Wow–one go? I’m wondering how long that took you…and I’m hoping you don’t have to work today!
And thanks for the compliments. 
You forgot: Not only is my brother a super-engineer, but he’s also a pilot in the Air Force. So whether my chair can fly or not, well, that’s classified. 
I almost mentioned this in that response of mine, because this is the number one problem among self-styled tech recruiters, IMO. They want to play the game, but they don’t bother to learn the rules. In a field filled with detail-oriented geeks, you can’t fake your way past their bullsh*t detectors. I’m not the techy type by nature, but you can be dang sure I learned the lingua franca of my industry fast. None of my candidates would know just from talking to me on the phone that I’m not a super-nerd just like them.
Exactly. And if they do happen to know I’m a quad, then that’s pretty much like a neon sign announcing my identity.
I haven’t. I always lack the patience to sift through all that data to find what I’m looking for.
Oh, thank goodness!
Um, you’re assuming I can’t do anything dumb just because I’m in a chair? That would not be accurate. Have you already forgotten the story about me getting drunk and puking on myself at my graduation party…?
I can do a lot of dumb things on my own with the various devices at my service. And, if I can’t do it totally on my own, there’s always some naive AB who can be convinced to help.
I don’t think you’re strange, and I’m not getting a sadist vibe from you. I tend to emphasize (over-emphasize?) the positive, because that’s who I am innately, and it’s a handy self-preservation device. But I can acknowledge the negative. After all, it’s not like anyone would choose this. Paralysis sucks, and you’re not crazy or weird for thinking about the various practical ways in which that’s true.
O my yes, this was for the sake of my hearing, not yours. Whomever i’m talking to never seems to have a hard time hearing.
It might have been just as well we never met. If we tried talking, unless you were a bit on the booming side, I would have kept saying “I’m sorry”, and you would have thought I meant about you, and it just would have gone downhill from there.
Gee, there ARE some conversations that ring truer in text! 8)
An inability to do anything dumb? <shudder> What a horrible thought. Besides, that sounds suspiciously like the ridiculous Hollywood stereotype of the disabled saint. I’m reasonably certain that you hate that one.
Mea Culpa. It was clear in my thoughts but I phrased it very poorly. What I was talking about was more like immediate thought/action. Doing things like getting pissed off and kicking the wall. You know it’s dumb. You hurt your foot. You regret it as soon as you do it. But still…
Regarding the positive/negative thing, it’s not so much that I’m trying to think about all the ways your situation sucks; it’s more a matter of realizing the enormous number of things that most of us take completely for granted. Oh, and for the record, it’s in a positive “I should appreciate the little things more” way, not in a “the poor paralyzed girl” sense (I don’t want to risk the wrath of you and your tricked-out flying death-chair). 
I vote that we replace “1920’s Style Death Ray” with “Tricked-Out Flying Death-Chair” as an SDMB meme.
I’m for it!
“Tricked-Out Flying Death-Chair mounted with a 1920’s Style Death Ray” http://www.actiontrackchair.com/ActionTrackChair-Photos/DSC04252.aspx
(Late reply)
I didn’t really expect the loss sensation and movement in your body would have turned you into a emotionless robot (terminator in death-chair type thing) - it’s just that my mother is a yoga teacher who has also worked as a massage therapist and the connection between body and mind interests me as well.
On that note: Do you meditate?
I keep thinking about one of your statements from way earlier. You said that had your accident not happened you might have been more of a jock than a brain, that seems to give backing to nurture over nature in that whole debate, is that your assessment? Or could it be that you are underestimating your gifts and you would have ended up both athletic AND smart?
And if you will engage a silly hypothetical, if a wizard granted you a day as an AB person. What would you do with it? Or would you even take the day at all?
You would be correct.
