Whiteblaze

Wonderful that you got to go to Japan! It is still on my list of places I really wish to visit! Note: Please forgive the double posting. I forgot to add my quoted response in the first post.

I didn't post originally, but in retrospect I did do one thing that was my goal and that was gain experience in my area of work and do travel contract work. I almost gave up that goal because I at first struggled at my first job right out of school. I later got a the hang of things in another area and became seasoned at it even. As for the next eight years. I must say something about turning 30 gives you some perspective. lol Not so much predictions, but things I hope will come to be or am aiming for: I want to transition to a different field of work as my current area does not provide the work-life balance I desire. I want to slow down and take time to enjoy life more. Give time to things I haven't been able to do because of lack of said work-life balance. I would call these personal growth and exploration activities such as dance classes or piano lessons. Also get my finances in better order to finish paying off student loans. I want to do international travel as that had not been enough of a priority apparently. I want to attend the concerts of artists I love who I have not seen yet like Daft Punk (They have only toured every ten years. >_<). I still live in my family home and I finally feel more than ready to have my own space so that is definitely happening. As for marriage it would be awesome if it is the right person and for the right reason. I have always had this feeling of wanting to be a mother since I was young. Will have to see in the years to come if that is what I want. I think I still do, but I have some things I'd like to do before settling down with that kind of life long commitment. Mainly just enjoy life without children a little longer. ^_^

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Ace'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]That's probably a common occurrence. Most vaccinations work by infecting you with a dumbed down version of whatever they're supposed to prevent, which harasses your immune system into making antibiotics in preparation for when the real thing hits. [/QUOTE][/FONT] I kind of left out a few other things that have been going on with me and understated what I did mention here, but you're certainly right about my immune system's harassment. They often say the benefit outways the risk, well, I say to them I'd rather just get sick with the flu than go through what I'm going through now.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Kenso'][COLOR=SeaGreen][SIZE=1][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Or at least for a year or two before everyone forgets about it. The hyped-up media crap about this annoys me. Needless to say, I'm not worried. Of course, the only time I've ever had the flu was the one time I got a frickin' flu shot, and that's about the only time I've been really sick, so I figure I'm good for this one, even if I am in AZ.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE] I had begun to think that flu shots aren't as great as they are made out to be. Twice I have gotten a flu shot; in Fall 2008 and the year before. Now while I do have seasonal allergies I have had the strangest allergic reactions ever since I had that first flu shot. Swelling in my right hand causing pain similar to carpal tunnel syndrome, a swooshing sound in my right ear that lasted 4 or 5 months last year than finally went away. Not to mention the lymph nodes on the upper right portion of my body have been acting strange. I am considering these to be allergic reactions because the only thing that has any effect on them is Benadryl and I only found this out 3 weeks ago. Both times the flu shot was given in my right arm. So I've decided, no more flu shots for me. I would also like to point out that the person in that photo could do one simple thing to be on the cautious side: wear their glasses. Hanging them on your shirt collar is just not as useful. I'm assuming no contacts are in use.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Lunox'][font=trebuchet ms] [YOUTUBE="this"]Nn5jlrxcpkI[/YOUTUBE][/font][/QUOTE] This clip never gets old. But yeah some of the best comedy has some truth to it which is where the humor really comes in.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Raiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Wait...so every time you were GOING to be disrespectful your parents could sense this magically and stopped you with the power of? Kryptonite? The moon? Psychic powers? Fire? Bricks? Sharp words and a 'time out' only work so far. A spanking for a child is not child abuse according to state laws in the United States. Getting smacked across the mouth for being cheeky is intentional harm to a child and qualifies as child abuse. But a spanking given for [b]open defiance[/b] is on a different order altogether. I've seen children raised who were not spanked who turned out fine. I've seen others that should have been spanked who weren't who have since then grown up into world's most immature idiotic gormless selfish jerks. And then there's me, who was spanked while growing up excessively, but has still managed somehow to be a relatively productive member of society. Spare me your moralizing because I highly doubt you're a parent and have ever been the ONLY one to have to mete out punishment to a child. I've been in a single parent position before and know how stressful it is. Yelling at a child is as much of a harm as a smack across the rear. You'll forget the spanking in time and it won't hurt, but a verbal punishment can do lasting damage or be forgotten seconds later. A spanking isn't the first thing a parent normally jumps to when it's time for punishment. It's the last thing.