Ah thanks.

I made ya smile. My job here is done. Pass it along. Happy Friday the 13th!

But of course. I couldn't ruin the look by putting clothes over it. I shall sport my bubble wrap suit with pride!

I'm hoping you can't actually see through bubble wrap. And I will have undergarments on so I'm not running around naked for Pete's sake!

I'll post pictures if I can get the idea into manufacturing stage ASAP! I have ...what time is it?...that many hours to go. Better get on it. That's a lot of bubble wrap to fashion to fit this klutz!

It's Friday the 13th! Fact.

I'm a klutz! Fact.

I want to go out tonight and have fun. I've been on crutches for 3 wks and can finally hobble around without them since the last time I went out to 'have fun'.

So I'ma thinkin' I wanna venture out, but I'ma scaird I'ma gonna get hurt.

Enter brilliant idea. A new clothing line for the mobility challenged...Bubble Wrap attire!

Tell me they don't already sell this?! I'm gonna make a fortune, right?!?

Well even if I don't, I'm gonna look totally cool sporting my bubble wrap one piece bodysuit on this Friday the 13th, right?!

I bet I'll make lots of people laugh at least!

I'd venture to say that most stretch marks get hidden with clothes. Women tend to get them on their breasts, low on their tummy, or on hips and upper thighs. They aren't all that visible until you're pretty scantily clad or naked usually. I'd guess by then the stretch marks are probably the last thing on a man's mind. He's most likely just thinking "YEAH! I see boobs!".

First we should agree to agree on something.

I too have questioned my desire to do the right thing these days. I'm in a huge mess and it would be so easy to do the wrong thing to fix it. I see girls using men for money all the time. I see people steal and sell drugs and they're living high off the hog while I struggle just trying to exist the 'good' way. It DOES seem like the 'bad people' get ahead while 'good people' keep suffering. It's disheartening to say the least. I sympathize with your struggle to get through life without resorting to drastic measures, I feel the same way. Luckily my desire to not hurt others outweighs my desire to suffer less, but it's a daily battle with my conscience for sure!

Life IS hard, no doubt about that. I control my life though, it doesn't control me. On that point, we will have to agree to disagree!

You're still a gift to this world, man.

Nice to see you're still here and still writing. Still here as in on Mingle, not as in on earth, though obviously I'm thrilled about that too, refer back to first statement.

Missed reading your stuff. Always makes me smile. This didn't disappoint, of course.

I am not disagreeing with you that good people do bad things, especially in a time of crisis. What I disagree with is saying that life made them do it. They had/have a choice how to handle the situation. Streets flood, residents go berserk trying to get water, threaten police, mayhem ensues all because of the flood? Nah, all because those people chose to act like that, based on fear of the situation, stress and anger at not having bottled water on hand and being prepared beforehand. I'm sure there are residents who DIDN'T behave like that and they survived somehow, no? Choice of reactions to a bad situation is the only difference in all those good people.

We've seen a tragedy in a big city before, many times actually. 9/11 is the perfect example and fitting with the anniversary yesterday. In the days that followed, we saw people come together and help folks in anyway possible, and while not singing Kumbya (that was awesomely funny by the way...made me laugh...thanks!) they chose to handle the situation with faith, love, and understanding. There are many others that used the situation to steal, riot, loot and fraud the system in the aftermath to get ahead. Those people, good or bad, chose to behave badly following a terrible tragedy.

Life is life, sometimes it's kind, sometimes it's not, but it doesn't control our actions, we do! Not trying to say I'm better than anyone, or that good people don't do bad things. I've chosen to do bad things before...we're human, we make mistakes. I just take full responsibility for my actions. Life didn't make me do anything. That's all I'm saying.

edited to fix spelling mistake

You read my mind!

You're fooling yourself if you think you can conceal your true nature. You can pretend to be something you're not for a little while, but eventually true colors always show through. Do you want someone to fall in love with the person you're pretending to be or you, the way you really are? If you try to be what they want you to be, you will fail every damn time, guaranteed.

If you REALLY like who you are, if you TRULY enjoy being pessimistic, nihilistic, and sad, then don't change. I think we all want to be happy deep down though. I think we're just afraid to admit it for fear of being disappointed. And I think your desire to find someone that gets you the way you are indicates a desire to find happiness with someone someday, so maybe you don't like being sad as much as you think. Just something to ponder.

What would I do? I'm sticking with Popeye..."I yam what I yam!". Like me or don't, I'm living my life my way. As for not getting any sex...are you sad and handless too?

Yes I know it's not the same. Boy do I know!

