Miscellaneous

Guys, huntingbear came back with a milkshake. Just one I guess. Meaning we don't get any. Kinda pisses me off.
 
Randomly boots back up in 2013. Literally gone for almost a decade. He just unfroze from carbonite. And we don't even get a ****ing Milkshake. All-be damned.
 
best friend called me at 5 in the morning freaking out having missed taking her antidepressants and having withdrawals, ended up slicing her legs open again

checked herself into a psychiatric clinic today, has to stay for 1-2 weeks. everything's tearing her apart and it's scary as hell

I know she'll be okay, but it's ****ing heart wrenching, knowing someone you love more than anything is in constant pain and you can't do shit to help them
 
I know from experience that mental illness can be a "bottomless pit." I also know that its better to have someone to talk to while you are falling indefinitely. You being there for her is no doubt doing more for her condition than a psychiatrist. Hope she is back to the usual soon!



ALSO:
 
Eejit said:
Largely based on bullshit stereotypes.
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Stereotypes of what sort? The fact that the Chinese government has a notorious history of suppressing rather than solving problems? That Russian leadership is full of perennially incompetent, corrupt officials? That Americans would rather deny, deny, deny than actually set to the hard work of solving an unavoidable problem? That Europe has a history of building castles which would be perfectly suited to staving off the undead hordes? That India and Pakistan have a thousand-year history of border tensions and mutual distrust? That a corporate opportunist would create a bullshit medicine in order to profit off of mass panic? Those sound pretty accurate to me, since all those things are matters of historical fact.

Need I mention Radio Free Earth, the South African Plan, or the whole concept of "quislings?" Those are all very unique explorations of potential responses to the situation being explored.

I want counterexamples; you've yet to name a concrete one.

Tollbooth Willie said:
best friend called me at 5 in the morning freaking out having missed taking her antidepressants and having withdrawals, ended up slicing her legs open again

checked herself into a psychiatric clinic today, has to stay for 1-2 weeks. everything's tearing her apart and it's scary as hell

I know she'll be okay, but it's ****ing heart wrenching, knowing someone you love more than anything is in constant pain and you can't do shit to help them
Click to expand...
Tollbooth Willie
I read a book recently that you might find interesting, perhaps helpful. Man's Search for Meaning. It's written by Viktor Frankl, M.D., Ph.D. He's a holocaust survivor who created a method of psychotherapy that seems to do away with the value judgments and suppositions in favor of a holistic approach to the human mind/attitude and how people think.

EDIT: Most importantly, he takes a very unique approach to unavoidable suffering, and how we can deal with it. It has definitively changed my outlook for the better by understanding what he is saying. I really do urge you to read it, as it's quite a light read at only about 100-150 pages (depending on publication).
 
Maestro said:
I want counterexamples; you've yet to name a concrete one.
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Crazy anti-semitic Arab , Japanese blind samurai, "Faw tha Queen!" Englishmen... It uses the most cursory superficial pop-culture national stereotypes, giving an impression of a stay-at-home writer trying to show other nationalities such as you see with Family Guy etc.

The South Africa plan is also repugnant in the way it's accepted too. All the racist psycho apartheidist needs is a good hug from Nelson Mandela, he's really sensitive on the inside.

It was not a good book, just slaughter and post-apoc porn.
 
Eejit said:
Crazy anti-semitic Arab , Japanese blind samurai, "Faw tha Queen!" Englishmen... It uses the most cursory superficial pop-culture national stereotypes, giving an impression of a stay-at-home writer trying to show other nationalities such as you see with Family Guy etc.

The South Africa plan is also repugnant in the way it's accepted too. All the racist psycho apartheidist needs is a good hug from Nelson Mandela, he's really sensitive on the inside.

It was not a good book, just slaughter and post-apoc porn.
Click to expand...

Paul Redeker isn't racist. That's the whole point of his narrative. He simply was put in charge of coming up with Plan Orange 84, and did too good a job of it. In fact, he's completely ****ing nuts since he's got more than one personality living in his head. It's heavily implied that creating the Sou'frican plan and watching it come to fruition is what drove him to insanity, as a matter of fact.

