8 weeks on

Finished Neil Gaiman's Ultimate Sandman. Thoroughly enjoyed the Dream's visits to the Middle Ages. Shakespeare's cameo in one segment presaged his being featured in one of the best issues in the series.

John Hodgman is more amusing on TV than in print. I found his second book, More Information Than You Need ..., rather tedious. The layout reminded me of a nineteenth newspaper. Maybe it's the need for glasses again after 15 years without thanks to LASIK, but the alternating small print and tiny print was more irritating than entertaining.

Made a couple of discussion group postings on liblicense-l tonight. Probably the most significant engagement in professional discourse in close to a year. It's definitely time to re-engage.

Work +7 weeks

Still no headaches! This is really a departure, going months on end without having to take painkillers, usually more than once a week.

Read Infinite Crises, not as compelling as it would have been if I wasn't a couple of decades behind with the DC mythology.

Have Gaiman's The Absolute Sandman. Read the first series, featuring Dr. Destiny, with a nod to the Golden Age superhero and an extended cameo from John Constantine (not Keanu's incarnation). I recognized Brute and the Glob in the second stanza from Jack Kirby's Sandman endeavors. Very impressed with the seamless references to traditional comics timelines from within an epic taking place largely within it's own fictional realms.

6 weeks and counting

Hosted Hema and colleagues from Cal State Long Beach on Tuesday. Very nice visit. Struggled a bit with procrastination while making arrangements, but it went well.

Read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volumes 1 and 2 this week. Edward Hyde makes a wonderful anti-hero. Loved the nods to The Wind in the Willows, Mother Goose and Beatrix Potter in the Dr. Moreau vignette in v. 2. Didn't anticipate volume 1's mystery villain nor recognize if the primary villain was borrowed or original to the tale.

5 weeks & a TV appearance

The TV segment I taped on TMS last Thursday finally aired on Friday, September 4. I have a few minor quibbles with the reporter's interpretations, but they really are minor compared to the positive effect of the impact of the coverage of depression and TMS.

The smoke and ash from the fire is finally starting to clear. The moon was actually white last night, instead of red or gold. Corin is likely to be in Ireland, to study for the fall semester, before the fire is contained, much less extinguished. The sky is a light blue and sunny today, a most welcome change of pace.

Watched Juno and V for Vendetta this week. Absolutely no common elements between the movies, but both were quite enjoyable. The V graphic novel was better than the movie.

Work +4 weeks and the Station Fire

Back to work full time for a month now. Things still are going well, not seeming nearly as strange as it occasionally did at first.

Did a TV interview about TMS and depression with Dr. Cook for KABC on Thursday morning. The Station Fire in La Canada Flintridge bumped the segment from both Thursday and Friday newscasts. Hopefully it will air during a less urgent news period in the coming days.

The Station Fire necessitated working from home on Friday just in case I needed to evacuate the house and pets. Friday was okay, but Saturday brought mandatory evacuations within 3/4 of a mile of our home. We opted to take the pets, 5 cats and a dog, and many valuable/irreplaceable items to visit friends in Pasadena overnight.

Evacuation area is still in place, but the fire is no longer actively threatening our neighborhood, so we came home this morning. Despite the stresses of the fire, displacement, and return home, I haven't been mentally slowed or experienced the physical exhaustion and somnolence which has characterized my depression during stressful situations.

Read another novel, Working for the Devil, by Lilith Saintcrow. Interesting post-nuclear society, with psionics, vampires (off camera), and Mafia families as major factions. When I bought the book, I saw that there were at least 4 more in the series about Necromance and bounty hunter, Dante Valentine.

Work +3 weeks

Settling into normal rhythms in the office. Remembering how to do most things when they arise. Splitting work between Mac and PC.

District 9 was outstanding! It felt more like television news and documentary footage rather than sitting through a movie.

