What's Happening In Your Life?

[DJ]

It's 10 below zero here and still snowing. Yesterday it was 41 and sunny.
Rocky Mtn. weather can change soooo quickly.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Austin, don't be afraid to take 'baby steps', and don't expect amazing results the first or second time you try. Build your confidence up a step at a time, and if a step doesn't go well, just sit back and give it some thought. Think about what you could have done better, but also think about how much of it may be someone else's problem!

DJ, please keep your weather wherever you are and don't push it towards Kentucky!! I finally made it back from PA, and very happy to report that it's after midnight and still 58 degrees outside!

[tjh532]

It's 10 below zero here and still snowing. Yesterday it was 41 and sunny.
Rocky Mtn. weather can change soooo quickly.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

I miss the mountains DJ, but not that winter weather. We get it here in Southern Idaho, but not nearly as bad! Keep it up there with you please!

Austin, hang in there. If your 'real life' personality is even half as great as your online personality, then you would be a great friend to have! I know it's easy to stay in our cyberspace world, but we are meant to live in the real world, as you said. Have faith that you will meet and create a circle of friends that will create a support system for you. After my divorce and relocation, I had to start all over and make new friends. It was slow going, but eventually I got there, and you will too it's not easy, especially dealing with depression, but you can do it! Put yourself out there and go for it. We are all in your corner rooting for you!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

It's 6am and I'm now wide awake!! I can't believe what all happened in the last few hours. I got home from PA just after midnight, and like I do every time, I called my mother to let her know I got home OK. Until I came down from the caffeine high, it was after 2am before I went to bed and fell asleep.

Somewhere around 2:30, my mother woke up and didn't remember our conversation (we talked for a minute and eighteen seconds). She tried to call me, and I have no home phone, just the cell phone. It was charging here in the living room, but I have it connected to regular phones via Bluetooth. Three of them. I never heard them ring. Since I didn't answer, she called my stepmother and father who also called me. Then, get this...she called the local police, who also called me, then claimed they came to my apartment and knocked on my door, and told her they didn't see a black F150 King Cab in the parking lot (it's right at the bottom of the stairs). So then...she called the Kentucky State Police, who told her they couldn't really help her without a license plate number. She also called the police near Columbus, OH, since I checked in on Facebook at a Starbucks there earlier in the evening. She also called my brother, and then my nephew. All these people called me, but I never heard the phones ringing. I sleep with a machine that makes white noise to drown out all the noise the neighbors make (and all in my family know this), and I keep the volume on the ringers down so the neighbors don't hear my phone. It's always awakened me in the past, but not the ten phone calls I got between 2:30 and 5:30 this morning.

I am so angry right now I could scream! I can appreciate her worry, but I really wish she'd stop sitting around thinking of ways that I could die unless she somehow manages to intervene. In her mind, her actions are completely justifiable, although she is sorry she has no recollection of our conversation. I got the impression, since she tried to go through the Caller IDs on her phone after I told her I did call, that she doesn't believe that I really called her. I repeated the entire conversation back to her, and she says "I remember that now."

[bluefeather]

unbelievable VA!

[WalshFan88]

OMG VA! That would definitely stress me out too. Sorry to hear that.

And thanks for the advice and kind words VA and TJH. I agree baby steps for sure and I'm going to try to just start with small places and work my way up.

TJH - My real life personality is different from my online persona in that I'm not as opinionated or as outspoken about things, don't share much, and I tend to be a wallflower. I've been taken advantage of before, so I'm trying to get better about that. I also share very little about myself and my feelings with others in real life than I do online. I know I have that backwards, but it's easier for me to talk about my life with words on a screen than share my feelings in person. I'm probably a bit more happy-go-lucky as far as talking with others online. It's easy for me to shoot the breeze and small talk online. I'm not a great conversationalist in real life. I listen but rarely know what to talk about and am not a talker. Totally a polar opposite to the way I am here. I like to think I'm as nice in real life as I try to be online, and I certainly hope to think that I'm as friendly. I'm just not as extroverted or confident as I am behind a keyboard. I'm a bit more of a quiet person until you get to know me, and then more of my online personality of being lighthearted and fun shows up more and I'm able to laugh around others. I have one best friend I've had since school, and he's stuck by me but other than that I have very few real life friends other than bandmates who I communicate with.

[tjh532]

Austin, I totally understand where you are coming from. People are so much more at ease online. It's that face to face interaction that can be scary. What allows some people to be more outgoing online also allows others to be nasty and mean. These boards are by far the nicest and most civil I've seen. I belong to a couple of others ( football and politics - what a combination!) And people say things there they would never say to someone's face. It's a sad commentary on our society for sure!

