TikiPrincess

Welcome Chaos, I'm glad you could join us. Though some people seem to be reminiscing of the old days when the forum was apparently the happening place, I think it's far from dead. Because of the diversity of the forums, there's lots of information available. However, there are tons of topics that have yet to be created and many issues that are begging to be dissected and torn apart. Many of the Trappers, including me, are interested in many things and are eager to learn what this world has to offer, so don't be afraid to share your knowledge or opinions. Just noticed you're a Kiwi! New Zealand is actually near the top of my list of places I really want to go. My cousin and her husband went during one of their many travels and the pictures were absolutely spectacular. One of their friends from there came to visit while my brother and I were staying with them, and we introduced him to the sport of air hockey. He enjoyed it so much that he actually got a blister from playing non-stop. Anyways, sorry for the late hello, but welcome again, and I hope to see you around!

Obviously, the lines are going to be different based on the individuals involved. What one person considers cheating, another considers flirting. My husband has gone to a bachelor party almost every year for the past 5 years, and they go to the strip club every time. I don't mind because that's what guys do at bachelor parties, but I think I would mind if he went to one just because. On the other hand, he expects me to flirt with guys at the bachelorette parties. One of the things on the bride's scavenger hunt list was to get a guy to give us his underwear, and my husband fully expected me to have a hand in procuring them. Not that he wanted me to physically take them off, just that I'd be convincing enough to talk a guy into giving them up. (By the way, no, I didn't even try.) He's okay with me flirting amongst our friends, and I can go out dancing with the girls without him because he trusts me to come home and he trusts his friends to watch over me. Of course, I'm usually the sober one watching over our friends, but that's partly the reason he's comfortable staying home. He knows that my overprotective streak overrules everything else, so I'll be more concerned watching my friends flirting and trying to forestall any problems than listen to the guy next to me. Even if I'm not the designated driver, I'm less likely to get drunk if he's not there to watch my back. Actually, I flirt more with my friends than I do with strangers. With friends, I'm comfortable to know where the line is and how far to take it. I know which friends I can freak on the dance floor or ones that I can only have flirty innuendo with along with the occasional hug. And, for the most part, my husband is usually sitting right next to me or somewhere nearby. I'm not really doing it for a free drink or to get them to want me, although it's nice to think I'm desirable. Sometimes the girls in my group of friends act like something straight out of a playboy fantasy, smacking each other on the butt and using another girl's chest as a pillow. Of course, the guys sometimes flirt with each other almost as much as they flirt with the girls just to be ridiculous. None of us are swingers and, despite the teasing and flirting, none of us have had any extra-marital affairs. At least as far as I know. Perhaps being part of the initial MTV generation has made us a much more highly sexualized group of adults who are comfortable with sexuality. I'm much less likely to go as far with a stranger as I would with a friend because I don't know where the line is with a stranger, or whether he's a psychopath who'll go crazy if I reject him at the end of the night. The only time I really get flirty with strangers is when I'm with a bunch of other girls, and even then it's questionable. I'm more likely to dance with a guy and then turn and leave without talking to him at all. I won't sit on a strange guys lap because that's just asking for trouble. I've rejected drinks from guys, especially if I didn't watch the bartender make the drink. It's become a dangerous world out there for women, and I'm not about to make it easy for a guy to turn me into his next rape victim. Sometimes, it's just a personality thing. It's not trying to get anything out of anyone else, it's just a way to communicate. Yes, there are other ways of communicating, but sometimes they just aren't as fun.

