Ha! I love this because it was the first day that I got the new webcam. In those days, the only way to get an image or video from a PC was to hook up a bulbous little camera. I don't even think it was USB at that point, but a webcam was some tech magic at the time!
I wasn't trying to get a shot here. I was futzing with my new webcam. Jeffrey called. When I posted this on Facebook in 2008, there was no such thing as Throwback Thursday. Re…
Did I tell you about the dyslexic atheist insomniac? He stays up all night wondering if there really is a Dog.
I haven't said anything so far, for the delightfully childlike reason that I didn't want to jinx it . But being this happy requires sharing, especially after 2014. All year long into the beginning of 2015 these entries were filled with my dreary slog through the minefield of depression and anxiety. You all supported me and helped to bring me back.
You know what else helped to bring me back? My job. I love my new job.
My birthday post last week ( 45 Things I Know ) reminded me of something cool. Last September I hosted a one-day group project on Facebook in which I invited my friends (mostly Gen X) to participate in compiling A Compendium of Good Advice. Something like a Gen X edition of The Desiderata. It came out pretty good. People should listen to us. We've seen some shit. Control your mouth. We live in a society here. Before you gossip, think. Think of …
So Joe's been playing Army Men on the Playstation. If you haven't seen this thing, it's this old school video game where you play as green plastic army men, and you wage war against the tan plastic army men on battlefields—the back yard, the kitchen table, and other parts of a house. While I was in Davis Square the other day, I went to Family Dollar for toothpaste and toilet paper (thank God for dollar stores) and I saw a bag of gree…
1. Don't pry open anything with your teeth. 2. Support NPR, independent musicians and public television. 3. Don't skimp on three things in life: your mattress, your shoes, and your food. In these areas, buy quality, however else you might economize. 4. Never work for an asshole. If you work for an asshole now, quit. 5. Every now and then, quiz yourself on the state and country capitals from 7th grade geography. There are apps for that now. 6.…
Joe has something of an infatuation with the late great Mel Torme, who would have been 90 this September. We've been talking about having a birthday party for the Velvet Fog, with music, drinks and dishes from the crooner's heyday. "We'll definitely make up a few pitchers of a Velvet Fog drink...oooh, maybe a punch bowl to fit the era!" You guys, I've been looking for an excuse to get a punch bowl for a long time. My j…
Great party.
My face hurts from smiling. 💕
Thanks for coming over, everyone.
Those of you we didn't see, you were missed.
Next time.
We will have more.
God willing and the creek don't rise.
A sushi place in Watertown, MA has a set-up in the ladies' where you
walk in and there's a commode. Just ahead there's also a stall door,
behind which is a second commode. Everyone must experience the same
rapid sequence of thoughts as they're welcomed by this set-up: you stand
there for a few seconds considering going into the stall...but then
what if someone comes in and uses the commode outside the stall? Then
you have …
This afternoon from 4 to 6 was 'Friends and Family' day at Joe's workplace. I went over and said hi to a bunch of people, some I'd met before and others I met for the first time. They had cheese and crackers and crudite, beer and wine for the drinkers and a lot of games and entertainment for the kids. It was nice. I still feel so weird. Will I ever be myself again? It is so weird when your brain breaks.
I finally feel more like myself again. I've managed to stop ruminating over the hospital and focus on doing things around the house. I've been using the "act as if" method, faking going through the motions no matter what my mind is telling me it would rather be doing (ruminating, mostly). To my amazement it has been working. I got the kitchen cleaned up and the bathroom and after being stalled for three weeks I finished updati…
I'm in a mode where I'm very much in my own head. I can't help it, I keep thinking about the hospital. It's as if I'm reliving the days and nights spent locked down in the pysch ward, and I can't seem to un-hitch my brain from thinking of those nurses, mental health workers and other patients. I see the hallway, the rooms, the nurses' station. I smell it.
Last week my therapist suggested I try something new to get me motivated to get up and do things. She suggested role playing. Change my clothes, change what I do, change where I sit and "play the role" of the person I want to be. She said try it for a few hours a day.
I've been thinking about it all week and I think the problem is that I don't know who I want to be. I don't feel like I'm the same person I was before, a…
