Procyon

Oooh why didn't I think of that! Or rather, I did think of that, many times, haha. We need an extra hour per day, that is, 25, not 24. Because invariably I want to stay up for an hour longer than I should, and get up an hour later too. 25 hours per day would be great. Wonderful idea!

I know a couple, man and wife, who have a teenage son. They're not close friends of mine, but I've met them a couple of times. Recently I heard that the woman had had gender-reassignment surgery and was now a man (that was after at least 15 years of marriage). In Iran, gender reassignment may be the only option for two men wanting to be together as a couple -- I read an article (which I can't find right now) about such a couple, who had fallen in love in the army and where one of the men had gender reassignment so they could get married. There is an article on the subject here. What would you do if your long- or short-term partner told you that he or she wanted a sex change? Would you be happy for her or him, or would you be sad? Would you still want to stay with that person? The couple I mentioned at first are still married and (apparently?) happy together. Their son has accepted that his mother has become a man.

lol I thought that was some kind of mock time-traveller forum at first... and was thinking that it might be fun to join. Haha. Hilarious!

We switched the day before yesterday so we're still traumatised over here in Europe. We all look like zombies.

It's nice to have longer evenings, but really we'd need longer evenings all year round. While it's great to get an extra hour of sleep when changing back to winter time, it doesn't compensate for the loss of an hour in the spring (I can feel it for weeks! The extra hour in the autumn just disappears...) and also, it suddenly gets dark at 4:00 instead of 5:00, which is rather disheartening. The message seems to be, 'It's getting cold now, why don't you just stop having a life altogether and go to bed as soon as you get home from work.' By the time we get summer time here, the evenings are kind of long already, though I admit it does feel good when you're out late and it's still light. And yes, I've read that there's an increase in traffic accidents too because of the disruption of people's natural rhythm. Anyway, a benefit that comes with summer time is that it gives us something to complain about -- most of us are united against it, and nobody could possibly get really mad at anyone for disliking it.

*gasp* You think my gene switches had been tampered with?! I wouldn't put it past them... Though, of course, we don't have KFC and Dunkin' Donuts here.

I am grateful....... That my lasagne turned out well The last time I put too much meat in it, not enough tomatoes, and not enough rosemary. And it's depressing when one's lasagne isn't as good as it should be... For coffee It's what wakes me up in the morning and keeps me going during the day. That I've a three-day week this week I had today off, and I'll have a day off on Friday too since my son has his Easter vacation. It'll be great to spend some extra time with him. That I can buy most things that I want or need Okay not loads of expensive things, but I never have to choose between a carton of milk and a loaf of bread when I go to the shop. There was a time when that happened... a lot... That my son is baking delicious chocolate cookies and he doesn't need my help anymore -- wow! But I still get to eat them!

TAP WATER! In the winter when it's just above freezing and tastes like snow. I used to like sweet soft drinks when I was a kid, and sometimes I still feel like having them, but never a whole glass or can so it's no use buying that.

Harhar yeah, non-gay guys can be a bit uptight, and with lesbians you can't really talk about guys. Or at least you can't drool over them together. Yeah I don't get the shopping thing either, I hate shopping. I have several women friends who keep talking about how hard it is to keep their men happy while they go buying clothes together... for them. But in my case it's be the other way around, if I had a guy he'd have to humour me to keep me from whining in the clothes store.

Where do you suppose the other half of the mug went?! It was pretty hot too... (Gary, do you have a smiley for this?)

A twig? I'm sure they're full of vitamins... And this thread is about food, I'm sure you can't have meant anything else...

I was referring to the one that has a stabbing tool in its left hand and a cutting tool in its right... Not the one with the twig. The one with the twig is also nice.

Right now I'm craving coffee and it's *late*!! And my banana cake isn't done yet... I might end up staying up all night! I love that knife-and-fork smiley... looks quite European, too, makes me feel at home. And yes, if one loves chicken and doughnuts one just has to be pregnant, there's no other explanation.

