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Rabu, 21 Juni 2017
It Aint Bad to Get Mad!
My kids have a doll called "The Elf on the Shelf," which was a gift from last year's holiday season. It sits on a shelf or perches on top of the fridge or dangles from a light fixture during the day, staring with baleful eye at the children's antics. During the night, it flies on swift wings and narks to Santa about their misdeeds. Then it returns and sits in a different spot.
My children named their elf "Harry Spotts," and registered it with the Elf on the Shelf web site.
What it says or does makes no difference, for is Santa really going to deliver coal to my children? All the threats are in vain, for if they get one less plastic rinkamadink for Christmas they will not even notice, and will continue to carry on with their "mouth farts" and other atrocities at the dinner table.
"The elf is watching!" we may exhort, and they pause. But then they continue with the "mouth farts" and other bad things, and we know, in our hearts, that they have won.
I said to my husband the other day that I need my own Elf on the Shelf. My elf will have one clear purpose: To prevent me from sending angry emails. I am an Angry Email Sender. Ever since the advent of email, I have been sending angry ones. To wit:
• The three-pager I sent my wine-sodden, fat roommate back in Stuyvesant Town to tell her she was a fat, wine-sodden bitch
• The four-pager I sent my other roommate back in Brooklyn, to explain to her that she was a nutbag whose cats urinated excessively and she needed a swift kick in the brain
• The email(s) I sent to the beloved husband some years ago, to tell him that he had offended me in various regards and I wished to explain my rightness in all things, and his wrongness
• The email I sent to certain management personnel at a particular establishment not terribly long ago, in which I used the phrase "soul crushing" to rather devastating effect, such that it is now (soon to be) a trending hashtag on Twitter
If I could have written an email to my three boys expressing my foaming furor over the continuing #mouthfart trend, I would have done so! I find email to be a very handy tool for expressing rage.
Apparently, I need an elf to stop me from hitting "send," and to kindly direct me to put my missives in the freezer for a while to cool off. My elf will be called "Mr. Jinks" or maybe "Dave."
But do I? Isn't it okay, sometimes, to say exactly what we think? Is it okay to remain silent while a coworker sits next to one at a business dinner, chewing his or her salad with a dreadful "monghgh monghgh mongrrg" sound? It is acceptable to stand by while good people get reamed, and naughty ones get rewarded? Shall we be meek and quiet while someone tells an offensive joke, or lets her cats poo on one's comforter for sport, or drinks the last dregs of the wine box? Shall we make merry with the evil poo-head who piddled on our petunias?
That's when I realized. It ain't bad to get mad. It's GOOD to get mad. It's not like Santa's going to bring me coal because I hit "send" on that email that included the words "reptilian" and "fuck-headed douche muppet" in the same sentence. And do you know how I know that? Why, Sesame Street taught me:
Happy holidays, goats! Get maaaad! But only when you're dealing with some real assholes, of course.
Jumat, 26 Mei 2017
Interview at Get Lost in a Story High school fall back plans and love
Today I'm being interviewed by Maureen McGowan (whose fabulous book DEVIANTS will be featured here next Monday) at Get Lost in a Story, where I talk about what I was like in high school, what I'd do if I couldn't write anymore, and what it means to love someone. There will be a giveaway of a signed hardcover of Sanctum there as well, so please enter if you're interested!
BUT BEFORE YOU GO:
Congratulations to Ruby97, who won the $20 gift card from last week's "What I used to believe/What I know now" giveaway!
Happy Monday, everyone!
Rabu, 12 April 2017
Get Stuffed
Up until now, I haven't had so much as a stuffed nose since being diagnosed with TN, which is odd. My mission in life lately is to keep as warm as possible, staying away from wind, breezes and draughts, maybe that is why I haven't been sick all winter.
Having TN is bad enough, but when you add crazy headaches, a sore throat and a stuffed nose into the mix, then it becomes a certain brand of hell. The stuffed nose is driving me crazy, every time I take a breath my face ignites and I can't do anything about it.
Is this what my life is going to be like? I am already afraid of going outside, but now I have to fear the common cold too. As everyone knows there is no cure for the common cold, so I am hoping that if I stay warm, take some cold and flu tablets and drink herbal tea this damn cold will go.
