Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Introducing Bipolar for Beginners
I've been watching this site ever since I was diagnosed, and it has great info on Bipolar disorder. I'm delighted to see Marcia Purse tackle this project, and I look forward to seeing each new page. For now, though, I'd like to encourage anyone who wants to educate themselves about this disorder - whether they are new to the illness or a family member or friend of someone who suffers from it - to keep an eye on this series of walk-through pages.
Introducing Bipolar for Beginners
Introducing Bipolar for Beginners
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
A few thoughts on the holidays
A lot of this has been buzzing around my head today, so I thought I'd write some of it down.
I've been listening to some really great Christmas music in the last couple of weeks. I broke it out early, because I needed a lift while we were going through some tough times and I was having some issues with my meds. The first night I began listening, I cried so much. It was an evening of healing and the peace that had been eluding me. I was reminded of all the reasons I love Christmas - concepts like peace on earth and Christian love for others and selflessness. And that's where my mind has been a lot of the time since then.
However, I've noticed in the last week as Christmas draws nearer and everyone else has begun to turn their thoughts toward the holidays, that not everyone's mindset seems to be on those things.
And I get it. Really. We in the United States have been in a state of war for a few years now, and it seems that it's normal in our culture to find war where ever we look. War on values. Class wars. War on democracy. War on drugs. War, war, war. Turn on the news, and someone's declared war or seeing war or fighting a war.
But what I want to talk about is the war I've been hearing about all my life as a Christian - the war on Christmas. Now, I believe as a Christian that we should be part of our community and embrace our culture, but only to a point. I also believe we're supposed to stand out as different. And I don't mean different as in judgemental and snooty and spouting off about how everyone but us is wrong. I mean our walk is supposed to match our talk. I mean we're supposed to be an example, not a bludgeoning tool.
Maybe, instead of seeing war all around us, we should focus on some peaceful thoughts. Maybe, instead of seeing it as an afront when someone wishes us happy holidays, we should assume they're just trying not to offend anyone while recognizing that Christmas is not the only holiday being celebrated this month.
Maybe, instead of seeing a war on Christ when someone writes Xmas, we should see someone trying to abbreviate a long word. Maybe, do a little bit of digging and find out that this is not even a new way to write the word Christmas, and that there was a time not so long ago in history when it was considered disrespectful to write Christ, and Xmas was used as an alternative. Maybe, consider that X or Xp were used from the Greek for the word Christ. And lastly, maybe in the age of texting and IMs, Xmas is just faster to type out.
Maybe, instead of looking for war, we should be trying to spread a little of that peace on earth and goodwill toward men. I've always thought of Christmas as the time when people can be a little nicer to each other, a little more open to people who are different than them, and the best time to be a little tolerant and generous of spirit.
Food for thought anyway.
I've been listening to some really great Christmas music in the last couple of weeks. I broke it out early, because I needed a lift while we were going through some tough times and I was having some issues with my meds. The first night I began listening, I cried so much. It was an evening of healing and the peace that had been eluding me. I was reminded of all the reasons I love Christmas - concepts like peace on earth and Christian love for others and selflessness. And that's where my mind has been a lot of the time since then.
However, I've noticed in the last week as Christmas draws nearer and everyone else has begun to turn their thoughts toward the holidays, that not everyone's mindset seems to be on those things.
And I get it. Really. We in the United States have been in a state of war for a few years now, and it seems that it's normal in our culture to find war where ever we look. War on values. Class wars. War on democracy. War on drugs. War, war, war. Turn on the news, and someone's declared war or seeing war or fighting a war.
But what I want to talk about is the war I've been hearing about all my life as a Christian - the war on Christmas. Now, I believe as a Christian that we should be part of our community and embrace our culture, but only to a point. I also believe we're supposed to stand out as different. And I don't mean different as in judgemental and snooty and spouting off about how everyone but us is wrong. I mean our walk is supposed to match our talk. I mean we're supposed to be an example, not a bludgeoning tool.
Maybe, instead of seeing war all around us, we should focus on some peaceful thoughts. Maybe, instead of seeing it as an afront when someone wishes us happy holidays, we should assume they're just trying not to offend anyone while recognizing that Christmas is not the only holiday being celebrated this month.
Maybe, instead of seeing a war on Christ when someone writes Xmas, we should see someone trying to abbreviate a long word. Maybe, do a little bit of digging and find out that this is not even a new way to write the word Christmas, and that there was a time not so long ago in history when it was considered disrespectful to write Christ, and Xmas was used as an alternative. Maybe, consider that X or Xp were used from the Greek for the word Christ. And lastly, maybe in the age of texting and IMs, Xmas is just faster to type out.
