Ramblings of an EdMan

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Relative Sanity

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I’m reading Marya Hornbacher’s excellent and visceral “Madness: A Bipolar Life” again. I’m glad I have relative sanity.

Five years ago at this time after my dad died I was in a major media that involved a hospitalization. And after a long depression. Which is common after manias, often the body has to recover.

I was also in the hospital three years ago with a more minor mania, that involved a shorter recovery.

Late March and early April is a weird time for me.

I am a bit down now, but I am doing okay. Better than last week, if pretty tired.

I’m glad I didn’t have everything Marya Hornbacher went through like a major eating disorder, alcoholism, not taking medications regularly, a brother dying, book tours and a divorce.

And it’s amazing how long bipolar disorder can be undiagnosed. Hornbacher was clearly manic many times but proscribed Prozac while in the hospital for an eating disorder because those with an eating disorder are always depressed.

I do feel like I need to be gentle with myself. Having two adorable kitties next to me in the bed helps. Lenny and Squiggy are super lovey to me.

And taking my medications. Seeing my psychiatrist and now having a good therapist again.

I appreciate my relative sanity. And my stability.

The Hate U Give ***1/2

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Incredibly impressive debut young adult novel from.” Angie Thomas.

I think it touches on so much about police brutality and the unfortunate truths on why the Black Lives Matter movement is so important.

I can’t even imagine being the main character Starr and see a friend gunned down by police in a traffic stop. To deal with her pain. Her loss and how it affects the community and her family.

An awfully impressive book that is also a fantastic read.

***1/2

Reading in My Comfy Chair

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I should do it more. I love reading. I love my comfy armchair especially with a cat. It’s so easy to turn the television on.

And my brain isn’t always waiting to engage.

Still it was awfully night to fly through a hundred pages of John Green’s “Turtles All the Way Down”. I watched enough basketball and played enough Final Fantasy XV on my phone.

So many distracting things in this connected world. It’s important sometimes to disconnect and get lost in a good book or two or three. I’m excellent at reading many things at once. Or at least I do it a lot.

Celebrity Detox ***1/2

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I flew through Rosie O’Donnell’s book “Celebrity Detox.” I read 90% of it yesterday and finished it today.

She decided to decline fifty million dollars and quit her talk show.

She wanted to spend time with family.

She knew she had enough, and needed balance.

And she even started a business with cruises for gay families.

The book talks a lot about her experiences in a year working for “The View.”

I understand very well now why she isn’t in the public spotlight.

And hearing her side of her ridiculousness with Donald Trump, makes me wonder even more if he can be an effective president.

To be all up in a tizzy from a six minute segment on the View, which I found through the magic of YouTube is so incredibly sad. I have no idea how someone who gets all riled up from this can deal with the challenges of being President of the United States.

It’s a very good book, a super fast read and I am so happy Rosie O’Donnell found balance in her life. May we all learn to have enough.

Moscow 2042 ***1/2

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This one took me a long time to read. Partially because I waited until it was almost out of renewals to really get into it.

It’s so bizarre, weird and fascinating.

Written by Soviet exile Vladimir Voinovich in 1986, about taking a time machine 60 years into the future from Munich, Germany in 1982 to Moscow in 2042.

I don’t want to give away much, but he goes to an incredibly bizarre future of communism.

Where all secondary matter is primary matter, i.e. it’s all shit.

I’m glad the Soviet Union collapsed, it was a totally bizarre system. It’s awfully strange that a former KGB officer Vladimir Putin has become the new autocrat of Russia.

This novel was compared as being a parody of George Orwell’s 1984 in the dust jacket, but it’s something else entirely.

Earth is a very silly place. Good read if slow. I am curious how is reads in it’s original Russian.