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE] It would never get to that point because I would not say anything disrespectful in the first place because I knew what would happen if I did. My parents tolerated very little when it came to disrespect. I'm trying to moralize anything to anybody. I'm expressing my view and really there was a misunderstanding. I do not think spanking is child abuse. I was spanked as a child. BUT. When a child is "spanked" and winds up with bruises, scars, large whelps, sore limbs, can't sit down etc... then yes I would say that was abuse even though there are parents who do this and still call it a simple spanking (not talking about my parents). Lastly I'll say that the way people teach and discipline their children is a choice that they make. I'm not going pass judgment on someone else and their child, but that doesn't mean I don't have my own opinion. For example, when I was in high school one of my teachers was telling us about how he disciplines his children. He spanked his children. He told us that when he's about to spank his kids they would wet their pants in fear. He said that if he hears from his wife that their kids were misbehaving somewhere then he would get home that night from work, wake them up from sleep and let them have it. My opinion is that's crossing the line if a child is so scared of a spanking that they actually wet themselves (that right there shows they are affected emotionally/psychologically). In fact when he told us this story he even sounded proud about how he disciplined his kids. I am not a parent, but I am still formulating in my mind right now the things I certainly want to do with my children when the time comes and things I certainly do not want to do. [quote name='ChibiHorsewoman'][color=#9933ff][font=monotype corsiva][size=4]Excuse me? Ok Super Nanny what do you propose I do? Before I get started on punishing my daughter let me first say that as a whole she's a very nice and polite little girl. Just like Knuckle's Girl's children she will go up and give someone a hug. She's gotten into the habit of trying to help out whomever she sees may be in need of her assistance and introduces herself by shaking hands. She helps with chores and will try to fold her laundry. However she is four years old and likes to test limits that have been set. Most of the time she gets sent to the naughty chair for four minutes for a time out- that doesn't always work out too well since she tries to get up repeatedly and every once in a while she does get a spanking. Just a swat on the butt. Not to inflict pain- that's what's classified as abuse (I went through abuse training through my job in geriatric care about two weeks ago so please save your preaching for someone else) but just to emphasize the fact that she's on punishment. I have also swatted her hands, but that was because she was about to try to touch either a pot on the stove or the flames from said stove (we have a gas stove) for the fourth time after telling her no three times and my only other option would've been to allow her to hurt herself. So tell me which one would you rather I allow to happen?[/color][/font][/size][/QUOTE] I wasn?t saying that you shouldn't stop your child from getting burned by a hot pot. Simply giving a swat is not the spanking that I am talking about, so no, that's not inflicting hurt/ harm intentionally. I was talking about when someone spanks a child with a belt or something where it does hurt. I'm just saying that a person can't spank a child with a belt (which hurts) and the person say they were not intentionally hurting/harming the child. I understand now from your explanation what your discipline approach is; where there's no spanking involved and other methods are utilized. I would prefer to teach and discipline my children that way, but on the other hand I tend to agree with people who think that spanking is necessary.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]I think there is a clear difference between a child who simply doesn't know any better and a child who is simply being disrespectful. And then there's the child who just doesn't care because at the end of the day they get away with it. Very little children tend not to know any better because they are usually still being taught what they should and should not do. I will give benifit of the doubt to a child who doesn't understand that what they did or said it wrong/rude. I lend a lot of behavior to "Oh she/he is only however many years olde, but at a certain age any child is accountable for their actions and it's clear that they are just being smart/disrespectful/etc... A basic truth about children's behavior is that they will not only continue to do something, but take it to the next level an beyond if allowed. I was never disrespectful to my parents because not only was I taught, but I was never allowed to. If I ever said or did something they did not like, they did the teaching and disciplining right then and there!!! They didn't wait until I was already 12 or 13 years old and start acting appalled at my 'mouthing off' or 'talking back' or any other disrespectful behavior as some parents make the mistake of doing. In fact at that age it's far too late. You have to start when the child is young with teaching to be respectful and all this manners stuff. It also depends on your culture because there are some cultures who generally expect and value respect from children in a different way on another level so that plays a part in things too. [quote name='ChibiHorsewoman'][color=#9933ff][font=monotype corsiva][size=4]If you don't do it to intentionally harm a child it's not abuse. My parents