I will brook you the Japanese blind guy was kitschy. Same goes for the Englishman, but I still don't see a very comprehensive case against it so far. In fact, your claim of its being pornographic is completely ridiculous. Little time is spent, outside of a few like Todd Wainio and some others who spent years of time confronting it, on the subject of the actual gore and horrors. Soldiers tend to do that, normally, if you haven't noticed. Anyone who spends a lot of time dealing with a dark reality is going to dwell on it quite a bit when asked to recount the story. Most of the book, however, is spent exploring the human themes of being confronted with something completely outside the ken of mankind. There is a large portion spent building empathy with a number of people like the Radio Free Earth operators, canines, refugees to Canada, and all the other people who were trying to fight back against something that isn't even supposed to exist.

His exploration of the issues with the Israeli border speak to a fairly good knowledge of the historical cultural tensions in that area, as do many of his other depictions. Yes, the characters can be a little stereotypical at times, but that's the problem with any large-scale narrative: you can't devote enough time and attention to flesh out most of these characters. If you do, you end up with a hideous, lumbering monster of a narrative like A Song of Ice and Fire where the author makes one or two substantive strides for every 500 pages of text. Character-driven story does not work when trying to write a story like this one.

If you want my honest opinion, most stereotypes have more than a small nugget of truth to them. At the very least, using them allows the reader to create a functional (if not particularly accurate) picture of who the character is and what he/she looks like and perhaps a behavior pattern with that. These people are supposed to be interesting and punchy characters, in much the same way that someone who creates a nonfiction narrative of this sort would also seek to achieve a story that has impact. You find the people who represent a group in a way that the reader can draw a picture with.
 
Visited the recording studio today with the band. Went through the equipment, recording process, what we'll be doing day-by-day, overall sound we wanted to achieve for the album and discussed a lot of the details.

Work begins in about 4 weeks. Super excited. Really confident that the album will sound awesome.
 
Maestro said:
Tollbooth Willie
I read a book recently that you might find interesting, perhaps helpful. Man's Search for Meaning. It's written by Viktor Frankl, M.D., Ph.D. He's a holocaust survivor who created a method of psychotherapy that seems to do away with the value judgments and suppositions in favor of a holistic approach to the human mind/attitude and how people think.

EDIT: Most importantly, he takes a very unique approach to unavoidable suffering, and how we can deal with it. It has definitively changed my outlook for the better by understanding what he is saying. I really do urge you to read it, as it's quite a light read at only about 100-150 pages (depending on publication).
Click to expand...
I don't need a psychology book to tell what's wrong with her. I know exactly what's going on, but she's still content to go through with it knowing it's a bad idea, some things are beyond both our control, and I know a small part of it is probably my fault due to a very recent development.

Now I have another question to ask anyone who has been on antidepressants, or at least knows their shit. She's been on citralopram for a while, which has had a largely negative influence on her state of mind, but the people at the facility want to just pull her off of it within the week or two she will be there (WHICH IS A VERY ****ING STUPID IDEA BECAUSE HER HAVING ONE DAY WITHOUT IT SURE DID HER SOME GOOD THERE) and throw her on both abilify and cymbalta, which I know next to nothing about and have been reading up on. I know neither of them are FDA approved. That's about it. How f*cking bad of an idea is it for her to be on two of these things if just one caused her to relapse into cutting again and caused her anxiety attacks for the first time in her life?
 
Tollbooth Willie said:
I don't need a psychology book to tell what's wrong with her. I know exactly what's going on, but she's still content to go through with it knowing it's a bad idea, some things are beyond both our control, and I know a small part of it is probably my fault due to a very recent development.

Now I have another question to ask anyone who has been on antidepressants, or at least knows their shit. She's been on citralopram for a while, which has had a largely negative influence on her state of mind, but the people at the facility want to just pull her off of it within the week or two she will be there (WHICH IS A VERY ****ING STUPID IDEA BECAUSE HER HAVING ONE DAY WITHOUT IT SURE DID HER SOME GOOD THERE) and throw her on both abilify and cymbalta, which I know next to nothing about and have been reading up on. I know neither of them are FDA approved. That's about it. How f*cking bad of an idea is it for her to be on two of these things if just one caused her to relapse into cutting again and caused her anxiety attacks for the first time in her life?
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I don't know about the other two, but I was on Citralopram for a while a few years ago. Was on them for maybe 18 months with no problems and they certainly helped me, giving me breathing room to approach issues without cracking. About 2 years later I ended up back on them again for similar issues. This second time, I dunno why... but the citralopram completely screwed with my head. I developed severe short term amnesia, suffered from really bad panic attacks - which i'd never had in my life, made me almost continually nauseous and my personality changed so much that my now wife said I was a different person. To me, I didn't feel overly different other than the nausea and panics.
My doctor took me off the Citralopram completely and after it had cleared my system put me on something else that targeted the same areas of the brain, but used a different composition... and it seemed to work fine.
I've just realised I haven't actually answered your question... rather just put my own experience of antidepressants...
Maybe the docs think the combination of them will work without the side effects that the citralopram seems to have on her?
 
