Another Tweetup

Going to another Tweetup, (in Canada! London, Ontario, to be exact - and we're driving many hours to do so) but we're not at all involved in the planning which means it should be more fun for us...we can hope.

It's are last one...we promise. *crosses fingers behind back*

We've been feeling very on edge and even the better of us have been feeling stressed...

After having a house guest for two days (which we loved, because we adore @cool_jesse), then two days of a Tweetup, and then long car rides (not alone) and James having Monday off with us...plus work before and after that...it'd been almost an entire week or more since we've had time to ourselves.

It'll be nice to have the next four days with plenty of time to sleep, relax, (clean), hopefully paint a little, maybe write, and log extra time on the elliptical.  James works all weekend and on Monday, so that means some breathing room. Not that we don't enjoy him being around, most of us do...it's just..nothing beats alone time.

It's been raining and we've been busy so we haven't been able to break the ground for the new garden plot. If we don't do it soon we'll have to wait until next year, which sucks because we have a drawer full of seeds.

See, we're this boring. Bet we could put you to sleep at a Tweetup.

Have a great weekend.

Blarg

It's funny (in a sad way, in our opinion) how tired we are at the end of the day after work. Too tired to write much of anything even though a TV is on in the background all day with something relatively interesting we an have an opinion on, from The Chew, to The Doctors, and CNN/MSNBC/HLN in between, we're always spouting out our opinions on health, food and current events. Luckily the guy we work in the same room with all day finds us funny (we assume by his laughter); probably because we're "a" girl who usually likes to voice "her" opinion...often times in inappropriate ways using harsh, brash and crash language.

It works for a work environment for us, but sadly the job, while it may sound stationary, is not, and at the end of the day our body aches extra, and our mind wants to turn to mushy 140 character expression.

Blarg.

The...Minneapolis...Tweetup

Image Source

The Tweetup happened.
It was, overall, a fun time.
Apparently things went on.

The best advice for you if you want to know details is to ask the person you are hearing things about to confirm potentially horrid lies to defame a person's character. You know how Twitter is with that. Don't be a sheep and follow the herd.

Having said that, we'll tell you ALL about our foibles of the weekend.

We were the girl who told another girl we had blocked her (she brought it up) because we didn't like her Tweets, because she kept talking about (and they aren't meant to be jokes) her fake multiple personalities [disorder]and she feigned understanding how rude that might seem to someone who struggles with it; but then the next day there was a fresh Tweet about her personalities on her timeline and people were just eating up with how sorry she felt for herself.
After she decided to go out to the second night, much to our displeasure, we were still just as kind to her as we could muster - and we didn't have to be. Nobody really has to be nice to anybody. Right before we left we told her, because we needed her to make sure someone important to us made it back to the hotel, straight up that after the previous night we were thinking of following her, until we saw that Tweet. So, if she thinks it's us at the Tweetup who was being some sort of judgmental bitch, then yeah, fine....sorry for judging you for faking a mental illness that we deal with in life, on Twitter...yeah...we're the bad guys here (it doesn't matter if you actually have depression...talk about that, don't fake something else), you're the "victim".

Also, we were the girl(s) having a mental breakdown at Gay 90's for about an hour. It had nothing to do with anybody there, it was all our thing, our issue, our problem. We left (at 1am) because our contacts got dried out from crying, not because we wanted to.

Over the two days we tried not to take sides with any little squabbles (there was no fighting that we witnessed), which was easier for the second night because half of the Tweetup attendees decided they didn't even want to join the rest of the Tweetup, and had their own gathering in another part of Gay 90's.
We never actually got to meet a couple of Tweeters we really had wanted to meet, that we had been following for at least 2 years and who we had actually had conversations with over Twitter over the years. So, that was disappointing.

As far as scandalous things at the Minneapolis Tweetup...there were things we saw and knew that happened...but we're keeping out mouth shut. You can kiss whoever you want, we won't tell, even if we don't approve.
You want more information on something you heard, go to the person you hear it about.

All in all we went through a few hours on Sunday saying we're never going to another Tweetup again...but, we just might...and try another attempt at being fucking normal. You never know.

Long Long Weekend.

No writing for a few days, we have a house guest! (@cool_jesse from Twitter) and we're also having a dinner guest tonight (another person from Twitter that will remain anonymous). It's the beginning of an exciting 5 day weekend!

