MAR 26, 16 .. HOARDING .. OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS

EPILOGUE written after I finished writing this Post. This is yet another in a seemingly never-ending sequence of Posts that ran-away-with-itself traversing along roads that I did not intend to go down. I swear these Posts take on a life-of-their-own!

“I told you so!”  /signed/  Julia Cameron .. Just begin to write, you don’t wait for the inspiration or for what you are going to write about ..

By-the-way (so who is counting) this will be my six hundredth (600th) Post published here on dot net.

I have been asked to add the following link to this Post.

https://dopasolution.com/hoarding-disorder/ 

To say-the-least, my last post (MAR 24, 16) about suicide / depression / mental illness, the mental illness of others and my own, was ‘very intense’. So I wanted to ‘lighten up’ at least just a little bit in this my next post.

Is there anything spiritually wrong or mentally deficient in the following examples of what I do? I will admit perhaps some of my activities would seem a little on the ‘odd side’ but so be it! Or are all of the below activities just a manifestation of a mind running amok?

Here we go .. Down the road I was NOT going down ..

From September 1996 until January 1997 I had an outstanding psychiatrist that I worked with in San Francisco. Herb Peterson MD. What an outstanding human being first and MD second he was. A senior citizen himself at age 64 years he was at the top of his game in all respects. Patti was with me on September 4th 1996 during my first ever appointment with Dr. Herb. The Medical Director of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center on Parnassus Avenue personally asked him if he would see me. That the medical director at Langley Porter would first see me as a walk-in patient and then personally contact Dr. Herb to see if he would see me as a private patient was just another (what I call) God Shot! You don’t just walk into Langley Porter and get to see the medical director just like that! Well yours truly did! Doctors such as Dr. Herb who have well established and long standing practices seldom take new patients. Herb agreed to see me!

In January of 1997 the-wheels-came-off my figurative automobile. I said to myself .. “If I am going to feel this bad then I am going to go to India and feel this bad in India.” After Dr. Herb could not talk me out of the craziness of going to India in my condition he gave me some meds to take just-in-case I had problems on the 15-hr flight to Hong Kong and the 6-hr flight to Delhi. God gave me the only empty seat on the aircraft beside me. I did just fine on the flight. Fine? The long flight was just wonderful and phenomenal.

I send a lot of people post cards. Dr. Herb was close to the very top of my active post card list of recipients. So Dr. Herb was acutely aware of where I was and what I was doing.

From January 1997 until late May of 1997 I experienced perhaps the most ‘giddy’ and phenomenal trip of my life. During this time period I traveled to Hong Kong / India / Thailand / Burma / Cambodia / Laos / Viet Nam / Australia / into Mainland China / back to Hong Kong and home.

So?

After closely following (via my post cards) this amazing and phenomenal trip I was on .. Dr. Herb  decided to retire.

To quote Patti Dr. Herb said to her words to the effect of :

“I am the Doctor. Cap is the patient. Which one of us is having the most fun in life? Cap is! I am retiring.” And? He retired!

Captain oh Captain get back onto the road you want to walk down.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

I find it increasingly difficult to deal with the waste we as living beings create. I find it shocking to me what I .. who strive to minimize my own waste .. create on a daily basis.

DISCLAIMER !

One of my innermost circle of friends and confidants that I have known for over sixty (60-count-them) years has an advanced degree (a PhD) from the University of Michigan in one form or another of clinical psychology. He has a tool box that is amazing. Absolutely amazing! In his tool box is a ‘wrench for every nut‘! As he reads this I wonder if he is thinking to himself ..

“Cap you are showing early signs of being a ‘hoarder’. I am a little concerned.”

Well Dr. Ed 02476 I too worry about that so I make a conscious effort to prove to myself (as I am doing here) that I REALLY do have a good use for each of the things I am accumulating. Oh yes! Patti and I have watched many episodes of the televised series ‘Hoarders’ so I am well aware of this mental illness.

Let’s begin with my peanut butter jars. The large 48-oz and small 8-oz ones.

Let’s begin with the large 48-oz Skippy jars. The ‘dead soldier’ on the left becomes reborn on the right. Notice his lid.

I use a dental ‘night guard’ when I sleep. Is it wrong to use the above lid to hold my night guard?
Little Blue Lid is oh-so-proud of his job as one of my Bobbseys! He lives on top of my CPAP machine. With him positioned there I am NOT going to forget to use him because when I turn on my CPAP to go-to-bed or take-a-nap there he is with my dental night guard.

Now to the large 48-oz jar. Below you see one of my jam jars.My 48-oz jar is now ready to go-to-work for me. No! When I saved the below 48-oz jar I did not envision what .. IF anything .. I was going to do with it. I just KNEW it would come in handy some day and is has. “If you build it they will come.” From the movie .. FIELD OF DREAMS .. “If you save it a use for it will appear!”
OK! .. OK Dr. Ed 02476! .. You are absolutely 100% correct! NO! Technically I do NOT have to remove the label of the jam jar. However for aesthetic reasons shall-we-say I remove the label because the jar just looks better-to-me free of its label.I fill my empty 48-oz jar with warm soapy water and put the jam jar into it.I let it soak for an hour or two .. There is NO rushing this process .. And Voila .. I have yet another ‘label-free’ jar.And?