I have a degree in teaching and worked as a teacher up until a year ago, but while I was doing it (for 7 -- 9 years or so, depending on how you count) I'd have hated to call myself a teacher. I never wanted to be a teacher, I only did it because it seemed like the only option at the time, as I had a degree in languages and jobs as translators didn't come along that often, and weren't well-paid (or so I thought). Now I am a translator, and the pay is far better than for teachers while the job isn't anywhere near as stressful. Teaching is extremely draining emotionally, at least if you're teaching kids -- you need to have a dialogue with maybe 70 or more of them during one school day, as well as inspire them as a group and possibly break up fights between people bigger and stronger than yourself in the corridors or schoolyard. I admire those who do it their whole lives and somehow get through it with their sanity intact, especially since it's actually an extremely important job. Interestingly, now that I'm not doing it anymore it happens that I think of myself as a teacher, and I've realised that I probably did a better job at it than I thought at the time. I'd never want to go back to teaching, however -- but at the same time I wouldn't call myself a translator either... so I guess I'll have to switch to something else again soon. Happy days!

Thanks! Yeah it's been fun so far. I'm hoping to get a story up soon, too. Haha I'll remember that...

Happy Holi!! Sounds like a great holiday to me.

Well of course!! I got an Easter egg too; giving your kids Easter eggs until you're too decrepit to push the button on your wheelchair to go to the shop to buy candy is every parent's duty. Wait. I mean, the Easter bunny gives *everyone* eggs, not just the children. Yes. Goodness we can't have age discrimination, can we!

Tea? But where's the tea? Btw in Hongkong people drink 1/3 black tea, 1/3 coffee, and 1/3 hot milk in glasses. It sounds weirder than it is, it was actually not bad at all. But confusing. I mean, is it coffee... or tea...?

You're buying them and sending them to me, right?

Yeah, I agree, 'taking' a life partner sounds a bit like dragging him or her to your cave by the hair. It happens or it doesn't happen, and if it does happen it certainly takes a lot of work, or else it can get very, very painful. But it's also a wonderful thing for those who are lucky enough to experience it. There's a great poem by Wislawa Szymborska that -- ah, I was going to say it illustrates this, but really I guess it doesn't, it's just great : True Love True love. Is it normal is it serious, is it practical? What does the world get from two people who exist in a world of their own? Placed on the same pedestal for no good reason, drawn randomly from millions but convinced it had to happen this way - in reward for what? For nothing. The light descends from nowhere. Why on these two and not on others? Doesn't this outrage justice? Yes it does. Doesn't it disrupt our painstakingly erected principles, and cast the moral from the peak? Yes on both accounts. Look at the happy couple. Couldn't they at least try to hide it, fake a little depression for their friends' sake? Listen to them laughing - its an insult. The language they use - deceptively clear. And their little celebrations, rituals, the elaborate mutual routines - it's obviously a plot behind the human race's back! It's hard even to guess how far things might go if people start to follow their example. What could religion and poetry count on? What would be remembered? What renounced? Who'd want to stay within bounds? True love. Is it really necessary? Tact and common sense tell us to pass over it in silence, like a scandal in Life's highest circles. Perfectly good children are born without its help. It couldn't populate the planet in a million years, it comes along so rarely. Let the people who never find true love keep saying that there's no such thing. Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die.

Odd cravings during pregnancy can be based on dietary needs as well, though the body can get confused sometimes -- for example, if you need calcium, you may crave chalk, which isn't a great thing to eat. (This happened to a friend of mine.) Lucky for me I only craved chicken and doughnuts (no, not at the same time ) It was interesting, too, how so many foods and smells made me sick during pregnancy. Like, close-to-vomiting sick. Almost everything, in fact, apart from chicken and doughnuts. That might be some kind of mechanism designed to protect pregnant women from unknown foods... I think?

For me, too, the first thing that came to mind when reading the line 'disappointed in a story you love' was Harry Potter. Because I did love those books up until and including book 4, and I don't think I've read another story where such a large part was so disappointing (at least not after such a wonderful first part.) Having said that, I still love the first four books though I don't reread them anymore like I used to, and the idea of the magical world is just great, too. All due credit to JKR for that.

Lol that is hilarious... Okay it's this thread's fault that I need to have some more coffee (milk, no sugar) now and won't be able to sleep tonight. Oh... and did someone mention peanut butter and chocolate? Chocolate and peanut butter?? *looks around wildly and desperately* I have three Reese's cups left from my last trip to the US.... Uhh I think I need to eat one of them now, sniff, then there'll be only two, and then... who knows what might happen??

Sorry, posted almost the same thing twice. Again, good luck!