- The subtitle of this edition, "knock around", is a term I usually throw around when I'm talking about clothing that I just put on to wear around the house...for example, a "knock around" pair of jeans or a "knock around" shirt. However, for this edition this subtitle is more descriptive of what's been going on with me for a while now. I have been knocked around physically, emotionally and mentally a lot. I'll get into the emotional/mental stuff later on but at Circle Fest I tripped over a parking backstop that was painted black...seriously, they're painted yellow so they can be seen so why paint one black and make it so they can't be seen at night? I'm shaking my head at that. Anyway, I dinged up my shoulder which is only starting to feel better now and scraped both my right elbow & right knee. Between that and my sinuses acting up from changing weather, it's been rather rough.
- Peaceful Journey: A couple of weeks ago Robin Williams committed suicide. This is upsetting to me on so many levels. First off, he was my favorite comedian like he was for many folks. He was also a close friend of one of my heroes Christopher Reeve and had equal if not greater acting chops as well. Despite his success and awesome comedic career, he also struggled with depression that led him to things like alcoholism and drug abuse before taking his own life. I knew of his depression from an interview he gave years ago and him speaking of his struggles with it gave me inspiration in dealing with my own mental illness issues which I'll get more into later. He's brought so much joy to my life and the world at large that to say I'll miss him seems like too much of an understatement. It's a hard hit to take, that's for sure. Peaceful journey, good man.
- If you are looking for more of the "happy-happy, joy-joy" type of stuff I put in DJRT, then skip this blurb because I'm about to get rather personal and serious here and maybe even blunt. For those of you who can or want to understand me a bit more, keep reading. I don't talk about myself so specifically like this so bear with me. Many of you know I've been struggling with mental illness for a long time now but in light of what happened with Robin Williams I want to be more specific about some of the struggles I have with it...not all of it but some of what I face every day. I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, the professional term for clinical depression, about 14 years ago along with a couple other diagnoses but I had obviously been suffering from it since I was a teenager. I don't have much of a clue as to what is responsible for it whether it be biological, social, a combination of things or whatever. All I know is that I suffer from it. I've done the therapy thing. I've done the medication thing. I'm doing the best I can in managing my life while having this. With all that, it is still "the elephant in the room" for me, so to speak. It doesn't just burden me but a lot of the people around me even though many of them don't realize how deeply this affects me...or them. It is extremely crippling even to those we look up to as successful. Regarding Robin Williams' depression, as I mentioned earlier, when I heard of his depression I gained a lot more respect for him and started looking up to him as an inspriation in facing my own "demons" (some people don't like that term but that's what it feels I'm doing...facing demons). Again, I am extremely saddened that he took his own life because it got too much for him. I had a cousin who also suffered from mental illness himself who died while I was in high school in the same fashion Robin did so this is hitting very close to home right now. I have a lot of thoughts floating through my head, especially related to the depression stuff. I've had much of the serious stuff go through my own head...some of it recently, some long ago, none suicidal, thank God, but I face this pretty much daily. I do tend to do a lot of hiding and I have been treated like a burden or "the" burden. I've had friends & family looking over their shoulders because of behaviors and actions in the past I've exhibited that have deep roots in my depression. It is embarrassing to deal with not just because I feel that way but let's face it...there are very few folks out there who know how to really deal with folks like me. Most people feel sorry for those having to deal with mental illness in general but for the most part it freaks them the hell out. I've seen freakouts happen with people around me, much of it comically obvious. I do my best to hide it and myself if necessary and I do have somewhat of a life if just a limited one but I struggle with staying stable and all that other stuff to this day. I do try to get away from the thoughts brought on by my mental health issues usually by distracting myself and focusing on something else. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I just hope that in light of what happened with Robin Williams that maybe people in general will learn to take depression and mental illness more seriously as the disease and medical illness it is and not as the stigma and "excuse" that many including people I know try to make it out to be.
- For those of you who want a generally better idea of what it means to have depression specifically, I have three links to Huffington Post articles that probably do a damn better job than I could in giving folks at least a clue about what I face and what it means to have or deal with depression. The first is an article called "It's Time To Talk About Suicide" which is primarily about suicide but if you scroll down the article there is a passage in grey describing some of what depression feels like which I think should be focused on. The second article is titled "What Does Depression Physically Feel Like" which talks about some of the feelings depressed folks have. Believe me, I've thought and felt a lot of that stuff. The third and I believe most important article I have to share is "9 Things Only People With Depression Can Truly Understand". If there was any article I could recommend when talking about depression it's this last one. This is highly recommended reading especially for those who prefer taking a "hard stand" or "tough love" approach because this might be a reality check for them if they're not too stubborn or hardheaded to understand and or accept what we depressed folks actually have to face. I know some who are too stubborn and thus come off unenlightened and ultimately stupid in the end so they will more likely desperately need this info even though they might blow it off due to said stupidity. Anyway, take a look at these links if you want an understanding of stuff related to depression.
- Before I move on, at the risk of being knocked around even more I want to state for the record that I want absolutely nothing to do with those "ice bucket challenges" that have been all the rage on social media. I have many reasons why I don't want in on that stuff but ultimately I just think it's a stupid idea and I'd rather not be challenged, called out or put on blast. If folks want to do them, that's their collective prerogative but leave me out of it.
