Tall Dark And Texan

My eye appreciates a white telecaster with black binding. Not sure what's going on with the fret markers here, but the body and binding are the focal point here. Also, is there something wrong with me for wanting a hardtail Strat?

That parable was heavy, thank you for sharing it with me. That one will stay in my head for a while. Also, tomorrow marks 34 weeks sober for me! Taking the good wherever I can find it.

I like the fishing analogy. And my therapist broke through with minimal effort; I've cried plenty in both visits I've had so far. The first visit was about an hour after I got the news I was passed up for the promotion.

I didn't get the promotion that I spent four years of honest backbreaking work trying to earn. That means I'm 0-8 on job interviews this year turning into job offers. I took this one the hardest, and that took me into another breakdown. Going to work and seeing who got promoted over me everyday is brutal, and threw my self-esteem and self-worth off a cliff. I realized that I couldn't fight this thing with medication alone (even with my doseage recently doubled), so I swallowed what was left of my pride and hired a therapist. Then my manager presented me with some FMLA paperwork. I turned it into my doctor's office last week; I meet with my doctor on Thursday, and my therapist on Friday. Hopefully they grant me some more time off work. I've read some good things about DBT classes. Until then, I'm working on my resume, looking for a new job, watching the World Cup, and trying to convince everyone around me that I'm not suicidal at the moment (there was a stretch where I was, again, and all the important people know that, but they also know I'm trying to get better). I'm off work this week, and that was long overdue. The one thing I've heard frequently is that we are so much more than our jobs, but I find it difficult to accept that when I put everything I had into this job for four years and it got me nowhere. I've also noticed I haven't been eating much lately. Maybe that's because that's the one thing I can still control. I will say, the depression diet works. Take the good wherever you can get it. I've also made an honest effort to stop saying negative things about myself out loud. Hopefully that'll lead to me no longer thinking those things about myself. Stay strong, everyone.

Anal Cunt. I doubt they have too many female fans.

Damn. and damn. Also that "Not for sale" tag on that Broadcaster a few posts up was just ruthless.

Anyone want to watch the final with me at Valentina's? Their pitmaster Miguel is an avid Real Madrid supporter, and said he'd put it on. I would like a few more of y'all there in case Liverpool goes up 5-0 at the half and he starts getting stabby after I make one too many jokes about Ronaldo worrying more about his hairstyle than the match.

Hell of a season.

I had a similar gripe about the truss rod cover on my Epiphone acoustic-electric (it is nothing special in the greater guitar world, but to me it is); I flipped it over and saw it was still blank, but white, and that made for a really cool contrast on the all-black headstock, and it's been that way ever since.

Listening to that match was by far the most stress I've ever felt at work. Roma had so much magic this year in the knockout stage, but thankfully they ran out of time against us.

Dances, you have a support system here if you need it. I'm not sure how private messaging works over here, but if you do, we're all here to help however we can. I know there's a "PM so-and-so" response people throw out anytime someone mentions divorce, only I have no idea who that so and so is. I think there was a divorce thread on the previous version of this board; someone please help him out with that. As far as weight loss goes, I have gained and lost weight more times than Oprah. And Oprah wipes her ass with my salary. I've done the treadmill, elliptical, and weights, but the one exercise that helped me mentally AND physically, was walking. Low impact, get some fresh air, a good easy way to start, no asshole instructor yelling at you to pick up the pace. Finding a new hobby, or in my case, devoting more time to an old hobby (guitar), is another thing I'd recommend. Give yourself a fun project and just get immersed in the details of that project. Even if it is something you can't do, you can still admire it. Two examples: I'm not an architect, but I am fascinated by stadium architecture, both here in the United States and beyond. I'll spend hours looking at pictures of Camp Randall Stadium and Camp Nou, and I'm not a fan of Wisconsin OR FC Barcelona. Similarly, I can't cook barbecue at all, but I'm fascinated by pit design, and how that influences the taste of the food. Offset, Reverse Flow, Bewley, hell even a Kamado sparks my curiousity. Again, these are all just suggestions from some guy trying to be helpful to another guy on the internet. Hopefully something here helps.