Work +2 weeks

2 full weeks in the office. It doesn't feel quite so strange. Making progress on clearing some lingering projects off my desk. Spoke with a few faculty members this week. They were glad to see me back at work. Went to a departmental seminar Friday and saw a few more folks for the first time in quite a while.

Work +1 week

Back to work for a full week, 5 full days. Still trying to find my depth. Some of the routine activities, like ordering a book, required a little brushing up. Other activities continue to be as familiar and comfortable as an old glove.

Several people, faculty and staff, have mentioned seeing the piece in the Times. All have been supportive.

Back to work

I went back to work, full time, on Monday, August 3.

My very sincere thanks to Dr. Cook and the Semel Institute at UCLA for the TMS therapy and to Kaiser Permanente, my medical insurance provider, for paying for the treatments.

I appreciate the support of my friends who've been following the process through this blog.

The support of my family cannot be understated, without them, none of this would have been possible.

... and through the final taper

Last week had treatments on Monday morning and Friday afternoon. Amy and I drove out Santa Monica Blvd. and down the California Incline to PCH. We had lunch at Gladstones and continued through Malibu to the Gordons' beach house on the Silver Strand in Oxnard, where we spent the rest of our 25th anniversary week.

Corin, Katie, and Garrett came out Wednesday for the anniversary itself and stayed overnight. Wild game of Triominos, in which I was thoroughly trounced. I redeemed myself by dominating the Texas Hold'em.

Corin and Katie both made original art projects for anniversary gifts. Definitely mutants! I can't draw a straight line with a T-square.

Read Alex Bledsoe's The Sword-Edged Blonde at the beach and started Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. PPZ and Anonymous Rex are on hold while I read Vonnegut.

Did a phone interview from the beach with a writer from the LA Times. Big article on depression due in this Sunday's paper. Dr. Cook thought that I would be able to articulate my experiences with depression.

Lunch with Jim on Tuesday went well. Hoping to return to work in the next week or so.

Final taper session today, #35. Week-long booster series are possible in the event of a relapse. Good to know.

Corin and I went to (500) Days of Summer this evening. Good movie, albeit somewhat sad watching someone's life swirl into oblivion. Nice to see him rally and have another shot at happiness.

Board games and zombies

Played Rail Baron with Corin, Katie, and Garrett Wednesday night. Started reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this morning. Wish I could read the original in a side-by-side mode for comparison. Through the first 50 pages or so, it's a hoot.

... and now the taper

Finished my 30th TMS session on Tuesday and had my first session of a tapering period today. Thursday is a private holiday with another treatment scheduled for Friday.

Finished A Salty Piece of Land. When I went to check the cut of Mr. Darcy's zombie-fighting waistcoat, I was unable to locate the inestimable Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Instead I settled into Christopher Stasheff's The Warlock's Last Ride, the umpteenth, and final, installment of the Warlock in Spite of Himself series, and quite possibly the end of the related Warlock Wandering series.

PPZ has been located and is queued up for reading next.

Catching up some more

Summer Nationals have wrapped up in Dallas and ALA is winding down in Chicago. It feels very strange not to have been to either one.

Reading Jimmy Buffett's A Salty Piece of Land. Probably finish it tonight.

Tomorrow marks the 30th treatment session of my TMS adventure. There will be a handful of follow on treatments to taper off rather than simply stop abruptly. Still haven't experienced any untoward side effects from the treatments -- knock on wood.

Bought a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this weekend. Looking forward to seeing how the narrative has been spliced together/spiced up.

Saw Brüno Saturday night. Katie and Garrett invited Amy and me along to the show. Amy watched most of the movie through her fingers. She was mesmerized and horrified, in roughly equal parts. It was appallingly funny and well deserving of its R rating. The Hangover retains its place as the absolute laugh out loud funniest movie of the summer, but Brüno far surpassesYear One in the funny sweepstakes.

Catching up on the last week

Finished American Gods on Thursday night. Stayed up past midnight to finish it. I don't know how many years it has been since I was sufficiently hooked on a book to pull a marathon reading session to completion.

