Sending Love

And here's a story from the New York Times. It's  about LOVE.

Proof that there is a parallel universe after reading "What We're Searching For" in the New York Times

Happy Christmas Warmth from My House to Yours

I kept scrolling back to the top as I read this damn piece, certain that I must be reading the Onion. I Googled the writer's name to see if he wrote comedy or satire. Holy Christmas hell, Seth Stephens Davidowitz, maybe depressed people, particularly people who are depressed while being aurally assaulted by Joy to the World, don't Google "depression." Maybe they Google "anti-depressants." Maybe they Google "Cymbalta" or "Prozac," or "foods that elevate mood," or "happy pill." Maybe they are nearly comatose with the covers pulled up over their heads, or desperately shopping, hoping against hope to finally get the gift-giving thing right this year, or just gone to bed early because it's already been dark for hours by the time they've had dinner.

And do suicidal people actually Google "suicide?" I did not. Of course I didn't actually commit suicide so maybe my Googling habits are irrelevant. Why would anyone Google "suicide" unless they were writing a piece about suicide? I suspect that people who seriously contemplate ending it all by their own hand have a pretty good idea how they're going to do it, and Googling suicide would royally screw up your life insurance benefit if there was an investigation even though you managed to make it look like an accident.I will say  that committing suicide during the holidays would be fairly ungainly with houseguests occupying all the nooks and crannies of the house, and Christmas parades and Santa Fun Runs snarling traffic on the bridges. 

If indeed, there is a post-Christmas surge in Googling "divorce" and if "Christmas allows for some reflection about family life. Searches for “dysfunctional family” reach their highest point every year around Christmas. Searches that include the word “hate” and a family member — “mom,” “dad,” “husband” or “wife,” for example — also rise on and around Christmas," the conclusions drawn earlier in the article don't make a lot of sense to me.

I did feel like I was almost invited to the party though after reading this. "....whether consciously or subconsciously, people delay bad events until after the holidays. Dec. 26 is the date with the highest search rate for “doctor,” following a dip leading up to the holidays. Our bodies even somehow manage to delay trouble: Health researchers previously found a 33 percent increase in heart attacks in the four days after Christmas." Thanksgiving was not mentioned, but I guess that my mother is growing more compliant now that she's 90 since LAST THANKSGIVING was a bit different from THIS THANKSGIVING. This year's Christmas/hospital scenario has yet to reveal itself, but LAST YEAR there was no putting off the trip to the ER until after the stockings had been hung by the chimney with care. And at no time during either of the holiday seasons, this year or last, did my mother Google "falling." 

Anyhow thanks for the heads up re heart attacks in the four days after Christmas. I'm lying on the couch as I type this having green tea and dark chocolate, which I think according to the Internet, is good for cardiac health, but you'd have to Google that to be sure. My mom is an avid newspaper reader, but she prefers the Dubuque Telegraph Herald and the L.A. Times to the New York Times, so I'm hoping she won't see the bit about post-Christmas heart attacks. The house will be stuffed with guests during that time so finding a moment to Google "depression" might be tough if she keels over then.  

Merry Christmas one and all. May your Holidays be filled with Happy Pills--whatever that means to you. And I seriously hope you're one of those folks Googling "condoms" on New Years Eve. I'll let you know what I searched for. xoxoxox

Love,

Denise

Bloodletting

I awoke to the insistent beep-beep-beeping of my alarm this morning, certain that I had been lying there annoyed and trying to get back to sleep but failing. A sure sign that I'm going to be deceiving myself all day. My body is still feeling slightly tweaked from an almost-fall off a ladder on Saturday, and my spirit/psyche/soul is most definitely out of whack. For hours I've been telling myself that the weird annoyed restlessness I'm feeling might be dehydration, but I have yet to take a drink of water. In the midst of typing the previous sentence I stopped, got up, and moved my water from my bedside to my desk, but I really don't want to have anything to do with it. So far everyone I've encountered today has gotten on my last nerve. My mother with her "the Christmas tree needs water." The bossy yoga woman with her "move your mat just a smidge." The yoga teacher who is probably 20 with the body of a lithe 12-year-old, and who has no fucking idea what it's like to be dragging a 60-year-old body around with a surgically fused spine and hips that will be forever seeking their lost swivel.

This piece in the New York Times might have made me jump for joy since I plan to get no closer to matrimony than I would to a coiled viper. Instead I found myself spitefully wishing with all my heart that the Someone's marriage is already in its death spiral. Yes! That is the one thing that would make me happy, Santa. Oh, I know that hate just hurts the hater, blah, blah, blah, and no doubt by the end of the day I will have come back to some sort of almost-center. But meanwhile, dear blogosphere, you are the leech draining away the poison.

Namasté.

This just seems wrong

From the New York Times: Guys, Skip the Break-In on These Louboutins

I've written about Louboutins before HERE and HERE. They hold a special repugnant significance in my life.

Or it could be that I'm too clumsy to walk in high heels and maybe I'm secretly jealous. But even if I thought I could walk in them, I'd have to stumble onto a swank garage sale and get them cheap. Hundreds or even thousands of dollars for shoes?

It seems like the world should be walking in the shoes of the people who are out of work, the shoes of people who can't afford health insurance, the shoes of people without shoes.

And did you know that the New York Times only covered the Occupy Wall Street protests in the "N.Y./Region" news? It didn't merit being categorized "U.S." or "Top News." The Los Angeles Times had their article on page 26. That seems wrong, too.