You only strenghtened my point with this post. You admit that a starving person has other options, that there are food shelves and charities and such that help, even if it's limited. Also begging is not wrong if you must, and it's certainly not the same as stealing, so the person that CHOOSES to steal food does so with the knowledgge that it is wrong, starving or not. And trust me, as a single mom I knew the feeling of not being able to put food on the table for my son. Did I steal? Nope. I found another way. There's always another way that doesn't involve hurting someone to get what you need (or want).

As for the killing someone to protect yourself or your family, well that's not bad or wrong now, is it? That's something anyone would do in the same situation. It's called self defense or justified killing. Not wrong, not bad, not the same as whacking someone to get what they got whether you think you need it or not. If you were starving, would it be okay to kill someone for their sandwich? No, of course not. If it comes to kill or be killed though, we have a right to defend ourselves and it's not wrong or bad to do so.

Good try, but you'll have to come up with some other scenario to justify CHOOSING to do bad things to get what you 'need'. Life can get hard, and don't I know it, but I refuse to sell my soul to the devil. If I can't do it the right way, I'm not doing it! If it kills me, so be it. I'll go to my grave knowing I didn't compromise my morals or values. But again, to each their own. I judge nobody. I intentionally hurt nobody. I'm not perfect, I make bad decisions, and plenty of 'em apparently, but I NEVER blame life for making me do anything, good or bad. Just my two cents.

Thanks, I think.

At least I know someone read 'all of that'! And you get what I'm saying too, so bonus!

Respectfully disagree with both of you. Life doesn't make anybody do anything. People have a choice how they behave, good or bad. If they have to do something bad to accomplish what they need to accomplish, then I have to question if the accomplishment is really that necessary in the first place. Doesn't seem like anything worthwhile could come from doing something bad, especially if it involves hurting someone else to accomplish it.

We can't control what life throws at us but we can control how we respond. Saying "Well life made me do it!" is a complete cop out! I go by the old adage "two wrongs don't make a right". I'll accomplish what I need (and want) to accomplish without doing bad things no matter what life throws my way. But that's just me and I'm odd.

Pretty sure I said "new age thinking" not "new age thing", so I'm guessing you think I meant this "New Golden Age" or the "age of Aquarius" that you mentioned earlier when you misread "new age thing". I know nothing about this new age thing you speak of so I wouldn't comment on it.

I called it new age thinking because we actually have come into a new age with the sexual revolution changing the parameters of acceptable behavior and how people think of marriage and monogamy. I dont' claim to be anymore spiritual than anybody else. I merely stated that I want to remain in the dark ages instead of changing my thinking to the new age thinking these days that surrounds sexual behavior. I value monogamy highly, married or not, simple as that. I give it in my relationship, and I expect it in return. If you don't, that's your perogative, not you as in you personally but in the general sense. Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers.

The age old nature vs nurture debate. It's not really a debate anymore though. It's become clear that it's a combination of both genetics and life experience, not either or, that is responsible for explaining human behavior, good or bad. I have studied this extensively while attaining my BS degree in biobehavioral psychology. Basically it's the study of how brain structure and function relates to behavior.

I believe that people's genetics play a huge role in how we turn out. It's been noted that serial killers have a significant deficit in one particular region of the brain responsible for emotion. They lack the ability to have empathy. The connections are just not there. So are they 'born' bad? Sorta, though not necessarily, but they definitely have a higher propensity to end up bad, depending on the environment they encounter throughout their life.

We are all wired differently. We all have a range of abilities determined by our genetics, and where we end up on that range is determined by the associations we make from stimuli in the environment, both positive and negative. Because of the complexity of the brain, it's impossible to determine which is most responsible for behavior...how we're biologically composed or what we learn through experience.

I don't think people are born good or bad, just like I don't think it's a case of nature or nurture to explain positive and negative behaviors. I think people TEND to be good or TEND to be bad based in part on how they're wired, and in part on what they experience in life.

Johm Locke subscribed to the philosophy of tabula rasa, that all humans are born a blank slate and acquire all knowledge through experience. It's not totally true, but it's dang close. People aren't good or bad, we all just learn good and bad behaviors, and then CHOOSE how to respond in particular situations.

Thank you.

I'm not telling anyone how to live their life. I just think if you want to have multiple partners, you should stay single or dating your lover and forego marriage altogether. Marriage is SUPPOSED to be a union that foresakes all others, meaning a monogamous relationship, so TO ME it's disrespecting the institution of marriage to screw around on your partner, with or without their blessing. I don't buy into this new age thinking that more freedom to screw around with other people is better, that satisfying one's own desires is more important than honoring your commitment to your partner to love them and only them forever. I personally would just have a hard time whispering "I love you so much baby!" in my husband's ear while I'm getting plowed by some other dude and he's got some bimbo riding him like a bucking bronco.

Yah, no! I'll stay stuck in the dark ages, thanks very much.