Tomorrow we set out for the Minneapolis Tweetup that we're co-hosting. Should be an... interesting...time.

A Petri Dish

While it might make him (James) sad/angry/upset, most of us have decided that we will no longer be signing our names to blog entries. It's something we discussed, and thought about, on the long drive to and from work today.

Truth be told, we've scaled back on it anyway, to prevent being picked apart, so to speak.

But when it comes to our personal life, our day-to-day with James, it can make things...complicated.
He is a sensitive man, when it comes to us.
When he feels he doesn't know which one of us he is dealing with he gets stressed, sad, upset, withdrawn.
When he finds out one of his "favorites" was around (he has them, he loves us all...but we are not all his favourite. Nor should we he) and he didn't "recognize" them he gets sad, because he perceives his inability to detect each of us as some sort of personal failing; of course he'd never say it's a failing of himself, nor should he - nor would we. (I have a pretty good handle on how his mind works by now, so I feel comfortable commenting in such a way)

Anywho.

He says some of us have changed; but where he sees change...we just see people...

To be more specific, each of us are different from each other, some more subtly than others, but within each of us is a person, however fragmented or not.
Like any person, each of us are different depending on our mood, so when, say...Catherine is stressed, she may seem different; she will handle stress differently than, say Ivy, or Cassandra, but she will still be the same, just her under stress (or her depressed, or sad, or happy).
Just like when your friend/wife/husband/brother/sister/mother/father/coworker is stressed they seem a bit of a "different" person...but they are still the same.

Does that even make sense?

Sometimes we get confused why some think these same human concepts don't apply to those in a DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) system.

Not only is there the being people, but as we are on a road to constant healing, that means we will change a little, each of us, when we are ready, independently. Just like people change over periods of their life.

Guess it can get confusing.
Why is he even in a relationship with us?

So to wrap it up.
Yesterday we signed off on a blog entry, and it caused a bit of confusion, sadness, and...a mood that we can only describe as uniquely his...in James...(because Ivy is one of his favorites...we all know it)

We (many of us) really don't like when that happens.
So we won't be signing our blog posts anymore. (providing we all come back to this entry to know why, or pass on the information).

You know, we're normal...though it might not seem like it to a lot of people...and we just want to feel normal; in our social interactions, in our friendships, and in our relationships.

Sometimes it feels like we're growing in a petri dish.

Shopping

We have a lot of shopping to do today...alone. A lot, like four stores, which is about two more than we are generally comfortable with (except Cassandra, she loves shopping).

James is working, and has been since we got back from Minneapolis, and will be until we go back this coming weekend for the Minneapolis Tweetup (http://msptweetup.blogspot.com/) [we're growing a little nervous and apprehensive now that it is so close, for many reasons], so that means running errands all alone.

We're usually good for about two hours before we start to disintegrate mentally.

After this cup of coffee...but maybe once more...

Maybe today will be different. (that's our mantra).

~ Ivy, Catherine and et al

Mental Health Month 2013

It's mental health month.

We totally dropped the ball this year.

But the last two years...we didn't...
Mental Health Awareness Month: Our Introduction (2011)
http://just-call-me-frank.blogspot.com/2011/05/mental-health-awareness-month-our.html
and

Mental Health Awareness Month: 2012
http://just-call-me-frank.blogspot.com/2012/05/mental-health-awareness-month-2012.html

We're terrible advocates this year...

But there's this whole blog...much of it dedicated to the subject...

Here's some:
- Mostly Dissociative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder Related
2013

• Untitled...Again
• Triggered: A Short Story of Anxiety

2012

• Core Suppression in DID
• A Peek Into Id, Ego and Super-Ego
• Sleepless Nights and a Hateful Personality
• Dissociating Happy Memories
• Treating and Curing Dissociative Identity Disorder
• Personality Vs. Dissociative Disorder
• Associating With Dissociation
• Slow Burn In The Switch (written by Melody & Brooke - they tend to dislike each other)
• Slow Burn In The Switch: Part II (written by Cassandra - about good switching)
• A Non-Memory Memory (Written by Ivy) 
• Random Memory on Replay (Written by Cassandra & Catherine) 
• A Face Full of Emotion: A Journal Entry
• Comfort In Animal Companions: A Journal Entry (Written by Ivy)  

