Moving Mayhem Mixed With Hospital Hilarity.

I'm mega sorry for my noticeable absence in the world of blogging.  Oh, you hadn't noticed?  Oops.

Seriously, I've been overwhelmed by the background concern I've received.  I've been absolutely terrible at responding.  I have been crap at replying to emails.  Please forgive me!  I feel awful about my lack of interaction.  It looks like it's going to be about another week of uncertainty and chaos in my personal life.

The past three months have been a most stressful time in my weird and wacky world.  Complications compounding crazy confusion.  My son was supposed to move into his new place on August 18.  Then the folks who were supposed to move needed more time.  My son's moving date was then supposed to be September 19.  Then, evidently, he's supposed to move into his new home on September 26.

In the meantime, he continues to stay with my ex wife.  If I was of a childish disposition, I might say this was revenge time on her.  Nah, I would never think that. Ha ha and HA!

While he continues to stay with her, he needs a ride to work.  No buses at the time of the morning he has to go to work.  Thus, Mr. Bleary Eyes gets up at 4:30 A.M. to get him to work.  Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar accompanies us.  Soon, she should be living with my son, Tristan.

During this insane time, I had to go to the hospital for a procedure last Thursday that wasn't exactly my idea of a fun time.  Because I wasn't going to be in any condition to drive home after the procedure, my dear friends, Julie and Philip, took me to the hospital and back.  This was the first time I've not gone to the hospital by myself.  I was grateful for the company.

My appointment was for 9:30 A.M.  Upon checking in I told Julie and Philip that I was going to go use the toilet.  I jokingly stated that a nurse would probably ask for me while I was in the toilet.  Wouldn't you know it, upon my return, there was a nurse patiently waiting for me.  It was still another five minutes to my procedure.  I told her that the procedure was for Philip....

The nurse briefed me about the procedure.  Yes, a procedure where the stick a flexible tube down my flexible tube.  "Stan will be looking over proceedings", said the lady nurse.  "Stan's a good laugh!", she continued.  "Great!  I could use a good laugh!", I responded.

I was then sent to a changing room to put on a couple of robes.  "Please remove all your clothes and put on the robes", said another lady nurse.  "You can keep on your socks and trainers", she continued.

I sat there in a comfy chair and waited for about ten minutes.  "Do the blue robes suit me?", I asked the nurse.  She laughed.

Stan the man came over and led me into the room where they would stick a tube in my tube and have a look round with a telescopic camera.  Stan left the room.  I was now alone with three female nurses and a female doctor.  The very friendly, very young, very good looking female doctor explained further about the procedure.  She noted that I'd had a prostate biopsy.  Her notes didn't have the actual date and she asked me if I could recall when I had the biopsy.  Without hesitation, I told her that it was Valentine's Day, 2013. A Valentine's Day I would never forget.  I fondly recall the single prickly rose they stuck up my butt.  No, I made that part up.

Time to go on the bed and open the front of my robe.  All I could think of was that I was going to be lying on a bed with my dignity exposed.

"Pardon me while I have an out of body experience!", I stated to the four ladies.  However, I couldn't resist looking at the screen as the doctor wiggled the tube around.  "I'm just going a bit further and circle back around", she explained.  "What the f**k!  How long is that tube?", I thought to myself.  I mean the tube in my tube, in case you were wondering.  Five minutes later it was all over.

I have been give new medication to see if it helps my waterworks.  The procedure indicated that my insides are pretty well okay.

I got back in Julie and Philip's car and I realised that I must have been medicated. I was wondering why we were driving on the wrong side of the road....Then I remembered I'm in England.

This was quickly typed post.  It's a very long post by my standards.  I wouldn't blame you if you skipped down to here and just read this part.  I just want to let you know that I'm very lucky, very blessed to be living in my new home.  Hopefully, in about a week, I can actually start to savour my new home and get on with my new life.  Heck, I haven't even had time to have empty nest syndrome.

You will note that comments are switched off.  Somehow, I going to try and do a bit of catching up with your blogs.  Yep, you've heard that from me before.  Thank you for being here.  It means more than you will ever know.

Time For Some Links, Me Thinks.

Once again, I'm not going to be so presumptuous as to figure I should apologise for not posting for a few days.  I get a chuckle out of those who apologise.  I shall apologise for actually doing a posting.  How about that.

Let's make this an informative posting.  Have a few links and ask a few questions at the end.  That should work.

My dear friend, Delores, has moved her main blog site to the following location.  So those who wondered where Delores is, here she is : Under The Porch Light  It would be very nice, if you weren't aware of her main blog, to go and pay her a visit.  Thank you.

