Entry 13: laughter is the best medicine, so they say…

Okay, so my last blog was pretty dismal and made for some heavy reading. For those who are at all interested in an update on how things are going:
the key worker housing association have waived the outstanding balance on their investment. (*Cue some jumping up and down and screaming with relief) My solicitors also waived their fee because there was no money left at all. In their words, "we just want to shut this case." – I guess it was starting to irritate them! So, it is as though somebody's waved a magic wand over my horrendous problem, and made it all disappear… Thank God!
so, the rest of the blog is as it was before… But this time I'm able to smile feeling a hell of a lot better than I did last week. Enjoy!

it would seem that currently everyday is full of these moments!

Now, one of the things I have wanted to talk about is the amazing fortune of having a) a laptop b) Internet connection and c) Facebook friends that send me very funny things. One of the many things that comes with life as a para or tetraplegic is a lot of time in bed. This could be for any number of reasons that are mostly health-related, and can also be because of depression or anxiety (which is my usual excuse). I've partly put this blog together to entertain any of my fellow SCI guys who were stuck in bed…I really cannot imagine what life would have been like as a tetraplegic without the Internet. 

Having had this amazing tool I have been able to gain back independence on so many levels – from being able to communicate with my friends privately, to completing my personal banking and possibly most importantly of all, being able to find a community of other people in the same situations as me who are able to swap notes on just about anything SCI related. Without wanting to shortchange people who have shown a great deal of empathy for my situation/condition, it is very true that  Nobody (and I use the capital N specifically) really understands or appreciates what it's like living with an SCI unless they have one themselves.

Anyway, this week's blog is actually meant to share some of the things that during last week's Hell actually made me smile and even laugh properly at times. Now I will try and put in the source wherever I can, but I will admit a lot of it came to me through Facebook. The first thing I wish to add is this:

https://www.facebook.com/the70s80s90spage

It is remarkable just how this description actually fits my childhood!! And there I was thinking it was just me, but it would seem there were many others who were of and around my age also going through the same… er… Developmental Process! Parenting skills and attitudes have clearly changed over the years…and as for computers and mobile phones, they were still the stuff of "Back to the Future". It genuinely made me smile remembering Baywatch and Gladiators… And good old Cilla Black and Blind Date! I can even remember getting a bollocking off my parents for coming in too late – yes, it was after dark! So, for anyone reading, who is not in Britain (yes, dear readers, my audience is now global!) this is a taste of Britain's culture for those of us who are now in our early 30s from back when we were in our preteens :-)

The next thing I would like to share with you genuinely made me laugh. It's a video that went viral, and I immediately shared it with everyone else I knew on Facebook. Quite possibly a large number of people already reading this have watched it once before through my sharing… But I don't care. This week's blog is about things which amused me during a particularly crap time and I would like to pay homage. Note to self – I must stop using the word 'homage':

Stolen from DJ… For teachers everywhere

I know that there are many guys out there who are bed ridden or housebound which frankly absolutely sucks. Especially if you don't have that many friends or family who will call round and take your mind off stuff. There are hours and hours to fill in a day when you don't have a job, or you have nothing to do because you cannot use your hands or your feet and in some cases, you can't even breathe for yourself…. It's bad enough having to live life by another persons rules; I know some teachers find it really irritating having to have their lives dictated by bells, but that's the rhythm of the school. Imagine if the rhythm of your breathing was controlled by a machine. Granted, thanks to that machine you are able to live, but still you cannot control when you breathe in and out. Why am I rambling on about these things? I think because I want all the AB people out there to realise the enormity of what it's like living a full and satisfying life, to then having what feels like a life that is empty – you are no longer doing things, it is other people, or even machines that do things for you. There are so many personal things, for instance, men – presumably you usually shave your own chin? Ladies, who put's in your tampons? Get my point? So on that note, it brings me to another Very Amusing video. This one is definitely one for the ladies, and any gay men out there :-) 

And then of course there is the flurry of photographs, and "statements" that are going around and are quite popular at the moment. As a Led Zep fan, this rather amused me:

and in honour of my mother coming to visit this weekend:

Mum, I've got your bottle of medium dry chilling. After all it's the least I could do!

Okay, so last but definitely not least is a video that had me chuckling from start to finish. I read a piece on a certain sheriff in the US who keeps getting re-elected because he's really clamped down on convicts and the jail that he runs. Instead of costing the taxpayer loads of money by building a new jail, he instead designed one out of tents. Apparently one of the inmates was overheard complaining about the heat that they were having to suffer, and the sheriff's response was that the Army out in Iraq was suffering in the same heat if not hotter, laying down their lives for their country. Now, I don't know how much of that is true but what I do know is that they certainly haven't lost their sense of humour (the military that is, not the convicts!). And here's a video to prove why:

 There might be a little bit of the theme going on with having seminaked men all over my blog this week – but hey a girl has to do something to cheer herself up :-)

I hope I've been able to make some of you guys smile today too x