A few weeks ago, a friend I’d confided in for seven years, on and off, cornered me and spent an entire night raging at me about his uncertainty that we could have a romantic relationship. When I escaped the next morning, I was able to send him an email relieving him… Read full post »

I was named after a dog. This was brought to my attention one day when I lamented to my mother how, with so very many people naming their puppies Penny, it was difficult to see it as a particularly dignified epithet.  There was a slight pause, and then my mother revealed/… Read full post »

I blame Aaron Spelling. I would never have thought to deliberately maim myself had not a storyline on 90210 suggested it as an option. I could, perhaps take responsibility for my questionable taste in having watched such a programme, but I was young, foolish and friendless, and apparently the imperce… Read full post »

Although one of my uncles is a trick-cyclist, the first professional contact I had with a nut farmer was shortly after my brother was released from his first scheduled hospitalisation. This brother had been psychotically abusive towards my sister and me throughout our childhoods, but during this fami… Read full post »

Seeing the poster for his latest film release, Heath Ledger seems to be maintaining a healthy career posthumously; however one can only imagine that death will eventually slow things down, and marginally affect his acting.

The inquest is over, the fans have mourned, and all of popular culture has had… Read full post »

I created this blog a week ago to try to ameliorate the suffering caused by the ‘Dialectical Behaviour Therapy’ outpatient programme I started attending the day before. Yesterday, I had another session of DBT, and I’m afraid my subsequent mood is so low that blogging is not cutting… Read full post »

My writing autobiographically about suicide obviously risks alienating readers, and a fledgling electronic diarist is probably ill-advised to tempt internet-ostracism in such a flagrant way.  And yet the muse of blogging (what would her name be?) refuses to allow me any new ideas until I’v… Read full post »

Once upon a time, someone wrote The Cinderella Complex. Whilst I’ve never paid that author the courtesy of reading said tome, it hasn’t stopped me from deciding on and forming an opinion about that book’s thesis. I'm confident it describes the aetiology and development of (and… Read full post »

During my most recent stay in hospital I had a few very interesting conversations with fellow patients about the various psychoactive medications we had each experienced. From the way we spoke, it was as though we were talking about our love lives, rather than something as prosaic as pharmaceuticals.… Read full post »

A friend spelled my favourite Author's surname Austin. Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with Ben Jonson that spelling a word only one way displays a sad lack of imagination, the change of a vowel does suggest a change of character.

 Jane Austin becomes a closer relation of Steve Austin, t… Read full post »

Further to my wishing to distract myself from my dire mental health and general disgruntledness, I betook myself for a walk this morning.

Sydney is reputed to be a gloriously beautiful city and, if you are careful about where you position yourself, so it is. But all cities have their grottier… Read full post »

Yesterday, I began an outpatient programme for emotion regulation. Pioneered by Marsha Linehan, the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy  (DBT)programme, as run by my friendly psychiatric hospital, will be a weekly fixture in my life from yesterday until twelve months hence, notwithstanding extens… Read full post »