The Buddhists are pretty good on this question. There are some schools of thought that understand nothing lasts forever nor should it.  Forever is a long time and you'd get pretty tired of the same thing over and over and over and over....

I don't know what happens after death.  I believe the old religions and gods were made up to explain things people didn't understand.  Look at Roman and Greek gods that explain tidal waves, lightning, volcanoes, love, and so on.

The great mystery that remains is death.  We have our religions because it answers the question of what happens next.

What really happens?  I think it's just over.  It's so colossal we can't even comprehend the end of existence.  So, if you can't control it, there's no reason to be afraid.  It'll happen no matter what and worrying is just an emotion that stops you from enjoying the existing part.  It's like worrying about what happens after dinner and dessert.  You should be busy enjoying dinner and dessert.

Secretly, I plan on having my dead body shipped to South Africa and dumped in the ocean.  I hope a great white eats my remains and I somehow *become* the great white so I can be a shark.  That would be awesome.

If I could have any wish I'd wish everyone in the world were happy with themselves and not bothered by others.

That's pretty easy.

orionfoxgibson : I think using less deductive reasoning is what's killing the creative thought process in this world.

Instead of people gathering facts, debating, and forming their own opinions, they listen to what your "youtube thinkers" are telling them without actually looking at the facts or the raw information.  They aren't coming up with their own process because now everything is neatly laid out for them.

I read a piece by a newspaper journalist who said the world, 20 years ago, had articles about what was happening without interference of opinions or interpretations of the facts.

Now we have 'listicles" as he called them.  Everything has to be broken down into easy to understand lists, top 10 lists, or just "We'll tell you everything in 45 seconds or fewer and you don't have to interpret or think for yourself."

The internet is a wonderful tool because it allows free exchange of ideas.  But it also makes takes away the requirement to think for one's self.

I'm 50/50.  I lived before the internet and it's possible.  You just went outside and made friends.  Is the internet to blame for an inability of people to socially interact in person?  Perhaps.  Is it a reason obesity is through the roof in the U.S.?  It may play a role.

It's a tool.  Whether for good or bad, it's here now.  There's no sense in whining about how good things used to be or telling us all how great this new online thing is.  It's here and that's that.

NintendoFanKimmy :
supernerd11:

I have to completely disagree with both of you when it comes to whether or not a girl or woman wants someone, namely any specific guy, to flirt with her based on her title or status.  The place I work at is where a lot of single women to exercise without worrying about people flirting with them.  Being single does not automatically mean you want others to hit on you, flirt with you, or you may not be in the market.  Or they've had a boyfriend the past four years and they're happy.

On the flip side, when it comes to married women: "Just because there's a goalie in the net doesn't mean you can't score."  There are plenty, and I mean plenty of women who are married and flirt and tease with me because I'm young, in great shape, and I smile a lot.  They like me, they like the attention they may not be getting at home, and I'm confident if I propositioned a few I'd get some to answer yes.

The title means nothing.  It doesn't tell you about a personality, a character, their wants and desires, what they're looking for, or any more about them than you can see with a wedding ring anyway.  You learn to look for rings on fingers and see what that's about.  I'm married and I wear a ring on my finger.  That's enough to tell people my "Mr." means I'm married.

Is it sexist?  Yes because one gender is subject in my culture to having their marital status and the other isn't.

I treat all people individually and not based on their titles so it doesn't change anything for me.

Animal?  That's not cool.  Animals can't consent.  Don't kiss them.

I was heavily involved in sports and actively stayed away from girls in 5-8th grade and besides a few pecks on the lips, I never seriously kissed anyone until I was in 9th grade.

The girl was named Nikki and she had long black hair.  I remember having no idea what to do and she knew what she was doing so I felt silly.  She tasted like Coca Cola and I thought it was the strangest thing to stick my tongue in another person's mouth.  I wasn't sure how that showed affection any more than anything else and I was mildly grossed out about it when I started to really think about it.

It wasn't fun, it wasn't exciting, it was kinda.... ewww.

Lord, how things changed and quickly.

For those who are not aware of the college version of overtime:

Both teams get the ball, one at a time, from the 25 yard line.  Each team gets one time out, there's a playclock, and they play out the possession.  The team that scores more points wins.  It's like a top and bottom inning of baseball.  Both offenses get a crack at the end zones.  There's no kick off, no muss or fuss, just get the ball on the 25 and go.

They flip a coin to see who picks offense or defense.  Unlike pro football, college football teams want to go on defense first to give themselves the advantage.

But the point is both offenses get to play before overtime is over.

Life is about 90% not understanding the decision making of other people.

This girl may not have added you because she works at the center and you're a student and therefor a "client" and maybe it's a rule.

