I went and visited a couple a friends of mine from college yesterday, after taking my car in for it’s required 15k mile maintainance. They took forever. I was waiting at least an hour and a half. I’m not sure of everything they did, but it does run much better. After that I headed down to their place, which is about a hour south of where I live, on the otherside of the Twin Cities.

Chad and I played some XBox 360, as he wanted help getting coop achievement points. I was no help, but we tried. Next time maybe. After that we went to rent a movie and get supplies to do fondue for dinner.

We settled on the new Harry Potter movie, since I hadn’t seen it yet. At one point while we were looking at movies they showed me a movie that they had considered checking out a couple times, The Bridge. Here’s the synopsis:

Inspired by a New Yorker story, “Jumpers,” written by Tad Friend, director Eric Steel decided to train cameras on the Golden Gate Bridge over the course of 2004 to capture the people who attempted to leap off the famed structure, the site of more suicides than anywhere else in the world. He also tracked down and interviewed the friends, family members, and eyewitnesses to further recreate the events leading up to the incident and to try to explain what led these people to want to kill themselves, especially at this specific site. The documentary’s primary subjects all struggled with mental illness, including severe depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders, and the documentary struggles to understand their illness while illuminating the anger and hurt of their loved ones. Most questions remain unanswered, turning on the darker recesses of the mind. The shots of the bridge wreathed in fog turn the Golden Gate into a metaphor for a bridge between life and death, sanity and mental disturbance, and extreme isolation and connection with society. Though the camera crew worked with a set of guidelines, including that they would call in someone they thought was going to jump, the documentary still includes lengthy footage of the moments leading up to and including the suicides, so discretion is advised for sensitive viewers.

It really drove home how my struggles with mental health have effected friends and family. I’m trying, but it’s a constant battle. It’s not easy having bipolar disorder, a personality disorder, all on top of transitioning.

I have my DBT orientation in a week, and hopefully kicking that off again will help. I am doing better though. I was seeing my therapist twice a week per her request, but she said that since I’m more stable we are cutting down to once a week. It’s good to see signs of progress.