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Goodbye Jesus

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Ameen

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Oh, I see Mongo. I think I was the one who fell flat. No, my joke was that I had just realized that Ameen was a gay liberal Yankee. I’ve known since he first arrived that he was these things and I don’t care. I hope he stays and thoroughly enjoys himself here.

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I don't post that much on the forums, but I read here and/or on the main blog (where I post a bit more often) almost every day. When I View New Content, and see you've posted something, I always check it out. I'm just bad about replying...overly self-conscious I guess(?). Anyhow, your remodeling project was great -- glad you shared those pictures. And ohhhhh my, your singing is wonderful! Hope you'll be posting more. Take care.

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I don't post that much on the forums, but I read here and/or on the main blog (where I post a bit more often) almost every day. When I View New Content, and see you've posted something, I always check it out. I'm just bad about replying...overly self-conscious I guess(?). Anyhow, your remodeling project was great -- glad you shared those pictures. And ohhhhh my, your singing is wonderful! Hope you'll be posting more. Take care.

I feel gyped! I haven't heard the singing. Link please?

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I think it also depends on which section of the forums you post in as to how much of a response you'll get back. Like I've noticed I'll get more responses to a thread if I post in Rants And Replies and the News section but my threads will get fewer responses in the Critic's Corner. Perhaps it has less to do with the content of your threads and more because some people gravitate to different sections more than others? Maybe try posting in a variety of different sections of the site and see which sections have the most responses? It just seems like some sections of the site get more responses than others do in general.

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Ameen, I think you're a very high quality human being. I know we all express our feelings about others in our own way, and you have different social needs than I do, but from the time you entered this community, I had an instant good feeling about you. It's a good feeling just to know you're around, whether we interact or not. Just a simple, comfortable, nice, relaxed feeling. That's extremely valuable to me. As far as I'm concerned, you don't need to say or do anything, or refrain from anything you're doing. Just be here and be yourself. It's nice, and it's good.

 

Loren

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I feel gyped! I haven't heard the singing. Link please?

 

I can't find the link. Nor can I find the link for Ameen's remodeling pix. In fact, I can't even find the Off Topic category. I don't know what's going on. (Maybe it's me. Need more coffee this morning. hahaha) I'd been having problems with database drivers on this site for a few days, but I thought it was fixed. Any ideas, anybody? HELP!

 

I really would like to listen to your (first?) singing thread again, Ameen. I remember one of the songs gave me goosebumps!

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:Doh::Doh::Doh:

 

NO NO NO!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

I typed out a long reply, and for some reason it did not post when I hit "add reply" and was not saved automatically. AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I'll retype it from memory, but I'm going to have to make my response shorter since I need to study this evening.

 

First, for those who asked...

 

Here's the thread: Ameen's Apartment And New Kitchen -- 'ey, Whatsa Da Matta For You'? (Renovating Italian style in Brooklyn.)

http://www.ex-christian.net/index.php?/topic/32756-ameens-apartment-and-new-kitchen-ey-whatsa-da-matta-for-you

 

Here's one of the songs from the June 25, 2009 concert I participated in. Please note: I am still learning to sing in classes and in private lessons, and it will be years before I can sing the way I would like. Don't expect Pavarotti! The song is Edith Piaf's "Hymne à l’amour" ("Hymn to Love"), which I sing in the original French but translate into English before singing. http://www.zshare.net/download/61873544d0191450/

 

I will be singing in Spanish, Yiddish, and English at the next concert (December) and will post selections. Although I speak French and Italian (well enough but NOT perfectly!), I have only just begun to learn Spanish and Yiddish this semester. Nevertheless, I can do the accents since my professor speaks/sings in Spanish and had Yiddish-speaking parents.

 

After only two lessons in Yiddish I am proud to say that I can read and write very basic sentences in Hebrew letters, the learning of which is what took up so much of my time this week. I did well in class and was praised by the professor (since I am the only non-Jew there and thus the only one without a heritage background). Of course, I did make a silly (funny) mistake... My knowledge of Latin-based languages mislead me, and I misread a basic Yiddish verb. I thus failed to say "Grandmother eats a potato" and instead said "Grandmother is a potato!" (I mistook עסט "est" [in English: eats] for איז "iz" [in English: is].)

 

@ Everyone: I am sorry for the delay in reading and responding, but I have been running on three or four hours of sleep a night all week since the first two weeks of the semester are always the worst and I have had many other things to do. (I'm usually not this crazy and pressed for time, but I am teaching four university classes, carrying out other duties in my university, doing volunteer OCD work, working on all the languages, and singing.

