Replies

...teetering on the edge of doing something real dumb or self-destructive.....

Nah. I really don't have the energy - nor the inclination - so don't worry.

...signs of impending death...

The major cause of death in males in the US is stress. Only within the past 6 months have I understood this at a personal visceral level. So for the past 2.5 months I have been 'pro-actively relaxing' and catching up on all the sleep I've lost over the past decade - so don't worry.

This is obviously not conducive to productivity / profitability - but then neither is death.

..when you've lost your ability to learn...

Did you know that Bundt Cakes didn't exist until the 1960s?
Learned that yesterday. (I thought Betsy Ross invented 'em)

... when you've lost your sense of adventure...

This coming week I'll replace the radiator - then beeline for the mountains. I've camped / backpacked in the winter before - and nearly froze to death. Ya just need the appropriate clothing (which I have), I REALLY need the break.

...And the final sign is when you've lost your sense of humor....

My dad always used to say: 'There ain't no use in complaining - because half the folks don't care, and the other half figure that you got it coming to you anyway...'

...Revenge....comes of your brain. A calm cool rational and disciplined (but maniacal) brain....

I don't want revenge - I just want to fix my country so that I can live a sane, peaceful, free, happy life. This does not seem possible in the current context. I just want to be left alone to be a productive person - but I am now terrorized by my government.

...we can save the tar and feathering of the SOB's 'til later....

I have heard this for decades - nevertheless, let me know when it's time.

"This coming week I'll replace the radiator - then beeline for the mountains. I've camped / backpacked in the winter before - and nearly froze to death. Ya just need the appropriate clothing (which I have), I REALLY need the break."

That camping trip sounds like a real smart move. I used to take my boys up to the Sierras during winter and XC ski and camp the Muir Trail. We froze our tails off too (-10 sort of stuff), until we wised up about our sleeping bags.

Which mountains?

--Boot Hill

OK, here's my 2 cents:

I'm an entrepreneur, trying to put together a business, here in Canada. You think you've got problems with government BS down there? Try coming up here fer a while! At this point, I can only dream of doing business in the US.

And I'm also on a tight budget now. Sucks? Of course, but when you're an entrepreneur, you "suck it up, princess". Being an entrepreneur means solving problems - endlessly!
If you don't like that part, you get a regular job working for somebody else. But once you get the rush of being on you own, it's hard to give it up.

As another poster on FR said recently, hate only consumes the hater. If you wannna get rid of some of your anger, rant off on some of these threads! Not blind anger, but logical, directed anger - you'll probably find some sympathetic fellow posters, and the whole experience will be therapeutic. (BTW, hate causes a lot of stress, too!)

Good Luck, and keep posting!

XLurk says: "The major cause of death in males in the US is stress."

Might be, but it is ALL, 100%, self-induced. I don't mean you caused the stressful circumstance, I mean that only YOU can permit the a bad circumstance to be internalized as stress. It would seem like the only disease where your mind-set can control whether or not you get it.

Stressful situations and humor:
About 13 years ago my wife and I were on a TACA Airlines 737 flying around Central America. Through ignorance and incompetence the pilot took the plane within one or two seconds of eating the wrong end of a box canyon deep in the Guatemalan jungles. When my wife saw what almost happened she turned to me calmly and said: Wow, we darn near lost our frequent flyer miles there".

Short of loosing a loved one, there is no situation so serious that you can't make it better by finding the light side and laughing at it. Life doesn't get worth living until you look the grim reaper dead in the eye and make a wise crack about who the hell his tailor is.

There is a trick to learning how to do that. Think of some famous deadly event, you know, like the sinking of the Titanic or the crash of the shuttle Challenger. Imagine yourself on board and you turn to the captain and quip....what?...Hey, Captain, you know the last thing that going to go through your mind? A halibut! (drum roll) Now your turn. Try it.

--Boot Hill