Sometimes, it's quite hard to make the first step, but someone has to... Two
people too shy to admit that they love each other... I've already seen that, and
it's quite sad.
French poet R. Char wrote something like
"Impose your chance, hold your happiness thightly and goes towards your
risk. Looking at you, they shall get used to it."
"Impose ta chance, serre ton bonheur et va vers ton risque. A te regarder,
ils s'habitueront."
Rougeur des matinaux
As a whole, I agree with morri18 and moveurbodygirl when they write that the
difficulty of a language is certainly related to your own native language and
the languages you already know.
There indeed are some similarities between some languages. I'm French, studied
Spanish and some Latin (poor me...), even though I didn't used these last two
languages in ages. A few weeks ago, I found myself quite puzzled as I found out
that I could more or less understand the main ideas of what an Italian friend of
mine was saying...
Now, I guess there is another point to take into consideration: what level of
fluency do you expect to reach... If speaking another language means that you
could easily blend in the society, speaking without hints of an accent, then I
guess most languages are really hard.
But if you humbly admit that you are a foreigner and would simply be happy to
state a few banalities, to ask directions or to beg for some bread, the
difficulty is quite different.
There also is quite a big difference between writing and speaking. Everyone who
once learned some French should know that: what you say is not always what you
write, wihtout even speaking about weird pronunciation rules <mode French
evil grin ON>.
Now, truth to be told, one thing I would like to try is to visit a country where
I could more or less understand what people are saying but without being able to
read anything...
A couple of weeks ago I spoke with a PhD student in climatology. His main idea
is that, in the end, we're not really sure how global warming can affect the
Earth. His job is to understand if a change in one place of the planet can
affect another. In other words, if something happens in Siberia, can it change
things over the Atlantic.
What he said was that there indeed is a global warming, and that human beings
may act as 'amplifiers' of this phenomena. But so far, it's hard to assess the
real effects of this warming.
It's mainly the newspapers and suchlike that make it a danger for the survival
of the mankind. In fact, not all scientists agree with the idea that it can be
truly dangerous. The fact is that, so far, we can't be sure.
Because his ideas don't follow what the newspapers say ([mode sarcasm on] and we
all know that newspapers never lie [mode sarcasm off]), and because he doesn't
necessarily agree with the global trend (a mix between science and apocalyptic
cults), his papers are often reviewed quite coldly. But that doesn't make them
bad.
The truth is that there is a global warming, all right... But we currently don't
really know what this means.
A tiger as a pet? Even if there were domesticated tigers, I would definitely not
have one.
First, I definitely don't believe you could tame one into a docile pet, noooo
way.
Then, even if you could, do you have the slightest idea of how much money it
would cost to pay for its food and other stuff like this. You definitely can't
count on it to get its own meal, unless you want to find a few human bones in
your backyard.
Another point: do you have the slightest idea of the space a tiger could need. I
don't think you can expect a tiger to live in a condo or even a huge flat and be
happy. I already feel sad for the poor dogs in cities, so I can't even imagine a
tiger!
So, to sum it up: if I ever want a tiger pet, I'll get a plush...
Well, to be honest, at first it was quite a blurry question for me. I mean... My
fiancee and I would get married and have a couple of children, all right. But as
for the names, it seemed so lost in an hypothetical future that I did not really
want to think about it.
Up until the day when she asked me my opinion. After something like tne minutes
thinking we came up with a name for a boy and another for a girl. But for now,
both names are our little secrets.
Globalization is not a recent topic... Last year I found a manifesto originally
written in latin from the Roman Empire. Basically speaking, it was saying that
it was shameful that so many Palestinians were roaming the streets of Rome,
taking the jobs of good Roman citizens and so on... Nowadays, people and ideas
can travel faster ant further, but the fact is that globalization is far from
being a new discussion topic...
J. Barbey d'Aurevilly once said: "Avant de choisir le prenom d'un garcon,
pensez toujours a la femme qui aura a le murmurer plus tard."
In English: "Before choosing the first name of a boy, always think of the
woman who will have to murmur it later."
The same thing is true for a girl's name and the man who shall have to murmur
it... The choice is hard, but the result of this choice shall last for a whole
lifetime, so choose wisely.
In French, there is an expression: "ame soeur", sister soul... When a
man and a woman can deeply understand each other, truly, honestly, and accept
each other's heart and soul.
It goes beyond simple friendship. Yet this road is not necessarily the road of
love. It's true that sometimes they both seem so close that the distinction is
not always made. People tend sometimes to mix them up. And it's true that
sometimes you can mix them up. But sometimes not.
