When I think of Mississippi these things come to mind: William Faulkner (my favorite author); the Brookhaven distribution centers for McLane (the best in the company) and Walmart; the small, independent truck stop in Bogue Chitto (with a name like that what's not to remember); the Petro truck stop in Jackson (where the lot lizard exposed her (his?) miniscule breasts to prove she was a woman); the fish processing plant outside Indianola where I had to wait ten hours (federal rest time) for my load of Atlantic salmon from Chile and tilapia from Honduras to get gutted, filleted, and packaged for delivery to Walmart distribution centers in Arkansas (1) and Oklahoma (2); the strange stretch of future interstate between Birmingham and Memphis; and the imitation stern-wheeler visitor information center in Greenville (Is it still there? Why is their website worthless?).

And, now, there is something more to remember Mississippi by. There is an evil company in Madison, Mississippi, by the name of DeBeukelaer Corp. that produces an insidious cookie by the name of Crème de Pirouline. These chocolate filled rolled wafers are a temptation this chocoholic finds extremely difficult to put down. Just to get through a week I have to buy two 14 oz. cans. Luckily, our local grocery store only stocks the chocolate hazelnut variety. I don’t know what I’d do if they stocked the dark chocolate, too. Ooh, dark chocolate! Milky Way Midnight Dark chocolate bars, just the thought makes me almost want to drive down to the grocery store for one.

So much for the good news. Last month when I went bonkers in a manic episode I went up 500 mg on Depakote for 10 days, which dropped me back to something close to normalcy. (What is normalcy for someone with bipolar?) Once again, I’m bouncing off the walls, driving my son crazy with my constant chattering, and generally doing things that I normally don’t do. My current project seems to be adding friends to my presence on Facebook. I’ve gone from 8 (acquired over a period of 7 years) to 22 in the past week. I know, that certainly isn’t much of anything, but I’m basically an introvert and don’t do well on social media. I haven’t even gone the Twitter route, which in a way is good since it seems to be going the way of the electric typewriter if they keep losing top management.

The solution? Yep, back on the extra dose of Depakote. Maybe, I just need to stay on that and see how it affects me generally speaking. I’ll be finishing chapter 5 of 319 tonight and have chapters 6, 7, 8, and probably 9 all mapped out. I just need to slow down my life a bit. That’s the problem with being bipolar, always running the risk of falling into an unbelievably deep gloom or bouncing of the ceiling as you try to fly like a nervous sparrow.