Category: Uncategorized

The Well of Lost Plots & Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde

The Well of Lost Plots, by Jasper Fforde
narrated by Emily Gray
After Thursday Next’s husband is erased from existence (eradicated), she decides to take a break from the real world by vacationing in the Well of Lost Plots. She finds a nice unpublished book to hide in – and in her spare time she begins an apprenticeship with Jurisfiction – the group responsible for policing fictional characters. 

This is the third book of the Thursday Next books, and although not as great as the first, it was quite funny. It has some healthy British humor and is probably one of the weirdest alternate realities I’ve ever read. Highly recommended. 

Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde
Narrated by Emily Gray
Now that little Friday Next has been born, Thursday decides her son must meet his father – eradicated or not. Thursday returns to the “real” world and takes her job back in Spec Ops. She keeps herself busy smuggling Danish books out of the country while pretending to hunt them down and burn them, fighting Goliath Corporation for the existence of her husband, and trying to get her town’s cricket team to win the championship so that a fictional character won’t achieve world domination. 

This fourth book in the Thursday Next series is just as funny as the third. Definitely going to hunt down the next book soon(ish). 

Where has the first week gone?


Hello everyone! This has apparently been a busy week, since I’m behind on everything – including answering comments and visiting everyone’s blog. It’ll probably be that way for about a month, but I’ll do my best to swing by and leave comments whenever I have time. This was my last week of vacation, but I’ve been busy covering for my employee who went on vacation during my vacation. 🙂 I also celebrated Christmas with my boyfriend’s family on Sunday – got three Lockwood & Co. books – gave platelets and then fainted on Tuesday, celebrated my sister’s birthday with my whole family one Wednesday, went to The Force Awakens for a second time on Thursday. Today I’m thrilled to not have any plans at all. 🙂 


Posts: 


Curio, by Evangeline Denmark 

Currently Reading: 


Books Completed:

Watched: 


Acquired: 


Happy New Year 2016!

Happy New Year everyone!

Well, the new year has rung in and I’m eager to get out here and get all my challenges complete. This week went well – no glitches at work, hung out with some laid back friends for New Year’s Eve, that kind of stuff. And I don’t work today! YAY! (I work the weekend, but having a holiday in the middle is wonderful.)

Studies: I finished the first two chapters of my EMT book in anticipation of January being a very full month for me. If you’re interested in checking out my short notes. 

Posts:


Currently Reading



Books Completed:

Film / Theater Completed: 

Acquired: 

Favorite Books of 2015, in no particular order:


I note an interesting pattern here, which I’ve never seen before – 4 of the five are non-fiction. Also, White Trash Zombie jumped in there even though I hadn’t really expected it to be all that great. Who knew?






This update is posted to Stacking the Shelves @Tynga’sReviews, Sunday Salon, Sunday Post @CaffeinatedBookReviewer,   @MailboxMonday, It’s Monday What are You Reading @BookDate

Merry Christmas One and All!


Merry Christmas to all of my readers! (Disclaimer: Happy Holidays too!)


This week has been a good one. It’s been really nice being on break – and I got so much stuff done I can’t believe it. For one thing, I supposedly fixed my financial aid problem. I was told when I filed my FAFSA that I couldn’t get financial aid until I declared a major. But I didn’t want to declare a major. My major is “getting myself into PA program.” So this week, I declared a major. I am now pursuing an AA with emphasis in Biology. HA! That’s a step down from my PhD. Anyway, I’m hoping that if I get proper funding, I can move down to a part-time job (hopefully as an EMT) and take more classes each semester. That’ll speed up my process quite a bit.

If you remember from my last update, I was entering into a #nocaffeine challenge. The first week is complete, and I never even suffered from a headache! I did suffer from mildly crippling exhaustion, though. That may have been exacerbated by giving platelets on Monday. In fact, sometimes I wonder if giving platelets is just really bad for me. It seems like every time I give platelets, I get exhausted. But there are always extenuating circumstances. Like last time – I worked till 1 am and then was in to work at 6 am the next day. Isn’t that reason enough to be exhausted? So for right now, I’m going to continue my donations. 🙂  

Next week I’m going to start reading chapters in my EMT textbook – getting ahead for the semester. My reason is that 1) I know how much reading there is because I tried taking the class last semester and 2) My first month of the class will be difficult since I will be busy two evenings per week training for the COLUMNS program (you know, the one where I work with a life-term parolee recently released from prison). I plan on keeping bullet points of things I’ve learned from the chapters and from class so because I think it’s sort of fun. You are welcome to peruse, skim, or skip. 

Feature and Follow Question: What was the best Christmas (or other holiday) gift I ever received?

