Getting wise

So one minute I'm kept in lengthy anticipation and the next it tries to catch me unawares, but I am wise to that now. Even the old 'I'm finished ... oh no I'm back' trick can't catch me out. It gives a whole new meaning to the trusty Scout motto of 'Be Prepared'. But mainly I've been trying not to worry too much about it all.

In contemplating a new role at work I was forced to consider that I have experienced a significant decline in my energy levels over the last six months or so, it's one of those very vague symptoms often attributed to the menopause and yet could have so many other explanations, mainly just plain old getting-on-a-bit maybe?

I did find a nice side to the story however on a link from The F Word (a feminist blog site), to an article about the improvement in your sex life that comes with age and experience. Also via The F word I found this brilliant site called Adventures in Menstruating, I never knew there were such aspects to the women's movement, it has opened up a whole new arena of activism. Their 'raison d'être' is defined thusly:

"We think menstruation is funny. This is why we write about it, talk about it and make up smutty jokes about it. Then we laugh. A lot. Why is menstruation funny? Um...for the same reasons a lot of other stuff is funny. It's a taboo subject - the shock of it all always gets a giggle right away and, immature or not, the gross-out factor is still fun. It's the new fart joke. You wait and see. Laughter is therapeutic - sometimes periods are a pain in the uterus. Observational humour ain't all bad, and that moment of recognition feels good. We like that shared experience thing. Comedy as subversion is addictive - once you start undermining those stereotypes and analysing the euphemisms, you just can't stop. Menstruation has historically, socially and culturally been cloaked in fear and shame. Deconstructing these beliefs, with brute force when necessary, is empowering. Oh yeah - all our stuff is for menstruators and non-menstruators."