spanked me, hells my mom once smacked me so hard across the face for mouthing off to her I thought my head was going to fall off. Kids today have no idea how lucky they are. They need to stop acting so damn cheeky. [/color][/font][/size][/QUOTE] The act of spanking a child IS intentionally harming/hurting them. If you are not wanting to harm/hurt a child than you should not spank them as that is harming them. I have never gotten to the point of mouthing off to either of my parents because I taught from an early age not to talk back or anything like that because if I had my head would have fallen off. But you see it never got to that![/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]Now I'm not saying that swine flu is not dangerous as people already know that you can die from it, but I think the media has blown this up way too much. First off, under certain circumstances you can also die from the regular human influenza, pneumonia, and even the common cold. Being that I reside in Houston, Texas and go to school in the Texas Medical Center, does raise reason to be a little more cautious, but there's no need to start getting all paranoid which I haven't seen yet, thank goodness. Though I do find it odd how I have not been sick the entire school year yet as I speak I am sick and trying to get over some cold or other. Although two elementary schools have closed in the area due to confirmed cases, my younger brother's highschool may be closing later this week, and in church last Sunday a little boy stated his younger brother was home sick with swine flu, people aren't getting all panicked or anything. I personally would be more concerned if a child came down sick simply because of a lack of a developed immune system. The news and other media to me are just giving people a reason to be paranoid. All you need to due is take care of yourself and if you get sick go see your doctor about treatment. That's all there is to it.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Lrb'] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=dimgray]I've also got a notepad which I've been using a lot for various reasons. I've found its just extremely useful to have a [B]notepad[/B] handy at all times. I've been drawing in it, writing lyrics, writing stories, ideas for threads, not to mention little details I need to remember and *ahem* phone numbers.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=dimgray]So, whats in [I]your[/I] pants? :smirk:[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=dimgray][RIGHT][SIZE=1]gogosexualinnuendos[/SIZE][/RIGHT] [/COLOR][/FONT][/quote] An entire notepad?! O_O [quote name='SaiyanPrincessX'][SIZE=1]Ten cents. Literally. The thing that really sucks about girl pants is that the manufactors think girls never use pockets or somehting, so you could usually only fit [I]maybe[/I] half your hand in them![/SIZE][/quote] I thought I was the only one who had that complaint. 'Bout the only thing I put in pants pockets are my keys and my cell phone if there's no where else to put it. What I tend to carry with me won't fit into my pockets comfortably id not at all and depending on what it was and how it was positioned would start to mess with the circulation in my legs and being that circulation is very important I put my stuff elsewhere. Such as jacket/hoodie pockets!!! Now the pockets on these garments tend to be rather roomy so I can fit my rainbow-fence wristlet which holds all sorts of cards: debit, the one and only credit card I have, various store savings cards, my State of Texas ID card because yes I am 21 and do not own a driver's license. I also carry my health insurance card in case there is an emergency. Along with my wrislet I usually have my orange plaid coin purse that holds any cash I may have. I like having them separate because money is germy and I don't like it touching my cards. Lastly, I try to always carry some hand sanitizer. My school ID which must be visible and my Metro Q-card I use often because I have no car so I put them both in one of those hard plastic ID cases and clip the thing to my pocket. Oh and I always have to have some lip balm or chapstick or soemthing on me because I have what I will call high maintanence lips that need frequent moisturizing. And that's about it.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Lunox'] I don't really aspire to go out in a blaze of glory, I just want a happy life of doing something I love and surrounding myself with family and friends. I don't know if I'd want to die peacefully alone or surrounded, but I definitely want to die peacefully. lol I don't see the huge deal of dying of old age. If I marry and have kids, I'd want to see my kids grow up and marry and have kids of their own, and then die. I'd like that, as corny as that sounds.[/QUOTE] I don't see death so much of a thing of fate, yet I do kind of see it like this: when it's your time to go, it's your time to go and there's no changing that. I wouldn't want to know when or how I would die because I again I don't see death as being a thing of fate, in that manner anyway. Even if I did see it as fate, I'm not interested in knowing, like Aaryanna Mom said, I'd rather just live and enjoy life without worrying about something like that. When I was younger the mention of death made me very afraid. I would go in phases every now and then getting scared all over again (not terrified, but just in a having it on the mind sort of way) and then feeling at peace with the idea and forgetting about it again. Now I just feel like I'm not afraid of death itself since it is inevitable and every dies at some point. What I am afraid of is dying before I experience being a mother and raising and nurturing children of my own. It's one of my life's aspirations, very