lodd

I notice that many people on this thread are asking you to be yourself. The problem I get when giving this kind of advice to people is that they understand it the wrong way. I'm sure you are intelligent enough to figure this out, but for the sake of clarity, I'll elaborate here. It might also help some other people who come across this thread.You can't just be yourself. You have to be the best aspect of yourself. You have to be the "you" that you are when you're at your best. This means that you can't be the "you" that is having a nervous breakdown, nor the "you" that is picking his nose, nor the "you" that is feeling depressed and anti-social that day, nor the "you" that hasn't taken a shower yet. You have to yourself at your best. This means that every time she sees you, she sees a person who always takes the time to make sure he's decent-looking, a person who knows how to treat a lady, a person who isn't too clingy and a person who she can talk to freely and who will talk back.The clingy part is really important. If you have a little brother or sister , you'll understand. They always ask for your time, constantly badgering you every five minutes to look at what they're drawing. If it's her brother, she'll still love him, but if it's a complete stranger, she'll just brush you off.Now, what do you do that you think a girl would consider interesting? What kind of geek are you? I'm the computer kind of geek who's interested in magic. The game AND the choose-a-card-any-card type. Magic is interesting. Do a couple of magic tricks and start asking her if she believes in other stuff like ghosts. But you say she's the shy type. Which probably means that all you need to do is make the first move. Talk to her more often and find out what she likes. Try those things out. If you like it, do it too. If you don't, don't force yourself. This is different from stalking her and copying whatever she does. This is expanding your interests. Remember that you should only do the things that YOU like as well. Every day at school or after school, talk to her for about 5 minutes about anything. Then slowly increase it to 10 minutes. Of course, this depends on you and her. One of my friends managed to talk a girl that he met for the first time for 4 hours non-stop. If you can do that, cool.During this time, talk about how tough life is as a teenager and what each of you do to de-stress. You can talk about your annoying teachers, or the music that you listen to to de-stress, or the favourite icecream you eat when doing homework. Then one day, tell her about an amazing movie coming out and ask "Wanna check it out with me?".And that should do it. Have fun. This advice WILL work, but only if you actually go and do it. G'luck.

It's a good step but they have to realize what they are teaching. If you're trying to tech arts in games, it's gonna be a little tough. That's like teaching history using a calculator, I think. But what video games CAN teach is stuff like critical thinking through solving puzzles in-game. Examples include the numerous puzzles that you always find in games like Tomb Raider. It can also teach you about time management by assigning you tasks that you have to finish in a specified amount of time.But the key point of a game is interactivity. The majority of subjects that we have need us to sit for a long time to understand the theory and concept behind it. For example, I don't see how you can explain the process of electrolysis by having the student control a character that is walking around.This means that video games can probably added as a co-curricular subject, but probably cannot replace the classes that we have. Of course, we can only add it as a co-curricular subject if it is explained to the student what benefits exist in playing the game. That is the only way to make them focus on building those skills. We can see, for example, that video games increase concentration, but this only happens during the game. In class, the student is as unattentive as ever. His concentration increases rarely, if ever.At least, that's my opinion. Feel free to attack. With logical arguments, of course.

I disagree slightly with fr0z3n. Some people (like me) have a problem of thinking of what to say. I'm really shy and my mind just goes blank when the person on the other side of the phone says hello (if i like her that is). If you're like me, I recommend of thinking of the first 3 sentences you are going to say. Then go with the flow after that.Now, let's try the worst case scenario and I'll show you that even THAT isn't all that bad.Example:You: Hi, this is ----(your name)---. I'm sure you remember me from last week.Him: No, not really.You: You kiss girls at ---(where you were)---- all the time?Him: Oh yeah, now I remember. *shyly*You: *smiling happily* I tried to call you the other day, but it seemed your phone wasn't working. That happened to me once, when I accidentally left my phone in my pants and washed it with my laundry.At this point, you stop and let him continue the conversation. This is an invite to let him tell you why you couldn't reach him without actually asking him. It also tests him to see if he likes you enough to start a conversation with you. You see, he's not answering a question. Like, I said, worst case is that he doesn't remember you. I doubt it. He's probably thinking of you everyday as well.About courage, you just have to remember what Sprnknwn said. He's in a different city which means that you don't have to see him if you do mess up. You also have to remember that people tend to forgive a lot if they like the other person. So even if you say his name wrong, he likes you enough to kiss you, so he likes you enough to not care about that kind of mistake. He'll probably be stuttering more than you will. It's tougher on us guys, I think. Though that's just my opinion. G'luck.

