The Green Pill

I did it. I went to the doctor for my winter depression, and now I’m on Prozac. For years I’ve considered getting help for my winter depression. Two years ago, I tried light therapy using GE’s Reveal lightbulbs – it worked for the year, but last year they did nothing for me. So this year I’m using drugs. I’m not sure how I feel about it, though. I’ve resisted over the years because I just don’t like the idea of taking drugs to alter my brain. I have this general feeling that the drugs will “turn me into someone else”. What I haven’t realize, though, is that the depression really does turn me into someone else – someone I don’t like – and perhaps the Prozac can turn me back into the person I like.

I didn’t heed the caution about drowsiness yesterday, and found myself driving on the beltway with an overwhelming urge to close my eyes for just a second. I resisted (or I wouldn’t be here now), and this morning I’m waiting until I’m at work, with breakfast in my stomach, before taking the pill.

It’s only been a couple days, and it’s supposed to take 3-4 weeks for the drug to take full effect, but I’ve already noticed some changes. Yesterday I felt just a bit out of sorts – a bit more talky than normal, and just…um…off (hard to put into words). But, this morning I did not wake up with the weight I’d been feeling the last couple weeks. I did not want to assume the fetal position and cry. Maybe it’s just psychological at this point, but just maybe this little green pill is going to make winter bearable.

Tags: health

Barbium

Tags: dumb fun

In the air

Fall is here. I’ve been feeling it for several weeks now. The morning funk has set in &#150 a heavy weight I have to fight to get out of bed in the morning. It’s not the cold, but the dwindling hours of sunlight. I leave the house before the sun pokes over the horizon, and the sun is already on a rapid decline when I drive home.

I drive to work in a sweatshirt now, and the sandals have been put back in the closet where they will collect dust until Spring. My jeans have replaced my shorts, and the long-sleeved shirts are slowly coming out of retirement. My one joy in the morning is a hot cup of chai.

It’s not all bad though – the blankets have returned to the bed, so the cats have, too. They’ve started snuggling on the couch again.

But it’s not enough to combat the overwhelming feeling of dread that comes with fall. This year, after suffering for the last seven years without much relief, I’m going on medication for my winter depression. Let’s hope I start to find more that’s not so bad about fall….

Tags: health, suckitude

25 Miles. Wow!

We finally got back out on the bikes this weekend after being away for three weeks (travel and Ren Fest got in the way). We tried to get out on the W & OD Trail yesterday, but were hampered by the fact that everyone else in the Universe thought it was the perfect day to get out on the trail, too. We ended up biking close to home, and only did about 5.5 miles.

Today, however, we loaded the bikes on the car and drove up to Andrew’s work in Herndon (this is fast becoming my favorite place to bike from, since there are usually relatively few people on the trail up there). I tried to push myself on our way out, pedalling hard on the down-slopes when we could have just coasted, and trying not to slow down as much on the up-slopes. I was actually tired when we reached the little country shop in Ashburn (8.75 miles from our start point), but wanted to try for our 25-mile goal. After some orange juice and half a candy bar, we decided to push on. We turned around and 12.5 miles almost exactly (though it was hard to tell, because my wheel had been spinning when we drove up to our start point, so there was already ~1.25 miles on my computer when we started the ride).

The quarry pictured on the right was past our furthest one-way trek of 10 miles, so we stopped at the overlook. The silo is actually something we’ve seen on our other trips out of Herndon, and I’d meant to stop for a picture several times, but only managed it this time.

25 miles is really pushing my abilities at this point. I trust that next year it will become routine, but as for today, there were times I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. My thoughts roller-coastered along with the terrain: when we were on an up-slope I was sure we weren’t going to make it, on a down-slope I wondered why I thought 25 miles was so hard. Anyway, my goal has been made. Yay me!

Tags: bike

Banned Book Week Meme

In honor of Banned Books Week, look at ALA’s list of The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 and list the ones that you’ve read.

I suspect that my list won’t be as long as I might like.

4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

Yikes, only 20! I need to read more! In my defense, I have The Witches, Julie of the Wolves, two of Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children Series, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on Mount To-Read.

Which ones have you read?

Tags: dumb fun

JWST

Last week, a full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope was installed outside one of the buildings at work. Yikes! It’s huge! Check out the picture for the scale. The mirror is 6.5 meters in diameter and the sun shield is the size of a tennis court, which might sound big, but I never really understood the scale until I walked around underneath it.

Tags: work

Well, that was exciting

Andrew came home last Friday to hear the hard disk on the computer running our web stuff making a funny chirping noise. That’s never good. You can read about the details on blog: Recovering From a Site Crash and Crawling From the Wreckage. The good news is that it appears that we didn’t lose any data — very good news since we hadn’t actually backed anything up. I have a copy of my main web pages on my other computer, but not of this weblog or Galaxy Girl.

I’ll be catching up over the next few days. Let us know if you notice anything funky, since we certainly haven’t explored all of the nooks and crannies that could have been lost.

Update: Looks like I need to mess around with the comment template…I’ll try to do that tomorrow or Wednesday.

Tags: suckitude

One year!

One year ago yesterday Andrew and I got married under the stars at the Arlington Planetarium. It was the best day of my life so far.

One year ago, this was the writing on the sidewalk outside the Stardust Restaurant where we held our reception:

Last night, this was what greeted me at the Stardust when we went for our anniversary dinner:

Andrew had called ahead and asked the manager to put this out for us. How sweet is that? Just one of the many many reasons that I married him, and one of the many, many reasons that this past year was so wonderful.

I love you, Andrew, and look forward to many more wonderful years with you. <kiss>

So many observatories!

  

  

I went with a group from the conference for a tour of Kitt Peak National Observatory. They gave us scientist-led tours of the Mayall 4-meter telescope, the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope, and the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope. Wow!

Update (9/20): I’ve posted all of my Kitt Peak pictures in my photo album.

Tags: trip report

More desert museum pics

I’ve posted the rest of my pictures from the Desert Museum. They aren’t linked from my photo album yet, but I’ll add a link after I get back home.

Tags: trip report