h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes, I agree, LOL, the love story part of Horse Whisperer could have been left out. Redford is not my favorite either. But I do like Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves.

Believe it or not, I have never seen Mystery Train. I will put it on my "to rent" list. I suppose, as a Memphian, I really should see it.

Speaking of art therapy I did a huge "collage" after my first manic episode. I cut out pictures to tell the story of what happened, and I glued them on large sheets of heavy paper, about 20 by 30 inches each. I must have made about 30 pages. I tried to show what was happening in reality, and also what was happening in my head. It came out very well, my art background paid off, and I was very pleased with it.

Chris and Willem, do ya'll have plans for Christmas?

Lots of movies are coming out this month, which is exciting. I'm going to see Kate and Leopold tomorrow night, the romantic comedy with Meg Ryan, and Wednesday I'm going to see Lord of the Rings. I keep hearing really good things about it! I also want to see The Majestic with Jim Carrey.

Hey Ellen! I would be quite interested in seeing those collages ... do you still have them?

Do I have plans for Christmas? Yes ... I plan to try and survive the meetup with our in-laws ... my sister and her husband and his parents and brothers. They are ultra-right-wing Christian fundamentalists, also avid hunters, and I am a neo-new-age-vegetarian-hippie. I will probably be triggered into extreme horror and anger/frustration a few thousand times over the course of the three days that we'll be spending with them ... I'll have to listen to their s**t and keep my mouth shut, so as to be civil ... and also they outnumber me seven to one. But I hafta go, 'cause my folks wanna go, and they're not willing to leave me alone by myself over the holidays ...

Oh yeah ... Lord of the Rings is showing here. Maybe we'll go and see it this coming Tuesday!

Oh, poor Willem, how terrible for you! I'm sorry you have to spend your holiday surrounded by ultra fundamentalists. I would hate that. And the avid hunter bit does not sound nice either.

Yes. I still have my collage, but as I mentioned, the pages are quite large, too large to scan in. And if I took pictures of them, the details would be so small, you couldn't really see much of anything.

Hey Chris, I like what you've done with your user space, with the stars and planets zooming by. Very cool. My video store does not have Mystery Train, can you believe it? I will have to look elsewhere.

Y'all, I really enjoyed Lord of the Rings. It was very good, but pretty darn scary, what with the dark riders and the orcs. I thought Elijah Wood was great as the young Hobbit Frodo.

Hello Ellen, Chris! We're not going to see those relatives any more. I talked it over with my folks, and we talked it over with my sister and her husband. I'm just not ready for the inevitable confrontation with them ... the previous one was bad enough (me in the psychiatric clinic and still suicidally depressed and feeling like cr*p and my sis coming to tell me it's because I strayed from the True Path and betrayed God and I'm going to Hell...) I need to recover a bit more before I'm going to have a long, hard talk with the both of them.

I'm happy about that, but still very depressed ... holiday blues; I get it whenever I feel I'm not working hard enough and accomplishing anything, especially this time of year...

I went to see Lord of the Rings too, yesterevening in fact ... I didn't find it that scary, but parts of it were triggery ... especially *after* I drank my head medicine (I drank it around eleven o' clock in the theatre ... we were seeing the late show that lasted until after midnight). I suddenly started feeling like I was being hunted by all those orcs and dark riders ... and I was so 'zombified' by the drugs that I couldn't respond fast enough ... I was getting extremely tired from all the running away and my reflexes were slowed down so I couldn't do the swordfighting as good as I should ... and my courage was leaving as well, I was afraid of getting caught and/or tortured and I wanted to give in, surrender ... except there was too much at stake, I couldn't let down all those people who were depending on me ... anyways it was like that for about an hour, and also at the end I was wanting very much to fall asleep (that's what the drugs also do to me) and fighting against that as well ... so all in all, not a very *relaxing* movie experience ... but I think a good job. Maybe I should go see the movie again, but an earlier show, so the psych drugs don't interfere ... anyways, I now definitely want to read the books again!

It's rather strong stuff they're giving me, and it has some unpleasant effects ... the first night they gave me a heavy dose in the clinic my eyes became extremely bloodshot, I had the feeling of being eaten alive inside-out , gnawed by worms, and my perceptions were being distorted ... the world appeared to be 'streaming' towards my face. It still causes perceptual distortions and unpleasant feelings, and also it knocks me out cold, usually within an hour ... so I drink it *only* before going to sleep. But this is a new drug and supposedly millions of times *better* than what they gave me first time, around 1992. Now that was really nasty ...

*lurks*

Please excuse me; I didn't know what I was getting into when I surfed on in today. I'm sorry.

Hi Shee!

Erm.. hi..

Ah Willem, I'm sorry to hear that you have so many problems with your medicine. I'm very lucky I guess to have relatively mild side effects from mine. Sounds like the meds kind of spoiled your movie going experience, making you feel strange and sleepy. Lord of the Rings was a pretty intense experience for me. Sometimes I have to remind myself it's just a movie, because fantasy films seem to be getting more and more realistic. They can do so much with special effects these days.

I'm glad you got out of the visit with the relatives that were problematic. I'm very annoyed at your sister for telling you something as stupid as "you're going to Hell." What a thing to say! To anybody, much less your own brother! I myself don't really believe in Hell; I just can't imagine someone being punished permanently. I guess that puts me in a religious minority. I don't think people have to be "saved". I think a good heart is the only requirement for Heaven. But I'm going off on a bit of a rant here. Please don't be blue for the holidays, Willem. You should see our tree, it's so festive. My Mom found some beautiful paper ornaments I had made a few years ago. I had forgotten all about them. They look bright and cheerful. Take care! JEllen

Darn, it's not posting, this may wind up a double post.

No need to be blushing my dear. I don't mind you lurking a bit, and I don't think Chris or Willem would mind either. After all, I jumped in on one of your conversations just yesterday! How are you doing? Excited about the holidays?

Yes, but my conversations aren't this.. *personal*...


I'm okay I guess; I really should be at least in bed reading now, not online still talking to all you peoples... I'm "overtired", I think is the term for it. Too much stuff going on, and then when I try to sleep, my brain keeps going and I can't calm down, and then I don't get the sleep I need to get over this! I'm headed off toward Phoenix, Arizona after Christmas though to see some family members, so that'll be good I hope....

Willem, I agree with Ellen about your sister's remarks. Brush them off. She isn't god; she has no right to tell you what will or will not happen. You have to live the way *you* want.

Shee, I hope you have a peaceful rest, one that is deep and refreshing.

Thank you.

Hi Shee! How are you this weekend?

Pretty good... Looking forward to Christmas and seeing my family and all that stuff.

s for you all!

Hi and thanks! You know what ... influenced by you, I've decided to also become a blood donor! But I can only start in March or so ... have to settle down on my medication schedule first. I can say one thing ... whoever gets my blood is going to get some weird effects along with it! But that will be better than dying of loss of blood!

Oh, that's so good! Blood is amazing, really, the more I think about it... Yeah, okay, weird musings won't be repeated here. As long as you have it, it's hard to see why someone would grudge it to another... Especially with all the health-benefits they've come up with that go to the *donor*!

What health benefits would that be?