Maybe, instead of looking for war, we should be trying to spread a little of that peace on earth and goodwill toward men. I've always thought of Christmas as the time when people can be a little nicer to each other, a little more open to people who are different than them, and the best time to be a little tolerant and generous of spirit.
Food for thought anyway.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Need help, please
Hey all. I know we don't really post here anymore, because Twitter and FB are so much easier and quicker, but I need more than 144 characters to explain the situation we're currently facing.
A couple of weeks ago, Mike was fired for his sick time earlier in the summer, and even though his job has been reinstated, between that sick time and the near week of work he missed during this last debacle, we've had a lot of financial problems. We've borrowed all we can from family to the point where I think they dread our phone calls. We've applied for rent assistance and are still fighting with paperwork issues to get our rent caught up (though we're told that will be resolved "soon"). We're in the process of trying to apply for SSI for me, as well as applying for every private help program we can find (since the government deems us 'just above' the poverty line in income).
Tomorrow, we'll see Mike's first full paycheck since returning to work. While that's wonderful news for us, we have some very pressing needs that we cannot meet as yet. We're over-drafted at the bank after paying for necessities we couldn't live without, and a good half of tomorrow's check will be eaten by that overdraft. What's left will hopefully cover this week's rent and groceries.
However, the nice people over at the electric company would really like $185 before end of day tomorrow, or they're afraid they'll have to insist on turning us off. If that happens, they will not only require the $185 owed, but an additional month's charges and an additional deposit to turn our power back on.
So, here's why I'm writing. Please help. Even if it's a few bucks. I signed up for a Paypal account this morning under the email leladnut@gmail.com, or, for those of you who know us more personally, you know how to reach us. I realize this whole post is basically me begging for your help, and for a lot of you, this isn't the first time I've had to do that. I can only assure you that our financial situation is progressing toward "better" - just at a slower rate than our creditors would like to see. If you can't help, pray for us, please. If you don't pray, send us a positive thought, light a candle, pour one out, whatever you can do - even if it's just to send me a little hug on FB. If it's a loan, I swear we'll pay you back just as soon as we can. If it's a gift, I will find some way to pay it forward when we're back on our feet.
Thanks for reading,
Lela
A couple of weeks ago, Mike was fired for his sick time earlier in the summer, and even though his job has been reinstated, between that sick time and the near week of work he missed during this last debacle, we've had a lot of financial problems. We've borrowed all we can from family to the point where I think they dread our phone calls. We've applied for rent assistance and are still fighting with paperwork issues to get our rent caught up (though we're told that will be resolved "soon"). We're in the process of trying to apply for SSI for me, as well as applying for every private help program we can find (since the government deems us 'just above' the poverty line in income).
Tomorrow, we'll see Mike's first full paycheck since returning to work. While that's wonderful news for us, we have some very pressing needs that we cannot meet as yet. We're over-drafted at the bank after paying for necessities we couldn't live without, and a good half of tomorrow's check will be eaten by that overdraft. What's left will hopefully cover this week's rent and groceries.
However, the nice people over at the electric company would really like $185 before end of day tomorrow, or they're afraid they'll have to insist on turning us off. If that happens, they will not only require the $185 owed, but an additional month's charges and an additional deposit to turn our power back on.
So, here's why I'm writing. Please help. Even if it's a few bucks. I signed up for a Paypal account this morning under the email leladnut@gmail.com, or, for those of you who know us more personally, you know how to reach us. I realize this whole post is basically me begging for your help, and for a lot of you, this isn't the first time I've had to do that. I can only assure you that our financial situation is progressing toward "better" - just at a slower rate than our creditors would like to see. If you can't help, pray for us, please. If you don't pray, send us a positive thought, light a candle, pour one out, whatever you can do - even if it's just to send me a little hug on FB. If it's a loan, I swear we'll pay you back just as soon as we can. If it's a gift, I will find some way to pay it forward when we're back on our feet.
Thanks for reading,
Lela
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Blogging again...possibly...
I've decided to start updating the City of Heroes blog again. I'll be posting 1-3 characters every day or so to give each character a place for more thought out bios to be written.
Lela's CoX Blog
Unless this becomes another failed project...
This is all Derek's fault by the way since it was his idea: http://derekverse.blogspot.com/
Lela's CoX Blog
Unless this becomes another failed project...
This is all Derek's fault by the way since it was his idea: http://derekverse.blogspot.com/
Thursday, June 23, 2011
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