All of them.
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I was reading the article on cracked.com the other day on Trumpās new cabinet. Much of it wasnāt surprising to me as a regular reader here on BB where much of this is well trod ground but one thing that did strike me was this observation about Sessions: that he was somehow too racist for 1980s Congress and not progressive enough for 1980s Alabama. I would laugh if this wasnāt so damned depressing.
Iām just waiting for Michael Milken to be appointed head of the SEC at this point.
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Really missing my dad right now after his unexpected loss. Iām constantly seeing things I wish I could talk to him about and with all the Trumpshit going on right now Iād sure love to hear his take on whatās going on as Iām sure heād have some clever insights to share. We didnāt talk a lot in recent years as we were both very private and anti-social (which I always found ironic given how he would frequently travel for speaking engagements and seemed to know literally everbody in the counterculture scene) so Iām just filled with regrets and sadness right now.
I would frequently send him links to stories here on BB. Aside from using computers as a tool for writing, research, and e-mail he was never particularly technologically savvy ā but I imagine he would have liked the BBS and you fine folks here just as I do.
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No 2017, 2016 is not a good role model.
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And MRSA?
Jesus, man. Iām bummed to hear about all this. I know you say that you feel that you canāt concentrateāand Iām not going to refute that, you know your inner life better than anyoneābut judging by your posts, it seems that your brain does have periods of focused thought.
I hear ya on the med-go-round, though it sounds like youāve had an especially rough ride. I hope your family and friends are cushioning the hardest blows for you.
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Me too. Mine was a hardass about a lot of things, and I donāt think he particularly believed in me most of the time, but he was also one of the best āactive listenersā Iāve known. He did not excel in empathy or kindness, I think it was an intellectual exercise for him, listening, and deep conversation from him could be a real challenge, but sometimes, like now, Iād give anything to bend his ear and get a piece of hard-ass advice.
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So, Fuck Today.
I had a nominally good day. Went out to the city for a tea-date that I was asked on by a kind, thoughtful, smart woman.
And I thought about my ex altogether too much during it. I thought about her two-faced nonsense. I thought about her very heavy-duty manipulations. I thought about her arguing tactics, and how she would then accuse me of playing semantics. I think about all of the simple responsibilities between people that she would lapse on in order to start a fight so she could tell me how angry a person I clearly am. I thought about her kids who lost their father and who I loved more dearly than I can even manage to really think about - as they were ripped from my existence so my ex could once again turn the tables on me when she had acted very poorlyā¦ I think about the conversation i had with her when I asked if we could work together on how to encourage and teach the kids how to be more honest and less manipulative, and that THAT is likely the moment that she went from just devaluing me to actually discarding me - I meant to ask how we could help them grow up to be less conflict oriented, and what she heard was how we could help them to grow up to be less like her.
I think about who they are going to grow up to be. I think about how their mom turned out (fantastically funny and talented in public, brutal mocking authoritarian in private)
I didnāt ignore my date today, but I imagine I was less than awesome company. I think I should feel awful about that, but I wasnāt talking about my ex, and honestly I think my date had fun, but my heart was nowhere near in it. This sucks, I hate this. Fuck this ruminating nonsense.
One the upside, I got to see Elizabeth Warren.
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That sounds so frustrating.
You do well. I hope you can work it out. We can arrange some easy to concentrate on .gif threads if you need. 
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[quote=āAcerPlatanoides, post:2983, topic:67518ā]
I had a nominally good day. Went out to the city for a tea-date that I was asked on by a kind, thoughtful, smart woman. [ā¦] I didnāt ignore my date today, but I imagine I was less than awesome company. [ā¦] honestly I think my date had fun, but my heart was nowhere near in it.[/quote]
And the Juxtaposed Statement of the Month award goes toā¦
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Iām demoralized about my personal situation. Iām just out of a relationship where I didnāt even get to represent myself to my partner as she was too busy telling me what I was thinking, unless I wanted to fight over it. It became one of those I respect her authority or she disrepects my dignity situations, and I didnāt see it coming.
