Man, i sure have missed blogging.
Almost as much as i’ve missed taking pictures with a real camera.
I’d forgotten how therapeutic this is for me.
Hey, have i mentioned lately how much i love living in Berlin?
I love living in Berlin.
Our life here is awesome, and there are such great people in it.
Yesterday i hung out with a (new) friend for about nine hours, just walking around, drinking coffee, and eating food. We even went to a bar, with Lucifer of course!
That never happened in Denmark. Nobody ever has time to just hang out in Copenhagen, unless of course you send them a written request two weeks in advance, or agree to meet before the devil puts his shoes on (sorry, that one works better in Danish… it means early, ok?)
It’s not that people don’t work hard here, or that they aren’t busy. I don’t know what it is exactly, but i love it.
And i love that our friends and family from Denmark don’t mind coming down here to visit once in a while.
I guess it’s also pretty great for them to always have a place to stay in Berlin!
I’m finding it a little hard to follow my last post, cause i love those pictures so much, so here’s something completely different. Old pictures! Mostly of people!
These are from the London Tattoo Convention last September.
I actually got the film developed rather quickly after coming home, but they gave it to me on paper instead of a CD, and when i asked them to scan my negatives, they couldn’t.
And then the whole travel nightmare continued and i never had the time, until last week.
I love and hate going to that convention. It’s so great to see friends from all over the world, usually friends we only get to see that one time a year, but at the same time, it’s so fucking stressful working there, and i’m obviously not great with large gatherings and social situations in general (hello agoraphobia!) but at least that part has gotten a lot easier since i discovered an anxiety medication.
This was one of the better conventions, even though i got so sick that i completely lost my voice.
Allan did a lot of rose hand tattoos, we hung out with good friends, and i didn’t panic much.
We even went to dinner at a real restaurant one night, and that’s pretty unusual.
I can’t say i’m excited about the next convention, cause i never really am, but i dread it less and less each year.
Who knows, if we ever stay at a different hotel, i may end up liking it?
Do you mind if I ask what anxiety medication you've found makes a difference? I haven't had much luck with meds in the past but lately I've been pretty incapacitated by my anxiety problems and I'm realising I'm going to have to do something about it. I've been saying that for a long time, but I really do. If you don't want to talk about it then no worries, I totally understand – just thought I'd ask! Also any other advice you have for getting help/types of treatment would be really useful.
No, i don't mind, but i'm not sure what it's called really. I think it's like a European version of Xanax?
I rarely use it, only for really stressful situations, but most of the time, i've learned to co-exist with anxiety.
Therapy is great, obviously, but also expensive, so a cheap way to get better, or at least get to know your condition better is self help books.
The one that really helped me is called from panic to power. Cheesy, but it worked and you can get it on amazon.
Oh, and avoid caffeine at all costs (no coffee, no chocolate). Exercise is good (but not too much if it's a trigger for you) and cutting back on sugar in general is a good idea.
And having a good doctor. I never would have even thought of medication if the guy i had in Denmark hadn't quietly diagnosed me and given a crap.
Hope that helped a bit!
Thank you for this! I think having a good doctor is one of the hardest parts, because there are a surprisingly high number who don't understand or care about mental health problems at all, which is terrible and sad. So yeah, finding a good one is a priority for me, I haven't had much luck in the past which is one of the things that's made me hesitant to try again. I'll definitely check that book out, I've read a few but not that one so I will look it up for sure. Thank you, and I hope you're feeling better these days! 🙂
Agreed, i hate going to the doctor, and the ones i've had have always been terrible. Except for that one guy, of course.
And thank you, i'm feeling good 🙂
I feel like conventions are so boring/stressful at the same time. I never get to go anymore though, I'm always the one left behind to watch the shop. Darn it. If they get to London I'm forcing them to let me come so I can see you guys, lol.
If they go to London and don't bring you, i'm gonna tell the whole internet that they tattoo babies and puppies!
When we were in Ireland those "Look RIGHT" were life-savers since we weren't used to people driving on the left side of the road. Looks like you guys had a blast, the tattoos are all gooorgeous.
I wouldn't exactly call it a blast, but hey, nice tattoos indeed.
I always have trouble with crossing the street in London, but for some reason not in Tokyo. It does not make sense.