cleolinda | Skip down for the Deathly Hallows trailer (Reply)

snowcoma says her mother made it through surgery all right (which is a relief), but that she will (as expected) be in recovery for several weeks, so keep the good thoughts coming.

2) As a side note/follow-up to the "I can't drive and thus I am ashamed" entry: two things here. One is that Birmingham is a driving town. We don't have much public transport to speak of, and I specifically live in a very secluded, woodsy, sprawling suburb. There's nowhere to walk to. So I don't feel bad that I keep freaking out while trying to drive per se; I feel bad that I have to keep begging for rides. If I lived in Chicago or New York or wherever, I wouldn't care. Two: I hadn't really thought about it, but I don't look at other problems I have in the same (negative, defeated) way. I talk about mental health issues in a very calm, forthright, accepting way usually--and I think the reason I didn't do that this time is because I can't quite bring myself to say that my fear of driving is a legitimate part of the depression and the bipolar-ness and the other issues that I am very open about--because they're health issues to be treated. Maybe because no one's ever made me feel bad about those (I am amazingly fortunate in that regard), and I feel really bad about not being able to drive. I've always felt and/or been made to feel that my fear of driving is just me being a baby or refusing to grow up or be independent or something. I don't know. "How old are you?" And so on. When, in actuality, I tend to panic at speeds any higher than 20 mph, and I'm terrified that, if I lose control of the car due to this panic, I'm going to kill someone. I mean, since I can't explain how this fear is somehow not part of those mental problems or how it's not legitimate, I guess it is. But that's why I took a tone I usually don't, I guess, because I can't bring myself to defend it and acknowledge it the way I do other things. And several people pointed this out. And it occurred to me that--if people say they feel so much better when I talk openly about my depression--does that mean I've just made people who are afraid to drive feel worse by calling myself a neurotic loser? Uh. Didn't think about that. So. Apologies there. I'll try to do better next time.

ETA: For someone who "can't" drive, I have actually driven a lot. And it never gets any better.

3) I specifically held this entry until the new Deathly Hallows trailer went up, so: huzzah! Also: New Deathly Hallows pics. This picture delights me because you can tell EXACTLY who is who, and almost entirely thanks to Daniel Radcliffe's body language and face(s). I say "almost" because the miniskirt helps.

4) Given the privacy issues we've talked about: you're going to want to read this. @griner: Wow, that subtle Facebook "not now" button change has a pretty big side effect.

MOAR LINKSPAM

The .doc File of J. Alfred Prufrock.

Blood Moon live at BPAL.

Maureen Johnson on why everyone can STFU about boys having to read girrrrrrrrls' books. (That... that may not be exactly how she says it.)