Anyway, whether it must turn into love or not, treasure this relation. And don't
make you suffer by pounding too much on that
There are a couple of possible meanings to my first name. In English, the
translation is William, it comes from some germanic language and is a mix
between the words for 'will' and 'helm / protection'. Therefore, there are three
possible meanings: someone who has the will (and the way to protect it), someone
who can protect himself or (my favourite), someone who protects others.
As for my family name, it simply means... Christmas. In my country, France,
Santa Claus is called 'Father Christmas.' Therefore, no need saying I tend not
to be fond of the red colour... At least not on me.
Dragonboy, I may be wrong but, if my memory's right, in the Irish flag, Green
symbolizes the union of the people of Ireland. It was created before the
independance of Ireland.
Green was for the nationalist / catholic party, orange was for the unionist /
protestant party. And both of them were to live in peace, white.
But I'm not 100% sure, it's been quite a long time since I heard about this one.
OK, let's do it simply: three equally large vertical stripes, Blue, White and
Red from the "mast" to the end of the flag. Another version has a
slightly larger red part to compensate the visual effect of a flag in the
wind.
Before the French revolution (end of the 18th century), French troops had white
flags or symbols, the colour of the king. However, at the beginning of the
revolution, the population of Paris started demonstrating (it's kind of a
national sport). They were wearing a red and blue rosette, the colours of Paris.
To calm things down a little, and to make them understand that their point had
been understood, the king Louis XVI decided to wear this rosette too. La
Fayette, a French noble, but also an officer that fought during the American
independance war asked the population to add the white colour, as a direct link
between them and their king. They did so. At least, the story says it was La
Fayette... The fact is, it was the first time the three colours were displayed
together.
Later on, these colours were used by the army and the navy. For some time,
different flags were used, with vertical and horizontal stripes. You can even
find flags with a white lozenge surronded by blue and red corners. Anyway,
around 1794, the official flag became the blue-white-red vertically stripped
one. There have been some changes here and then, but in the end, we still have a
broadly similar flag.
When asked about the signification of the flag, there are different theories.
Some say it was a way to prove that the king was under the control of the
population (the white part of the cocard was between blue and red). Others say
it was a reminder of the American revolution (La Fayette intervention...), or
even as a link toward the Dutch flag. There are even some people who say it is a
symbol of the three parts of the population: nobility - blue, clergy - white,
commoners - red...
[img=http://www.worldcountries.info/France/Images/74126842-250.jpg]French
flag[/img]
Bad guess man, it was all she took. It took her some time to admit it though...
But the fact is it was 'local production.' So everytime I hear someone saying
it's harmless and suchlike, I can't help but remembering her face, after the
crisis, when she in a zombie-like state.
Well, the fact is that my fiancee and I had a rather long distance relation for
more than 3 years. But it was not a secret one. Basically speaking, because of
our studies we spent three years 400 km away from each others. But we still had
the opportunity to see each other around once a month, sometimes twice. Of
course, there were holidays when we could see each others.
As a whole, even though our situation was less troublesome than yours, we
managed to get through it, so I can say that I believe that your case if far
from being desesperate. All right, there might be some rather unpleasant times,
doubt times and so on. But keep faith, there is light at the end of the
tunnel.
Phones are useful tools, even though they may sometimes be quite expensive. SMS
may be nice to reach each others at every moment. Personally, as you may have
guessed, I like writing, so mails (snail and electronic) can be really great for
you.
I guess the hardest part is to make the other one understand that you truly love
him without choking him. Always there, in the shadow, holding his hand. It's
hard, but it's possible to get through this
Kelena, mon petit ange, so far I tended to like you. So far...
Well, that's nature, granted. And I guess that if it had been a rat eating a cat
or something like that it woudn't have had much effect. But the fact is it's a
centipede... And there are a few people like me who don't really like this kind
of stuff.
I guess people wouldn't get grossed out if it had been another animal eating the
mouse. Funny how we can 'sympathize' with other mamals, avians or fishes but not
with some other life forms as insects... I guess some part of our brain keeps
beeping with a big 'danger' sign flashing. Primal fear? Who knows...
Every culture has its own legalized drugs. The fact is that people don't
necessary recognize them as drugs. A definition of drug is "A chemical
substance, such as a narcotic or hallucinogen, that affects the central nervous
system, causing changes in behavior and often addiction." (The American
Heritage - Dictionary of the English Language - 4th ed). Now don't you think
that alcoholic beverages match the definition quite nicely. How about tobacco?
