2006 redux?

I have battled depression a few times in my life. 2005-06 were very dark days for me. I was doing something I loved; teaching, and more importantly, teaching students who very much wanted to learn because they want a decent job. (As opposed to teaching at my alma mater. I love my time at Coe but I was able to have a much bigger impact at Hamilton than I could have had at Coe.)

Unfortunately for me, my direct supervisor Linda jumped ship. I loved working for her. To have a department chair you trust 100% is gold. After that I was adrift working at a place where the woman running the place is/was an insecure person who took out her fears on those who worked for her. When the movie "Bad Bosses" came out it was difficult to watch because I had worked for someone was evil incarnate. When she was finally fired by the parent company literally dozens of former Hamilton/Kaplan employees and students commented on my wall. Because everyone knew she was my nemesis they came to my wall. For me, it was karma.

In 2006 my birthday was on a Saturday. For a Saturday birthday I think you are obligated to do something fun. I was in such a low functioning state that I couldn't put together anything to see/do with anyone for that birthday. 

I do not know if this is a repeat of 2006 but I do know that like 2006 I have not done a good job of keeping in touch with the people who have shown me love and support. 

My sincere hope is that those who care about me will continue to care about me regardless of how I act in the next couple of months. 

2024

I have had several friends reach out in the past few weeks so I hope to summarize the year to answer most questions.

This has not been a good year physically or emotionally. Physically, I developed gout in March making it hard to walk. For almost 2 months it was difficult to walk and for a few days I could not put any weight on right foot. On the positive side, I lost a lot of weight. Hitting a low of 156 pounds (71 kg), I have gained a healthy 10 pounds back. I also pretty much eliminated caffeine and alcohol. (Eliminating alcohol coincided with the onset of gout. Since gout is often caused by alcohol consumption I thought staying off t was a good idea.) In the past few months I've met friends for coffee or beer, so again, not being an absolutist on this.

Emotionally, I have felt isolated. As an extroverted person I need time in and around lots of people. Not having that is not good. 

The bottom line is that I am OK. Not great, but OK. I do need to talk more with friends and recharge my extrovert battery so I am happy to talk via zoom or google meet if anyone has free time. 

Let's talk drugs

It is winter of '77. My brother Mark is a freshman in HS. On his way to school he took some drugs that left him not only tripping but violently so. 

We got a call to come get him. Mom asked Miriam to drive as we loaded up in the station wagon. The principal and another man had to hold Mark as my sister drove us up to the hospital in Vinton. 

I brought up this memory to my sister a few weeks ago. (I hadn't remembered that she was the driver.) What neither of us know to this day: What drugs was he on? How on earth did he access those drugs as a freshman at Benton Community? (To those not familiar, BC is a rural very white, very middle class, no gangs school district.)

That Mark impacted my life is an understatement. As he was 8.5 years older than me I didn't know him well but all who knew both of us compared us as being very alike. (The same principal named above was my 8th grade math teacher and called me Mark pretty much every day.) 

When I was in HS we all knew a few potheads. Beer was absolutely the drug of choice of my generation. Although I've made up for it since then, the one beer I drank in HS was at our senior skip day when my classmate Jeff insisted. 

This brings me to several questions:

What was Mark on that would send him on a bad trip? Did he mix acid with something? What are the drugs that today's teenagers are on? 

When I was teaching at Hamilton I had several BC grads in my classes and was surprised that they said they really never drank alcohol; it was pot... pot... and more pot... but that was 15 years ago so🤷?