- To change the tone for a moment, I thought I'd pass along some information about an upcoming volunteering event that even though I won't be able to do this I think some of you might be interested in. It's a 24-hour-straight event on September 5-6 (noon Friday to noon Saturday) for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank called Operation Orange which involves sorting and inspecting donated food. There are some two-hour shifts still available for this event so click on the link I just provided in the last sentence if you are interested in finding out more information.
- On a whim, I decided to take up a side project of starting up another blog though this one is different than what DJRT is currently. It's a Tumblr that pretty much has a bunch of quote pics and various other pics I've come across in my years online and some of the stuff I've copied off my friends and elsewhere on Facebook and Twitter. The blog is simply called "DJ's Crap" because...well, it's my crap though not a lot of it is literally crap which I don't know how that would be physically possible but anyway...check out the link as some of you might find pics you've shared before. It's not intended to be regularly updated but if I have crap I might want to share I'll post it there. It's not officially affiliated with DJRT even though I've placed the logo from there as this edition's main pic but it will give folks an idea of what kind of stuff has caught my attention over the years even though some of it doesn't apply to me whatsoever. Click on over and check it out.
- A long time tradition in Cuyahoga Falls is coming to an end as the Rockin' on the River concert series is ending its association with the city and moving elsewhere. The last official event will be this Friday. The event itself was not put on by the city of Cuyahoga Falls but by a private event promoter who paid to use the downtown festival space. The city wanted to change things up and look at what might be best going into the future in regard to downtown festivals. The mayor set up a committee to look at what to change or what to keep but the promoter balked at some of the ideas being put out there and then bailed outright. There are those who support the promoter's side of things but I am not one of them. In my opinion, the promoter is coming off like a spoiled brat who's pouting because he's not getting his way or his sweetheart deal any more. Even though it brought people to downtown Cuyahoga Falls, Rockin' on the River has gotten stale and it was time for some changes. I've heard rumors of a couple of festivals that couldn't be put together in the past couple of years because there was no official process to do so and because the Rockin' on the River promoter locked up so many summer weekend dates so far in advance that it made scheduling them there impossible. Rockin' on the River was good for the city but I think it can do better and will do better. I hope next year there is some more variety in events there besides what festivals are already scheduled to take place.
- An update on the county tax issue that I talked about in the last edition...they removed the arena from the ballot. It was a smart move and I will now be supporting the issue again. The arena didn't need to be on there. If the University of Akron wants a new arena, it should probably raise funds for it like it did for its football stadium...that's my two cents.
- This past month, aside from being knocked around, has been a busy one for yours truly. I've hit up several festivals and events around the area. In mid-July I hit up the Mogadore Summer Festival and took in some great wrestling action provided by Ohio Championship Wrestling. I took some pictures of the event which you can find here: 2014 - 07-19 - Ohio Championship Wrestling (Mogadore Summer Festival, Mogadore, OH). Also, after intending to checking out InfoCision Stadium at the University of Akron for a while, I visited it twice in one week's time. The first was for Browns Family Day (pics can be found here: 2014 - 08-02 - Browns Family Day) and the second was the LeBron James Homecoming Celebration (pics: 2014 - 08-08 - LeBron Homecoming). On a side note, I am loving my camera phone as it's much better than the old phone I had before this one. Back to the subject at hand, I also watched fireworks from Rock The Docks at Springfield Lake, celebrated my parents' 50th wedding anniversary at a family reunion and went to Circle Fest in Tallmadge (where I had my trip...so to speak). I think that is going to do it for summer festival season. That run of festival weekends tired me out but I do look forward to next year's slate.
- I want to quickly touch on some of the sports teams I follow. Regarding the Ohio State Buckeyes football team, I had a feeling after last season that Braxton Miller should have entered the NFL Draft and left OSU. My feeling turned out to be validated as he injured his shoulder and is now out for the upcoming season for the Bucks which now has the team helmed by a redshirt freshman. I don't know what that will portend to this season. Regarding the Cleveland Browns, they have looked rather sloppy on offense but since this is the preseason with one game left to go in it and finally naming starting quarterback in Brian Hoyer I think things will come together sooner than later. Finally, with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it's like "Extreme Makeover" with both Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett traded away and replaced by All-Stars Kevin Love and a returning LeBron James. If anyone had asked me two months ago if this was something that was actually going to happen I would have said they were nuts. Shows what I know.
- Song on Repeat: "Wanted" by Hunter Hayes. Normally I don't listen to country all that often but this last-call-in-a-bar type of song grabbed my attention and I've been listening to it a lot as of late.
- Shoutouts: Anna, Debbie, Ron M., Mary S., Stephanie, Melissa, Alan, Stan, Limo Dave & Sarah, Lou, Ron U., Courtney, Brent, Brandon, Sean D., Jay, Kevin, Jamie, Cory, Xavier, Bo (Steve), Fran, Margie, Donielle, Stephen, Jenny K., Bob & Lynn, Claudia, Sue & Tim, Russ G, Scotty, Kaleigh, Kate, Dave M., and Jennifer D.
That's it for this edition. There was a lot more I could have talked about or expanded on what I've already talked about in this edition. I may do just that in a future edition but for now I'm good. I'm gonna take off now but I hope you guys and gals got a lot out of this particular edition. Until next time, folks. Take care and God Bless.
DJ