Even chocolate is said to have some effects... In some countries alcoholic
beverages are prohibited while marijuana is legal...
Each culture already has its own drugs. I don't see the need to add stuff to the
list. Drugs can be extremely dangerous. Even the legalized ones (think about
heavy drinkers). As for those who pretend that marijuana is not dangerous,
they'd better not say such crap in front of me. I'm usually the quiet kind, but
there are things that tend to get on my nerves.
The fact is that I know a really nice and bright girl who had just one problem:
a certain lack in self-confidence. Three years ago, she met some friends of hers
that offered her to try some marijuana. Nothing really dangerous, nothing all
that bad of course. There are lots of countries where it is legal, where people
can smoke, so of course, even though it is illegal in our country... She could
at least try this. She fell for this and smoked a bit. Only a bit. But the fact
is that the effects were far from being harmless. I couldn't say exactly what
happened on a biological or even chemical level. The fact is that in the matter
of hours she got completely schizophrenic. I met her just at the beginning of
her crisis. For days she would hardly sleep at all, always speaking. All her
family wondered what happened to her until a cousin of hers recognized the
symptoms. She ended up in the hospital for more than a month. Her mother and
sister crying most of the days... She went through her crisis eventually, but it
was a close call (apparently 50% of the people never get out of this state at
the first crisis). For three years she had to take heavy medications, she was in
a half zombie-like state, the brain and the life in a mess... Nowadays, she's
almost OK, even though her family still worry about her quite a lot. But that
was a really hard price to pay for only one evening under marijuana's effects.
I won't plead for a total ban on every possible drug. I don't think this would
be a solution. But I certainly don't see the need to add more dangerous stuff to
the list. If you really want to get high, there already are enough legal
solutions to do so. And honestly, I think the best way to get extra-elated isn't
to take anything, but simply to have a really great time with friends,
laughing... And that is 100% legal.
Well... technically, the opposite is also true... I mean that some girls don't
really have problems using guys who have a crush for them.
On this aspect, some girls can be as cold and egocentric as some guys. And don't
start mumbling about this, it's a fact. The proportions may be different, but
there are such people everywhere, no matter the gender or age. And don't go
saying that girls always have crystal pure hearts hiding their white angels
wings in their hearts. I've had enough female friends to know otherwise (fellow
guys, beware, girls chatting together are sometimes hardly any better than
guys). And please note that even guys can be 'fleur bleue', soft
hearted.
Moreover, the fact that a guy courts a girl does not mean he can't have weird
ideas running wild in the head. History is filled with sweet talkers who use
words to gain women's hearts only to break them later on, after they reached
their goals. Be honest, don't tell me this doesn't ring a bell...
In the end, I'd advice to take into consideration this:
"Impose ta chance, serre ton bonheur et va vers ton risque."
"Impose your chance, hold tight your happiness and go toward your
risk."
Rene Char
First, this is not really an answer to the question, but more some stuff to
think about. Anyway, when it comes down to religious stuff, my answer usually
is: make your own opinion, and please accept that other people may have
different ones.
The main thing is that sometimes there are links between religions. Not so long
ago, I read a book about mythology by Dumezil. After all, mythologies are past
religions. The fact is that most European and some Asian mythologies seem to be
linked somehow. The names change, and at first sight many ideas are different,
but it seems that there are some common points anyway. Examples? Well, Dumezi's
idea was that in these mythologies there were always three groups of gods more
or less similar to the differences in the societies: the leaders/magicians, the
warriors and the artisans/farmers. He also thought that there was often a link
toward a hero that commited some sin and fell from grace, enduring some kind of
trial... So, to some extent, there were quite a lot of mythologies that were
linked somehow, but their own histories slowly gave them distinctive 'flavours.'
One original idea, but lots of resulting mythologies.
If my memory is right, Zoroastrianism can be seen as an example too. Some people
think that at some time in Persia, a crafty / smart guy came up with the idea of
changing the old religion because he felt the leaders may have been bad guys or
maybe because he wanted lots of followers, I don't know. In any case, basically,
he took the former gods and called them devils. Their former 'glorious'
attributes became the anti-thesis of what they were, linked to a set of 'great
sins.' To fill the gap, he used the notion of a unique God, supplied by angels
and other beings like that. These beings took for themselves the 'good' points
of the former gods, changed a bit the names and added a bit of proto-legist
ideas to make it seem different. In the end, he ended up with a 'new' religion
based on a far older one. If my memory is right, the devils of this new faith
were gods in pre-vedic Hinduism (daevas). Now, I have to admit I'm definitely
not a specialist on this point, so go to the closer library and look for
yourself some history book.
