Happy Birthday, kitties!

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❤ Happy Birthday Bandit and Purrball!❤

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Thanks for the encouragement, Monday. I am sure I can do it when I finally put my foot down.

And the kitties say meowmeowthankyou to Lynn and Carlos for the birthday wishes.

Meow!

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

And just so you know.
I didn't miss it, just didn't post at the time.

For reasons that some of you know......................
Last Saturday was Joan Jett's birthday.
She tweeted this picture of herself.
Happy Birthday, Joan.
Still sexy at 60, you are.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

And there is a side of me you do not know.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

And there is a side of me you do not know.

Well, I'm sure that's true, and I've been interested to get to know whatever sides you want to show over the last few years. I hope all is well with you.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

And there is a side of me you do not know.

Just poped in to give you a big wave kittyman as I haven't said hello or spoke to you for ages.

Keep the best and worst sides of yourself to yourself as they are the most treasured. Share the centre and human side of yourself for that is where life is.

To glisten in life is wonderfull.

A diamond has many sides.

xx

Thank you, Gordon, cRunchy, and Clyde.
I have come to realize that fighting the bottle is going to be a battle for the rest of my life, because it is just so damn easy to slide down that slippery slope back into oblivion.
And I refuse to go there.
I can't ever get back the 40 years I wasted down that rabbit hole.
And I don't know how many I have left.
But I sure as hell am not going to spend what remains of my life in a bottle.

I am OK.
And I thank all of you who keep me in your thoughts.

Meow!

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I've read about and watched interviews of many people who talk about the difference between an alcoholic and a "social drinker". ~A social drinker being someone who can have one or two drinks at a party, put it down, and be satisfied. There's something in the alcoholic body and mind that can't do that. It's like there's a missing overflow switch. It's certainly understandable to get addicted to things that alter body and mind chemistry. It's not just alcohol. The modern world gives us a lot of things we need to be careful with.

I don't know what works best for you, Mark, but looking to a role model in my life helps me in everything I do. In my case, it's my mother. She passed away last year, but she's as much if not more of a positive influence on me now than she ever was. I told her many times before she died that she was my role model, and it's true, and I consult her all the time in my subconscious thoughts when I need guidance.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I guess the moral of the story, for myself and those who perhaps might still be struggling to escape alcohol's sordid grip............

I had fallen, but I got up. And if I can do it after a 40 year losing battle, others can as well.
There is little that a man cannot overcome if he is determined enough to do what he has to do.

Once I had my mind made up, the final piece that I needed was the proper medication to overcome my life long struggle with depression. I refused to admit that I had a clinically treatable mental disorder for all those years, and just tried to deal with it by self medicating with alcohol.
Which, as we all know, does not cure the disease, it just redirects it on a different vector. That vector being straight downward.

I could not have won this fight without medication to try to fix the things in my brain that were broken from birth. When I was born, the genes that left a hole in my brain's chemistry were already in place. It took just that first beer at 16yo, the pit opened it's doors and I fell into it.

The medication I am on was not even released until 2002. Escitalopram, generic Lexapro.
It works. The other medication I am on, Olanzapine/fluoxetine (trade name Symbyax) was not released until 2003. It is a very dosage-dependent medication and my dose has been adjusted a half dozen times. It does some very core level adjustments to essential brain chemistry. Not to be toyed with.

There is most certainly a genetic component involved.
My father is not an alcoholic, although he drank. My mother was an all out alcoholic, now many years sober. My 2nd younger brother jumped from a bridge 45 years or so ago, drunk. My 3rd younger claims he is now sober, but I have my doubts. My 4th, my youngest brother, still drinks, but is trying hard to emulate what I have done.
We all were introduced to drinking at a young age, That's the nurture piece. But we all also had the genetic coding to seek out alcohol. That's the nature piece. We had both pieces in place and that made it almost impossible to avoid the consequences.


I guess what I am trying to get through to others is that most forms of clinical depression ARE treatable these days, even if alcoholism is not involved.


Seek help, or you will not receive help.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Mark,

Again I have to give you a BIG CONGRATULATIONS on several things:
1) Admitting you had a problem with alcohol to yourself and the rest of the universe (pun intended) here on the SETI boards.
2) Deciding to seek professional treatment.
3) CONTINUING to work on getting things right with the medications despite some small bumps in the road.

You may have fallen off the wagon and scraped yourself along the gravel road a bit one or more times since you started. Each time you have made it back ON the wagon continuing on your journey in space/time for the better.

Keep up the good work!

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There is most certainly a genetic component involved.
.....

This is most certainly true even if most 'Modern' treatments discount a physical causality.

(Most current treatment for alcohol suggests it is just a psychological habit issue.)

To an aside point. Research shows that many sibling children that were separated during or just after the second world war (adopted) ended up suffering the same form of depression. (Brought up in separate homes with different environments.)

Where the original parent existed and were found the gene markers were found to be the same and passed on through pro creation.

As to children of the second world war the gene marker, or genetic memory if you like, was due to trauma.

It probably requires some level of significant trauma (or perhaps significant environmental change from the norm.)

No doubt this trauma can include continuous or damage by alcohol from emotional, intellectual or health use..

Not suggesting all problems are genetic or physical.. Just saying it is a possible causal effect.. and either way it can be something we end up passing on to our kids because our problems become genetic.

There are many reasons why we have problems.

... and many more reasons to lift ourselves and others when we can.

Last night as I laid down alone to rest my head
as I was drifting softly to ease what filled my dread.
A kitty laid down beside me.
She kissed me with kitty kisses and then before I knew
She was one with me and both were sleeping.

Why I am one with cats, is not mine to guess.
I only know that it is true.

Meow.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Just watched a movie..........Veronica Mars.
The whole of my life comes down to the last few minutes of this movie.
The soundtrack is perfect.
Turn on closed captions,
Because it does not get any truer than this.
Tweak it until the last 11:00 marker and you will know what I mean.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I've never seen the movie. Wasn't it a tv series?

Is there a You Tube link you can post for a gist of what you're referring to?

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Veronica Mars was a TV show from 2004-2007
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412253/?ref_=rvi_tt

After her best friend is murdered, and her father is removed as county Sheriff, Veronica Mars dedicates her life to cracking the toughest mysteries in the affluent town of Neptune.

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Veronica Mars was also a full length movie.
Hence my timing quote.

Got a good run coming on for the crunchers.
Watch the RAC rise.
Meow.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Watching 'Pet Sematary'.
Church just was found.
Bless his soul.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Ya know what I watch most in old movies?
If they get the cars right.
I mean, I see some movies and watch a shot of a side street and the cars are not of the right vintage.
Just a bit of a hobby.

Meow.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Ya know what I watch most in old movies?
If they get the cars right.
I mean, I see some movies and watch a shot of a side street and the cars are not of the right vintage.
Just a bit of a hobby.

Meow.

+1
Scares me how I can't identify much that's newer than 30 years old, however.

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