I have decided to post my life on the Internet. I am going to college so my blog should be interesting.
I will try to update it everyday with stories from my Life, Pictures,
News and other stuff I find interesting.
If you email me or I am on chat please be patient I get vey busy.
I promise I will get back to you as soon as possible.
posted by Chris @ 5:03 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The diners arrived at a nice Manhattan restaurant on a cold February night and stripped off coats, hats, gloves and scarves. They didn't stop there.
posted by Chris @ 4:49 PM
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese mobile phone users sent a record 11 billion text messages during the week-long Spring Festival holiday, ringing in the Lunar New Year in style, Xinhua news agency said Friday.
posted by Chris @ 4:47 PM
posted by Chris @ 8:38 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - The "Crazy Frog" mobile phone ringtone -- loved and loathed in equal measure in Britain -- is to be released as a pop single.
posted by Chris @ 5:27 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers were all atwitter on Thursday over the highly public canoodling of one of their most high-flying celebrity couples -- Pale Male and Lola.
posted by Chris @ 5:25 PM
A young man goes into a drug store to buy condoms. The pharmacist says the condoms come in packs of three, nine or 12, and asks which the young man wants. "Well," he said, "I've been seeing this girl for a while and she's really hot. I want the condoms because I think tonight's 'the night.' We're having dinner with her parents, and then we're going out. And I've got a feeling I'm gonna get lucky after that. Once she's had me, she'll want me all the time, so you'd better give me the 12 pack." The young man makes his purchase and leaves. Later that evening, he sits down to dinner with his girlfriend and her parents. He asks if he might give the blessing, and they agree. He begins the prayer, but continues praying for several minutes. The girl leans over and says, "You never told me that you were such a religious person." He leans over to her and says, "You never told me that your father is a pharmacist."
posted by Chris @ 6:55 AM
posted by Chris @ 6:24 AM
By Anupama Chandrasekaran
posted by Chris @ 6:14 AM
PARIS (AP) -- Six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will attempt his seventh consecutive win in cycling's most prestigious race this summer.
posted by Chris @ 6:10 AM
THERE'S more to a kiss than meets the lips, as couples are learning at a kissing school in Seattle.
posted by Chris @ 7:00 PM
posted by Chris @ 7:20 AM
BERLIN (Reuters) - Before leaving on vacation, a German couple set up a loudspeaker and timer with the sound of a crowing cock to blast their neighbors every morning.
posted by Chris @ 5:31 AM
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
posted by Chris @ 5:29 AM
ASPEN, COLO. - Tommy Chong says he and Cheech Marin didn't smoke pot when they were making the stoner comedies that made them famous.
posted by Chris @ 5:17 AM
SEATTLE (Reuters) - There's more to a kiss than meets the lips, as couples are learning at a kissing school in Seattle.
posted by Chris @ 4:18 PM
The holiday creates so much pressure that it's a common time for relationships to end.
posted by Chris @ 12:34 PM
posted by Chris @ 5:41 AM
ST. JOHN'S — Valentine's Day means love, affection and – for retailers, at least – a boost during the slow post-Christmas season.
posted by Chris @ 5:34 AM
A Sydney shopping mall launched a "cereal dating" night at its supermarket Monday, telling singles to come "get frisky at the fruit counter" for a Valentines night out.
posted by Chris @ 5:33 AM
posted by Chris @ 3:25 PM
posted by Chris @ 7:29 AM
BUENA VISTA, Pa. - A school bus driver encouraged students to jump around, throw things and misbehave on her moving bus so she could make an audition videotape for the reality television show "Survivor," police said.
posted by Chris @ 7:12 AM
By Staff
posted by Chris @ 7:03 AM
^ Yep Thats me ^
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Hello Everyone
Talk to everyone soon,
Christina
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Naked?
Skirts, shirts, pants, underwear and stockings all ended up stashed in plastic bags by the bar as the patrons got naked for the monthly "Clothing Optional Dinner."
"It's exciting to be in a restaurant nude," said George Keyes, 65, a retired junior high school English teacher.