Well, my dad usually gets me a $100 gift card for Barnes and Noble. This year he got me a $150 gift card. Totally the best. 

Posts: 

Missing Person, by Patrick Modiano

A Klingon Christmas Carol, at the Historic Mounds Theatre

The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert

How to Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell

Lord of the Rings – A short comment on allegory

The First Christmas, by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan

Books Completed:
Books Acquired:


Film and Theater:


Bookish presents (to others): 

These were given to one of the residents at the nursing home I work at. She said she liked history. I thought it was a good selection. 
Gave these books to my boyfriend’s nephew. He’s too young for them, but I figure his parents can read them to him. They’re on the Harry Potter books now. 
These went to my mom
To my friend Liz (who is hopefully not reading this.
If you are, I also got you chocolates). 
These go to my aunt






This update is posted to Feature and Follow Friday @Parajunkee and @Alison Can Read, Stacking the Shelves @Tynga’sReviews, Sunday Salon, Sunday Post @CaffeinatedBookReviewer,   @MailboxMonday, It’s Monday What are You Reading @BookDate

Finals are Over and Winter is Coming

She’s ready to defend the galaxy
This week was much less eventful and more delightful than last week. I took a furlough from blogging so that I could reduce stress and concentrate on studying for my final exam in Abnormal Psychology. I’m optimistic about my grade in that class. 🙂


When Fall began, I made some fitness plans – lets re-explore them. Did I give up caffeine? NO! Not even close. Did I exercise? Well, my job is a workout, so I suppose I did. Did I use the happy lamp? Well, yes, but then I went mixed bipolar and my therapist told me to stop using it. 😦 End result? Didn’t lose weight, still addicted to caffeine, and got sicker than I imagined I would. But….Winter is coming! A new season means some new plans. 

Inspired by Ipsofactodotme’s #NoSugar challenge, I will start a semester-long #NoCaffeine challenge. I will white-knuckle the caffeine and hope that all of you will cheer me on. I’ll give you an update each week on how I’m doing.

This semester, I’m taking an EMT training class (yes, the one I dropped last semester). This class will be less easy to adapt to blog posts, so instead I’ll include a bullet point list of anything interesting I’ve learned. Hopefully that will keep me on my toes.  

Books Completed


Books Acquired







This update is posted to Stacking the Shelves @Tynga’sReviews, 
Sunday Salon, 
Sunday Post @CaffeinatedBookReviewer,   
@MailboxMonday, 
It’s Monday What are You Reading @BookDate

Update: Work stress and new purses

This is my new (to me) Chanel purse.
Bought it at Goodwill at a steal. 
Weekly update

This was a stressful week, and I’m ready to start a new one and move on with life! Yay! A new week! 

Here’s what happened: On Monday I was upset at work because I had to play the bad-guy and tell my employee that she might not be able to take her vacation on the days requested, despite having already bought the tickets. I told her she may have to reschedule, and she cried, and I felt awful. So I went shopping with my good friend, and I bought this awesome Chanel purse at Goodwill. I didn’t get much studying done, but I certainly felt better. 

The next day, my employee texted me (it wasn’t her day to work) that her last day would be December 31st. I told her that she’d have to sign a resignation form on Thursday, when she returned. After a couple of stressful hours of trying to remake the schedule (which is already short one employee) work without her, she texted back “But don’t you WANT me to work for you?” Apparently, she’d been bluffing and hadn’t expected me to take her up on the offer to quit. I was enraged. Another night that I would rather just relax rather than study. 

To cut to the chase, I ended up taking my test on Thursday without studying at all. It looks like I did ok, and am still going to be able to pull off an A in the class. So here’s to next week and studying for my final exam coming up on Thursday!


Feature and Follow Question:

What is your favorite non-bookish website hangout? 

 Well, I don’t really hang out on the web that much except for book-related stuff. But I guess the next best place is Netflix or YouTube. I’m trying to start reviewing more documentaries to add some spice to my blog. I’ve already started last week!

Reviews:

Living in a Gray World, by Preston Sprinkle
Lamb, by Bonnie Nadzam

Lecture Posts: 

Anxiety Disorder
Bipolar Disorder
Suicide

Books Completed

Film Completed

Acquired

Boo-hoo!










This update is posted to Feature and Follow Friday @Parajunkee and @Alison Can Read, Stacking the Shelves @Tynga’sReviews, Bought Borrowed and Bagged @TalkSupe,  Sunday Salon, Sunday Post @CaffeinatedBookReviewer,   @MailboxMonday, It’s Monday What are You Reading @BookDate

Bipolar Disorder – The Basics

Bipolar mood disorders are distinguished from “unipolar” mood disorders (such as depression) by periods of emotional highs, the extreme case of which is called a “manic episode.”