Perhaps you haven’t considered that my chair can act as an effective battering ram in certain frustrating moments (not that I’m admitting that I’ve ever used it that way…)? My chair could make a hole in a wall that a foot would be proud of. And then, hypothetically, I’ve got problems, too. My foot might not hurt, but I might fck up my chair. And I could actually fck up my real foot, too. I wouldn’t feel it, but I’d know that I did something really stupid when I suddenly developed a crushing headache and my PCA had to rush me to the emergency room to treat my broken pinky toe before I stroked out.
The moral of the story is “Never underestimate my ability to do spontaneously stupid sh*t just because I’m paralyzed” (my friends and family have learned this the hard way over the last dozen or so years).
I get you, homes.
Ahahahahahahahahahaha! This is hilarious. I’d be like, “Dude, what’s your deal? Get over it already!”
I get my own SDMB meme?? Um, YES.
But where are the wings??
I didn’t think that’s what you meant.
Nope.
“Exterminate!”
Mm. Hard to say. Actually, impossible to say. My best guess is that, minus any other physical hardship, I would have continued on the path I was on: Achieving success in athletics and bringing home middling grades. What was the point of concentrating on homework when I planned to get a sports scholarship somewhere?
However, interestingly enough, I’m actually of the mindset in general that nature slightly trumps nurture in our development. But I think that a life change like going from AB to quadriplegic is of sufficient caliber to divert a life course despite that.
Oh, and one more thought: I think I must have always had the raw intellectual material–I don’t think my brain completely changed when I got hurt or anything. But it was raw. And I feel like it probably would have remained so, since I had very little motivation to develop it.
Are you kidding me? Of COURSE I would take it! As much as it would f*cking suck to wake up paralyzed again the next day, I would never pass that up.
What would I do? In no particular order:
[ul]
[li]Give my attendants the day off[/li][li]Do a triathlon[/li][li]Take a yoga class (yoga was just getting cool when I got hurt and I’ve always wanted to try it)[/li][li]Eat a big plate of spaghetti using my own hands (being fed spaghetti is not a good idea)[/li][li]Get a full body massage[/li][li]Have SEX! ;)[/li][li]Spend at least 2 full hours just hugging my mom, dad, and brothers[/li][li]Go clubbing (get my dance on, yo)[/li][li]Go snowboarding (and do lots and lots of flips)[/li][li]Take a long hot shower ALONE[/li][li]Take a long, hot shower with someone else (see above “SEX”)[/li][li]Do my own hair and makeup the way I want it done[/li][li]Drive an hour on a windy country road alone, in a really hot car[/li][li]Throw a huge party with all of my friends and perform a keg stand there[/li][li]Have more sex[/li][li]Go surfing[/li][li]Go to the bathroom ALONE[/li][li]Go to Nordstrom and try on every dress in Savvy[/li][li]Wear really skanky short shorts ;)[/li][li]Sport a super hot bikini[/li][li]Probably spend a full hour just scratching my nose (LOL)[/li][li]…And fall into bed that night exhausted and sore, and sleep the whole night on my tummy.[/li][/ul]
There might be more, but that’s all I could think of in 30 seconds.
(Oh, and of course, do like a lot of charity work and stuff, too…)
Thanks for your answer. That’s what I meant by “achieve”, though I can see how it was confusing. I meant that you feel it mentally, even though you can’t feel the area where it’s being generated. I’ve read that this is possible because the nerves from the genitals to the brain are not part of the spinal column, but I don’t remember where I read that. Some science magazine a few years ago. So, as long as that neural pathway isn’t damaged, it’s still possible. Probably those who can’t have sustained damage to that part as well.
Interesting about the lubrication. I know that it’s largely mentally triggered (for me at least), but I don’t know anything about the mechanism for doing so. Along similar lines, my husband and I were pondering recently whether women experience the same sort of involuntary reaction that men do, when they, say, wake up with “morning wood” without an obvious sexual trigger for it. The brain’s a funny thing, I wonder if they’ll ever really understand how it works.
Well, I think this might be a first. I don’t think anybody has ever called me “dude” before.
And then I’d say “sorry” again and you would do eye rolls and motor off, right?
I wish I was a wizard.