What am I doing with my re-renewed former jam jars? Is there something morally or spiritually wrong with using them to hold my chop sticks?As far as I can tell everyone here is happy. The jars and the chop sticks.“And why two jars Cap?” I rotate using my chop sticks. The jar on the left holds yet-to-be-used chop sticks. After I use a pair they go into the jar on the right. Eventually the jar on the left is empty and the one on the right is full and we begin again. Here we go loop de loop .. Got it?

“Cap?” .. “Yes Dr. Ed 02476?” .. “Send me the words to The Dinkey Bird poem you keep mentioning.” .. “Sure.”

Below is a link to the poem .. The Dinkey Bird .. EUGENE FIELD .. 1850 – 1895

https://babakaps.net/?p=4262

IF THE ONLY PRAYER YOU EVER SAY IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE IS THANK YOU .. IT WILL BE ENOUGH .. MEISTER ECKHART

“Lord God of Abraham my creator .. THANK YOU for giving me the sense of humor to look at myself with joy and amusement.”

Now a quick look at the small green 8-oz jars. As you can see below these three are gainfully employed holding Goo-Gone and tea bags and a battery charger for my Nokia cell phone.

Where oh where would I be without my Goo-Gone? I use it (with wooden Q-tips) to help me remove the sticky gummy residue from all manner of things as well as to assist me to remove some labels that are water-resistant and will not respond to being soaked in water (see above).Do you want sad? Sad was when last year I accidentally tipped the above bottle over on its side when I pulled a Q-tip away. I lost a large amount of the Goo-Gone before I could react. To replace the loss Patti brought more Goo-Gone over to me on her last trip.

So? Now when I use the Goo-Gone I put it into ‘its very own jar’ so it can NOT tip over. Focus upon the small plastic bottle storing the Goo-Gone.

At the Kowloon (Hong Kong) YMCA they provide guests with small plastic bottles of shampoo / body wash and hand creme.

“Ah Ha! I can use these small bottles!” so I began to collect them.  “Oh Captain this is a program of honesty and that is a downright understatement. You Captain became consumed with getting all of them you could possibly get. You got Patti’s and those of other guests who just threw them away.”

“Yes Dr. Ed o2476 I admit it is a tad obsessive-compulsive.” .. “BUT I use them to excellent benefit.”

“What’s that Gullible? Did I empty the above bottles out so I could show them in the photo above?”

“No I did NOT. You can see below that I have a literal armada of them!”

Look if you all will at the above three photos. Do all of you see a piece of cardboard is serving as a stable platform upon which to place the small plastic bottles. Without the cardboard to stabilize them the little rascals kept falling over on their sides.

Some time a week or so ago on the street I spied a dirty, haggard, down-and-out, empty vodka bottle case. “Hm-m-m I can always use some cardboard. OK poor fellow, come home with me.” In the above and below photos I just flipped him upside down and .. Voila .. used him to support and stabilize the small plastic bottles.

“Will this ever end Captain?” .. “YES I am going to publish this Post in an hour-and-a-half p-e-r-i-o-d ready or NOT!”

The used ELMER’S Glue-All bottle on the right below holds and neatly dispenses my dish washing detergent!”

“Really Captain? And what happened to the bottle the dish washing detergent came in?” It was almost empty and too large to travel with so I emptied the detergent that remained into the above bottle on the right. “Why did you save the bottle in the first place?” .. “If you build it they will come.” From the movie .. FIELD OF DREAMS .. “If you save it a use for it will appear!”

Below note that I have cut the tops from small bottles and use them to hold my hand lotion (center left) and hand soap (center right) upside down so that when I need to use some it is right there ready for me to use. The two other bottles (far left and far right) are former hand sanitizer bottles. I have a small army of them also. 

Because of Gullible traveling with me last October and November we have become quite close. She used to think that I am crazy. Now that she KNOWS that I am crazy she can lovingly accept me as I am. Where was I ?  I need to quickly re-group .. Got it .  The use of  the green 8-oz  jars.Is there anything morally or spiritually wrong to use the above / below jar to soak and to cleanse my dental night guards in a solution of water and mouth wash!

Reading along here are friends of mine that .. along with me .. know the challenges that severe Bi-Polar mood swings can present to us.

YOU  may be bored with all of this nonsense. You have to understand that I am showing my Bi-Polar friends that I am able to accept myself as-I-am. PERIOD. I am OK with Cap. As I will go into in the next paragraph below there are certain critical things that I watch as I take-care-of-my Bi-Polar challenges to the maximum extent possible.

OK let’s move along to my soda pop bottles. I have mentioned previously the importance to my health (physical and especially mental) of drinking almost copious (large in quantity / abundant / plentiful) quantities of water. IF I want to trigger a manic episode within myself getting dehydrated would be step one. When Patti is with me she can tell in-a-New-York-second when I am getting dehydrated. My ability to think clearly stops and I am left with diminished cognitive abilities. Step two on my road to a significant manic episode would be that I stop eating regular and healthy meals. I have peanut butter and bread and jam and Snicker Bars handy for snacks if I need food. Step three I begin to cease to get normal regular sleep. I begin to go-go-go almost 24-hrs a day and believe-thee-me I can go day and night when I get going.

