[Wondergirl]

Happy new year. Let's hope it's a good one.

Glad to see you again! Have a terrific 2013!

[Raiderman]

I'm glad to hear from you. I hope we can continue to chat in 2013. I think you have helped me and I really appreciate it.

[Wondergirl]

I'm glad to hear from you. I hope we can continue to chat in 2013. I think you have helped me and I really appreciate it.

I was wondering where you disappeared to after you gave us such a thoughtful blog post. Ready to write another one??

[Raiderman]

Are you kidding? Wasn't one enough? I'm sure there must be other writers out there. Anyway I got off to decent start this year when I resolved to meet a woman I've been chatting with online for a few years. It went OK. My first New Years date ever. You can take credit if you like.

[Wondergirl]

I've been beating the bushes to find other writers, but they all say that Raiderman dude guy is so good that we've love to read more from him. :)

Okay. I'll take credit for the date. Where will you do and what will you do?

[Raiderman]

It was New Year's Eve. We just got something to eat and saw a movie. She didn't stay late because she has a 13 year old at home. I'll consider another blog post if you're nice to me. Do you have a topic in mind? One of my worries now is that my 88 year old mom has signs of dementia and can't seem to live alone anymore. I don't know what I can say about it though.

[Wondergirl]

It was New Year's Eve. We just got something to eat and saw a movie. She didn't stay late because she has a 13 year old at home. I'll consider another blog post if you're nice to me. Do you have a topic in mind? One of my worries now is that my 88 year old mom has signs of dementia and can't seem to live alone anymore. I don't know what I can say about it though.

Whoa! MY 88-year-old mom is also showing signs of dementia. I live 600 miles from her, so have to depend on my two brothers to keep me informed.

Yes, I will be nice to you as long as I don't have to send you a tin of homemade gooey caramel brownies. ;) As far as topics go, it has to be something that excites you. I have a list of ideas on the blog in one of the recent posts --

My first kiss
The house of my dreams
My worst vacation ever
If I were invisible
My earliest memory
What I wanted to be when I grew up -- and [xxx] years later
The best gift I ever received
If I could go back in time
The best advice my mother (or father) gave me
If I could be an animal
What three things would I take with me if I knew I would be stranded on an island for a year
The most important thing I learned in school
The hardest part of being a kid
If I could talk to an animal, which one and what would we talk about

[Raiderman]

OK I'll think about it. But there aren't a lot of things that excite me.

[Wondergirl]

Okay, cancel "excites you." How about the dementia idea and how a parent's dementia impacts on a child?

[Raiderman]

All right only for you. But first I'd like your opinion as a mental health professional on something that deeply disturbs all of us, especially in NY because of our proximity to Connecticut. Why did that kid shoot up that school? It's so scary and no one knows why. Can you venture an opinion?

[Wondergirl]

I'm waiting to hear the answer to that myself, hoping the detectives will come up with something concrete. Supposedly, Adam played shooter video games frequently in his basement bedroom and that may have desensitized him to shooting and death, making death "not real." Was he living out one of his games? The school was five miles from his house, with other schools probably closer, so why did he choose that one? And he had plenty of time to rethink this decision before he got there. He apparently had a history of not being able to empathize or even to feel pain himself, according to his shop teacher. I itch to write a book (or someday read one) about this tragedy.

[Raiderman]

I know the police questioned the dad and brother but never revealed what they said. I doubt they know much because nether had seen Adam in several years and he had been getting worse recently. The connection he had to the school was that he used to be a student there. But he couldn't have had a grudge against those kids who weren't even born when he was a student.

[Wondergirl]

I've read that he never went to school there, despite earlier reports. Nor was his mom a teacher or sub there. No one has confirmed yet that she was a volunteer there. I'm still not sure what his connection was with the school.

[Raiderman]

Really? The early report that his mom was a teacher there was proven false. But I thought it was confirmed that he was a student there. It's surprising at this late date we still don't know the details.

[Raiderman]

Has everyone really been asking for more blogs from that raiderman dude or is it just you? Oh well, maybe you are asking me because you know writing about one's feelings is therapeutic. Or maybe you're just getting pressure to update the blog. No matter. Here is another one.

We are all anxiety ridden. I mean my family although it may apply to humanity. I think Freud said that neurosis is the penalty we pay for civilization. He felt that civilization is so good that it's worth the trade-off. Maybe so, but on some days I have doubts. Anyway, anxiety runs in my family the way noses run on a cold day.

My dad passed away about six years ago leaving my 82-year-old mother living alone for the first time in her life. She was OK at the beginning, but lately she has been in a mental decline, getting very forgetful, not being able to tell night from day, even telling me she "forgot" to sleep one night. Her psychiatrist said she doesn't have dementia. I think she is just worried and alone, and it's hard to think clearly when you are always in panic. I think having an aide visiting her will solve the problem for now. But now I worry too because if I live to her age, I won't have someone like me to look after me. I too am alone and left to ponder if I would handle it any better than her without even having children to rely on. It's not something I want to think about now.

[Wondergirl]

I had to eat a New Year's Day pizza for supper. How about expanding on your anxiety post for the blog. :) Your fans are crying out for more.

We're not so sure my mom's problem is dementia either. Two of her granddaughters had written an R-rated book and then self published it in 2009, thereby flipping my VERY conservative minister-widow's mom's wig. She has been mentally chewing around on this for over three years and has had no contact with them (who live a mile away from her), and now she is exhibiting some rather strange behaviors that we first thought were signs of dementia, but now are not so sure. Anxiety can really do a number on a person, can't it!

[Raiderman]

Who knows? A lot of things can cause symptoms similar to dementia- lack of sleep, side effects of meds, anxiety, normal aging, etc. isn't my post long enough? I think it's longer than my last.

[Wondergirl]

So I have your permission to copy/paste it to the blog, with proper attribution, of course?

[Raiderman]

Sure. That's why I wrote it. I hope that will satisfy my adoring fans for a while.

[Wondergirl]

You have a title suggestion? I will add an image or two?