marichiko

OK, let's get a couple of things straight here, Wolf. I draw SSDI which I paid into the system for myself in the form of social security taxes for a period of almost 30 years, starting with my first job that I paid taxes out of my check from at age 18 (I worked before that, but it was babysitting or garden work for neighbors when I was in high school, so that didn't get taxed.) I am taking no one's money, but my own, thank you very much.

I noted that my attitude towards Rand changed when I was in my early twenties. At that time I was working the circulation desk of a public library and working towards a degree in biology at CU. Is that productive enough for you?

I can think of about a 1,000 things I'd rather be doing than fielding your bitchy remarks and hanging around in the cellar. If you believe that I made the choice to quit being a professional with private insurance (both medical and disability), earning what would now be approaching $50,000/yr, doing work I adored, just so I could live high off the hog on disability at a whopping $625.00 a month; maybe you're on the wrong side of the admissions desk.

I've posted just the bare bones of what I have endured, and you I've only scratched the surface of it. Are you a neuropsychologist, Wolf? Have you personally performed the rigorous neuropsych eval I just went through? Or maybe you're a neurologist and you've looked at my MRI and CAT scans and noticed the damage they show?

Since You are a professional in the area of mental health, I'm sure you understand that mild traumatic brain injury can manifest itself in any number of ways, including damage to the more primitive parts of the brain which regulate emotions, how it can destroy a person's executive function, or how a person can have short term memory difficulties, while long term memory remains intact. I'm sure that as a professional in the field, you know how a person such as me can virtually loose all spatial ability and sometimes get lost driving home. I'm sure you're aware of the emotional stress that can arise when someone goes through a long period of time becoming gradually more ill and not understanding why, and at the same time loosing their very capacity to understand anything. I'm sure that as a professional, you've visited the various CO poisoning sites on the web and refreshed your expertise on the ramifications of long, term, chronic CO poisoning.

I was responsible for automating the Fort Lewis College Library. I helped implement the West slope of Colorado's regional library consortium, I taught undergraduates there for 7 years and attained the rank of associate professor. I have two Masters' degrees - one in biology and one in Library and Information Science. I was responsible for running the reference service for a fairly larged sized public library. I was in charge of a $500,000 reference book budget as well as two slightly smaller budgets for aquisitions in the sciences and medicine. My library nominated me to attend the yearly national ALA (American Library Association) meeting two years in a row - a real honor. I was the science and medical book reviewer for Library Journal, a national publication used by virtually all librarians when making their collection building decisions. I was in charge of the Denver Botanic Gardens Library and acted as consultant to the Rocky Mountain Poison Control Center. In my free time I volunteered for the Children's Literacy Program and helped give little kids a chance to learn how to read outside the regular classroom.

You think I gave all that up just so I could subsist on $625.00 a month and be terrified everyday of ending out on the streets once again if my housing voucher doesn't come through? You know NOTHING of me, Wolf, and I'm tired of your snide remarks. I've tried to respond to you in a humorous way and not get into it with you, but today I am not in the best of moods. Go throw your shadow on someone else.