1. Today, of course, is the Feast of the Sacred Heart. This year it is also (coincidentally) the Feast of St. John the Baptist.The heart is the core and “noblest part of the human person” (as Pope Pius XII puts it), the seat of the soul and the passions and the innermost self. Thus the … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Sacred Heart and Jurassic Park
Life
Suicide and the Corporate World
I was looking up the American Federation for Suicide Prevention the other day (no, nothing personal; just curiosity). At the top of the page it urges “Demand More for Mental Health!” You know, I've often wondered: since mental health became a wide-spread industry back in the early-mid twentieth century, have suicide rates increased or decreased? … Continue reading Suicide and the Corporate World
Friday Flotsam: Another Odd Fact, Villains, and Agatha Christie Quotes
1. An odd rollercoaster of a week; I had some days of great consolation and happy productivity, and others of intense depression and extreme lethargy, where I simply could not seem to get anything done. At the moment I’m mostly okay, but yeesh, I really feel the need of a change. 2. Got into an … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Another Odd Fact, Villains, and Agatha Christie Quotes
Friday Flotsam: Crashes, Consolations, and Memorial Day
1. Had a car accident last weekend. No one hurt, thank God, and really not more than a fender-bender. Only, my fenders ended up much less bent than the other guy’s (he hit me, but no one really at fault; just a bad situation involving merging and unexpectedly stopped traffic), so I felt bad about … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Crashes, Consolations, and Memorial Day
Friday Flotsam: Psych Days, Recreation, ‘The Living Shadow’, and an Interesting Fact
1. One thing I would recommend to any fellow sufferers from depression or related problems is not to be ashamed to occasionally take off ‘psych days’ to try to recoup yourself, especially if your job is a source of strain and unhappiness (which, I may be cynical, but I think most jobs these days are). … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Psych Days, Recreation, ‘The Living Shadow’, and an Interesting Fact
Thought of the Day: Spring Cleaning
It seems that, traditionally, the three days between Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday are devoted to thoroughly cleaning the house in preparation for Easter. By coincidence, I actually spent most of the weekend cleaning up, including organizing my old paper files. As usual when I look back over the last few years of my life, … Continue reading Thought of the Day: Spring Cleaning
Friday Flotsam: Being Sick, Pope, and More Thrawn
1. I caught a bad cold last weekend which knocked me out entirely for two days and now is settling into a general, lingering annoyance. This led me into some very bad days for depression as well, partly because I tried to use the time to write only to find that, one way or another, … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Being Sick, Pope, and More Thrawn
Friday Flotsam: Depression, Self-Help, and Not Your Ferret
1. More depression flare ups this week. The tendency in these cases is to latch on to some external factor and blame that as the cause, so that if one can only get rid of that, things will be okay. Right now it’s my job, which I dislike immensely, but I remind myself that, however … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Depression, Self-Help, and Not Your Ferret
Friday Flotsam: Team Building and ‘Bumblebee’
1. Another ‘digging in’ week. Mostly spent prepping a few projects for release. More on those in the coming days. 2. Had a teambuilding exercise at work today, and I never come away from teambuilding exercises without a greater appreciation for solitary endeavor. The trouble is that, with most team projects or team-building activities, my … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Team Building and ‘Bumblebee’
Friday Flotsam: Depression, Thrawn, and Lady (and the Tramp)
1. This week was overall pretty miserable: I was strangely exhausted most of the time and my depression flared up badly. I want to say it’s some form of burnout, but you know what they say about self-diagnosis. In any case, I was able to get through by severely curtailing my activity and schedule to … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Depression, Thrawn, and Lady (and the Tramp)
Serpent's Den 