FolkRockFan

The last time I did something like that, I bled for about half an hour. (The ball hit me right on the outside corner of my eyebrow - pretty thin skin there, so it didn't take much.)You can bet that I was more careful to actually *catch* the ball after that *grins*

First of all: many smokers are polite. Many of us follow the signs, ordinances and laws. I don't smoke within 20 feet of any building's entrance/exit when I'm at my college campus because that's the city ordinance. There are rotten people in every possible group or category. A few bad apples and all that. It doesn't make everyone in the group rotten, rude, inconsiderate or worthy of hatred.What also bothers me is that there is in fact a double standard. If I said, "Man, I hate fat people," a lot of people would jump on my case for being cruel and insensitive. But somebody says, "Man, I hate smokers" and it's okay.No. It's not.Say that you hate when people smoke where they are not supposed to smoke. I'll agree with you on that one - it's a rotten thing to do. Personally, I hate when non-smokers throw their paper trash into the public ashtrays...because then I can't throw away my butts properly unless I want to start a small fire. But because not all non-smokers do that, I'm not going to sit in judgment of the entire group.

The eye doctor dilated my eyes yesterday. It turns out that I need glasses, which I pick up next week (yay). My headaches, sensitivity to light, blurry close vision, et cetera will go away after I get used to the glasses. Or so I'm told.My appointment was at 9 yesterday morning. The doctor dilated my eyes at around 9:30 or so. I spent the entire day being all but completely helpless.I was able to key in my PIN number to pay by debit card. That was nice, considering that they wanted half of the money for the glasses up front and I didn't have cash on me.I was able to see well enough to walk without running into anybody or anything. I'm sure that the people around me appreciated that.After I got home, I tried to open my mail. I couldn't get my pocket knife where I wanted it (to cut through the tape and such), so I had to hand the packages over to Mom and have her open them for me.I couldn't read the letter that I got from my school's financial aid office yesterday. I had to get Mom to read it aloud to me.I couldn't tell the time, either. (No analog clocks in the house - all digital.)I couldn't read, watch TV (hurt my eyes too much), or even play on my computer. All of that got better by evening, but most of the day was basically wasted if you ask me. I really couldn't do a whole lot.My point in all this, I guess, is that I'm more thankful for my vision now than I was at this time just a couple of days ago. If I were actually blind, I would adapt. I know that I wouldn't be helpless because my other senses would bulk up and take up the slack.But still. Being able to see - even if I have to wear glasses to do it - beats the snot out of the alternative.

One thing that I'm seeing in this thread is regret that people didn't learn an instrument when they were kids.My Mom regrets not sticking with the piano lessons that her Mom forced her to take when she was five and six years old. But because my Mom didn't really *want* to play back then, she wouldn't have gotten all that much out of the lessons. It was a chore - something that she resented being made to do - not a fun activity that she embraced.So...for those of you who are now showing an interest in an instrument: it's not too late. You'll probably get more out of learning how to play the (whatever) now that you want to learn. Versus your Mom dragging you to the music store once a week or whatever would have happened.Get instructional DVDs. Buy a poster of guitar chords and learn them. Take lessons. Ask friends who play that instrument to give you pointers. Get online and talk with other people. And you don't even have to buy a *nice* instrument. If you want to learn guitar, you can pick up a very basic guitar for a hundred bucks or so. If you really enjoy learning and know that you'll be playing this time next year? Go ahead and start thinking about an upgrade. Point being: don't let anything stop you from trying something new.

Your posture also helps. If you stand and sit straight, you'll appear taller. But you'll also avoid developing a bad slouching habit, which can come back to hurt you (literally) later in life.But for the most part, like others have already said: you aren't finished growing yet. Female or male, you can expect more growth spurts over the next few years or so. My last one hit when I was 17 or 18 (I'm female, by the way). I only gained about half an inch out of that one, but it was better than nothing

Good for you - pursuing a problem like this is the right thing to do. You don't have to put up with this garbage, even if the school is taking it lightly.For future reference: if you're in a public place and some creep won't leave you alone, you can always yell something to the effect of, "QUIT TOUCHING ME, YOU CREEP!" Few people really want to draw that sort of attention to themselves. It also serves the purpose of letting others around you know that you're having a problem.

Part of the movie and TV industry's job is to make us feel something for the characters. That's how they help us become absorbed in the movie or TV show. The more absorbed we are, the more we enjoy the thing - and the more likely we are to watch again. This of course means more money :unsure:When a character rapes somebody else, most of us label him as The Super Bad Guy. We want to see him get what's coming to him in the end. We're absorbed and actively involved in the movie/program. And that's what the people who produced, wrote, directed, etc. the thing want.Same thing when a character does something awesome, like solve an unsolvable crime or rescue somebody from a flaming car.

I haven't picked up a tennis racket since I was a little kid. It's an okay sport - not really my thing, but I definitely don't have anything against it. Mostly, I don't like moving that fast...for that long.