“Goodness Captain! What on earth does this have to do with your soda.”

I do not like to drink copious quantities of plain tap water.

What to do? I flavor my water with something that tastes good to me.

At home in the U.S. I can (and I DO) get large Costco-sized cans of powdered Gatorade. At home in the U.S. I can (and I DO) get Chocolate Ensure. To make plain tap water palatable (acceptable or agreeable to the palate) to me I mix the Gatorade and / or the Ensure with water. In Hong Kong I CAN (and I DO) buy powdered Ensure. I can also get a Vitamin C drink as well in Hong Kong. I have not seen any Ensure up here in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia.

Well look what showed up at my local supermarket. A Lemon and Vitamin C drinkI’m telling all of you I love this soda. I have a medical quality 500 ml plastic measuring cup. Into the measuring cup I pour 100 ml of the Lemon / Vitamin C drink.

Notice the soda bottle below on the right side of the photo. It clearly states that I am buying one liter of soda. I am coming to this a little further below.

I add 400 ml of water and .. VOILA .. a full 500 ml or one-half liter of tasty soda flavored water that I really enjoy and really drink a lot of.
It is so important and so critical and vital to me that I make sure I have an adequate supply of safe drinking water on hand at all times.

Guess what? Suddenly I am surrounding myself with empty soda bottles. A 1 liter soda bottle (which will provide me with 5 liters of flavored water) will last me from 2 to 3 days.

What to do with the empty soda bottles? I am filling them with boiled tap water. Do the math. 12 bottles x 5 liters per bottle you have 60 liters. I have been here 26 days. 60 liters over 26 days = 2.3 liters a day water consumption. Right smack dab on the money.
Above you are looking at 27 liters of drinkable water on-hand. I don’t fool around with my drinking water. I also use safe boiled water to wash from the neck up to deal with eye infections.

Dr. Ed o2476 here is the victory here. I am not NOT not going to continue to collect these soda bottles! I feel that I have an ample supply of boiled drinking water and I am now going to discard future empty soda bottles. You see I know there will be a lot more coming-my-way and enough are enough for right now. The seriously mentally disturbed ‘hoarder’ can not stop hoarding. I am able to do so and I DO stop when even I can see that I don’t need more of whatever it is I am accumulating.

Back to my soda. A quick aside. Look carefully at the below .. unopened  .. soda bottles. Do you notice anything unusual about them.

“Hell’s Bells! They are charging me for a full liter of soda and I am getting less than (I have measured it) 900 ml of soda.” Friends I well imagine that in our U.S. of A. a governmental agency would be on them like white-on-rice!

My 5 liter water bottles. When I emptied the one on the left I cut it in half.

Man-O-Manischewitz! It makes an absolutely perfect basin to wash my underwear and socks and wash cloths and small hand towels and other small items I need to wash. I also use it as a ‘small bucket’ when I need to wash / mop up surfaces. 

“Man-O-Manischewitz Captain! This Post has become the ‘Mother of All Posts’.  It really got away from you Captain! “

POP CORN .. Man-O-Manischewitz !

Oh How I Love My POP CORN !

I had to go to three grocery stores to gather together this ‘haul’. So to three grocery stores I went!

Where I ‘stash’ it.

Again the same Rhetorical Question: Is there anything morally or spiritually wrong to use the empty pop corn boxes for small items of trash?

Yes I have a use for my empty bread packages. I use them for assorted larger items of trash that won’t fit into the small pop corn box ‘waste-baskets’.

We are there .. Finally .. Almost finished with this the ‘Mother of All Posts’.

My last Rhetorical Question : Is there anything morally or spiritually wrong to use my empty pop corn boxes to make small note-pad-sized pieces of scratch paper. It is thicker than normal paper and when I want something that will stand up to heavy ink and not bleed through the thinner note pad paper these are perfect.

So far .. Sad to say .. I have not yet found a use for the below handsome and extremely tough and sturdy former Metamucil jar.

“Don’t worry Dad. I know that my time will come.” / signed /  READY AND WAITING ..

I don’t believe it ..

You don’t believe it ..

Time to press Publish ..

Smiling .. REALLY AND TRULY SMILING .. Cap 

You see Dr. Ed 02476 the bottom line here is simply this : I am happy with where I am and with what I am doing. Each and every single one of the above activities makes my daily life just a little bit better. Some a LOT better (my hoarding safe boiled drinking water). What a joy to have you friend of sixty plus years following along here. Much Love and Joy to you and to Martha.

Gullible and Shaddy .. How I appreciate the work the two of you put into your Posts. Shaddy it was so very touching the work you went to in your beer posts to show all the beer bottles in the most beautiful settings.

What to do now? I am going to go over to blogspot and do a Post on Arambol Beach .. You know .. For something to do ..

BUT FIRST  .. I am going to eat the below actual box of pop corn.

Still Smiling .. Cap ..

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