Tollbooth Willie said:
I don't need a psychology book to tell what's wrong with her. I know exactly what's going on, but she's still content to go through with it knowing it's a bad idea, some things are beyond both our control, and I know a small part of it is probably my fault due to a very recent development.

Now I have another question to ask anyone who has been on antidepressants, or at least knows their shit. She's been on citralopram for a while, which has had a largely negative influence on her state of mind, but the people at the facility want to just pull her off of it within the week or two she will be there (WHICH IS A VERY ****ING STUPID IDEA BECAUSE HER HAVING ONE DAY WITHOUT IT SURE DID HER SOME GOOD THERE) and throw her on both abilify and cymbalta, which I know next to nothing about and have been reading up on. I know neither of them are FDA approved. That's about it. How f*cking bad of an idea is it for her to be on two of these things if just one caused her to relapse into cutting again and caused her anxiety attacks for the first time in her life?
Click to expand...

Why are you asking a bunch of internet forum users who know nothing about this, and not the psychiatrists with literal decades of experience giving her treatment these questions? Are you afraid they're going to lie to you or are secretly planning to harm your friend or something? That does not make any sense at all, unless that psychiatrist happens to be named Hannibal Lecter.

Man's Search for Meaning was recommended for your benefit, since you're the one posting drunken rants about destroying your liver at 4 in the morning.
Stylo said:
Visited the recording studio today with the band. Went through the equipment, recording process, what we'll be doing day-by-day, overall sound we wanted to achieve for the album and discussed a lot of the details.

Work begins in about 4 weeks. Super excited. Really confident that the album will sound awesome.
Click to expand...
That sounds pretty awesome. How long do you think before it's ready for sale?
 
Tollbooth Willie said:
I don't need a psychology book to tell what's wrong with her. I know exactly what's going on, but she's still content to go through with it knowing it's a bad idea, some things are beyond both our control, and I know a small part of it is probably my fault due to a very recent development.

Now I have another question to ask anyone who has been on antidepressants, or at least knows their shit. She's been on citralopram for a while, which has had a largely negative influence on her state of mind, but the people at the facility want to just pull her off of it within the week or two she will be there (WHICH IS A VERY ****ING STUPID IDEA BECAUSE HER HAVING ONE DAY WITHOUT IT SURE DID HER SOME GOOD THERE) and throw her on both abilify and cymbalta, which I know next to nothing about and have been reading up on. I know neither of them are FDA approved. That's about it. How f*cking bad of an idea is it for her to be on two of these things if just one caused her to relapse into cutting again and caused her anxiety attacks for the first time in her life?
Click to expand...
I know enough to know that one to two weeks is not enough time to wean someone off any reasonably-sized dosage of an SSRI, ESPECIALLY if you're giving them ANOTHER SSRI during the weaning process (technically cymbalta is an SNRI but that just means it inhibits norepinephrine in addition to serotonin).

The people working with her are ****ing stupid. C's get degrees.
 
Maestro said:
Why are you asking a bunch of internet forum users who know nothing about this, and not the psychiatrists with literal decades of experience giving her treatment these questions? Are you afraid they're going to lie to you or are secretly planning to harm your friend or something? That does not make any sense at all, unless that psychiatrist happens to be named Hannibal Lecter.

Man's Search for Meaning was recommended for your benefit, since you're the one posting drunken rants about destroying your liver at 4 in the morning.

That sounds pretty awesome. How long do you think before it's ready for sale?
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I really just do not trust doctors/psychiatrists at all. I think just about everyone is a liar.
 
Tollbooth Willie said:
I really just do not trust doctors/psychiatrists at all. I think just about everyone is a liar.
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And you're going to take advice on psychiatric medicine from the internet instead? I don't even know where to start with that one.
 
I mean my instinct is to trust the qualified professionals as well, but pulling someone off an SSRI that quickly is a ****ing terrible idea. I forgot my dose a couple times when I was on venlafaxine (which is a terrible drug and probably much worse than citalopram, but thankfully I was on a relatively low dose) and even short term it was pretty unbearable. Another friend took upwards of a month to wean himself off a larger dose of the same stuff and was constantly getting sweats, shocks, all sorts of nasty shit. I mean unless the stuff they're switching her to has a similar enough profile that her system will accept it without noticing the difference... this is where my limited medical knowledge kind of peters out.
 