Plenty of people do just fine without college. But plenty of people don't. It all depends on quite a few factors, really. More than I could probably list.Do whatever you believe is best for your own life. You get to choose - and live with the results, good or bad. That's the beauty of being free.

I knew about the size of the dish thing, but I wasn't familiar with the others.And yeah - texture makes a difference. So does smell. We involve most of our senses when we eat, so the food has to appeal in more than one way. There are exceptions, though. Personally, I think that tuna fish looks disgusting. But I love the stuff.

Networking is a royal, huge, massive pain.I hate it. Gave up, actually - even though I had a few very well-written tutorials (with screen shots and photos) to help me out.Network Magic solved the problem, though. Seriously: just install the software on all computers that you want to network and it does pretty much everything for you. You can track intruders, too, among other things. I have to buy the software to retain the printer-sharing capabilities, which is fair enough. It's only, like, 30 bucks for up to three computers, if I recall correctly.

Neat technology, but I'll stick with my plain ol' ErgoBoard Pro. Gotta love the thing - thirty-five bucks and I get a quiet, ergonomic board with two USB ports. Those ports are vital to we laptop users *grins*Besides: I wear out keyboards pretty fast. (Work a lot, type fast, et cetera.) I don't think that the investment would be cost-effective. Unless of course the thing is super-tough

First: don't wash your face more than two or three times a day. Too much washing dries out your skin and makes the problem worse. Second: give any treatment several days to work. Clearing up acne can take some time, so remember to be patient and let whatever you use do the job.Third: try to reduce your stress levels. Stress can cause breakouts. It's a nasty cycle, really. Stress makes us break out, which stresses us out more, which leads to - yep - more breakouts. *sighs*

If you guys and gals want better teachers, tell your parents to pony up more tax dollars to give teachers better salaries.Sorry, but the average teacher's salary just doesn't make the job worth taking. Sadly, teaching is often what people do when they run out of other options. Some teachers actually go out of their way to do it because they love the job, but you just don't find too many of them anymore.The whole situation stinks - for everybody. You guys and gals aren't getting the instruction that you want and need - and the teachers who actually care about their jobs aren't being fairly compensated. Everyone's getting the short end, but few people want to do anything to solve the problem.

iTunes offers free downloads every week. There's a little of everything, so check back every week to see what they're letting you download this time.Amazon.com's Music section has a free MP3 download area. You probably aren't going to get your hands on the upcoming Tori Amos album that way (just an example), but more than a few popular artists have uploaded some of their songs to the site. emusic.com lets you have a free trial if you have a credit/debit card. Just remember to cancel the trial before they bill the card.You can stream all sorts of stuff for free via iTunes and other programs, but that doesn't really help you if you want to load your MP3 player or burn a CD or something like that.

Well...my advice would be to avoid opening any files unless you're 100 percent certain that the contents are "okay." That way, you can't get into trouble for looking at things that your Dad has deemed inappropriate. Whether it's intentional or not, he's still responsible for you and what happens with the computer. As for how your Dad is finding these things? Eh...there are lots of ways, as other people have already said. There's really no way of figuring it out unless one has a general idea of what to look for. And even then, you aren't guaranteed to actually find anything. Some of the parental-control software out there does a very, very good job of hiding itself.

The Virginia Tech shooter was bent on killing people. Had he not been able to legally purchase handguns, he would have found a friend to buy them for him. Or he would have purchased a stolen firearm off the street. Or he would have made a bomb. Or he would have stolen guns. Basically: the whack job would have found a way to do what he wanted. Gun control would not have made a difference except in what route he chose to take in furthering his twisted plan.As for gun bans making countries and areas safer: um...no. Violent crime is on a steady increase in areas like Washington, D.C. and Chicago, Illinois - both areas with strict gun control. They even have quite a bit of crime committed with handguns in these areas. Funny how banning the weapons had the opposite effect than what was intended.Criminals do not need to have the easiest access to firearms. Pure and simple. Strict gun control gives the bad guys the advantage because they are perfectly willing to do all sorts of illegal, reprehensible things to obtain guns - whereas the law-abiding citizens are not. Thus leaving us with a tough time of trying to defend and protect ourselves.

Smack:Sometimes the cop harassment is based on race. It's stupid and unfair, but very difficult to prove. Cops don't have to have very good reasons to pull us over. They can say that we were driving erratically when we really weren't (and good luck getting your hands on the dashboard camera tape from that stop to prove that you were driving safely and legally).Other times, the cops harass young people in general. It's like...if you appear to be young (I'm 25 but look all of 14 on most days), then the cops need to check you out. You're obviously up to no good because you're a teenager (or so the cops think). And it's not just a "Why aren't you in school?" situation, either. When I go to certain parts of certain cities, cops harass me even though it's after school hours and I'm not doing anything wrong. Just walking into the mall, guys. Last time I checked, that was legal.Regardless of why some LEOs do this sort of thing, I have to wonder why they don't have anything better to do. Aren't there people out there committing real crimes that should be stopped? Um...yeah, probably. I don't see how the cities can scream about how they don't have enough cops when they obviously have enough manpower to send a bunch of them out to harass people who aren't doing anything wrong.But on the other hand....I've met many awesome LEOs. They do their best to treat everyone fairly and to actually do their jobs. You just don't see most of them on the streets for long because they get promoted to better positions within the force.