Ah, so you've talked to her. Pretty briefly if what you say is true. Now let's try something. Put yourself in her shoes. Imagine that there's a guy who likes you and wants to go out with you. What has he done so far? He's only talked to you for 5 minutes in total. Has he ever done anything to show to her that he's a cool guy who's fun to hang out with? A confident person who can carry a conversation and keep her entertained?If you HAVE done these things, then I say to you "bravo" and the only reason she isn't going out with you is because she feels shy or intimidated by your "cool"ness.But if all you've done is to talk to her about the weather and ask to borrow her history notes, I don't really expect her to be attracted to you. So CHANGE that. Next time you meet her, talk to her about something interesting. Go up to her and ask her "Hey, was that you that I saw spraypainting a mannequin at the mall the other day?" Of course she'll say "no" and then you can have some fun discussing who it was doing something that weird. If she says "yes", she's a really fun gal to be with and I wouldn't mind if you got me her number. :lol:Anyway, what I mean is that you have to have conversations with her that she will remember as being interesting. Then move on to DOING interesting things with her, like invite her to go ice dancing (at the skating rink). That's a personal fave of mine.After all that, I'm sure that she wouldn't mind saying "yes" to your invitation to the dance. Good luck.

Of course, like everyone else, I have this urge to tell you to just do it next time you meet her, to just push yourself to smile and say hi. But I know it doesn't work that way. I was like that myself. You gotta take it in steps.I'm gonna suggest doing something. It's up to you if you wanna do it or not but please read to the end at least. Now, for the next 2 weeks, stop thinking about her. If possible, forget she exists. She is now a total stranger to you. This is so that you can focus on the job at hand without letting "her" distract you.Starting from tomorrow morning, speak to 5 total strangers. Anyone. Even if it's just the janitor, or just a person you see in an elevator. You can say anything. You can ask the person to push the button for your floor, you can ask the cashier how her day has been, you can comment on an accident to a passerby. Just whatever, to whoever.Then do the same the next day, and the next.On day four, start having longer conversations. Stop someone who is walking and pretend to be doing a survey on the coffee-drinking habits of your city. Have a fruitful 10-minute conversation with about 3 people a day. Or you could talk to someone who's standing beside you in a bookstore and ask them to recommend a good book. Have a light discussion on your favourite genres. Do the same in a music store.I think you get the picture. Just keep talking with strangers longer and longer. You don't need to ask for their name or contact. Unless she's hot of course. In that case, by all means ask for her number.After 2 weeks of this (if you follow the pace I outlined above), you'll be confident enough to talk to strangers for extended periods (about 20 minutes long).Now, when you meet her, use something that you've used before to meet a stranger. Pretend you have a survey you need to ask her, or stop her while she's walking and ask her if she saw the accident down the road and if the drivers are ok now, or stop her when you see her carrying a book and start a chat on why she's holding that book and how a friend had just recommended it to you and you were too lazy to read it.Really easy, when you think about it and have practiced.So try it out, yeah? Hope it all goes good. Keep us posted.

I think you're gonna ask him right? You just don't know how to. Here's a suggestion of what you can possibly do.Invite him over to your house one day to do the whole letting-him-cook-for-you thing. Once he's in, casually talk to him. At one point, ask him, so how is your girlfriend doing? The best time to do this is to get it over with early on. The first five minutes of him entering your house in fact.Now, here's the important part. Act normal No matter WHAT he says or doesnt say. Don't ask him and freeze at one place, staring at him. Don't ask him then balatantly avoid looking him in the eyes. Don't tense your shoulders when he answers stiffly that she's visiting her parents. Just simpy keep the conversation going in a normal tone of voice. PLAN what you will say next just in case you go blank at that point.My suggestion is to be facing somewhere else when you ask that question (be it looking through the cabinets for silverware or rearranging books on your shelves). Then after you ask the Question, be ready with a continuing line of thought like "So, where did you learn to cook?"If you want him to like you, it's easy, just have a charming and optimistic personality. Don't be too shy to talk abou any topic. Whenever he says something bad about you, treat it as a joke and laugh it off or say something equally bad about him in a humorous way (e.g. "Really? I do that? Am I cute when I do it? *grin* But I bet it's not as cute as when you pick your nose."). But later on, see if he's right. If he's right, then fix it. If he's not, then humorously tell people about the time he lied about you being fat (you must do this in front of him).The big problem is, do you want him to like you? If he's two-timing his girlfriend, what's gonna stop him from two-timing you??