2011

• Mental Health Awareness Month: Our Introduction
• We Chat With The Father About DID (this post contains information on what DID is)
• Frank Gets Candid (We talk about Catherine, one of our alters)
• **We Freak Out** (this was a very important day, the day we met Marisa, recoverer of DID)
• We Are Fragments
• We / We Get Random / We Have Questions
• Marisa Answers Our Questions
• Frank Gets Candid, About Memories...and Bethany (we talk about one of our alters)
• A Note From Frank, and ONLY Frank (actually not written by Frank)
• Standby and The Death of the Other Girl: Part 1 of 3 (we start talking about the death of one of our alters [our core])
• Our Ears May Be Burning (we talk about what people we recently knew might be saying over Easter)
• We Just Need A Good Map (Mental Health Awareness Month Post - Frank talks about DID mapping)
• We Don't Do A Blog Post (we talk a little about mapping, Bethany, unicorns & stuff)
• We Discuss Three Mis-Diagnosed Mental Illnesses
• The D in DID: Dissociation (written by Cassandra)
• Bethany Has A Flashback?
• We Can't Always Disappear
• Who Lives In Your Head? Mapping Therapy and DID/MPD
• A Day In The Room (Writing done by those other than Frank et al)
• We Have Nothing To Lose (Cassandra talks about the death of a mentally ill "friend")
• Frank Lets You Know Bitch (me!) (Bethany got to write her very own entry about herself)
• Sam Gets Angry About Ignorance (Written by Sam)
• A Little Bit Of Emmie (Written by Emmie)
• Sam Gets Set-Off (Written by Sam)
• We Answer Some Follower Questions 
• We Answer Some Follower Questions: Part II
• Cassandra Writes About 'Someone Special' (Written by Cassandra)
• One of Us Has Sociopathic Tendencies (Written by Melody) 
• Just Another Fucking Friday Night In The House of Frank (Written by Cassandra)
• Emmie Writes About Sex & Erotica (Written by Emmie)
  

General Health:
2013

• Triggered: A Short Story of Anxiety

2012

• A Mental Illness Rant
• Duelling Depression
• A Message To Your Diagnosis (our 2012 APA (American Psychological Association) Mental Health Month Blog Party Entry
• Overcoming To Get To Your “O” ADULT RATED

2011

• When Anxiety Attacks 
• Franks/Our 100 Pound Weight Loss Story
• Collision: The Other Girls/Our Terrible Car Accident
• Stress and Expediential Weight Loss
• New Pain and Old Fear
• Anxiety, Revisited
  

...and if you want other stuff...check out our archives...http://just-call-me-frank.blogspot.com/p/recommended-archives.html

Thanks for reading...and remember...you're not your mental illness, it's only a small part of who you are.
Be strong.

xx

"Free Man"

James' interview (and ours) with Immigration was yesterday in Minneapolis.

They separated us (him, and the us), and asked questions about our relationship now, and our relationship in the past; from how we met, to what day garbage day was in the house we shared, to what colour the bedroom walls were and more.

He was VERY nervous, you could almost see his heart pounding as we came out of our meeting and sent him in, kissing him on the lips, he looked like a deer in the headlights. (he is a worrier, over-thinks things, gets very flustered under pressure, and while confident, questions himself at the first indication that he may be incorrect.) Luckily we had a very nice woman who knew our lawyer well. (the lawyer sits in on both interviews)

They approved him, so now he is a "free man", he says, because he can travel outside of the USA now) - but he's ours, hahahaha!.
He wasn't allowed to leave the country until this momentous occasion (as per immigration law one is not allowed to leave the country while their petition is pending). In two years we have to file another set of paperwork (and pay more fees) to be approved for 10 years; but that's nothing compared to the money, paperwork, and diligence (extensive proof, letters from people who know us as a couple, photos, receipts, ect, a folder detailing proof of "a" relationship) that was required for this first step.

We hugged our lawyer goodbye at the train station. She was probably our best decision ever; worth every penny and restored our faith in lawyers.

We've learned a lot about immigration process through this experience. It's amazing what people will go through to legally be in this country...for whatever reason they choose to be here - and also no shock that some (many) choose to go about it illegally. It's both expensive, and a paperwork nightmare, even with English as a first language. One wrong step and you can be banned from the states for years.

*sigh of relief*

Now...on to the rest of our life.

