this depression is so boring and overdone! is there anything new to do or experience? anywhere close to home? perhaps i can poke fun at this problem and label it an attitude problem. what if i were to look at it from an outsider's perspective rather than simply living through the cycle? in that case, i have done nothing but mope and introvert myself for several days.
an extremely cheap airline ticket for a round trip flight to tahiti was held in my name today. i could have ordered for and then paid a primetime shuttle driver to deliver me to the airport. the second ring of hell would have consisted on settling into an economy seat for eight and a half hours.
departing LAX los angeles to arrive in PPT french polynesia... but then what? do and see what in tahiti? why would an independent budget traveler invest time in overpriced newlywed heaven? a connection onward to auckland, new zealand was to depart from PPT the next morning, but i gladly decided to stay home. right now i am feeling sick and also am somewhat arguing with myself as to whether or not a decision was actually made to remain home. i think i'm sick right now. i think wanted to go, regardless of the destination, but am stuck here.
so, i remain in los angeles. let me try to talk myself out of feeling bad for giving in to illness: did i want to fly to tahiti? no, definitely not. what's the sense of visiting tahiti without flying on to bora bora and renting out an overwater bungalow? i have visited the tahitian islands and new zealand on prior vacations. who cares if staying in? why should i care? it didn't cost anything except guilt to remain in an agoraphobic comfort zone of my home.
i also ignored an invitation from a musician to make europe our playground and fly to spain this weekend. the benicassim festival. vip something or other. a huge music assembly of concerts in a corn field and whatnot. spain is enduring an uncommon heat wave. picture sweaty young eurotrash adults spilling alcohol. i seriously considered the foreign entertainment and the wedding party would never have ever known, but i think trying to manage balance means remaining in california.
depression, anxiety, anorexia- i need to get out to find my own food.
it seemed ridiculous to take either spontaneous trip. traveling internationally today could have been fine, but i have never adjusted to living alone in my own home. with invalid friend away at a wedding, there is no safety net this week. when traveling to any foreign country i am expected to bumble around and ask the dumbest questions. it is okay to go and try to live, to learn to purchase food, to spend money and shop. it is unacceptable to fend for yourself in los angeles while wandering around incapacitated by anxiety and bewildered by the availability of choices in the grocery store. it is certainly not okay to hold up the checkout line because you are nervous and fumbling for change.
recently, i put a wad of foreign money in my wallet, in an attempt to take psychological control of not only the cashier, but the shopper standing in line behind me. the intention was, when either of them saw me pick dollars apart from japanese yen, i would get an unspoken break and be allowed at least one social faux pas. after returning to the same store location a few times, i would no longer look like a nervous shoplifter, rather i could appear indecisive and foreign in the eyes of the employees.
this is a difficult day. i am alone, nervous, sad to have given in, and now scared to know i need to go out and test myself by leaving the house-- but am really looking to stay in. go where? why? if i am ill, why am i not allowed to be ill? why do i punish myself after enduring what would be expected?
--
e-mail: how was it you got out of attending the wedding with chuck?: by insisting i needed to stay home with the cat. chuck's mother agreed and understood. his mother caused a great financial distress a few years ago, and is probably relieved that we are not in her presence in team form.
i did chat with
tony pierce of the
busblog last night and got to catch up with what he has been doing. good stuff. i feel a lot better for coming out of my shell but worry that people will unknowingly ask me the questions that will trigger. due to this i hide to try and protect myself, but they never do ask or hound on the inappropriate subjects.