So, my eldest daughter attempted suicide Easter of last year.
My wife, eldest daughter and youngest daughter have gone camping to be away from the house during this "bad" time.
I am looking for good, humorous, positive, etc. items to move me past the next few days, as, clearly, this is a challenging time as work has prevented me from joining them.
Please note, although I am battling depression and the current issues, this is not a 911 problem.
I am looking for humorous, fun or amusing ways to pass the next few days.
I WILL not surrender to my issues, but any enlightenment or levity is welcome!
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Read webcomics? Need sugestions for some?
Schlock mercenary
Dominic deegan oracle for hire
Darths and droids
Order of the stick
8-bit theater
Dr mcninja
I have more if needed.
Wow your one cat is a hell of a Monopoly player. ;)
When I am at a low point(which has been a lot lately it seems) I either play RPGs if I can, read a book, or write.
Barring that I might watch a TV or movie. Or I post on the Pazio's boards.
Anyway feel better.
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This is the opposite of what you wanted and will potentially be long-winded, but you may find it useful. Spoilered to more easily ignore if you choose and read which parts you want.
After leaving college, times were better, I joined the military and was at least always surrounded by people. In 2006, about 9 months before leaving the military I attempted suicide, failed, and successfully concealed the entire event from everyone. I finally admitted this episode to professionals about 18 months later when my dad dragged me into the VA mental health clinic. I tried a short round of therapy unsuccessfully and several courses of prescription drugs with little to no effect.
I eventually found a stable environment and didn't decline further, but I kind of sat there in my depression for the next 7 years.
I went through a course of therapy that was amazingly helpful. When my dog died, I was able to leave the house 2 days later and go enjoy a movie with friends. I probably cried more at the movie than I would have normally, but I was functional and could attend the movie in the first place.
A couple weeks later I was watching a show that included a scene putting a dog down. It included the people sitting on the vet's room floor around the dog and talking, then watching it die. I had to pause the show, not because the show was too emotional for me, but because I was reliving the recent event. After a few moments I restarted it and continued on, I'll get into the mental process that happened there in the next one.
The big "ah ha!" moment was realizing that I was choosing to feel bad about the fact that I felt bad. I had hard emotions, like the grief of a lost loved one, and then I punished myself for letting those emotions control me. In the end, this caused the emotions to control me, they dictated my actions. Or rather, this caused them to dictate ALL my actions. In the act of struggling against them, I gave them more and more control over my life.
When a moment strikes me now, I let it wash over me. I don't hold it back, I don't berate myself for having it. I let it come, but I don't hold onto it either, so I also let it leave.
It can sound goofy, particularly from a western perspective, but for me mindfulness was more potent than any psychiatric drug. I'm sure different people have different experiences with it, but for me in my depression it was like someone turning on a light during the middle of the night. It was that drastic of a difference.
Video guided mindfulness exercise.
The idea for me is that when something overwhelms me, like grief, once I've allowed it to run it's course (or as much as I can in whatever situation I am in) I use the practices I've learned from these to turn my mind back to other things so that I can go back to enjoying things in my life. I don't do this to forget or abandon those emotions, but rather just to bring my attention to what is happening now in my life.
Anyways, I hope something in there might be useful. If not, no worries.
My $5 computer chair (yes, 5 bux from a junk sale) pitched me out onto the floor today. I replaced it with a $3 chair from the same junk sale. So far so good.
My dog ate a bee today. He's fine.
I suffer from really severe depression and anxiety. I found that listening to the heavy metal band WASP helps me. And meds.
Though my wife and I are separated, we're best friends. She brought me an Easter basket with candy and socks today.
There's a nest being built by a pair of sparrows right outside my front window. I can see it through the blinds.
Well, nothing very helpful or insightful here. Just random moments from my day. Hope they offered a bit of distraction for ya!
Try browsing LOLCATS completely, that will take quite awile if you are not up-to-date on it.
Save your favorites, however you like, so you can go review them whenever your in the mood.