much at the top. So Lunox, don't think what you said sounds too corny. ^_^[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]You went to the same school for the past ten years? Hmm, was it a private school or something? (Sorry, I'm just curious) I think you'll be just fine. When people say they are not social I've found that's really ot the case or mean something else when they say that. People (that don't know me) describe me as being quiet, but I say I just don't run my mouth as much as some people do. I do talk and talk a lot too, but I also tend to (well, in the past) talk the least when I am around new people in new situations. This I found was not such a good thing to do though I never did it on purpose. A friend told me something one day that really told me soemthing about myself. I can be shy at times and as I said before I get really quiet and really don't say much unless asked a question. She also told me difference between now and when we first met as she said I am much more open to talking thatn I was then. I'm saying all this because I've noticed that by the time I warm up to people and everything most other people have made friends and don't feel the need to reach out any more like they do at the beginning of school. As long as you do things like talk to others and keep a conversation going with someone you just met you'll be just fine, Darren. You can do that can't you? ^_^ It took me longer than most people to realize the importance of conversation when you first meet people. It lets people get to know you a little bit and decide whether they like you or not. Just to get an impression of you. If you are speaking very little in a classroom full of people (like I'd do on the first day of school back in highschool, but then I already had friends from middle school and such) then they aren't able to see what you're like. I don't know what you mean by you're in no way social at all (maybe you can tell me what you mean by that?), but if you just don't do the whole not talking very much thing, you'll be fine. Also, making friends is just something that happens naturally. I would suggest not pushing it too much. Personally most if not all of my friends befriended me more or less. I've almost NEVER gone out of my way or put any effort into making friends and I always wind up with the best of people. People who like me for who I am, want to be around me, and people that I like. As far as your concern about meeting people, well, you're certainly going to meet people. You just hope to meet people that you like and vice versa. Try joining an organizaton of interest, or going to a place of interest on campus so that way you'll run into people that share your interest. There's always your classes! That's a nice opportunity, I mean people who immediate have a link with you. You can ask someone a question about class or talk about an upcoming assignment just to start a conversation or something. Lastly I would say the first few weeks of the semester is the best time to more easily befriend a person because after that people have established some friendships and will be busy doing their thing and won;t go too much out of the way to befriend others. Remember though that you'll have more acquaintances than friends and some of them will become a friend too so keep that in mind. And you will befriend people throughout your four years, but probably more those first two years. I think you'll be just fine. Making friends, it's not something that you forget. ^_~[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]I concur, Lunox. I would go as far as to say that she seems to be the least interesting, personality wise etc. [SPOILER]I was glad to see her finally deal with her anger/hurt of losing her mom. Plus, the whole antagonizing Zuko thing was getting old. Tonight's episode was a nice break considering all that's about to go down. I rather enjoyed it, of course. Now, there are a few things I'm wondering about that have been hinted at: They always tie things in so I'm wondering what Uncle Iroh's been up to since his escape and what Sokka will do with that tile he received? Is Jet really dead? Does the fact that Zuko's mom was mearly banished supposed to be of significance other than, "Hey, she might be alive!"? And if she's alive where has she been all this time? It be really cool, but I kind of don't see how there will be time for some how coming across her with this being the finale and all. Also, what greater evil is Azula capable of at this point?[/FONT][/SPOILER]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Phenom'][COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]My GOODNESS! I did not know this series was that good. Now I've seen a couple of episodes here and there, but they never really hit me the way these 3 episodes did. And the action didn't stand out at the time. It was good then too, but narrow-minded-ness.. (You know how that goes :)) I was lost. Still lost so to speak because I don't know where the fire guy (sorry, I don't know names) came from, and he had a bald head. (with a ponytail.. or something) I know him and the main bald boy were enemies, and that's it. In these episodes that just went off, they're working together..... The animation and fight sequences are gorgeous. (Nice and fluid) Most of this stuff is as good, if not better than majority of the anime that's been airing on television. Character design.. I learn to live with it. (They're not bad, but I've seen better looking people) I like how the fire guy looks though. (is that Ruffio from Hook?) I would love to be able to catch this from the very beginning so I could see how everything got started. I tend to watch a lot of American cartoons that has action in them, or at the very least, give them