Butcher And The Boar...A Restaurant Review of Meaty Proportion

We're in Minneapolis until tomorrow (for reasons we'll write about tomorrow), in the meantime James secured a good deal on a one hour massage at a place called Keep in Touch Massage (http://www.keepintouchmassage.net/) with a great masseuse named Ben. We had a brutally painful deep tissue massage (they are supposed to be painful) that was better than the last few years of massage therapists we've had. We highly recommend him.

After the massage we went to dinner at an interesting little place we found perusing http://www.citypages.com/restaurants/ called Butcher and The Boar (http://butcherandtheboar.com/). Butcher and The Boar, a 2013 James Beard Award Semifinalist for Best New Restaurant, is in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, and specializes in house smoked/preserved meats (Charcuterie), craft beers, and Bourbon.

While we did not partake in the alcoholic offerings this time around, we took the meats head on.

The host and hostesses of Butcher and The Boar are friendly as they great you at the door. As they take you into the restaurant you are greeted with tasteful decor, comfortable surrounds and music at just the right volume, as you pass by the bar into the dining area, which are separated by large panes of glass. The feel of dining room is not so much restaurant, and dining hall. Think German Beer Hall.
The smell, like walking into a bottle of Liquid Smoke, divine.
While there were women present, the clientele appears overwhelming males ages 24 and up; the environment undoubtedly masculine, without being pushy. It all makes sense really: beer, bourbon and meat heaven...it's like man mecca.

The service was prompt and courteous, not overly friendly, which for diners like us, was pretty nice. Not everybody wants waitstaff that are obviously disingenuous - we like our servers attentive, without being familiar.
A woman, not waitstaff, came around and silently kept the water glasses full, while the waiter left us with our food and conversation. Perfect.

The only real complaint about the service, which is a direct reflection of the menu, was related to the two dishes ordered that contained nuts - one peanuts, one pecans; only once we were served the dish that contained peanuts (Stuffed Jalapenos ~ yes, you read that right) did the staff who delivered it say there were peanuts in it, and we actually had to ask what was on the dish containing pecans (the gratin on the Coal Fired Sweet Potatoes, as they cleared away the plates). Thankfully we don't have nut allergies, but our mind was on those who do, and also the liability of the restaurant.

Overall though the food was amazing, platters of pickled items, expertly smoked and preserved meats accompanied by vegetables, sauces and mustard - what's not to love.

House Pickle Plate with
Pickled Heart & Beef Heart

James doesn't like pickled things so we took on the House Pickle Plate "solo" and added Pickled Egg & Beef Heart for the extra $2 (if you are an avid reader of our cooking entries and recipes, you know we have a thing for animal hearts). Broken down item by item the least favourite thing on the Pickle Plate was the beets, but that's just because we prefer the lighter (less clove) taste of the ones we pickle. The best thing on the plate turned out to be the Pickled Egg, and the Beef Heart; the pickled eggs not too strong, and the pickled heart, something we had never tried, was such a unique texture for heart, and not overly pickled. Forcing James to try select item, he was pleasantly surprised, particularly regarding the heart - he is not a fan of that delicious offal - saying that the pickled preparation is probably the only way we could get him to eat heart in the future.

We must not forget to mention the Stuffed Jalapenos, which were not at all as expected, in that they were inspiring and unique. Stuffed with a smooth peanut butter mixture, and garnished with golden raisins and feta, the Stuffed Jalapenos were a surprise, a spicy sweet treat. To be honest, had the menu said they contained peanut butter we probably would not have tried them. (but that still doesn't justify the non-disclosure of the peanuts by menu or waitstaff)

Stuffed Jalapenos

Bring on the Charcuterie!

Instead of choosing one of their several main course meat offerings, we opted to go big and order both the Butcher Sampler, and the Sausage Sampler to share, and James chose the Coal Fired Sweet Potatoes, and Skillet Cornbread, as sides.

The Butcher Sampler, a platter of house preserved meats served cold, was our primary choice, the offering included Turkey Braunschweiger, Texas Wild Boar Ham, Red Wattle Sausage, Rooster Terrine, and Wild Boar Head Cheese. Of all the items the Head Cheese, which is what sold the sampler, and the Braunschweiger, were our favorites; though the Braunschweiger, in it's luxuriously smooth texture, was very rich - half the amount of it would have sufficed (but then, these platters are meant to be shared among a table, so...). While the various accompaniments, pickled and crunchy, clearly have their place in cutting the heaviness of the fat on the tongue and cleaning the palate a bit, to make way for each new selection, every item is worthy of naked enjoyment.

