Madmanpur3

He said of the haiti earthquake, not the chile one.

What you should have done to prepare for the pizza on friday is eaten a medium size breakfast this morning, skip lunch, and eat a large dinner tonight and repeat this for tomorrow, then on friday eat a small/medium breakfast and again skip lunch. And make sure to take a large poop on friday before the big event. :) I'm 6' 175 lbs and I can eat more in one sitting than pretty much everyone I know because I have expanded my stomach by eating an average of 1.5 large meals a day. Last school year I'd eat a buffet for breakfast and dinner one day, then just one for lunch the next, and kept alternating. So yeah, if you just try and starve yourself until the pizza then you're pretty much sol from the beginning.

Whoa, those photos are intense... Also, here's a fairly lengthy firsthand narrative of what it was like in Santiago (which didn't even get hit that bad, to give you some perspective). [hide]Chile is a country with a dark history. Bloody conquests, political dictatorship, thousands of political killings, brutal torture, maltreatment of natives, and natural disasters. I came to Chile two weeks ago with the intention of studying human rights and Andean culture. Chile is a country in transition and I wanted to be there to experience it all. What I did not expect to experience was one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in human history. It has been about three days since the huge earthquake hit Santiago, Chile. I am currently residing in the center of Santiago, Chile's capital and largest city. The 8.8 earthquake hit around 3:32 a.m. and has created chaos throughout Chile. I woke up to the sound of a semi-truck heading straight towards my room. When I looked up, I saw the chandelier above my head shaking violently. At first, I had no idea what was going on and then suddenly I thought to myself, "This is an earthquake." I quickly jumped out of my bed and ran underneath the doorway in my bedroom to take cover. The bookshelf next to me was shaking violently and shelves with books were falling down. It was difficult to stand and I could feel the whole building shaking back and forth. The earthquake didn't seem to stop and I had fears that the apartment building was going to collapse on itself. I had no idea how severe the earthquake was; I'd never experienced an earthquake before. It felt like it was pretty rough but I thought that it had been something like a 5 on the Richter scale. My host mom ran to the door before the earthquake had stopped to check on me. Finally the earthquake stopped. We were safe. We were much luckier than the majority of the people in Chile. I asked my host mom if we had to call my study abroad directors; I think she was dumbfounded by my question. I really had no idea how intense the earthquake had been. About a half hour after the earthquake, my host mom and I went down to the streets. People in the apartment lobby were yelling with excitement to see that my host mom was safe (she is an older lady). Being on the street was very surreal. We walked four blocks down to check on another student who was alone in his apartment. I will never forget the complete darkness and dust that layered the street. The only light was coming from the flashlights and lanterns from people lining the street. People were listening to their battery powered radio and expressing their fears to their neighbors. Everytime we passed a different radio, it was saying something different. I remember one radio saying that 5 people had died; I thought that that was horrible! If only that were the case. We finally met up with the student by himself at his apartment and returned to our apartment. On the walk, I kept tripping over rubble scattered on the streets. My host mom decided that it would be safer to walk on the street, since debris was still falling off of the buildings. None of Santiago had electricity or telephone communications for the first two hours. Around 5:45 am, telecommunications were back on in my apartment. My host mom and I tried frantically to communicate with the study abroad advisors without any luck. Then around 6:00 am, the phone rang and it was a panicking advisor. I'd never heard her speak English before, but she was very nervous for I was the first student that she could get a hold of. I let her know that I was okay and that our building was still standing. After the phone call, the electricity came back to our apartment, less than 3 hours after the earthquake. We turned on the news to see the horror. That is when I discovered that the earthquake was nearly a 9 and that it had hit as a 7.5 in Santiago. I was stunned. I went to bed around 6:30 am only to wake up at 7:45 am to a large aftershock. That's when I noticed that I felt a little vertigo. My body did not trust the stability of the ground anymore and I had a fear in the pit of my stomach. I went back to bed until about 10:30 am when I woke up for the day. At breakfast, my host mom kept praying and repeating that we need to thank God that we are safe. She went on to explain that we are one of the few places that has electricity, water, gas, and communications. I explained that I need to try to call home. With tears in her eyes and a severe voice, she explained, two times, that most of the telephone lines are down and that I would probably not be able to reach outside of the Santiago area. Luckily I was able to communicate with my family and friends via Skype and Facebook. I spent the rest of the day inside of my apartment by orders of my study abroad director and host mom. I spent the day watching the news, witnessing the horrible events that had happened to this country. Five people dead became 100 people dead then 214 people, then 314, and then yesterday 708. The numbers keep on rising. There are 36 students studying abroad in this program. I received frienship requests from complete strangers wondering if I'd heard news of their brothers, sisters, and children. I called the director and discovered that everyone was safe and accounted for. I spent a few hours going on Facebook pages of people on the trip to let their families know that they were safe. Sunday, I wandered out to the dead streets of Santiago to see what the damage was and see the situation with the people. I walked no more than 10 feet to see a building that suffered severe damages. Part of the roof had fallen to the ground and crushed the front of a vehicle parked underneath. Two blocks more, I see the Church with broken windows and a huge crack down the center of its facade. A few blocks more, I see a Church that has completely collapsed. A block away, there are dozens of cars lined up on the streets, trying to get gas. On the boulevard of this street are tents filled with teary-eyed that cannot return to their apartments. Throughout the whole city, there are bricks on the sidewalk, entire sides of buildings collapsed onto the street, service workers trying to fix the broken water lines, people sleeping on beds and in tents, and an eerie sense of calm. I finally made it to the city center of Santiago where there is always action. It was completely dead. The only action was coming from a supermarket, where hundreds of people were lined up for blocks waiting to get basic necessities. Some of the most beautiful edifices in all of Chile had suffered severe damages. Glass and brick lined the main walkways of the city. This disaster had struck Santiago with great power but completely wiped out cities only 100 miles from here. Today, most of the city is still without electricity, water, gas, and/or communications. People are coming to my host family's place to take showers and people are rushing to the grocery stores (that are open) in order to get water. There are curfews (11:00pm-6:00am) for many cities throughout Chile. My host mom mentioned that Chileans are used to curfews due to those imposed by Pinochet just two decades ago. Many cities are experiencing looting and coastal cities are still afraid of tsunamis because they hit unexpectedly before. Hundreds of people are still trapped or missing. Reconstruction cannot start until these emergencies have been settled. I came to a country that has suffered a lot in the last century, never imagining that I would have to relive that pain with them. Luckily, Chileans are good at picking up their heads and moving forward (they have had a lot of practice). It is going to be a long process to clean up the country, but signs of normality are beginning to come back. Yesterday, I rode the metro and today I'm going out for some coffee with friends. This event was very tragic and there is still a large mess that needs to be cleaned up so we will move forward even if our bodies are still shaking from the initial wave and the aftershocks that continue to plague this country and its memories.[/hide]