a chance (although, I tend to bypass a lot of cartoons with the quirky designs), and they (cartoons) shouldn't be taken too lightly. If more cartoons like this were to be created, I'd probably give up on watching anime completely :p [/COLOR][/QUOTE] Hmm, if you like you could just buy the DVD's which will cost you a bit or you could try catching the reruns on Nick., although they never show them i in order. Then there's that unmentionable method, which I will not mention. XD I'm eventually going to buy the series at some point, but that won't be for a good while since I'll have to wait a while. It wouldd be nice to get the whole thing in one great big delicious box set! But yeah you really should watch it from the beginning because you'll get so much more out of it. I couldn't see myself watching the last 10 episodes of a show like Avatar and enjoy it the way someone who's watched it from day one would. With that I must say that I can't wait for tonight's episode!!!! The preview for it has had me giddy all day![/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Raiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"] .....sorry, too much sugar there. Yes, with the notable exception of the boots, this costume is 100% hand sewn, put together, stained with blood and tears, etc.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE] No wonder it looks so nice. Usually people's costume material looks so cheap and cheesy it's ridiculous. I'm happy to see some people take costume making seriously. I love your expressions and poses in both pics. : )[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='SunfallE'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]No need to worry about that. It's easy for us to move something if needed. ^_~In all honesty, about the only real difference I noticed was that the time you have for doing fun things is a lot less on account of the responsibilities you take on as an adult. The trick, for me that is, to staying happy has always been to make sure I don't lose sight of having fun. The only thing that has made life horrible, other than genuine bad times, is not setting aside time for doing things that I enjoy. I've found that even something as simple as having time to read a book I like is enough to keep me happy. So no, it's not as horrible as people like to make out because you have a limited ability to control it. The saying that life is what you make of it really is true because it's oh so easy to see all the negative things and overlook all the simple yet positive things that you enjoy. Keep an attitude of finding things you like along side the being responsible side and you'll do fine. [/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE] Ah, now that's the best advice right there. ^_^ Finally, someone came along with the right amount of life experience. Giving advice from experience is a little hard when you're just a few steps ahead of someone.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]If I could only have one and not the other I?d choose intelligence. While I really admire intelligence, there is nothing like a beautiful human being. However, when it comes down to it, beauty will only go so far; whether it?s relationships or the work world. Save for models, exotic, strippers, prostitutes etc? True that beauty attracts you initially and is something desired, but it is up to a person?s other traits to win you over. Unless you just like people for their physical attributes, you would probably find a beautiful simpleton to be quite unattractive. Sure I love a handsome, good looking guy, but it?s a real turn off if he can hardly spell his own name.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]Another thing I want to add is that it's not really where you go to college, but how you get the school you will attend, the government, and whoever else (scholarships, grants, loans whatever) to pay for it. It's great to getting in, but you need the money to pay for it. Lady Aura, here are some ways to accomplish this that come from my own experience: To get those school funded 4-year scholarships (which is some of the best stuff!) for incoming freshman you'll need to meet certain requirements. Different schools have different criteria. Generally theses scholarships are given according to a students: 1. GPA/Class Rank 2. SAT and/or ACT scores 3. Credit Hours taken (usually 15 is the minimum) 4. How soon after high school you started college (No more than 12 months) My university offers this scholarship at three levels and even some for transfers. They don't offer full ride scholaships, but the best one is $10,000 a year for four years. That's $40,000. That may not be a lot considering the cost of attending some schools, but 40k is still a lot of money you don't have to pay. It wouldn't cover everything, but it would really be helping me out if I was receiving this award , instead of being stressed out about coming up with the money I need to finish school. My family is not well off, but yet make too much to qualify for grants. I mostly qualify for loans, but I am happy (damn happy) to get them because I cannot pay for school otherwise. A different 4-year scholarship with different criteria was offered when I was an incoming freshman that offered less money. But it still it would have helped. I missed getting it by three Class Rank Percentile points. However someone less studious and not as serious about school could get it because they come from a small and /or less competitive high school. Some things may seem unfair, but you have to remember people are only concerned about what they see on paper a lot of the time. It doesn't matter how deserving you are, you must meet the criteria. Okay, I'm starting to ramble. ^^ So other ways to get