There seems to be an increasing number of home invasions in a town just north of me. Now that town is a lot bigger than my town, so of course the crime rate is a lot higher. And there is gang activity up there (moreso than is down here), but it still worries me. I’ve seen some advertisements in the mail about home alarm systems and I’m thinking this is probably a really good idea. Something worth investing in. I have this fear that the gangbangers up north will realize there’s easy pickings just few minutes drive from them and start victimizing us.

There are some things to combat this threat, of course, besides the arm systems. Lock your doors. Get a dog. Things of that nature. Especially lock your doors when you’re in the back yard (that doesn’t prevent the home invasion but can prevent the sneakier types from coming in and stealing your purse, for instance). But, really, if the gangbangers are trying to be initiated into their gang, I don’t think a dead bolt’s necessarily going to stop them. If they can kick in the door, do their damage and prevent you from calling 9-1-1, then what’s the point? An alarm system will do the calling for you. And a nice bright sign in the yard will warn away any potential invaders (hopefully).

My fears aren’t helped with the commercials on television either. I’d like to see them address the growing threat of home invasion without scaring the kids to death when the commercials come on. I’ve already had a talk with Mags and am slightly worried that I’m going to give my child a complex warning her about all of these dangers. I moved to a small town so we wouldn’t have to worry about this stuff, but it still worries me.

I would personally love to see more talk of domestic terrorism when discussing these gangs. Aren’t they terrorizing us when we’re afraid to leave our doors unlocked while we’re home in broad daylight? I think so. I consider that terrorism. I consider not being able to sit on your porch at night because of the gangs to be terrorism. I’m more worried about that activity than some foreign terrorist doing damage. There are gang task forces, of course, but what good are they doing? I was watching “Gangland” on The History Channel and there is a gang in Nashville (!!) that specializes in home invasions. Doesn’t that make them terrorists?

Yes. Yes, it does. I don’t care what anyone says. These gangs target innocent people in an effort to prove their “cred” and that’s terrorism. I shouldn’t have to activate an alarm system while I’m watching the 2pm showing of “Wife Swap” because there might be someone coming to break down my door. But it seems I’m going to have to consider doing just that. No, the home invasions aren’t pervasive in my town yet. But it’s only a matter of time. And what about the people that live in the town where these things are increasing in frequency? Aren’t those people living amongst terrorism?

I try not to watch the news too often because it’s depressing and scares the ever-lovin’ crap out of me. But this is an issue that really concerns me as crime rates go up due to, well, whatever reason the professionals use to justify it. It’s no wonder so many people are shut-ins. They don’t want to deal with the cold reality that they’re not safe in their own homes. I don’t blame them.

Trying to get into the doctor’s office on a Wednesday is kind of cliché. You imagine your guy is hanging out at a country club, sipping brandy and smoking Rocky Patel cigars with his buddies instead of seeing you. You know better than to call his office that day because he’s just not going to be there and what’s the point of wasting your time?

Well, those days are no more. Now you’re lucky if your doctor is in his office two days a week. I called mine on Monday and was told he was out of the office. Tuesday I was busy and forgot I wanted to call him. Wednesday I didn’t bother. So I tried today. He had his golf game and he should be in, right?

Wrong. Once again my darling doctor wasn’t in. Neither was his nurse practioner. And the office will be closed all weekend (for the holiday). What, is there some kind of party going on in the Hamptons? Honestly.

So, I’ve strengthened my resolve to find another doctor. I think I’ve pretty much had it up to my eyeballs with the one I have. He doesn’t take me seriously and I can’t get a hold of him when I have some serious questions. The only thing I really like about him is that I don’t have to go in every time I need my prescription refilled and he did re-prescribe my other pain killer without me having to go in. But other than that I’m not happy. Of course, I wasn’t happy with the two doctors I had before him, either, but that’s not the point.

I guess the point could be made that’s it incredibly difficult to find a doctor that actually cares about his patients more than his vacation house. Hopefully the next one on my list will at least be available on a Monday or Thursday.

I stumbled upon the most interesting discussion today. It spans a couple of different blogs and is about something called "fat acceptance". One side feels that it’s wrong for people to accept their "fat" because fat people are "unhealthy and put burdens on their families, themselves and all of society". They say that they’re angry because fat people are lazy and in denial and emotionally damaged. They think that the Fat Acceptance people are enabling overweight men and women and impeding their ability to see themselves like everyone else sees them and ultimately doing something about it.

The other side calls this "fat hatred" and believe their opponents are influenced negatively by women in advertisement, weight loss programs such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers and weight loss products such as Avesil. They say that society is wrong and that people need to understand that not everyone who is overweight is that way because they’re emotionally damaged or just lazy. They see other reasons why someone may be overweight and try to impart this to the other side of the issue.

I didn’t realize that people were so staunch in their belief that everyone overweight is weak and lazy and could, with just a little bit of will power, just throw that extra weight off. There is a strong belief, in this age of the Internet and—especially—Google, that there are so many people who like to believe their informed but just refuse to see other sides of the issue.

I guess I’m personally invested because I’m one of those people that can’t just shed those extra pounds. I don’t have a lot of extra weight, but I am overweight. To be "healthy” I need to lose about 25 lbs. I’m only aiming for 10 right now. If I were to go back on my Elavil, as I was contemplating, I would immediately gain 20 more lbs. Not because I’d get extra, super hungry, but because the anti-depressants slow down metabolism and cause weight gain—it’s a common side effect, clearly marked on in the educational material. Lyrica, too, would cause me to gain more weight. Both of these medications could bring me some relief from my disease, but I don’t want to take them specifically because I’ll gain that weight. Why? I’d be “healthier” with that medicine. I’d be better off, probably, and so would my family. My concern about my weight is preventing me from making my life better because I would get heavier.

How many other people are there with those same fears of their medications? How many of those “fat” people are on the medications that cause weight gain, such as the anti-depressants and steroids (for Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis, for instance)? They really can’t help it.

Now, beyond the medication, there’s always exercise, right? For those of us living with chronic pain conditions, it’s just sometimes not physically possible to get the needed exercise every day to lose that weight. There are millions of people living with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, RA, back injury etc, and those people sometimes can’t even walk from one end of their house to the other. And some conditions can actually be made worse by excessive physical exertion. For instance, I can be thrown into weeks (multiple) long flares from doing too much yard work. How am I supposed to just get up and lose that weight.

For some people, yes, food is an addiction and that needs to be addressed. And for some there are emotional reasons why they over eat. But for millions of people who live with chronic pain conditions there is our medications and our real, physical pain that inhibits our ability to do that moderate to vigorous exercise 30-60 minutes a day. For us it’s sometimes impossible for us to even lift our heads off the pillow. But we can’t stop eating. We have to have sustenance and fuel our bodies so that we’re able to cope with our illnesses. Unfortunately that means that we gain excess weight and we struggle with that—along with everything else with which we struggle. That doesn’t make us bad people or lazy or weak-willed. We have medical issues that cause us to gain weight and fail to lose it.

I have to take the side of those for “fat acceptance” because those of us that can’t just easily shed those “unwanted” pounds need to accept ourselves. We need to realize that we’re never going to be “normal” and that we’re never going to fit into that mold and, for some of us, we’re never again going to be completely “healthy”. We are what we are and we have to live with ourselves the best even if that means we’re not the perfect size for the haters.