I agree with what tuddy is saying. She knows you're there, that's why she drags him along, coz she knows that you will protect her. But at the same time, I think she see you as more of a "dad" figure. One that protects her from harm, buys her airtime and generally treats her like your dependant (spouse/child).She also wants to make her relationship work. I think it's because girls tend to have this feeling that if they cant make their relationship work, then they themselves are not capable of holding up a relationship. (i.e. if the relationship fails, they have failed). If you're gonna be her guardian, take it all the way. She expects you to do the best for her now. Point out to her that's it's not her fault that the relationship didn't work out. He's the one who went and cheated on her. It's not her fault that he cheated either. It's not because there's a flaw in her that pushed him away and made him look for another girl. Convince her that she is an awesome girl that any guy can easily love and that he's cheating because he has his own personal problems of commitment (or whatever they are). I must warn you that this is the hardest part. You MUST convince her without a doubt that she is not to blame for the failure of the relationship. Use examples of how she has acted to show that she is an awesome girl. If you don't manage to convince her here, she will go on believing that it is her fault somehow and she will keep on "trying harder" to make the relationship work. Because a relationship needs hard work, right? So make her understand that she has done enough-- no, MORE than enough and that the other guy is to blame.Hope she takes it well. If you're close to her, she'll take it alright.

Kioku, yes, the US could nuke North Korea if they wanted to, but that wouldn't be a very smart move. North Korea would never be able to shoot missiles back to the US due to the distance factor. And even if they made superlong range rockets that could travel half the world, if im not mistaken, there are a few US submarines off the US coast that have anti-air capabilities and can shoot down any missiles coming their way. Therefore, the logical move for North Korea will be to shoot the missils to a neighbouring country. China? South Korea? Maybe even Japan. Who knows where they've got the missiles targeted. And that's why no one is going to destroy North Korea. Because even though China has a standing army of triple North Korea's population (estimate), even though the US can nuke half the landmass of North Korea with only their submarines near South Korea right now, even though Japan is technologically 20 years more advanced than North Korea, no country in the world dares to do anything because if North Korea does have nuclear weapons, millions of people could potentially die. And that just aint worth it. So why did the US go ahead with Iraq and Afghanistan, you ask? Simply because those countries didnt have the nuclear capabilities to threaten anyone. If they did, the US wouldnt have gone in and attacked blindly. They're not that stupid. They would have started negotiations and talks like they're doing with North Korea, or made allies with them, like with Pakistan. So, I believe that it wasn't a waste for North Korea to show that they had a nuclear weapon. They need that show of strength to continue talks and to stop any other country from invading. Your views?

Heyya pmh. Yeah, I do have 5 girlfriends. And yeah, I generally hate to type a lot, but for dating advice, i've found that people need extremely specific advice if not they'll be left wondering where to start.How to have 5 girlfriends? Be upfront and honest. Make sure that they know they're not the only one. If you do it the right way, they wont mind. Or rather, they'll accept it. So don't try it if you dont know how, kay?Pmh is right. Be confident, be yourself. And above all, be confident about being yourself, even if that "self" likes to collect action figures. It doesnt matter at all, as long as you enjoy it and arent afraid to show that you enjoy it. Now THAT's confidence.Dark_drgn also has it right. If you're trying to impress her, you will DEFINITELY screw up. Well, maybe not 100%, but there's a 95% chance that you'll screw up and that's not very good is it? Don't impress her, just have fun. She'll have fun too.G'luck.