To be diagnosed with a manic episode, you must have a distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood lasting most of the day, every day for a week. Three or more of the following symptoms must be met: 1) inflated self-esteem or grandiosity; 2) decreased need for sleep; 3) more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking; 4) flight of ideas or racing thoughts; 5) distractability; 6) increase in goal-directed activity (socially at work, or sexually), or psychomotor agitation; 7) excessive involvement in activities that have a high potential for painful consequences.

To be diagnosed with bipolar disorder I, you have to have had at least one manic episode in your life. You do not have to have had any depressed episodes. The manic episode must be what is considered “fully manic” (meeting the criteria above, and generally requiring hospitalization) and not the less elevated state called “hypomanic.”  On the other hand, people with bipolar disorder II experience hypomania – never a fully manic state – and they have to also have experienced periods of depression. Bipolar II is more common than bipolar I, but only evolves into bipolar I in 5 to 15 percent of the cases. 

People with bipolar disorder tend to show more mood lability, psychotic features, psychomotor retardation, and substance abuse than people with unipolar mood disorders. Bipolar depression also tends to be much more severe than unipolar depression, and is characterized by more of the “atypical” depression features (i.e. hypersomnia, arms as heavy as lead, mood lability), as described in my post about depression. As I said in my previous post, I generally experience atypical features during my depressive episodes. One time, I even remember sitting at a table looking at a glass of water. I really wanted to drink that water. But my arms were just too heavy to reach over and grab it. 

Usually, an episode – which can be either manic/hypomanic or depressive – occur every 3 to 4 months, with periods of “normal” in between. However, some people rapid cycle, remaining in one state or another almost all the time. They experience at least 4 episodes per year, but generally far more than 4. 

Rapid cycling should not be mistaken for “mixed episode,” which is characterized by symptoms of mania both mania and depression for at least one week. In fact, I have been in a “mild mixed state” since the beginning of October, and my symptoms just keep getting worse and worse. During this time, I have experienced intense suicidal ideation mixed with motivation, energy, and impulsivity. I have had mild  dissociative symptoms in which I feel outside myself, and am unable to care about the past or future – which makes the suicidal ideation even more dangerous. I have had bipolar rage – red-in-the-face screaming at people, punching walls, and throwing stuff with little provocation. And I’ve spent a half hour at a time laughing and crying at 10 second intervals. It’s not a fun state to be in. Apparently, my current treatment plan is to dope me up so much during the day and night that I am unable to experience emotions, therefore I’m fairly stable. It works. My mood is so stable right now, it feels like there’s no mood there at all. 

“Full recovery” is very rare with bipolar disorder; most people must remain on mood stabilizers for the rest of their lives. The first mood stabilizer, lithium, was discovered 1948 by Dr. John Cade. It is an effective mood stabilizer, but it has several side effects, and it is not very easy to patent a mineral, so lithium is not generally used for the treatment of bipolar disorder. Other mood stabilizing medications are from a group considered to be anti-seizure meds, or from another considered to be anti-psychotic meds. I’m currently on both types. 


This is a series of posts summarizing what I’m learning in my Abnormal Psychology course. Much of the information provided comes from reading my James N. Butcher’s textbook Abnormal Psychology. To read the other posts, follow these links: 

The Definition of Abnormal
A History of Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal Psychology in Contemporary Society
Contemporary Viewpoints on Treating Mental Illness – Biology
Contemporary Viewpoints on Treating Mental Illness – Psychology
Frontline: New Asylums
Brave New Films: This is Crazy
Clinical Mental Health Diagnosis: Biological Assessment
Clinical Mental Health Diagnosis: Psychological Assessment
Does the DSM Encourage Overmedication?
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome – The Basics
Panic Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Hoarding and Body Dysmorphic Disorders
Depression – an Overview
Personality Disorders – Clusters and Dimensions
Personality Disorders – Cluster A
Personality Disorders – Cluster B
Personality Disorders – Cluster C
Biological Effects of Stress on Your Body
Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
Dissociative Disorders
Borderline Personality Disorder
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Paraphilic Disorders
Gender Dysphoria – Homosexuality and Transgender
Anxiety Disorders
Bipolar Disorder – The Basics
Suicide – An Overview

References:

Butcher, James N. Hooley, Jill M. Mineka, Susan. (2014) Chapter 7: Mood Disorders and Suicide. Abnormal Psychology, sixteenth edition (pp. 212-262). Pearson Education Inc.

Weekly Update Dec 6th



This was a fantastic week. I ended up November with a bang – lots of good books read and acquired. Work has been going well. Abnormal Psychology class has been going well. I had a bit of a mishap at the Red Cross when I was trying to donate platelets. They had to do quite a bit of “adjusting.” But everything came out right in the end. On Saturday, I went to the Hippie Modernism exhibit at the Walker Art Center with my boyfriend and another friend (who is pictured above with me). The exhibit was fun, but we preferred some of the other parts of the museum. The Jack Whitten exhibit was fantastic. 