Nude yes, but not unadorned.
Keyes, a lifelong nudist, wore a necklace, earrings and a black leather "genital bracelet" with red studs. And white sneakers.
The dinner was started by a group of New York nudists who wanted something a bit more elegant than the wilderness getaways and beach resorts they generally frequent.
"When you go away on holiday it's more you're roughing it in the woods, whereas this is a really nice restaurant," said Keyes, a member of gay nudist group Males Au Naturel, or MAN.
John Ordover set up the dining club about a year ago, recruiting members through word of mouth and the Internet.
"Next month is our Easter bonnet event, where everybody has to come wearing an Easter bonnet," said Ordover, a heavyset man with a jovial smile and glasses.
SOMETHING TO SIT ON ...
Around 30 people arrived for the buffet dinner -- organizers specified no hot soup on the menu -- most of them middle-aged, several married couples, some singles, the youngest perhaps in their 30s.
"They're a good class of people, they're no different to you or I," said John Bussi, owner of the midtown restaurant. "They're not hurting anybody, it's not a wild Roman orgy."
Health regulations mean staff must remain clothed even if they wanted to join in. And diners must bring something to sit on -- a towel or, for discerning women, an elegant silk scarf.
The restaurant's manager covered the windows to maintain privacy at the strictly private party. Extra heaters kept the temperature at a comfortable level for nudity.
Ordover's wife, Carol, said they first went on a naturist holiday five years ago and she found the experience empowering. But, she explained, it's "the least sexual thing you can possibly imagine."
"Men in nudist resorts are striking a bargain. They get to see as many naked women as they like as long as they are polite and look them straight in the eye," she said.
Sherry Stafford, a petite and elegant 51-year-old with blond hair and high heels, brought brochures and videos advertising her travel business, Internaturally Travel.
One of the flyers was for a resort called "Hedonism II" whose slogan is "Be wicked for a week." But she said nudists should not be confused with swingers.
"Wearing clothes and going to church does not protect you from moral evil," Stafford said, lamenting what she saw as a tendency to demonize people just because they like to be naked.
Sandy, a slim woman in her 40s, said she never felt self-conscious about her body and was comfortable dining in the nude. But she did admit to being a bit more nervous before a recent naked yoga class attended by around 25 people.
"Everyone was a little concerned there would be people looking around but the good thing is nobody really was," she said, standing at the restaurant's bar before dinner.
"If you try to maintain a yoga position you're going to fall if you start looking around -- and that's more embarrassing than anything else."
China Rings in New Year with 11 Billion Messages
The holiday is the most important family reunion of the year, and the SMS calls brought in more than 1.1 billion yuan ($133 million), also a record, it said.
"In addition to text messages, people sent pictures and songs via their mobile phones as festival greetings," Xinhua said.
By the end of 2004, Chinese mobile phone users had surpassed 330 million. They sent a total of 217.7 billion messages last year.
Friday, February 18, 2005
Good Morning
I am really trying to answer my Instant Messages it is hard when my computer keeps acting up. I have better luck with my email so feel free to email me.
Love,
Christina
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Crazy Frog' Ring Tone Set to Be a Single
Television adverts plugging the "tune," featuring an animated frog wearing motorcycle helmet and goggles, with a broad smile and a visible tiny penis, have made it a huge success. The tone has been downloaded a million times.
"You either love it or hate it -- there's no in between," said BBC Radio 1 DJ Wes Butters, one of a group of DJs and producers who have formed the group "Pondlife" to release the song.
The TV spots have prompted several complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority from viewers who object to their frequency and to the frog's genitalia.
The ad has, however, been ruled acceptable by the Authority. Whether the single will be deemed acceptable by the public when it is released in April is an open question.
New York's Celebrity Bird Couple Is Spotted Mating
The pair of red-tailed hawks have been spotted flagrantly mating all around the neighborhood of the ritzy Fifth Avenue apartment building where they were evicted, then restored to a brand new, architect-designed love nest last December.
