What do you do...

[Daren Priesten]

That panoramic view is awesome Oomari!

I am going to school to become a research scientist/bio technician.

http://www.scripps.edu/

[Percy]

Pushing Trolleys at a supermarket and a laborer for my dad who works for himself as a 'handyman', plumber, bricklayer, electrician etc.

[Iktomi]

I have a small webdevelopment company. Studied international development and socio-economic development studies on the university though.. Haven't used it yet

You hippy! I used to work for Foreign Affairs, negotiating free trade agreements, and now I work for an economic magazine which studies developing markets and tells multinational companies how most effectively to exploit them.

[Azrael de Vitus]

Weapon Technician for the Royal Air Force (sort of a new age blacksmith )

[Danielle]

Man there are a quite a few unique jobs y'all do! Methinks it is awesome!!!

[Percy]

RAF all the way Az, did my training for gunner but ended up injuring my hand and decided to leave instead of take the operation to potentially fix it. Wish I stayed though. Hopefully the TA will take me on soon.

[Jyrgen]

Working/trying to finish my masters thesis in a neurobiology laboratory.

[Kat Asherstone]

Out of work Philosopher, got my degree in Philosophy and Legal Studies. Emphasis in Epistemology and Social Structure.

[Glarundis]

hah!that's great kat.
i wish people were more into thinking just for the sake of thinking. it can be quite interesting (but it can also be dangerous if you stop there and don't develop). but if you studied social structure it's good then

[Maximilian Lhoth]

Kinda disabled as in considered uncapable of studying or working but still officially just unemployed and getting unemployment benefits but doing fine. Mental health issues. Physical is ok.

To be exact, the mental health issues are not of psychotic or very serious type, more like sheytloads of milder stuff, just in huge quantities.

According to a psychologist, 3-5 different personality disorders are possible or likely: schizoid (altenately avoidant), paranoid, borderline (but it's unlikely, because usually people with AD(H)D don't have borderline personality disorder but AD(H)D symptoms often make one seem like a borderliner), avoidant (alternately schizoid) and dependent. So, at least schizoid OR avoidant (they both used to be classified under the label of "schizoid" earlier), paranoid and dependent. That makes 3 personality disorders that seem to exist according to psychologist.

AD(H)D is quite clear, confirmed by 2 different specialists during my lifetime.

"Moderate" (not severe, not mild) OCD confirmed.

Bipolar Type II is quite possible, my father also has these tendencies but not as badly as I do, but it could just as well be a side effects of the antidepressants I've eaten for 8 years in a row. Now on SSRI's, benzodiazepines, benzodiazepine like acting hypnotics and minimal dose of antipsychotics which I use for hypomanic episodes if I don't sleep or eat for 5 days in a row but only keep on raving...

To be officially disabled and on disability is my long term aim but since I'm only 29 it's not granted. It is possible I get it, but not yet. Have to wait for some time, like maybe couple of years until they decide I'm a hopeless case and give up. Oh, and I don't drink at all (anymore) or do illlegal drugs (and this is not a disclaimer but truth) so one can't say I'm a junkie or a drunk.

I'm satisfied, not cutting my wrists or weeping, I do fine and all is good - but would like a girlfriend and a job. Both are rather impossible due to my personality "disorders" or traits (job, because it's 2013 now and not 1987 - in 1987 it would be different) so I can just keep on dreaming :--)

The Big Lie.

All of your life, you've been lied to. You've been told what life is supposed to be about. Grow up, do well in school, make friends, get a girlfriend or boyfriend, get a good job, get married, get a nice house and have kids, watch TV, go to church, vote, find some hobbies to entertain you, donate money to charity, go on vacation, get old, retire, spend time with grandkids, look back on your life with nostalgia, look forward to the afterlife of your choosing. This is what you're supposed to do. This is what normal people do. This is what everyone else is doing. Oh sure, there are a few aberrations here and there, sometimes some people slip off this track, but you can get back on at any time. Of course, when you actually look at the world around you, you may see something entirely different. See that young married couple living next door, with the wife gardening in the front yard while the kids play outback ? She's snowed under Xanax all the time, without which she'd be in a continuous state of anxiety. And her six year old son, he's following straight in mom's footsteps already, taking his daily dose of Ritalin to keep him tranquil enough to sit still all day at school. She stopped sleeping with her husband several years ago, but that's okay, cause he sneaks off a couple times a week and has sex with the street prostitutes in the back seat of his car, or a nearby hotel. He feels bad for them, and tips them extra. His favorite prostitute is always glad to see him, because he's pleasant enough and an easy seventy-five dollars. Too bad they can't all be like him. She gets beaten up and raped by John's multiple times a year, but that's okay, she can handle it, cause even at it's worst this job is still better than what she went through as a child. Besides, there's no other way she could support her crack cocaine habit. And the cop who tries to arrest her, last night he arrested the neighborhood marijuana dealer, then went home and got nice and legally drunk on his Jack Daniels. And the cops daughter, the pretty high school cheerleader, sneaks off and vomits after every meal so she won't get fat. But these are all small scale problems. Don't forget that, several times a century, often enough to happen at least once during the average human lifetime, all the most powerful nations of the world divide up into sides and begin slaughtering anyone they can find on the opposing side by the millions. This is agreed by all to be unfortunate, but necessary. And the city you live in, if you're in a western country and living in a city, has already been targeted by some country's nuclear weaponry. A few pushes of the right buttons, and you'll be vaporized or survive and live in some radioactive wasteland. But that's okay, because it probably won't happen in the immediate future, so you might as well go out and but this week's groceries. Beneath the thin veneer of civilization lies a howling madness, and the average normal human being has the ability to commit genocide during the day, then come home and tuck the kids in at night, or to ignore the pain of a billion people in misery while mowing the lawn or doing Christmas shopping. The big lie is that all of the problems of human life are separate. If you compartmentalize them all, you can convince yourself that once you lose that forty pounds, or get more money, or get your husband to stop beating you, or finally kick that addiction, you'll be a normal happy person like everyone else. And once you get the right politician elected, or win the war, or convert the infidels to your religion, the world will be a happy place. The problems of life are all symptoms of the same cause. The locks on your doors which you need to keep out burglars, the schoolyard bully, the serial killer, the drug addict, the billionaire who thinks he's being exploited by the poor, the millions of soldiers fighting for peace, the enslavement or slaughter of entire races of people, and your own unhappiness, are all interconnected. They are all part of one problem. I wish I could define the problem for you , or offer a solution. Human beings seem to have a basic design flaw. We're fucked up species, striving to be healthy and happy while simultaneously destroying ourselves and each other in a million different ways. The only positive note I can end this on is that it's better to understand all this than to be ignorant of it, I think. Now.. It's time for bed.