Part 1. I would say that rather than sending her the money, why not use it for a round-trip ticket for yourself? Even if things don't work out between you and this girl, you still get the opportunity to be in Europe. I was fortunate enough to be able to trek around parts of Europe twice and hope to do it again since the experience was well worth it. Besides, you don't seem that infatuated with her since you're interested in some other girl. There's no guarantee that she'll use it to buy a ticket to see her cousins and you unless you send her an actual plane ticket. Part 2. Most girls can tell if a guy really likes her or not, or they find out from their secret girl network what the deal is. If you want her to know without being the one hurting her, then you can tell a friend of her friend and it will eventually get back to her. Of course, half the school will also know that she likes him and he doesn't like her back, which could be a bit humiliating. Or you could be a real friend and tell her quietly and privately that the guy considers her a friend and wants to keep it that way. Either way, she's going to get hurt because rejection always hurts no matter who it comes from or how tactfully it's said. You probably shouldn't date her for awhile after because she'll be on the rebound. She might date you to get him jealous and make him see what he's missing. Or she'll transfer her feelings for him onto you, which can get emotionally confusing, and she'll be constantly comparing you with him mentally, if not verbally. When you all hang out together, you'll wonder if she wishes she were holding hands with him instead of you, and you'll begin to doubt your relationship with her and your friendship with him and start doing little things that sabatoge your relationship with her or him or both. So save yourself the anxiety and don't get involved until she can sort out her feelings for him. Be her friend and show her that you care just enough to be a little more than friends. If she sees you for who you are and likes you for it, great! If not, you can always fall back on a trip to Europe where you can get involved in some romantic fling that'll only last for a week or two.

Unfortunately, there is no utopian society with a classless system. There will always be people with power and people without power. There will be people with certain talents that others lack. However, those same people will lack talents that others have. And some talents will be considered more valuable than others by different societies. That's just the way of human nature. I wish it were otherwise.For example, my chosen career is teaching. I believe that it's an important job. Teacher have the potential to be one of the most influential people in your life. Of course, learning doesn't only come from positive experiences, and a bad teacher can influence you just as much as a good one. I'm sure most of you can remember at least one teacher that you disliked, even if you can't think of one that you admired.However, teaching is one of the lowest paid professions in the country. The base salary for a teaching in my area is somewhere between $30K-$40K for ten months of work. Granted it's not bad in most parts of the U.S., but in California, there's no way a person could afford to buy a house with that. In fact, some city maintenance men have a higher base salary. A job that doesn't require a degree or credentials or continual licensing to maintain your credential. But it's a job that most people don't want to do. We pay plumbers hundreds of dollars for a few hours work because we don't want our noses anywhere near the sceptic tank and so on. On the other end of the spectrum, the Los Angeles Galaxy is paying David Beckham $250 million dollars to play soccer (football for all you non-Americans). I'm sorry, but kicking around a ball does not justify being paid massive amounts of money, no matter how good at it you are.But inequality remains. No, life isn't fair. And the rich will get away with things that people in lower classes won't.

Ummm..... Madagascar is a Dreamworks film, not Disney/Pixar. I feel that Cars & Ratatouille has less of a general appeal as the other movies. Cars focused on the nostalgia of Americana - the open roads and a time when people were proud of this country and proud to be a part of it. And what's more "American" than NASCAR. Ratatouille, on the other hand, is set in France, which is not a very popular country with Americans both before and after the whole fiasco with Jacques Chirac. But for those who enjoy cooking, France really is the apex of the culinary world, a world that people are beginning to see with the rise of celebrity chefs like Emeril, Rachael Ray, etc. and shows like Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen.But the deeper message beneath both movies transcends the specific setting and appeal. Cars shows people that there's so much life and beauty in this world that we're not taking time for. The journey is as important as the destination. Ratatouille tells you to follow your dream if that's what's in your heart. Be true to yourself and, again, appreciate the small moments in life rather than be critical and cynical. I think both do a very good job of sending their message.

I've read some of your other posts, and I questioned the validity of many of your statements. It seemed to me that you were just pulling random stuff out of the air to get your hosting credits back up. I mean, in one you say you've been dating a guy for 8 years and you have a house together, then you say you're just out of high school. Your story gets jumbled when you switch from first person to third person in another post. Relationships are based on trust. If a person can't trust you, then the relationship will always be guarded and distant. If you're a chronic liar that can't keep your stories straight, then people will begin to see through all your BS and won't want to put up with it. And if a person can tell that you're lying on a forum, where it's just words without the body language and visual/auditory signals that you get from someone in person, then you don't seem to be a very good liar. Just wondering, what steps have you taken to *recover* from your habit? Have you promised to stop lying or have you actually seen a therapist about it to discover the rationale behind your actions?

Despite the fact that this is a No-Post Count forum, it's still subject to the rules of spam. Unfortunately, sentences can be as short as one or two words, and three sentences could probably fit on one line rather easily and could, therefore be considered spam. It's a fun idea that I've seen done on other forums, but I just don't think it will go over well on this one.