Bad^Hat said:
I mean my instinct is to trust the qualified professionals as well, but pulling someone off an SSRI that quickly is a ****ing terrible idea. I forgot my dose a couple times when I was on venlafaxine (which is a terrible drug and probably much worse than citalopram, but thankfully I was on a relatively low dose) and even short term it was pretty unbearable. Another friend took upwards of a month to wean himself off a larger dose of the same stuff and was constantly getting sweats, shocks, all sorts of nasty shit. I mean unless the stuff they're switching her to has a similar enough profile that her system will accept it without noticing the difference... this is where my limited medical knowledge kind of peters out.
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I was on Citalopram. Shit f*cked me up. Hated it. Made me feel worse if anything. Then got put on Fluoxetine (AKA Prozac) which was slightly better.

Revelation: Stylo battled the crushing void that is depression and never brought it up but felt it was important and relevant at this time. Drugs suck but they can help depending on how you, as an individual, respond to them coupled with speaking to someone (a professional, if you feel that helps)...
 
Bad^Hat said:
I mean my instinct is to trust the qualified professionals as well, but pulling someone off an SSRI that quickly is a ****ing terrible idea. I forgot my dose a couple times when I was on venlafaxine (which is a terrible drug and probably much worse than citalopram, but thankfully I was on a relatively low dose) and even short term it was pretty unbearable. Another friend took upwards of a month to wean himself off a larger dose of the same stuff and was constantly getting sweats, shocks, all sorts of nasty shit. I mean unless the stuff they're switching her to has a similar enough profile that her system will accept it without noticing the difference... this is where my limited medical knowledge kind of peters out.
Click to expand...

One thing I have learned is that medicine is very unpredictable. I don't know what the reputation of this clinic is, but switching drugs rapidly may simply be the necessary response to such an emergency. There's also triage. Sometimes the doctor simply does not have the resources to spend weeks and weeks gently shifting things. When someone has a serious mental breakdown the normal rules rarely apply, moreso with psychoactive ones.
 
Double posting because this is totally unrelated to prior discussion.

I have just attended the worst party ever. I got invited to something at a nearby college hosted by their Residence Halls Association (which, in hindsight, should have been the flashing neon sign to STAY THE **** AWAY). The party was so bad the hostesses apologized for it. Twice. They bought Dr ****ing Thunder, not even Mr. Pibb. They bought Dr. Thunder, the worst Dr. Pepper ripoff in the history of mankind. In 2 liter bottles. It goes without saying that there wasn't a drop of alcohol to be had. That's when you know it's bad.

I had my bar of expectations set low, maybe around 2-5. They kicked the bar off the rack, then jackhammered it flush with the dirt. If I tried, I don't think I could create an event worse than this. The Last Supper was, conservative estimate, 10-15x more enjoyable than this cluster****.

At this point, I'm not even mad. I'm just impressed.
 
Should have worn your hats. Yes, all of them. At least then there'd be something interesting to talk about.
 
Maestro said:
Double posting because this is totally unrelated to prior discussion.

I have just attended the worst party ever. I got invited to something at a nearby college hosted by their Residence Halls Association (which, in hindsight, should have been the flashing neon sign to STAY THE **** AWAY). The party was so bad the hostesses apologized for it. Twice. They bought Dr ****ing Thunder, not even Mr. Pibb. They bought Dr. Thunder, the worst Dr. Pepper ripoff in the history of mankind. In 2 liter bottles. It goes without saying that there wasn't a drop of alcohol to be had. That's when you know it's bad.

I had my bar of expectations set low, maybe around 2-5. They kicked the bar off the rack, then jackhammered it flush with the dirt. If I tried, I don't think I could create an event worse than this. The Last Supper was, conservative estimate, 10-15x more enjoyable than this cluster****.

At this point, I'm not even mad. I'm just impressed.
Click to expand...

How long did you stay? A few years back me and a few friends went to a similar party. We were there about 5 mins when we agreed it was time to just go to the usual bar. We even managed to take like 5 extra people with us. You can pretty much feel a dead "party" the second you walk through the door.
 
Stigmata said:
Should have worn your hats. Yes, all of them. At least then there'd be something interesting to talk about.
Click to expand...

