I had growing pains in my legs when I was a kid. Bones growing too fast for the muscle, or something, I think. I couldn't walk properly for a couple of months and had to give up gymnastics. I don't really remember the pain, but I still sort of measure everything painful against it to this day. The inner-ear abcess while flying from Malaysia to Ireland wasn't fun either.

I've never had tooth unpleasantness, but I'm guessing I don't want to. A lot.

Randomly (via IMDB):

Despite the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act 15 years ago, actors with disabilities continue to be routinely passed over for employment by TV and film producers, according to a study released Tuesday by the Screen Actors Guild. At a news conference Robert David Hall, chairman of SAG's National Performers with Disabilities Committee, said that the study, titled "The Employment of Performers With Disabilities in the Entertainment Industry," represented "the first real documentation of what performers with disabilities and their advocates have long suspected: We have far to go to achieve true equality of opportunity. ... The images we see and the stories we tell say a lot about our society. We are part of the story." He pointed out that while persons with a physical or mental disability comprise 20 percent of the population, less than 2 percent of TV show characters exhibit a disability and only one-half of 1 percent are hired in speaking roles. Hall himself, who plays the coroner on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and who lost his legs following a car accident, said that he was "keenly aware" that he is an exception.

I had no idea the number was as high as 20%, but I'm not sure of the boundaries of the definition, and I do wonder what the discrepancy is between the number of characters exhibiting a disability and the number of actors with disabilities playing them.

I have never noticed the Elf hierarchy. Is he subordinate to the white elves, or are they subordinate to him?

well, I dont' know. He seems to be in a leadership position (i.e. the foreman), but why is he the Fudge Shoppe Cookie foreman. Why can't he be the Vienna Fingers foreman or something.

I had no idea the number was as high as 20%, but I'm not sure of the boundaries of the definition, and I do wonder what the discrepancy is between the number of characters exhibiting a disability and the number of actors with disabilities playing them.

I would suspect a large portion of that is depression, if we're including mental disability. I'd submit there are lots of depressed actors, and some depressed characters, although god help us if it ever reaches double digits. I've seen me depressed, I would hate to see it on tv.

A guy I work with who is a dwarf and also has a condition which has left him in a wheelchair is an officer on that committee. He is a director and not an actor, but he says the problem is that they are far more likely to cast an able-bodied person as someone with a disability than a disabled actor in a role which doesn't call for full mobility. No reason the receptionist who makes with flirtatious banter couldn't be in a wheelchair, or whatever. He also said it's a lot better now than it ever was, but still not good.

Most painful was having my sinus cavity packed due to a burst artery inside. I only know that was most painful because the little card that describes the memory in my mind says, "For your protection, the details of this experience have been wiped. There were drugs and you nearly kicked a nurse in the gut to stop her doing what she was doing, and it was unpleasant. Leave it there."

Oh, that was my most painful experience ever. I was about to have TMJ surgery, so right before they knocked me out they had to put a tube through my nose into my lungs (in case my face swelled up so much that I'd otherwise be unable to breath). So the doctor took a long cotton swab that was dipped in liquid cocaine and shoved it up my nose. Damn, did that hurt - I was holding onto the gurney with both hands and breathing in little, short breaths.

I was so mad when they knocked me out moments later, because I figured they could have knocked me out first before shoving crap up my nose.

He seems to be in a leadership position (i.e. the foreman), but why is he the Fudge Shoppe Cookie foreman. Why can't he be the Vienna Fingers foreman or something.

I'm thinking the Fudge Shoppe is more prestigious than Vienna Fingers. Fudge Shoppe is the Cadillac of the Keebler line.

well, I dont' know. He seems to be in a leadership position (i.e. the foreman), but why is he the Fudge Shoppe Cookie foreman. Why can't he be the Vienna Fingers foreman or something.

Oh! I'm glad you bolded Fudge, because I didn't realize that was the part getting on your nerves. Hmmm. I don't know. I think they should try to buy us off with cookies, that's what I think.

I'd rather give birth than have a stomach flu or food poisoning, although I have quick deliveries.

I'd rather give birth than have the kind of back spasms I had back in May again, and I didn't have a quick delivery, nor an especially easy recovery. Nothing about childbirth and its aftermath made me weep with pain. Exhaustion, yes, but not pain. So the back spasms win.

It think it would be worse if they made the Fudge elf gay.