IceWolfEyes

Well, age isn't a big factor for me. However, it seems to be a big deal for my parents. I'm engaged to the love of my life who happens to be 28. I myself am 19. Now, that seems to be a huge differnce in ages, but it's really not. As long as you know what you're getting into, and are prepared to face scrutiny for your decision, God speed. Just don't be underage and have sex with an adult. If that older person is discovered, they will be charged for your lack of willpower.

I have a tendency to agree with most- if not all-that has been posted thus far. Some folks fight for the entertainment value, grab a coke and some popcorn and watch the feathers fly! Others for attention. Oh, my gawd, they're like, talking to me! Some out of ignorance. I think I know what I'm talking about, even though I've never done any research on said topic. Out of arrogance: I know what you feel, and it's not as big a deal as you think it is (I know this, so you can't possibly). And some really do want your opinion, as long as it happens to agree with their own decided course of action. There are a select few who start debates not to irritate, but to learn. Unfortunately there are so many of the other types that these few are over-shouted by the mob. Well, there ya go. Which are you?

The first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about a war on porn is: How they can be arrogant enough to think they can stop it? Are they going to shut down every site on the internet (not only locally, but globally) that contains adults going at it? If they choose to go global, how in the hell are they going to convince other countries to share their point of view? Are they going to only target videos of sex, or are they going to go through the entire spectrum...sexy pictures, stories involving explicit sex, and (but not limited to) distributors of sexual material? And if it is only consensual sex they plan on banning, what about the rest of the smut around (animals, kids, etc)? Yeah, something tells me this is going to be about as effective as the alcohol ban. Is the government simply looking for ways to waste money? Cus I've got a few ideas that would probably leave the general public a LOT happier then this bullcrap is going to.

Okay, I have just read every post created on this thread. Save applause for the end, please. Now, while I do have a few suicide stories of my own, I shall withhold them. They aren?t why I'm posting. I have no interest in sharing my emotional problems with you folks, no offence; they are simply not the reason I'm posting. James summarized the points made by the general public of Otaku: [QUOTE]Sometimes - and quite often, it seems - suicide is about revenge on the living, about attention seeking. When I say this, I think I do risk being misinterpreted. When I say that, I don't mean that it's some hollow thing and that people who take their lives are normal human beings who are simply being bratty. No, not at all. Actually, attention seeking can still be the symptom of very serious problems. And that's important to remember. People can commit suicide over relatively trivial things (like a partner leaving them - trivial in terms of overall existence) and their reasons for doing so might be to get back at that person. Does this mean that their feelings of emptiness or betrayal are any less severe? No. It's just that they are having an extreme reaction to the situation. Of course, there are many other reasons for suicide. Sometimes suicide is somewhat accidental (in the case of many drug overdoses - perhaps it's almost inevitable in some of those cases, but also slightly unintentional). Sometimes suicide is the result of a failed "failed attempt", which is ironic but true at times.[/QUOTE] But with none of the offensive language that other posts contained, or the veiled hostility/ignorance. However, there were 3 points hardly considered in the manner of suicide, except in spoof, jest, and to suggest other posts where stupid. What about the terminally ill? The folks who have no hope of getting better, and face a future of immense pain and suffering. Would it honestly be selfish of the person to wish an end? Or should the selfish finger be pointed at the family/friends who simply can't comprehend how horrible the pain really is? A pain that cannot be cured and is becoming harder to endure. On the same vein, what about assisted suicide? The person cannot do the deed himself or herself. They make their wishes known to a person they can trust to help. A little off topic, but still relevant. The second point is slightly related to the first. What if it's inevitable that the person in question is going to die, but they have the choice of how it's done? Take, for example, the folks who jumped off the world trade center. They [B]knew[/B] they were going to die. Their choice was really not much of one; be burnt alive, be crushed, or die a relatively quick death by gravity. Should they be labled as victims of suicide or victims of fate? They didn't have to kill themselves, the fire/rubble would have done them in just as easily. And they may still have survived the whole ordeal, if only they had not jumped. And my third point is unintentional suicide. The person has no thoughts about ending their life. But what if they sacrifice themselves to save another? No real plan, no time to think it out, but they push another out of the way of danger only to land in its path themselves. In all likelihood, they knew what was going to happen; yet they did so anyway. Would this still be coined as a suicide? All right, there are my points. Now on to one answer for the original question. I believe suicide is an individuals right. However, I also agree with whoever wrote, "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem". Suicide should [B]never[/B] be taken lightly. Sure, it'll end the pain, but at what cost? And even if a person is considering suicide loudly (meaning = telling EVERYBODY), they should still be helped. Even if all the help needed is an open ear. Mayhap I'll share my story, if need calls for it. However, I'd like to extend my hand (and ears) to those who need it. No amount of self-righteous "Suicide is wrong" parading will make the problem go away. Besides the fact that it hurts the hurt, it makes you seem like an *** in the process. This is not directed at any one individual, so please, don't flame me for telling the truth as I see it. This is Icyeyes...signing off.