I go through mine whenever I get bored, it always cheers me up, then I get the nip & lasers out for my cats.
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Make a YouTube playlist of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu videos. My testing (anecdotal) shows it's scientifically un-possible to feel sad listening to them. :P
Read both of the "40 worst Rob Liefeld drawings" lists, I laugh so hard at those I can't breathe.
Those are my best two.
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+1 for listening to music. Metal and 80's hair music gets me by. I find watching movies helps my mood, specifcally comedy and action. When I was in the hospital last year for 3 months, stuff like this helped immensely. Also, just going out with friends for cup of coffee helps too....just laugh and joke around. Get your mind working on something else....
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If the task is manage a few days... My go to method has always been to do things that distract me sharply. Now, it is important to do things that really work efficiently. For that, it needs to demand concentration. So, playing action games, seeing movies that I am not really used to, chatting with more than two people simultaneously, cook difficult things... I am sure you have other examples. Getting absorbed is key. Books, even if good, are usually things you do with pauses, so no good. Blast your brain for a good number of hours, then sleep without an alarm.
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Saw something gray and fuzzy on the porch. Open the sliding glass door to let the cat in.
Cat meows... from the kitchen table.
Take a second look at the fuzzy gray thing at my feet. Its a raccoon, looking up at me like... "what are you looking at?"
Saw something gray and fuzzy on the porch. Open the sliding glass door to let the cat in.
Cat meows... from the kitchen table.
Take a second look at the fuzzy gray thing at my feet. Its a raccoon, looking up at me like... "what are you looking at?"
Chuckle.
I work nights. One of the posts I was at a baby porcupine had come up to one of the buildings. It looked kind of cute. However, the way it was moving so as to keep its back to me with all its quills out led me to decide that trying to pick it up or pet it was probably not a good idea. I wandered off and it wandered off.
I work nights. One of the posts I was at a baby porcupine had come up to one of the buildings. It looked kind of cute. However, the way it was moving so as to keep its back to me with all its quills out led me to decide that trying to pick it up or pet it was probably not a good idea. I wandered off and it wandered off.
I have pet one of these in the wild. It was in a state park and BIG/old, so probably really used to people (unlike most of these). I was sitting down on the side of the road and it came along eating the buds. Came right up to me, i bent some of the saplings down for him so he could eat.
If you get that lucky, watch the ends of the quills. They're barbed and will catch on your fingers a bit.
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More fun with raccoons...
Seeing eye dog got a little too close to the trashcan right next to the vending machine where a BIG ol raccoon liked to spend his days napping and having people drop food on him. You know, coon heaven.
Raccoon pops up dog snarls and starts going forward and back. You can see the poor things brain trying to go in two different directions. he's supposed to lead his human away from that sort of thing . But he has to stay in between the raccoon and his human to protect his human.
Normally you just grab the dog by the collar and yank em back, but you can't really do that with a person attached and they were REALLY close. I stepped in between them and given the choice between putting a few things near and dear to my heart right next to a snarling raccoon or putting my derriere in the teeth of a dog that I had every reason to believe had its shots... I chose the later.
The lifeguards of course, kept offering me places to sit for the rest of the day. I decided to stand.
Guy was walking his dog without a leash through the park.
"Scuse me sir you're supposed to have a leash, if you won't have one i can scrounge up some rope
"Oh no he's fine he's very well trained.
"Doesn't matter, I've had a seeing eye dog go after the raccoo...
HISSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Said grandpappy raccoon popped up on the edge of one of those big metal park cans and started growling at the dog, who promptly ran over to it barking, and then ran back away when he got there.
".... you trained the raccoon to go on cue didn't you?
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Raccoon story
Driving home one night I see a big fuzzball followed by 3 smaller fuzzballs scurry across the road and into a storm drain. Trying to get a better look I stop the car and turn slightly to point the lights at the drain. Up pops a set reflective eyes, followed by another set. The first set dropped down, while a third set popped up. One of the other dropped down, while the first came back up. This continued on for a bit.