money are major related scholarships, regular scholarships for anyone (private scholarships). Grants if you qualify. And of course there are loans. I say don't be afraid to take out loans; just make sure that you are doing so wisely and will be able to pay them back. The most important thing is you finishing your degree, however you pay for it. [quote name='Lunox'][font=trebuchet ms] For now I'm just glad I'm going to college for another 4 years of protection and living in a bubble. I'm sad to see all of my friends start new lives across the nation, but at the same time I'm excited to reinvent myself and start fresh, so to say. I'm not really gung-ho about getting a job and working year-round, but hopefully I'll find a job I enjoy. [/font][/QUOTE] From my experience and that of others I know I'd say that college takes you out of that protective bubble. You may be in it a short while (say perhaps freshman year), but at some point you have to start thinking about things like resumes, internships, work experience, leadership experience, whether or not your major will lead you to the career you want. And you will definitely need to join some professional organizations like those associated with your area of concentration. Handling all of these things while at the same time keeping your grades up and everything will be your first taste of "the real world" as people like to call it.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]Lady Aura, what they mean by life is horrible is that in what people call “the real world” you are responsible for your own wellbeing, up keep, and all that implies. Unless someone is going to continue taking care of you for the rest of your life, it is up to you to pay your rent/mortgage, food, bills, transportation, medical expenses, vacation etc… etc… There is no more depending on mom or dad, sister, brother or whoever (unless that’s just the circumstance) to take care of you. This is what being grown up is all about. The point where you are now in life is relatively simple. I don’t know your life situation, but to make my point, all you have to do right now is go to school. That’s mostly likely your biggest task right now. You don’t have to worry about paying for living expenses and other things that come with not being under your parents’ umbrella. At some point I guess people get a slap in the face and realize that one day they’ll be out there doing everything their parents have done for them since the day they were born (with whatever level of success). I think it hits some people a little harder and more sudden because they don’t think about that until that time comes. And for others it’s a more gradual thing. After high school you go to college or you get a job. Whichever choice you make, you will find yourself nudged out of the safety of the nest. High School is sort of like the last countdown to being at the threshold (college)between mom and dad’s nest and the “real world”. It’s really the last of what I would consider truly carefree days. I remember back when I was in high school and how I hated doing the redundant stuff some of my teachers handed out to us. Homework/busywork was boring, but it was so much simpler to go to school, go to each class, learn, do a bit of class work, take a test or quiz if need be, and go home and do my homework and other high school related activities. Outside of school organizations/clubs and say maybe chores around the house at home, the rest of my time was spent doing purely whatever I wanted. Now that I am a junior in college approaching my first semester of nursing school, my days are spent mostly doing school related things. In fact, I haven’t acknowledged until recently that a lot of aspects of my life are now being measured with the “how beneficial is this is to my success” stick. I now spend more time and energy (and oh boy money) on school than I EVER have (which is expected). I am also making the choice to spend as much time as I do on school. I’m here for a reason and I have a goal to surpass. High School was such a breeze compared to what I’m doing now. The main reason is that my high school experience does not determine the rest of my life the way college is/will. You do badly in high school it’s to some extent fixable. Do bad in college and it’s not quite as fixable, if at all. So much more is riding on your four years in college is basically my point here. Now, something I personally want to say to you about starting high school is that these will most likely be the last of your truly carefree years and being a teenager so ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN! I mean it. At the end you'll be glad you're done, but have fun while you're there. Make friends, join school clubs/organizations, get involved in your community or city by volunteering, if you don’t already, get immersed in some hobby you really love, if you like sports than try out for the team. Just have fun. All of this will only help your college application anyways. I mean yes there may be some things you may not like about in high school, but there’ll be a lot that you’ll love. Another thing, don’t forget to do your best academically because this still has a lot of influence on things like scholarships and where you’re accepted for college. Also, save yourself some agony and begin researching college majors and professions NOW!!!! You may think it a bit too early, but really this will give you time to look at areas of interest and get good knowledge of them. It’s not good to wait until the end of senior year to start thinking of a major. I know people do change their majors even while in college, but perhaps the area you choose will be close to the one you really want to pursue if you have an idea coming in. As for friends drifting