Ginger_Warrior

Gay marriage is now permitted in the UK. It's also a sunny day outside, the sky isn't falling, there aren't any locusts buzzing around either. Not as cataclysmic as some predicted, then.

Well... you can't just end the story there, can you...? What happened?

He was involved in making the film, albeit minimally.

I didn't watch the film, and at the risk of sounding pretentious, I purposefully didn't because the trailer made the plot look so awful.

Ultimately, people will judge you either way in life no matter what you do. I think one of the biggest lessons you can learn as you grow up, is that there are people whose opinions you should care about, and a vast majority of others whose opinions you should not. Hope the job hunting goes well in any case. In the meantime, can you apply for an unpaid placement anywhere? It would solve the problems that the monotonous boredom of too much free time can bring, it would give you an opportunity to build and maintain relevant skills, and it would fantastic on job applications / resumes. Best of all, it's a great counter argument to nagging family members. "I'm doing something temporarily which will improve the odds of finding paid work." You can take that advice for free from my own personal experience. ;)

Ran my first sub-26 minute 5K run today. [hide=Progress!][/hide] I had a loose target of achieving 50.00% age grade by the end of the year. Might have to be a bit more ambitious. :)

My last phone sadly died due to water damage from the steam coming off of the shower; extractor fans in student accommodation are about as much use as a plastic straw in gravy. On the other hand, I feel very lonely if I can't at least browse the Internet while on the throne. So nope, not just you. :)

Yeah, I really want to hear this story too actually. Today was my 24th birthday. Fairly uneventful to be honest. We're going out Saturday though so that should fix that. Donated £3 for that no make up selfie thing that's going around Facebook too.

But then, that's sort of the point. The UN (or the League of Nations as it was in its first iteration) was made as a way to balance power. Balance meaning balance, not "failing whenever the US / UK doesn't get its way". Russia has its own sovereign right to act how it wants as well; what's at issue here is that that right is being exercised at the expense of Ukraine's sovereignty, not the US's. That said, I didn't see many right-wing observers in the US or the UK complaining when the UN couldn't influence events before the Iraq War, despite there being issues of legality there too. In any case, the EU has far more influence over this crisis than the UN. Angela Merkel's response has been far more... considered, than the rhetoric shouted across the Ukraine from Russia and the US. The 95.5% figure may well be an accurate reflection of votes cast. Many of the 'No' voters simply stayed at home since there was only going to be one winner (this is an area of the Ukraine which doesn't really have any historic ties to Ukraine and is overwhelmingly Russian ethnically) and it really wasn't worth attracting the wrong kind of attention.

Ultimately, wars come down to money, like most things in diplomacy. It's in neither Russian or US interests to go to war, especially when (no offence to the Ukraine) the stakes are so low. What happened with WWII was a sudden and uncontrollable escalation of diplomatic tension, after years of passively hoping Hitler would do as he's told and shifting the goalposts every time he didn't, following Germany's decision to occupy Belgium. That isn't happening here.

Aren't you receiving some kind of physiotherapy for that knee? If it's that painful, aren't you under some kind of pain management from your family doctor? On the suicidal tendencies: All of those things Muggi suggested are valid and you should definitely look into them. However, you also need professional support. Go to a healthcare professional or a doctor you can trust and tell them how you're feeling. If you find it intimidating to go on your own, ask a personal friend or someone else you trust to attend with you so that they can support you. It might feel like you're burdening them, but believe me, from personal experience, they won't feel like that and they'll want to be there for you. If you think it's going to take more than 10 minutes to explain how you're feeling, tell that to the receptionist when you make the appointment. They should be able to help you manage it, or refer to services which would be most effective at helping you to manage it.

I've never really understood the appeal either. Maybe it's because I am British and I really don't find the posh-accented, stuck-up, preparatory school background attractive in the slightest. I don't know many blokes who find her that attractive, to be honest. I almost get the feeling Emma Watson is what non-British men like to fetishize about British women.

Oh shit... *skims back through pages to see what cringe-worthy bollocks I wrote five years ago* (Goddess was right about the right-sided brain test though...)

Whenever I meet someone new, I'm already 90% sure before I've even spoken a word that they don't like me / think I'm weird / would rather be somewhere else. It takes a lot of personal will power to put myself in situations where I don't know someone.

