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....

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism." ??

Today was Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt's birthday. My Quotes of the Day included this one. I understand what he is talking about -- the concept of the great melting pot. We aren't Irish-Americans, or German-Americans, or Black Americans, or Catholic Americans, or Jewish Americans, we are all Americans, and should think with that mind-set. It is a fairly idealistic vision.

The status quo in the United States is polarization. I can think of good times, and bad, when most Americans stood united, but most of the time, we see ourselves, what is good for us, our families, our neighbors. Our neighborhoods are often enclaves of similar people with like ideals and common interests, and in this time of elections, we frequently vote on single issues. Is this necessarily a bad thing? To focus on what is good for "our" world rather than what is good for the country as a whole? Maybe, but it frequently seems unavoidable.

Teddy Roosevelt believed in the United States as one country, whose citizens are all Americans, no hyphens allowed. I would argue that both extremes are bad. Polarization is divisive, loss of personal identity is de-humanizing. The U.S. needs to find a middle ground. A cohesive group where individuality is applauded and differences are accepted and respected. We need to think less about what will be good for us now, and what will be good for the United States tomorrow and in the future. In that way, we can keep our hyphens, and still be a strong and united country.

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What makes a bad day

I don't usually wake up in a bad mood. Oh sometimes I do -- when I went to bed frustrated or mad -- when I didn't sleep well or I'm under a lot of stress -- when something hurts, my back or my head -- but usually I wake up in a neutral mood or a good mood. It's what happens in the next half hour or the next couple of hours that can make a bad day.

Did the coffee maker not start when it was programmed too? Did you have to buy gas when you are already late? Did you get behind an idiot going 55 in the left lane of the beltway? If you let them get to you, then can put you in a bad mood, and it can stay with you all day, coloring everything else that happens.

All those things are unimportant. Don't take them to work with you, and don't bring them home later. Let them go. They are 2s and you only need to worry about the 10s in your life.

Other things can make a bad day. Running out of money, or wasting it. Getting lost. Running out of time. All three can drive a person to total frustration. Breath deeply. Remember that there are people who love you. Turn it into a funny story to tell your co-workers. Laugh at yourself later. But don't forget, you get better service and kinder responses with honey rather than vinegar,and of course if you have to swear at someone, curse Pierre Charles L'Enfant.