Hang in there - like you said - baby steps. Keep getting out there and performing with your band, and I know eventually you will feel more at ease. You can do it! It takes a lot of courage just to get onstage and perform. If you can do that, you can do anything!

VA - that is crazy! I'm sure she feels bad about all the commotion she caused. Look at the bright side - if something had happened ( car broke down, accident, etc.) At least you know there will be someone out there looking for you although if the police couldn't see your truck at the bottom of your stairs, I'd be worried about them being able to find you!

[sodascouts]

It's 6am and I'm now wide awake!! I can't believe what all happened in the last few hours. I got home from PA just after midnight, and like I do every time, I called my mother to let her know I got home OK. Until I came down from the caffeine high, it was after 2am before I went to bed and fell asleep.

Somewhere around 2:30, my mother woke up and didn't remember our conversation (we talked for a minute and eighteen seconds). She tried to call me, and I have no home phone, just the cell phone. It was charging here in the living room, but I have it connected to regular phones via Bluetooth. Three of them. I never heard them ring. Since I didn't answer, she called my stepmother and father who also called me. Then, get this...she called the local police, who also called me, then claimed they came to my apartment and knocked on my door, and told her they didn't see a black F150 King Cab in the parking lot (it's right at the bottom of the stairs). So then...she called the Kentucky State Police, who told her they couldn't really help her without a license plate number. She also called the police near Columbus, OH, since I checked in on Facebook at a Starbucks there earlier in the evening. She also called my brother, and then my nephew. All these people called me, but I never heard the phones ringing. I sleep with a machine that makes white noise to drown out all the noise the neighbors make (and all in my family know this), and I keep the volume on the ringers down so the neighbors don't hear my phone. It's always awakened me in the past, but not the ten phone calls I got between 2:30 and 5:30 this morning.

I am so angry right now I could scream! I can appreciate her worry, but I really wish she'd stop sitting around thinking of ways that I could die unless she somehow manages to intervene. In her mind, her actions are completely justifiable, although she is sorry she has no recollection of our conversation. I got the impression, since she tried to go through the Caller IDs on her phone after I told her I did call, that she doesn't believe that I really called her. I repeated the entire conversation back to her, and she says "I remember that now."

WOW. I can understand your frustration; while it's nice that she cares.. that is EXTREME.

While nothing has happened to me that is so extreme, one time I went to South Carolina to see the Eagles at the Hard Rock Park and had something similar happen. I hadn't told my parents that I was going. They called my house phone several times without success. It finally occurred to them to call my cell phone, but I didn't answer it as they called during the Eagles concert. Then, when it was over, it was too late to call them. When they couldn't reach me, they thought I'd had a seizure and hit my head or something and had envisioned me bleeding out on the floor!

They called my friend Emily, who knocked on the door and got no answer, but didn't notice my car wasn't there. They then called my apartment manager to open the door and check on me, but he didn't answer as it was a weekend. Finally, they called the police and asked them to either find the apartment manager or to break down the door themselves, but they didn't as they said they didn't take action until 24 hours had passed. They then called my sisters and their friends to start a prayer chain for me. Indeed, it was my sister who finally reached me as she called late that night. Unlike your situation, I was partially to blame, and so I felt awful even though I think they overreacted!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

What gets me is that right now, she feels really bad and a lot foolish, because I did call and she doesn't remember. She doesn't get that even if I hadn't called, she went entirely too far with it. This is what happens, in my opinion, when you watch too many made-for-TV movies. The imagination is a little too fertile.

Once, about 20 years ago, I was really sick. I had a really bad cough and was running a fever, and was having problems breathing. I know now that the problem was asthma related, but I didn't know that then. When this happens to me, I can't talk without coughing, especially as I usually lose my voice to begin with. She called me, so I was blunt about how sick I was so she'd understand why I didn't want to talk to her or anyone. She hung up and then called a friend of mine who lived twenty miles away, and had her go buy a vaporizer, then bring it to my house. My friend was not happy, and I had a long talk with my mother at that point to not ever do anything like that again, EVER. I never did use the thing, which is just as well, since I know now it was asthma related, I know that using anything that produces humidity is the absolute worst thing to do. I've never been honest with her since then when it comes to how I feel when sick. Thank God she doesn't know the names or phone numbers of any of my friends here in KY, and I'm glad she doesn't have the ability to call up the National Guard.

[tjh532]

I'm glad she doesn't have the ability to call up the National Guard.