In my mind, things like golf and yo-yo competitions would be considered sports if the participants broke a moderate sweat. To me, these kinds of things are either games or hobbies. They can be very serious games/hobbies to some people, yes. Tiger Woods makes obscene amounts of money for knocking a ball around and soaking up the sun.I'm not saying that these things are any less interesting or valid than what I call "real sports." I'm just saying that, in my mind, they don't quite fit the category that I've assigned.

Racist jokes...eh...most of them aren't funny, but I've been known to laugh my white butt off when somebody (of any race) comes up with a good honky joke (or a good Irish joke, for that matter - I like laughing at myself).Words don't bug me too much. We all have the same freedom of speech. We can say pretty much anything that we want - and that includes the racist commentary and other such idiocy. I don't agree with Imus and his ilk (he's a hideous, vile moron if you ask me), but he has the freedom to say stupid things.IMO, it goes too far when it crosses the line from verbal to physical. Somebody can call me honky, white devil, et cetera all s/he wants and I'll just shrug. But punch me or whatever while saying it and I'm going to fight back because nobody has the right to assault me.I think that verbal racism is best countered by taking the high road. Proving to the bigots that you (generalization) aren't the stereotype that they believe in...well...that makes it a bit more difficult for them to keep believing that. If nothing else, your (generalization) superior actions shows onlookers that the bigot is, well, a moron.

Puppy update: all twenty-one puppies are in pens outside. They're probably thirty or forty feet from my bedroom window. One thing about puppies is that they Never. Shut. Up. I swear, they even yip and yap in their sleep.Fortunately, they're all very close to being old enough to find good, loving homes - homes that do not include mine. The plan is to take them, one litter at a time, to a gas station in town and give them away. Why the gas station? Because one of my brothers is dating a girl who has a relative who works there (yeah - confusing - I know). And that location is pretty good for helping puppies and kittens find good homes.That, IMO, is better than taking the poor things to the Humane Society. The local shelter just underwent major changes - everyone's new because all of the old people were scumbags - and I don't really think that dumping twenty-one puppies on them at once would be, um, fair. In the meantime...I had forgotten how much puppy poop reeks. What in the world is going on in their little digestive systems, anyway? Urk.

I like the first cigarette of the day, myself. I smoke that one anywhere from five to twenty minutes or so after I get out of bed, depending on how much I really want it. But the last cigarette of the day is sort of nice too, because I smoke that one while I think about what I've accomplished that day - as well as what's on my to-do list for the next day.

I'd like software on my phone that gently encourages my provider to forget to bill me every month *grins*Really, though, the only reason that I even have a cell phone is because I have the best credit rating in the family (got the lines without having to put down any deposit). Mom wants me to have the phone because I'm about to start commuting to and from college (about an hour each way). I don't think that I've made more than three or four phone calls a month since I got the phone in January. And I only used the cell phone for those calls because the cell phones have replaced our land line (cheaper and more convenient).

We have infinitely renewable, natural forms of energy available to us - that we can't pollute, mess up or destroy. The sun, wind and water can all be harnessed and turned into "clean" energy. And we're actually doing that. We just need to do it more, IMO, because the resources are there and we have the technology to put them to use.That's just one aspect, of course. We still have to deal with pollution, wastefulness and the depletion of resources that aren't infinite and immediately available (oil, for example).I think that we as individuals need to take more initiative. We can't just sit around and wait for somebody else to do something differently. If we do that, then nothing will improve. Everyone can do something: even a small contribution (like re-using your plastic soda bottles instead of just throwing them away) can help. Especially when we encourage other people to do the same.

Even when I was a little girl, my Mom didn't force me to keep my room perfectly clean. As long as I didn't have plates of food growing mold or something equally disgusting / hazardous, she didn't care.When I was off at college, my dorm room was spotless. Gorgeous, even. I actually cleaned every day. I didn't have a TV *or* my computer with me, so I really didn't have a whole lot else to do.But then I lived in my on-campus apartment for a year. It stayed messy - cluttered more than anything else. I mean, I didn't have garbage on the floor or anything gross like that. ;)Now I'm back home with my parents and sibs. I have my old room, which is somehow smaller than it was before I left a few years ago. It's because this room was Mom's office. Her filing cabinets, book cases, et cetera are still in here. I don't have nearly enough room for my stuff. I can't even put up the rest of my shelves because her stuff is still in the way (and I've been home for a whole year as of next month).She and I have agreed, however, that she *has* to do something with her stuff so that I can do something with mine. I have to live here for the next few years (commuting to school now), so I need some space. I can't even do schoolwork in here because almost all of my desk is being used as storage space.In this case, the clutter drives me nuts because I can't move it anywhere else. When I get everything arranged, I'll still have clutter. I'll just be able to move it from one area to another when I need a specific place for something