Butcher Sampler
Left to Right: Rooster Terrine, Wild Boar Head Cheese, Texas Wild Boar Ham, Red Wattle Sausage, Turkey Braunschweiger - served with crisps

A quick primer on some "strange" things:
Braunschweiger - a liverwusrt, a pâté made of mashed livers
Head Cheese - made from boiling pieces of the head, feet and/or tongue of an animal until it is jellied and then formed into a loaf.
Terrine - a pressed loaf of loosely chopped meat.

James' pick, The Sausage Sampler, a trio of house smoked sausages: Wild Boar Hot Link, Texas Beef Link, and Berkshire Pork & Cheddar, is an experience. A plate with three large juicy sausages with a very spicy Dijon English mustard called Zataran to be paired with the Wild Boar, and other sauces and veggie mixtures. A plate of smoked meat to behold.

Of all the offerings the Wild Boar Hot Link turned out to be both his, and our, favourite. A nice balance between the smooth cheesy Pork & Cheddar, and the Beef. We both found the Pork to be a bit gamier than we anticipated (at first thinking it the Boar), but nonetheless delicious.

Sausage Sampler

The sides James ordered only got enough of a taste from us to ascertain that they were indeed very, very, good. As he liberally spread the smooth mapley buttery mixture onto his large skillet corn bread, we lusted after it, cursing our midsection.
The Coal Fired Sweet Potatoes were topped with a sweet pecan gratin covering a perfectly smooth and buttery interior encased in a charred skin.
The mouth salivates at the memory.

Skillet Cornbread

Coal Fired Sweet Potatoes

This amount of food was far more than enough for two people, half of each sausage came back to the hotel room with us and James was forbidden to order dessert, because while it may not look like it based on this eating experience, we are on a diet - a high protein, low-carb/gluten diet, so this restaurant fit nicely into our diet). Otherwise we would have welcomed the dessert menu, which looked amazing, with open arms and drooling mouth.

Bottom line, if you love smoked meat, or meat in general, beer, and bourbon. A good atmosphere and new eating experiences, check out Butcher and The Boar next time you visit Minneapolis.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ButcherandBoar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Butcherandtheboar
Website: http://butcherandtheboar.com/

-------------------------------------------

Our other food-related writing:

Restaurant Reviews 2012: (redirects to our advertisement free travel blog)

• London, Part 1 - Hangin' With Dickens' Ghost At Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
• The Anchor of Rowhedge (England)
• The Green Room - Colchester, England

2013

• It Was Just Begging For It...[Cheesecake]
• Cooking With Frank: Egyptian Spice Sauce

2012

• Cooking With Frank: Venison Heart Ragout
• Hot Water Bath Canning
• Cooking With Frank: Green Tomato Chutney
• Zucchini Coming Out Our Ears
• Weekend Recap (Tomatoes)
• From River to Plate in Under Four Hours
• Cooking With Frank: A BBQ Dinner
• White Bread, For The Zombie Apocalypse
• Romancing The Sandwich 

2011

• Cooking With Frank
• Cooking Shepherds Pie With Us, Drunk
• Cooking With Frank, Ratatouille 
• Cooking With Frank: Zombies & Brains...Oh My
• Cooking With Frank: Venison Tenderloin
• The Enlightenment of an Englishmen: Part 1

Shit We Wrote

Nothing better to blog about tonight than crap we write on Facebook...

In response to the status posted by a FB Friend Named Peter: "The Great Gatsby...A for effort. Didn't quite hit the high mark of the book, though."

"The thing that will make it a hit is that so few people remember the book, and/or bought "Cliff's Notes" to pretend they read it in high school to pass the tests; it's glitzy, and glamorous, and has Leonardo DiCaprio in it (and trendy Hip Hop music)
America will swoon. It will be nominated for rewards. The sheep will happily bleat.
Meanwhile, the world burns from the inside out.
MSNBC has been practically masturbating over it the last two days, for something not actual news, it seems to be something we're supposed to ingest."

We obviously plan on seeing it at some point;  it's an iconic book (adaption), like 'Romeo and Juliette' and 'Great Expectations' and 'The Grapes of Wrath' (by the way, someone should do a remake of that one), and so many others...; and a couple of us love movies.

But seriously, it's really weird that MSNBC has been talking about it so much (we actually get to watch a little TV during work hours, and actually watched news most of the day during work)...we have to see it, just to figure out the angle.