I imagined the mother raccoon in the storm drain trying to pull her babies back down, who were curious and kept popping up to have another look.
Bear story
On the border between Minnesota and Ontario (well, about 2-3 miles from the border) I'm on a canoe trip with my dad and my dog. It's a wilderness area, no motorized vehicles within at least 10-15 miles of us. End of the second day we find our camp spot around 3 pm. I don't set everything up right away but decide to take a nap, I put my sleeping pad on the ground and the dog snuggles up next to me.
I wake up to the sound of my dad yelling and hollering at something. Instinctively I grab the dog by the collar, then sit up to look around. Behind a small rock shelf (where all our gear is) is a black bear. I start yelling, the dog starts barking. The bear just gives me this puzzled look, like a slight cock to it's head. Then after a brief moment, maybe 10-20 seconds of everyone yelling, the bear runs past my dad and into the woods.
Next to our pile of gear is a pile of bear crap.
I like to think that we scared the s%!+ out of him.
You may have to work, but you can have dinner with friends. Go out after work and be social, even if it's just tea/coffee.
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And a raccoon once startled me by peering at me upside down, inches from my face, while hanging off my roof.
I may have yelled. Not really a war cry.
So, my eldest daughter attempted suicide Easter of last year.
My wife, eldest daughter and youngest daughter have gone camping to be away from the house during this "bad" time.
I am looking for good, humorous, positive, etc. items to move me past the next few days, as, clearly, this is a challenging time as work has prevented me from joining them.
Please note, although I am battling depression and the current issues, this is not a 911 problem.
I am looking for humorous, fun or amusing ways to pass the next few days.
I WILL not surrender to my issues, but any enlightenment or levity is welcome!
So how is it going? you have not really responded to anything. Hope everything is okay.
Thank you for all the replies!
I have more or less moved past the low spot and am now dealing with extra hard 12-13 hour days at work.
Things are improving, not necessarily awesome or fantastic, but acceptable.
Which is pretty good for me.
It will be a long ongoing process, so by all means keep the levity going!
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About 10 years ago, I was jogging on a trail that went around the shore of a small lake. It was about 6:30 AM, and the sun hadn't fully risen. As I'm running, I hear the sound of rustling leaves above me, and then something fell on me, landing on the side of my face and shoulder. It was fuzzy, but squirmed and half-fell, half-jumped off.
I screamed like a little girl at the squirrel that fell out of a tree and landed on me.
Next to our pile of gear is a pile of bear crap.
I like to think that we scared the s%&* out of him.
Well, you WERE in the woods...
Ah bear stories...I have a couple...
I rented a small house...really a cottage with a friend of mine up in beat country in NJ. These are my stories...
1) I was home on day (probably a Saturday) when I the way to the bathroom I noticed the garbage can was gone so I went out onto the back steps and noticed a large black bear going through the garbage. We locked eyes for a second and came to a agreement. It would eat the garbage it wanted and I would clean up afterwards.
2) One night I heard something by the backdoor so I got up to investigate. Standing on the back steps with nothing but a door that a two year old could kick through was a black bear. So I yelled at him to go away. And the bear actually listened to me. Gotta say I say I was kind proud of myself for a couple of days.
(Bear Country lesson: If you find your garbage just tipped over it was a raccoon. If you find your garbage on the other side of the lawn...it was bears.)
3) One night I went out onto my front porch to have a cig. I did not bother to turn on the light or put on my glasses(which I always do now) lit up and started smoking. About a few seconds later a large black shape at the end of the porch started walking away...after that I also always turned on the front porch light.
Bear (and dog) story
We were houseboating on Rainy Lake (US/Canada border again), I was in my early teens. It was a nice day so we had pulled the boat up onto a sandy piece of short and I went walking in the woods with the family dog, a shar-pei. We found a game trail and went walking.
