Today’s suggested topic is “10 things I could not live without,” and truth be told — there isn’t much I couldn’t live without. I know Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I know I need food, water, shelter, security…

So I guess I’ve got to take this prompt a little tongue in cheek, realizing that I am a spoiled brat, and I’m going to think of things where, if they suddenly disappeared from the world, it would TOTALLY SUCK.

1.) Toilets and indoor plumbing with clean running water.

People in America take this for granted, but there are still parts of the world where this is not commonplace. I admit my prissiness. I could not live somewhere that lacked this.

2.) Electricity

Just like indoor plumbing, I am spoiled on the juice! Even my toothbrush is electric.

3.) Central Air Conditioning/Heating

With my condition (MS), when it gets above 80 degrees, my body starts doing wonky things! So, wherever I live has to have air conditioning. Besides, I think Kevin Smith wrote the best line about central air in the movie Dogma.

No pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater… than central air. – Azrael

4.) The Internet and all its vast goodies

Ok, #4 is probably a lie. I lived before the internet and computers. I could live without them. But I spend most of my days online. It would be a major lifestyle switch to no longer be able to look up answers to life’s questions quickly, or to not talk to friends about minor bullshit over Facebook immediately, or to not be able to stream TV shows, or not to be able to get directions from my phone from wherever I am. OH WHAT A HORRIBLE WORLD IT WAS 25 YEARS AGO. *lol*

5.) CARS

I cannot drive, so it is very obvious to me how much the world runs on people’s ability to drive places. If it weren’t for cars, our economy would not exist in the state that it is in. Our communities would be planned differently. We would all be in better shape because we’d have to bike everywhere or ride trains places. Holy crap, do we use our cars, people.

I CANNOT WAIT TO GET A SELF-DRIVING CAR. Have you seen this?

6.) Amazon.com

I remember a time when if you couldn’t find something at the store in your area, you were totally screwed. Amazon has everything. Everything! And I’m an affiliate, which means, if you click my link, I get credit for your purchase. I get credit for my own purchases! Amazon rocks my world. So I’m saying I couldn’t live without it.

7.) EMDR

On a more personal note, I don’t think I’d still be alive if it weren’t for EMDR therapy. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is responsible for why I no longer carry the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and why I no longer am suicidal or deal with suicidal ideation or compulsion as I have for years.

I have a big-ole lesion in my corpus collosum which stops my brain from naturally being able to communicate from the left side to the right, so EMDR, which focuses on whole brain activation, helps information move between the sides of my brain. It allowed me to heal from old wounds.

8.) Music

I have practiced a musical instrument or voice pretty much every day since I was 7. I cannot imagine a life without music. In fact, we found out that music is the key to bringing me back to a proper memory-place-in-time from post-ictal confusion! Neurologists are using music theory to help old folks with Alzheimers in the same way right now too. Music is pretty much magic.

9.) Medicine

There. I said it. I have an active seizure disorder, and without my meds, I’d be shaking all day. I could not live without my meds, much as it’s a shame to say and to know.

10.) LOVE

I saved the best for last, you cheeky monkeys.