Girls are humans too. And everyone loves a person who's fun to be around. Hence you have some people who are "popular" and others who arent so popular. How do you become popular? It's not that hard really. Make up some extroardinarily ridiculous stories or make some ridiculous statements and say/tell them while keeping an absolutely straight face. You have no idea how entertaining that is. It shows that you have a sense of humor. It shows your confidence in yourself to say those statements WITHOUT CARING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK. It shows that you are NOT someone who is depressive-suicidal and generally a drag to be with.Of course, this isnt the only way. But like everyone here said, be yourself. What this means is that you shouldnt care what people think! It does mean that you still have to shower and floss. But it also means that you should express urself in the same way as if you were with your best friend who doesnt care what you say. Treat her like someone who is your bestfriend and she'll feel the vibe.People treat each other based on how they are treated. If someone greeted you very coldly, you'd start talking to the person in a not so friendly way too, right? But what if that same stranger walked up to you with a big smile, shook you hand vigorously and introduced himself while making small talk and genereally looking friendly? Of course you would respond warmly too.So summary? Treat her like ur best friend who u arent trying to hit on (like every other creep.... err, i mean guy). And do it with complete confidence coz... she's ur friend right? Not someone that you have to impress. It works for me all the time. I dont have 7 girlfriends though. My 5 already take up too much time (but not money. I'll tell u about this next time.).Hope this helps.

Wanna know what i think? ur friend has no chance with the girl. He's just stalking her rite? not dating her? Tell him that outright. At the very least, u help him realize his mistake and help her get a less creepy life back. Plus, now ur in her "good graces" and have an excuse to talk to her. Treat her as a friend and hang out with her, hv fun with her. Even ur friend cant be pissed off at the both of u being genuine friends. She'll come to like u naturally, juz dont push it.

I personally think that the iPod was a brilliant design. They managed to simplify the user-interface a whole lot by doing away with so many useless buttons and integrating the features.One of the best things about an ipod (especially recently) is the thinness. Most other mp3 player s that I see are 2-3 times thicker than an ipod. And the ipod nano is even thinner. Personally, I hate having bulges in my pocket whether it's a phone, keys or an mp3 player.I wish that they had made an iPod nano without a screen though (did they?). I love how thin it is but i wont ever really use the photo/video feature much.Otherwise though, there are plenty of other brands out there that sell mp3 players with huge capacities and great sound quality. My only gripe is about their thickness.So, all in all, I still wouldn't get an iPod.

alfredglenstein, it's really interesting what you're saying here. I'll have to do some research before i agree with you, but it does sound logical and valid. However, that does not mean that what that publication did was right. I suppose that muslims do not know bout these issues, otherwise, they would probably be pissed over those as well. Really? A picture of Mohammed at the supreme court? I never noticed.. To OCAC as well, you have to look at the context where this is taking place. we're talking about the western (european) world where democracy and freedom of speech is important but DOES have limitaions. Blasphemy laws, anti-semitic laws, these all ask (force) the media to limit their freedom of speech. Try this place out for some of the limitations that are already imposed for other races/religions. http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/02/06/don-t-be-fooled-this-isn-t-an-issue-of-islam-versus-secularism/ So in the end, we see that european countries have laws that do not allow ANYONE to say anything remotely bad about the jews or the holocaust unless they want to go to jail for a few years like this guy who wrote a book about some fallacies in the holocaust. Irving, his name. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4733820.stm So the spirit of the law does recognize that it is criminal to purposely offend someone when you KNOW that it will offend that party. And since the cartoonists were ASKED to draw "cartoons that would offend Muslims", it should therefore be criminal shouldnt it? The reason these cartoons were drawn in the first place is because the editor suspected that the media was self-censoring themselves against insulting Muslims (and rightly so, i believe). He wanted to stop that self-censoring just because it isnt expressly written in the law that it is illegal. But when you consider anti-semitic sentiments to be illegal. This should be too. Again, if i offended anyone, please point it out. My 2 cents.

