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nausicaa83So, first day of my thirties was great. There were ups and downs, but mostly ups.
Most important, therapy. I brought my therapist muffins, and after two minutes she managed to get chocolate all over her scrubs. Sidenote here, we have our therapy sessions in the same hospital mom lives in, but on another floor, where my therapist works. It's the ward for terminally ill patients, and we have our sessions in the little waiting room for visitors and relatives. Anyway, my therapist went to the bathroom to clean off the chocolate, and while she was away, one of the charity workers (who always roam cancer wards here in Italy) walked in. She saw me sitting there with the rest of the muffins, and asked me why I was eating there. I had every right to, since that room is where visitors eat, read, or watch a bit of tv, but I thought I could just be nice and told her "I'm celebrating my birthday with Dr ***, the Psychologist". She looked at me with a horrified, disgusted expression, and asked me "You're celebrating your birthday HERE?".
And that's when the voice in my head, who sounds eerily like Simon Kane's, tried to talk me into saying something sarcastic to show her how insensitive her question was. But I'm a grown-up now, so I just faked a smile, and said "yep". She realized what she had done, and ran away. Literally ran away. That's when my therapist walked in, all soaked in water, trying to dry herself with paper towels. I told her what had happened, and she got FURIOUS. She's a very nice, kind person, sort of like a puppy, so when she gets angry she gets really, really scary. Like a puppy that suddenly grows claws and fangs. She asked me for a description of the volunteer, and told me she'll report her to her superiors, that it was unacceptable behaviour.
Now, I've been in and out of hospitals for fifteen years. Things like that happened to me more times than I can count. This particular one didn't really bother me, it was quite mild as accidents go. But of course, the important thing is, that in this occasion I chose to be there for my birthday, because I wanted to share that day with my therapist. But many other times, I had to celebrate my birthday in a hospital because I had no choice. And this woman didn't even stop and think about that. She looked at me like I was a repulsive, crazy person, because I had decided to celebrate an important date in a hospital, when the only reason why someone would decide to do that is because they have family there.
Again, not the first time, not the last time. But it sure feels great to be... protected for once. I always had to fight my own battles, and I was always alone in fighting stupidity, ignorance, insensitivity. But this time, someone is going to do something about it, and that horrible person will be punished for it. And I'm happy that at least it happened to me. I'm fine, I'm strong, I can take it. But there are a lot of dying, old people there, who really don't need that kind of shit.
Wow. I didn't mean it to be this long! But it's a topic that's obviously really important to me. ^^
In other, completely different news, I just watched the Sleepy Hollow pilot, and I loved it! Highly recommended! The main cast is mainly PoCs (yay!), the main character is a woman of colour (double yay), who's super awesome, and the other main character is an adorable British just-dropped-in-from-1781 cutie patootie. And they used 'Sympathy for the Devil' for the credits. And the plot is fascinating and the whole thing has that sort of 90s feeling that I appreciate a lot.
It's such a pleasant surprise because I'm not even a fan of the original story, As in, the Disney cartoon scarred me for life (I saw it when I was six or seven, and had nightmares for weeks), and I didn't even like the movie. So triple yay for a new series!
Most important, therapy. I brought my therapist muffins, and after two minutes she managed to get chocolate all over her scrubs. Sidenote here, we have our therapy sessions in the same hospital mom lives in, but on another floor, where my therapist works. It's the ward for terminally ill patients, and we have our sessions in the little waiting room for visitors and relatives. Anyway, my therapist went to the bathroom to clean off the chocolate, and while she was away, one of the charity workers (who always roam cancer wards here in Italy) walked in. She saw me sitting there with the rest of the muffins, and asked me why I was eating there. I had every right to, since that room is where visitors eat, read, or watch a bit of tv, but I thought I could just be nice and told her "I'm celebrating my birthday with Dr ***, the Psychologist". She looked at me with a horrified, disgusted expression, and asked me "You're celebrating your birthday HERE?".
And that's when the voice in my head, who sounds eerily like Simon Kane's, tried to talk me into saying something sarcastic to show her how insensitive her question was. But I'm a grown-up now, so I just faked a smile, and said "yep". She realized what she had done, and ran away. Literally ran away. That's when my therapist walked in, all soaked in water, trying to dry herself with paper towels. I told her what had happened, and she got FURIOUS. She's a very nice, kind person, sort of like a puppy, so when she gets angry she gets really, really scary. Like a puppy that suddenly grows claws and fangs. She asked me for a description of the volunteer, and told me she'll report her to her superiors, that it was unacceptable behaviour.
Now, I've been in and out of hospitals for fifteen years. Things like that happened to me more times than I can count. This particular one didn't really bother me, it was quite mild as accidents go. But of course, the important thing is, that in this occasion I chose to be there for my birthday, because I wanted to share that day with my therapist. But many other times, I had to celebrate my birthday in a hospital because I had no choice. And this woman didn't even stop and think about that. She looked at me like I was a repulsive, crazy person, because I had decided to celebrate an important date in a hospital, when the only reason why someone would decide to do that is because they have family there.
Again, not the first time, not the last time. But it sure feels great to be... protected for once. I always had to fight my own battles, and I was always alone in fighting stupidity, ignorance, insensitivity. But this time, someone is going to do something about it, and that horrible person will be punished for it. And I'm happy that at least it happened to me. I'm fine, I'm strong, I can take it. But there are a lot of dying, old people there, who really don't need that kind of shit.
Wow. I didn't mean it to be this long! But it's a topic that's obviously really important to me. ^^
In other, completely different news, I just watched the Sleepy Hollow pilot, and I loved it! Highly recommended! The main cast is mainly PoCs (yay!), the main character is a woman of colour (double yay), who's super awesome, and the other main character is an adorable British just-dropped-in-from-1781 cutie patootie. And they used 'Sympathy for the Devil' for the credits. And the plot is fascinating and the whole thing has that sort of 90s feeling that I appreciate a lot.
It's such a pleasant surprise because I'm not even a fan of the original story, As in, the Disney cartoon scarred me for life (I saw it when I was six or seven, and had nightmares for weeks), and I didn't even like the movie. So triple yay for a new series!