I post about things that I find interesting whether I think other people will find them interesting or not. For example, I'm not expecting anyone to really respond to my tutorial on how to do Sudoku & Kakuro, but it's something that I know a little something about and something that I enjoy doing. I like to share my experiences, even if no one else is really interested. True, it's easier to garner more credits when you can get a discussion going about a subject, but it's not necessary. Just write about what interests you and perhaps you might spark up a heated debate where you least expected. There are more than a few members than need to be taken over the knee and given a good spanking. When you're 15, you think you know everything there is to life and no one understands the world better. But perhaps one of these days, someone might see those words of advice and actually listen to it. So go ahead and sound like their parents. God knows there are plenty of parents out there who are little more than biological donors.

Since there's been a bit of malcontent with the forums, lack of activity, etc., I wondered how we could possibly get the old luster back. Plus, I've got a ton of credits that I don't foresee needing since I'm opinionated enough to find something to post on and I doubt I'll be needing a domain since I don't really use my site anyways. So I'd like to host a writing contest to test the ability of some of our members and have a little fun in the meantime. - I'll need a few judges, depending on the number of entries, but I'd like to have at least 2 others besides myself. - I'd also like to ask a few of our GFX members to volunteer some time to make a sig for a winner if he/she doesn't have a hosted account and can't accept a credit transfer. I will pay the artist a portion of the credits in lieu of the winner. - I would also like to know which thread to put this under. Because there is a specific word count for the entries to meet, I figure you don't want this to be in a post count section. I'd also like to have separate threads for the rules and the entries.Anyways, please let me know what you think of my idea and whether you would be interested in participating as support. Obviously it will take some time to make this contest as successful as I hope it becomes, but perhaps it will inspire some literacy in our members and draw out the creativity in some.

My in-laws and I have a little tradition of gathering around the kitchen table and trying to finish the crossword puzzle in the daily paper. Usually we could finish up Wednesday's, but Thursday and on got to be much harder and we all had to put our heads together to figure it out. A couple years ago, a new section in the local paper appeared next to the crossword puzzle. A nine-by-nine square with a bunch of numbers in it called SUDOKU. At first, I was a little wary of it because it just looked a little confusing and intimidating. Basically, you have to fill in the missing numbers. Each row and column must contain the numbers 1 through 9. Additionally, each 3 x 3 section of the puzzle must also have 1 through 9. How do you even begin to solve something like that? Well, there are many different methods, but only one solution. Let's start in the 3 x 3 section in the bottom-right corner. There are four empty squares in this section at the bottom-right corner of the puzzle. There's a 2, an 8 and an empty square on the top row, and we're missing numbers 1, 3, 4 and 6. We can't plug the 1 into the top row of the section because there's already a 1 in the column. We also can't put it in any of the squares on the second row of the section because there's already a 1 in that row. Therefore, the 1 has to be in the empty square at the bottom, and we only have three empty squares now! The 3 is a little harder. We know that it can't be in the empty square in the top row because there's already a 3 in that column. This means it could be either of the two squares in the second row. You can pencil in 3 in each of the two boxes or make some sort of mark to remember that it could be there. We'll come back to that later. Next we tackle the 4. If you look at the second row, neither of them can be a 4 because there's already a 4 in that row. So the 4 must be in the top row! We've still got the 3 and the 6 to fill in the two remaining squares. Looking at the rows won't help us this time, we've got to look at the columns. The column for the second empty square contains a 6, so we can't put it there. That means that it must be in the first empty square, which leaves a 3 in the second one. And we've completed the section! It should now look something like this: Of course, there are different levels of difficulty and this method won't always work. But it's a start! Now onto what some people call "Sudoku's evil older brother" - KAKURO! Though Kakuro is a much more direct translation of crosswords into numbers, it shares a few rules with Sudoku. The numbers may only be 1 through 9 and cannot appear more than once in the same line horizontally or vertically. However, you have to plug in numbers that add up (or multiply depending on your puzzle) to the number at the top or to the left of the section. The square with the 7\8 in the center separates the sections, so numbers can repeat below that even if they appear above it and numbers can appear to the right even if they're on the left.So let's start at the top-left corner. There's 16, 17 and 35 going across. Since you can only use numbers 1 through 9 in your solutions, 16 and 17 only have one solution each that will fit into the two boxes allotted to them. 16=7+9 and 17=8+9. But we can't really be sure where to put these entries until we look at how they relate to the equations going down. There's 23 and 30 going down. 23 over three spaces equals 9+8+6. Since 6 can't be the solution to 16 because that would result in the next square being 10, and it doesn't work in 17 either for the same reason, then it must be in the third square. 8 isn't part of the solution for 16, but it does fit into the 17. This leaves 9 in the top square. So you would have 9, 8 and 6 vertically in the first column. Now we can try to fill in some of the other numbers. 16=9+7 and 17=8+9. Since we've got two of the four boxes filled for 30-down, why not try to solve for it? If we subtract 9 and 8 from 30, we're left with 13. We can't use 9+4 or 8+5 to solve, because there's already a 9 and 8 in the solution. So we have to use 7+6. But which one should go in which box? We could look at the 35-across. There's already a 6 in that row, so we can't use the 6 again. So the 7 has to go in that third box and the 6 in the fourth. And the first section is done! Now fill in whatever else you can. Remember to look for ones where the solution is limited to 2 or 3 options. I hope you have as much fun exercising your brain with these puzzles as I do! GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!

