It is so wonderful to have my own wheelchair back, as of five minutes ago - the one I can get into without losing all dignity, the one that has places to put my laptop, my backpack, my keys, the one that has a variable speed throttle as opposed to just an on/off, the one with a swiveling seat. The one that doesn't make horrendous sounding noises at inopportune moments (or constantly, for that matter).

Yup, my day has been made. (And ring presentation tonight - sweet.)

EDIT: As always, there are some great posts out there that say it really eloquently. Here are some quotes:

Blue says:

Also, many of the same joys people get from driving their cars can be found driving an electric chair. There's skill to it, enjoyment of speed and mastery of a machine.

Fahrvegnügen!

Wheelchair Dancer says:

You can get a sense of how long it takes to turn in a chair, what it feels like to PUSH a chair, how to stroke, wheelie, etc. But you don't know what it means to actually live in a chair and feel it melded to you as an extension of your body or, especially, what it means to actively use the chair instead of feeling it as a prop. And this means you won't be able to move in it as we do. You won't feel comfortable in it in the same way that we do; you don't even see the texture and surfacing of the floor the same way. Our relationships to the space are different.

Wheelchair Dancer again:

I look around me. I see people in their seats. And it suddenly comes to me. They are all frozen in uncomfortable seats. My seat is an extension of my ass. It's shaped around the contours of my body. I am comfortable. My hands fall to my side and strike the smooth, cool titanium of my rims (plastic covered for dancing, titanium for life). It sounds unoriginal, but stick with me for a minute. My chair moves -- yes! really! Their chairs do not. My chair has mobility built into it. I swing a little, rock a little. Do non wheelchair users think of wheelchairs as confining, things to be bound to (in?) because their experience of seatedness is without motion? If everyone's chairs had wheels -- dining room, office, stools, sofa, armchair, rocking chair -- would wheelchairs be less stigmatized?
...
We have chosen, culturally, to privilege the model that is less developed, less technologically cool. Weird.

And The Idiot Zone is just funny.