sup

It's amazing how many times I can get mentioned in a week. Just saying hi. I'm alive. I give Cancun a thumbs down. Had a good time but don't recommend it.

<pre><font color=red>A64 3200+ Winchester
DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra-D
1GB Corsair 4400C25PT
WD740GD, WD2000JB, WD1200JB
ATI X800XL
Dell 2405FPW</pre><p>

You got a dose while you were there, right?

<font color=blue>"My magic words at half-time were f*ck, bollocks, bastard, crap and piss-poor." - Mick McCarthy </font color=blue>

That's what you get for specifically asking for a ladyboy who resembles a certain Quebexican....

<font color=blue>"My magic words at half-time were f*ck, bollocks, bastard, crap and piss-poor." - Mick McCarthy </font color=blue>

You should have been there 25 years ago... It was way nice then... It was also nice 15 years ago, but was going down hill because of all the spring breakers...

Mosquito Coast is like Can Cun was 25 years ago...



Dazzle them with Brilliance, or Baffle them with BS!

Cancun is just expensive resorts and my hotel was like a military compound that I couldn't bring women back to. Worse yet I couldn't get drunk there. I'm guessing they water the alcohol down. The humidity was terrible and made Thailand's weather seem like pure bliss. The airports were having major issues handling us and I was late both getting there and coming back. Clubs were $25-$50 to get into. I literally could have flown to Thailand for the weekend and only spent a few more hours travelling. It would have cost me hundreds less as well.

Cancun is for 18 year olds.

<pre><font color=red>A64 3200+ Winchester
DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra-D
1GB Corsair 4400C25PT
WD740GD, WD2000JB, WD1200JB
ATI X800XL
Dell 2405FPW</pre><p>

It was obvious that my age didn't reflect my income so there were almost no single women at my hotel. Downtown was all ghetto and reminded me of the people I see in Compton. There was some kind of hoopty convention or something going on.

<pre><font color=red>A64 3200+ Winchester
DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra-D
1GB Corsair 4400C25PT
WD740GD, WD2000JB, WD1200JB
ATI X800XL
Dell 2405FPW</pre><p>

You did some nice dives over there?

<font color=red>Sig space for rent. make your offer.</font color=red>

__________________________________________________________

It was obvious that my age didn't reflect my income so there were almost no single women at my hotel. Downtown was all ghetto and reminded me of the people I see in Compton. There was some kind of hoopty convention or something going on."

Dh, its good to know you're back and I see Cancun took away none of the old DH flair!

<b><font color=green> "America is full of vociferous minorities and silent majorities". Richard Nixon on the Progressive Party's failed presidential candidate, Henry Wallace. </b> </font color=green>

As long as he was not named CHARLIE! LOL!

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

Sure, I will tell her you are satified with Roseane Barr.

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

Ahhh Rosie O' Donnel, what a hottie.

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The <b><A HREF="http://snipurl.com/blsb" target="_new"><font color=red>THGC Photo Album</font color=red></A></b>, send in your pics, get your own webpage and view other members' sites.

But you can't beat the yeasty fanny-batter of the lovely swollen Oprah.

I'm the good time that was had by all

If it was anything like the bull fight in Mexico..... Man, I don't even want to go there!!!!!!!




Dazzle them with Brilliance, or Baffle them with BS!

I went to a bull fight in Mexico & lost it!!!! It was all fun, until they went to kill the bull...... Something triggered in my mind from the sounds I heard.... I had a mental break down on the spot.... I was crying so hard that my wife had to lead me out of the bull ring.... I couldn't see & really didn't know / care if I was alive.... I laid in the square sobbing for over an hour.... It ruined our whole 25th anniversary trip....

What scared me then & still scares the hell out of me was: I just couldn't believe that something triggered all of that, thats in me!!!!! I figured after 25 years I gotten over it all.... I don't feel that way anymore.... I know it's there & can come out to paralyze me & thats a scary thing to have to live with.... I half the time wonder what could set it off again...... I don't ever want that sh-t to come out on me again, ever!!!!!! I fear it & I'm not afraid of anything, really!!!!!



I don't know why I made that comment above, but I don't really want to talk about it.... There's way to much pain & anguish there for me.... I figured I would give a short explanation & move on.... I'm sure that people can respect that, hopefully!!! [shrug]




Dazzle them with Brilliance, or Baffle them with BS!

I respect that, man. Going back to some of my 2003 breakdown images can still hurt as it causes me to remember the obsessive patterns and sometimes brings them back to my real life.

I can only hope that you don't get those panic attacks (if that's what we can call them) anymore. Trauma can be almost undetected until much later, that's what's scary. I sorta feel ya on this one (the moment of sudden panic, unexpected at all or inexistant previously) though it's not close to what you lived through.

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Reading what RC said brough back some dark memories for me. I think with PTSD there's a trigger, something that inadvertantly sets you off. Like RC, it happened once with me, and I don't ever want it to happen again. Not much frightens me, but that absolutely put the fear of god up me. It's blacked out of my mind, I have no recollection of it to this day, but my wife told me everything. I'm pretty sure what caused it (a smell, of all things), but it does prey on my mind sometimes about how can I possibly avoid it happening again.

Sorry for rambling on, just don't want RC to feel he's alone on this one.