My dear friend, Heather, after a time on focusing on furthering her career prospects, after going through a traumatic time the previous year, has told me she's going to start blogging again.  I promised that I would provide a link to her site.  Here it is and fulfilling, therapeutic writing, Heather : Soundoff

My intellectual buddy, David, who has little recognition, is a most articulate writer and brings up important issues in regards to mental health.  I do hope you check David out, who can be discovered here : A Day in the Life

Announcing the return of Barry aka "bazza".  After a bit of a time out, Barry has returned with his own unique, informative style.  You can find bazza, here : To Discover Ice

For beautiful art work, you can visit Suzanne Bean's site, which is a written and visual delight, here : Art by Suzanne Bean

For some more incredible art work and thoughtful words, please check out Joanne Rose, who can be found here : joanne rose

I now have a new blogging buddy.  Because my new blogging buddy has a wiggly icon, I reckon he deserves a mention.  Can't beat a wiggly icon.   DAVID WALSTON can be seen here at this site : Blah Blah Blah Yackity Smackity.  You can tell him Dr. Who sent you.

Our good friend, Jeffrey, as you might well know, has been going through a very sad, reflective time, with much dignity and wisdom.  I know the blogging community has been reaching their hearts out to Jeffrey.  If you haven't checked out his latest posting, you can read it here : Strands of Pattern

On Sunday, October 20, you may have realised that it was our remarkable young buddy, Lenny's birthday. The delightful Hilary did a detailed post about him.  If you haven't read Hilary's posting about Lenny, I hope that you do. Hilary's blog is located here : Positive Letters....inspirational stories....

Then there's Pat in the Hatt and his rhyming cat.  Seems to me that Pat, the cat, rhyme all the time and that's not a crime.  If you've never read such poetry, go and see, what those two, do at their zoo.  Here you be, the link from me :  It's Rhyme Time

Any questions from you to me?
Let me see

Going Under The Porch Light
To your delight

Checking out Soundoff
Your hat you shall doff

A Day in the Life
His site to arrive

To Discover Ice
Isn't that nice

Art by Suzanne Bean
Know what I mean

joanne rose
Art and prose

Blah Blah Blah Yackity Smackity
Yackity yack, don't look back

Strands of Pattern
And a glowing lantern

Positive Letters....inspirational stories....
Tales to please....to put you at ease

It's Rhyme Time
Well, ring my chime

Missed anything?  Right then, you can always visit the ninja dude aka : Alex J. Cavanaugh

To You, My Friend In The Great Blogging Community.

I put up the above photo to enhance the inspiration that fills every fibre of my being.   The golden glow of the setting sun.  The birds of freedom, symbolic of the new life that beckoned me.  Beckoned me to fly, to fly far above the dark and dreary clouds of  doubt and disillusionment.  

The photo above is symbolic of the gratitude I have for you, my friend in the great blogging community.  My last post and the replies you graced me with, are testimony of the powerful magic that we all can share.  We truly are all in this together.  Here for each other and helping each other to make this world a more caring, more compassionate, more understanding place.  This is the positive power that surges through the souls of all of us.

Yes, I am transparent and through such transparency, lies the hope, the dream, the desire, to be as supportive as I can to you.   We both know that through discussion, through better awareness of mental health issues, that the stigma, the stereotypes, the misconceptions, can finally be laid to rest.  We have a long journey ahead. Yet I have witnessed, over the past five years, more and more people reaching out and understanding that there need be no shame in being mentally ill.  Mental health concerns impacts us all.   For the ripple effects spread far and wide.   And that is why we must be here for each other.

I want to thank Delores over at, thefeatherednest, for having that virtual blog party as a celebration of my fifth year blogging anniversary.  It was a kind and touching gesture by Delores.  I am grateful that she also did a follow up post that pointed out various links to mental health resources.   It was a great virtual party with great virtual friends.  Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet star, my son and myself were pleased to see so many folks and creatures attend.   We feel blessed by such an open display of kindness at the virtual party.  I remember afterwards having virtual jet lag.

And during some trying times, when I could barely string a sentence together, two dear friends honoured me by submitting a guest posting.   And thus, I wish to thank David, over at, A Day in the Life , a good friend and another champion of seeing the unfair stigma that still surrounds mental health issues, eradicated.   I wish to show my appreciation to Kim, over at,  CindyLu'sMuse , a dear lady with a noble and caring passion to see the precious creatures of our planet treated with the love and respect they truly deserve.   Indeed, Kim a lady who shares with me the gift that is empathy.

Through the wind chimes, ring outs nature's symphonic chorus of peace.  We are all a part of a special orchestra.  The birds of freedom tell us all to fly above the dark and dreary clouds of doubt and disillusionment.  A positive environment starts from within.   From there, we spread the music to all who will listen to the wind chimes. 

Depression Is A Thief.

Depression is a thief.  Robs the colours from the rainbow.  The dreams, the hopes, the beautiful colours, I so embrace, had faded to a teasing, taunting background blur.  Faded to murky shades of black, of grey, of white.   

No, not again.  Please, not again.  And I lay in bed.  Watched the shadows dance upon the wall as the cool autumn breeze drifted in through open window.  And I lay in bed.  Hardly noting the tears streaming down my cheeks.  It had all become too much as I lay there and thought of my sleeping son.