I'm posting this because the of the nerve these folks had. Unbeliveable. Also because it happened about 10 minutes away from where I live. If you live in Colorado, El Paso area...Beware! BTW gas is at $2.87 for the cheap stuff. [QUOTE]FYI FOR ALL!!! My garage was broken into last night and my entire street was robbed as well. They weren't after the usual stuff, they were siphoning gas! I'm not quite sure how they got away with it all last night, but between the different vehicles, I'm sure they got over a hundred gallons. My garage was the only one broken into, where they got a ton of power tools and fishing gear. They also tried to get the get gas out of our car in the garage. Anyway, whether you live near me or not, I don't doubt that other criminals around the country may try a similar trick, especially with this hurricane coming. Only older cars with gas doors that pop open by hand were targeted. All the cars that were hit were in driveways or back yards. I'm hoping it doesn't happen to any of you! Please warn all you know. -TLN[/QUOTE] Icyeyes

Well, I've only got one real sob story. And thank the gods time heals all wounds. I was with this jerk for about 2 years, and gave him my innocence (however he didn't know it at the time). The only reason I was with him for so long was because I thought I "loved" him, after time passed I realized I only stayed with him because of the lose of innocence. But he broke up with me while I was in one of my depressive moods, great timing, ne? His words, and I quote, "You're just too weird for me, please leave me alone." Whole lot worse then the "lets be friends" line. Well, I met the love of my life about 4 months later and couldn't be happier. Funny thing, Jerk came into the restaurant where I work and asked me how I was doing. "Fine, I'm engaged." Flashed him a smile and walked off, lol. Okay, there it is, cut and dry. Whole lot less emotional then it would have been after the breakup. Icyeyes

I was actually going to start a thread sorta like this. Good thing I checked first, heh. I'm going to take the liberty of expanding the thread to all mental illness; just so more people can share. My mother has epilepsy. She has the worst case I've ever heard of, out of the people she goes to support groups with and cases online. She has seizers, a lot of them. About 20-40 peti-mal an [b]hour[/b], 2-3 grand-mal seizers a month. The doctors are doing all they can, such as placing her on about 15 different pills a day, to implanting a machine in her chest/neck to reduce them. Nothing is really working. It's very hard. She'll start a task and forget why she started doing whatever it was in the first place. Conversations with her are very disjointed; she has no idea what we were talking about 3 minutes in. Her balance is shot, has to wear a mouth guard when she gets out of bed (to go to the bathroom or go down the stairs). The last time we had to leave her here with no one else in the house, she broke down in tears because she couldn't remember where everyone went...she thought we had abandoned her. All this means that she can't function as a healthy adult should, no driving, no working. She gets Social security. My dad is in the Air Force, and is going to be activated and sent overseas in October. So, it'll just be my little sister, my mom and me. I'm going to have to do all the payments for the house and whatnot. My mother is never going to get better. Yeah, sorry about that. I just need some support. There really isn't much out there for the families of a mentally ill family member. Really really stressed out right now. Okay, I'm done.

I'm my mother's second and my father's first, so in a way I am both the oldest and the middle kid. My older sister is 27, while my little sis is 17. I myself am 19. I never really had a problem with my little sister, after we both cleared puberty, the stupid fights ended. We rather enjoy talking and spending time together. But I stongly dislike my elder sis. She has made just about every mistake a human can make. Stealing from my parents and my grandmother (not to mention any cash I forgot to hide), getting hooked on every illegal drug known to man. Is an alchocholic, with really bad judgement. Try driving while drunk, with me and her daughter in the car. Or chasing me around our house in Chicago with a butcher knife while high as a kite. Sad part is, when I grew up, I wanted to be just like her. And that is where the bad feelings originate. While she as since cleaned up her act, mostly, I can't forgive her for what she's done. So, yes, I know what it is to dislike a sibling. But here's to hoping that no one's story is as bad as my own, memories are a hard thing to forget. Let time flow by and look at your family with a different eye. Icyeyes

I know I'm a little behind the times, so sue me. For Passover my family did the usual dinner deal. We waited till sundown, and started the dohicky. We read from the Passover book, did some singing, read some Hebrew, and drank some wine. Ate the bitter herbs, ate the matzo, and set out some wine for Eliza. Ate on the best plates in the house (and oh are they expensive. If one of those babies die...run). Long dinner, gafilta fish, matzo ball soup, and lamb... yummy. All in all, a boring yet tasty tradition in my house. Usually we invite some gentile friends to join. This year it was my sister?s friend, her friend's infant son, and the mother of the friend. Fun. Chaos, the whole ceremony is not about the killing of the first borns. It's about remembering the exodus from Egypt. Kinda tedious way to remember, but better then sitting in Temple for 3 hours. And yes, I know my spelling is way off on some of those words. I have a hard enough time spelling english words, give me a break. Icyeyes