I think that's part of the problem, you were trying to explain something that you're learning off Wiki and How Stuff Works rather than something that you've experienced for yourself. Actually doing it or visuallizing it as with a classroom demonstration or educational video gives you a better understanding of the hows and whys. I firmly believe that experience is a better teacher than a textbook. The topic title states "How Do Cameras Capture Pictures." Having participated in a photography class myself and sharing my mom's experience a little more recently, I offered my understanding of how a picture is captured. While it's a simple method, it actually still works and people might be able to see how minute differences, like exposure time and the size of the aperture, really affects the outcome of the photo.

My brother started out as a game tester and worked his way up to an Associate Producer for Vivendi Games, the parent company of Sierra and Blizzard, so I'll give you my second-hand experience of what it really means to be a game tester. Sounds like a sweet deal - you get paid to play games! You got pretty decent pay: $12/hr for entry level work, which is better than what you'd usually get, even at most office jobs. But there are drawbacks. For one thing, you have to go to them. For him, that meant driving about 30-40 minutes away. Vivendi's LA base is near the airport, Activision and EA are nearby as well, though I believe that EA's base is in Northern California and they do most of their hiring from that office. And that's without traffic because his hours were really funky: 10PM-7AM or 8AM. He'd work the graveyard shift because they have people testing games pretty much 24/7. Then there's the actual testing. You have to play the same level over and over. You're not playing for fun, and you're not playing the finished product.You have to look for glitches and bugs, which means you have to do the same thing on every level several times to make sure that it does what it's supposed to every time. And then you have to do something else the same time, every time. You're doing Alpha testing on rough cuts, which could be anything from Half-Life to Barbie's latest adventure. One of the lead testers had a list on a whiteboard. If you pissed him off for some reason, you got Barbie. Then there's the crunch, working overtime and late hours to do Beta testing out a game as much as possible before it's released. It's a little more bearable because they're supposed to have worked out all the glitches and cleaned up the graphics. But every glitch you find has to be documented exactly so that they know where the coding is messed up, and you cringe every time that you find one because you don't want to be the sorry bastard that brings it up since it could be something that takes seconds or months to fix. Of course, the question of job security always looms overhead because if you mess up bad enough, there are hundreds of eager gamers out there that believe testing would be a dream job. And when they're done with that game, they may not have another one for you to test until the end of the next quarter. You might be just a contractor that comes in for the Beta testing. Luckily, my brother had a degree in Psychology with a minor in Computer Science. He was able to move up from testing into Q & A, Lead, and now into the production aspect. But he works long hours and often 7 days a week, especially with his latest project TimeShift. As I wrote about in that thread, the game has been pushed back and completely overhauled several times in the last few years. I believe he's been on it for about 2-3 years straight. After the game's released, the company will give him anywhere from a week to 3 months to recoup, having him support other stuff that's nearly ready to be released, before sticking him on another developing game. So there's a second-hand account of what life is like as a game tester. I think I'd rather be a reviewer than a tester or designer. I'd wanna work for IGN or GameSpot and play games that are already finished, or nearly so. I'm sure if I could get in good with the editor, then I would only have to review the games that I want to and stick the noobs with the crappy ones.

