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Getting Along
As the week has progressed, I've slowly started to feel more like myself again. From getting back into the schedule of how things work around here, to seeing friends and acquaintances that I discovered that I really miss when absent from them for a whole two weeks.
My Muse has returned, and she's hopefully settling down to the task of finishing "I Dhaerlend Dadui" now. I'm about 4k words through Chapter 14, after leaving things at a wonderful cliff-hanger in Chapter 13. If my outline works out, I should be able to leave at another cliff-hanger at the end of 14 as well. Things are definitely heating up in that tale.
I heard from my brother three times this week, and it seems that things have stablized out. The current plan is that, sometime in mid-April, he and his wife, one of his wife's sisters, and his wife's mother, will all throw in together and rent a five-bedroom house in Tempe. I'm glad to hear this, as actually having a plan and a rough schedule of when what is going to happen will go a long way toward casting light into that bottomless chasm that has been the most obvious source of his depression.
I also read that drinking diet sodas with aspertame can cause (1) depression; and (2) cardiac issues. And Bro tends to drink quite a number of diet 7-up's over the course of any given day. I think I'm gonna send him the link to the article (at Mercola.com, if any here are interested in reading what he has to say about a number of things) and recommend that he start either brewing himself sweet herbal/fruit teas or get used to drinking filtered water (from one of those Brita-like filter-pitcher thingees). His pocketbook would probably enjoy the break, and it might help him health and mood-wise.
On the Oregon front, I'm watching carefully as my son up there slowly comes out of the closet as a gay man. Yes, this realization on his part has played a huge part in the breakup of his marriage - but probably no greater than the stress put on the relationship by a truly toxic Mother-in-Law. I think the hardest part for him to do was to write the emails to his father and his uncle (my Bro) and let them know of this major realization on his part. Hubby and Bro are the last remaining adult male role models in Squeek's life; I think he was dreading the repercussions of maybe "disappointing" them. On Hubby's part, however, I was proud of the "I love you anyway" email that was written as an answer. At least Squeek knows that his coming out of the closet hasn't cost him his family.
As for his living situation... Squeek has himself another, more dependable couch that he's renting for the time being - not to mention a less religously antagonistic situation overall(he's Pagan, and his first couch=owner a devout and evangelical Christian who repeatedly tried to convert him,) and he's looking into starting to follow up on perhaps a small studio apartment all of his own not far from his work. Haven't heard from him today with an update on that one, but I've got my fingers crossed.
He's also starting to demonstrate more mature attitudes towards some of his previously uncontrollable impulsive urges. Things that he would have signed up for and ended up on the short end of the stick financially, he's realizing the dangers before he gets in too deep and is backing out while it's still safe. I can only imagine what it's like to hit rock bottom as he has in the past few months, but I'm encouraged to see that the experience seems to be doing him some real good.
On a positive note, I've discovered how to enable the MP3 player at my personal website, and I have put up an example of what happens when I get together with my organist-cohort in crime. I took a piece written for solo organ and arranged it so that we could do it as a duet, and now not only is it our standard warm-up piece when we get together, but it is one of the favorite pieces we play when it's our turn in the spotlight at the Temple of a Sunday. If you're curious, you can find the player here.
I just need to remember, now, that green peas are not my friends - that no matter how much I love them, they will rip me apart within 24 hours. :-p Gonna be scrounge supper tonite, because I'm wiped...
My Muse has returned, and she's hopefully settling down to the task of finishing "I Dhaerlend Dadui" now. I'm about 4k words through Chapter 14, after leaving things at a wonderful cliff-hanger in Chapter 13. If my outline works out, I should be able to leave at another cliff-hanger at the end of 14 as well. Things are definitely heating up in that tale.
I heard from my brother three times this week, and it seems that things have stablized out. The current plan is that, sometime in mid-April, he and his wife, one of his wife's sisters, and his wife's mother, will all throw in together and rent a five-bedroom house in Tempe. I'm glad to hear this, as actually having a plan and a rough schedule of when what is going to happen will go a long way toward casting light into that bottomless chasm that has been the most obvious source of his depression.
I also read that drinking diet sodas with aspertame can cause (1) depression; and (2) cardiac issues. And Bro tends to drink quite a number of diet 7-up's over the course of any given day. I think I'm gonna send him the link to the article (at Mercola.com, if any here are interested in reading what he has to say about a number of things) and recommend that he start either brewing himself sweet herbal/fruit teas or get used to drinking filtered water (from one of those Brita-like filter-pitcher thingees). His pocketbook would probably enjoy the break, and it might help him health and mood-wise.
On the Oregon front, I'm watching carefully as my son up there slowly comes out of the closet as a gay man. Yes, this realization on his part has played a huge part in the breakup of his marriage - but probably no greater than the stress put on the relationship by a truly toxic Mother-in-Law. I think the hardest part for him to do was to write the emails to his father and his uncle (my Bro) and let them know of this major realization on his part. Hubby and Bro are the last remaining adult male role models in Squeek's life; I think he was dreading the repercussions of maybe "disappointing" them. On Hubby's part, however, I was proud of the "I love you anyway" email that was written as an answer. At least Squeek knows that his coming out of the closet hasn't cost him his family.
As for his living situation... Squeek has himself another, more dependable couch that he's renting for the time being - not to mention a less religously antagonistic situation overall(he's Pagan, and his first couch=owner a devout and evangelical Christian who repeatedly tried to convert him,) and he's looking into starting to follow up on perhaps a small studio apartment all of his own not far from his work. Haven't heard from him today with an update on that one, but I've got my fingers crossed.
He's also starting to demonstrate more mature attitudes towards some of his previously uncontrollable impulsive urges. Things that he would have signed up for and ended up on the short end of the stick financially, he's realizing the dangers before he gets in too deep and is backing out while it's still safe. I can only imagine what it's like to hit rock bottom as he has in the past few months, but I'm encouraged to see that the experience seems to be doing him some real good.
On a positive note, I've discovered how to enable the MP3 player at my personal website, and I have put up an example of what happens when I get together with my organist-cohort in crime. I took a piece written for solo organ and arranged it so that we could do it as a duet, and now not only is it our standard warm-up piece when we get together, but it is one of the favorite pieces we play when it's our turn in the spotlight at the Temple of a Sunday. If you're curious, you can find the player here.
I just need to remember, now, that green peas are not my friends - that no matter how much I love them, they will rip me apart within 24 hours. :-p Gonna be scrounge supper tonite, because I'm wiped...