NOW THAT'S JUST STUPID

There's an article in today's NY Times about a mother who read her nanny's blog.

Basically what happened was that one day the nanny happened to mention to Mom that she had a blog. Nanny gave Mom the address, & eventually Mom started reading it.

Turns out the blog was filled with stuff that you probably wouldn't want your employer to see. Drinking, fucking, all-night parties--hardly the image one would want to have of the young lady taking care of your children during the day.

It gets better--turns out the nanny was also blogging on her laptop IN MOM'S HOUSE while the children were napping. She also posted a very detailed entry about an argument between Mom & Dad.

Needless to say, the nanny was fired. If you're going to blog, folks, you've got every right to bitch about your employer. But why on earth would you tell your employer you've got a blog if you're going to use it to bitch about them?? And why would you be dumb enough to blog when you're supposed to be working and you can get caught??? And why would you post things about your sex life knowing that your employer might see them?

As I said, I have bitched about employers in this space. I'd probably be bitching about my sex life here too if I actually had one. BUT--I have NEVER blogged from a work site, I have never named actual employers in this blog (always pseudonyms such as Prestigious Institution or just given general descriptions such as "tax firm"). I write this blog under an assumed name (10 bonus points to anyone out there who can guess the reference). AND--I haven't told anyone in my life about this blog. Well, there is the exception of the webmistress of the column I used to write, but I doubt she's actively reading it. And she's in another country, so what could she do to me? :)

Speaking of my lack of a sex life, I'm going to see the Cute Guy tonight. In the same space where I sobbed on his shoulder for 20 minutes after being fired from Prestigious Institution. I'm not crazy enough to think he'll want to chat with me for a long time. (I AM crazy, I'm just not that crazy. :) ) But I'm still going to wear something nice--a stretchy low-cut shirt, black shorts, and sandals that show off my pretty pink toenail polish. I even worked out a little bit this week in anticipation of seeing him again after 2 months. I lost 1 pound. Woo hoo.

And speaking of stupid, I had a visit with my ex-psychiatrist yesterday. I didn't want to see him. The only reason I contacted him was because I had a coupon in the mail for Ambien & I wanted him to write me a prescription for 2 pills (all I can afford without insurance) and leave it with his secretary. He's done that for me sometimes. That way he doesn't have to waste time seeing me, and he knows I'm responsible with meds. But he insisted on seeing me.

I hate the way he jacks me around. When I make it clear that I don't need to waste his time, he insists on seeing me. But when I'm not well and I need him, he can't be bothered. What a jackass. As I may have said before, he's like a bad boyfriend. He treats me badly, and if I had any common sense I'd walk away from him and never look back, but I put up with him because I don't have anyone else at the moment.

Anyone out there wanna lend me $1500 for COBRA so I can go back to my current pdoc?
- posted by Pat @ 11:08 AM | 0 comments

 
TOMMY, CAN YOU HEAR ME?

Tom Cruise....God, what a brainwashed jackass. (For anyone living in a cave who DOESN'T know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to his Today show interview where he basically told Matt Lauer that psychiatry was a joke, mental health drugs are dangerous, "there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance", and that anyone with a mental illness can fix themselves with exercise and vitamins.)

Although I may have to concede one point to the man. When he said that "psychiatry is a pseudo-science", he may have been right, depending on what he meant by that. (Although did anybody notice that right before he said that, he made a derogatory remark about psychology? Hey Tom--psychiatry and psychology are NOT the same thing! Guess you didn't study the history as well as you think you did.)

Anyway, if by his pseudo-comment he meant that mental illness is a crock of shit, then I'm sorry, but HE's the one who's full of shit. On the other hand, here we are in the 21st century and we still don't know definitively what causes mental illness.

As for mental health drugs being dangerous, here's a newsflash for you Tommy: ALL drugs are potentially dangerous, depending on how you use them. Abuses of aspirin and other NSAIDs (ibuprofen, Aleve, etc.) can cause stomach bleeding. Abuse of Tylenol can cause liver damage. However, all of these drugs are safe and helpful when taken correctly. Think about that the next time you (or Katie) have a headache.

As for there being no such thing as a chemical imbalance--criminy, this comment is just too stupid for words. Your brain (yes, even your little pea-sized dickbrain) is loaded with chemicals--gaba, glutamate, serotonin, and dopamine, to name a few. Sometimes our brains make too much of one or more of these chemicals. Sometimes they don't make enough. And sometimes they make the right amount, but the chemicals don't get where they're supposed to go. When one or more of these things go on, we call it an IMBALANCE. See? It's not that hard to figure out.

Exercise & vitamins being a cure-all, huh? Don't make me laugh. It is true that exercise and good eating are part of maintaining one's health. And it is true that these things can alleviate some minor forms of mental illness, such as mild depression and anxiety. But when one has the kind of imbalance I've described above, all the exercise & vitamins in the world won't fix it.

I'd love to know what your buddy Rosie O'Donnell thinks of you now that you've inserted your foot into your pretty mouth. And while I'm name-dropping, maybe you can bulldoze Matt Lauer with your "knowledge" of psychiatry & mental illness, but I doubt you could do the same thing to Mike Wallace. He's battled clinical depression too.

I have no neat and tidy ending to my rant, but I had to get this off my chest.
- posted by Pat @ 3:29 PM | 0 comments