I wore this sign on my wheelchair today; it was my little act of celebrating the day. The day was renamed International Day of People with Disabilities recently. It began in 1992.
TAX PAYERS:
Today, December 3rd is International Day of Disabled Persons. I just wanted you to know that I live on my own in the community with support services and have a job. If I lived in a nursing home it would cost $87,500 according to a 2004 Kiplinger�s Personal finance report (the latest data I have). Paying for my 2008 community based services save the state (and tax payers)$24,086 a year, every year.

If I live the standard 80 year life expectancy of a Massachusetts woman according to the Massachusetts Department of public health, that will equal a tax payer savings of $1,204,300! Support community based services now and free the 8,200 Massachusetts residents waiting for community services that current reside in nursing homes!

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I had a good day. I woke near 8 AM and only napped in the van for a bit It was busy. I rode three public buses; one on a new route. I went to Fedex. I paid my bill for the craft show at UMass. I got some safer sex supplies for my art project. Then I went to a meeting on health disparities, where I was supposed to lead a workshop. But that didn't work out well. Don't ask!

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Dear NuTang,

Today, like too many days previous in a row, has sucked. I was supposed to go out and do some copy work as well as some bill paying but it was too icy to go out today and I didn't want to get into an accident in the van service or get sick from standing in the weather. Of course now, after I cancel all my plans, it's nice out. Isn't that just typical?

I feel especially bad today because it's World AIDS Day and this is the first time in 15 years I haven't done something to honor it. Although, I suppose even if it is a stretch, posting about it counts. I sent the art book to the copy man and I'm waiting for the copies to come back. I hope you all are having a better day than I am.

All I keep thinking about is that 25 million people died and I can't do anything to change that. Even if I could go back in time and eliminate the AIDS crisis, I would worry about disrupting the space time continuum and creating some sort of cataclysmic affect that no one can foresee. You know how that always happens in Science Fiction movies. Anyone seen The Butterfly Affect? Well that's all for now. Maybe I'll check in later.

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I had a bad day, I had a bunch of cool plans that involved going shopping but to no avail as i got diarrhia right before the van service came and spent most of the day asleep in my bed. i swear this book will never get done i keep having issues now i rescheduled my mall trip to go tomorrow i hope it works out well i really want it to go OK i really want the book to be done before the show

Personally i am doing my back stretches 15 min to go i don't know what i would do if i couldn't dictate during these times. It makes the pain a little bit more bearable.I am now watching lake house which is a very boring movie so far everyone probably hears about it, maybe it will pick up. i hope so. i don't understand how this movie will get good i love keanu revs and Sandra Bullock but they seen to have to chemistry in the movie i only watched 10 mins of it tho so maybe it will improve wish me luck tomorrow on getting everything i need to get done done. its about time i have a good day.

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My assistant Jen, who was here all Thanksgiving with me neither of us have lives, and I had two interesting conversations. The first one was about the kind of person we liked to go out with. Jen and I, as in most things although we respect each other, were at opposite ends of the spectrum. I, for myself, prefer a more substantial person if we are going to talk about the horizontal mambo. I

'm sorry, I'm just not into the whole waif look for either gender. I think that just looks unhealthy and anorexic, and overall to me unappealing. All other things being equal, I prefer someone who looks like they eat on a regular basis. Of course, if they're nasty or unpleasant or socially unaware I don't want to go out with them no matter what they look like. Jen, for herself, said she likes skinnier people and I concluded that that was fine because then everybody gets some love. She laughed at that.

My friend Craig calls admitting you have certain things you like physically in mates, "honoring your inner monkey". He says while you shouldn't completely base who you date on what they look like, unless you want to be shallow, it's okay to give into our inner simian a little bit.

I guess he's right even though I always tell everyone that looks don't matter. I guess if you're more physically attracted to the person, you'll be a better significant other because you won't always be looking at other people. I had this problem and a lot of other ones too (our problems clearly weren't based on attracted status alone) when I dated a very skinny, angular, able bodied chick that I adored but did nothing for me in the libido department. She would always catch me looking at people and didn't like it very much. Not that I can blame her.

The next conversation we had was when we were watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and they had this family with 7 kids, a 9 year old boy and sextuplets. Mom was a nurse and dad was a third grade teacher. Not a lot of money there. Jen and I were debating whether it's worse to have 6 two year olds or 6 teenagers. She said two because you get no time to yourself when they're two. I said that may be but teenagers come with a whole set of problems. Between significant others, prom expenses, athletic fees, recreational expenses, college tuition, driver's licenses, and on and on and on. I'd rather have 6 two year olds any day of the week than 6 teenagers for one day.

Well, that was my Thanksgiving and I'm glad I got to share it with someone who made me think. If I didn't have assistants I don't think I would be as good of a writer as I am because I would say at least 25% of the stuff I write comes from the stuff they say. Of course, if I didn't have assistants I wouldn't be alive, so there's that.

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Hi! I've had a basically boring Thanksgiving, but it was okay. All I did was sit around, watch T.V., and write. I'm sorry but if that's the worst thing that ever happens to me, that's an okay day. One bad thing that happened was I found out that my school based assistant, Mrs. Sue Felker, died yesterday. Her husband called my mom and told her. My mother (being my mother) waited as she always does until the end of the conversation we were having to tell me this news. I'm sorry, but in my opinion you lead with that. You don't wait until someone's about ready to get off the phone and go do something else before you spring that on them.

I had a pretty good dinner. My assistant is a good cook. I watched a lot of T.V. today because they have cool things on as it's a holiday. I watched the history channel for two episodes of a show called America Eats which tells you how popular foods became popular. Now, I'm watching a documentary on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. All in all it was not a bad day as I said except for that one thing. Next year I hope to be in Northampton for Thanksgiving and actually go to dinner with people. Everything in Belchertown was closed.

Happy Turkey Day everyone!!

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