Motivated Parent - Successful Child: April 2019

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Good book Turtles All the Way Down by John Green and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Turtles All the Way Down by US author John Green’s, Aza Holmes – a bright, troubled teenager, as Green’s heroines generally are - goes through an ordeal so distressing it is difficult to read. Aza has obsessive compulsive disorder, and the “tightening gyre” of her thoughts has taken over. Green catapults his reader right into the middle of Aza’s desperate mental state as she becomes increasingly panicky over the possibility of being infected with the bacterium C. diff – “do you want to die of this do you want to die of this because you will you will you will you will” – eventually scooping handfuls of hand sanitizer into her mouth, gagging and vomiting as her mother tries to stop her.

Green, who has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) himself, says it was “very hard to write”. “I wrote it right at the last, in the last revision. That’s as close to my experience as I could get.”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/14/john-green-turtles-all-the-way-down-ocd-interview

The author’s web http://www.johngreenbooks.com/

About the book http://www.johngreenbooks.com/turtles-all-the-way-down-book

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over.

Do and Don’t in Paris

Do.....

Book your hotel in advance so you have time to get a good rate. You can find a two-star hotel or a one-star hotel double room for under 80 €uros a night, and hostel accommodation even cheaper... though difficult at peak periods.
Use public transportation - buy a "carnet" of T- tickets usable in Zones 1-3 (Paris city) with no time limit. You can share a carnet of 10 T-tickets between up to ten people, as they are not nominal. A carnet of 10 tickets costs 14.90 € in Jan 2019. Single T tickets cost 1.90 €.
Visit the great freeattractions of Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral, Montmartre with the Sacré Coeur, the banks of the Seine, or wander along the Champs Elysées. There are also free museums, including Musee du Perfum (9-6pm, closed Sundays), Musee de la vie Romantice (10-6pm, closed Mondays) and more. Many major museums are free on the first Sunday of each month.
Visit parks and have picnics at Luxembourg Gardens, Tuileries Garden, Jardin du Palais Royal, Jardin des Champs-Élysées, Trocadéro Gardens, Jardin des Plantes…
View Paris from on high by touring round the "metro aérien", the elevated metro (particularly lines 2 and 6) which circles round inner Paris, above the boulevards, at second story level. A normal ticket is all that is needed.
Eat your main meal at midday, when many restaurants offer a full meal for less than 15 €uros. Take something simpler in the evening.
Drink at the bar/ standing. Many Parisian cafés charge less for customers who stand at the bar than for those who get served at a table.
Pay by credit card or in cash that you get from an ATM (check your own bank's charges for foreign transactions)
Use the Velibbike hire system - but take care. Learn how to use it. It will just cost 1€ a day.

Don't....

Don't take breakfast in your hotel, unless they are charging less than €9. Go to the nearest café.
Don't eat in fancy boulevard restaurants in the evening.
Don't use taxis for short trips.
Don't try to exchange foreign cash or travellers cheques - not even in banks. But if you have to, avoid changing small sums, as the commission is often a flat rate.
Don't have to go the top of the Eiffel tower, because the views are already pretty spectacular from the second level (see Eiffel towerticket prices)