everywhere try to control the mentally sick with their fucked up "medicine" that they themselves have no idea of their origin. When I asked my assigned doctor in the hospital what they were injecting in me, the only answer they could really provide was "don't worry, it'll help you".
To that I say, and pardon the crudeness, FUCK YOU. You have NO idea what's good for my body. You have an idea of what's good for the general population, but NOT my body. Especially if I refuse your blood tests. You gave me a fucking panic attack, you didn't help me at all.
MY BODY; MY RULES.
And then, when you really need help, and they try to show you that mental illness is "just like" a physical illness like diabetes or a broken leg, they're using RHETORIC to convince you to take their bloody expensive pills.
In logic terms, we call this a FAULTY analogy.
Here's an example of a discussion about pill-taking I had with a psychiatrist once:
P: Don't you see? There's nothing to be ashamed of by taking a pill to help cure you. It's just like diabetes. If you had diabetes, you wouldn't deny the taking of insulin, would you?
G: I see what you did there. First of all, by definition, diabetes is a physical illness, not a mental one. Someone who is diabetic is deficient in insulin. I am NOT deficient in your drug. My body doesn't need your drug to function. Never has, probably never will. My body is probably deficient in nutrients, somewhere, but your drug doesn't help that. You might say it does, but really, it just cuts off the symptoms, and even then, it doesn't even do it that well. What my body needs is proper nutrition, proper vitamins and minerals, and if need be, I can boost it with supplements. But the human body always strives to be in homeostasis, otherwise we'd all be sick, all the time.
See, but trying to get psychiatrists to see this is like talking to a brick wall. They don't give a fuck about the truth, they just want to keep their jobs and the money associated with it.
Money should not control health. EVER.
I take herbal remedies, and they work. And no, they're not all "homeopathic" (they sure do love to pick on this word, though). I don't need your fucked up animal studies to show me that your pills are better, because they're not. What you're doing to me, the animals, and the plants you've immorally harvested to "cure" me is EVIL.
That is all for today, friends.
Oh, if you're into trance, I've kinda loved this song for a long, long time now.
So having just been released from the most inhumane place I've ever visited, I was very hungry.
They did feed me quite well, respecting my gluten-free diet, but the food was still... hospital food, what can I say.
However, I came home famished, and decided to make a quick snack:
I don't have a name for it yet, but it's really, really tasty. Lots of spices and Omega-3s, and just enough carbs to keep the brain happy. The protein is ham and Mennonite salami.