We didn't go terribly far, maybe a quarter or half mile when I see two black fuzzballs about the size of a basketball go shooting up a tree. It took about 2 seconds to realize they were cubs, even though I didn't get a good look. The dog of course immediately went chasing after them, barking at the base of the tree. I valiantly yelled at the dog for about 5-10 seconds to leave them alone before I took off running, not wanting to see mama bear.
I get back to the house boat and I'm in tears, I always get very attached to my dogs. I eventually tell my parents what happened. My mom is somewhat calm, my dad is freaked out and expecting a bear to come charging out of the woods and up onto the boat (he's getting it ready to leave). Eventually my mom convinces him to wait a few minutes to see if the dog shows up.
About 5 minutes later he comes trotting out of the woods, his wide mouth open and looking like a giant grin (really he's just tired and panting). All over his face and upper chest are these little 1 inch scratches, distributed very randomly. It took a moment to realize that they were probably from him running through the underbrush so fast and hard that he cut himself on the branches.
Also, on each haunch, right in the meaty part of each leg... 4 parallel red lines, just deep enough to bleed slightly.
Nearly a decade later you could still see the scars from the claw marks.
That dog also survived cancer a few years later and ended up living to about 13 y/o (which is about 3-5 years longer than the average shar-pei). He was a tough son of a b%~#+.
Squirrel note: squirrels have softer fur on their belly than on the rest of them. I'm not sure if that's so there's less friction when they climb or what, but if you ever have the chance to pet one you can feel the difference.
Related because petting soft furry animals is generally a mood booster.
Several years ago before my mum died and everybody kind of just split, my family had 9 cats. In those final years, when I was the only one home due to everyone being at the hospital or work, seemed that I became the cat's new favorite bed.
I'm not really sure why, I kept the AC on at 60 degrees while I slept (I sleep better in the cold, under somewhat heavy covers). Still, I'd wake up in the morning with cats nestled into any nook and cranny on me they can get on. Some of them even managed to make their way under the covers every now and then.
So I'm going to sleep one morning, though having trouble falling asleep, and one by one the cats come in and flop down in first come first serve fashion. Last one in was Stormy, our eldest at the time. Tough old broad, my dog, a black lab, was terrified of her. Her favorite pastime was sitting in the hallway and just stare at Jax as he barked at her and tried to get past, but was too scared to actually try...
Anyways, I'm laying on my back and alternating a light snooze and staring at the ceiling. I wake up from one of these little snoozes when something tickles my nose, and see a big shadow standing roughly over the top half of my face.
Stormy, that big, fluffy gal... Laid right down and promptly went to sleep. I still can't figure out if she was trying to suffocate me with her fur, or be a sleep mask, but after I managed to blow her fur out of my nose and mouth, I managed to fall asleep pretty damn quickly. At least until our tubby one Cal'ae decided to be a scarf.
Squirrel note: squirrels have softer fur on their belly than on the rest of them. I'm not sure if that's so there's less friction when they climb or what, but if you ever have the chance to pet one you can feel the difference.
Related because petting soft furry animals is generally a mood booster.
Bats and moles have incredibly soft fur.
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Fun with a hoary bat...
we were doing a bat survey, which is catching bats in what amounts to a special volley ball net.
Had a BIG old hoary bat SLAM into the net and get himself wrapped up on it. I couldn't get him out of the net in my gloves. Partner tried to get him out of the net in his thinner ones, but kept getting bit through the gloves. I took mine off, started to untangle him. He NOM NOM nommed? on my hand a few times , saw it wasn't doing anything (I whittle), and then just sat there for a few minutes while we unentangled him.
Read both of the "40 worst Rob Liefeld drawings" lists, I laugh so hard at those I can't breathe.
So much this!!
He has on a backwards cap, and when he turns it around, it's still backwards.
When captain america's giant... chests... are real,
You know that he's been drawn by rob lefieeeeeld!
Oh he's covered in pouches not just one or two
feet make normal persons seem like a kangaroos
When captain america'sdrawn by Rob Leifieeeeeld.
Good luck with everything.