I fell like my freedom is in question. Trigeminal Neuralgia has taken so much away from me already, I don't want to loose anything else. I am afraid of being out in the wind, but with the aid of a scarf it can be done. Now, because of this cold, should I stay inside like a pathetic hermit, or should I get on with life and take every problem as it comes? The pain hits me like bolts of lightening when I am indoors, it happens every few minutes regardless. I may as well live my life.
Having a cold with TN is not fun. The common cold never bothered me before, I would have taken some paracetamol and gotten on with things. Now, it's not so simple. Trigeminal Neuralgia really is pain from hell.
Sabtu, 21 Januari 2017
“Expert” Doctors Who Shill for Big Pharma Get Greedier
In several posts on my Family Dysfunction and Mental Health Blog (8/7/12, 6/19/12, 3/6/12, 2/21/12, 1/31/12, 10/19/11, 8/31/11), I describe in detail the propaganda and truth-twisting techniques used by the “expert” doctors who shill for Big Pharma (referred to by Pharma as key opinion leaders). They use these techniques in order to sell high-priced, brand-name drugs when cheaper drugs would be just as effective, and, in many cases, psychotherapy would be even more effective.
In a sense, many of the shills (though certainly not all - some really don’t realize how much they themselves have been influenced) are willing to sell out the well-being of psychiatric patients for money. So the fact that their greed is now being used against Big Pharma in Australia, and most likely everywhere else as well, should not come as much of a surprise. When it’s done to Pharma instead of for them, the drug companies then squeal like little piggies.
Irony, thy name is Pharma.
Thanks to Ken Harvey, a colleague in Healthy Skepticism, for a heads up on the following story:
Megan Reynolds (http://www.6minutes.com.au/news/latest-news/transparency-will-expose-demanding-doctors) a journalist for the Australian website 6minutes, (a daily pdf newsletter sent to Australian GPs and other healthcare professionals)reported the following on October 2, 2012:
“Demanding doctors with ‘unreasonable’ expectations are driving up the costs of medical educational events, a Pharma industry insider says.
In a submission to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) the next update to the Medicines Australia's Code of Conduct, an anonymous 'player in the pharmaceutical industry ‘supports full disclosure of sponsorship payments as he says under the current system of self-regulation, ‘Key Opinion Leader’ doctors are coercing Pharma companies into contravening the Code.
The 'insider' says some doctors demand $1-2k or more for a brief talk based on company-provided slides, in addition to business class airfares of up to $15,000.
Key Opinion Leaders also enjoy holidays as extensions of their conferences, and sometimes never turn up to meetings they are sponsored to attend, as they are 'probably off motoring around Europe somewhere!' he claims.
But companies are reluctant to complain about such demands for fear of alienating doctors of influence, who they claim often pit companies against each other in bidding wars for their services.
‘The Code needs to be stronger to help companies deal with these situations and know that any company that does not do the same thing will be exposed. Until that happens everyone is afraid to be the odd ones out,’ he writes.
He urges the AMA to set industry honorarium fee rates to stop bidding wars, and limiting doctors to just one sponsored event per company. He adds that most doctors as well as the public would be shocked by the amount of ‘paid comment’ to be revealed by transparency.”
In a submission to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) the next update to the Medicines Australia's Code of Conduct, an anonymous 'player in the pharmaceutical industry ‘supports full disclosure of sponsorship payments as he says under the current system of self-regulation, ‘Key Opinion Leader’ doctors are coercing Pharma companies into contravening the Code.
The 'insider' says some doctors demand $1-2k or more for a brief talk based on company-provided slides, in addition to business class airfares of up to $15,000.
Key Opinion Leaders also enjoy holidays as extensions of their conferences, and sometimes never turn up to meetings they are sponsored to attend, as they are 'probably off motoring around Europe somewhere!' he claims.
But companies are reluctant to complain about such demands for fear of alienating doctors of influence, who they claim often pit companies against each other in bidding wars for their services.
‘The Code needs to be stronger to help companies deal with these situations and know that any company that does not do the same thing will be exposed. Until that happens everyone is afraid to be the odd ones out,’ he writes.
He urges the AMA to set industry honorarium fee rates to stop bidding wars, and limiting doctors to just one sponsored event per company. He adds that most doctors as well as the public would be shocked by the amount of ‘paid comment’ to be revealed by transparency.”
Drug companies demanding transparency. Now there’s a switch!
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