Today's Open Dictionary Word and a certain politician's birthday - coincidence?

Happy Birthday Fred "Gopher" Grandy!

You know, it takes major league cojones to go on in politics/commentary when people just can't stop thinkin' bout you as "Gopher".

He needs to meet me and find out just how cool former Iowans can be. However, I don't remember him running for governor of Iowa back in the day. I would have voted for him just to say I had "Gopher" for governor. Hell, couldn't have been any worse than "The Governator".

I am still nervous about seeing Mom. My friends have all said to think positive, and I'm trying to even though it goes against every fiber of my being. But I also know my propensity for opening mouth/inserting foot on a regular basis. I don't want to say anything that'll make her sad, but sometimes I miss Dad so much I feel like she's one of the few people that will understand it. Oh shit...now I'm crying. I'm such a dork.

I hate this.

Anyway...there's not a lot of stuff I find of interest as far as current events/Hollyweird stuff. I don't give a flying fig about the stupid Spice Girls, and I'm trying to be Rosie-Free this week.

But the whole thing with Richard Jeni - now THAT makes me sad. (Hey, I know I'm already sad - I'm just shifting focus here.) To quote the article and coroner's report therein:

...the (emergency room) report said Jeni was involuntarily hospitalized on Dec. 28 after he showed up in a hospital emergency room with suicidal depression and indicated he would jump off of a building. (**Note: www.thesmokinggun.com has the emergency room write-up posted on their website.)

Days after his death, Jeni's family disclosed the comic was mentally ill and said in a statement that he had been diagnosed earlier this year with "severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia."

According to the coroner's report, Jeni's girlfriend said he had problems with "insomnia, paranoia and high blood pressure due to stresses of his work schedule."

He also had a history of schizophrenia and had taken several antidepressants and a sleeping aid, the coroner's report said.

Wow...isn't it amazing how something so painful to Jeni, his family and his friends can be reduced to four paragraphs?

Four little paragraphs - look at that.

The "history of schizophrenia" gets me too...I mean, I know of a jazz trumpeter who suffers from schizophrenia but still performs. Music is different from comedy, though...they are both means of expression with different ways of implementation. I wouldn't think comedy would be possible with schizophrenia, would it? I don't know much about schizophrenia myself - I know us swingin' BP folks can cough up a few good one-liners. But schizophrenia is a whole different universe that I know nothing about it. I wonder if the AP report meant to say that there's a history of schizophrenia in Jeni's family? That would seem to make more sense.

But man...it doesn't seem fair/right/comprehensible that a man's pain and anguish should be compressed into four paragraphs. But there it is. I guess that's part of what "reading between the lines" hopes to accomplish, right?

I'm sorry to be on a downer like this...I just figure that here on this blog you've gotta do the happies and the sads.

And on that note...I'll be back later.