Allyson, have you read Touched with Fire?

No? Any good?

Parker was an amazing friend. Wow.

I wonder if they are still friends today: I hope so.

re: Allyson

What Scrappy said, squared. Sometimes, Allyson, I want to shake you and say, "But you're so cool and so funny. I want to be like you when I grow up."

I am also a member of the arrogant and low-self-esteem club. I suck at teamwork, partly because my experience is that when I'm part of a team, I do all the work and other people get the credit.

What I'm on makes me less depressed and less anxious, but it doesn't make me cheery. Sometimes it's hard to remember what that's like. It seems like I feel less creative, but I also think my brain took a hit from chemo. I think it's getting better.

It seems likely that both Darwin and Dickens were bipolar. Certainly both had periods of black depression interspersed with astonishing productivity. Of course, my dad was bipolar and he was an SOB, although he was also a great story teller and an absolute whiz at cards.

LeN, I missed the "oh my god" the first time, but I went back just to find it. It was hilarious.

Yeah, Parker is kind of my hero right now.

Generally, though, you're not with the same person for the whole two years, because people get assigned to different locations and they go home at different times. They also want to have newbies paired up with older hands. So every few months you get to have a closer-than-married relationship with someone new that you don't choose.

omgomgomgomg. Torture!

What I'm on makes me less depressed and less anxious, but it doesn't make me cheery. Sometimes it's hard to remember what that's like.

I can be cheery in very specific, usually situational spurts. But even with my AD doubled (the generic of Celexa is what I've taken since I started them), I'm still depressed, even if it's a little more mild. I also just feel more ... blase about it? I can see it, over there, and it seems like too much trouble to do anything with it.

Which is really only since I doubled my dose, come to think of it, but I'm also not having days where I can't get out of bed or speak without crying, so. Trade offs, I guess.

but I also think my brain took a hit from chemo

You know, I forget to take that into account sometimes, but that's a good point. Trade-offs, indeed.

I wasn't cheery for a LONG time, even though I was better.

It comes and goes, but over the last 6 months, I am freaking my long-time friends with how HAPPY I generally am. In a good way, but I AM more cheerful.

Shit still happens, and I've gone through a lot of shit and experimenting and stuff, but it CAN happen. I'm sure I'll cycle through some life shit, but I feel SO much better equipped to deal with it than I did even 2 years ago, it's amazing to me.

BTW, can someone re-post the TAL link for that story? I've looked and am getting no love.

Erin,

[link]

Part 2 is the part to which we are referring. I liked Part 1 as well, but Part 2 made me scream.

Grammar check? "The data are augmented" or "The data is augmented"?

"The data is" in that construction, Allyson.