looks like crotch-grabbing

http://boingboing.net/2009/04/13/alien-hand-syndrome.html

a seperate reality

I am working on a project which is hard to explain because it has so many sides to it.  I am creating a computer model of my body that will be animatable to move normally, and, alternatively, to match the way I move in real life now.  There are two very different goals.  One is what I have talked about previously, a robotic therapy device. The other is more esoteric.  William Gibson foresaw much of what we live with now and have gotten used to, i.e. the internet, GPS, mobile phones, and virtual reality technology.  His book Necromancer describes a virtual world people go in and out of.  The book:

http://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson/dp/0441012035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276526873&sr=1-1
More on Gibson:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_gibson

As crazy as this may sound now (and remember Gibson was a a science fiction writer), I believe that before too long, fully animated realistic representatives of ourselves will be wandering around the virtual world of the web, interacting with each other, much as in a video game.  I have seen prototypes of this already.  My model will be capable of walking and moving normally (as i did before my stroke).  Of course, I could also give myself the body of a 30-year-old weightlifter, or whatever, but I would be happy to be just me.  Same brain behind it, restored body.

thoughts on metaphors

can't all be funny.
Had a great chat with my rolfer Emma on Thursday.  She asked about how I dealt with the stroke thing emotionally, and how I think of it metaphorically.  I told her there were actually good things, as Jill Bolte-Taylor points out in "My Stroke of Insight".  I met a wonderful healer named Mary who turned me on to the idea that everyone can have more than one soul mate.  Never thought of that.  Why not?  Has nothing to do with lifelong commitment in the sense of marriage or similar; it's different, someone with whom you share a bond that transcends this life we are in currently, whether you believe in anything beyond it or not.  A little esoteric, I know, but you get her point I hope.

Another thing we talked about was body awareness and the mind-body connection, which is an area I had only scratched the surface of prior to the stroke.  She asked me about frustration and depression, both of which are big in my life, mediated by medication and meditation.  Lot of meds there!  And yoga is critical, as is work, art, and relationships.

the handshake dilemma

I used to have this really nice hand-carved cane that I got in a little shop in a town in Indiana.  Sadly, I left it on top of my car (I think) on Varick Street -- please let me know if you see somebody walking around Soho with it.  One thing I liked about it was the knob on the top so I could palm it with my little finger and then sort of shake hands.  I have yet to find a solution to this dilemma.  I use a cane with a strap so it can dangle while I grip, but that's pretty awkward.  Is a fist-bump okay for a 50-something guy from New Jersey?   

welcome

This is all about stroke, from the perspective of a victim (participant) with a sense of humor.  My grandmother was blind since youth, and read braille.  One magazine was called "Our Special".  It had a section called ABAPITA (Ain't Blind a Pain in the Arse, as my polite grandmother put it.  People wrote in with stories about living sightless, many of them funny, some just giving a peek into their world, if you will.  The closest thing I have found on the web, doing a quick search, is called blindskills, which has a section called ABAPITA.  An example, an essay by a blind golfer:

http://www.blindskills.com/jul_aug_2008_sample3.html.

I am hoping for  similar stories from strokies, as I am going to call us, since I don't like
'stroke victim" -- it's too long.  I know there is a site for the National Stroke Association, but I want to be more like an informal therapy group.

more later,

bruce