"It's hard to miss them now. They're seriously trying to propagate," bird-watcher Marie Winn told Reuters.
The mating was front-page news for the tabloid New York Post, but Winn said that, hormones being what they are, the mating was never in doubt. The only question, she said, was whether the hawks would take to their old nesting site, which was rebuilt in stainless steel and protected by spikes.
"They didn't reject the nest site and they were faithful to it," Winn reported.
A media frenzy erupted over the birds' eviction by wealthy residents angry over the droppings and half-eaten pigeons littering the elegant building's entrance.
The residents' most visible figure was actress Mary Tyler Moore, while photographer/bird-watcher Lincoln Karim led the protests.
A Young Man Goes into a drug store to buy condoms
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Good Morning
Have a Good Day,
Christina
Stock Futures Drop After Iran Blast News
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures fell on Wednesday after news reports of an explosion in Iran that state television there attributed to a missile fired by an unknown aircraft.
An unknown aircraft fired a missile on Wednesday in a deserted area near Iran's southern port city of Dailam in Bushehr province, where the country has a nuclear power plant, Iranian state television said.
Crude oil futures rose sharply after news of the Iran blast.
The reports raised security concerns among investors in a market that was already nervous before Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites)'s congressional testimony on the economy and interest rates later on Wednesday.
S&P 500 futures slipped 5 points, below fair value accounting for interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.
Dow Jones industrial index futures were down 33 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 6 points.
"The tensions have been rising between the U.S. and Iran as of late. This explosion basically sent chills down the spines of futures traders," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. "Oil prices reacted immediately and rallied up to the highs and this caused a corresponding drop in stock prices."
Crude oil prices rose $1 after news of the Iran blasts and a short time later were up 88 cents at $48.14 a barrel. The U.S. government will report crude oil supplies at 10:30 a.m., with the data expected to show a rise in inventories last week.
Financial markets want to know from Greenspan how far interest rates will rise and how long the measured pace will remain. Greenspan will appear before the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m.
"The market needs to digest the news out of Iran," said Harry Michas, stock index futures trader at manmarketmonitor.com. "Stock index futures have recovered a little bit this morning, but traders will keep one eye on Iran and the other eye on Greenspan throughout the trading session. I think Greenspan's testimony should increase the volatility as traders react to his answers regarding the U.S. economy."
In earnings news, soft-drink company Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO - news) reported an increase in fourth-quarter earnings, topping Wall Street's estimates. Coca-Cola's shares were up nearly 2 percent to $43.40 in trading on the Inet electronic brokerage system.
Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq:NTAP - news) fell 12 percent to $30.18 a day after the storage equipment maker issued a revenue forecast for the current quarter that was not higher than current analysts' forecasts for growth.
In economic data, U.S. housing starts unexpectedly rose 4.7 percent last month to a nearly 21-year high as single-family housing starts shot up to a record, a Commerce Department (news - web sites) report showed. Wall Street economists had expected housing starts to decrease 4.3 percent to a 1.917 million unit rate from the 2.004 million unit rate initially reported for December. (Additional reporting by Doris Frankel)
Armstrong to ride in Tour de France, seek seventh win
Armstrong's schedule ``will include this summer's Tour de France, where he will go for a seventh straight victory,'' his Discovery Channel team said on its Web site Wednesday.
``I am grateful for the opportunity that Discovery Communications has given the team and look forward to achieving my goal of a seventh Tour de France (victory),'' it quoted the Texan as saying.
The announcement ended speculation about whether Armstrong would skip the race to focus on other events. Last year he became the first cyclist to win the Tour de France six times.
``I am excited to get back on the bike and start racing although my condition is far from perfect,'' Armstrong said in the statement.
Armstrong will start his season with the Paris-Nice stage race in March. He will then race in the Tour of Flanders on April 3, before seeking to defend his title at the Tour de Georgia in the United States later that month, the statement said.
Armstrong added that he and team manager Johan Bruyneel ``will evaluate my fitness later this spring and possibly add some races to the calendar.''