Depression is a thief.  It robs you of the joy of the simple things in life.  Blocks out the sounds of the singing birds playing gently on the branches of winter trees.  Depression is a thief.  Steals the wonder from your heart and suffocates with impending doom.  

And yet, despite it all, I have received gifts of caring, compassion and hope. You have reached out to me and your kindness is clear, profound demonstration that we can all be here for each other.  Thanks to you and thanks to my determination to cling on to those delicate strands of positivity that linger in the back of my mind, the colour is beginning to return.  It's a little bit blurry, a little bit hazy, but the uplifting colours of optimism have started to immerse my being.  I even heard the sweet sounds of winter birds playing gently on the branches of winter trees.

And thus, thanks to David at,  A Day in the Life  and Kim and CindyLu, over at, CindyLu'sMuse,  for doing guest postings while I have been trying to work through this bout of depression.  I am heartened and encouraged by such genuine and inspirational concern.  I thank each and every one of you for reaching out to me.  For thanks to you and your warm wishes, the thief has been apprehended.

Reaching Out To You.

The ethos, the ideals of my blog, have and always will be my attempt to demonstrate that my mental health issues are only a small part of who I am.  I endeavour to be of support and encouragement to those who may be experiencing feelings of great isolation as they battle with the turmoil of mental health concerns.   Yes, I am mentally ill, yet I am not ashamed of who I am.   

I endeavour to display realistic positive anticipation in my daily life.   For the impact of negative speculation plays on the mind, destroys the uplifting energy I so desire.  I'm battling here.  I cannot focus.  I cannot eat.  I hardly sleep and sleep has been the only freedom that I know.  And when I do catch those moments of precious sleep; instead of waking up with an air of optimism, I wake up to wave upon wave of panicky thoughts, drowning what's left of my fragile ego.  

I'm gasping for breath as I write this.  The fragments of my positive energy punched, kicked and suffocated by an unrelenting negative force.  One of my few remaining passions, the passion to write, something I hold so dear, is garbled and sporadic.   

And what has triggered this negative energy?  The sadness in the eyes of my son.   Sadness caused by the desperation of not having work and being able to move on with his life.  His sadness, a grim reminder of the torment I endured all those years ago.  I see his pain and I relive my own personal nightmare.  Somehow I must regain my inner strength.  The love for my son depends on this.  

And thus, my dear 'electric friend', my 'electronic tonic', this very frightened and lonely man is not going to post for the next little while.   Instead, I'm going to do what the ethos of this blog set out to do.  To encourage and support others.  I will be as proactive on as many of your blogs as my exhausted mind will allow.  I embrace the true spirit of the caring and sharing blogging community.   Indeed, all different, all equal.   

I thank you for your time and your understanding.   And now, I'm reaching out to you.....

Guess Who's Coming To Breakfast?

Oh my, I haven't put up an article for a few days.  I'm sure you've been anxiously waiting for my next deeply profound and poignant posting.  So here you go, and much to your relief, is my latest attempt at articulation.
I've been multi-tasking.  You read correctly.  Here's some overwhelming proof.  Not only can I think about sex every seven seconds, but I can type this and drink a cup of coffee, all at the same time.  And yes, this dude can read a map.  You remember maps?   Clever me even knows what 'maps' spelt backwards, is.
I want to thank you for reading my postings.  The blogging community has been a lifeline in my ongoing quest to work through my mental health issues.  Blogging, and those involved, has proven to be a most positive resource.  For this, I'm deeply grateful.
I've been blogging since February 21st, 2007.  Yes, I know, I really should get some sleep.  It all started out when I got my blog set up with an Organisation named 'Media Action Group for Mental Health', (MAGMH).  I was involved in a blogging 'library', within MAGMH, named 'Mind Bloggling'.
The concept of Mind Bloggling was to have a group of bloggers (the blogging library), each with varying degrees of mental health concerns, demonstrate, that our mental health issues, were only a small part of who we are.  I was honoured in representing the noble concept of Mind Bloggling on the B.B.C.'s Radio 5 Live.   Sadly, the Mind Bloggling library, lost momentum and folded.  Only two of us remain and continue to utilise the therapeutic benefits of blogging, on a consistent basis.  The other blogger, and a good friend, continues to provide us with his intelligent and thoughtful blogs, over at this site,  A Day in the Life.
Writing is a passion.  My writing tries to convey an intimate, one to one style.  I visualise just the one person reading and never think that I'm writing to an 'audience'.
So thanks 'everybody', whoops, thank you, for flattering me by reading my postings.  I shall endeavour to remain proactive by supporting and encouraging you.  We are different, yet we are equal.  Each finding inspiration through the power, the magic, the beauty of the written word.

Now then, you may have been wondering what the heck the title of this posting had to do with what I'd written.  Well nothing.  However, I went into my kitchen and look what I saw.  I've got a hunch that the 'wee folks' may be considering giving me exclusive permission to do a Christmas special about the inspirational and non-judgemental world they live in.   If you have never read about the wee folks before and have a bit of time; clicking on the label 'wee folks', will take you to their stories, from the very beginning.