What's the latest in people's lives?

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I will be so glad when this week is over.

[Mikey]

I will be so glad when this week is over.

You know I feel your pain and then some. I haven't had a day off since the 13th, and won't until Christmas Day.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I will be so glad when this week is over.

You know I feel your pain and then some. I haven't had a day off since the 13th, and won't until Christmas Day.

I'd make a Clinton joke, but it'd ruin the sincerity. *Striker hugs Mikey*

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

To you and yours, may the holidays be grand. Or at least something you can get through.

[Teaos]

Back on ship for a month down east caost of South America and up the West. Should have occasional internet.

Hey, if you have experience on a variety of ships, do you have any thoughts about different ships.

It would be convenient for us to cruise out of Baltimore, but only Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas(2002 with 88,500 Tonnes) and Carnival Pride (1996 with 2012 renovation and with 73,817 Tonnes) sail out of there. There are newer ships that are much larger and seem to have larger numbers of things to do, so my wife is leery of being disappointed on those two ships.

Do you have any thoughts on the relative passenger experiences?

Royal over Carnival every day of the week, small over big unless you like crowds and lines and screaming kids.

No matter how well planned a cruise is the lines on embark and disembark are nightmaresih on larger ships.

[Teaos]

Back on ship for a month down east caost of South America and up the West. Should have occasional internet.

Hey, if you have experience on a variety of ships, do you have any thoughts about different ships.

It would be convenient for us to cruise out of Baltimore, but only Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas(2002 with 88,500 Tonnes) and Carnival Pride (1996 with 2012 renovation and with 73,817 Tonnes) sail out of there. There are newer ships that are much larger and seem to have larger numbers of things to do, so my wife is leery of being disappointed on those two ships.

Do you have any thoughts on the relative passenger experiences?

Royal over Carnival every day of the week, small over big unless you like crowds and lines and screaming kids.

No matter how well planned a cruise is the lines on embark and disembark are nightmaresih on larger ships.

[sunnyside]

Royal over Carnival every day of the week, small over big unless you like crowds and lines and screaming kids.

No matter how well planned a cruise is the lines on embark and disembark are nightmaresih on larger ships.

Good to know, and that does make me feel like sailing out of Baltimore might be viable.

Although Baltimore itself is getting worse.

Myself I've got some inlaws in for Christmas/New Years. I get along with them fine, but I fear my wife is going to explode from the stress.

Actually, how was Christmas for everybody?

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Mine was good, Sunny, thanks.

It snowed today! This is why I bought snow tires.

[Captain Seafort]

It is now 0013 GMT, 1 January 2016. Happy New Year everyone.

[Tinadrin Chelnor]

Happy New Year everyone, and wishing everyone a great 2016.

[Mikey]

Well, since by and large my amigos here are first-class sorts, I believe this is as good a place to start as any with a New Year's catharsis. My absence of about a week and half or so is explained by my inpatient stay at a "behavioral health facility," i.e., a loony bin. After an acute incidence of some loss of control (I did not harm anyone) and a week's stay at said facility, I learned a great deal about myself and about some of my issues as well as means to get better. I was diagnosed with both major depressive disorder and impulse control disorder, and I am combatting both with a combination of behavioral therapy and psychotropic drugs.

BTW, the staff at the facility was phenomenal, but definitely not amused by me asking which nurse was Ratchett, or telling my tallest fellow patient to "Go long, Chief!"

P.S. A happy and healthy new year to one and all, and may you all have new opportunities such as the one I've received.

[Graham Kennedy]

Sorry to hear you are having those troubles Mikey, and very glad to hear that you're getting help. I really hope it works out well for you!

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Thanks for sharing, Mikey, and best wishes. For all my acknowledged issues I've never had a stay in any psych hospital. My particular condition doesn't lend itself to therapy but moderate doses of meds and maturation that comes with time have lent a degree of stability to my daily life. In the last year a low dose of Sertraline (generic Zoloft) has had some good effect against my own moderate but chronic depression (mostly in the way of reducing irritability).

Let's hope your own efforts at talk therapy prove more fruitful than mine.

[Mikey]

Thanks guys. The facility where I was is an acute care facility, so the focus is drug therapy and some behavioral therapy - sertraline and an impulse-control aid called trileptal have been the meds for me so far. I have always somewhat dismissed psychotropic drugs (barring neurotransmitter replacement) as sort of a band-aid type of therapy, but the difference has been marked in both direct assistance and in my ability with the drugs to break down resistance to the behavioral therapy.

[sunnyside]

Well, since by and large my amigos here are first-class sorts, I believe this is as good a place to start as any with a New Year's catharsis. My absence of about a week and half or so is explained by my inpatient stay at a "behavioral health facility," i.e., a loony bin. After an acute incidence of some loss of control (I did not harm anyone) and a week's stay at said facility, I learned a great deal about myself and about some of my issues as well as means to get better. I was diagnosed with both major depressive disorder and impulse control disorder, and I am combatting both with a combination of behavioral therapy and psychotropic drugs.

BTW, the staff at the facility was phenomenal, but definitely not amused by me asking which nurse was Ratchett, or telling my tallest fellow patient to "Go long, Chief!"

P.S. A happy and healthy new year to one and all, and may you all have new opportunities such as the one I've received.

I'm not sure if it's helpful to you, but I note in my Scandinavian ancestry that it was considered a desirable personality trait to go completely bonkers in stressful situations. I mean drooling everywhere, chewing on your shield, and charging into your opponent with little regard for injuries or being on fire nuts.

While murder was still a crime, responding to an insult with lethal violence in the heat of the moment was considered normal, the fault of the person who mouthed off, and generally increased the prestige and access to women of the killer.

It seems entirely reasonable to me that such people would require drugs to work retail, or perhaps even to function in our current western society.