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Kissing with class
Psychotherapist Cherie Byrd, 56, got the idea for teaching kissing classes while dating a man who was a horrible kisser.
"Yuck. He was clumsy, unskilled and half-hearted," Byrd said. "I told him if he wanted the relationship to continue he had to let me teach him to kiss."
The boyfriend didn't last, but Byrd, a self-described "luscious kisser", said that gave her the idea to teach the art and craft of kissing to other couples. Since 1998, more than 500 couples have paid $US275 ($350) to learn Byrd's secrets for giving or receiving a passionate kiss.
On a typical class day, up to a dozen couples create "love nests" with sleeping bags and overstuffed pillows on the carpeted floor of the classroom.
Each class begins with foot rubs, back-to-back dancing and tender kisses on the hand. Students slowly graduate to neck nibbles, ear exploration and finally lip locks.
As Byrd guides couples through exercises, such as kissing only the bottom lip or licking an ear, soft music plays. In a calm, breathy voice she tells them to "tease, surrender and risk" touching their partner in ways they've never tried before.
Most are married and in their late 30s to mid 50s. Some couples have come from as far away as Africa, South Korea and cities all over the United States, Byrd said.
Good Morning
Honey, Remember to Turn on the Rooster Booster...
After complaints, police in the northern town of Itzehoe obtained a warrant to enter the house and discovered the gear with the speakers aimed at the neighbors and rigged to a timer.
"The apparatus switched on between 2 and 4 o'clock in the morning and produced a cock crowing at an enormous volume. This would last for 20 minutes with breaks in between," police said.
Police confiscated the gear and charged the vacationers, who are still away, with bodily harm and disturbing the peace. The neighbors had no history of antagonism.
Yahoo! News - Rates on 30-Year Mortgages Fall Again
WASHINGTON - Rates on 30-year mortgages fell for a sixth consecutive week as lower-than-expected employment gains helped keep the lid on inflation worries.
Freddie Mac's weekly survey of mortgage rates released Thursday showed that rates on 30-year, fixed rate mortgages averaged 5.57 percent for the week ending Feb. 10, down from 5.63 percent last week.
Low mortgage rates propelled sales of both new and existing homes to all-time highs in 2004, the fourth straight year that sales in both categories have set records.
Analysts are forecasting housing will enjoy another good year in 2005 with sales expected to decline by around 3 percent, a decline that would still give the country the second-highest levels for sales of new and existing homes.
Rates on 30-year mortgages have declined every week this year. The last weekly increase occurred in the final week of 2004. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, linked this week's decline to the January employment report which showed that businesses added a lower-than-expected 146,000 workers to their payrolls last month.
"Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have not risen above 6 percent in at least six months, which has helped to keep the housing market bustling," Nothaft said.
Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, fell to 5.10 percent, down from 5.14 percent the previous week. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages dipped to 4.11 percent, down from 4.23 percent last week.
Five-year hybrid adjustable rate mortgages averaged 4.99 percent this week, down from 5 percent last week and the lowest level since Freddie Mac began tracking this rate at the beginning of this year. These hybrid mortgages have a fixed-rate for five years and then adjust each year after that.
The nationwide averages for mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The thirty-year and one-year mortgages each carried 0.8 point while the 15-year and five-year ARMs carried a fee of 0.7 point.
A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages averaged 5.66 percent, with 15-year mortgages at 4.96 percent and one-year ARMs at 3.57 percent.
Cheech and I didn't inhale: Chong
Speaking at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival – where he and Marin reunited on stage last week for the first time in more than 20 years – the Edmonton-born comedian said they voluntarily refrained from smoking up because being stoned in front of the cameras was counterproductive.
According to Chong, there was only a single instance of the duo filming a scene while under the influence, which came during the making of 1978's Up in Smoke.
"We tried one time and we wasted so much film," he told reporters.
"We were in the car waiting for the cue, you know. And the camera's rolling and we're sitting there, you know, and neither one of us heard the cue."