I've only got 2 cool hats, but you're right. I should have worn them.
Krynn72 said:
How long did you stay? A few years back me and a few friends went to a similar party. We were there about 5 mins when we agreed it was time to just go to the usual bar. We even managed to take like 5 extra people with us. You can pretty much feel a dead "party" the second you walk through the door.
Click to expand...

I dunno, an hour? It was too long in any case. My friend and I stuck around mostly because we couldn't think of anything else to do afterwards. Unfortunately we aren't of drinking age, so leaving meant sitting around at home doing nothing since we both quit our not-tobacco smoking habit recently. We're also both kinda broke right now. Oh, and finding the bus stop was a real bastard. They put the sign for it behind a stop light so you couldn't see it except when coming from the exact opposite direction we did. We spent around 15 minutes looking for it.

I have decided Dr. Thunder represents that whole shebang in a nutshell: a knockoff of a thing that is actually good, which fails to capture any of the elements critical to being actually good.
 
Krynn72 said:
How long did you stay? A few years back me and a few friends went to a similar party. We were there about 5 mins when we agreed it was time to just go to the usual bar. We even managed to take like 5 extra people with us. You can pretty much feel a dead "party" the second you walk through the door.
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5rJbzIf.gif
 
my friend came home last wednesday

i picked her up and she stayed away from home with me until earlier tonight

she's no longer on the meds and is genuinely happy now

we also kind of complicated our friendship by ****ing when she has a boyfriend a few states away that she hasn't been able to move back to for the last 7 months

but now she's happy and now I'm happy and I think that's a good enough life update
 
Sleep deprivation, stress and boredom dont appear to go well together. Just noticed that during this lecture I have turned every single 0 and O in my notes into the Borderlands Vaulthunter symbol :S
 
bobtheskull said:
Sleep deprivation, stress and boredom dont appear to go well together. Just noticed that during this lecture I have turned every single 0 and O in my notes into the Borderlands Vaulthunter symbol :S
Click to expand...
Just FYI, I liked this because of the Borderlands doings. I approve of your sleep deprivation, stress and boredom in no way.
 
So I quit inhaling a certain herb for about two or three weeks recently. My friend and I partook for the first time since quitting last night, because he got the job he applied for and his new company does not ever administer a certain variety of test which would preclude our enjoying it.

Suffice to say, I seriously cannot believe I used to do that nightly. I'm sticking with weekends only from now on.

Oh, and the new Daft Punk album (Random Access Memories) is pretty great. I thoroughly recommend it. It's like the Bee Gees and Pink Floyd got combined with House music. I like Georgio and Lose Yourself to Dance in particular.
 
Stylo said:
Just FYI, I liked this because of the Borderlands doings. I approve of your sleep deprivation, stress and boredom in no way.
Click to expand...
Why thank you, kind sir. I too do not approve of my sleep deprivation and boredom. The stress has lifted now though as I got the result of my last class.
 
Just moved to Charlotte, NC a couple days ago. Anybody got any experience with this place? So far it's much nicer than Homestead, FL.
 
The Specials... I think I saw them live when they opened for The Ocean Blue many years ago.

I've been playing a lot of Borderlands 2 lately... actually surpassed hours played in TF2. How is this game so good?

My rear bike tire has sprung an unusual number of punctures lately... I can patch a tube like a pit crew now. Anyone else riding? Bicycling topics come and go on this site. It seems like a number of people are into it, but there isn't the critical mass necessary to keep a single thread alive.

Putting dessicant bags in my water filtration pouch has basically eliminated some vexing mold problems.
 
I'm psyched to begin cycling to school soon, though it's a long route. I wish my area had more bike paths as I don't like street-riding much at all.
 
I sent a heartfelt message to a girl and now I'm scared. Hold me.
 
Not sure that she'll enjoy that, but if all goes well she'll find out whether or not she does
 
I don't know what it is about breaking up that makes a person crave things that are terrible for them, but this overpriced organic double chocolate ice cream is the best goddamn thing.
 
I now have two kittens. One of them is sleeping beside me and the other one is constantly chirping at me to pick him up and put him on my lap, just so he can jump off again. Their poop smells horrible but they have been littertrained - enough to poop in the litterbox, not yet enough to accurately bury said poop.
 
Chirping??

Thinking about recording a Let's Play for Battletoads since it's my favorite game ever, but the problem is I'm a terribly boring person.
 
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