Education on Depression Ok guys, I've posted this before, but it bears repeating. So I've copied it into a page of it's own for easy reference and access. (People who don't read my journal, or whatnot will still be able to find it.) Hopefully it might help point them in the right direction for help and a foundation of understanding. Also, it highlights things that people should not say to someone who suffers from depression. Things such as:
"There are a lot of people worse off than you." This makes the person feel like they don't rank; that they're not worthy of their feelings. It enforces the low self-esteem that comes with long-term, clinical depression and it trivializes the seriousness of the problem.
"What do you have to be depressed about?" or "Oh come on now, things aren't that bad" People who say this don't realize that depression doesn't need a "good reason" and that it's an illness - it can strike even when things, on the surface, can appear perfectly normal.
"Have you got PMS?" This, to me, is one of the most insultive things to say. Making a mockery of someone's mental well-being with trite and sexist commentary about their period is about as low as it gets. Out-dated thinking like this is one of the major causes of bigotry and sexism still rampent in our society and one of the large factors in a woman being unable to seek help within her friends, family and even work units.
Anyway, people need to take depression for what it is - a serious illness. There's a big difference between actually being there for someone, offering your support and listening to them if they need to talk and giving them hollow platitudes or attempting to forceably "cheer them up" by bullying them into feeling bad that they suffer from depression. Think carefully which approach you've done in the past and make sure you chose the right way of helping in the future.
See Sea Life Yesterday I spent the afternoon with my mother and sister. We headed down to a little place called the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. They're a non-profit, working aquarium that helps in marine rescue and rehabilitation as well as providing a home for those animals either too sick or permanently injured to return to the wild. I had never been there before, though my mother and sister had. It's a small place, but nice and the people are very friendly. I got to see river otters (too cute!), all manner of turtles and fish, pet sting rays, and see their two resident dolphins. It was a nice day and I took a few photos (though sadly, many failed to come out due to taking them through glass or due to motion blur from needing to withhold the flash). You can see the little gallery of shots here. There's some really cute pics so I hope you enjoy.
I actually had a nice day, which was good because I woke up sick and exhausted. The night before I had broken down crying and couldn't stop for over a half an hour. My stomach was torn to shreds but getting out, seeing the animals and the good work they do there helped lift my spirits a bit. Despite the fact I had really not wanted to go out, I'm glad I did.
Tough Crowd Sheesh. I was sure that everyone would be powerless to resist the cuteness of Mika in the last post and be forced to comment. Maaaan, tough house.
Bored. Mopping. Generally feeling blah and like I've been waiting for something to happen that now I wonder if it's past me by and I didn't notice. I don't know what exactly I feel like I've missed, but it's clear that I have. Like I've fallen asleep and woken up somewhere different and I don't remember how I got here. Or why. Or what to do next. Most of all I feel like I don't know how to get back home.
It's like I'm just killing time. Watching it tick by but it's all just water down a drain. Going nowhere, just repeating the same motions over and over. Isn't a definition of insanity doing the same thing but expecting a different result? So what does it mean when I wake up and think for a moment that perhaps today, today the outcome might just change?
I dunno. But I'm low. And bummed out. And stifflingly bored. And yet too worn down by it to really care or do anything about it. Not that I have options really, but I've given up even pondering them. Hurts less if I just let the clock tick by without really expecting anything to get change, let alone get better. So down the drain it all goes. Heedless of me and all pointless anyway.
Yeah, lots of posts today What can I say? I'm bored. *laughs* I cleaned the house today and that doesn't really make for an exciting day. But I had a couple pics I thought I'd post just 'cause.
Isn't Mika adorable? She was sleeping, in various states of cuteness and I was trying out some different settings on my new camera. I think this one came out rather nice. Especially since I took it like 3am.
The sky outside tonight was beautiful. I again tried some new settings on my camera. This one I took with my "sunset" mode. Think it came out rather well. It's hard though to capture how the entire sky is painted with color in the small frame of a camera lens. It's too huge. It defies the boundries I try to place on it.
Same sky, same night. This was taken with the "dusk/dawn" mode. Interesting how darker the colors are and how it's much more purple. The sky was awash with colors though so I think each eye - like each camera setting - would see it in different shades. The sky through my own eyes was more vibrant then the first shot, but less purple then the second. Interesting and beautiful though nonetheless.
