Mood swings -- Up, up, up

2004 has been a very long year.

Things really became difficult in the fall of 2003, but the difficulties continued into 2004. There were definitely high points, but the lows far outnumbered the highs. I thought I did my best, but in the early spring I knew I needed some help.

My boss would say "better living through chemistry." Being the obsessive (my colleagues at work use anal retentive) person that I am, I wondered if I could figure out where that came from. I found a DuPont add from 1935 with the slogan "Better things for better living through chemistry," but I didn't think that was his source. I found two other sources, an album in 1997 by Fatboy Slim called "Better Living Through Chemistry," and a song on a 1998 album by Queens of the Stone Age with the same name. What I decided was that the catch phrase came first, the music came after. If anyone knows better, let me know.

Anyone, that's what I decided I needed -- a chemical jolt. It took a while, and sesveral adjustments to get the right combinations, but in the last three weeks, despite major issues at home, I realized I feel good much of the time. I am getting work done and I am sleeping better (most of the time). Perhaps my work didn't really slack off as much as I thought it did, but I feel good about things now, in a way I haven't felt for months.

Now, if I could only bring the rest of my family to the same spot. My son seems bent on sabotaging his last year in high school in the same fashion that he did the last three, by not handing in homework, and my husband has been in a blue funk (with reason) over work for the last six months or so. Do you suppose my good mood can rub off? Bad moods certainly can....