 

Here's the linguistic breakdown of this semester's ESL (English as a Second Language) students:

 

 

Monday/Wednesday morning level 2 reading/writing/listening/speaking (near beginners): 16 students

 

Korean: 8

Japanese: 3

Chinese: 2 (one from the mainland and one from Taiwan)

French: 1 (a Tunisian raised in France. He is more comfortable with French than Arabic)

Spanish: 1 (Mexico)

Turkish: 1

 

 

Monday/Wednesday afternoon level 2 reading/writing/listening/speaking (near beginners): 13 students

 

Chinese: 5 (three from the mainland and two from Taiwan)

Korean: 5

Spanish: 2 (both from the Dominican Republic)

Japanese: 1

 

 

Very advanced graduate class in public speaking and oral communication: 14 students

 

Korean: 6

Chinese: 5 (two from the mainland and three from Taiwan)

Greek: 1

Spanish: 1 (a German raised in Peru. She is more comfortable with Spanish than German)

Japanese: 1

 

 

Evening accent correction for advanced students: 10 students

 

Chinese: 4 (two from the mainland and two from Taiwan)

Japanese: 3

Korean: 1

Portuguese: 1 (Brazil)

Russian: 1 (Ukraine)

 

 

@ Shyone: Yes, I do write and type very quickly. It is a necessary part of my life that helps me get so many things done. If you are more liberal than I, more power to you! My father and sister are very liberal (despite my mother's being a Republican), and when I became a Fundamentalist I still had a lot of my father's beliefs in my head. This, I believe, greatly helped me break away years later. I am grateful for that.

 

@ Davka: I'll be sending another e-mail shortly! :)

 

@ Legion Regalis: Actually, once I got your sense of humor I discovered I liked you very much!

 

@ Kyle: Oh, I promise to continue being very, very random!!! :woohoo: Thank your for the kind words.

 

@ HRDWarrior: Actually, I am more than a little embarrassed that this is the thread that earned me the most attention, as I think I came off too needy and whiny in my first two posts in it. I admit I was feeling really down when I posted them, but some positive teaching experiences plus the aforementioned praise in Yiddish class really perked me up and continue to make me feel good this evening (Saturday). I have only been in the Shoutbox twice, once because someone was talking about OCD and I wanted to help and once because someone asked me to join in. I don't even use IMs that much, and in fact only two people (my best friend and a friend in France) can contact me that way. Should I consider 'shouting in the box' more?

 

@ Mike D: I most definitely want to be here, and I agree that this seems to be a really good site. That is why my title is "Looking for help..." and not "Looking to leave..."

 

@ BlueGiant: So glad I was able to help! :)

 

@ ShallowByTheGame: No, you are not over evaluating at all! I do have major trust issues, I admit, and I am not much of a risk taker. If I were, I would probably have a boyfriend and a lot more money... :grin:

 

@ Citsonga: Actually, I think the best stuff is in Off Topic. I am here because I want to talk honestly to a bunch of people who will accept me as a gay atheist without throwing Jesus in my face; that is what helps me heal the most, I believe. Talking about atheism and Christianity is still very hard and painful for me.

 

@ Mongo: Much liberal bias on my part too! :woohoo: And I like what you wrote about snippits.

 

@ Buffettphan: That was very, very kind of you! :)

 

@ Neon Genesis: Sadly, most of what I want to say belongs in Off Topic. I just don't have that much to say about religion othat I can say in polite society... Besides, I am used to getting my head chewed off for things I say about religion, and for that reason I have learned to say nothing.

 

@ Loren: Wow! You really made me smile. :)

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That song was beautiful, and I particularly liked your prose translation. It brought tears to my eyes, because it is exactly what my wife is always telling me.

 

And I love her the same way.

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Ameen, considering the huge load of endeavors and duties you've taken on, I certainly don't think of you as being not a risk taker. To take all that stuff on sure seems like a risk to me! Perhaps you're just not a risk taker in certain areas like relationships, yet!

 

There's a huge difference between cowardice and a conditional strategy of prudence.

 

As well as many fears we hold being plainly pathological, I've come to see that quite often, some fears are an expression of wisdom coming up from our depths. For instance, to take on all the inevitable turmoil of a relationship, even a good one, right now, with your workload might very well be pushing you into an area where so much of your resources are demanded by it that all of these other worthy areas suffer for it.

 

Sorting out the fears which are actually a manifestation of inner wisdom from those which are pathological is often a pain in the ass, but you're clearly a person who's not only able to exercise the strength of character required for that kind of honesty, but you're also plainly a man who actually wants to do that kind of thing. That's pretty damn rare.

