Green Room - Week 16 - Day 2

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

It seems like a lifetime ago, but I'm sure it's a little more recently than that - my life kind of sucked.

Sure, there have been times when life sucked, but I was still having a good time by making the best of things. Heck, there are times *now* when life kind of sucks, for entirely different reasons.

But during this particular time I'm thinking of - I was fully aware of how much life sucked.

I try not to classify what I was going through as "depression", since that's an actual thing. So let's just call it "really, really, really sad".

A friend of mine that I knew exclusively online did something for me. She set up a website where I could go every time I felt down, to remind me that I was, in fact, awesome.

Every year since then, she has continued to renew it.

She just did it again, and I'm hoping to justify the existence, and increase the traffic a little by posting about it here and hoping some people decide to click on the link to see for themselves. It's garyisawesome.com

That's right. Gary is Awesome dot com. It exists, and it's *about me*.

That will never cease to make me smile.

***
Speaking of making me smile - seeing you post your entries: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/764463.html that's also a good thing.

If you are having difficulties, your personal "awesome" link is at http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/764710.html

****

What is making YOU smile today?

Comments

[itsjustc.livejournal.com]

Being frist :)

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

WOOT!!!!

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

YOU'RE *DEAD* TO ME!

and now i can share cookies with you... and sharing cookies always makes me smile.

[waltzmatildah.livejournal.com]

:)

[waltzmatildah.livejournal.com]

As for what's making me smile...

The fact that The Killing is back!! The show itself doesn't make me smile. The show itself grinds me into a pit of despair at the very futility of life (in the best possible way). But the fact that it's back? THAT MAKES ME POSITIVELY GLEEFUL!

Also, jelly snakes. They make me smile, too.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

There's a meme going around The Book Of Face Right now where people are challenged to name three positive aspects of their day every day for a week, then they challenge someone else to do it, and so on.

It's interesting because some of those who are playing implicitly state that it's difficult for them to think of three actual things every single day. As a result, some post one or two things. Sometimes they don't post anything at all.

On my FL here a few people have a "gratitude" tag and they list things every so often as a reminder that, no matter how much crap might be going on with them at the moment, there are blessings in their life, and they just need to remind themselves of that :)

[ryl.livejournal.com]

It's interesting because some of those who are playing implicitly state that it's difficult for them to think of three actual things every single day.

Isn't that weird? You'd think it would be the other way around. But that seems to be the way we're trained in this society. We're taught to notice the negative and not the positive. I wonder if that's one reason why everyone seems to have depression nowadays. I'd be willing to be real money that it is.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere that our brains are wired to focus more on the negative (I wish I could recall the link, drat). It's supposedly a holdover from prehistoric times when it was necessary 24/7 to be on guard for anything that would threaten our survival. I hadn't thought about it in that way before, but it does make evolutionary sense. And look how far we've come :p

As for the depression angle...eh, there might be something to that. I tend to think that diagnoses are more a product of medical advances, though, in that depression, as we know it, has always probably been around. We just didn't know what it was or how to deal with it until Big Pharma.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Glad things are better for you now.


My plan was to write LJI entry before GISHWHES starts.

GISHWHES starts in two hours. So it doesn't look like that's happening. I wonder if I'll end up writing my entry whilst trying to sculpt some bizarre costume out of cardboard.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

I'm doing GISHWHES to. I'll bet we could write an entry about trying to sculpt bizarre costumes out of cardboard and Easy Cheese!

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Cool, woot! :).

LOL yes :D

[kandigurl.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I also love that that website exists. :)

[binaryorchid.livejournal.com]

What made me smile today were some insightful conversations and funny moments with a good friend... thinking about some of the things we said actually make me smile again because I know I will remember them for a very long time.

[zhent.livejournal.com]

It makes me smile to wake up to this face...

(https://www.flickr.com/photos/tschwartz/14803458832)

[ryl.livejournal.com]

That face! So adorable!

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

PUPPY!!!!!

[kagomeshuko.livejournal.com]

aww!!!

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

Declaring that itsjustc is now "Dead to me" made me smile... because now I can share cookies with them, as part of their induction into the prestigious "Dead To ellakite" Society. Sharing cookies always makes me smile...

---

On a slightly more serious note: I have frequently posted about my chronic struggles with depression. I was also diagnosed as suffering from a Vitamin D deficiency a few weeks back... and two common symptoms of that malady are chronic aches and moderate depression. I am undergoing treatment, but it'll take a couple more weeks for it to really take affect.

At the moment, the aches are particularly bad, and consequently my mood is more than a little sour... but I'm smiling anyway.

As the saying goes, "Grin and bear it". It's the only option I've got, really...

[ryl.livejournal.com]

I got the Vitamin D deficiency diagnosis myself at my last doctor's appointment. I've been taking oral supplements (boy, doesn't that sound dirty?) and trying to get more time in the sun. I've...um...kind of stayed in my cave this week and I can really tell a difference. On the other hand, I now have a charming farmer's tan. It's the only way I tan!

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

:nodding: Vitamin D really is an unsung hero, isn't it? It has to build up a bit in your system first before you start feeling the effects :)

Home Gamnig

[kagomeshuko.livejournal.com]

http://kagomeshuko.livejournal.com/1544906.html

[kagomeshuko.livejournal.com]

My sister paid for all three of our dogs to get bath, a nail trim, and their teeth brushed at one of the pet stores. They came out of the grooming area smelling SO PRETTY and their teeth are SO WHITE!!!

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Ooh, if it's the same pet store as the one we brought Max into to look for treats, it must be a nationwide promotion because we got the same offer. I think we're going to take him this week :)

[kagomeshuko.livejournal.com]

It was Petco. There was a special at Petsmart, but they had overbooked. I'm sad now, though, because my little Woofles passed away yesterday.

[fodschwazzle.livejournal.com]

I am smiling because I am now thinking of making a website called mystudentsarespeciallittlesnowflakes.com and then putting a single "No." in bold letters in the middle of the page.

But I might be a bad person.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

LOLOLOL.

No you aren't.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I have to be back at work in 2 hours. And it would stand to reason that I've got the wacky long-ass schedule today where I won't get home before 7PM and I'll be fighting traffic coming off the Cape at the same time PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT :p AND I HAVE TO BE THERE AT THE BUTT CRACK OF DAWN TOMORROW MORNING :P

(just trying to get into fighting shape here, folks. Don't mind me.)

[marjory.livejournal.com]

Rum made me smile yesterday.

Also the friends who drank it with me as we watched movies.

But really the rum. ;)

[beeker121.livejournal.com]

ooh, I had run with friends yesterday too. No movie though, so we're not the same person.

[marjory.livejournal.com]

I'm sure we aren't.

This was spiced rum called Old J's.

I don't really drink much, so I decided it was a very good idea to buy my Mum a splat ball and a plastic dog poo. I guess I'll find out next week if I was right and/or should be kept away from eBay when tiddly on rum.

[dreamsreflected.livejournal.com]

I love that you have your own place to remind you how awesome you are. For me that's LJ in general, also it's where I go to get a swift kick in the ass when I'm being a whiner. <3 internet!!

Making me smile today: Friday was my last day in my hell hole of a job! I feel like the damn genie in Aladdin I'M FREEEEEE!!!! lol