As for books about gods and so on, have a look at 'American Gods' by Gaiman or
'The dark teatime of the soul' by Adams. It's plainly stupid, not serious, but
it's funny.
Lots of young people of ages past defended their honour 'on the field'. First
with swords, rapiers or sabers. Time passed slowly and then came the guns, once
again to defend the honour of the weilder... The results of these duels 'a
outrance' always were one poor guy being killed, sometimes both.
Call me a foolish optimist but I think there is more honour in finding a way to
make people discuss something without resulting to weapons than using a gun or a
sword. Both are intended to injure or kill. And anyway, there is more honour in
sparing a life than in taking one...
I may be of the egalitarian kind of whatever name you want to say, but I can't
see why girls couldn't court guys. Of course, traditionally... But traditionally
women ended up spending their time between the kitchen and the craddle to watch
over the last kid to date.
Tiki, actually, I'm sort of a professor. Second or third thing I tell to the
students is that, no matter what I may do, I won't be able to remember their
names (we see each others 2 hours a week). And even if I do learn the students
name list, I simply can't link the name and the face. Good point is that I'm
truly unable to give a better mark to that nice or funny student. I simply don't
know the name.
Usually, they understand very well...
I had a nurse friend who tried to explain me that not being able to remember
names had psychological reasons and suchlike. Lack of confidence if my memory's
right. But she added that according to this kind of reasoning she had all
possible mental dicease, and could be called anything short of sociopath (and
even then...). So don't worry if you can't remember names.
It was during a computer programing exam. So far, the students had been working
in groups of four, writing code and suchlike. For the exam, they were alone and
they had to twist what they had written so far so as to prove they understaood
what they had done in group. EAch of them had a computer and two hours to code
the test subject.
So far, no problem. But a student of mine must have angered the gods or
something... She was (and still is) the 'hard worker' kind of students. Not
really bright, but she worked more than most. And I suspect she was one of the
few who actually studied her courses before getting in front of the computer.
First, she couldn't log on the computer. Ten minutes later, after the tech came
and unfreezed her account of the server, she discovered that the code she was
supposed to work on, the code she had preciously kept on the computer was
gone... At this point, stress was already quite high for her. At this point, she
asked her teamates for the code they had written together...
And then we discovered that the computers had a crappy buffer management
policy... USB sticks had troubles copying the data. But we managed to do so.
Five more minutes spent...
After this, we found out that when the comp tech came for her account, he had
also erased a few links toward storage devices and suchlike. She was already on
the verge of nerve crisis. Couldn't really blame her. Anyway, I mounted the
device, gave her access and let her copy the files she needed. She was saved...
Or so I believed.
A couple of minutes later, she called me again with some kind of sad pessimist
smile. As a matter of fact, the files she had copied were not exactly the same
version as hers, even though they were supposed to work in group. Well, I
couldn't do much, and she knew it, but she simply wanted to say it was
definitely not her day. And whe was damn right.
Less than ten minutes later, she called me again, with a rather weird voice
stating that her program wouldn't compile. Linking error... All the files were
right and so on. At first, even I had a doubt. Then I understood that the files
they had worked on had been compiled under one OS and that they were currently
working with another (Win / Linux). And when she had copied the files, she had
also copied the compiled libraries. Add a crappy compiler and suchlike and you
had a pretty weird situation. I could see she was 'borderline.' When I told her
what it was about, and that after all it was not her fault (well, not entirely),
it was a bit too much for her and she started sobbing then crying. She erased
the pre-compiled files with tears in her eyes before her program could finally
run.
I tried to tell her I was not a bad guy, that I knew she was a hard worker, that
half of the mark was from the code writen by the group, that so long as people
gave me back something they would have at least half of the points and so
on...
On the two hour exam, she had spent 40 minutes trying to sort all these crappy
problems. The stress and the idea of a rather crappy mark had been too much for
her. And I saw myself in the most awkward situation I ever met. Other
computerists had a chill in the spine when I told them the story and some
teachers I know bursted out laughing when I heard the fact that one of my
students cried... I'm usually more the kind of guy who make students laugh, or
make them feel at ease.