Again, to each their own. Not judging others. If that gives ya a woody or soaks your drawers, then you're free to engage in whatever extracurricular activities you see fit. Just don't try to convince me that I'm wrong for wanting monogamy with my man, or for thinking that marriage, traditional marriage, still has value for some people.

I think you're correct on the point of monogamy being an issue for many now. That's why we see such a dramatic increase in the swinger population. If that works for ya, so be it. Judge not, lest ye be judged.

I couldn't share my man with other women sexually though, nor could I be intimate with another man if I was in love with my man. For me sex is about more than reaching orgasm or experiencing pleasure. It IS all that of course, (if things go right anyways ) but shared exclusively with my man, an expression of love and a chance to unite in body as we have in heart.

I used to get freaked out about the thought of having sex with the same person for the rest of my life. Hell, I might live to be 100 or some ridiculous age! But then I realized that as long as your willing to explore wants and desires with your forever partner, a boring sex life will never be an issue. If you really love each other, you can keep things interesting and learn to please each other by doing what feels best to your partner, and vice versa. Variety may be the spice of life but it doesn't necessarily mean you have to have multiple partners. You just have to be willing to be innovative in the bedroom with the one you love.

I'm old fashioned I guess. And an anomalie these days it seems.

Traditional marriage died many moons ago. It's been replaced with companionship marriage now. The former involved the union between a man and woman for life, hence the traditional vow:

I,_____ take you, _____, to be my wife (or husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part. (obey for women was/is an option)

Today's vows should be more like: I love you 'til you piss me off and I don't anymore or something better comes along.

Divorce is not only acceptable now, it's expected at the first sign of trouble because we have become an increasingly individualistic soceity (in the US at least). If either party is unhappy, they just go their separate ways and seek happiness elsewhere. Too many options available now, thanks in large part to technology, for people to try and work on issues and stay the course, honor the commitment made. It's easier to just move along, and we're all for easy these days. We've become not only individualistic but also enamored with instant gratification. We expect to get what we want when we want it.

Marriage then..."till death do US part".
Marriage today..."what have you done for ME lately?"

This is why I've never been married, nor will I ever be married. You are correct in that MOST people don't take marriage seriously anymore, at least not the traditional kind. Sad, really.

I'm thinking that 100% of the woman who post this love animals. Doubt that a significantly relevant percentage of non-animal loving woman would post such an absurdity.



Possibly. Depends on the date or activity. Some are pet friendly, many are not (unfortunately in my eyes). It's nice to have the option though. A non-animal lover would be excluded from many of the things an animal lover enjoys doing. This means a very limited relationship, and most people don't want limited relationships, whether just friends, or definitely not with people they're dating or hoping to build a relationship with someday. Just because she listed that she's looking for friendship doesn't mean that she's closed herself off to something more...we are on a dating site after all!...maybe she understands that dates, relationships, and/or marriage all start with friendship, hence the seeking friends option selected on her profile.



Not necessarily dominate, but they will be in the repertoire. When she's upset and crying because Rover ate the remote and has to go to the vet's, she'll want her friend, date, lover, husband, whoever to understand, not for them to say "You paid how much to have a dog de-remoted?!" and roll their eyes.

Non-animal lovers can't understand the depth of love that animal lovers have for their animals. Simple as that. So why would she want to be around someone that can't understand her feelings and emotions?



Well aren't they? Duh!




Us animals, the human kind at least, are an irrational sort. Perhaps animal lovers believe somehow that a person that cannot have compassion or love for an animal cannot have compassion or love for people as well, ya know since people are animals after all. So a non-animal lover would technically be a non-people lover and who wants to hang out with a non-people lover if you happen to be a people?!

I know that's a huge jump and an irrational conclusion, but please refer to the first sentence of the previous paragraph. Now I'm gonna go scratch my dog's belly and enjoy his utter enjoyment 'cause I'm an animal lover!

Ah thanks. Appreciate that, prayers can never hurt.

Ask Him to turn his hearing aid up while you're at it. I can't whisper in the dark any louder for God's sake! And I ain't got all life, ya know!?! I wanna enjoy some of what I got left.

I think bad things happen to all people, just like good things happen to all people. That's just life. It's chaotic and like one cannot flip a coin 10,000 times and always end up with heads, one cannot expect to not have bad things happen to them no matter how good they are.

I also think it's a way to learn to appreciate the good things. If we knew no struggles, suffered no misfortunes, could we even really realize how fortunate we are when things are well? Probably not, in my opinion. And since it's difficult to understand something unless you've been through it, I also think it's a lesson in compassion, so that we can sympathize with those who may need our help or support someday. People unite in difficult times. We reach out for friends and loved ones and learn to value the important things. Whether you're the person giving help or receiving it, that matters not.

I think I'm a pretty good person, and I've been through some really bad things, especially as of late. I wouldn't want it any other way though.