Questions: Bipolar Version 2

Last movie I watched Duel
Q Whats the last movie you saw in a theater?

Lion but in a theatre was the last Star Wars instalment. Was really good.

Q. Last concert you went to?
(Me, Guns n Roses approx 1990/91..but have tickets to Blue Rodeo next month

I saw Paul McCartney in concert LAST NIGHT!! So much fun!

Do you follow any holiday traditions? (any holiday)

every christmas eve, I always watch the muppet's christmas carol.

1 of the channels over here always showed it at around 7 PM on christmas eve, so that's how it started

a few years ago I decided to buy my own copy of it, so now have the dvd for myself- still watch it every year to this day.

also I need to watch christmas bunny and mistletoe over manhattan at least once during the holidays.

I own all 3 movies now, so no problems if they are not actually shown on TV.

another tradition I have (also relating to christmas), is have a party dinner on christmas eve, so stuff like garlic bread, pizza, sausage rolls, chips.. that sort of thing

and 3 christmas dinners
I have 1 on the 25th, 1 on the 26th and 1 on the first



I don't live near my family anymore, or the home where my nan is staying, but the tradition just stuck. it means a lot to me.

sticking to christmas,

question: what does christmas mean to you personally?

Sweet!!!

Memories of my late grandmother.

Do you make New Year's resolutions?

I do sometimes.

Do you have your own LPs you listen to?

I have all my LP's still but don't have a record player at the moment. Could never part with them.

Q. Have you kept ALL your concert ticket stubs?

none to keep since i've never been to a concert.

sometimes though I ask people to keep the stubs from tickets to places they've been and I can collect them.

question:

is their anything you really want to do, but just have not yet had the oppotunity for 1 reason or another?

Travel. I have so many places I'd love to see and no money to see them.

What do you find soothing when agitated?

Hot (super hot) shower, walking, going on PC and if all else fails I'll take immovane.

Q. Do you fear death?

No. But I worked with dying people for most of my career so I had a lot of chances to see how peaceful it is.

Do you use adult coloring books?

Yes. Tho I haven't coloured in a while.

Q. Are you artistic? How?

i've never liked art.

writing,. maybe. but never art

the most exciting thing I ever did when it comes to art was make some shapes in to some railway type thing, which soon got destroyed when I tried running a model train over it, lol.

question: for those that fear death, what do you fear most about it?

I am an atheist; I fear the end. I want to keep being.

For those that don't fear death (for other than religious reasons), why not?

For those that don't fear death (for other than religious reasons), why not?

I wouldn't say that I really fear death. Being scared of it is not going to prevent the inevitable end from coming anyway, so what's the point of worrying about it when you have no control over it. Plus, without modern medicine I would have been dead 28 years ago, so all of this for me is just gravy.
But I do fear missing out on things I still haven't had a chance to do or see or experience, having regrets, before my time is up. And I am afraid of the fact that I won't be able to be there to help those that I leave behind.


What is the one thing that you wish family and friends who don't suffer from a mood disorder would most understand about having one?

that we don't do it to be awkward, we don't do it to make life hard, we don't do it because we want too, none of us asked for it, and we do it because it's part of the illness.

how long has your longest depression episode lasted for?

My initial response would be that my longest depression was my first depressive episode and that it lasted 3 straight years. Because that is how I remember it. But looking back that wasn't the reality as I have evidence that I did in fact have some normal and up times in between. But all my mind remembers is depression- it had always been there and always would be. Time and memory gets a bit blurred. So I don't really know. I don't have enough insight when in it to know when it started or stopped.

Do most people know about your diagnosis, or do you try to hide it from all but your closest friends and family?

my family know (as you all know), and that's why they kicked me out.

as for everyone else, well, I think it just depends on how much I trust someone, or if I feel safe with someone.

I have been asked by several people if I am, and in those cases I do tell them yes, I am.

sometimes if i'm with someone and something happens to make people suspicious about it, I will say yes.. I'm bipolar.

the other time I might mention it is if it's impacting something we're doing

like someone wants to do something, but i'm in a low depressed mood, i'll say something like.. well, I would, but this dam bipolar is making it hard.

i'm quite open really (a complete reverse from how I was when I was first diagnosed). if i'm asked, yeah, i'll talk about it

if something happens, yeah, i'll talk about it.

how important to you is self care?

Important but not always in the ways others define it. I think it is different for everyone.

How many times have you been IP in the last 10 years?

Around 25 times.

What is your favourite animal?

Cats, in particular my 2 kittens, Abby and Charlie. At the zoo elephants or penguins. And I always love to pet stingrays. I can't pick one I guess.

Do you trust yourself to know where you are on the cycling scale?

Nope. I don't see it until a good day into it.

How long was it before you accepted that your bipolar is real?

I was the one who realized I was bipolar first. So about a week after I stumbled onto a website where I realized they were writing about ME.

What is the best part of being IP?

i'd say knowing that you can be yourself without judgement, and knowing if anything happened to you, you'd be safe.

it's really important to me, both those things, as sadly I don't have the support I need or the coping methods I need, so it is a bit of a break from faking it all (which is good)

also the funny stories you can tell from being their. you can have a right laugh if you meet the right people during your stay

question: do you ever feel sorry for yourself?