Long, lazy weekend. Amy and I saw The Proposal. Rated funny, in contrast to Year One -- amusing; The Hangover -- hilarious.

Katie and Garrett were in Dallas for the (fencing) Summer Nationals. First time I haven't been at SN since 2002, before Corin first started competing. Refereed 2006-2008. Hope to be back on the North America's Cup circuit refereeing in the new season.

Corin went to Big Bear with friends.

Had homework -- depression mood inventory -- on Tuesday night, after my 25th session. I had started with a score of 39 (high end of moderately depressed). Indicator has been falling throughout the course of the TMS treatment. This week -- 16! A score of 10 or less would be considered remission. Dr. Cook is delighted. I'm pretty happy about it, too.

No side effects to report. No scalp tenderness. No headaches (STILL!). No need for Tylenol or other meds to keep headaches at bay.

Reading Jimmy Buffett's A Salty Piece of Land currently.

Started Eric Garcia's Anonymous Rex during the weekend but didn't really get traction. Still hopeful, though. Copies of Casual Rex and Hot and Sweaty Rex, further adventures of Garcia's velociraptor Sam Spade, have been on the bookshelf for a few years. Corin read and enjoyed the novels.

On Monday it became official, I'm getting older. Went to the ophthalmologist. I'm a little near-sighted in my left eye, a slight regression from my LASIK 14 years ago. My right eye is slightly far-sighted. I'm not ready to start propping menus up on the far side of the table to read them, but I'm probably due for driving glasses. Somehow, although TMS is a veritable cure-all, it doesn't seem likely to address this situation.

TMS @ UCLA Day 22

An intern sat in on the TMS session. I learned a fair amount about the various positioning adjustments made to replicate the initial measurements to locate my motor strip and frontal cortex.

Reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Always enjoy a good yarn invoking mythic gods mucking about in the modern world.

TMS @ UCLA Day 21

Into the fifth week of a six week course of TMS treatments. Don was startled today by a reading showing a previously unseen orientation of the sensors. It didn't feel any different to me, though, and treatment continued without any significant adjustments.

Finished The Scarlet Pimpernel tonight. It's pretty clear to me that the rich socialite, orphaned at a young age, typified by Bruce Wayne, but much more widely employed in the superhero genre, originated with Percy Blakeney.

Neil Gaiman's American Gods is nextin the queue.

TMS @ UCLA Day 20

No add on pulse trains today. Minimal finger twitching.

Car fire started in the Sepulveda Pass as I was heading down to Westwood. Rubber necking at the burnt car two hours later slowed traffic for several miles on my return trip.

the fourth weekend

Saturday morning we went to a stress management class at Kaiser. The instructor did a good job communicating the concepts. Nothing I hadn't heard at Huntington, but well presented nonetheless. Perturbed but not awfully put out by an abortive attempt to find a 3 y.o.'s birthday party at the Santa Fe Dam, with no more information than it was (to be) somewhere at the dam. 45 minutes wandering in near triple digit temps, but it could have gone much worse.

Sunday I was slowed by a nasty crick in my neck. Couldn't look over my right shoulder, which makes driving a dicey proposition. Played some Munchkin with Corin and his friends in the evening.

TMS @ UCLA Day 19

The treatment routine is fairly pat. Traffic continues to offer challenges, but thoughts of packing it in are not as common when creeping toward Westwood.

Bought a second 25 day parking pass. How can UCLA have financial difficulties with the killing they make on parking?!

TMS @ UCLA Day 18

The routine is pretty solid. I'm less antsy in the chair, meaning fewer adjustments during the course of the sessions.

Finished Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer's The Grand Tour. Repeated references to the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel in the book have led me to dig out a copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel to read. I've read that some trace the origin of the superhero genre to The Scarlet Pimpernel. Now I'll be able to judge for myself.