well now...time for a whinge...

So lets get this out in the open.
I have multiple sclerosis.
I was diagnosed earlier this year and have this year alone had 4 attacks. The average number of attacks in this country is about 0.7 a year...so its safe to say its been a shitty year for me.
MS isnt a painful condition but it is very unnerving. I tend to lose the feeling in my legs for months at a time. Not to a point where I cannot walk but I have very little to no sensation in the skin on the lower half of my body.
This does have its advantages tho.
I do quite a bit of trail building out in the Riverhead forest and it is quite badly overrun with gorse...(my main whinge is how the English bought it here in the 1800s)...so walking up the trails to get to the dig site has no real effect on me. The other builders are usually complaining about how painful it is and how annoying it is. I dont feel it so in that regard its pretty awesome.
HOWEVER...it also means I cant feel the pedals under my feet when Im out riding and I cant feel the seat between my thighs so cant grip it and this is less than ideal!
I dont like to think I let it slow me down though but sometimes it is quite frustrating.
But my main gripe about MS and New Zealand in general is that this is the only developed/Western country in the world that doesnt subsidise MS medication for all sufferers. Only those sufferers that are actually disabled get the funding...this is annoying as Id love to just lead a normal life without fear of tripping over my own feet when walking...and forget about running...thats just being reckless on my part!
For me to get the meds that would reduce my chances of an attack it would currently cost me from $15,000 and as much as $30,000 A YEAR! Now I dont know about you but I work my arse off to pay my way through this life and I sure dont have 15 grand just lying round!
Now we have just had the National Elections in this country...(yesterday to be precise)...and nowhere was anything about subsidising medications for those in need mentioned. If it had been then I would have actually bothered to enroll and vote...NOW DONT HATE ON ME cos I didnt vote...I dont complain about the govt because even if I did it wouldnt change anything and if I voted chances are my voice would go unnoticed and I accept that.
What does bother me though is how things like this just get swept aside for things that are more "in vogue" at the time...like asset sales.

Now im starting to lose my train of thought here so Im gonna end this rant. I have said my peace and that is all there is to it.

So to end I will say this...

If by any chance John Key reads this...have a heart bro...do something right and how about subsidising the meds that I and numerous other people need. Look after the population of the country before you look after yourself.
If you do as I request/ask...I promise I will vote for you next time round.

Shot bro!

hrmmmm

So last night I make a horrid realisation.
Im old...well getting old.
The reason I know this is I realised that I complain about the younger generations popular music the way my parents did when I was in High school.

Things like Lady Gaga and Tpain and all the rest of this auto tuned music that has become the norm in this day in age just makes my skin crawl.
It makes me laugh that these "artists"...(and I use those quotation marks liberally)...are seen as ground breaking and award winning talented people that have revolutionised the music industry. However as a joke friends and I use an I-phone app...(we shall touch upon my feelings towards I-phones at another date)...which turns conversations we have into auto tuned songs and low and behold these songafied conversations sound exactly like any one of Tpains "hits".
Im still in the mindset that bands like Nirvana, Mother Love Bone, Sound Garden, Janes Addiction and RHCP are the real talents and have alot more credibility than anything this new crop of wannabees could ever produce.
And since I have mentioned the RHCP..(Red Hot Chilli Peppers)...WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING?!?!?!?!
Their new albums and by new albums I mean any and everything since Blood Sugar Sex magic has been shit!
WTF is "snow (hey oh)"....its not Chilli Peppers...its as if they have decided we will ignore everything we have done before and since under the bridge was such a hit we shall stick to that style of music...YAWN!!!!
they are more Stone Cold Cauli Flowers than Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
So that is my rant for this period of time.
In summation I have come to the realisation that I am becoming my father and the father of most teenagers.
Therefore I must automatically hate myself...

Please excuse me while I go outside and punch myself in the face.

so...about me...

Im Sam aka Dodgysam.
I swear Im not that dodgy but I speak my mind and sometimes that makes me seem a little sifty.
ANYWAY...lets start this off the way I tend to keep it going...with me whinging and complaining and ranting like a bitch about anything that comes into my tiny small brain.


SO...I have this friend.
I love him dearly and I can honestly say that he is probably the nicest most genuine person I know.
BUT...I just cant go see him as much as Id like cos whenever I go see him he tells me about all the problems and  issues in his life. Now I dont mind people telling me about their lives but there are limits to this.
Now I know he has had some hard knocks lately but really.
Maybe Im just a prick...(no actually I am a prick)...but I just dont want to know about it.
I have had more than enough issues this year and the last to do me for a lifetime and all I want out of my friends is people to take my mind off things. They dont have to entertain me but I just dont want to hear about their endless problems which to be honest they brought upon themselves.
Anyway, this all makes me sound ALOT worse than I really am but ya know...I probably dont know anyone who will actually read this so meh.
Now just because I dont want to hear this particular friends problems it doesnt mean Im not gonna be his friend anymore. It just means I have to have something specific to do or say whenever I go round there.

But thats my rant for today/this weekend/week/month/whenever.
So mayyyybe I'll catch you all later.

DS