Three decades ago, Cheech and Chong carved out a niche with marijuana-themed humour on comedy albums and the big screen.
Chong said he has no regrets about being a role model for an entire generation of tokers.
"When you think of how many kids died drinking alcohol, I feel I've saved millions of lives," he said.
The duo is planning a new film, which could be released as soon as this summer. It will be in the same mould as the films they made in the 1970s and 1980s.
"We are nearly done with the script," Marin said, adding that although its spirit will be in keeping with past Cheech and Chong pictures, the new film will have an "age- and time-appropriate" feel.
"It will be a movie about two guys who have all sorts of adventures together," a smiling Chong noted.
The two have been kicking around possible title ideas, including Grumpy Old Stoners and Lord of the Smoke Rings.
They had started working on the script when Chong was sentenced to nine months in jail for selling pot pipes, a stretch he finished serving in July.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Did the Teacher Say to Put Your Tongue in My Mouth?
Psychotherapist Cherie Byrd, 56, got the idea for teaching kissing classes while dating a man who was a horrible kisser.
"Yuck. He was clumsy, unskilled and half-hearted," Byrd said. "I told him if he wanted the relationship to continue he had to let me teach him to kiss."
The boyfriend didn't last, but Byrd, a self-described "luscious kisser," said that gave her the idea to teach the art and craft of kissing to other couples. Since 1998, more than 500 couples have paid $275 to learn Byrd's secrets for giving or receiving a passionate kiss.
On a typical class day, up to a dozen couples create "love nests" with sleeping bags and overstuffed pillows on the carpeted floor of the classroom.
Each class begins with foot rubs, back-to-back dancing and tender kisses on the hand. Students slowly graduate to neck nibbles, ear exploration and finally lip locks.
As Byrd guides couples through exercises, such as kissing only the bottom lip or licking an ear, soft music plays. In a calm, breathy voice she tells them to "tease, surrender and risk" touching their partner in ways they've never tried before.
Most are married and in their late 30s to mid-50s. Some couples have come from as far away as Africa, Korea and cities all over the United States, Byrd said.
Byrd's school, simply titled "Kissing School," appears to be the only one of its kind, although there are Web sites that offer kissing tips and techniques. Several books also cover the subject, including one by Byrd.
"We're basically clueless," Byrd said. "It's more than a smashing of lips." Byrd says that more important than technique is the connection between two people.
"It's hard to truly connect with your beloved in our society because we're in such a hurry," she explained. "Multi-tasking leads to sorry, sloppy smooches."
While most students at Seattle's Kissing School are couples, singles are also welcome to take classes, provided they don't mind kissing total strangers.
Gary Getz and Lorrie Clemens, married for nine months, flew from their home outside Palo Alto, California to Seattle to attend a kissing school on Saturday.
"It was Lorrie's idea to take the class," Getz said. "But I certainly benefit from her interest."
Getz said he resisted his wife's suggestion of going to a kissing school at first. And after completing the day-long class, he reported that he was somewhat disappointed.
"As a guy, I thought it would be more technical," Getz explained, "The put your hand here and pucker up this way kind of thing."
But he added quickly, "It was very enjoyable."
Other than an occasional, muted "yes" coming from the couple in the corner of the room, there was no conversation until the end of the kissing exercises. Each partner was then asked to rate the other's kiss on a scale of one to 10. One is "not so good" while 10 is a kiss that "sweeps you off your feet." After a brief discussion, the couples went at it again to try to improve their scores.
Getz and Clemens rated each other's kisses at 9.9. "We want to keep on practicing," Clemens said.
The instructor's top tip for creating a kiss that is satisfying and sensual is to slow down. "Men in particular rush through kisses and let their minds wander too much," Byrd said. "A kiss is really a gift of your heart. It's your energy transferred to another person's body."
Although the class is very intimate, Byrd has never had couples go too far with their kisses. The room, in an old school building, is well lighted and not the most comfortable place to get carried away, even with the fluffy pillows and blankets.