I'm in for Russ Hanneman return, and I'm curious to see how he handles Erlich being gone, even though he never realized Erlich in the first place. Does he suddenly ask about him, or just keep moving on like before? Kinda like, listening to the notes the musician is not playing / shoves myself into a locker Richard, Crazy Guy, Al-Queda, He Fucks, and (quick blank stare before moving on) was one of the higher water marks of the show.

Thanks for the kind words, Seed. I'm glad you found a better, and healthier, work life. Beer was only part of my problem; cheap whiskey and diet soda also put me in a pretty dark place. At my worst I was taking down a plastic 1.75 L bottle and two 12-packs of soda a week. Looking back I wonder which was worse; the cheap whiskey, or the soda. The combination of both scares the shit out of me. I replaced alcohol with tea when I get home from work (green, and lemon ginger with probiotics, there's also an orange cinnamon tea I like), and that has definitely helped with my mental and physical health. Maybe it'll even correct some of the damage I did to my body in my heavy drinking days. At least it will put a stop to the damage. I forgot to mention, I had an eye exam a few weeks ago, and for the first time ever, my vision improved. I've always feared the visit where I'm told my vision is getting worse (my vision had been the same for about ten years), but instead I received the amazing news that my vision had improved. The only thing that changed between the most recent visit and all the other ones was quitting drinking. And since I know TBone will stop by here every once in a while, I am indeed playing my guitars again. More so than I have in a long time. I even took some 1000-grit sandpaper to the back of my necks so that they play a lot smoother. No more of that high gloss bullshit slowing down my fretting hand.

John Frusciante's Fender Stratocaster that he played for most of his time in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I'm not the biggest fan of their music, but I am a fan of his guitar playing, and of that guitar. Sadly he doesn't play it much anymore, but damn, that is such a cool guitar. My avatar on the old site was the FUDD beer logo from The Simpsons (the most popular beer in Shelbyville, which Moe thought was banned because it made a bunch of hillbillies go blind), and it happened to have a Longhorn in the logo. I thought it was perfect at the time, but since I quit drinking, it felt weird to keep it when we moved over here.

I don't want to intrude, or derail, or anything like that, but I was hoping it'd be okay to update everyone on some things. I found out on Thursday that I didn't get another one of the jobs I interviewed for. Apparently my interview went well, but I was up against some seriously intimidating competition. I would've loved the pay increase and new responsibilities, but whatever, we'll see how a PhD likes having to work every single Saturday for at least an entire year. I've got one more interview I'm waiting to hear back on, and two more interviews that should be coming through the pipeline soon. I'm also about to go hard applying everywhere, not just the firm I work at. I'm now 24 weeks sober, and I passed two important drinking tests this week; the line at Franklin Barbecue on Friday, and my friend's crawfish boil today. I was tempted at both (the boil more so than the line), but I made it through without drinking at either. Now I just have to make it through Fantasy Football Draft Season; that was the other big drinking point on my calendar. But, if I was able to make it over those first few hurdles, I can get over next few. I still have my weak moments, and I'm thinking of asking my doctor to increase the doseage on my SSRI. I'm still hesitant to go to therapy. Oh and I'm weighing under 200 pounds again, despite a steady diet of barbecue and Mexican food, and minimal exercise, which is awesome. I want to thank whoever it was on the old board who told me to put on blinders and just run my own race. That has helped considerably.

My all-time favorite hood fight video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwfsvnXvZDQ

I enjoyed this. I can't stand Bill Simmons, but he can make a good documentary.

"So you left Silicon Valley to make The Emoji Movie?" sounds a lot like when Norm MacDonald said to Courtney Thorne-Smith, "So you left Melrose Place to make a movie with Carrot Top?"

This day will probably still be better than the day my future kids are born.

Hook'Em0608, thank you for sharing. Celery Man (from the Guitar Porn Thread) sent me the new address, so I made the jump over here. New avatar since the old one was a beer logo, and I don't drink anymore. Let's keep doing the same thing we did at the old place before we got evicted, okay?

I didn't receive the validation email on Sunday. When I got home today I thought maybe there was some hangup with gmail, so I requested the validation with my yahoo account, it instantly arrived, and now I'm here.

Celery, thank you for the Bat Signal. Give me a moment to figure out the avatar thing.