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Well, over the years, I've had quite a few pets. Never have I named an animal before I got it, and often my Dad renamed my pets, lol. I have 3 cats; a black female named Screech (my dad renamed her cus she never shut up as a kitten). The name suits her so well, it's kinda scary. A female orangish calico named Cally (from my mom, she has a really odd sence of appropriate pet names. She once named a male collie Rusty Redbird...sigh) And the cat has no personality, so I feel the name fits, lol. And my baby kitty, grayish whitish calico name of Neko. Dad is trying to rename him Rocky, meh. Neko sounds angry when shouted, and makes the cat stop whatever it's doing, heh. Eating tape, pushing stuff off other stuff, clawing my feet in the middle of the night, etc... As for the other pets in the house... A female mutt (lab and golden) named Maddie. Name is from my Gran, taken from one of Shakesphere's (however ya spell it) plays. Really suits her, I think. Sweet, sweet puppy. (okay, so she's not a puppy. I call her that anyway :P) And last but not least, a pink ring-necked dove name of Romsca. I named him from a book I loved as a child. And the dove is a complete *** like the character in the story, lol. All in all, should wait to name the cat until ya get it. See what it does and volla, the name presents itself to ya. Icyeyes

Meh, Barbie as a role-model? Not in my case. Sure I had about 5 of them (Chibi, I also had the beach barbie, her necklace changed color in warm and cold water), but I never pictured growing up to be her. Mainly because (I know this sounds mean) the female figures in my life were short and dumpy or tall and dumpy or tall and skinny with no boobs. None the less, I did enjoy playing with her, maybe not as much as with my teenage turtle dolls... Have a laugh at this; when I was 5 up to about 9 I would run around my house singing "Teenage turtles, da ta da ta DAAA!!!". Lol, funny as hell, my parents thought I was so cute...wonder why THAT changed. Mayhap no one has been in the Barbie loop for a while (I have a 6 yr. old neice who is in the barbie phase), but Barbie has become a mother. She has a little daughter...or at least that's what I thought when I saw the little plastic baby she was caring for. Came with a crib and all sorts of fun things, Shira (my neice) played with it for ever. Babrie is also being modernized, her bust line has been shrunk, her butt has grown, and I think her waist has expanded a tad. My parents didn't really care much about Barbie, I got to play with her and make her do whatever I wanted. Yes, making them have sex with each other was a fun thing to do. "Oh, yes. Oh YES! wrong hole, WRONG HOLE!!!" lol. I like to watch the histroy channel, and last year they had a program about Barbie. Apparentally her creater made them for her daughter. And named the doll after her daughter as well. (mutters to self - what a dumb thing to do, poor kid prolly got made fun of all the time). And the creator also had a son...that's right, meet Ken. Just seems so wrong to me, sister and brother were dating. Redneck love, lol. But aside from all that, my favorite barbie was not named barbie, lol. It was the little redish/purpleish haired gymnest with freckles. I liked her because her arms and legs had joints and I could actually sit her in a chair without her falling over. She was also short enough to fit in the doll house I had. Now that I think about it, all I wanted on my body like Barbie had, was that incredably long hair. And I'm growin it out, lol. easy enough to do. No plastic surgury for me! Icyeyes

I, too, am afraid of dolls. But only a few models, the ones that blink and the ones that talk and move around by themselves. When I was little, I had the misfortune of watching Chucky. After a few weeks I was okay with dolls again. Then I watched the X-Files. The episode where possesed dolls had been dumped in a lake or something and had been fished up. A little girl was given one as a gift by her dad, and the doll killed him and took the mother and the girl as hostiges. When the doll wouldn't let the mother commit suicide to escape it's clutches, I completely freaked out. I used to have quite a number of blinking dolls, and I loved them to death. After that show, I couldn't touch them and they got placed in a closet for years. Last year, I found them again. I was so scared I started to cry and kicked them outside to the trash cans. I kinda wish I had burned them in the drive way. lol, irrational fear to the max. This is prolly the only thing I'm terrified of. I don't have a prob with spiders, I can pick them up and place them outside with no stress. Needles don't bother me, lol, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the body mods. Water isn't really bad. Lakes and oceans kinda freak me out, but that's cus there are slimy things living in there that I don't want to touch me. Aside from the loud noise lightning and thunder produce, I rather like them. heh. Icyeyes

Well, honestly, I don't think I'd change a thing about my looks. I'm used to the way my body looks now, and the few flaws are bearable. In response to your question about how self-esteem may tie in to our perseved body image: It used to affect me a great deal. I thought I was ugly, lol. And that made me feel bad when the "pretty" girls were walking around. As of this point in my life, I really don't give a damn about my looks. Unless I have to go to a job interveiw, then I fuss in front of the mirror for an hour or so. My hair didn't dry right, oh crap. lol. Icyeyes

lol, Shalom to you too. I knew there was a reason I liked you, heh Icewolfeyes