Here's my thoughts on foreign languages in America - they should not be mandatory because there will be people who simply don't want to learn a foreign language, so trying to force them to learn one would be a waste of resources and time. Let those who want to pick up a foreign language do so on their own and they'll become a better person for it. :thumbup: I'm currently learning French via Rosetta Stone and my sister's fiance, and I've been adding to what little Spanish I learned in high school living with a Venezuelan and hanging out with people who speak fluent Spanish. Once I'm fluent in French I'll finish learning Spanish, then probably move on to Russian. I heard once you learn one new language, the rest come easier. Also, one of my biggest pet peeves is when my foreign friends and foreigners in general apologize for their poor english...you speak english better than I speak your language so stop apologizing already.

My cousin's studying abroad in Santiago right now so he was there when it happened. From the sounds of it, it was pretty intense even in Santiago (which wasn't the epicenter). Sides of buildings collapsed, rubble all over the streets, people were sleeping in tents on the sidewalks afterward, gas stations were insanely busy as were the supermarkets that were open. The death toll is up over 700 now, 300+ in Constitucion alone. I guess something like 60% of Constitucion was destroyed. :-|

I bet any of us could name 5 - 10 people MINIMUM who speed despite knowing the risk of getting a speeding ticket (and probably actually gotten one too). My point was that those who don't, do so because they don't want the ticket...not that tickets deter speeding altogether. So likewise I bet any of us could name 5 - 10 people MINIMUM who don't speed because they don't want to get a ticket. Now obviously the states don't feel the amount of speeding that still occurs is that big of an issue, otherwise they would definitely up the fines to something people couldn't afford. Also, I'm sure they want some speeding to occur to some degree, because it is in fact a major source of revenue.

