Zolia Lily

Some of my best friends i've met online. I think i'm more honest about myself online because there's a distance. I care less if other people don't like me and am more prepared to put myself out there more honestly. So i think the friends i do make online really do know me and i think that makes us closer friends than some i have in everyday life. Same q.

OMG Tiziano Ferro is GAY??? my friends at high school and I spent years ( 2004 / 2005) singing "non me lo so speigare" and swooning! * happy sigh *

LOL - i guess it's just different in English. Sentences aren't quite so long, sometimes, for example. Let me know if you want a hand, though! I'm missing french at the moment and would be happy to help where i can!

People who chew gum with their mouths open! I don't understand the idea of chewing gum at ALL (what are you- a cow? If you're hungry- eat something! Bored? find something else to do! Like the flavour? EAT something with the flavour!) but i can cope when you do it with your mouth shut. WIth your mouth open making all those wet noises right next to my ear on the tube or the bus and i'm trying really really hard not to turn around and scream!!!

WOw- Australia is popular! Free accommodation with me!!! ... when i get back home and have somewhere to live....... 1. Morocco 2. Turkey (have only been to Istanbul - would love to see more!) 3. Canada 4. Cambodia 5. Peru

Oooh you've tapped into two of my interests : grammar and translation! I think the French version flows better, but a bit of polishing would enhance that sense of loss and longing in the English version too... Lovely and romantic though Is this part of a longer piece or is it a fragment as is?

DId the whole cold shiver and trying not to scream / cry / freak out just scrolling past that picture.... I'm with the screaming and fleeing vote.... I also now have that phantom creeping crawling sensation and may have to take a shower / wash all my clothes just to make sure there are no spiders... eeeeek! BREATHE, Lily, BREATHE! you're not in Australia anymore....

I was actually really surprised that so many votes went to Character! Then again - that's what i voted I do agree that both are important, but I really struggle with stories with 2D characters who just happen to get sucked into a plot and happen to have awesome hot clever girlfriends / boyfriends and happen to have hidden skills and talents to get through the plot line an author has thrust upon them and thence save the whole world. Ick. I much prefer something character driven. I could cope with the most cliched plot in the world IF the characters were well drawn and vivid. I'd probably read an awesome plot driven story with cliched cliched 2D characters too... but imagining that I see it more as a parody than a story i'd take seriously...

I guess I had a few non-conforming behaviours as a small child (never had a girly doll i liked, used to want to sleep with my tonka truck, never wore skirts or anything pink or frilly or girly) - but added to these some short hairstyles as a teenager, a rainbow peaceflag, my chronic single status, a joke my sister made about my DocMartens and my sexuality, and apparently my sisters friends all thought i was a lesbian for years. I think my mother still suspects it, too, given all the acceptance speeches i keep getting..... I also have a cousin who as a small child wore pink girls one piece swimming costumes and loved nothing better than playing barbies... but he's all grown up and into motorbikes and reptiles now... and engaged to his girlfriend. This stuff really interests me - and i like the idea of 'gender non-conformity'. To me, it seems like a way of saying 'i don't check those boxes and there's no label out there that fits, BUT...' - and i think it's important that labels aren't the be-all and end-all.

I'm with you there, Rustle! Everything always gets better. One of my favourite expressions is one that (or so i read somewhere i can't remember) was inscribed on a ring worn by a powerful leader in the ancient middle east. It read "this too will pass". It was to remind him that bad times wouldn't last, but also to warn him that being king / emperor was also not forever. I like it, because it holds the message that everything in life is transient. If today is a bad day, tomorrow might be better. If not tomorrow, maybe the next day. By the same token, rather than it telling me when i'm happy that one day i'll be sad again, i like to see it as reminding me to make the most of things. You are a bit of an inspiration, Mark! HUGS!

I hope you're ok too, Bee... and Acht-Acht, as i wrote in a recent story, i think "normal" is highly overrated.... As for hobbies... hmm. You've got baking covered, and i'm guessing veggie plot is probably done too.... Have you thought of perhaps choosing something that you might get satisfaction out of the outcome, rather than of the doing? Not to say choose something to do like strip and paint your whole house, but say, something you got something out of, even if it was tricky at times? Maybe an online course, or building or making something? Buy a book on how to draw / paint and have a go? LEGO!? Photography? Ok, so maybe i'm struggling here... but... i'm sure if we try we can find something What does everyone else do to take their mind of things / keep busy / for sheer enjoyment? And maybe we should try and get away from the reading / writing thing... not that we don't love it And what might you LIKE to do? (I just like to know stuff curious.)

