Participant #1:
You are listening to Hello Cupcake, it's Me, a podcast with your host Michael Peterson. Hey everyone, it's Michael here with Hello Cupcake, it's Me, a podcast. Today is March 31. How are you? This is episode 17. So what's been going on, guys? This has been a really fun week. I am feeling so much better. I have pretty much beaten my depression, still having a few upsets here and there where I just have uncontrollable crying. But for the most part I'm feeling back to myself feeling better, having a shit ton of fun at the bar, doing trivia night, been hanging out with my friends again and getting out and just doing stuff and feeling extremely thankful and just genuinely happy. But like I said, I'm not back to 100% and I don't know if I'm going to be, but it's been a few good days and I'll just leave it at that because that's all you can hope for when you suffer with mental health problems. It's just a couple of few good days.

Participant #1:
Kind of excited this week we found that my trivia team is who I'm talking about right now. We are in third place bronze division. So that means if we win next week's game, we will then be in the Silver division. So really kind of happy and hoping that that all turns out really well for us. And we are going to be possibly having team jerseys made up for us. And I came up with the logo, it's an Otter swimming in water with a pair of nerdy glasses on. And the team's name is You Otter no. So yeah, having a lot of fun with this. And we're kind of excited about the prospect of having team jerseys. And it was discussed that we were going to do team jerseys for the original people who showed up at the very beginning, but anyone else who wants to join the team and want their own Jersey that they would have to pay for it. And so the bar manager said, yeah, that sounded like a good idea. So fingers crossing, that's what happens. And it's really kind of fun just being on this team with friends and sitting there having good food and having good drinks. And I don't drink all that often, but when I do, I like a cocktail from time to time. And mostly I just sit there and drink cranberry juice all night long. And my kidneys thank me for it because back in February of this last year, so that would be February 21. I had kidney stones for the very first time in my entire life. And I hope to never, ever go through that bullshit again because that was just beyond painful for absolutely no reason. And because of that, it has really stunted and even negated some of the good work that I was doing in all of my exercises and stuff like that. I was walking two to 3 miles a day if not further than that, and just really, like kicking butt. I had lost almost 60 pounds. I was feeling great just going on about my business and then the kidney stone hit and then I just went into a depressive slump and ate a whole bunch of bullshit and gained it all back. I just couldn't get my momentum back up and going after having lost it. So I'm hoping to start it all over again here pretty soon. Right now the weather has been really raining and cold and windy and just like wintery weather. Even though we're in March and almost into April, I need to do something and I'm hoping to be able to, like I said, just get the ball rolling again. So above and beyond that, tonight they are doing an advanced showing of the new Marvel movie Morbius, and I'm going to use one of my birthday gift certificates to Regal Cinema to actually go see it. I had hoped to have a friend go with me, or at the very least my niece go with me, but my friend does not want to go see that movie. They want to go see Lost City and Dumbledore are the secrets of Dumbledore on April 15 and my niece doesn't want to go without her significant other. So I'm flying solo tonight, which is, you know, okay with me because a lot of times I find that even though I dread going by myself, I still end up having fun. And I get to go to the places that I want to go to. I get to go when I want to, I get to do what I want to. So usually when I go with one of my friends it's like, okay, we got to decide on where we're going to eat, then we got to decide on what time we're going to go see the movies and then I have to wait for their schedule. So like, if I wanted to go right now, I could pack up everything that I need and go and just be happy and watch my movie or whatever else. But I have the plan of leaving here tonight at 05:00 P.m. And heading over, grabbing a little bite to eat and then going to the show and I'm expecting to maybe catch the six or 07:00 showing. Yeah, I'm just going to have fun by myself rolling solo and started a new series, which is Marvel's Moon Night. And I'm not at all familiar with this character, so that's kind of interesting. And the first episode was just, to me felt like a confused, jumble mess and I'm just like, I don't know, but I'm going to give it some time and play it out and see how that works out. So outside of geeky news, just on regular everyday news. So every day during the week I go and I hang out with my sister for her lunch and we go and we park and we talk and just do whatever. So today, the new catoi. I think he's starting to associate the sound of my keys with the fact that I'm getting ready to leave. And today he ran to the bedroom window, and he was sitting in the window looking at me as I got on my car. He thought, Ma'am, I was like, oh, dude, don't do this to me. Come on now. So when I came home from having lunch with my sister, he was, like, sitting he was sitting under my desk looking at me. When I came walking through the door, I was like, oh, buddy, did you miss me? And he came running over and gave me this big head button. Whatever. I miss Bella. I really do. And I'm sorry for consistently talking about her, but she was a huge part of my life for 13 years, and I fucking love her. But I'm really starting to dig this little dude. He is so freaking hilarious. And every day I see something new and he does something new and just makes me love him that much more. So, yeah, I almost don't want to go to the movies tonight just because I don't want him to be sad that I'm leaving. But whatever.

Participant #1:
On top of that, Besides all of that, just been doing the same thing that I have been for the last week or so, trying to refocus myself, working on the new website that I'm putting together for the podcast, getting that all fine tuned and tweaked and just trying to get back to happy, like I said. And I'm doing a lot better every day. Just one step at a time. I would really like to hear from you guys. Do you suffer with depression or any kind of mental health issues? And if so, what do you do to snap yourselves out of your funk? Please leave a message and let's open up a dialogue where we can discuss this. Because I am genuinely curious and that's what I want to kind of build here on this podcast is a safe space for us to talk with each other and to not have judgment. So open up. Let me know what's going on in life and all that other fun stuff. So I am going to go ahead and hop off of here now. Kind of a short episode. Yeah. So if you have any questions, comments, concerns, please put them in the comments section down below. And until next time, I will talk to you all later. Bye, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. You have been listening to Hello Cupcake, it's Me, a podcast with your host, Michael Peterson. Please make sure to check back often as new episodes are released by weekly. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to send a message to hellocupcakeitsme@gmail.com. And until next time, stay happy, safe, and keep doing the best you can with what you have been given.