He makes me laugh, he makes me think, and he would defend me unto death against anything. Plus he saved my life (I was horrifically chronically depressed and suicidal when we met, and the utterly novel experience of unconditional love has slowly, very slowly, brought me into remission).

Surprised no one mentioned "Ave rats" for the teenagers, often homeless, that hang out all day on University Way.

Funny, I've lived here my whole life and never heard a lot of these. Oh, and Capitol Hill used to be The Swish Alps when I was younger.

I still call a hell of a lot of the buildings downtown by their original names - the SeaFirst building, the Rainier Bank tower, the Peoples' Bank building, etc. My mother was in banking, and all her friends worked at the various banks, so I knew where the bank buildings were.

Fremont's the Republic of Fremont, of course, because of Lenin. And Red Square is not only in Moscow. The Quad only refers to one spot, as does the Duck Pond.

That is SUCH a creepy book. So is Rosemary's Baby, which most people haven't read (although Polanski did a pretty damn good job with it). To me, though, Stepford Wives is much the scarier of the two stories.

I'm no great fan of Westerns, and I loved the book, to the point where I have, over the course of the years, offended many people with my scorn for the original movie (which veers dramatically away from the book's storyline). I was much happier with the Coen Brothers' version of the story, but I still prefer the book.

http://www.paloaltonetworks.com/products/platforms/pa-500.html

I once got through the entire grieving phase of a breakup by obsessively playing UB40's "Red Red Wine." I also have an entire iPod playlist which I named Catharsis, all songs about surviving depression or bad patches. REM's "Everybody Hurts," Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up," Joan Osbourne's "Crazy Baby," lots of others. Patsy Cline's "I Fall To Pieces" is good too. Beck's "Lost Cause."

Strangely, some of those $7 passport photo places, like Walgreens, take pretty OK pictures, because they do a lot of them. If you go at a time when they're not swamped, most of the clerks will take the time to make sure you get a picture you're happy with. I was surprised how pleasant the process was at my local drugstore.

That's not characteristic of BuSpar at all, so it's unlikely that's the cause. You didn't say how long you've been on the BuSpar, but it generally takes about six weeks for it to be really effective (for me, it's a miracle drug - even my co-workers have commented on how much calmer I am on it).

We are all unique little chemical mixing vessels. Everyone brings their own individual body chemistry into play, along with everything else you're exposed to, ingest, etc. No one can predict how someone else will react on any particular drug regimen. I will say, though, that I've heard many more people on Prozac especially who have the same complaints as you mention in your question. Try different antidepressants. Serzone worked for me for a long time, and it doesn't have the anxiety-inducing quasi-manic effects, nor is it quite as sedating as, say, Paxil can be.

Some people can't take SSRIs but have good luck on the older tricyclics. One of my sisters has been on a tricyclic med for over 20 years. If she goes off it, her symptoms return.

I'm not on any ADs now myself (just the BuSpar for anxiety), but I had a nearly 30-year history with them. I had my best success with Serzone and then, when it quit working, Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin is contraindicated for anyone who experiences manic episodes, though (I don't - I only go down, never up).

Time to talk to your doc about trying something other than Prozac, would be my advice.

This comes up every year. "Omigawd, John and Jane Doe from East Armpit might see a guy in a lime-green thong and glitter platforms and suddenly change their stance on marriage equality!"

No. It's a fucking party. It's once a year. Anyone who thinks that's all there is to the LGBTQ community is looking for excuses to be judgmental and condemnatory.

And it's great, maybe even ESSENTIAL, that once a year, the community comes together to remind one another that "if we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately." E pluribus unum.

It's a long parade route, so anywhere you can find space to be in the front is perfectly awesome. However, for myself, I like to be nearer Seattle Center, as that way if a big huge fabulous party starts spontaneously in the fountain (as happened a couple of years back when it was really hot), you're right there with it. Plus it's easy to sneak over to the Center for a cup of coffee and to use the bathrooms.