Anyway, some people get nervous after the exam, but others get nervous during
the exam too... And sometimes, sheer bad luck has its ways and can ruin your
day.
Well... Just like lots of other French people, I first tortured the English
language when I was around 10 or 11. I have had a few courses before that, but
that hardly counts.
Sometimes, it's quite hard to make the first step, but someone has to... Two people too shy to admit that they love each other... I've already seen that, and it's quite sad.
French poet R. Char wrote something like
"Impose your chance, hold your happiness thightly and goes towards your risk. Looking at you, they shall get used to it."
"Impose ta chance, serre ton bonheur et va vers ton risque. A te regarder, ils s'habitueront."
Rougeur des matinaux
As a whole, I agree with morri18 and moveurbodygirl when they write that the difficulty of a language is certainly related to your own native language and the languages you already know.
There indeed are some similarities between some languages. I'm French, studied Spanish and some Latin (poor me...), even though I didn't used these last two languages in ages. A few weeks ago, I found myself quite puzzled as I found out that I could more or less understand the main ideas of what an Italian friend of mine was saying...
Now, I guess there is another point to take into consideration: what level of fluency do you expect to reach... If speaking another language means that you could easily blend in the society, speaking without hints of an accent, then I guess most languages are really hard.
But if you humbly admit that you are a foreigner and would simply be happy to state a few banalities, to ask directions or to beg for some bread, the difficulty is quite different.
There also is quite a big difference between writing and speaking. Everyone who once learned some French should know that: what you say is not always what you write, wihtout even speaking about weird pronunciation rules <mode French evil grin ON>.
Now, truth to be told, one thing I would like to try is to visit a country where I could more or less understand what people are saying but without being able to read anything...
A couple of weeks ago I spoke with a PhD student in climatology. His main idea is that, in the end, we're not really sure how global warming can affect the Earth. His job is to understand if a change in one place of the planet can affect another. In other words, if something happens in Siberia, can it change things over the Atlantic.
What he said was that there indeed is a global warming, and that human beings may act as 'amplifiers' of this phenomena. But so far, it's hard to assess the real effects of this warming.
It's mainly the newspapers and suchlike that make it a danger for the survival of the mankind. In fact, not all scientists agree with the idea that it can be truly dangerous. The fact is that, so far, we can't be sure.
Because his ideas don't follow what the newspapers say ([mode sarcasm on] and we all know that newspapers never lie [mode sarcasm off]), and because he doesn't necessarily agree with the global trend (a mix between science and apocalyptic cults), his papers are often reviewed quite coldly. But that doesn't make them bad.
The truth is that there is a global warming, all right... But we currently don't really know what this means.
A tiger as a pet? Even if there were domesticated tigers, I would definitely not have one.
First, I definitely don't believe you could tame one into a docile pet, noooo way.
Then, even if you could, do you have the slightest idea of how much money it would cost to pay for its food and other stuff like this. You definitely can't count on it to get its own meal, unless you want to find a few human bones in your backyard.
Another point: do you have the slightest idea of the space a tiger could need. I don't think you can expect a tiger to live in a condo or even a huge flat and be happy. I already feel sad for the poor dogs in cities, so I can't even imagine a tiger!
So, to sum it up: if I ever want a tiger pet, I'll get a plush...
Well, to be honest, at first it was quite a blurry question for me. I mean... My fiancee and I would get married and have a couple of children, all right. But as for the names, it seemed so lost in an hypothetical future that I did not really want to think about it.
Up until the day when she asked me my opinion. After something like tne minutes thinking we came up with a name for a boy and another for a girl. But for now, both names are our little secrets.
Fiance, but not yet married... Well, it's only a matter of time I guess.
Globalization is not a recent topic... Last year I found a manifesto originally written in latin from the Roman Empire. Basically speaking, it was saying that it was shameful that so many Palestinians were roaming the streets of Rome, taking the jobs of good Roman citizens and so on... Nowadays, people and ideas can travel faster ant further, but the fact is that globalization is far from being a new discussion topic...
J. Barbey d'Aurevilly once said: "Avant de choisir le prenom d'un garcon, pensez toujours a la femme qui aura a le murmurer plus tard."
In English: "Before choosing the first name of a boy, always think of the woman who will have to murmur it later."
The same thing is true for a girl's name and the man who shall have to murmur it... The choice is hard, but the result of this choice shall last for a whole lifetime, so choose wisely.
In French, there is an expression: "ame soeur", sister soul... When a man and a woman can deeply understand each other, truly, honestly, and accept each other's heart and soul.
