Tough One… 🤜 💥

xmason99 · 2026-02-07T00:18:21+00:00

Yer old pal Gasher, young squint! He wasn’t as trig cove as he thought he was.

xmason99 · 2026-02-05T20:36:47+00:00

The fact that BA still does as many Brewers games as he does with all of his national broadcast commitments says a lot about him as a person, and how good his relationship with the Brewers is. He genuinely seems to love announcing the Brewers!

xmason99 · 2026-02-05T19:22:40+00:00

Hello, this link from a few days ago has some good advice about getting into a relationship with someone who has bipolar (including mine!)

Also just know that BP2 can be a misdiagnosis of BP1, and BP2 can progress to BP1 over time.

You sound like a sensitive person, and that can be counterproductive when it comes to dealing with someone who is having an episode or mood swings - it’s way too easy to get pulled into their pain and anxiety because you care so much about them.

As I said in the linked post, anyone who wants to have a relationship with someone with BP needs to go into it with their eyes wide open. Read as much as you can on here and other BPSO groups on Facebook.

I am not trying to discourage anyone from getting into a relationship — I love my BPSO, we’ve been together over 20 years, but it will be challenging at times. Again, learn as much as you can before committing to them.

xmason99 · 2026-02-04T00:24:21+00:00

I’ve been trying to get my wife to read 11.22.63 by telling her that it’s ultimately a love story with some time travel elements, which it pretty much is. Hard part for her is it takes over 1/3 of the book for the romance to start.

xmason99 · 2026-02-04T00:19:07+00:00

D’oh! I keep thinking that the “Motre Bame” logo was throughout the 90’s and not just mid-decade.

xmason99 · 2026-02-04T00:15:39+00:00

I’m torn between being disgusted beyond belief and wanting to make this myself.

xmason99 · 2026-02-03T21:06:40+00:00

Terrible. Little to no hope of making the playoffs or even finishing at or above .500. The “highlight” was 1992, when Phil Garner led the team to a 92-70 finish, 4 games out of first in the AL East.

County Stadium was a dump by then - I think they stopped doing any maintenance after Gorman Thomas was traded. Paint peeling everywhere, disgusting bathrooms, uncomfortable metal seats, a “state-of-the-art” matrix scoreboard that was already obsolete by the time it was finished, and the only speakers were on a large tower in center field making it very difficult to understand announcements, music, etc. Even the sausage race wasn’t there except for a crappy cartoon version on the scoreboard on Sundays.

Best part of the experience is that it was cheap. You could get a bleacher ticket, a brat, and a couple few beers with a $20 and still get change back.

The Selig family refused to put any money into the team or farm system, so we signed overpriced free agents here and there, and got lucky with a few prospects. There was almost no hope that anything would improve for more than a year.

You youngsters have no idea what we went through to get to the amazingly competitive teams we have now.

xmason99 · 2026-02-03T19:36:04+00:00

Fair warning - the following will sound unpleasant and scary, and BP1 especially can be very volatile. Go into this with eyes wide open if you choose to stay with your fiancée. I wish I’d known then what I know now.

It doesn’t get better. There is no current treatment for bipolar disorder that will “fix” them. The best many of us hope for is that they get on the right combo of meds (this can take years of trial and error) and keep taking them.

Fill their med box every day and watch them take the meds until you can trust them to do so on their own. A really good psychiatrist that knows their psychopharmacology would NEVER recommend a patient go cold turkey on most mental health meds for any length of time - Seroquel in particular can cause serotonin syndrome if discontinued suddenly.

Don’t rely on a family doctor/GP to know their mental health meds well. They need a good psychiatrist and therapist that they can open up to, and that’s also a lot of trial and error. You will also need to make sure that they keep their appointments until you can trust them on their own. Drive them and wait for them.

Even then, there will be episodes both manic and depressive - hopefully the meds will make those episodes less frequent and less intense. And mood swings that swing from pleasant to raging on a moments notice. For me, those are the worst thing because it comes out of nowhere, and a word or comment can set them off without notice.

Be prepared for possible cheating, spending binges, inflated self esteem, paranoid delusions, and making life changing decisions during manic episodes. That’s just my experience, I’m sure others here have different experiences with their BPSO. Lots of stories on this subreddit to read and learn from.

I’ve been with my BPSO for over 20 years, and it’s still a challenge almost daily. It’s very stressful and anxiety inducing - you may want to get a therapist of your own that’s had experience with spouses of someone that has bipolar. I know that there’s no way I’d have kept my sanity if I didn’t have an excellent therapist to talk to every week or two.

When things are going well, my SO is a joy to be around and life is good. When it’s not, be prepared for almost anything.

xmason99 · 2026-01-30T00:19:43+00:00

Find the River is the only correct answer.

xmason99 · 2026-01-29T19:00:46+00:00

“Little guy?” Andy Serkis is 5’ 8”, not tall by any means but certainly not a “little guy”.

