That Moment...

I really struggle to get these messages to work properly!

I was just saying that I understood what you were saying. I did think you would get grief for it as its all too easy to read these notes too quickly!

 

TMW your psychiatrist says that diet is the drug we really need to watch out for.

 

I don't know about you, but I take them all for unempathetic quacks. I'll take a social worker, Ph.D., M.A., etc., over the M.D. any day.

 

I don't know about that. I've heard some horror stories, but I saw someone with a Ph.D for several years, and my psychiatrist is easily the better listener of the two. She doesn't try to fit me into a box nearly as much.

The old "overeating = drug abuse" comparison is somewhat metaphorical, but over two-thirds of Americans are overweight, so I tend to look at it in a similar light. I share the habit, of course, as do many other skinny people, but that just means our metabolic systems are currently fast enough to shield us.

Hot dogs, burgers, replacing water with soda, dispensing huge quantities of sugar at celebrations—being fat is stigmatized, but our society is rigged to make us eat like fat people. It's like a bunch of smokers who give each other social ranks based on how badly their lungs have suffered.

 

Glad to hear that the M.D. seems more personable. I think the U.S. might have the edge in this aspect of healthcare. Here, you have to be referred by emergency services, a family doctor, the court, etc., though we do have private practice shrinks, whom I've never visited. Here, it's like they can sit back and bill the government and they know that you probably won't roll the dice on going back on a waiting list, and their schedule will be just as full (billable hours) because of said waiting list.

 

I'm not sure I'd put over-eating in the same league as drug abuse.

Yes, food can be addictive and yes, it can have a massive impact on personal health and therefore the public health system/hospitals etc but, you don't see the guests on Jeremy Kyle (Maury Povich/Riki Lake/Oprah/Ellen/Jerry Springer, and Sally Jesse Raphael) saying, "Oh, I had one too many Subway's and mixed it with a Micky D, that's when the red mist descended and I beat up my girlfriend for cash so I could have one more Burger King!"

ADDED - I don't know if there is actually a drug called Micky D, but over here, that's the nickname for MacDonalds Burgers.

 

Not to be an asshole, but even though food might not affect neurochemistry like drugs and alcohol, people still get addicted to gambling or sex, and I think, food, too. Maybe the talk shows don't want to alienate viewers or it simply isn't "sexy" enough since violence is not involved. Many people are emotional eaters, and I've seen research that states excess weight can act like a shield to avoid intimacy or potential because of unresolved issues.

 

TMW.. you walk on the beach, bend down and pick up the heart of your MC

 

Oh, I agree. What I was trying to say, is you don't see news reports saying things like, police raided an address in town where three people were arrested for building a sandwich lab in the shed, or growing 300 tomato plants, hydroponically, in their basement ...

Or the guy who was arrested for holding up the local post office after binge-eating Chinese take-away ...

Yes, food - or the excess of it - can ruin lives in many ways but not to the same extent as drugs.

 

TMW, you can actually hear the biscuit calling your name ...

 

There are plenty of tobacco addicts who don't do the stereotypical wife-beating crackhead routine, but they're still drug addicts, and a lot of them are still living on borrowed time.

 

It depends on what particular drug addicts we're talking about.

 

As we all are. (the borrowed time bit).

I'm so glad I got out of that habit - 16 month free from tobacco. Now I need to stop baking and eating shortbread!

 

The hard ones.

I've never - oh, hang on, I've had one spliff (well, three drags of one) about 20 years ago but other than that, I've never tried any hard drug - or even the clubbing ones, so I can only go by what I've read/seen in the media

 

TMW

You see this exchange on a video game forum:

Poster #1: "I just shot the leader of a faction and now everyone's trying to kill me. No fair!"

Poster #2: "...That's what happens when you shoot the leader of the faction."

Poster #1: "The developers are punishing me for this! Grrr! This is a glitch!!"

I swear, some gamers make me laugh. Honestly, what was that guy expecting anyway?

 

LOL!

Tell him they are like shark's teeth! You get rid of one, and another one comes from behind to replace him.

 

If we're talking about shooting opioids or stimulants, I'd certainly agree.

Of course, some of the distinction between "hard" and "soft" is a matter of how something is taken. For instance, marijuana is basically flat-out safer than methamphetamine, but the active ingredient of Adderall bears great structural and pharmacogical similarities to it. However, medical doses are too low to cause as much runaway central nervous system activation, which results in something considerably less explosive.

 

TMW the targeted advertising shows you something you had in your hand the second before you logged on. WTF?!!!

 

TMW you find a christmas card in the post from a dear friend you haven't seen/heard from for far too many years

 

TMW someone in the Bethesda forums keep making topics that basically amount to: "If Bethesda catered to [insert minority group] by implementing xyz, would you agree that it's a good idea?" He's made, like, five topics now.

TMW I responded to one of them with, "I want to play as a gay albino dwarf (the condition, not the fantasy race) with a heart condition."

 

That moment when you can't decide if you want a Russian, Asian, or Hispanic mail order bride.

 

That Moment When you are reading a fantasy novel and their universe's security force has almost the same name as your fantasy universe's security force.

The security force name for that universe: Autarch's Watchers

The security force name for my fantasy's universe: The Eternal Watchers

Members of both their and my security force are known as "Watchers".

Oi. Guess I'd better start brainstorming a new name then, huh? That's why we read books, kids.

 

TMW you're fed up with working for small business owners, so you've adamantly decided to go into business for yourself, and paid half of your deposit just to make sure you don't change your mind.

TMW you're overwhelmed and anxious as hell about everything that requires, and the fear of failure/your current owner finding out and firing you before you're ready to make the move looms over your head like a dark cloud, suffocating any opportunity for excitement.

TMW you remember that you will be in control of your own life, your time spent with your family, your time dedicated to writing ... your own success.

deep breath

Here we go.

Current emotional state:

 

Good luck. No pressure, but we are all counting on you!

 

TMW you realize that your Colonial detective might be a bit of a racist/homophobic, with the best level of tolerance he's gonna get to is, "Well, I don't understand it and likely won't ever understand it but if it makes you happy then sure. I'm not going to stop you."

TMW you realize that the setting is in Colonial times, where his attitude was likely extremely rare and it'd be very strange to write him as if he were a kid from 2015 plopped into the 1770s.