Yesterday I’ve written about keeping a positive attitude but even with that, depression is inevitable. With me, it lasts for 2-3 days and it’s usually because of one or a combination of these things:

• the natural mood cycle that everyone goes through
• alcohol and caffeine withdrawals
• using Ecstasy

The first step towards dealing with my depression stems from understanding its two groups of factors: physiological and psychological. The physiological factors are easily dealt with. Eat happy foods, sleep well and exercise. Cutting back on the alcohol and caffeine are also obvious remedies and so is not overindulging on the happy drug (you get high, you must come down). Though with these things, as with everything, sometimes that’s easier said than done. But hey, knowing is half the battle right?

The psychological factors are a different ballgame. Some people can get into a spiral of depression that is hard to get out of. That is, you think of one bad thing and then you start thinking of another and so on. With me, going into a spiral is how I deal with the onset of depression. I’m not recommending that you try it because it’s possibly the worst idea depending on your psychological make-up.

But here’s how it works for me …

I analyse what is it that’s getting me down and I think of something worse. You know how they say, “Hey, it can’t possibly get worse right?” Well, I imagine it getting worse. I think of what’s worse than what’s bugging me now, and then what’s worse than that. Eventually, short of me dying, I’ve exhausted all the bad stuff that can possibly go wrong. By the time I get to that point, that original problem doesn’t seem too bad anymore. It’s not possible.

And then I wind myself back by looking at the bright side of each one of those terrible things that I’ve imagined. The bright sides of those things can be fantastic and nonsensical, and they don’t have to make sense but doing this exercise forces your mind into a different place: a place of being positive, which goes back to what I’ve been saying all along.

The following thoughts were prompted by a story in the news today.

Muelmar Magallanes braved rampaging floods in a Manila riverside village to save more than 30 people, but ended up sacrificing his life in a last trip to rescue a baby girl and her mother who were being swept away on a polystyrene box.

Flood hero ‘gave his life for my baby’ | Sydney Morning Herald

One cannot help but feel small when confronted by Muelmar’s bravery and nobility. But that is also a good thing because hopefully any petty problems that you think you have should also pale in comparison to what less fortunate people are going through or have lost, and also to the selflessness of people like Muelmar everywhere.

There are people who don’t like watching or reading the news because it depresses them. Everyday, there are people who lose their lives or have tragedies befall upon them through war, crime, accidents and disasters, both man-made and natural, or they suffer due to disease or economic misfortune. Surely, none of that can be uplifting to one’s moods, right?

For me though, knowing about all the bad stuff in the world makes me thankful and grateful for everything that I’ve got. It also helps me in not losing track of what’s really important in life. Knowing what people go without on a daily basis, if they are lucky to survive everyday, it would be pretty obscene for me to complain about not having a warm female body to sleep next to. Though that’s exactly what’s been bothering me the past few weeks, if you’ve noticed.

So I hope you will agree with me when I say: no matter how down we get, our lives are actually very good in comparison. So stop dwelling on the negative, and choose to stay positive instead, and don’t take things for granted. I know I’ve said all of this before but it bears repeating. And don’t worry if it feels hard to stay positive at first, because even for a generally happy person like me it does take effort.

In light of the last few posts being a tad emo, here are some cute doggie pictures to balance it out. Snoop cheers me up in real life too.

Yearning without the paranoia
Sex without the complication
Wanting without the jealousy
Love without the obsession

I wish to meet her at the place that I’m supposed to meet her, at the time that I’m supposed to meet her.
I wish to know what that time and place is.
I wish to know what she looks like before I’m supposed to meet her.
And I wish that the time and place is not the only time and place that I will meet her.

I wish that when I meet her,
That she is not with another.
That that is it.
No more waiting,
No more pain and hurt.
Together, hand in hand,
Forever.

As much as I complain about meeting these kinds of women …

• she lives in another city and is only visiting for a short while
• she’s got a boyfriend already
• she’s too busy to date
• she’s not ready for a relationship yet
• she’s hung up over her ex
• I don’t like her that way
• She doesn’t like me that way
• I’m physically attracted to her but there’s no spark
• etc. etc.

As much I complain about it, I know that I’m lucky to be allowed to cross paths with them because all of them enrich my life, one way or another. To me, life is all about the journey and the people whom I get to meet along the way. Every experience and person encountered helps form the person that I am today.

So yeah, I’m lucky to have met all these women. Even though I’ve never gotten the chance to be romantic with them, they’ve made my life so much more interesting. But come on, throw me a friggin’ bone, will ya?!

I was reminiscing … I once had two girls showered at my place on the same night. Not together mind you, although that would have been … wow. Just wow. Yeah, that would have been just … boomz, you know?!

Err I digressed. So yes, one night I drove two girls back to my place. They each took a shower in my bathroom, as in the ensuite of the master bedroom that was my room. I could hear water running, and I could see wet hair and 2 girls in over-sized T-shirts in my room, and on my bed. And I was thinking,

Yeah this is probably never ever gonna happen again.

*sigh* Good times. Oh you wanna know the rest? Nothing happened. Really. What? You think I wouldn’t brag about it if there was more to the story?

Sadly, the truth is not quite as interesting as what you can imagine, and what I would have hoped for.

Did you hear about a man stripping down to his underwear at a press conference where George Clooney was promoting his new movie “The Men Who Stare at Goats”?

George Clooney’s Close Encounter of the Gay-Stripper Kind – E! Online

Turns out that it may be because of something Brad Pitt said, and which Matt Damon then played along to. With friends like these … hilarity ensues!

Damon, Pitt Behind Clooney’s Stripping Man-Fan? – E! Online

And here’s a classic clip of Matt Damon impersonating Matthew McConaughey.

Matt Damonnnnnnnnnnnn!