please, please, please visit the dooce

even if you get tired of hearing me tell my story, you still MUST read this blog entry by heather armstrong over at the dooce. so many of you have shared your own experiences with depression, anxiety, ocd, addiction, and other mental illnesses with me. if you're still afraid of seeking help, or afraid of what others will think of you ~ you may find just the encouragement you need after reading heather's story.

on a lighter note, i loved this part of heather's entry...

I was recently at lunch with a few friends, one who had just been diagnosed with OCD that manifests itself in a need to straighten up everything around her, and I was all really? That's considered OCD? Because I thought that was just considered BEING ALIVE. And because she hasn't ever read this website she asked if I had ever been treated for a diagnosis abbreviated with capital letters. I looked across the table at my other friend, someone who is very familiar with what I have written here, and she almost gagged on an ice cube. I nodded and then explained that I'm in ongoing therapy for what's called C-R-A-Z-Y.

after reading that, i think perhaps i need to change my own blog label/tag from "depression" to "C-R-A-Z-Y".

'cause if we're all honest, we're all a little C-R-A-Z-Y at times, don't you think?

santa's helpers

i think they're a little bit naughty and a little bit nice. actually, that's not a bad combination.

chlamydia ain't no fun

nah, i don't have an STD...but hopefully i've just made you giggle, or at least you want to read the rest of this entry to find out what the heck i'm talking about...

my blog post title is actually the title of a report two junior high boys did on chlamydia. they asked me to proofread it, and then i typed it for them. i learned that "you may think that chlamydia is the name of a really hot chick that lives down the street. but it's not! it's a disease that ruins lives!!!" (quoting the boys, there) heehee...not that i think STDs are funny, but oh my gosh, you should've read their rather humorous take on the whole thing. i can't wait to see the power point presentation they've put together for this. :)

you've heard of how a person's computer can be confiscated and their hard-drive ransacked for evidence of misbehavior? well, God help whoever investigates me, 'cause i've learned more about syphilis, gonorrhea, trichomonas, and genital warts and herpes in the past week than i've ever wanted and my hard drive is full of it. articles, statistics, advice, even pictures. yep, it's all there.

my kids are doing STD reports in health, and they are REQUIRED to download and print "school appropriate" pictures of the symptoms of these STDs for posters and power point slide shows. do you know how hard it is to google "syphilis" and not get icky, red, pus-infected pics of HOO-HA'S??? good grief. talk about nasty.

the funny thing (or maybe not, if you're being a prude), is how my kids have asked me for their info...

"mrs. gillen, i have gonorrhea and need to know if a condom will prevent it."

you get the idea. and yes, before anyone posts to complain...i know that there are kids this age who are sexually active. (i've had students with babies before.) but these kids who have asked me for help have been so literally grossed out by what they're researching, it gives me hope that they will remain celibate. at least for a little while.

after all, chlamydia ain't no fun.

snow day

sledding at aunt vickie's and uncle jake's. what could be better?

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you tube copyright law...

...is a total bummer. no bob ross. no more clips from george c. scott's "a christmas carol." and i'm sure that saturday night live clip below will be yanked soon.

bah. humbug.

best parody of a christmas movie, ever

if you or someone you know...

...has read my blog entries on depression, please note: i have found some excellent new articles regarding the disease and have posted them in the sidebar (list of depression articles and resources.) one piece in particular, is an excellent source of information for men.

i was also reading today about joe pantoliano's depression organization, "no kidding, me too." joe was one of the stars of "the sopranos". his group's mission statement includes the following:

Our goal is to educate the public about the wonderful possibilities that exist when we break down the societal barriers which hold us all back because we treat those afflicted with mental illness differently – we label them and isolate them. What we passionately want to accomplish is to relieve the weight of millions of people who suffer this isolation.

There is an oft-quoted statistic that for every person who is diagnosed with mental illness, eleven loved ones are affected. The immediate short-term result is that the mentally ill person becomes isolated from the outside world because they are deemed unable to “handle” it. And isolation breeds isolation which creates the stigma and discrimination we need to eliminate. The brain is an organ – just like the heart, liver and kidneys – and we need to encourage everyone to treat it as such from both a medical and social perspective.

way to go, joe.