Seems like every time I say “Back in Action,” it turns out not to be so true. However, I’m hoping that with Summer finally being here, I can do more on this. Instead of the “here’s my life today” entry I was going to do, here’s an article I just wrote for another website I work on. For the Facebook readers: Back in *Slap*

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Having Crohn’s Disease, I often need to find a bathroom wherever I might be. Well, not always does a retail establishment have a public bathroom, and for someone like me, that can be shitty (literally).

Well, I just found out about a law passed in Illinois, called the Restroom Access Act, or Ally’s Law, named for the young woman who pushed for it after having an embarrassing situation. It’s not just for Crohn’s people, but for anybody that has a medical condition that requires them to go to the bathroom a lot. Apparently, it’s also being considered in twelve other states. Here’s what the conditions are for Illinois’ version:

Requires a retail establishment that has a toilet facility for its employees to allow a customer to use that facility during normal business hours if the
following conditions are met:
(1) the customer requesting the use of the employee toilet facility suffers from an eligible medical condition or utilizes an ostomy device;
(2) three or more employees of the retail establishment are working at the time the request is made;
(3) the retail establishment does not normally make a restroom available to the public;
(4) the employee toilet facility is not located in an area where providing would create an obvious health or safety risk to the customer;
and
(5) a public restroom is not immediately accessible to the customer.
Provides circumstances in which the retail establishment or an employee would not be civilly liable for any act or omission in allowing a customer to use an employee toilet facility. Provides that a retail establishment is not required to make any physical changes to an employee toilet facility.

Provides a penalty of not more than $100 for a violation of the Act

I don’t see why I should have to worry any more about Crohn’s (which I certainly didn’t ask for and would rather not have) than I have to, because some stingy shop owner doesn’t want to do a good deed and allow me to use their bathroom for a few minutes.  If I’m not causing a disturbance or being arrogant about it, I don’t see why not.

Now that I can think a little more clearly, the reasoning for my last entry.

It would seem that the fates are signaling to me I should never run for President of any type of organization, be it a student group, a corporation, or the federal government. Why, you ask? It seems something happens each time and I just never seem to make it. Let us go through them, one by one:

Nutmeg Hall Council – Round 1

Nutmeg is the name of the residence hall I live in, and each of these buildings has a council of residents who plan activities, buy things for the hall, and that sort of thing. Anyway, I thought I had this one in the bag. At the actual meeting, I was the only one to put in my name for the position. So, I technically got it.

After the meeting, I get a knock on my door from an RA, also one of the council’s advisers, and another resident from my building. They tell me that the resident forgot to wake up in time for the meeting. The RA tells me, that I consent, he’d like to run against me. We’d have to say a bit about why we want to be elected, and it’s go from there. While in retrospect it probably was a bad choice, I agreed.

So, the next meeting comes, and I was shocked to see a ton of people there. Well, it turns out that most of these people were there to vote for him. Then they never showed up again! At least most of them. It’s funny, because I remember that all the people who weren’t his friends voted for me. The people that actually showed up again, I got their vote. It was clearly a sign of things to come.

Nutmeg Hall Council – Round 2

So, just like the last time, my name was the only one in the pot. I sure wasn’t going to make the mistake I did last time and let someone challenge me after they overslept. So, I’m guaranteed it this time, right? If you said right, you’re WRONG! During the Summer, the changed the structure of the organization as a whole, to make it a more deliberative forum, without the executive board positions. Thwarted again!

Television Club

Again, maybe overconfidence, but I that I had this one for sure. Finally, a chance to lead an organization. I knew it was a challenge, but thought I was up for it. I’d been a member of the club since day one of my college career. Hell, I sat out, like the video geek I am, with the club while they were holding recruitment for new members! Since then, I had consistently came to meetings, been part of both shows we do since the beginning of my time at college. I’d been a director, and was newly a producer for one of the shows. So, I thought I had a very good chance.

Now, I can’t prove what would have happened if things had been different, but something may have limited my chances. Last year, the outgoing Seniors were allowed to vote for the next executive board. This year, our adviser didn’t allow it. So, there were several less people voting than the previous year. In the end, I lost by something like two votes. It was damn close. And me, being stupid, didn’t nominate myself for the Vice President position. Still not sure if I’d gotten that, but who knows.

I’m not bitter at anyone. However, I’m a little disappointed, because it’s my third time going for the position of President somewhere, and I still haven’t gotten it. A situation that someone like Ralph Nader knows all too well, to be sure. I would like to know some more reasoning behind the loss of the Senior vote, however. I’m going to ask the adviser about it when I see him next. I’m not going to play spoilsport and challenge the election on that basis, however, even though I probably could, and if I persisted enough, would probably win my claim.

Maybe it’ll even turn out to be a blessing in disguise. God knows I’ve got enough to do there next year. In addition to producing the game show (which is a job in itself), I’ll be editing episodes of it, probably directing some episodes, doing Senior Production Technician for both shows, shooting packages for the news, and editing those. If I’m President, that’s the added weight of having to plan for the Las Vegas trip next April, in addition to planning any events and fundraisers, having to work with the university and SGA, and more. Add on to that one of the most difficult classes in my major next semester, my other classes, Hall Council, and the website I work on, and it’d be a lot. Still, it would have been nice to finally get it.

So, for anyone who’s reading this, you now know the history behind my disappointment from tonight.