9 Moons Ago

Still recovering from my slight relapse of mania. The nurses and doctors that I talked to said that as you get older, the episodes of mania can be more severe and take longer to recover from, but I feel lucky to have such a good support team of family and friends around me. Some people aren’t so lucky and they don’t get the help they deserve.
I’ve got a lot of emotional instability at times, but I can usually center myself pretty quickly. I don’t defeat too easily… and it takes quite a bit to bore me. So, I have a good imagination and I try to use it well each day. I am planning future artwork and writing when my vision is slightly impaired and my concentration is shot. I form the ideas and tuck them away for future use.
There are really really good and productive days, and then there are days where I feel like nothing is going right and I cry quite a bit. I don’t want to hide this from anyone, because I know that talking about it empowers other people in the same state.
I want to draw a self portrait today, but if I find I can’t, I always have an alternative: my camera! My camera is one of my lifelines, as is the music I listen to daily. So, in lieu of a drawing today, I’ll give you a photo. (When I get the self portrait done, I’ll post that, too.)

Lifted from the music blog at WXPN Philadelphia:

“What is Earth Hour you may ask? Well, created in response to the question “how can we inspire people to take action on climate change?”, it is an hour during which people turn off their lights for just one hour. Around this time last year this project was executed in Sydney, Australia.
A reported 2.2 million people and 2100 businesses in Sydney turned off their lights simply for one hour and it was calculated that if the greenhouse gas reduction achieved in the Sydney Central Business District during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year!

Therefore, this year on March 29 at 8pm The Philadelphia Zoo along with many residents around the city plan to participate in Earth Hour 2008, and you should too!”

The “Big Flick” as it is also known, includes turning off computers, tvs, etc, but especially lights. So get out your candles and lanterns and do something reflective or fun in the dark! I’m looking forward to it. With all the buzzing energy of technology, I think this will be a good break for me, in addition to the benefits to our earth. I hope you decide to join in…and if I’ve persuaded you, please let me know how it went. I’ll report from my end the next evening or soon after that.

There is more info on the event here: Earth Hour

Usually I don’t like clowns. This is the exception to the rule!

Ingrid Michaelson “The Way I Am”

While I’m at home in my own little corner (my own little room), back here in my parents’ house in the U.S.A., recovering from a relapse of my bipolar disorder and some other life-changing events, I have found myself once more smitten with R.E.M., just as badly as when I first saw them on a video in 1991, and sat bolt upright at the edge of my parents’ bed, watching MTV back when MTV played music.

I have been following all the latest press (what I can without being too silly abt. it) and today I heard the whole new album on iLike, which I recommend highly. It gives you a chance to preview the tunes, see if you want to purchase them..and is up till the album release I think, on April 1. I’m going to buy the CD on April Fool’s day, because, although I use my iPod, I like the tactile nature of an album in the hand! Plus, I can listen to it in the car.

I think the album is tremendous. I’ll admit I wasn’t as thrilled about their last two albums, though I really liked the songs. This album is different…It’s got a really good energy behind it, and the messages are strong, positive and invite change, be it political, or personal.

So, though I am perpetually smitten by John Michael Stipe -as you probably already know- I am falling head over heals for this new album and ALL the musicians behind it. (Mike’s vocals are a welcome return!) Please, go have a listen and decide for yourself. My opinion? It ROCKS!