Only one couple failed the class in Byrd's opinion. "One guy thought he knew everything and didn't need any lessons," Byrd said. "I feel for his poor wife."
As couples left Saturday's class, hair tousled and in search of lip balm, Byrd went home to an empty house. The kissing school teacher is not married and at the moment doesn't have a boyfriend.
He loves you not: Valentine's hype can force tough decisions
By Elizabeth Lund, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
They're the Valentine's Day (news - web sites) gifts no one asks for: a note slipped under the door that reads "I'm taking my freedom back." Or 25 votive candles with the comment, "The flame has died." Sometimes it's just the ring of a phone and the terse message, "We're through."
Those on the receiving end of such presents might want to break Cupid's arrows, since Valentine's Day breakups are becoming more common. As many as half of dating couples split up on Cupid's big day, estimates Jodi Smith, etiquette expert and president of Mannersmith Consulting.
The main reason Valentine's Day breakups are so frequent, culture watchers agree, is that the much-hyped holiday creates so much pressure and so many expectations. The ubiquitous ads for long-stemmed roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, and flowery cards prompt many to think of all the reasons they don't want to remain half of a couple.
But there's disagreement on whether breaking up on Feb. 14 is acceptable behavior or unforgivably cruel.
Ms. Smith doesn't see anything wrong with Valentine's goodbyes, but does think that how they're handled is important.
"There is no need to keep hanging on to something that is not working," she says. "It is perfectly acceptable to break up on Valentine's, [but] dumping champagne on your date, creating a scene, and storming out of the restaurant is poor form. The polite person thinks before speaking and considers the venue before offering a carefully worded exit speech. No need to demean the person while dumping them. Leave the dumpee with a shred of self-respect and a box of chocolates."
Ria Romano of Boca Raton, Fla., didn't follow that advice and still feels bad about how she handled her Valentine's Day split a few years ago. She and her boyfriend had been dating about three months when he planned a romantic, expensive evening.
He buzzed her apartment intercom and asked her to come downstairs, adding, "I have two dozen red roses for you."
Ms. Romano, although dressed for the date, surprised herself by saying, "I know it's Valentine's Day, but I'm not going." She ended the relationship while he stood in the lobby. To make matters worse, Feb. 14 was also his birthday.
"I know that's really, really bad," she says, "but I suddenly heard this little voice in my head saying, 'He's not the one.' I felt so guilty, but I also felt relieved that I didn't have to go to dinner.
"Valentine's Day puts so much pressure on people," she adds. "There's a lot of anxiety that you don't get with Christmas or New Year's."
Ms. Smith has heard such comments many times before. Her advice to Romano and others is: "Don't be too hard on yourself." Yes, it's better to break things off several weeks beforehand, but the culture encourages just the opposite. Dumping is the symptom, she says, not the underlying problem.
"We live in a society where people routinely spill their guts on the Internet or on national television shows, but there's very little self-awareness," she says. "We feel as if we need to act on an emotion as soon as we acknowledge that emotion."
Social scientists agree. "People are notorious for not being strong enough to sit a partner down and say, 'I'm sorry, it's over,' " says Barry Kuhle, assistant professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. Rather than dealing with a situation directly, they procrastinate until something forces the issue, and Valentine's Day does just that.
"It's almost worse and more offensive to mislead the other person by going out on a date and going through the motions," he says, explaining the mindset of many who break up on Feb. 14.
Dr. Kuhle, who proposed to his fiancée on Valentine's Day 2003, notes that dumpers aren't always motivated by altruism.
"The dark side of human nature is indeed dark," he says, in reference to research he conducted at the University of Texas at Austin for a dissertation called "Cues to Commitment." That research reveals five reasons that a man - men do most of the dumping - may end a relationship on Valentine's Day:
1. He's not interested in a deep, committed relationship and doesn't want to lead the woman on.
2. He's scared about the escalation of commitment that often comes with sharing Valentine's Day with a woman.
3. He doesn't want to waste time and/or money on a relationship he thinks won't last.
4. He's dating several women simultaneously and the obligations of the day - dinner, date, etc. - force him to choose one woman and dump the other(s).