Lecture Posts


Reviews
Books Completed



Film Completed
I also watched The Third Sex, which is episode 8 of season 5
of the National Geographic series Taboo
Books Acquired


November 2015 Review

This was a good month. I had three Thanksgiving celebrations: one with my cousins in Iowa, one with my boyfriend’s family, and one with my own family & boyfriend. They were all a wonderful time. I’m pleased with my progress in my Abnormal Psychology class, work is going uneventfully, and I was very active on my blog. I tried to alternate between “lecture” posts and book review posts this month.


I participated in Nonfiction November with the ladies at  Doing Dewey, Sophisticated Dorkiness, I’m Lost in Books, and Regular Rumination. During the month, I read 6 nonfiction books (Evil Hours, I am Malala, The Epic of Gilgamesh and Old Testament Parallels, Quiet, and The Archetypal Significance of Gilgamesh) and reviewed 7. I also enjoyed reading science fiction along with Rinn Reads. I was only able to read 2 science fiction books (The Martian and Shada), and review 3. 

Next month I’ll be joining the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge hosted by The Christmas Spirit. So far, my plans are Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott; The Three Sisters, by Sonia Halbach; and The First Christmas, by Marcus Borg. Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in some more. You can see other upcoming challenges in my Challenges Tab.

I’ve been having trouble with formatting this month. If I add a link or italicize after-the-fact, it sometimes turns out really big. In past months, I could resize it, but now it won’t let me do that. It’s irritating. Any advice? 


 Abnormal Psychology Posts:

Depression – an Overview
Personality Disorders – Clusters and Dimensions
Personality Disorders – Cluster A
Personality Disorders – Cluster B
Personality Disorders – Cluster C
The Biological Effects of Anxiety on the Body
Stress and Your Body – An Introduction
Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
Dissociative Disorders
Borderline Personality Disorder
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Book & Movie Reviews:

The Noonday Demon, by Andrew Solomon
Dark Eden, by Chris Beckett
Gilgamesh Translations
The Biology of Desire
The Martian, by Andy Weir
The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels, by Alexander Heidel
Black Five, by J. Lynn Bailey 
Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, by Pete Earley
Quiet, by Susan Cain
Evil Hours, by David J. Morris
I am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
Shada, by Douglas Adams and Gareth Roberts

Book Completed: 



Acquired:

Movies/Shows Watched: 



This update is posted to Sunday Salon, Sunday Post @CaffeinatedBookReviewer, Stacking the Shelves @Tynga’sReviews,  @MailboxMonday, It’s Monday What are You Reading @BookDate

September 2015 Update

Favorite picture of the month
my brand new niece Leilani

This has been an incredibly busy month for me. I started my second class of the semester (now I’m taking Abnormal Psychology and an EMT certification class). These, together with my full time job in a nursing home and my volunteer work at a crisis hotline, keep me feeling pretty darned overwhelmed. 

My EMT class is a lot of information. As of yet, I’m not keeping up  with the reading in the 2000 page text at all, but I’m bumbling along in the class regardless. I am now CPR/AED certified for infants/children/adults. That’s a nice feeling. I think everyone should know how to save a life in this way. 

In Abnormal Psychology I have taken my first test and got a fantastic score. I give my blogging complete credit for that score. Writing blog posts about my psychology class is the best studying I’ve ever done in my life. If only I could do the same thing with my EMT text without boring you all silly. This month’s Abnormal Psychology posts are:



My most popular blog post this month was: The Definition of Abnormal

I am currently reading or listening to:

I’m hoping to finish this one in time for Aarti’s A More Diverse Universe
Thought this spooky book would be a good one for October

This month I finished reading or listening to: 

This was my RL book club’s choice for September
I read this with Doing Dewey‘s nonfiction book club
Read this to supplement my posts about warehousing the mentally ill in prisons
I think I’m going to a conference on addiction in a couple weeks. Thought this would be a nice supplement.

Next month’s blogging activities include:

Aarti’s A More Diverse Universe at BookLust
The Halloween Reading Challenge at Reading Every Season
R.I.P. X hosted this year by The Estella Society
Picture used by permission by creator Abigail Larson

This post is linked up to the Facebook Group The Sunday Salon. “The Salon is open to anyone who’d like to discuss books of a Sunday (or, frankly, any other day of the week). … Discuss what you’re reading here, or link to relevant blog posts, or comment on one anothers posts. Enjoy.”
This post is also linked up to the Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. “The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.”