I shouldn't have to point it out, but I'm not saying a kid can't have issues. I'm just remembering myself as a kid and all my kid friends, and how many diagnoses would have been given to us when we thought we were just kids.

Oh, I appreciate all the opiates I've had for various legitimate medical diagnoses (codeine for pleurisy, percocet for the back, morphine for the back) -- they all make me floaty to various degrees. I like 'em all.

(NOT A JUNKIE. I SWEARS.)

A lot of times, a diagnosis is a short cut some parents make. In this particular case, it's very real.

Although some of it might be mitigated if the parents used any sort of discipline at home. From an outsider's perspective, that is.

To change the subject I found more reasons to love Vermont.

A bill that got passed quietly and hasn't received that much attention (I only read about it in the free weekly) - Vermont born trans gender people can now get a "clean" birth certificate with the new name and gender. The old birth certificates will be sealed. And the law has been changed so that medical professionals are given the authority to say when a people are at the point in their transition where a new birth certificate is needed. Under the old way a probate judge had to decided and the letters from doctors had to follow a very specific script and letters could get rejected for minor deviations from the script.

This bill ended up getting tacked on to the one that says health insurance companies have to cover midwives.

A bill was also passed saying all single stall restrooms in government offices must be gender neutral.

Once again I'm terribly, terribly grateful I wimped out on the having kids front. I think I'd be on an endless loop of "Is he OK? Is what he just did a sign of something? What's normal variant and what isn't?" Which I think describes proper parenting of any degree. Not a form of courage I have.

Vermont is the shiznit! Seriously, if I wasn't a little bit in love with my current job/apartment/localistas set-up I would seriously look into moving.

A bill that got passed quietly and hasn't received that much attention (I only read about it in the free weekly) - Vermont born trans gender people can now get a "clean" birth certificate with the new name and gender.

I read about that (unsurprisingly, I'm sure). That is *excellent.* It's such a fucking nightmare for trans* people to get their birth certficates changed.

This bill ended up getting tacked on to the one that says health insurance companies have to cover midwives.

And the midwife requirement is excellent, too. I love Vermont so much.

A bill was also passed saying all single stall restrooms in government offices must be gender neutral.

I'm starting to suspect Vermont isn't actually part of America. It's way too awesome.

My tagline seems appropriate here.

(It's probably time for a new tagline. I've had this Fountains of Wayne one for a while now, and it's not quite as relevant now that I'm out of grad school.)

(Thinks about Vermont. Thinks about the temperature last weekend. Thinks about Vermont some more.)

Vermont does have it's downsides - there's the winter I haven't experienced yet. Housing is expensive, pay is lower than other parts of the state. But I think for many people the pluses out weight that.