It goes beyond simple friendship. Yet this road is not necessarily the road of love. It's true that sometimes they both seem so close that the distinction is not always made. People tend sometimes to mix them up. And it's true that sometimes you can mix them up. But sometimes not.
Anyway, whether it must turn into love or not, treasure this relation. And don't make you suffer by pounding too much on that
There are a couple of possible meanings to my first name. In English, the translation is William, it comes from some germanic language and is a mix between the words for 'will' and 'helm / protection'. Therefore, there are three possible meanings: someone who has the will (and the way to protect it), someone who can protect himself or (my favourite), someone who protects others.
As for my family name, it simply means... Christmas. In my country, France, Santa Claus is called 'Father Christmas.' Therefore, no need saying I tend not to be fond of the red colour... At least not on me.
Dragonboy, I may be wrong but, if my memory's right, in the Irish flag, Green symbolizes the union of the people of Ireland. It was created before the independance of Ireland.
Green was for the nationalist / catholic party, orange was for the unionist / protestant party. And both of them were to live in peace, white.
But I'm not 100% sure, it's been quite a long time since I heard about this one.
Let's talk a bit about the French flag...
OK, let's do it simply: three equally large vertical stripes, Blue, White and Red from the "mast" to the end of the flag. Another version has a slightly larger red part to compensate the visual effect of a flag in the wind.
Before the French revolution (end of the 18th century), French troops had white flags or symbols, the colour of the king. However, at the beginning of the revolution, the population of Paris started demonstrating (it's kind of a national sport). They were wearing a red and blue rosette, the colours of Paris. To calm things down a little, and to make them understand that their point had been understood, the king Louis XVI decided to wear this rosette too. La Fayette, a French noble, but also an officer that fought during the American independance war asked the population to add the white colour, as a direct link between them and their king. They did so. At least, the story says it was La Fayette... The fact is, it was the first time the three colours were displayed together.
Later on, these colours were used by the army and the navy. For some time, different flags were used, with vertical and horizontal stripes. You can even find flags with a white lozenge surronded by blue and red corners. Anyway, around 1794, the official flag became the blue-white-red vertically stripped one. There have been some changes here and then, but in the end, we still have a broadly similar flag.
When asked about the signification of the flag, there are different theories. Some say it was a way to prove that the king was under the control of the population (the white part of the cocard was between blue and red). Others say it was a reminder of the American revolution (La Fayette intervention...), or even as a link toward the Dutch flag. There are even some people who say it is a symbol of the three parts of the population: nobility - blue, clergy - white, commoners - red...
[img=http://www.worldcountries.info/France/Images/74126842-250.jpg]French flag[/img]
Bad guess man, it was all she took. It took her some time to admit it though... But the fact is it was 'local production.' So everytime I hear someone saying it's harmless and suchlike, I can't help but remembering her face, after the crisis, when she in a zombie-like state.
Well, the fact is that my fiancee and I had a rather long distance relation for more than 3 years. But it was not a secret one. Basically speaking, because of our studies we spent three years 400 km away from each others. But we still had the opportunity to see each other around once a month, sometimes twice. Of course, there were holidays when we could see each others.
As a whole, even though our situation was less troublesome than yours, we managed to get through it, so I can say that I believe that your case if far from being desesperate. All right, there might be some rather unpleasant times, doubt times and so on. But keep faith, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Phones are useful tools, even though they may sometimes be quite expensive. SMS may be nice to reach each others at every moment. Personally, as you may have guessed, I like writing, so mails (snail and electronic) can be really great for you.
I guess the hardest part is to make the other one understand that you truly love him without choking him. Always there, in the shadow, holding his hand. It's hard, but it's possible to get through this
Kelena, mon petit ange, so far I tended to like you. So far...
Well, that's nature, granted. And I guess that if it had been a rat eating a cat or something like that it woudn't have had much effect. But the fact is it's a centipede... And there are a few people like me who don't really like this kind of stuff.
I guess people wouldn't get grossed out if it had been another animal eating the mouse. Funny how we can 'sympathize' with other mamals, avians or fishes but not with some other life forms as insects... I guess some part of our brain keeps beeping with a big 'danger' sign flashing. Primal fear? Who knows...
Every culture has its own legalized drugs. The fact is that people don't necessary recognize them as drugs. A definition of drug is "A chemical substance, such as a narcotic or hallucinogen, that affects the central nervous system, causing changes in behavior and often addiction." (The American Heritage - Dictionary of the English Language - 4th ed). Now don't you think that alcoholic beverages match the definition quite nicely. How about tobacco? Even chocolate is said to have some effects... In some countries alcoholic beverages are prohibited while marijuana is legal...