Do you not normally get enough sleep, Bee? I always find that really effects my mood. That's kind of the best and worst part of having a full time job: I can plan to sleep the same every night, so theoretically my sleep pattern should be better..... but i miss staying up late writing, and if i do a little then there's no chance to catch up on sleep for a few days ...

LOL Bee... some of us just like to hug other people! Me and my friends hug to say 'hello', 'goodbye', 'thanks', and 'i love you'. It's an affection thing for us. Also can be comforting. I'll hug you when i see you

Wait wait wait wait wait - but... but - where's the rest?!?! ARGH! I'm totally not going to have any fingernails left soon...

LOVE how all the threads are coming together... can't wait to see where they lead!!

I guess it depends a lot on what you're exposed to. I learned Piano growing up, so i feel like a lot of what i now is Piano concertos etc rather than operas / symphonies / string music.... Now where i work we sometimes play classic fm, but it's kind of like "a very selective best of famous classical pieces so no one feels dumb" - they play theme music from movies like Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Carribean! Bizarrest classic fm ever.

Ok, well. ten years younger is creepy and illegal. Ten years older... maybe. In principle i have nothing against it, but in reality, i don't actually know. I actually kind of still feel like a teenager myself, so ... it could be weird? Would depend very much on the person i think. Most famous celebrity you've ever seen in real life?

Yes, I do. I think there would be people who came out that others hadn't suspected in the slightest, probably more of them than they'd anticipated... not just celebrities, not just friends and relatives, but just people you have contact with in the course of your every day life... and I would think that it might force a whole lot of people to do a whole lot of reconsidering. On the down side, anyone threatened by the GLBTI community might find this even more threatening and react in an extremely negative way. I'd hope that the ramifications would be positive for the future, though. I like this question: I'm passing it on!

A case of THE most blatant ignorance i've EVER come across : A straight co-worker told me he recently had a conversation with his flatmates about STDs, and he raised HIV. His flatmate then casually told him that couldn't have it, since he'd never slept with a black girl. Can straight men get any thicker?!?!? ARGH!!!! On another note, (and i'm sorry if it's way off topic) I started a story a while back that i originally intended to try to publish IRL (not online) where the main character has a scare and turns out HIV neg. Recently, though, I've started thinking maybe i could breathe more life into that story by making him HIV +. The problem is.... i don't want the story to be cliche, unrealistic, to put people off.... What I DO want is to raise awareness, take some of the fear out of it and show that it's not the death sentance it might once have been, as well as saying "it could happen to anyone". My question is: Do you think there's a market for this?

I was talking to a friend recently who studied Psychology, had a brother over in Afghanistan, and is really interested in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as well as Depression. Was kind of interrogating her about CBT (cognitive brain therapy (?)) and how it works. I know it's supposed to be really good, to help, to allow you to retrain your thinking, but i wasn't sure how you go about it. My ex-psychologist never seemed to ask me anything relevant, and as far as i could tell, never really seemed to be helping or pointing me in the right direction. Simplifying and trying to shorten our discussion rather a lot, what she was saying was that the first step would be learning relaxation techniques and being able to put them into practice in your life as necessary. Then, being able to use them to desensitize yourself in the case of fear, or being able to use them to rationalise and keep from getting into a state in the case of depression. Does this sounds like i've got it right? And - more interestingly - does this correlate to anything you do which helps? Does it sound like it might help?

Is it "popular" by Griffondor? I read this ages ago and the opening sounds like that but i can't really remember where it goes from there.... http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=213558&page=submissions

My mum's grandfather was Irish, and all her great-grandparents were Irish. On my dad's side English / Irish too. Usually we just call that Australian after this many generations but me and my sister both look quite Irish (so we've been told).... Because I am interested, same question!

I'm with you. I started one and couldn't finish it. Also.... I think there's a whole lot of people out there who pick these up because they're "hip" (yes, i did just say that) and have that "understated cool" thing going on... but in that case it makes them try-hards and makes me want to throttle them. Great if you actually enjoy these books - any books! But if you pick up a book because you think it's going to make you look cool? ...no. Just. NO.

My dad is a nice guy, but he's always been a bit... absent. We've always lived in the same house, eaten meals together, gone on holidays together... but he's kind of clueless about our lives. He's just away with the fairies all the time. I don't know how having 2 dads would change things. I mean, it would depend a lot. I could say that i would have had two clueless parents rather than one, but i think that's unfairly stereotyping all men on the basis of my father.... (just a tad.....)

oh LOL! That confused me for a bit. No, i sadly don't have a pantry, but my mum has always wanted one. My character Jake does, in the story i posted recently. He has... a few issues, but I personally love the story. You'll have to read it and see Do so hope you enjoy it, Joe! And Mark - you'll have to hit me up with some of your faves. I can never choose what to read from a list, a title or a one liner, so please let me know which ones are good! xoxo