5. He's worried that publicly sharing Valentine's Day with a woman will reduce his ability to play the field.
No age group is immune to Cupid's coldhearted surprises: People in their 20s break up because they feel they have plenty of time to find better options, say observers. Thirty-somethings often have a goal in mind and cut their losses quickly if they don't like their prospects. Those 40 and older may feel pressure to find the right mate.
There are so many reasons to blame good old Cupid, it seems. Even teenagers feel the sting of his poor aim.
Kelli, who has asked that her last name not be used, still remembers the competition that Valentine's Day inspired among girls in school. The more flowers or balloons a girl received, the more popular and worthy she was considered.
Kelli always hated Valentine's Day for that reason, but in her junior year of high school, her feelings about the day changed. She was dating a senior, and "for the first time, I was looking forward to it," she says.
Her hopes were dashed the night of Feb. 13, though, when she asked her sweetie how he wanted to celebrate.
His answer: "Actually, I don't want to be in a relationship anymore." His mother told her he didn't want to buy a gift.
Kelli's only solace was that fact that the two of them have remained friends and she can remind him of his dastardly deed, and still does, nine years later. "You have to make good use of these things," she says, laughing.
But for some people, there's nothing funny about breaking up on Valentine's Day, regardless of how much pressure dumpers feel.
"Holidays carry memories with them, and no matter how much compassion and good taste someone thinks they are using when they break up with a lover, a breakup hurts, and doing it on Valentine's Day wrecks the day for years to come," says April Masini, author of the "Ask April" advice column. "If a breakup is inevitable, do it the day before - or even the day after. This kind of scheduling is far more compassionate."
Others put it in much blunter terms. "I suggest you break up at least one month before to avoid a lot of fallout," says Stefan Feller, author of the forthcoming book "How to Break Up, Without Breaking a Sweat."
"A guy who breaks up with a woman on Valentine's is automatically eligible for the sleazeball hall of fame," he says. "A woman who breaks up with a guy on V-Day just gives him another reason to hate the day."
Cupid, consider yourself warned.
Happy Valentine's Day
Love, Christina
Valentine shoppers warm retailers' hearts
"We are sold out. We've been sold out now for about a week and a half now," says Jason Hickey, who manages Blue, a restaurant on Water Street in St. John's.
Many people who do not eat out often will make an exception on Valentine's Day, Hickey says.
"I guess where Valentines Day falls on a Monday this year, we're booked up Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday," he says.
On Saturday, under warm, blue skies, shoppers flocked to shops in downtown St. John's, looking for the perfect gift for a loved one.
At Coffee & Company, high-end Godiva chocolates were flying off the shelves.
"Chocolates mean love, maybe, and they're kind of sexy, you know," says the shop's Emily Bridger.
Robert Mills picked up a couple of boxes of chocolates for the women in his life.
"I got one for my wife, one for my mother – I'm all set," Mills says.
Gail French of Contemporary Florists says while the last few days have been busy, most men wait until the last minute before buying flowers.
French says Valentine's Day is crucial for staying in business.
"It just gets us over the hump of winter," she says.
"It really gives us a little boost to get us through to the spring of the year."
iafrica.com | loveandsex | news Sydney supermarket launches 'Cereal Dating'
Management at the upmarket Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center in Sydney's eastern suburbs suggested singles eager to meet a kindred soul cruise the supermarket aisles with message-sending breakfast cereal boxes perched on their carts.
"Choosing the correct cereal is crucial, with different cereals attracting different mates," Westfield said at a press release announcing the launch of its Monday singles' nights.
For "cereal virgins", they explain that boxes of "Fruit Loops" signal a "quirky, outrageous type that lives life on-the-edge", while carrying All Bran or Mini Wheats attracts "dependable, regular, conservative types".
"For those that don't really care-- a Variety Pack will show that the shopper is willing to chat to anyone."
A 2004 census found that 50.2 percent of Sydney's women and 40 percent of men have never married.
