sundries

[rm]

- Last night I gave myself a nasty second-degree burn taking some Whole Foods Every Day Value GF chocolate chip cookies out of the oven (hey, their mixes are really cheap for GF and totally decent!) So much so I couldn't type and had to go to bed with an icepack on it, which was hillarious for some value of not being myself or Patty.

- There is a war for Patty's affections between the cats. Little has started experimenting with Pretty Kitty-style headbutting, but in a tentative sort of sad way.

- So this book and the journal. What do I do and do I care? I mean what would I say on a nice professional book or even book and acting blog? Nothing! Hi world. In truth, still trying to figure out if any of this is a big deal or not.

- Alison alerted me to a good article on celiac in Newsweek: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20643573/site/newsweek/
As per usual, I'm grateful for the opportunity to prove, once again, that I'm not being picky and that health-food-rememdy-of-the-week won't miraculously solve it. I don't have this because I eat poorly, don't sleep enough or so anything else anyone disapproves of, but people always want to know what I did to get it and why I can't just fix it. There's also this article on "kids who just don't fit in" that I just deleted a rant about. So much about this over-diagnosis of kids is about the comfort of others and status. And it's horrid.

- I'm auditioning for something so hillarious you'll all just die laughing if I get it.

Comments

[fuyukodachi.livejournal.com]

Do they have them in all the whole foods? I don't think I've seen them.

[rm.livejournal.com]

They're new, I just saw it for the first time two days ago. It's where the alternative flours are at least at the one on 24th and 7th.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

I reeeeally would like to read your deleted rant, as that article got my hackles up too. And I didn't finish reading it.

[rm.livejournal.com]

They actually manage to make the point that diagnosis has become obsessive and largely for the comfort of others, but it goes on and on about how quirky kids are embarassing for parents and siblings and therefore a diagnosis helps everyone be more comfortable. I mean, how about PEOPLE JUST GET OVER THEIR SHIT.

There was also this nasty tone about how the quirky kids weren't just making shit up -- like the girl who said she could hear spiders on the ceiling in another room, it turns out, really can.

Also there was this equation that "quirky" kids tend to have big embarassing public metal downs.

Also the article seemed to repeatedly describe introverted behaviors as bad. Preferring the company of my own mind or a book or the school's pet gerbil or a technical system that interests is not diseased. And that really tweaked me out, this whole theory that normal is about other people's comfort and never that of the child.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

this whole theory that normal is about other people's comfort and never that of the child.

This is such a hard issue; as a quirky adult, some of my comfort sometimes IS in not making other people uncomfortable, not wanting to call more attention to myself (in some situations) than necessary.

Explaining that to kids though, giving them the control over how they are or aren't perceived, that's a trickier thing. Helping kids feel comfortable and safe in being introverted while also helping them develop some social skills is important, sometimes so that kids *can* get the time with the gerbil or the book or the technical system.

I guess I'm agreeing but from the 'social skills aren't a holy grail to make one normal; they can be used to teach a kid how to get the time alone/with whatever that the kid really wants and needs' perspective.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oh sure. But the article definitely highlights cases of a kid not being embarassed or unhappy, but the parent or siblings being so.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

The article needs reframing.

It shouldn't be "Kids who don't fit in," but "The Families of Kids Who Don't Fit In."

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, if you're the kid. Especially since a lot of times, the kid doesn't realize their behavior is "embarrassing." (I certainly never did.)

I was quirky enough to be ostracized, perceptive enough to know I was doing something "wrong," but socially inept enough to not know wtf it was.

Things got sorted out around age 11 when I went to my summer camp. Most nerdlings of my generation went to CTY. I went to Computer-Ed High Tech Camp. The social benefits, for me, were the same.

Somewhere along the way, I learned how to be a "take no bullshit" social navigator. Some kids don't get so lucky.

I don't know whose place it is to sort that out, if anyone's.

I do know that one of my greatest fear about having kids is that my kids will end up not like be me (or my eventual husband, because we all know I'll marry a geek, whoever he will be), but will be one of those poisonous "cool" kids. I'm not sure how I'd handle that.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Wow, that got off-base real quick.

Um.

Kids need to be allowed to be weird. Until they start injuring other people, or impeding their education. Until then? Weird on.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

when the seams on my clothing hurt i just stop wearing clothes. i applaud that kid for having found another way to deal with the issue. (when i have a bad virus, my skin gets very touch sensitive.)

[fuyukodachi.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Whenever I get particularly sick, I get intense nerve pain and sitting on a cold toilet seat is the most excruciating thing in the world. I've never heard someone relate something similar before, and I've asked a lot of people.

My wife rips tags out of clothes and destroys the necks on all of her sleeping shirts because she can't stand having the collar anywhere near her throat.

please get it

[newwaytowrite.livejournal.com]

" I'm auditioning for something so hillarious you'll all just die laughing if I get it"

people need more laughter!