What’s in a name?

I got a message asking how I came up with my pseudonym, Obtusely Oblique. Well, if you’ve read some of my posts, it should be obvious, but I may as well explain: As a person with a philosophical bent, and a history as a monk, where scholarship is often deep if arcane, I do tend to ramble around a topic, but more often seem to take a tack on topics which are, well, obtuse. Also, I used to write book reviews for a magazine. The editor would send me a pile of books and I’d write reviews. After I published a good number of them he commented that I was the most ‘obtuse’ of his reviewers. The comment stuck with me as I’d not thought of it that way. The oblique part means coming at things from an unusual angle…so FWIW, that’s where the a.k.a. came from.

Progress on some fronts, regression on another…

3 steps forward, 2 back….as they saying goes. The combo of meds (referred to elsewhere in disguised fashion so as not to offend the googlebot) is about 6 weeks now and a DEFinite improvement in all the heavy depression and crazy,violent and suicidal ideation. It’s a relief not to have to fight them off.

And, learned that my diagnosis is “Major Depressive Disorder” (don’t know the DSM code#). Turns out, I’ve been this way all my life! Who knew ;}?! (well, I did, but self medicated with alcohol, pot when I was younger and most often with being extremely busy almost in an OC way… Pretty heavy thing to realize at this late stage of life..but I feel relieved as this explains So many things in my life’s history.

Life with the SO continues to be rollercoaster. Don’tfeel like writing now, but it’s been a rough month on that front, even as my pain levels got a little better and my depression lightened up. more later…