<font color=blue>"My magic words at half-time were f*ck, bollocks, bastard, crap and piss-poor." - Mick McCarthy </font color=blue>

I can't speak for RC, but could there be a trigger that kicks it off in the mind?

I was on holiday at the time... never been back there since, despite the fact that it was a beautiful place.

RC probably has the dark dreams too. They fock you up rightly. Part and parcel of being a soldier I guess.

<font color=blue>"My magic words at half-time were f*ck, bollocks, bastard, crap and piss-poor." - Mick McCarthy </font color=blue>

F*ck me, you've just described what happened in exact detail. You're gonna charge me now, aren't you?!

I did have counselling, but a while afterwards, when I'd left the army. Didn't help much, although that might have been more to do with me than him. Drank an awful lot too, way too much in fact. Didn't help initially that I was recovering in barracks from an op to remove my appendix and I had loads of time to dwell on the subject. So I drank. And drank. The quack told me that drinking the volume I was merely a symptom of my trying to blot out what I'd seen. Now, he was only the company quack, and part of me was thinking he was talking some bollocks at the time. But the more I look back, the more I think he's right.

<font color=blue>"My magic words at half-time were f*ck, bollocks, bastard, crap and piss-poor." - Mick McCarthy </font color=blue>

Yep, normally I would charge 350 Euros an hour. But for you, it's 500 Euros an hour [/charming]

People normally exhibit repression or hypervigilance (or sometimes both) after experiencing trauma, although the latter usually applies more to sustained trauma during childhood. I've described repressed memories above, hypervigilance is a behaviour where the individual constantly monitors the environment around them (and people in particular) to try and foresee any conceivable threat to themselves. They engage in path-depandant thinking where they mentally envisage scenarios that might never happen, are are trying to think several moves ahead so that they can anticipate what might possibly happen. They can become very perturbed or angry at people because of scenarios that have not yet happened, and often experience profound internal rage, usually centred around other people. They can have serious issues around trust and authority/power.

A good psychologist should be able to deal with either.

I'm the good time that was had by all

I'd pay attention then. The probem with such symptoms is that they cannot be sustained for long periods of time. Hypervigilance requires a great deal of cognitive and emotional effort, and can self-reinforce to the extent that some people are so focused on the external world that they become almost fatalistic, i.e. they get the sense that they have no control over what happens to them. Combat veterans are also prone to profound feelings of guilt or loss, and can engage in what is informally know as 'if only' thinking, where they imagine how things would have been if only something had happened differently in the past.

I have a lot of training and clinical experience in this area, feel free to pick my brain.

I'm the good time that was had by all

His question is highly relevant and appropriate. Those who have experienced trauma are likely to have very little sense of how they think about the subject, i.e. they have a very distinct second-order reasoning profile. Other people however, particularly friends and family, are more likely to either perceive the synpoms or to observe changes in behaviour.

When looking at such an issue you have to take a structured and objective approach to symptomatology and diagnosis. The correct approach is to see if the patient meets the criteria for clinical diagnosis using what is known as DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

Now consider the symptoms below and see how/where they might apply to you:

The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following were present:

* the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others

* the person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Note: In children, this may be expressed instead by disorganized or agitated behavior

The traumatic event is persistently reexperienced in one (or more) of the following ways:

* recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions. Note: In young children, repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed.

* recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: In children, there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content.

* acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur on awakening or when intoxicated). Note: In young children, trauma-specific reenactment may occur.

* intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event physiological reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event

Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

* efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma

* efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma

* inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma

* markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities

* feeling of detachment or estrangement from others
restricted range of affect (e.g., unable to have loving feelings)

* sense of a foreshortened future (e.g., does not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a normal life span)

Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (not present before the trauma), as indicated by two (or more) of the following:

* difficulty falling or staying asleep
* irritability or outbursts of anger
* difficulty concentrating
* hypervigilance
* exaggerated startle response

Duration of the disturbance (symptoms in Criteria B, C, and D) is more than 1 month.

The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Specify if:

Acute: if duration of symptoms is less than 3 months
Chronic: if duration of symptoms is 3 months or more

With Delayed Onset: if onset of symptoms is at least 6 months after the stressor

I'm the good time that was had by all

I hear you mate, I really do. There are times when I can just go within myself, just shut the world out and nothing can get in. It was the only way to cut yourself off from it. When I was in the Pathfinders, it upped the ante a far degree and you really had to harden yourself off. So I became able to shut myself off from everything. In the field, as you said, everything was black and whiye, right or wrong. No inbetween. So out there you never thought about your actions, or what you'd seen, because you were trained that way. But outside of the battlefield, it all comes out. So that's why we used to drink, and really cane it.

The army teaches you everything you need to know about battle etc, except how to cope with it afterwards.

<font color=blue>"My magic words at half-time were f*ck, bollocks, bastard, crap and piss-poor." - Mick McCarthy </font color=blue>

Oh man.... talk about ticking the boxes........ fock.

<font color=blue>"My magic words at half-time were f*ck, bollocks, bastard, crap and piss-poor." - Mick McCarthy </font color=blue>

Yikes. Hope I haven't stirred anything up for you.

I'm the good time that was had by all