Each culture already has its own drugs. I don't see the need to add stuff to the list. Drugs can be extremely dangerous. Even the legalized ones (think about heavy drinkers). As for those who pretend that marijuana is not dangerous, they'd better not say such crap in front of me. I'm usually the quiet kind, but there are things that tend to get on my nerves.
The fact is that I know a really nice and bright girl who had just one problem: a certain lack in self-confidence. Three years ago, she met some friends of hers that offered her to try some marijuana. Nothing really dangerous, nothing all that bad of course. There are lots of countries where it is legal, where people can smoke, so of course, even though it is illegal in our country... She could at least try this. She fell for this and smoked a bit. Only a bit. But the fact is that the effects were far from being harmless. I couldn't say exactly what happened on a biological or even chemical level. The fact is that in the matter of hours she got completely schizophrenic. I met her just at the beginning of her crisis. For days she would hardly sleep at all, always speaking. All her family wondered what happened to her until a cousin of hers recognized the symptoms. She ended up in the hospital for more than a month. Her mother and sister crying most of the days... She went through her crisis eventually, but it was a close call (apparently 50% of the people never get out of this state at the first crisis). For three years she had to take heavy medications, she was in a half zombie-like state, the brain and the life in a mess... Nowadays, she's almost OK, even though her family still worry about her quite a lot. But that was a really hard price to pay for only one evening under marijuana's effects.
I won't plead for a total ban on every possible drug. I don't think this would be a solution. But I certainly don't see the need to add more dangerous stuff to the list. If you really want to get high, there already are enough legal solutions to do so. And honestly, I think the best way to get extra-elated isn't to take anything, but simply to have a really great time with friends, laughing... And that is 100% legal.
Just finished watching (once again) Last Exile... I like this pseudo steam-punk atmosphere, it's funny.
Well... technically, the opposite is also true... I mean that some girls don't really have problems using guys who have a crush for them.
On this aspect, some girls can be as cold and egocentric as some guys. And don't start mumbling about this, it's a fact. The proportions may be different, but there are such people everywhere, no matter the gender or age. And don't go saying that girls always have crystal pure hearts hiding their white angels wings in their hearts. I've had enough female friends to know otherwise (fellow guys, beware, girls chatting together are sometimes hardly any better than guys). And please note that even guys can be 'fleur bleue', soft hearted.
Moreover, the fact that a guy courts a girl does not mean he can't have weird ideas running wild in the head. History is filled with sweet talkers who use words to gain women's hearts only to break them later on, after they reached their goals. Be honest, don't tell me this doesn't ring a bell...
In the end, I'd advice to take into consideration this:
"Impose ta chance, serre ton bonheur et va vers ton risque."
"Impose your chance, hold tight your happiness and go toward your risk."
Rene Char
First, this is not really an answer to the question, but more some stuff to think about. Anyway, when it comes down to religious stuff, my answer usually is: make your own opinion, and please accept that other people may have different ones.
The main thing is that sometimes there are links between religions. Not so long ago, I read a book about mythology by Dumezil. After all, mythologies are past religions. The fact is that most European and some Asian mythologies seem to be linked somehow. The names change, and at first sight many ideas are different, but it seems that there are some common points anyway. Examples? Well, Dumezi's idea was that in these mythologies there were always three groups of gods more or less similar to the differences in the societies: the leaders/magicians, the warriors and the artisans/farmers. He also thought that there was often a link toward a hero that commited some sin and fell from grace, enduring some kind of trial... So, to some extent, there were quite a lot of mythologies that were linked somehow, but their own histories slowly gave them distinctive 'flavours.' One original idea, but lots of resulting mythologies.
If my memory is right, Zoroastrianism can be seen as an example too. Some people think that at some time in Persia, a crafty / smart guy came up with the idea of changing the old religion because he felt the leaders may have been bad guys or maybe because he wanted lots of followers, I don't know. In any case, basically, he took the former gods and called them devils. Their former 'glorious' attributes became the anti-thesis of what they were, linked to a set of 'great sins.' To fill the gap, he used the notion of a unique God, supplied by angels and other beings like that. These beings took for themselves the 'good' points of the former gods, changed a bit the names and added a bit of proto-legist ideas to make it seem different. In the end, he ended up with a 'new' religion based on a far older one. If my memory is right, the devils of this new faith were gods in pre-vedic Hinduism (daevas). Now, I have to admit I'm definitely not a specialist on this point, so go to the closer library and look for yourself some history book.