Nobody said we're normal. We're also not crazy.

Worst Blog Post

Did we ever mention our massage therapist skipped the state a couple of months ago?

This week we're really missing her. Well, not HER (she was a weak minded GOP birther, and deeply religious, and beyond that we had even less in common with her)...but we miss her hands. Our muscles ache after only two days of work so far this week, right to the core. Literally a single touch to our body makes us want to melt. SO much tension, on the surface, and deep.

It's hurt to breathe for a couple of days now.

But we're not here to bitch about pain.

We've been engrossed in people's judgement and hate the last few days, as the final days of the Jodi Arias case become splattered across the news channels. It's not the case itself, which people are apparently finding "scandalous" and "salacious"...we're enthralled with people's behaviour regarding the case....

Regardless of her guilt, the vengeance of the public is appalling, but at least it's inspiring...

Vindicated the people cheer and clap for the death of another; suddenly the sheep become carnivores, gnashing teeth at the taste of blood.
— Just Call Me Frank™© (@JustCallMeFrank) May 9, 2013

While you're busy poking out the eyes of the wicked for sinful deeds,don't forget that sins are viewed equally,so cover your eyes.
— Just Call Me Frank™© (@JustCallMeFrank) May 9, 2013

Even last week:

Millions watch to see if a woman will live or die, flinging words of judgement like stones; others turn and sigh, gripping their pearls.
— Just Call Me Frank™© (@JustCallMeFrank) May 3, 2013

As you may guess, overall we're not a fan of the death penalty. The reasons vary, depending on which one of us you ask...

This has officially been one of our worst blog posts.

First Day At A New Job

Our first day at the new job was good. It's enjoyable enough work, not working with the public, not dealing with retain or working in fast food.

The back pain in the first few hours wasn't so great, sitting in the work truck wishing it would go numb we knew it could be worse.

Then we got back to the office and busied ourselves with stuff and tried not to think about it.

The job is physical, but we're going to try not to focus on the eventual pain, just focus on the mental part of it all, instead of the physical part of it. There are a lot of numbers and things to remember...we're not always good with that kind of thing.

It'd be nice if over the counter pain killers were enough, so we could take them at work; but years of experience have proven that when the desiccated disks, protrusions and tears in our spine become an issue there's really nothing that can help, without insurance and prescription pain medications. Then, even if we had the insurance, would we want a lifetime of pain medication dependency?  It seems easier to grit our teeth, cry, close our eyes and ride through it...at least until we're physically older.

The hours are so flexible, and the pay so good, we feel fortunate to have gotten the job.

So, that was our first day at a new job. As much as we're allowed to say, anyway.

Randomness...

We left the house today, and walked to the post office.
For an hour before we left, at least, and for the first 5 minutes out the door, we felt like we wanted to curl into a ball, cry and scream. Our chest felt heavy, an uncomfortable rage was welling inside. We wanted to vomit angrily.

It passed, but the feeling up until it did made us...there is no real words to explain it passed what we just did.
Why does it have to feel like that sometimes?

Our chest, back, and shoulders held a lot of pain today. It physically hurt to breath and move for most of the afternoon. It didn't stop us from our elliptical workout, but it made it less enjoyable.

We start our new job on Monday...

We're not nervous...not really. It's not nervous, this feeling...it's...

Autopilot

We're having so many conflicting issues lately, and they're hard to put into words.

James asked us the other day if we were depressed. The only answer we had was that we weren't sure, and sometimes we can't even tell if whatever malaise we've been feeling is depression. Most days it just feels like...we're a robot.

We've been having a lot of dissociation in public lately. We've also been spending a lot more time in public. Leaving the house three times a week is a lot for us. We'll have to have James start writing down the times he notices it happening and see if there's a correlation to how many hours we spend in public, or if there's a time-mark of some sort. It probably very similar to an extreme physically and mentally uncontrollable sugar crash, but it doesn't matter the time of day, or what we've eaten, of if we've eaten, so we've ruled that out.

It doesn't make it fun for James to be with us; we become detached, sometimes unable to speak or answer his questions in a timely manor, we appear emotionally void, it's more labored to walk and so we slow down, we become dazed and listless. Even as we know this is happening it's like we have no control over it, and we never know how long it'll last. Human autopilot through a fog. Which is probably better for him than when one of us less...fond...of James is out in public with him, likely.

Lately we've been considering closing this blog; it's starting to feel almost...redundant.