Sometimes it Sucks

The title of today's blog comes from a long conversation I had with my friend who admitted that "If asked, I'll tell people having a disability doesn't change anything. But really, sometimes it sucks."

Of course, sometimes evereything sucks. Being a writer on submission sucks. Being a mom with two squalling kids sucks. Having all the money in the world and no one to share it with sucks. But I don't have first-hand experience with those things. I do have experience with being an adolescent with a disability.

Trust me. It sucks.

Knowing that no matter what you do or want to do you will have to figure out the extra costs of things that for everyone else are a luxury and for you are essential (from more frequent cabs to cleaners to bandages and medication) sucks.

Knowing that the organizations out there who are supposed to help you often just want ot stick you away somewhere that may or may not be the best place, with a job that may not be fulfilling or at all what you want to do sucks.

Planning where you want to live based on public transportation and medical facilities sucks.

Being very away that you can't make the sacrifices other people make to achieve the same dreams as you sucks.

Feeling like you have to live up to people's beliefs about the angelic, uncomplaining, people with disabilities sucks.

Frequent pain, lethargy and being stared at suck.

But what doesn't suck is the knowledge that you've succeeded in an arena that no one expects you to. What doesn't suck is the determination to be who you want to be even if society makes it difficult, or nearly impossible.

And what doesn't suck is being the one who is willing to sit here and tell you that even though sometimes it sucks, sometimes it rocks and and sometimes it's\ mediocre.

Just like everyone else's life.

Because sometimes, life sucks. (And sometimes it doesn't)

RTW: Favorite Book of June

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic:

 What's the best book you've read this month?

Yikes, that's a tough one! I totally had to check my GoodReads to see what I read this month! But I'm pretty sure my answer is Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, which I reviewed here.

Book Musings: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar

If it were published today, I imagine The Bell Jar would almost certainly be a YA book. The protagonist is nineteen and it is a very self-examing first person narrative. Also, a little bit disturbingly once you know the story, I identified very well with Ester, the main character. Eater starts out the book at an intern at a New York magazine, but after her next plans to take a writing course fall through, she ends up living at home in a Boston suburb with her mother. It's so normal, and her feelings of uncertainty are so familiar that her ensuing emotional breakdown almost seemed too... unreal at first. 

Like, I've experienced similar things, eerily so, and never tried to kill myself. Shouldn't her experience be bigger? More dramatic? But I think Plath knew exactly what she was doing. Someone with depression exists in the same way as everyone else, but these feelings affect them differently, and the spiral downward happens very quickly. 

I'm interested in abnormal psychology, and this book gives a fascinating insight into depression as well as the method used to treat it in the fifties. The juxtaposition of Ester to the other women in the facility she ends up in also goes to show how "ordinary" people end up with depression and suicidal tendencies. 

It really hit home with me, this book, and I recommend it to everyone.

A Musical Monday

Has anyone else ever noticed how many awesome summer songs come from the nineties?

What's that? No? No one beats the Beach Boys for summer songs?

But you know what? They're the nineties for me too, because I was addicted to Full House as a child. So there.

ANYWAY. I give you:

Summer Girls by LFO "You come from Georgia where the peaches grow..." damn right I do.


Summer of '69 (I like the Green Day version. Sue me.)



Away With the Summer Days by Youngstown (which apparently only I remember judging by the lack of anything but a Pirates of the Caribbean Fanvid to show you)



Those are just a few of my favorites.


What are some of your songs of summer?

iPhoto Fail

Last night my friend and I were messing around with my iPhoto and we saw this:

Happy Sunday!

Contest Winner!!!

The winner of a Sarah Rees Brennan book of her choosing is....



*drumroll*


SJune !!!!


YAY!!!!

Send me an email at chelseyblair (at) gmail (dot) com with your address, the book you chose and your preference of Amazon or Powell's!

Friday Five!

1. Yesterday, while abandoning my poor MacBook Air at the computer shop to get it fixed (a few DROPS of coffee sent the "n" and "y" keys into a world of pain), I thought about how we've developed a sort of counter-intuitive culture around computers and coffee. We treat them the way we used to treat paper, reading and writing at coffee shops or in the mornings while sipping our daily brew *sips*. This leads to incidents like this, but we really don't seek to change it. Interesting, no?

2. First sunburn of the summer. I have a friend in town and we spent Wednesday by the pool. I decided to attempt to act like a Floridian for once in my life and so forgot to put on sunscreen until it was too late. At least I look like a Floridan for once.

3. Because my friend is here and she likes Buffy but hasn't seen Angel, my marathon has switched from alternating the two to simply watching Buffy. Which...is oddly okay with me, because we have arrived at season five. I have to say, Dawn and Tara, both characters who were disliked by the original fandom, are kind of my favorites. This says a lot, I think, about me and my penchant for the outsiders.

4. I have a weird history with umbrellas. I've bent them, broken them, lost them. I have, however, not ever sent one flying across the street and hit a pedestrian. This person has.

5. This video has a lot of relevance for authors, but also emphasizes something really important to the way I see things. I believe I'm out in the world searching for my "people". You know, the ones who will catch you when you jump off a stage, as opposed to the ones who would drop you.




5.5 Don't forget to comment here to win a Sarah Rees Brennan Book!