So It was nice to see one of the few national figures who I really feel well represented by.
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Not having kids, Iāve struggled to fathom what youāve been through these past several months. I wish I had more than mere words and hug GIFs for you. And since Iām on a crappy mobile, I canāt even send GIFs, so all I have are hugs as mere words.
*hug*
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Words help!
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It looks like my depression has become worse over the last two weeks.
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How much worse? And are you in the northern hemisphere? Because us northerners are approaching The Slog, i.e. late January through mid-March.
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Today I had no motivation to get out of bed and kept going back to sleep. I didnāt wake up until 8PM. Some suicidal feelings (Donāt worry, I know how to manage them, Iām not about to kill myself).
I am used to being depressed but this is clearly getting worse. My GP already knows about my depression but I should let him know about things changing.
51.5Ā° North.
I suspect it is partly seasonal affective disorder mixed with dealing with last years disability benefit forms and moving house.
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I think I will struggle to fathom it for some time to come. Itās heavy, that. At least I learned that my tendency to caretake people and forgive them is personally rewarding (for a change) if used with kids rather than with people with character disorders!
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Nearly twenty years ago I was in a relationship that brought along an 18 month old little girl. I was her dad for three formative years before things went way south between her mother and me. It was hard leaving her (the little one) behind particularly as I did not think her mother was capable at that point of making responsible decisions. I last saw her when she was eight; thankfully she was doing well.
I have kids of my own now, and when I read them some of my childhood books I see where she had written her name in them. Itās no longer a punch but just a little jab. You get past it but it stays tender.
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Iām probably just a carrier, I donāt think itās actually having much of an effect on me apart from keeping me away from the clinic. In many ways Iād rather not have to stay there anyway, as it puts a lot of pressure on everyone else in the family and means that I canāt do my work. On the other hand, I was just settling in after a couple of days and had started to talk through things when I was told I had to leave within the next half hour.
Iām probably also excessively anxious about this; I hate feeling out of control and when my moods change so fast I end up in a kind of depersonalised state where I canāt trust, predict or sometimes even identify any signals I get. Some of the time I do realise when Iām going into a higher energy phase where I get hyper-sensitive to anything and kind of paranoid, but itās exhausting to have to spend your time gaslighting yourself to stop things from getting worse. When I wrote the comment I was embarrassed about getting upset on BB the night before and annoyed because I was trying to get work done but I couldnāt stop crying and I didnāt know why ā I practically never cry and I just wanted to focus. Crying about being emotional is a little recursive.
It has been a better week though, I seem to be more stable and I accepted and completed a pretty large project on time, which is the first time Iāve managed that for months. Four full days of work, even if it was into the night every day. We also got the deposit back from our house on Thursday and paid off the half of the debt that was due with a day to spare. The rest can be paid off in instalments, so the collection agency is not going to bother us at this point. These are the times when itās really annoying; a few weeks when I really feel like everythingās OK and I can see the benefit of the medication. I hardly identify with the person in my body a week ago and the last thing I want is to start a completely different medication and go through months of adjustment.
@AcerPlatanoides Iām really sorry to hear what youāre going through; Iām sure itās a grieving process that theyāre going through too and itās obvious that you were very close. I donāt know what to say and Iāve never been through anything like this myself, but I hope you know that we are thinking of you and wish you well.
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Thank you for that @critter
Same goes. And I donāt have advice for you, but I do wish you the best outcome. Itās good to get work in and done, thatās for sure.
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Okay, seriously guys, itās only 4 day until Trump gets inaugurated. He canāt be allowed to rule the free world, heās not fit for the job. Heās heading a party who are intent on removing healthcare for tens of millions of people, and his views on Europe and NATO are risking the safety of hundreds of millions abroad.
How can he be removed from office legally? What steps need to be taken to get him out? If heās shown to be breaking the emoluments clause, is that sufficient? The lawyers for both Bush and Obama have said heāll be violating the US constitution by refusing to divest from his business. Who brings the court case?
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