6 posts tagged “blues”

Nothing beats the Blues like winning.

Another item on my list for staving off the Winter Blues as yet another week goes by in the 30s here: Competition.I have found that engaging the competitive spirit is an easy balm, though in the short term it provides only momentary relief. Games and puzzles are always a good way to work areas of the brain that are not used for other activities, and it is easy to use them as a form of mental anesthetic, but there is little gain from mastering most of these. Healthy competition against a dynamic human opponent or set of opponents is much better for personal growth. In Winters long past I have found solace in poker, pinball, table-top role-playing (engages social skills and imagination, if done properly), foosball, and Settlers of Catan. Settlers is something I have both loved and hated, but thanks to a crew of very good companions back in the Steel City who dragged me out of the funk I was in then to join them for very friendly games several nights a week I have come to understand the game on many more levels. The social aspects are especially interesting to me, because the personalities of the players are as important as the mechanics of the game.
I have yet to get a good, steady group of Settlers players together out here in the City on the Edge of the Future. I have taught several people, including D33 and her bff Astroterr, but with their schedules there is never time for regular games, let alone the three to four nights a week that I ended up playing that last winter. Teaching others to play is going to help my own game, if I can be patient enough with them to train them up to my level of experience.
The time this will take is not going to help me with my Winter Blues. I have turned instead to dusting off a long-unused skill: Darts. Until this year I had not thrown a dart at a board since I quit drinking years ago, but I had spent one year living with a dartboard and had been forced to play many games with a drunk, bored roommate. One can only endure spit-slurred epithets for so long before caving, so I learned the basic games and lost a lot.
My fellow Operator at Zillow, Jake, presented the solution just after I returned from my trip Back east. He begged me to join his new Darts Ladder forming at work. He had only three people, including himself, who actually played, and was randomly hitting up everyone he worked with to try to increase the pool of experience. Now, a month later, I am 0-7, stuck at 6th place on the ladder, and have yet to be challenged by anyone lower than me. I practice one game every shift I work and don't play a ladder game, and two of my friends have dartboards at their homes. This past week I have beaten both of them--on home turf is no easy thing!
Winning is a great way to beat the blues, but winning consistently keeps them away.

As previously mentioned, I have the Blues, something along the lines of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I have no good reason for having the Blues, nothing is particularly depressing about my life or situation, but I find it harder to find motivation every day, I no longer enjoy many things I did a few months ago, and it is increasingly hard to find an appetite.

To beat the Blues back, I have begun tanning at a facility near my apartment. I have been three times so far, and I feel like there has been a positive improvement, though not quantifiable. I am unfortunately an explorer and not a scientist, so I have no good record, no control for my experiment, and no idea how to measure happiness. If I had to chose one, though, my happiness would be measured by how much I get done in one day, versus how much time I spend in escapist activities or fugues.

To this end I employ a bastardized GTD method using a Moleskine notebook, and I write down everything I plan on doing on a day-to-day basis. The list is divided into five sections: Daily Tasks, Unique Tasks, Calls, Shopping list, and Meal plan. At the end of every day, I carry over what tasks I did not complete to the next day. I take one or two projects out of my mGTD software when I need something to do and work through them. It is very easy for me to come up with new things to do, but if I focus on what I have on hand I can sort of trim the to-do-list-bloat issue in the nub.

I find it much easier to keep a consistent mood and avoid major swings, as well as avoid the low-blood-sugar induced Stupidity that is the cause of most of my major mistakes in judgement, by eating more often in a day. I try to have a small meal every two hours I am awake, whether or not I am hungry. I try to begin with eating something  within the first half an hour of waking up--usually yogurt for its  microbial  digestive assistance. By planning out a whole day of meals, I know what to pack, I know what I have left, and I do not have to make a snap decision and get fast food because I got too busy to eat. The small meals and snacks more frequently helps with completing tasks, because now I pack all of my food prep into specific times instead of having to prepare each time I get hungry. The crock pot is a big assistance with this type of eating--one batch will last for several days and three or four dishes prepared in it is enough for a whole week of basic meals.

I have been doing Yoga for the past few months, every other day, though only today was I actually able to complete the full beginner's program in my book. It was very hard to get into doing Yoga again after many years, but between the back-stretching and hour of heavy, even breathing makes me feel tingly and warm all the way to my soul. I am a long way from finding enlightenment through it, but for an hour of work I can get a pretty decent buzz on.

08 - Everlast - Blues For X'mas

Everlast

I listen to Blues Music more. One of the first signs I should pay attention to when gauging my mood is by how much Classic Rock I have in my playlists. Classic Rock is the stuff I grew up on--in the rural country of my origin, most radio played only Pop Country which I hate, and my only alternative for many years was a single Classic Rock station. A lot of the Classic Rock I like is because of its Blues influence. Switching to strictly Blues is very comforting. I am still exploring why this is true.

Do you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder?
What do you do to beat the Blues?

The blues I have, I have for no good reason. Everything in my life is going much better than could have hoped for six months ago. Yet a melancholy has settled into my cockles and forces idle sighs across my winter-dry lips. I feel less motivated to do anything than I have in a long time. To overcome this I am going tanning tomorrow. Last year, I beat off the seasonal blues with copious amounts of sunshine, the greatest advantage of my exile in the desert. Two hours a day walking through the manmade oasis at the heart of Scottsdale did wonders for my general mood. Ironically, the place for which D33 and I have coupons is called Desert Sun, though I can only hope that their artificial light can compare to the omnipresent life-giver that graces the valley named after it. 

Grandfather Thompson has made something of a recovery and is back at his assisted-living facility, Summerford Place. He is still showing some minor symptoms, but is not in any immediate danger. This is just about the worst possible outcome in my opinion, since he hasn't regained any sense of who he is or where he lives at all. Sometimes he thinks he's a little kid again, but most of the time he is unable to express any thoughts or feelings at all, save for occasional bursts of really pathetic weeping.
There is no worse way to die than Alzheimer's Syndrome.

I Believe I'll Go Back Home

John Lee Hooker

Audio: Share something extremely rare that deserves to be heard. 
Submitted by deusdiabolus.

Silent since October. Extremely introverted. Fogot this was worth while.

Took a great set of photos the other day. Here's one:

Zen Oasis