Or she doesn't like you.

Or she doesn't know you well enough to be friends on Facebook.

Or she takes Facebook super serious and doesn't add anyone except a few specific friends.

The point is you can't try to figure out why something did or did not happen.  You, Eliza, try to do that a lot and it leaves you baffled, angry, upset, and frustrated.  People are going to decide things and much of the time even they don't know why the're doing something.  You spending time figuring it out is going to do nothing but make you unhappy.

You're here: She's not going to friend you.

My recommendation: Don't bring it up.  Forget it.  If you like her, talk to her and don't say anything.  Build a relationship before you try again.  Saying hi a few times isn't the same as being a friend and maybe she takes it seriously on the interwebs.

Just back off from her online for a bit.  Don't dissect it.  Go with whatever happens and don't take anything personally.

I just watched the end of the NFC championship game.  It's too bad the Packers don't get their offense on the field to counter.  It's like playing the top half of 10th inning unless they don't score.

Do you prefer NFL or college overtime?

stankp****2 : Now while I disagree with the actual statement, I fall in line with the ideology behind the big body parts quote.

I'm not exceptionally religious and I don't believe one thing is more correct than any other.  People can believe what they want and their realities are different from mine.  Who am I to criticize another person's believes?  If they're marrying me and I believe in what I believe in, and they don't try to change that, why should I change their believe system for me?

Anyway, if a girl has nice attributes and I love her, I'd marry her.  My wife is Lutheran, I don't know which synod, and I consider myself Catholic.  Amazingly, things work perfectly because religion doesn't really come into the picture.  We have a 1 year old daughter and we're going to give her the option to figure out what she likes.  I'll say, "This is what my people do," my wife will say, "This is what we do," and we'll both say, "This is what other people do.  What do you like?"

And we go from there.

It all comes down to the definition you want to use for love.  If you take away the familial aspect, I don't believe you can really love a person wholly and unconditionally if you don't respect them.

When you respect someone, you care for their feelings, you know they're making the best decisions, you trust them to act in a manner when you're not around and you appreciate them for who they are.  You can love them and it's pure.

I imagine the people I don't respect.  I don't respect them for a variety of reasons but I simply cannot find myself wanting to develop relationships or have ties to them because I can't (a) trust them, (b) like them, and so on.

I say no.  I barely scratched the surface of the conversation but love is a deeply individual thing.  I have no idea how my wife experiences love for me or how my dog or my daughter experience love for me.  But I know they do.

mario102 : Did I do it?  No.  I have zero impact on any of the activities or events outside of my own posts.  Someone else may have overtaken you in posts and word counts.  But I don't know the rules and I don't participate so I'm not sure how all that works.

But, no, it wasn't me.  I wouldn't strip anyone of anything anyway.  If you posted enough, you earned the right to whatever jersey you stumble on.

mario102 : Let me get all this straight:

You're dumping on a girl because she's not American and she's doing a lot of work in school.  She wants to stop violence directly affecting her home town or home country and that's not cool?

I don't know how you know how much money her family.  Most families aren't too poor to buy an XBox and go with a Wii instead.  That's not how the real world works.  And just because she doesn't value video games doesn't mean she's a bad person.... or you're better than her for that matter.

This post sounds like you're bragging, not that someone is irritating.  She is probably a nice person but you're too busy comparing her to yourself to see she's her own individual person.  Try taking away the ego and see what she's like.

I bet I'll come in towards the top of the list if people start giving real ages instead of just playing around.

I've been on this earth 33 years (this time around if you're a believer in reincarnation).  I think it comes across in my sentence structure, word selection, and my thoughts and opinions and how I approach the questions and comments, etc.

I was born in 1981, I remember the original Atari and I watched Nintendo, SNES, and those old skool games appear and develop.  I appreciate the new ones because I grew up when there were no directions, hacks, online FAQs and walkthroughs, or anything like that to help you out.  Try playing Dragon Warrior 2 for NES with no help except the book.  That boggles the mind.

Who can beat 33?

All the research I've seen regarding (American) college and four year degrees vs. high school diplomas show people with degrees will earn a much larger amount of money over their lifetime.  BS and BA degrees are invaluable in a job market flooded with people hunting down new work and it is something that separates you from the others.

I have a degree and I get a salary, insurance, upward mobility, and comfort knowing I'm learning new skills and constantly developing.
I watch the folks I work with who do not have a degree and they're working hourly for wages and no one can have more than 28 hours because we're not providing them with benefits for their work.

Get the degree.  Even the debt can be managed if you pick something that will help you in the future.  Ask folks who 'have some college' or went right into the work force how they're doing with their lives vs. those who went to college.