If you've ever been to the boundary waters you'd think differently. ;)

In regards to Zierro's and Bloodstain's little debate, I'll just say that if I knew I could get away with say stealing a car from a large dealership and never have to worry about getting caught, then I most definitely would....many people would. Also, people don't speed (too much) while driving because of the threat of having to fork out a hundred dollars for a ticket, not because they feel endangered by speeding. My biggest issue with the justice system as it is, is the whole idea of precedent. If two people commit the same crime* they punish them the same, regardless of anything else....and to me that's complete [cabbage]. *By same crime, I mean the same on paper, not in reality.

Midwesterner here and I'd say the worst ones would have to be North Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.

Make a cake and color the frosting all sorts of bright colors, it's what my roommates and I do for all our friends birthdays and they absolutely love it. Then again we make layered cakes and have a cake decorating kit so...But yeah, if you get her a $200 gift she'll feel almost as if you're proposing to her (at least that's how it would be around here).

It most definitely is...I personally don't buy into that whole "one true love" bs. Now obviously if you love multiple people that doesn't mean it's ok to be in a more than friends relationship with multiple people.

Yeah, um...Joe...you're making WAAAAYYYYY too big of a deal out of Romy's signature. Like seriously, way too big.

Around 12-13 I started shingling/residing/painting houses with my dad in the summers, as well as mowing some lawns. Would get paid anywhere from $50 to $150 a day depending on what the project was and how long we were there/how hard we worked. Did this each summer until I was 16. At 16 I got my first "real" job (you know, paying taxes and all that fun stuff) working in the kitchen of a hospital. Paid decent enough for a first job and the hours allowed me to be very flexible with my schedule, and my coworkers were amazing...good times. Once I graduated high school I quit that job and didn't get another one until the summer after my first year of college (so one year after I quit) and that was with an Engineering firm as an Engineering Technician in training. This is my current job (only work during the summers) and pays $12 to $15 an hour depending if I have to travel or not. I also drive routes for my dad once in a while which pay $100 for a 5 hour drive. During school however I don't have any real jobs, just hobbies that pay once in a while - online poker (low stakes) and playing billiards at the bars for money.

I thought that was a rather interesting read...can't even imagine what sort of stuff I'd write if I knew I was going to die (suicide or otherwise).

Because some people like me are agnostic. Logical burn. :lol: And some of us are Clausist. :lol:

I read it all and I thought his style of writing was kind of annoying and his reasoning was rather humorous. I am by no means a religious person, but I did attend a private (Catholic) school from grades 1-12, and come from a "strong" Catholic family, and all I have to say in regards to his novel is that he doesn't understand the concept of faith. As for my views on religion in general, I see it as something that was started by good hearted men in some rough times. If you compare a person's financial standing with how religious a person is you'd probably find that the more wealthy a person is the less religious they are - this doesn't prove or disprove anything, just saying I see religion almost as a crutch/comfort for those who need it. Lastly, if a Catholic raised child were to one day tell their parents "I think I'm going to start being Muslim from now on", the parents would most likely flip [cabbage] and think their child is crazy. Likewise if a Muslim raised child were to tell their parents "I think I'm gonna convert to Catholocism", they wouldn't be all that happy either....and I view this as a problem.

Is it a crime to be silly on the ever so serious internet?

Is it bad that I read all that with an angry british accent?

Secret: I go to an adult webcam site while I'm doing my homework. Confession: I go there for the music. It's just a bonus that the girl who plays my favorite music is extremely hot. :thumbup:

The Tuesday before Lent starts where you stuff your face with anything and everything...aka Mardi Gras.

Many private practices only offer benefits to those who are married with a church recognized marriage, and not just a civil union. And as far as the benefits provided by the state/federal government, again those benefits for extra people don't just spawn out of nowhere. One could argue that giving gays the same benefits would "harm" others, because it would harm people financially. I'm not against gay marriage by any means, I just don't see it happening until we're a financially stable country once again.

These aren't pictures of me, but instead of the awesomeness in our house. The holy shrine for Santa's Underpants. Our flusher broke so we fixed it. :) As you can tell it's a house full of college kids.

Confession - Every time I go to our local grocery store I grab a box of "diet" donuts on my way out.

But church recognized marriages is where a lot of the benefits come from...

I don't necessarily agree with this because I personally am not willing to open up 100% to a single person in my life, yet I have truly deep connections with many friends and family. The reason behind that is, I enjoy having bits and pieces of my life that are just mine regardless of who I'm with. For instance, I have several decently sized groups of friends (dozen or so) that I hang out with regularly and yet I would never even consider inviting people from different groups to the same event/gathering. But I do agree that you should feel comfortable being yourself around your closest friends.