Westfield said its cereal dating nights would whip these "time-starved" singles "into a passionate frenzy as they get frisky at the fruit counter and find passion at the preserves".
AFP
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Love Doc: Kissing Is Best Valentine's Gift
SEATTLE - This Valentine's Day (news - web sites), forget the flowers and chocolate. Cherie Byrd has a better idea: Learn to pucker up. Byrd, a psychotherapist who teaches kissing, thinks Americans should use their lips to speak to their sweethearts instead of their wallets.
"We're so money-oriented, so consumer-oriented that our relationships get drawn into that quality as well," she said. "This is one day when we might want to step back from this sense of possession and ask ourselves: What is the real gift we want to offer our beloved?"
For Byrd, the answer is clear: A smooch. And with this gift, it's definitely the thought that counts.
"A lot of people say, 'Am I putting too much tongue? Is there too much nibbling? Is there too much mashing of lips? Well, all of those things can get in the way. More importantly what gets in the way is there's no connection. It's kind of a dead fish kiss that's the real bummer," she said.
Byrd, author of "Kissing School: Seven Lessons on Love, Lips and Lifeforce," has instructed 400 couples in one-day "playshops." Her advice? Breathe, concentrate and engage "the electricity in your body."
Or more precisely: "Cultivate the art of the merging of the lips and the merging of the heart and the merging of the connection with your partner."
Sound a little advanced? Step one: Relax.
"Slowing way down is really helpful, getting really focused, really feeling into your own heart," she said.
Step two: Make eye contact and deliver a message — perhaps of love or tenderness.
"Whatever that message is, it needs to be carried into the quality of the kiss," she said.
Step three: Forget multitasking; pay attention.
"Focusing is essential and it means all of you, right down to the curling of your toes needs to be engaged in this," she said.
If after all that, the kiss fails to deliver, maybe you should find another Valentine. A bad kiss, Byrd said, "foretells the kind of disconnect that might be happening should the relationship continue."
Good Morning
Thought of the day.
"When a man brings a girl flowers for no reason -- There's a reason"
Love, Christina
Driver Said to Make 'Survivor' Tape on Bus
Maureen Monaghan was charged with recklessly endangering children after allegedly urging 10 students to act up on her bus for the video, which she hoped would earn her a spot on the CBS show.
A separate camera on the inside of the bus recorded the Jan. 6 incident, and the bus company gave the footage to police.
"She encouraged the children to be disorderly on the bus while it was moving," Elizabeth Township police Chief Robert Wallace said. "In viewing the tape, there was so much commotion going on, we felt it was a very unsafe situation for her to allow this to happen."
It was not clear why the driver wanted misbehaving students in the video. The network suggests that "Survivor" applicants use their auditions to "talk about your job" and "why you would be the ultimate Survivor," according to the show's Web site.
Police collected 21 permission slips that some parents signed related to the taping, but only Monaghan's name was on the bottom, and there was no indication school officials knew about the plan, officer Kris Wagstaff said.
A woman who answered the telephone listed under Monaghan's name said Monaghan was not home Saturday and referred all questions to attorney Charles LoPresti, who did not immediately return a phone message left at his office.
The school district is investigating, spokeswoman Jane Milner said.
A representative of Monaghan's employer, Pennsylvania Coach Lines, would not comment on the case.
Heavyweights Take On Viagra Spammers
Feb 13, 2005, 02:53
The leading drug maker Pfizer Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced last week that they filed joint lawsuits against Web site owners and e-mal spam advertisers that they allege sell counterfeit versions of Pfizer's Viagra, a treatment for erectile dysfunction.
The companies have filed 17 actions against CanadianPharmacy and E-Pharmacy Direct involved in the sale and spam advertising of illegal generic Viagra. Microsoft also filed three other spam operators who advertise for other online pharmacies.
About 25 percent of all spam advertising over the internet involves Viagra, Pfizer said in a statement.
People who take counterfeit Viagra run the risk of developing serious health problems from possible drug contamination.
Previous Posts
Archives
