A Splintered Mind

As I celebrate this blog's third anniversary, I contemplate my approach to disability and wonder if there's a special place in Hell for drive-by anonymous posters who haven't anything nice to say. Three years ago this month I pulled my weblog out of "I posted a picture today and edited a perl script" purgatory and posted it on Blogger as a form of therapy. I wanted to force myself to learn how to write about my disabilities without feeling sorry for myself or making people uncomfortable. It was a rough first year, but I made my goal by year's end. By the time I found my voice, Blogger found me and catapulted my little blog into A Lister-like status for a few weeks when they featured me on their Blogs of Note page. Suddenly, more people than my mother and mother-in-law were reading what I wrote. It was a rocket ride, thrilling and heady. One big problem from being noticed, however, was the drive-by anonymous commenters. They loved to fling their poo at me the...

Each week I chart a course for success. I tell myself "This is the last week AD/HD will run my life!" I haven't succeeded yet, but I've come pretty darn close. OK, last week I couldn't have been further from the mark if I had hopped on a jet and flew in the opposite direction. Still, getting myself to think about change is part of the process. Don't let Adult ADD run your life. Pick one thing to work on this week and take the plunge with me. Chart your progress here and let us know how you do. My goal for this week: Be Punctual. Last week I didn't do so well with this goal. Yes, it's not my fault that Bigfoot stole my keys and ran off with my minivan. Not buying it? Would you believe four angry munchkins nailed me to my bed? Nah, my doctor didn't buy that one either, but excuses aside, I do think I can make this goal. I'll just try harder. I will try to leave even more time before each appointment to allow for random pandemonium than I did las...

I've got a great weekend ahead. Hope you do, too. Let's open up our weekly chat again. Topic this weekend is Heath Ledger. I know. I know. If you dig him, you can't get enough of him. If you don't, you're wondering what all the fuss is about. How about this? How many of us have self-medicated our anxiety and depression? I haven't. Not with recreational or prescribed drugs. However, I have my vices. Who doesn't? But do we let them destroy our lives? I had hoped to blog about this yesterday but I've been really busy with sick kids, saving the world, you know the routine... I'd really like to hear what you think on the subject. Comments will be closed late Sunday night, or sometime Monday when I remember, "Oh yeah! I've got to close the comments!" tags technorati : Heath Ledger Heath Ledger Depression Anxiety Like reading The Splintered Mind ? Share articles with your friends, link from your blog, or subscribe !

If you have Adult AD/HD, or teenage ADHD, or just annoying ADD, you know how disruptive this quaint little mindblock can be. Each week I set a goal for myself to try to tame the AD/HD beast and push it back into a cage, so to speak. I invite you to set a goal for yourself and chart your progress with us in the comments section. My goal for this week: Be Perfect. Be Punctual. In general, when I know I have an appointment to keep I work to be there. The problem is that I tend to dread downtime. I actually worry about all the things that need to get done before I have to be someplace, envisioning sitting bored somewhere twiddling my thumbs while awaiting my appointment, so I try to get things done before I go. This is called "Putting Four into Three" - the only thing I took away from my time with Utah's premier (somewhat fascist) AD/HD specialist. I don't try to put four into three as much as I try to fit four dozen into three, which simply means I'm really lousy at...

Last weekend's chat was a success. Interesting topics were covered and we had more than two people in there. Thanks for all involved. I'm now renaming the chat because the other one was boring. I know you lurkers love the full RSS feed, but here's a game of Bejeweled to tempt you to come in and stay a while. Earn bragging rights and post your score below in the comments section. Of course, if the game is too interesting only the sounds of crickets will be heard below. So, to tempt you to chat let's discuss funny things you forgot because of AD/HD. Comments will be open until late Sunday night, long after most of you have gone to bed, I bet. Update 1/21/08 2:20:00 PM: Comments closed. Thanks for participating. tags technorati : ADD ADHD AD/HD Depression Chat Distractions Like reading The Splintered Mind ? Share articles with your friends, link from your blog, or subscribe !

When I first starting writing this blog I used to write in great depth about how the Universe had it in for me. Then I would post my evidence. I have the weirdest luck, and I used to believe that most of it was bad. If there is going to be a hair in anybody's dinner, it will be in mine. If there's a driver smoking, talking on the cellphone, and programming his GPS unit with his feet, he will be in front of me. If there is a puddle of water on the floor and there are three people walking around it, only my socks will sop it up. If the EPA is threatening legal action for toxic waste dumping at $10,000 per violation, I will receive that letter. (Yes, that really happened.) There is an upside to my luck, however. If there's a hair in my dinner, I'll get a free meal. When driving, I usually pick the best lanes to bypass gridlock. More than that, I get movie posters, freebies, discounts, and special consideration all the time. Things balance out. Eventually, I decided that th...

My schedule has become wide open recently due to two of my homeschooled kids going back to public schools. One I'm happy about because she's learning disabled and I questioned my ability to adequately handle her needs. Besides, this six year old did not take to homeschooling well at all. "I want to go to real school," was her mantra. The second child, my nine year old, needed homeschool because she was allergic to No Child Left Behind. I spent all last year teaching her how to read, how to add and subtract, and how to write well. She, I discovered, was one of those functional illiterates. She pulled the wool over all our eyes until I began homeschooling her. What a lot of work that was to get her caught up, but it was worth it. Now she craves a social outlet and since we are in a different school district it is possible the same problems will not arise. We'll see. I believe that education must be fun and interesting for children, so if homeschooling is dragging th...

Welcome to my second experiment. The last one worked out pretty well. Of course, the forum wasn't supposed to last all week long. Hmm, let's see if I can remember to post that new article I've been working on BEFORE next weekend. In the meantime, I was recently asked for suggestions on herbal remedies for Depression. The only one I could think of was St. John's Wort, but it does tricksy things to modern medicines. Apparently, meds like birth control pills have their period of efficacy accelerated when taken with St. John's Wort. I can see how that'd be a bad thing. What remedies have you heard of? Or chat about anything that comes to your mind, provided it fits within the theme we have going here on this blog. Also, feel free to pitch in and give fellow readers advice or just chat amongst yourselves. Update 1/14/08 4:17:47 PM: In the future, I'll refer to this forum as "The Splintered Chat". Thanks for participating. Comments closed.