 

Also, you know how emotionally volatile, shortsighted, lacking in perspective and so forth we can get when we are physically depleted. We may know this, but with a heavy workload, it can creep up on us anyway. Especially when the activities we're engaged in, by their nature force us to focus on them and concentrate our attention and energy. By definition, we lose the larger perspective when we focus down like that, and if we're engaged in a large number of things which force this condition, it can get easy to kind of forget that the thing in front of us at the moment isn't the whole picture.

 

Another thing which you're plainly aware of is that in many ways, you are in transition. Being in that type of phase in life is quite often a poor time to be taking on new relationships that are deeper than others. The problem many of us have with that is that with physical depletion and the attendant lowered ability to defend ourselves against the emotional stuff that goes along with it, our judgment to guard against that sort of decision is also less than normal. It's all part and parcel of the condition. Obviously, you know this, after all, you're still making the choice to stay out of deeper relationships. Yet how human is it, when depleted in such a way, to want to assuage those feelings by doing the very thing which would be a huge mistake? The battlefields of the heart are littered with the casualties resulting from just such decisions.

 

This is made all the harder by your being the kind of man who I suspect is constitutionally incapable of giving less than the best of all you have, even in relatively shallow professional relationships.

 

I say all these things not to get you to look at any particular thing about yourself or your life, because I'd be amazed if you're not already aware of all of it in a very conscious way, but just to let you know that you are seen.

 

I could be wrong (It's happened at least twice in my life...), but I think I see you fairly clearly and I think very highly of you. Our society is lucky to have someone like you in it.

 

 

Also, I'm sorry to hear that your grandmother is a potato. I hope she gets better soon.

 

Loren

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I have only been in the Shoutbox twice, once because someone was talking about OCD and I wanted to help and once because someone asked me to join in. I don't even use IMs that much, and in fact only two people (my best friend and a friend in France) can contact me that way. Should I consider 'shouting in the box' more?

 

 

You definitely have enough to keep yourself very busy! I don't really do much IM'ing either - in fact, this is about the only place I do it. You may find you get to know some people on a bit more personal level, their day-to-day experiences as opposed to just what they post. Some shouters don't do a lot of posting and vice-versa, so you get to meet someone you may barely know through the regular boards as well. Plus, you can sit and chat when you're available, and take off after that!

 

Oh, and your song was beautiful!

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@ Shyone: Many thanks for the kind words. I am glad that the song moved you and that you heard your wife's words in it. In the June concert I also sang two other solos: "This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific and my own jazz version of the 1981 pop hit "Bette Davis Eyes." Love and longing ran through all my songs, although "Hymne à l’amour" was about idealized love, "This Nearly Was Mine" was about idealized love lost, and "Bette Davis Eyes" was about pure lust. That gave me three different interpretations/moods, which proved quite a challenge.

 

I'll now ruin "Hymne à l’amour" for you... Anna (my professor) did not like the way I was singing it when I was first learning it, and she said I needed to imagine singing it to someone I was in love with. Since I am single and not dating, I am not in love with anyone and have trouble remembering the feeling. For this reason, I imagined that Jensen Ackles' character on Supernatural was my boyfriend--and I was holding his hands while pouring out my heart to him in song. It actually worked, as I think I got the tenderness Anna wanted in my voice.

 

@ Loren: Thank you! Now there's some real insight! I think you are right about my being a risk taker in certain areas (only), and that is not something I would have said of myself. I have no problem speaking in public, singing in public, walking up to strangers in an academic setting and selling my point... In fact, students and colleagues consider me quite dynamic and extroverted. Yet put me in a party with good-looking guys and I am the most introverted wallflower you have ever met. (I don't like parties. Or bars or clubs. Or fashion. Or muscle men. Or Madonna. Or Cher. I am the weirdest gay man most folks have ever met.)

 

Part of the problem is that, largely because of religion and OCD fear, I have spent much of my life waiting on the sidelines, hoping one day someone will be aware of what I can do and let me do it. Now, I suppose, I am making up for lost time. I mourn that I am 44 and still have not had my adolescence, but I am glad that I am finally starting to enjoy my life.

 

And yes, if I did get involved with a guy, I would give it 110%, something I doubt I could give now. That would include helping him care for ailing relatives, being there for him as much as I would expect him to be there for me, and helping him with his academic pursuits and personal goals. I am not looking for an ideal mate, as no such thing exists--and I am far too flawed myself to even joke about being ideal. But I don't want run-of-the-mill either. I'd rather remain celibate then start having sex with jerks again.

