A Splintered Mind

One source of humor for me is always found in the mirror. Now, judging by some of the photos I've displayed here recently you may be thinking that I find my face pretty funny looking, too, but I'm speaking metaphorically. Years ago I pulled my self-esteem out of the muck by learning to laugh at myself when I goof up. How fortunate I have had so many opportunities to develop that as a skill over the years. I began the morning with a mission. I must buy diaper wipes. But I couldn't do it at Wal*Mart. No! That would be gauche. Off to Target. Once there I proceeded to get the other item on my mental list - an FM transmitter for my iPod mini. Ooh, look at the pretty Christmas lights! Excuse me, miss, do you have any better quality Santa hats? Oh, gotta take my four year old to the bathroom. Hey, look! Altoids, but where are the licorice ones? Let's look in all 30 candy isles.. Darn, no licorice Altoids. Mrs. Manager, do you have any left? OK, I'll wait. Wha...

Did you find yourself being compared to the other kids in class and coming up short? Find yourself at the front of the class while the teacher handed mangy mangos out to your classmates to pelt you with because you forgot to bring in your homework again? As damaging as such things can be to a young mind, the person with AD/HD doesn't need any help to feel like an underachiever. By the time we become adults we have our own goals and dreams that we haven't realized yet. The media is filled with people who are "better than us" who fought against the odds to bring new meaning to people's lives and we can't even remember to take the trash out. I have some news for you. We may be scatterbrained, featherheaded, and absentminded, but we accomplish more than we give ourselves credit for. Two events have shaped my thoughts today. First, the blow to my ego. The artist/author of Inverloch , a fantastic web comic, announced she would produce six pages a week for h...

Last summer I waited in line with my daughters for the most eagerly anticipated book of the year: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince . The book was well worth the wait. It was the best written since Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I pegged some events correctly and was surprised by others. I found the book entertaining, and would even recommend it to non-Harry Potter fans as a place to start the series. I'm going to be discussing some plot spoilers in this review so if that sort of thing bothers you you've just read my review in a nutshell and don't need to read further. I had problems with Book Four, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire . Although I enjoyed much of what happened in the book the ending nearly killed me. Once we learned that Barty Crouch Jr. was posing as Moody we were treated to a full chapter of exposition as he recounted the entire story all over again, but from his point of view. I found it dreadfully dull and often skipped through it...

What is it with me and bad luck? Why am I so fixated on it? Is it really so bad? Isn't this just the manifestation of pessimism and negativity in my life? Generally speaking, one could argue that my bad luck is simply the result of my heightened awareness to negative things - that my ADD is at fault because I have a hard time ignoring distractions and background noise. But bad luck for me transcends distraction and becomes a bit more inconvenient. When I'm the only one I know with wet socks daily, failing electronic devices, bizarre encounters with people, fines from the EPA, etc. it's hard to blame it all on ADD. Hey, I'm the type of guy who needs those extended warranties salesmen are always pushing on people. Apple called me yesterday to upsell me on an Apple Care package for my iBook and I was grateful! Little do they know what a bad investment I am. I've had motherboards and LCD screens replaced under Apple Care. But that's OK. Don't tell the...

People with AD/HD usually have a graveyard of unfinished projects strewn behind them as they move through life just like most people. We all have projects we've been meaning to get to. I believe what sets the AD/HD ghoul apart from the other zombies, however, is style. Take your normal person, for example. Their graveyard might be littered with a photo box filled with unmarked photos and empty photo albums, a garage that still needs to be cleaned out for Summer '02, and a gift copy of "Heart of Darkness" or "Mommilies" that they've had lying on their bedside table unread since last Christmas. There's simply no flair or panache to such a list for the AD/HD person. They may never have remembered to develop the film in the first place, nevermind stick the photos in a box (how organized!). The cluttered garage and unfinished book would be there to be sure, but they would be buried under the unfinished "Let's cram a high powered FM tra...

Ever have one of those nights when you are so anxious about the next day you can't let go? I'm having one of those nights right now. My wife is awaiting word for a new job and I'm so uptight with worry I worried myself right through the night. Oh, I didn't fret about and pace and talk to myself. I only do that when I discover my elected officials played lapdog for the RIAA/MPAA again. This was just one of those nights where I found things to do all night long. I've written before about how poorly I respond to medications. So I won't go into the exciting world of Ambien hallucinations or melatonin next day lethargy. Instead I'm just going to jump right into the coping strategies. Coping Strategies: I shouldn't have worked with the lights on. Keeping things dark would have helped me get sleepy. I should have used my Chinese exercise balls. Those things always knock me out. I should have mentally prepared myself to retire for the e...

I read on FOXNews.com today that Hans Kohlerm, "mayor of Rankweil, a town near the border with Switzerland, has launched a one-man campaign disparaging Halloween as a "bad American habit" and urging families to skip it this year." "It's an American custom that's got nothing to do with our culture," Kohler wrote in letters sent out to households. So popular is his campaign that eight other mayors of neighboring villages had joined his cause. Police threw their hats in as well, tired of the all the Holiday inspired vandalism and mischief. Critics of the holiday see it as an encroachment of "crass, U.S.-style commercialism." This shouldn't be surprising given the overbearing anti-Americanism so in vogue these days in Europe. And it can be seen as a greedy holiday from an adult perspecitive. But when I read that Clerics and conservatives felt the holiday clashed with the observance of All Saints' Day on November 1st I had to laug...