I definitely don't consider myself a "girlie girl" because I can't stand jewelry (it took me ages to get used to wearing my wedding ring, which is pretty much the only thing I wear most of the time), I'm not sentimental over flowers because they just die, and I never wear perfume. So my husband sometimes has trouble figuring out what to get me, and I completely understand your dilemma. Here are some ideas of things that most girls do enjoy: scented bath products - Even tomboys like a good bubble bath once in awhile. You can go to Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, The Body Shop, or any department store to find bath sets. Hell, I've even seen some at the local drug store. I'm sure Walmart carries something too, but I even avoid the parking lot of that awful place. chocolate - unfortunately, some people are allergic to chocolate or even (gasp!) don't like chocolate very much, but if your girlfriend does, then find some quality chocolates to give her. Get her a giant Hershey's Kiss and send her a message. do something special - make her dinner, give her a massage, or do something that you normally wouldn't do for her. buy a book or movie - is there a movie that makes you think of her or a movie that's special to both of you? Does she have a copy of your favorite movie or book? The best part about books is that you can inscribe something special on the cover or the first couple pages. personalize it - there are tons of things that you can get personalized - including M & M's. If you go to mymms.com, you can choose up to two colors, up to two messages and packaging for your own M & M's. Yeah, it kinda falls under chocolate, but it's cooler. make something - like the others said above, a handmade gift can be small but meaningful because you actually put some time and effort into it. I wouldn't go with the friendship bracelet because that's kinda elementary school to me, so that would also rule out lanyards and anything else you would make at summer camp. My husband likes carving pumpkins every year, so he's got a bunch of patterns on looseleaf and his tools in a plastic baggie. So for his birthday this year, I bought a little portable file box where he could keep his patterns neat and separated with enough room for a roll-out canvas kit to store his tools. I think it came out to less than $10 for everything, but I also painted and decorated it with patterns from pumpkins he did before. He loved it because I thought of something that was particular to him and it didn't cost much money. You could make a mixed CD and change the titles to reflect different moments in your relationship. You could write her a poem or a short story or draw her a picture. Make a little picture album of the two of you and write captions. It doesn't have to be all fancy like a scrapbook, and you can order stuff online at places like shutterfly.com, snapfish.com, or a number of other places. Remember, the best presents are the ones that are unexpected. After I had a seriously depressing day sitting in 3 hours of traffic, I was supposed to meet my boyfriend for a date. Needless to say, I wasn't up for anything. I just wanted to sit at home and not go anywhere, so I cancelled our date. He showed up about half an hour later with roses in one hand and a carton of my favorite ice cream in the other. This guy definitely knew the way to my heart!Edit: Forgot to close up my list tag

OHHHEMMMGEEEEEEE! I soooooo wanna be a mod, pretty, pretty puh-leeeeeze! Actually, I just want the ban stick so I can spank the spammers with it - especially the Trapper who claims to be Pure Evil! But to be honest, positions of power must be earned and not given away lightly. If you hope to become a moderator, (and I honestly have no idea why you would desire such a thing, but to each his own...) it would be best to participate actively as a good member of the community and abide by the rules and regulations. I like SM's suggestion to change this into a thread about what qualities a good moderator exhibits. I've moderated a few gaming forums and administrated a few of my own, and even within such a small frame, it's not a very easy job. Something this large in scale would be time consuming to say the least. Added to this is the fact that it's a professional forum offering a service to customers. From that aspect, you then become a representative of the company, whether you are being paid for your time or not. What you say and do reflects back on Xisto. So the qualities that a good moderator should exibit are compounded with the qualities of a good employee. Efficiency and effectiveness, courtesy and compassion, perseverance and patience, the list goes on and on. If becoming a moderator is your goal, than prove your worth through your actions rather than words. Help a member out whether or not there's a mod or admin watching. Contribute quality topics and responses by putting some thought and effort into what you're writing. Use correct grammar. Read the ToS and familiarize yourself with all the aspects of the Readme. Welcome new members in the introduction forum and be sure to point out the most pertinent parts of the Readme as most members simply begin spamming away before understanding the rules of Trap. Of course, I would rather see you do this for yourself as a member committed to improving the quality of this forum community rather than as a stepping stone to modhood, but it's a start.

