Time Out

As a kid, time-out was a punishment. Now it's desperately needed.

So, when I'm around people too much, it really starts to wear on me. The more people around, the faster it wears. I've never been good at dealing with stressful situations. Working retail is a nightmare. Especially when I'd get one of those super cranky people who took out their mistake on me. But the thing that irks me most: rush hour traffic.

Ok, so I went into the city today to see some friends. It takes me about 20 minutes to get there and about the same to get back. Well, today I managed to hit the 5 o'clock rush and let's just say my car horn got a workout. If there's one thing in the world I absolutely have zero tolerance for, it's self-centered people. You know the type. Maybe you are the type. Who knows? Anyhow, the ones who go straight through the turn lane just so they don't have to wait in line. The ones who block the intersection because they were too wrapped up in themselves to stop where they should have. And my personal favourite: the ones who just about take you out because, "two feet between you is enough for me to fit, right?"

The absolute worst part of all this: I come home and take it out on the nearest person. But today, I set a milestone. I left and went to hide in my sanctuary (and whine to you lovely readers).

Oh! Oh! OH!!! I forgot to mention what I learnt! I went to the library and found the DSM-IV (that's a 4, not just the letters i and v) and looked up Bipolar Disorder. I found all the qualifications for the different types and states and found out that everything I've been told and believed was wrong! I've never been in a hypomanic state. I get full-blown mania! Yay for self-education! I encourage every one of you to find a DSM either IV or V. It has diagnostic tools for everything from minor depressive episodes to schizophrenia to personality disorders. It's everything. It's used by psychology students and psychology Ph.D.

Traffic sucks. Nick Santino makes it better.