That's some serious progress, smonster. Seriously.

Yay, smonster! I am sorry that you're going through this money crap. Let me know if you need anything.

Ugh, something I ate today did not agree with me and whatever it was very violently exited my system. Do Not Want.

smonster really sorry about the money thing, though glad you are dealing with it.

As to Puppy Boy. Consequences are all you can do. Up to him if he learns from it or not. Firing him is at least giving him a chance to learn. You have to do it for y'all, but it is the best thing for him as well.

smonster, that's awesome. I mean, yes, the money part sucks, and I feel your pain. BUT! Dealing and moving forward anyway is, as I said, awesome... and an inspiration.

It's the end of the semester, so I'm getting the usual bunch of emails from students begging for higher grades. I supposed that, from their perspective, it doesn't hurt to try, but it just annoys me to have to answer all of these. (There's one person who I kind of think does deserve a higher grade, but there are department rules about the situation she's in, and I have to follow them. The rest of them, I've really got nothing but "This is your semester average. This is the grade you earned," but I've got to reply to all of them.

Thank you so much, everyone, for all your kind words this week. Losing Byron was incredibly difficult, and I know it’s going to take time to recover. I feel very lucky to have ND, my friends, and my other three furballs close right now. I donated to the Humane Society in his honor today and posted a thank you to the specific branch where I adopted him in 1994. I’m going to miss him a lot.

Thanks, y'all. I don't know if I mentioned this here, but when I talked to the psychiatrist last week and was talking about my issues, it felt like talking about another person. I have trouble remembering what it was like to be that depressed. Don't know how much is DBT, how much Zoloft, and how much job and city change, but I'm just thankful.

Nora, thanks. I am simmering in my *own* consequences. Neither me nor the animals will starve so we're good. I get paid tomorrow. Sorry you're not feeling well! I hope you feel better soon.

Pix, not sure if I've said it here yet or not, but you did good by your beautiful boycat. And it sucks. I would advise against doing an unintentional wake by sorting all your photos of him for an afternoon. That way leads to a painful-face the next day, trust me.

smonster,

I am so glad you are on the upswing. That must feel really good. Did your psychiatrist pick up on it as well?

Well, this was my first session with a psychiatrist here, so it was really weird giving him the whole backstory and trying to represent it accurately. My psychiatrist at home definitely saw a difference - I switched to Zoloft and changed jobs at about the same time (Oct. 2010), so I really don't know what's what.