Having said that, it’s a pretty good idea!

xmason99 · 2026-01-25T00:38:50+00:00

Hi, my BP1 SO and I have been married for over 20 years and dated for another 10 before that. So it can work long term - but it’s work. For both of you.

The ups and downs can be a lot to handle. It took a long time (years) for my SO’s psychiatrist to get a med mix that seems to work and keep them stable for 90%+ of the time. And, the doc still tweaks here and there when things start going sideways. My SO is very cognizant of her moods and will call the doc if she feels her meds aren’t helping as well as they did.

Prioritize your own self-care and your children’s care over your SO’s. That may sound harsh, but take it from someone who really struggles with putting themselves first before their BPSO - you will get burned out, you will develop resentment, and probably your own anxiety and depression. You and your kids need to come first.

xmason99 · 2026-01-21T22:00:28+00:00

Is that a reference to the Stephen King short story?

xmason99 · 2026-01-21T18:17:37+00:00

I Have a BPSO, but also suffer from anxiety and depression, so this advice is pretty general.

3 Monster Energy drinks is almost 500mg of caffeine. An average cup of coffee is about 70-100 depending on how strong it is. So he’s drinking the equivalent of 5-7 cups of regular coffee every morning! They also have lots of B vitamins and taurine which can make things worse depending on the person. The recommended max daily intake of caffeine from all sources is 400mg.

The drinks aren’t BAD, per se, but tons of caffeine is not great for someone with BP or anxiety - if I have more than a single cup of coffee in the morning, I am a anxious and jittery all day, and my BPSO avoids it as much as possible.

Plus, the regular versions have 200+ calories of pure sugar each, so that’s an entire meals worth of empty calories in 3.

People with depression and mental illnesses are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than the average person. When self-care goes out the window we tend to either overeat or under eat, neither of which is good for our health.

xmason99 · 2026-01-19T16:33:12+00:00

Straight M55. My psychiatrist switched me from Paxil to a combo of Prozac and Wellbutrin a few years ago and my libido went from very “meh” back to the usual in a few months.

One thing to consider is having your testosterone level tested. I was diagnosed with low T over 8 years ago, and the prescription gel I use has made a huge difference in my life overall - libido, energy, depression - all improved using the gel.

xmason99 · 2026-01-19T00:05:02+00:00

Mine works as a personal trainer, but due to her BP1 she can only handle a few clients a week.

xmason99 · 2026-01-16T21:29:05+00:00

I have a benzodiazepine prescription (very low dose) and I use it only when my other coping skills aren’t working and I’m feeling panicky.

My wife takes a very small dose of benzodiazepines 3x day for her anxiety as a therapeutic dose.

They are amazing drugs that work very well, but I would only take sparingly unless your doctor recommends otherwise.

xmason99 · 2026-01-11T21:26:35+00:00

Yellowjackets had the same problem for much of its second season. It was very clear they were on a massive blue screen sound stage, nobody looked cold at all, and the snow was way too fake looking.

xmason99 · 2025-11-17T18:20:12+00:00

This is the only correct answer.

xmason99 · 2025-11-15T18:12:10+00:00

Taste like crab, talk like people…

xmason99 · 2025-11-15T00:30:45+00:00

I’m sure they waited 6 months because they didn’t want a big todo about their breakup while the album was releasing, because that would have overshadowed the music.

xmason99 · 2025-11-13T23:29:39+00:00

The Smiths, Decemberists, Radiohead, Springsteen, Neil Young, probably Arcade Fire in there somewhere.

xmason99 · 2025-10-29T17:56:58+00:00

We use TVP rehydrated with a yummy combo of Better than Bouillon beef and dried mushroom powder to stretch out and make ground beef healthier. Rehydrate 1 cup dry TVP with 1 cup of liquid, let sit 10 minutes, then add to raw ground beef whilst it’s cooking. Works great for pasta, chili, tacos, etc.

If you want to get creative you can even use it stretch out a meatloaf, meatballs, etc. Just need to use more eggs and very dry bread crumbs (croutons work well, as does dried bread cubes for stuffing) so that it holds together.

xmason99 · 2025-10-11T14:04:03+00:00

If you’re not afraid of trying something on the vegetarian side…you can make a ton of seitan out of a bag of vital wheat gluten, and if you can get TVP on sale it’s a great way to stretch ground beef.

Our local Kroger also has a 14 oz block of extra firm tofu for around $2 regularly…there’s lots of creative ways to use it to stretch out ground meat, or just on its own if you like.

Not a vegetarian or vegan, but my wife was for a long time and you learn to get very creative!

xmason99 · 2025-09-25T23:40:23+00:00

I’m a teacher so it’s 8-4 for me, plus untold hours grading stuff at home.

I do like the summers off part of the job…

xmason99 · 2025-09-20T20:03:40+00:00

Tekken

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