The Happiness Thread

Is that the one that comes as a medicated cream?

 

Thank you, that's cleared everything up.

 

Woo! Fever gone!

 

I'll be getting my Internet back this evening, so I won't have to use my phone. I'm also expecting to get a Christmas bonus sometime this week or early next week, just in time to finish my Christmas shopping. My apartment is getting organized slowly but surely, and I feel good after having been depressed through October and November.

I have to be careful with good feelings, though. Part of bipolar disorder is a lack of impulse control due to hypomania, so as much as I'd like to get out and do stuff while throwing caution to the wind, I'm going to enjoy today by organizing my apartment, reading a good book, and doing some writing.

 

Amen to that brother. It's an unreported part of being bipolar. People focus on the depressive side of it as being the bad part, because to most people the manic side isn't even a problem. You get to be the life of the party; so much energy, so much confidence. But that doesn't mean it's a good thing. Tearing along at 200mph is sometimes better than crawling along at 2 but it's still not really healthy or safe.

 

I'm happier than a kid in a candy shop cos I finally got my old tatt covered, and the new picture is sweeeet! In black/white/blue it took two hours, which was a lot less than I expected considering its size. I also got to spend the entire day with my hubby -- no work!

 

Oh there just has to be a good story there...

 

Regarding the tatt? No, not really. Me and my best friend tattoeed each other when we were something like 14. I kept it for years for sentimental reasons, until I didn't feel sentimental anymore so I started planning a cover-up. Finally found the perfect design (the three Irish hares symbol) and the artist drew a neat version of it for me, and now the old tatt is gone, yippee!

 

Boo! I was hoping it was something really embarrassing Perhaps a drunken bet, some youthful debauchery, and years spent with a tattoo you couldn't remember getting Alas

 

I am happy because Dr. Phil is about to come on. Don't judge me.

 

Well, I was drunk and it was cringey for sure! But no debauchery or bets, just juvenile stupidity.

 

Eh, close enough

My ex had a very similar tattoo on her hip that she got when she was 14/15... I always wondered if she ever got it covered up.

 

That sent me on a Google quest where I found these interesting things.

Three Hares Symbol

This was interesting and caused me to look further:

I never associated the cry of the Banshee with Ireland. I always associated Banshee with something like Voodoo or the Amazon. Probably some old movie left misleading traces in my mind. so I had to look into that.

Who knew?

 

I'm back online. Setting my WiFi up was painless, and I can now use the Internet again with my tablet. Next month, I'll be a real boy with a computer (gasp).

If I'm doing any kind of critique for you (@InsaneXade is the one that comes to mind), I'll be burning the midnight oil and have that to you by tomorrow morning, very likely in the wee hours.

 

One of my bosses said my outfit was "very dandy" the other day.

I just discovered that all of the pockets (even the ticket pocket!) in my new-ish waistcoat are functional, just basted shut.

I had to stop by my apartment between jobs to pick some things up, and Mrs. A had the day off.



There are only eight more work days until winter break, which lasts until April.

Speaking of waistcoats, I had to try three different ones this morning (Beau Brummel used to spend five hours getting dressed, but he didn't have a 9 am class to get to), but things came together very well with my new suit today, I think.

 

Ridiculous. Waistcoats were invented in England to keep a man's waist nice and toasty warm during those vicious waist-high cold snaps the UK is so famous for. You live in Japan. No cold snaps. All you need is a fundoshi and you're good. It's part of Japanese culture, so you'll fit right in.

 

4C right now, windchill is zero, and since heat rises and the thermometer was at eye level, that means it must have been at least ten to twenty degrees colder at waist level, I assume.

Hence, waistcoat.

 

It's currently 22F here, up to 40mph winds and should have a foot of snow by tomorrow night. It's really freaking cold outside!

At least I have a wood stove though (especially since a power outage is basically a given)

 

Also, men of my build traditionally wear mawashi.

 

Can't complain too much. Balmy mid-low 40s during the day, with a really
mild breezes (occasionally). The strange thing is that it is so warm here,
since by now it should be frozen tundra with no snow.

 

So that's what that's called. Good to know.

I haven't usually given a lot of thought to my appearance, though lately I find myself considering how I'll come across to people by the way I dress. It makes me feel better about myself to wear clothes that fit and go well together.

 

Irish folklore and mythology are super interesting. When T and I visited Ireland a few years back, I actually felt this weird kinship with the country, its history and folklore. Sounds kooky but, yeah.

 

I remember watching a documentary on ghosts and folklore and they said in there they think the legend of the Banshee has something to do with the cries of the Red Fox that's indigenous to the nation. If it's anything like the noises the foxes where I am make, then yeah, I can totally see it.



Be warned, when I played this, my dog heard it and threw himself out of a sound sleep just to go ballistic, barking his way around the house trying to find where the sound came from.