apart; I will tell you that you are going to befriend people wherever you go so try not to worry too much about that. But do try to keep in touch with at least one or two good friends that you’ve known for a long time. There’s nothing like a person who you’ve share many memories and good times with. But for new friends you never know when something good might be is coming down the pike. You ask if the world after high school is as bad as the people you know say it is. Well, it can be and it may not necessarily be. You can’t be an optimistic nut or a pessimistic fool. I personally am a positive person by nature so I have the tendency to plow forward when others say to give up or quit. I know life can be rough, but I simply refuse to believe that everything is so impossible in this world. How will you know if something can be done or not if you haven’t at least tried?[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]Now I love both smoothies and milkshakes. I make smoothies whenever I have the right fruit that I want or feel like spending the money to buy some. I don't see why using frozen fruit would be a problem as I've had fresh and frozen fruit smoothies and both are great. One of my aunts made smoothies for us once and she put some of everything in there! In fact she put so much stuff in the machine that I wasn't sure if I'd want to try it. This particular aunt is a health nut so I knew the smoothie would be good for me regardless of what she threw in it. But really I didn't think that some banana that had been lying in her freezer for who knows how long, flax seen oil, and olive oil would be good additions. The end result was a purplish, grayish, or perhaps a brownish almost oozing liquid which I hoped was edible. I tasted it though and to my surprise it was the best smoothie I'd ever had. Now I wish I had paid more attention to what she used as it wasn't a recipe, she just threw some stuff in a blender. Anyhow, [URL="http://lifestyle.msn.com/foodandentertaining/recipes/staticslideshowbhg.aspx?cp-documentid=5038682>1=10216"]here[/URL] is a place that offers some good smoothie recipes! [URL="http://lifestyle.msn.com/foodandentertaining/recipes/staticslideshowbhg.aspx?cp-documentid=5038682>1=10216"]Smoothies![/URL] I personally would omit things like ice, fruit extract, and sugar as I've seen some recipes call for, but frozen fruit is fine in my book. As far as getting proportions right, I really would worry more on how you want the smoothie to taste. You might want your strawberry banana smoothie to lean more towards a strawberry flavor so then you'd just put in more of them then bananas. Experimenting is the answer.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Adam']I'm as guilty as anyone for quick-replacing meals, but for some reason I never got into Ramen... For my quick-meal fix I'll just eat lots and lots of cereal...[/QUOTE] Now that's what I'm talkin' about. I couldn't agree more with that statement. In fact, the milk and cereal come and go so fast at my house it's hard to keep it around. Noodles are the only thing that we keep too much of, unfortunately.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]A thread about noodles. XD Tsk, tsk, tsk. Well, I eat the kind with the little face next to the name Maruchan. I like Chicken and Beef the most. Mushroom , Oriental, and Shrimp not so much. Of those Shrimp I like the most. I prepare my noodles by cooking them in boiling water first, draining some of the water, adding seasoning and mixing, then draining the rest of the water. I plop them on a plate and eat with a fork. I started eating noodles when my mom bought some for the first time when I was a kid. I've basically been eating noodles (ramen) long before I really new what the stuff was. My mom cooked it, put it in a bowl, and I ate it. However, now that I am older and know more about eating healthy and all of that I would say that I am more inclined to seek foods that are simply better for my body. As others have said noodles really don't have any nutritional value and I would add no nutritional value you can't get from real food. People say they are cheap and so on. My mom says that too which is why she buys them all the time. I'm trying to wean myself off of them because I don't really consider them to be food. I would like to stop eating it altogether, but that's kinda hard when you've gotten so accustomed to eating it. I know it's sad. : ) The main reason why I haven't been able to stop eating them is that it's bought so often at my house because it's "cheap" so it's what's always around when other stuff is running low. With that I'd say that I actually like noodles, but not enough to keep eating them when I have other choices. Since I've been in college I haven't been eating them too much (only when I go home) since I rely mostly on my unversity's cafeteria. With the grace of God I will be getting my own appartment to finish school this summer. I can cook, however when you aren't the one buying the groceries for the household, you have to eat/use what's available so I haven't really been able get some good cooking experience in; what with my mom complaining to me about using her ground turkey, pasta, tomatoes, cheese to cook something I want to cook when she planned on using them for something else. While I'm not exactly a chef or anything, I certainly will be far from being at the mercy of a pack of noodles to nourish myself. I'm determined to show my mom and others that you can eat inexpensively and still eat real food that is at least better for your body if not down right healthy![/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]Why congratulations Queen Asuka! You have there a beautiful baby girl. I'm very happy for you. I hope you don't mind my saying, but I must say she has such an adorable little nose! Usually babies' noses look just about the same to me (you know just a little round button of a nose), but hers is really cute! All of the pictures are wonderful as she looks like a little angel in each one. I love how she looks so peaceful in that last one there. Just precious.