I started playing guitar when I was 15. It was funny. I didn't listen to much other than movie soundtracks when I was a kid. I caught Wayne's World on TV one night, and suddenly I was hugely into classic rock. Me and my dad had tickets to go to SARSstock in 2003, but he hurt his leg and didn't want to stand around in the crowds all day. I ended up watching the concert on TV (which probably resulted in better sound quality and, you know, being able to see the performers). AC/DC came on, and Angus Young blew me away. I don't mean that I thought his playing was amazing. He just looked like he was having so much fun. It's kind of funny. AC/DC could be the biggest reason I play guitar, but I don't enjoy their music much at all. It also helped that my parents wanted me to take piano lessons at about the same time. I had no interest in the piano (at the time), which probably pushed me even further towards the guitar. Eventually I got into modern fingerstyle stuff (Andy McKee, Antoine Dufour, and more "traditional" stuff like Tommy Emmanuel (and holy shit, check out Tommy if you don't know him) ) and convinced people I was a lot better than I felt. That plus university caused a bit of burnout that I'm still recovering from, and now I play mostly electric. I'm a pedal addict too, and I'm trying to figure out how to write music for the looper that I don't think is boring.

I started listening to Rush pretty heavily as a teenager (and as an adult, :D ), which made me want to learn the bass guitar. And the drums (I have a basic electronic kit from Roland, and a Neil Peart drum book. Guess how well that's working for me). I went back to trying to learn the piano at some point and bought a nice Yamaha digital piano a few years ago. I have a mandolin and a violin that I can't play (but I can play the mandolin significantly better than the violin... I wonder why?), and a synth that I can almost program.

And here's some more Tommy Emmanuel because he isn't nearly as well known as he should be.

> Like therapy,

Yes. No help.

> drugs (the good kind!),

Yes. On my todo list. Currently between doctors.

> meditation, etc.

Yes. No luck.

> I don't know how old you are but I'm going to guess you're probably still young.

Still young is relative. Is 27 around the age range you were thinking?

> What I'm wondering is, is this something you want to do for the rest of your life?

I appreciate that you're trying to help me, but this feels a little bit condescending from my perspective. You knew nothing about my situation beyond what I posted in this thread, but the wording of your post implies (to me) that you think that whatever I'm doing, I've been doing it wrong.

My options for medication are basically antidepressants and anxiolytics. The most popular anxiolytics aren't any better than alcohol in terms of effects and consequences, and in my mind are somewhat worse. Antidepressants have low success rates (especially in my situation), unpleasant side effects, and take months to start working. There's no free ride out of my situation.

Thank you for your concern though.

Oh wow. So, my last job was at a software startup. Me and a coworker (who worked at the other end of the office, out of sight & hearing range of me) were constantly "harassing" each other. One day, I took all the wheels off his chair. He makes a point of limping by my desk, and tells me he hurt his leg falling out of the chair. 10 minutes later, my boss comes out and asks who hurt my coworker "because we don't have health insurance, also he's old and doesn't heal very quickly". I spent the afternoon feeling awful.

Fucker faked the whole thing & got our boss in on it.

This same guy also snapped out two of the pieces of my Rubik's cube and exchanged them with each other. I couldn't solve it for a month until I realized what had been done.

He had a habit of stealing my Rubik's cube and hiding it around the office. I come in to work one morning, and he's up on a stepladder in the kitchen, at one of the ceiling tiles. Weird, but I don't think to ask what he's doing. An hour later I notice my cube is gone. I start hunting around the office, and he says something along the lines of "You should try praying to your god above". I notice the ceiling tile that's propped up, clue in and get the stepladder. By this point, all my coworkers are watching me. I climb up to get my Rubik's cube back, and... nothing. He played me completely. It was in a potted plant near my desk or something.

I still work with the guy, but he's off on paternity leave right now. That kid's going to have an interesting life...

Another coworker is an amateur runner. A few years ago, he had a really bad day and ran a ridiculously high time on the track (for him)... let's say 10:15 (it's lower, but I don't want any googling to come here :-) ). His friend, another coworker, won't let him forget it. He just ordered the guy a book with the title "10:15". He texts him at 10:15 in the morning. And sometime? He'll wear a shirt with a clock showing "10:15". It's hilarious.

I was at a party, sitting on a couch. A girl I know comes over, sits down and cuddles up to me. After about ten seconds like this, she says "I wish 'Robert' were here". I'm confused, because it's "Robert"'s party. I go "Huh?" and she replies "I wish 'Robert' were right here" and points at me.

"Robert" is my brother.

I wasn't upset, though I think I said something like "that hurts". I've actually been laughing about it ever since, it's too much like a scene out of a bad sitcom.

EDIT: If the quotes don't make it clear, "Robert" is not actually my brother's name.