I didn't create any set goals at the start of the year. But I'm still progressing quite well regardless. I've started running 5k at least once per week, improving on last year where I barely exercised at all except for occasional long walks. Diet has worsened slightly on 2013 but it's still healthy enough. I've written a CV to send to care agencies for temp work over the rest of my university course, before I qualify in September 2015. This improves on 2013 where I didn't do any paid work at all. My hours at my voluntary work also went down massively in 2013; down to 55 from around 500 in 2012. I'm acting to change this by taking on more senior responsibilities (doing more with the time I *can* offer) and I'll be running for election in the society for the position of unit leader at the end of March. There's currently no problems with friends or university itself. So 2014 is going well so far, even without specific goals.

Maybe she's consciously aware of her own failures, and doesn't want you to walk down the same line? I think Mums only nag for what they think is best for their children. At least recognise that she's trying to care, even if you think it's misguided.

Xi Jinping said that he had confidence Putin could resolve the political situation by negotiation, and that he supports efforts to ease tensions. That's not really the same as saying "You should definitely start moving a load of tanks in there and start ICBM launch testing on the border of the Eurozone." As for your denial that it's a government of loonies: Nazist paramilitary commanders in charge of the entire armed forces? Oh, fantastic... I bet the Russian ethnics in Crimea feel much safer now.

Legality means very little when you have no executive power and no influence over the judiciary. Yanukovych saw the mobs coming, panicked, and ran to Putin as a last gambit to keep power. Yanukovych has about as much control of that country as you or I.

What is becoming more and more worrying to the West is, frankly, the loonies that have taken over power in Ukraine. Between all the rhetoric from Russia and the United States, very few people seem to have noticed (or even cared) that one of the most populous countries in Europe is currently being run by an undemocratically elected coalition of right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis. The likelihood that such a coalition is: a) representative of the Ukrainian population; and b) going to solve the deep socioeconomic problems which caused so much poverty which contributed to the rioting that toppled the previous government? Not bloody likely. If you were in Crimea, and you saw yourself as a dual-national between the Ukraine and Russia, would you be that fussed about Russian troops milling around? I probably wouldn't be, given their circumstances.

I don't think Russia can annex Crimea, let alone start WWIII. This conflict isn't in the interests of the Russian people, least of all big Russian businesses who depend on Russia's global reputation to trade worldwide, especially Europe. Yesterday alone, more value was wiped from the Moscow Stock Exchange than the cost of the entire Sochi Games, which itself is looking more and more like a mistimed and disingenuous PR display. Traditionally, you could say Russia can lean on the support of China in diplomatic disputes between the West but even China, in this case, is reticent to support Russia. Ultimately, money talks, and If the situation lasts more than a few days or weeks in stalemate, as is currently the case, it won't be long until Putin starts to face more questions at home about what he's actually trying to achieve, why he's doing it, and whether it's in Russia's interests.

Housemates are out a karaoke thing down the local pub. Decided not to go with them. I like my housemates, but they're the kind of people who if you go out with them, they'll spend most of their time basically ignoring you and talking to lots of new people. To them it's not about going as mates, it's about who you meet. I definitely don't mind meeting new people (I love getting to know people; it's one of the best parts of my career!) just not so many and not in such a loud place! So I spent the first night to myself in a very long time and I've realized a lot of the stress and anxiety I feel at the moment is because I'm not really being allowed by them, or university life generally, to have that time to myself. Because they're both always in the living room when they're home, I always feel like I'm in the spotlight in one of the two places I'm supposed to be able to kick back. If I go to my room, one of them calls me rude and antisocial. But as I said, I like them both and I'm happy to spend a couple of hours with them; I just need my own space. In the time they've been gone, I've done half an assignment, sent a few emails asking for references for some care agency work I'm applying for, written a CV, watched all the Premier League match highlights for today, done all my week's work as a volunteer coordinator, and caught up on a full day's worth of news from the Crimean crisis. I wouldn't have done any of those things if they'd have been here, and if I'd have gone with, I'd probably feel exhausted and only want to be home again. Definitely need to work out a way of balancing things out a bit better.

Just watched the finale to season 4 of Breaking Bad. I don't think I'll ever get that face out of my mind. :/

I don't think I really disagree with anything you've said there. Not sure why your tone seems to be so... offended.

I can think we can all universally agree with that one. Most of the time, people just need someone to clarify their situation, think of all the options available and work out which of those is the best one. If the conclusion of that process is them deciding "You know what, I think it's easier to leave the relationship", so be it. But you have to let people arrive at their own solution without leading them down a certain path.

Of course, but people aren't posting on this thread saying: "my so didn't call me today, I'm mad", they're saying things like "my so has a drug habit, or my so is cheating on me, etc...". The things people mention on here (when in existing relationships" are usually serious enough that breaking is a somewhat realistic option. The simplest solution is often the correct one, agreed. I'm just a bit cautious about not cutting off the nose to spite the face, if that makes sense.