College also allows you to develop socialization skills and, more importantly, meet a lot of people who will end up owning companies and being in positions of power later in life.  Meet those folks, make your connections, and you'll be much more successful instead of just working at wherever as a low-level manager with no hope to move up.

I don't know if you'll get much draw.  A majority of people on this website don't care for sports in general, except maybe wrestling, and the majority of football conversation leads to the No Fun League and not college footbal.

I'll take college football every time.  So, with no further ado, I'll answer your questions and see if some conversation can be sparked.

1.  My teams are Michigan State, Hawaii, and South Carolina.  I don't have any team I hate in particular, except Florida when Tebow was there.  I like the good guy and bad guy routines with different schools but it doesn't extend to 'hate.'  I can't take sports that seriously.

2.  I thought TCU would have done better in the CFP compared to Florida State and the Horned Frogs should have had the shot to play Oregon.  SInce they blew up Ole Miss, they made their point.  But they don't get it back.   And I think 39 bowl games are too many but the ad and tv revenue keep the NCAA moving so whatever pays for my entertainment is fine.

3.  I think the NFL needs to adopt the NCAA's overtime rules.  They make sense and they're entertaining.  Otherwise, keep the teams different.  The NFL plays at a level way above college kids' abilities so they are literally two different sports.

4.  Are we talking conferences in D1 or across the board?  I'd go to some D3 conference like Big Sky or Ivy League if all conferences were available.  But the big ones?  Even if the SEC lost a number of bowl games I think they're still the best from top to bottom.  If the WAC is still around, they suck.

Mark Twain once said something to the effect of, "You end up regretting all the things you didn't do much more than the things you did do."

You get one crack at a formal.  You get one.  You can go and eat some food and talk with friends and experience it and say, "Oh, well, it wasn't magical but I went and I know," or you could not go and always have that question of "What if I went?  Why didn't I go?"

It's always, always, always better to go and do whatever it is available to do.  Maybe you'll have a lot of fun and really enjoy yourself.  Maybe it won't be the greatest and you'll say, "Oh, well."

But if you don't go, you'll never go.  I go to everything, even if I expect it to be terrible.  I've been pleasantly surprised that most experiences, especially the social ones, go very well and they're a lot of fun.

It's worth it. Go.

Okay, kids.

It's been fun and I've enjoyed most of the conversations here.  I'm doing this thing as a New Year Resolution to really limit my screen time.  I'll be here and there but I expect to have very little interaction with you folks. 

This is my pseudo goodbye.  We'll see where I end up a few months from now.

If anyone needs anything, I expect I'm allowed to post my personal email: mking96815@gmail.com

You can find me there.

Good luck, one and all.  It's been real.

Here's the deal:  Arguing and sharing ideas is fine.  That's important because there is conflict when two different people try to live life together.  Things aren't always perfect and if they are, well, good for that couple.

Arguing does equal fighting.  Fighting is done when people hold on to anger and don't find a resolution.  If there's a problem, you solve it, you don't run into it again, and the relationship moves on a little better than before.

Fighting just makes people angry and nothing is solved.

I've been married 8 years, we have a one year old baby, a two year old dog, a house, two cars, and all the things life can throw at us.  We haven't fought in many years.  We disagree with each other but it's done positively.  I'll listen to what my wife says, she listens to my side and we go from there making the best decision.  Fighting isn't productive and we haven't done it in five or six years.

When you argue, you're showing your opinion and you're standing your ground.  That's important.  But you don't have to do that to show passion.  Kissing each other, cooking for each other, dancing, doing all those things are passion enough for a relationship.  Fighting is self-destructive and does zero good to a relationship.

To answer the questions:
1.  We argue once or twice seriously every month or so. 
2.  There has to be some sort of passion in a relationship, unless you've decided to be platonic friends.  And that's fine if you are.  But if you don't have passion, you're loving the other person like a relative.  Yuck.
3.  Thoughts:  Tell this girl she needs to alert you immediately when she has a problem with something.  You also have to do a better job of being specific with her because that's what it seems like she's looking for.  But you should apologize and tell her it's over.  Ask her what she needs from you to make sure this doesn't happen again.  LISTEN to what she says and pay attention.  Do what she asks.  Ask her to please let you know, via text or whatever, when she gets upset at your decision making process and tell you why because you otherwise won't learn her particular preferences.  End the conversation by telling her you can do what she asks (Only if you can.  If you can't, break up because neither of you will be happy)

Handle it in that order.  I don't mean to spoon feed you how this should go but that recipe was extrememly successful for me and it has led to the best relationship and friendship in my life.

Good luck, bro.