I’ve been watching The Blacklist with my wife. I’ve remarked that it’s very honest in it’s portrayal of law enforcement, in that they are all dishonest, corrupt, and criminal.

Not really a fan of the show, but I love James Spader’s portrayal of Raymond Reddington. I lose interest when he’s not in the scene. Just wanting to watch him has gotten me through to season 9.

Gout is bad. Every step you take, when you put your foot down and put pressure on it, it feels like you just broke a bone. Then, when you lift your foot again, it feels like it breaks again. Repeat for every step. You have to sleep with your foot sticking out because the weight of a thin sheet is too painful.

A few years ago I slipped on the ice and hit my elbow. I got up and drove to work. After I got there, it was still a little sore. I work in a hospital, so I went and got an X-ray. Turns out I fractured my arm. My wife and my doctor both wanted to know how I managed to drive to work with a broken arm. It just didn’t seem all that bad. It hurt at the moment, but then it was just a bit sore.

I’m going to say the average would be 7.

I definitely had some -7 days, but by and large it was a good childhood.

I was required to do chores and help out around the house. However, I didn’t have too many “wants” that I couldn’t have.

I’m fairly spoiled among my peers, but not in a “doesn’t have to work, thinks the world revolves around me” way. Always well fed and clothed. Always had a home to live in.

My parents paid for my college, so I graduated without any student loans. They also gave me and my wife the deposit when we bought our house. They continued helping with my kids’ college education, covering half of their expenses as well.

There was some abuse. Honestly, it didn’t amount to more than what just about every kid my age went through. Horrifying today, but run of the mill back then.

All have their place, but canned black olives tap into childhood nostalgia. Putting an olive on each finger and eating them one at a time.

A Palestinian Jew advocating socialism. They’d kill him on the spot.

More like:

Use reports lightbulb is broken. Support spends an hour talking user through diagnostic tests. Determines that the lightbulb in question is a houseplant.

My oldest has no children and works fully remote.

When the pandemic started, his company decided to have everyone work from home. They very quickly discovered that they were just as productive, and the owner decided it made sense to dump their office space.

A group of employees decided to go on vacation together, while still working. Since they are all remote, they didn’t actually have to work from home. They got an Airbnb with good Internet, worked during the day, and saw the sites and had fun together after work.

If you’re remote and you miss that sense of community, reach out to your coworkers and ask them if they want to hang out after work. It’s possible they don’t and you’ll be disappointed. It’s also possible that they feel the same way but didn’t know they could do something about it.

Either you’ll be the hero that saved everyone from their solitary existence, or you’ll have to accept that they don’t want to hang out with you.

You win.

About 40 years. We met for real when she was in 9th grade and I was in 10th grade. We started dating when she was 15 and I was 16. We got married 32 years ago.

Edit: Since it looks like we’re the oldest couple in the thread so far: first date was October 5, 1986.

There were hallucinations in the first episode, and definitely some grandiose ideas in both the first and second episodes.

I have some concerns, because some aspects of his care after the first episode were neglected because he was felt he was experiencing too much anxiety to deal with it. That left him without any therapy, and because the psychiatrist had weaned him off the meds, he was unmedicated.

I don’t believe he would have stopped the meds without the psychiatrist saying he should. However, we do need to make sure he has ongoing care, therapy, and group meetings.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate the information.

Thank you for your response!

That sounds absolutely terrible for you as well as her.

The one thing everyone agrees on with my son is that he would never hurt anyone else. We’re all only concerned that he could hurt himself.

Thanks for your reply.

There were definitely signs leading up to this. As I’ve mentioned, we were a bit too hopeful that the diagnosis was wrong, so we deluded ourselves into thinking it wasn’t happening. Which is strangely comforting because now that we have no basis for believing the diagnosis was wrong, we WILL pay closer attention.

The biggest sign was he wasn’t sleeping. That would be bad for anyone, but he never has trouble sleeping.

Thanks for sharing!

The thing that makes me most hopeful is his attitude. He really seems to be dedicated to making the treatment work.

We’ll have to ask that. I don’t think it’s been said, although it’s possible that it went past me without me understanding.

Thanks again!

We’ll definitely check them out. If the insurance doesn’t cover it, we’ll make it work.

Thank you for sharing!

It’s interesting that you mention Kanye, because the first time they mentioned bipolar in the crisis center, he said he had been thinking about Kanye.

Yeah, I spoke to him about that in the crisis center. I told him that it’s going to take time and it’s important to keep trying and to be aware of the possible side-effects so he can watch out for them.

When he told us that he started meds again, he told us what it was and let us know that he asked the doctor about side-effects, so I felt good about that.

That’s what I was saying to him in the crisis center. It sucks that you can’t feel fantastic. But the merely ok feeling you have to feel is what everyone else feels.

He is open to therapy, but we are in the US, so there are challenges. However, I have excellent health insurance through my employer, and he works for the same employer, so when he ages out of my plan, he’ll be able to sign up for the same insurance.

The other detail about him is he’s one of the most caring, kindest people I know. There is really no chance he will hurt someone else, except that if he hurts himself it will hurt the people who care about him.