poppydawn

She's stealthy, that one. I realized yesterday that, had I been thinking, I might have been able to meet Rosie a few days ago. We stopped in Marion, IL, on our way home from the Nashville show.

That thought occurred to me when I was writing that last post, actually. Remember the scene in "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" where Jeff and Jay are arguing over the transition from "Ashes of American Flags" and "Heavy Metal Drummer"? I know that living those scenarios day in and day out would leave me pretty fucked up.

I read something recently where he talked about how his mood disorders and addiction affected his parenting. So sad, but great that he got help while his kids were still young. My daughter was a huge motivator for me to get help. While I haven't dealt with addiction, I've had to cut people out of my life because of the anxiety and panic. People who are mentally unhealthy tend to attract other mentally unhealthy people. As I started healing, I could see that some of the people in my life weren't supportive, or made it far too easy for me to backslide into my old ways. I hated to do it, but I

Even if I had been wearing The Tent, she wouldn't have seen it because, 1) the balcony railing blocked my lower half when I was standing, 2) I quickly got on my knees so I could hear her better, and 3) the skirt would have fallen off many, many hours earlier.

Kate and Kim, I'm not sure I can be friends with people who would voluntarily go past Mars' Cheese Castle and not pay them a visit. I question your judgment and good taste. Like, you might have some of both, and that might be incompatible with my personality.

I hung out with Elixir Sue and the Dude last weekend, and had a brief, albeit funny, encounter with SarahC. I was hanging over the balcony at the Ryman, checking out the stage, when she happened to run by on the floor. She looked up, yelled my name a few times, and we had a brief conversation. I was stunned that she recognized me! I almost met VenusStopstheTrain2 last week, but weather and my poor planning threw monkey wrenches all over the place.

Will this event include running/biking/and/or swimming to Mars' Cheese Castle? If so, I'm really, really in. (In all seriousness, I think I can probably come up that weekend for moral support and such. I also kick ass at fundraising.)

Maybe we should get our 4-year-olds together and see if we can somehow harness their "spiritedness" for our own benefit. I finished Tom Perrotta's "Little Children" last night, which was excellent. And really? Good fiction for a frustrated parent. Well-written, excellent storytelling, and damn, did I relate to the characters. And now I'm finally dipping into this:

All the editorial talk is giving me a panic attack. It's surprisingly common, but there's still some stigma that keeps a lot of people from talking about it. Anxiety and panic can make one feel crazy and stupid, so it's hard to come forward. There's also the cycle of fear - fear of coming forward about how much fear you feel. Misdiagnosis is really common, too. The physical effects of panic and anxiety mimic so many other conditions. A lot of people wind up in the ER with panic attacks, thinking they're having a heart attack. That happened to me a few years ago, and recently happene

Jeff doesn't post because people would just criticize the writing style he uses in his posts.

My friends have dubbed the book "Beating Your Spirited Child Into Submission". So far I'm getting a lot of the same things from the book that you mentioned, Donna, which is exactly what I've needed. For one thing, I'm seeing a lot of myself as a kid in it and getting some insight into what my parents did right and what they could have done better. If nothing else it's making me more empathetic to what's going through the little hurricane's mind at any given time. I'm too close to the situation, and too much like her, so get the obvious things like that. I need to be hit over the head occ

It's my plain ol' standard user name for everything, which I made up back in 1996 or so. Poppy for my favorite flower; I have two of them tattooed on my left arm and was once given the scenario of how, when I'm old, it will work against me when I'm in a nursing home. Something about orderlies yelling, "Old lady Poppy's pooped herself again!" Dawn is my middle name. My cousin set up my blog right after my daughter was born. I couldn't be bothered to pick a domain name, so she used Poppymom. I wish she'd stuck with the original, but that's okay.

I think this is why I'm in the pro-SBS camp; when compared to their other albums, this one seems to have come from a more mentally healthy person. "Either Way" and "You are My Face" especially. Anyone who's went through the recovery process for panic disorder has lived both of those songs. Likewise, they've lived "Hell is Chrome", and it's beautiful and chilling and has also left me choked up many times. Teacheringstone, have I mentioned how much I adore you?

I know there's a lot of boards pertaining to depression and anxiety. This is more from the pharmacological standpoint, but I like Crazy Meds. Very informative, entertaining and good for seeing how others deal with these conditions. It was through some things I read on that site that I realized I was having a really adverse reaction to an antidepressant about two years ago. I was able to get in touch with my doctor before things got too out of hand, but that wouldn't have been the case had I not been following the Crazy Meds forums.

I think we have the same doc, as I've been asked that same question. At the time, my answer was pretty fucking ugly. Yessir! I'm really glad he opened up about what happened four years ago. About a year after Jeff's hospitalization, I hit a huge wall with my own panic and anxiety disorders. Cheesy as it may sound, it was "YHF" and "AGIB" that gave me some insight into what was going on in my brain while I went through the horribly rough process of therapy. Songs like "War on War", "Less Than You Think", "Ashes of American Flags" articulated so much of what I was feeling, and where my

It's my Basset hound, Chloe, playing in the snow.

"Raising the Spirited Child". It seemed like a more positive option than the book next to it: "Taming Your Spirited Child".

I'll be there!

I'll echo Lauren's sentiment that it's so different for everyone. I rarely notice the day that would have been my grandmother's birthday, only because she died the day before my 19th birthday. Every year since then, the day before my birthday was the day I thought of her and tended towards sadness. This past year - 16 years later - was the first year where the anniversary of her death wasn't a big thought. The day was almost over before I realized it. I had always wondered if she died on Oct. 21 because it would ensure that I would never, ever forget her. This past year I realized that it's

Oh God. That's horrible. It just about does me in to know about kids going through shit like this.

I thought that was weird, too, in a very sweet, trusting way. The only time anyone looked at our tickets was when we got to our section. We stopped by Hatch Show Prints on Broadway before leaving town today. I was talking to one of the employees, mentioned how much I loved last night's print, and I got to meet the artist. Very sweet kid; he couldn't have been more than 21, 22 years old. I was wishing I'd left the print in my purse so he could sign it next to Jeff's autograph. Darkstar, I let my husband spend money at Gruhn's. He bought a beautiful leather guitar strap made in Franklin. A

My husband says the same thing. He lost interest in music several years ago. I took him to a Wilco show last September, and he's rediscovered his love of music. It's great! That was a highlight for me, too. Standing in the balcony, if felt like the music was moving through my feet and blasting up to the top of my head. I've seen him windmill! I think it was in Kansas City last fall. With all of his strutting, we refer to him as Baby Jagger. Maybe he had wandered down from the Guns n' Roses cover band playing at Tootsie's.

I wish you had! You could have joined us at Roberts Western World after the show! Believe me, if you see someone in a crowd who you think might be me, it's probably me. I stand out a little. When we were walking out, I thought about using my general tactic for finding internet people in a crowd: I damn near yelled "Darkstar!" to see if anyone answered. Ah well. I'm sure we'll be back soon. We kind of fell in love with this city. Not yet. They were closed by the time we got to Broadway on Saturday. Brian rubbed his face on the windows, and possibly licked them, when we were on Bro

We had a blast meeting you guys, too! Definitely the perfect touch to a perfect weekend.

Awesome! Weren't you in section 11 of the balcony? I kept looking for you, although I had no idea what to look for! That pretty much sums up the whole show. I should sleep. Can't.