Just some random garbage.

Hi, kids. I’m crabby today.

Surprise.

I think I mentioned at one point that I’m willing myself out of depression. Since “professionals” couldn’t help, I just decided not to be depressed anymore.

I know, I know: if this were possible, psychiatry wouldn’t be a billion-dollar industry.

What I mean by “willing myself out of it” is going about my business as usual despite the fact that I might rather crawl into a hole and hide from the world. No more talk of suicide, despondency, yada yada yada. I’m simply going to shut the fuck up, as the Brides of Destruction so eloquently stated, and get on with my life.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have “down” days. If I were the “old” me, today would be a mega-depressed day. However, I’m merely sighing my way through the day and trying to focus on one task at a time. Work. Homework. Blogging. Writing. Blah blah blah.

I have to confess that giving up politics helped with the depression. Politics still fascinate me and my first click of the day is invariably The Drudge Report, but if you put a gun to my head and told me to write a political blog or eat lead, well, as Ed Norton said in Fight Club, I’d be eating a “lead salad.”

There are few links on my site, and that’s by choice. I notice a lot of bloggers link to everyone who ever said “hello” in their comments, and this is probably so no feelings get hurt. I choose my links carefully, because I feel that these links, combined with my own blog, make for a well-rounded blogging experience.

Stacy, over at Not A Desperate Housewife, approaches politics (and particularly conservatism) from a feminine point of view. She’s on hiatus and I miss her, primarily because there’s been some abortion news in the headlines lately, and no one covers the subject quite like Stacy.

Then we have Leab (whatever that means) at Erotic Teachings. Excuse me, Ironic Teachings. Erotic Teachings is a "pay site" among my faves. Anyway, what can I say about Leab except he’s prolific, intelligent, insightful and tolerant. Leab is single-handedly responsible for yours truly getting out of the political business, and I thank him.

The Exile handles politics for me. I love the Exile because his blogs are passionate, venomous when necessary, and articulate. If I ever need to vent politically, a comment or two on Exile’s site is just what the doctor ordered.

Finally there’s Outside the Box. I don’t recall how I stumbled upon her site, but what I do remember is that the first post by the author, Tu s Tin (what the hell does that even mean?) mentioned the Book of Ecclesiastes, specifically chapter one, verse two, which is my favorite Bible verse, the one I have tattooed on my arm. She meanders between philosophy, politics, and God knows what else, and I love her blog.

I’ve considered adding a Link of the Week, but thought that might seem vain on my part. I mean, it’s not as if thousands of people are flocking to my site each week, so a short-term link on my site wouldn’t exactly be the make-or-break moment in another blogger’s career. One blog I will mention, however is Wilhemina’s, because I’ve yet to figure out exactly what is going on there. All I know is that for some reason, I can’t look away, and some days it’s brilliant and other days it’s just disturbing.

Anyway, I started with depression and wound up explaining the links on my site. If I kept going, God knows where I’d wind up. I think I’ll wait ‘til tomorrow to post this week’s turd of a column from the Stillwater Gazette. In the meantime, I’ll simply close by reaffirming my abject hate for the Family Circus. This “cartoon” is a graphic illustration of why newspaper readership continues to decline. I find it terribly ironic that the headlines continually bash “big business,” the growing disparity between rich and poor, blah blah blah, yet they overlook the fact that on the comics page, Bil Keane and his horrible, unoriginal spawn continue to make millions crapping out this utter turd of a cartoon every day.