Thank you adriantc. I appreciate the way you answer in a calm and rational way. As i said before, what you saw is probably a "cult" of islam that's dropping the original teachings of islam. As far as i know, Islam has never condoned a lot of things that some cults do. Example: Brotherhood of Islam (in the US). Afro-americans who claim that Islam is only for them and that Islam supports ridding the world of Whites. That's ridiculous. I've seen plenty of white muslims in my time. My ex-neighbour was a white muslim (he moved away a few years ago). Islam is a religion that welcomes all walks of life and is in fact a huge deterrence of discrimination. I've seen 2 muslims who meet for the first time (i.e. in Germany) and even though one is from Sudan and the other from China, one invites the other back to his house for tea! It's incredible. I've never seen that happen for any other belief. Unfortunately, it is these cults that gain the main attention of the media. Why? Well, everyone wants to see the extreme things. They're just more exciting. So the media obliges and shows them. No one wants to see people living a normal life in a big city with an office job. That's why the only thing you see about the African continent is people dying everywhere with not enough food. It tends to make you forget that cities actually exist there....And even when we see some of what does happen in certain countries (i.e. arranged marriages in the middle east), we see that this is the effect of CULTURE and not religion. Arranged marriages are not compulsory in Islam. Arranged marriages are the culture of the middle-east, india, pakistan, etc. Many families in India that are NOT muslim have arranged marriages.So what is actually essential to islam? and you say that religion should be changed to fit the times. I dont agree fully. Religion means values. These values should never be changed. But the way you implement them CAN be. You talk of the church being wrong in terms of science. These were not essential to the religion. The church (in those times) said it was but we know now that they were simply corrupted and wanted to keep control of the public. The values of believing in morality, that sin (towards a fellow human) should not be done, that prayers should be committed to in a disciplined way, that you shouldn't hurt someone else, etc.In the same way, I believe tha Islam has only a few essentials.1. Believing in god. (Never hurt anyone before. I'll explain later)2. To never fight except in self-defense.3. Prayers, charity, fasting, pilgrimage. (all of which dont harm a third party)4. A certain dress code. (logic of not seducing the opposite sex?)5. Not doing certain things that are considered sin. (alcohol, pork, adultery)The first one never hurt anyone. The 2nd one has sometimes. WHy? Because some people seem to misunderstand what self-defense means. They believe (in this cenario) that the cartoons are a personal attack against them and the only way to defend their religion is by burning danish embassies down. But as we can see now, the majority of muslims (you only see about 3000 out of 2 billion muslims burning things down) are instead retaliating by boycotting danish products. That's the self-defense and the fighting that the majority of the muslims understand. If they all took burning things down as the appropriate move, we'd have half the world in flames. 2 billion muslims, mind you...All the others are personal choices. If they wish to stay in islam, they should work these things into their lives (slowly is fine too). They're not asking people to immediately know every bloody thing that's asked of them in the religion on the first day of conversion. That's inhumany possible in and of itself.I dont want to give false ideas of islam. I just want people to know the facts of the religion. It pisses me of that people just say things about it sometimes without proper research or discussion. Not you guys here though. You're all atleast smart enough to have a discussion here about your views before you go telling everyone about how Islam forces everyone to carry AK-47's (machine guns) with them everywhere they go. If I offended anyone, please point it out and i'll hapily give an apology.

You ever watched Hitch? Do Hitch. Lots of good points in there. Do what kelvinismyname said. Drop something. There'll be 2 scenarios.If she picks it up, say thanks. Look her in the eye, c0ck ur head a bit, pause for a sec, and ask " don't you live on my street?". She says yea. "Hi, i'm ****, what's ur name? I bet you hate/love history class as well dont you?" *conversation continues*If she doesnt, then turn, pick it up, and when getting back up, look at her with a slight grin on ur face and ask " So, why didnt you help pick up my pen? Do you have a grudge against me or are you juz nervous about the next class? Don't worry, the teacher wont fail you unless you forget his/her name." Look at her with wide eyes. "You DO know his/her name dont you?" "By the way, i'm ****, what's ur name? Hey, u live on my street dont you?" *conversation continues*Flirt slightly in ur conversations. if she likes it, THEN invite her out. If not, keep workin on her "as a friend".G'luck.P.S. I had to edit it coz i couldnt spell out c0ck properly. It censors it... I understand why. If the moderators still find this post offensive, please edit out that part only to a similar sentence. Thx.