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='Anomaly'][FONT="Garamond"]It's blizzarding here. In April. And I mean a lot. It was +24 degrees celcius a week ago, yesterday, too. I consider this to be [B]terrible[/B] weather. IN APRIL. D: I live in central Alberta, Canada and yeah, it can be cold.. but generally by now, all the snow has melted and it actually feels like spring![/FONT][/QUOTE] Do you mean -24 degrees celsius? Because 24 degrees celsius sounds nice. Unless I'm forgetting the fahrenheit equivalent. I'm making an effort to learn celsius the way that I know fahrenheit so that I can stop fussing over weather temperatures with a certain South African friend of mine. I swear a conversation about the weather once went something like this: Jay: It rained the other day. It was nice. Me: Oh did it get cold after it rained? It does that every time here in the winter. And in the spring/summer it gets hot and sticky. Jay: Just a little, around 7 degrees celsius. Me: 7 degrees celsius? Me: THAT MEANS NOTHING TO ME!!! Me: You all and your celsius using selves! Jay: Yeah and you are the only ones using fahraenheit! :P Of course that's with all silliness. But anyways, I'm wondering what your spring is like? Temp wise and so on?[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][quote name='chibi-master'](the snow had brought down trees 'cause of their leaves and the trees brought down power lines.) I actually was not scared because I had just moved from south Texas and this was my first real snowfall! I was skipping and laughing while people were freezing! I was so happy that the snow was up to my thighs!:animesmil[/QUOTE] I feel you on that one chibi-master. I'd have been right out there skipping and laughing with ya! [quote name='SunfallE'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]Whiteblaze, I don't know if some states disallow tinted windows, but I do know that here in Utah, the front windows are limited in how dark they can be. Which is why I paid to have someone tint my windows so they'd fit the regulation. Which kind of sucked since they aren't nearly as dark as I would like.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE] Yeah, I was just wondering because I noticed at my university that the only cars in the parking lot with untinted windows are those that belong to out-of-state students which I found to be strange and funny at the same time. I could understand a regulation limiting the level of tint (although as you said that still sucks), but not one banning it all together. Around Houston you see cars with fairly dark windows which is not uncommon. I personally love tint not just for privacy, but for simply how hot it can get in the summer. It's needed just for protection. [quote name='Aaryanna_Mom']That's one aspect of living in Texas that I do not miss at all. Well that and the hot humid weather too. I don't miss that either.[/QUOTE] I wish I lived in a place where I could say that too. lol[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]Hmm, I've never experienced things like blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, and especially not earthquakes. I'm a Gulf Coast resident so I here about hurricanes, but have not directly experienced one. I'd say Houston tends to get more tropical storms. And while Texas is in or very near Tornado Alley, I would still say I've never experienced a tornado before. Every now and then during winter some snowflakes will fall. It wasn't until a spring break trip to New York City ( a year ago) did I at 19 years of age finally get to see snow for the very first time. I mean real snow on the ground and everything. I was in kindergarten when I first saw snowflakes. I remember that day so well. We were coming from music class when they suddenly started to fall. Our teachers let us play outside for a while we were just so excited to see snowflakes that melted seconds after landing. As I mentioned before, thunderstorms are what we mostly get here as far as that type of weather is concerned. We do get flooding too. The flash-flood kind of flooding where if you see the weather warning of it, it's best you sit tight and wait. Some people learn this lesson the hard way with flooded-out cars that need major work. We do get very bad thunderstorms, but I'm so used to them now they hardly even phase me. For example, in third grade my brother and I had to walk home from school every day for a month in thunder, rain, and lightning. Also, you just become accustomed to driving in heavy rain on the highway where you can hardly see the car in front of you let alone the street. You just become an expert driver in that sense. It's the hot weather that is most terrible, in my opinion. It just gets really hot here. Our springs are probably like other regions' summers. I think that at any given temperature that it is still hotter here along the Gulf because of the humidity. I was never entirely sure what humidity was until just a few years ago because of being so used to it. I still have no concept of what "dry heat" is or what it feels like. Guess I need to visit Arizona. The heat doesn't come only from the direction of the sun; it's all around you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember hearing of some state in the U.S. where tinted car windows was against the law. To me, it should be against the law to not have tinted windows! No one else has terrible hot weather?[/FONT]