As for books about gods and so on, have a look at 'American Gods' by Gaiman or 'The dark teatime of the soul' by Adams. It's plainly stupid, not serious, but it's funny.
Lots of young people of ages past defended their honour 'on the field'. First with swords, rapiers or sabers. Time passed slowly and then came the guns, once again to defend the honour of the weilder... The results of these duels 'a outrance' always were one poor guy being killed, sometimes both.
Call me a foolish optimist but I think there is more honour in finding a way to make people discuss something without resulting to weapons than using a gun or a sword. Both are intended to injure or kill. And anyway, there is more honour in sparing a life than in taking one...
I may be of the egalitarian kind of whatever name you want to say, but I can't see why girls couldn't court guys. Of course, traditionally... But traditionally women ended up spending their time between the kitchen and the craddle to watch over the last kid to date.
Tiki, actually, I'm sort of a professor. Second or third thing I tell to the students is that, no matter what I may do, I won't be able to remember their names (we see each others 2 hours a week). And even if I do learn the students name list, I simply can't link the name and the face. Good point is that I'm truly unable to give a better mark to that nice or funny student. I simply don't know the name.
Usually, they understand very well...
I had a nurse friend who tried to explain me that not being able to remember names had psychological reasons and suchlike. Lack of confidence if my memory's right. But she added that according to this kind of reasoning she had all possible mental dicease, and could be called anything short of sociopath (and even then...). So don't worry if you can't remember names.
Here is a little story about a student of mine...
It was during a computer programing exam. So far, the students had been working in groups of four, writing code and suchlike. For the exam, they were alone and they had to twist what they had written so far so as to prove they understaood what they had done in group. EAch of them had a computer and two hours to code the test subject.
So far, no problem. But a student of mine must have angered the gods or something... She was (and still is) the 'hard worker' kind of students. Not really bright, but she worked more than most. And I suspect she was one of the few who actually studied her courses before getting in front of the computer.
First, she couldn't log on the computer. Ten minutes later, after the tech came and unfreezed her account of the server, she discovered that the code she was supposed to work on, the code she had preciously kept on the computer was gone... At this point, stress was already quite high for her. At this point, she asked her teamates for the code they had written together...
And then we discovered that the computers had a crappy buffer management policy... USB sticks had troubles copying the data. But we managed to do so. Five more minutes spent...
After this, we found out that when the comp tech came for her account, he had also erased a few links toward storage devices and suchlike. She was already on the verge of nerve crisis. Couldn't really blame her. Anyway, I mounted the device, gave her access and let her copy the files she needed. She was saved... Or so I believed.
A couple of minutes later, she called me again with some kind of sad pessimist smile. As a matter of fact, the files she had copied were not exactly the same version as hers, even though they were supposed to work in group. Well, I couldn't do much, and she knew it, but she simply wanted to say it was definitely not her day. And whe was damn right.
Less than ten minutes later, she called me again, with a rather weird voice stating that her program wouldn't compile. Linking error... All the files were right and so on. At first, even I had a doubt. Then I understood that the files they had worked on had been compiled under one OS and that they were currently working with another (Win / Linux). And when she had copied the files, she had also copied the compiled libraries. Add a crappy compiler and suchlike and you had a pretty weird situation. I could see she was 'borderline.' When I told her what it was about, and that after all it was not her fault (well, not entirely), it was a bit too much for her and she started sobbing then crying. She erased the pre-compiled files with tears in her eyes before her program could finally run.
I tried to tell her I was not a bad guy, that I knew she was a hard worker, that half of the mark was from the code writen by the group, that so long as people gave me back something they would have at least half of the points and so on...
On the two hour exam, she had spent 40 minutes trying to sort all these crappy problems. The stress and the idea of a rather crappy mark had been too much for her. And I saw myself in the most awkward situation I ever met. Other computerists had a chill in the spine when I told them the story and some teachers I know bursted out laughing when I heard the fact that one of my students cried... I'm usually more the kind of guy who make students laugh, or make them feel at ease.
Anyway, some people get nervous after the exam, but others get nervous during the exam too... And sometimes, sheer bad luck has its ways and can ruin your day.
Well... Just like lots of other French people, I first tortured the English language when I was around 10 or 11. I have had a few courses before that, but that hardly counts.