Ok seriously, I've worked in a restaurant and had people walk out on a bill. You know what happened? I GOT STUCK WITH THE BILL! So instead of taking home my tips for the day, , I ended up having to pay out all of what I earned and then some to cover it. By the way, most servers get minimum wage, some even less, and have to earn enough to pay their bills and expenses from tips. So screw you people, you suck!

Well, lots of people in the US are kinda absorbed by the back to school hoopla, so once they get situated, I'm sure there will be lots more topics. I usually find at least a few topics to post on each week. It's actually not to keep up my hosting, which I don't seem to be using either, just things that I find interesting. If you're having trouble finding something to respond to, why not start your own threads on things that DO interest you. The quality of the forums is largely based on the input that the community puts into it. I've got a few topics that I want to discuss, but I just haven't really had the time to write them up. So I'm writing them out on wordpad and saving them to post whenever I get around to finishing them. There's always something new and interesting in the world to learn and discover, you just have to put in the effort to go out and find them. That's kinda the beauty of the whole forum thing. As long as you keep within the ToS, there's a multitude of things to discuss. Then again, I'm a female, so I like to talk, talk, talk about everything. On top of that, I'm an opinionated, educated woman, so I like to talk about lots of different things. But Saint_Michael seems to have a lot to say, too, so it can't be just a girl thing.

You should choose your friends a little more carefully. Of course, now I'm taking personal offense to this because I have so few friends. Now I'll just have to be all {EVIL} to you and tease you every time I see you in the shoutbox. And I'll have to pointedly exclude you from all of my parties and not send you cookies and SPAM on your birthday. Or I could be even more {EVIL} and sneak back on there without you noticing. But since I'm the most junior member of The Evil Group, I guess I'm low on the totem pole. I'll be nice and tell you to add me whenever you want. Remember, it's not the quantity of friends you have, it's the quality. Ooops, I just disqualified myself with that statement.

Walk away because if she's doing it to her current boyfriend, she'll eventually do it to you...Of course, that isn't always the case, but I'd say cool it down for now. Maintain the friendship if you want, just keep the flirting to a minimum. Try going on a group or a double date with her and her boyfriend. Then you can see what her feelings for him really are. And she can compare the two of you side by side. Yeah, it's a horrible predicament to put a girl through, but it'll make her think twice about playing with fire.

There are three words of advice I can give you: practice, practice, practice. My friend's brother had to train for a year before he was able to apply for a job as a lifeguard at the local pool because he had to be able to swim 1000 laps. Yes, that's three zeros after the one. Each day you set a limit that's just a little further than the day before. So if he could swim 10 laps on day one, then he tried to swim another lap the following day. Pretty soon, he was able to do 100 laps without even trying hard. You might also want to work on cardio and breathing exercises. Sometimes your muscles tire out because there's not enough oxygen getting to them, so learning how to regulate your breathing can help make it more efficient.

Considering it cost my insurance over $60,000 to repair my left arm, I think a cool million for a pinky isn't too bad. But if it were my thumb or any other finger, I don't think I'd do it. I remember reading something similar in Toni Morrison's Sula where the character had left her hometown and family to follow her husband to a place hundreds of miles away. When her husband left her with three kids and a hard winter approaching, she made a decision and stuck her leg on the train tracks to collect insurance. People in desperate times do desperate things.

abminara: Well, there's a lot of pressure on a first date, and not everyone is as confident as you pretend to be. So movies are a great way to keep the focus off yourself and on something else. And like I said before, it gives you something to talk about after you watch it, whether the movie was horribly bad or absolutely wonderful. Yeah, maybe it's not an effective way to get to know someone, but sitting at a cafe or a park in awkward silence isn't all that fun either. It gives you a topic of conversation for at least a good half hour or so and something to fall back on if you do slip into those awkward silences.