Birthday woes

[JoitheArtist]

In just over two weeks, I will turn 30.

Let me be clear: I am excited as all get-out to be 30! Every decade that passes is better than the last, so there's no fear there.

One of the reasons I'm so excited to turn 30 is that I often wondered if I would survive long enough to get there. It's been touch-and-go at times, especially with my last depressive episode (almost 2 months of suicidal depression that finally appears to be lifting).

Naturally, I want to celebrate the hell out of this birthday. It's a big one on lots of levels. I sent out "Joi Survived to 30!" party invites to over 30 friends, and...have 5 attendees. Including one who may have to back out.

Not helping is the fact that my best friend just moved to fucking HOUSTON on short notice (after not bothering to drive 20 minutes to see me, EVER, after I lost my car. Not that I'm upset about that...)

So. Yeah. I can't help but feel like nobody actually cares that I made it to 30. This is compounded by previously mentioned depressive episode, which is lifting, but still affecting my perception of things.

Ever since I was a kid, I've had trouble getting people to come to events I plan. They seem to cancel at unusually high rates, leading me to wonder if it's just something about me that drives them away.

Right now, I'm very discouraged. Surely there are more than 5 people in my life who are happy I managed to survive? (It's also likely, since I never really talk to anyone about how bad my depression gets, that they don't understand that I'm not kidding about SURVIVING til 30.) I know I should be grateful to those who do show up, but...I wanted a big party...

Am I in the wrong for being upset about this?

[Mytical]

Well, most of us here can not make it to your party, but..we can throw a party for you here . Because we are VERY glad you made it to 30. Just remind me a day before, and I will set up the party balloons, streamers, cake....we will party like it is 2099.

[Marmalady]

we will party like it is 2099.

Count me in on this!

This is why I still say we need to set up that town of ours that we were talking about, so we can party on occasions like these (and whenever else we want to)

[Andara Bledin]

I'll come!

I can't get anyone to attend my parties, either.

Hell, before he started living here, my own brother couldn't even be arsed to come to my 40th or my housewarming. >_<

^-.-^

[houdini]

PARTAAAAYYY!! I'm in, and I'll bring cake. Double chocolate? And can we has party games?

[Ellain]

I have trouble getting people to come to my parties as well. I usually get about 40% of the invitees saying "I'll be there!", and then only about half of that actually show. And the number of people who don't even bother to respond...

I sympathize with you. Happy birthday, though! Surviving with depression is not as easy as people seem to think, and I'm proud of you.

[Kanalah]

I missed out on my 30th. I really wanted to have a party

I say let's hold a chat party! I'd be thrilled to come and hang out with all the cool people.

[JoitheArtist]

I missed out on my 30th. I really wanted to have a party

I say let's hold a chat party! I'd be thrilled to come and hang out with all the cool people.

Sadly, my current computer refuses to run the CS chat.

[Pedersen]

Joi, there is pretty much a guaranteed way to get into chat on your computer.

Go to http://www.cschatter.com/ and look around the menus. They provide links to different programs that can get in. I know for a fact that Psi works well, and is supported on computers running at least as old as OSX 10.4, and I think OSX 10.3. Same program runs on Windows XP, and many varieties of Linux. Not high resource requirements either.

One way or another, you *can* get in. I'd *almost* be willing to bet on it (don't take that personally, I won't even bet on a coin toss).

[JoitheArtist]

Ok, I was able to use Synaptic to get Psi, but there's a problem. I go through the whole process of signing in, but when I change my status to "Online," it pops up a new window saying "Psi: join groupchat," with several options, but the only clickable option is "Cancel." Then, if I try to do anything, the whole thing shuts down.

[XCashier]

Well, most of us here can not make it to your party, but..we can throw a party for you here . Because we are VERY glad you made it to 30. Just remind me a day before, and I will set up the party balloons, streamers, cake....we will party like it is 2099.

A virtual birthday party! I like it!

Surviving with depression is not as easy as people seem to think, and I'm proud of you.

Agreed, and agreed. You've done well.

[Gizmo]

Another congrats here, and appreciation for part of how bad it can get - especially when surrounded by the "get over it" types.

[Pedersen]

Actually, on Ubuntu, it's slightly different. Depending on which version you're on, it could be called one of a couple different things, but what you're looking for is the software center. This is an application on the machine you're using.

On newer setups, you're likely using something called Unity, which I hate myself and don't use, but I do know you can search for things. Use the search option, and find Software Center. Run it, then search for "Psi", and install it from there.

On older systems (or, if your friend was nice, you're on something different than Unity, and this will work too): Go to Preferences->Administration. I can't remember the specific item, but it will say something about installing software, or it might be called Synaptic. You do *not* want the option for "Software Repositories". Again, after running it, search for "Psi", and install from there.

Or you can open up a terminal window, and type this line:

sudo apt-get update ; sudo apt-get install psi

And that will do it.

[JoitheArtist]

Ok, I was able to use Synaptic to get Psi, but there's a problem. I go through the whole process of signing in, but when I change my status to "Online," it pops up a new window saying "Psi: join groupchat," with several options, but the only clickable option is "Cancel." Then, if I try to do anything, the whole thing shuts down.

(I know this is the same as an earlier post, I edited the wrong one. *facepalm*)

[JoitheArtist]

I tried to get a screenshot of the window that pops up, but even doing THAT shuts down Psi. ARGH. This is very frustrating. Did I mention that I hate trying to work with Ubuntu?