So, just some shots. Makes me think of of the line from the Toad the Wet Sprocket song: "Give me your eyes, I'll show you things you never dreamed, you thought you'd see.: All for now.
Give me my donut anyday So I'm reading over at Lorena's the top ten foods you should never eat. Most of it's crap anyway and bleck, I don't care but one thing, now...one thing they can kiss my ass about.
#5: Entenmen's Rich Frosted Donut (Variety Pack Size) How can one doughnut have as much artery-clogging saturated and trans fat (10 grams) as nine strips of bacon? That’s what happens when you completely cover a doughnut in chocolate. Try Entenmann’s Light Donuts instead. With anywhere from six to nine grams of fat per doughnut (no more than three of them saturated), they’re not health foods. But if you’ve got to have a doughnut, they’re a lot better than the regular version.
First off, if I thought something like a chocolate covered donut was even remotely healthy, I'd be a dumbass and I'd deserve to die of a heart attack. (This reminds me of the people who were all shocked that McDonalds french fries were bad for you. What...? I didn't know that and they didn't go out of there way enough to tell me. I'm going to sue!)
Secondly, life is too damned short not to eat those things. They fucking yum in a box. Doesn't get much better. And if we all sat around eating nothing but dirt, life wouldn't be worth living longer. Sometimes, you just have to take the risks.
Selling My Gmail Accounts! I have SIX total to sell. I've got two on ebay at the moment and I may add another few. If you want one, either bid or just let me know and I won't bother listing it, you can just paypal me and I'll send you the invite.
I gave my original invites away, but got six more, so I figure if I can make even a few bucks off each, that'd be nice.
Somehow, in the switch-over from one host to the other, the main email addy I use - webmaster(at)giveneyestosee(dot)com - got set up as a webmail account. Meaning it didn't deliver to my catch-all. So today I discover it's why I've not been getting my mail. All 2 1/2 months and almost 500 emails of it.
*sighs*
Now I know and will be plowing through it, but daaaaaaamn.
Something's Grumbling And it's not my stomach. Storms are coming again. It's that time of year - afternoon thunderstorms - and seeing as I don't have a ups for my computer, and that it really, really doesn't like power interruptions (hard to have a solid grid when you have sand for soil), I'm going to turn the pc off for a bit until the brunt passes by.
So....out for now and my pc and I weather the storm. *chuckles*
Storm's Coming It's grumbling outside. I hear the thunder rolling across the sky, muttering it's aggravation. It wants to go; wants to freak free and yet the sun still peeks out, denying it for the moment. There's no lightning yet in sight, but the clouds are catching up, coming in to bring relief to old, cranky thunder.
It will rain. Sooner then later at this point probably. Though for now, it's just old thunder out there, rumbling to himself.
So much for that... Last night I made lasagna. This is a big process. It takes me about two hours including prep and cook time. So, after the meal was enjoyed by my friend Rand, my Love and myself, my Love and I decided to finish our night with a movie.
We head out and drive to the theater. Almost there, we realize that my Love never put the half-pan of lasagna into the fridge. D'oh! So we turn around and head back. Missing the 9:30/9:45pm showings, we check and see there's a 10:50pm showing of The Stepford Wives and decide to head back for that.
Get to the theater. Buy our tickets. Head into the movie. Only to discover there are no seats left - and certainly no two seats together. So we go to guest services. The only other movies showing are Riddick, Shrek 2 (seen it) and Harry Potter 3 (seen it). We exchange our tix for Riddick.
Go in there. There's enough seats and we get good ones. The previews have already started. I get some popcorn and a soda. The movie starts. And immediately, it turns into a flicker, strobe-fest. Non-stop for the first fifteen minutes or so, the movie is one gigantic strobe nightmare. With my migraines, I'm hypersensitive to bright lights - and flickering ones psychotically more so. I literally can't watch it. Even closing my eyes, the strobe effect is too painful. We leave and go back to guest services.
Talk to the guy. Explain how we came to see one movie, no seats, chose another, but the strobe was unwatchable for me. He was nice and we got our money back. Afterwards, we headed home.
So much for that. If the idea was just getting out of the house for a bit, well, we managed that. If the idea was actually seeing a movie, well, that we didn't accomplish. So a warning to all, don't go see Riddick if you're like me and can't handle strobe flashes.