 

And yet the urges, the desires... I am only human. I was sexually active once, and now it has been ten years and a month...

 

Yes, I am in transition, as you say, but it is such a looooooooong transition...

 

Thank you so much for your insightful response! :)

 

@HRD Warrior: I am also glad that you liked the song. Music has been a real gift this past year and a half, as I am able to express things in song that I am still unable to express elsewhere. Learning to read music is a pain in the neck, but it comes with the territory.

 

Maybe I will try hopping into the Shoutbox at some point. I just don't know what to say! (Again, I had OCD as a goal because of what someone else was posting my first time and I was asked to join in my second. Inviting myself in is like going to a party. Scary!)

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@ Shyone: Many thanks for the kind words. I am glad that the song moved you and that you heard your wife's words in it. In the June concert I also sang two other solos: "This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific and my own jazz version of the 1981 pop hit "Bette Davis Eyes." Love and longing ran through all my songs, although "Hymne à l’amour" was about idealized love, "This Nearly Was Mine" was about idealized love lost, and "Bette Davis Eyes" was about pure lust. That gave me three different interpretations/moods, which proved quite a challenge.

 

I'll now ruin "Hymne à l’amour" for you... Anna (my professor) did not like the way I was singing it when I was first learning it, and she said I needed to imagine singing it to someone I was in love with. Since I am single and not dating, I am not in love with anyone and have trouble remembering the feeling. For this reason, I imagined that Jensen Ackles' character on Supernatural was my boyfriend--and I was holding his hands while pouring out my heart to him in song. It actually worked, as I think I got the tenderness Anna wanted in my voice.

 

I don't care what your teacher thought about it. You should, but I don't. I just liked the song, and it was clear to me that you understood the words from your translation. Thank you for allowing us to hear it.

 

I have a small favor. I have tried to write down your prose translation, but there were words missing or incorrect. Do you happen to have your translation where you can copy/paste into a reply here?

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I don't care what your teacher thought about it. You should, but I don't. I just liked the song, and it was clear to me that you understood the words from your translation. Thank you for allowing us to hear it.

 

I have a small favor. I have tried to write down your prose translation, but there were words missing or incorrect. Do you happen to have your translation where you can copy/paste into a reply here?

 

My pleasure. Here is the introduction you heard me give before I started singing, English prose translation included.

 

--------------------

 

My next song is “Hymne à l’amour”—or, in English, “Hymn to Love.” It was written and originally recorded by the magnificent French chanteuse Edith Piaf. She dedicated this ballad to the love of her life, French boxing champion Marcel Cerdan, and first sang it here in New York on September 14, 1949.

 

Only 43 days later, Cerdan was killed in a plane crash. In May of 1950, Piaf recorded “Hymne à l’amour” in his memory.

 

There’s an official English translation recorded by Anglophones, but it’s ghastly. So that you can hear what the beautiful French words really say, I’ve translated the original French verses into English prose, which I’ll read to you now:

 

 

The blue sky can fall down on us

and the earth can collapse.

If you love me, it doesn’t matter.

 

I don’t care about the world

as long as love floods my mornings

and my body trembles in your hands.

 

Problems aren’t important,

my belovèd, because you love me.

 

I would go to the ends of the earth…

I would dye my hair blonde

if you asked me.

 

I would pull the moon down from the sky…

I would steal for you

if you asked me.

 

I would deny my country…

I would deny my friends

if you asked me.

 

People may well laugh at me

but I would do anything

if you asked me.

 

If one day life takes you from me…

if you die and you are far from me…

If you love me, it doesn’t matter,

for I too will die.

 

We will have eternity just for us

in the blue, in all that vastness,

in the heavens without problems.

 

My belovèd, do you believe we love?

God reunites those who love.

 

--------------------

 

And here is the magnificent Edith Piaf singing “Hymne à l’amour” in a vintage video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpg4oWjGkaU

 

--------------------

 

The tendency today is to sing the song as rock, and there are many such recordings in French and other languages. There is even a punk rock version (which, to be honest, isn't that bad) by the French punk band Cyclope. The only modern version I really like is Josh Groban's, as he does not allow his modern style to overwhelm the song's intended simplicity. Although he changed the song a little and added a few sections to show off what he can do with sustained high notes, he is one of the few true to the spirit of Piaf's song. I like Piaf's original better than Groban's, but only by a hair.

 

Side note: Josh Groban and I are both lyric baritones (baritones who can also sing much but not all tenor). I cannot sing like Groban after only a year and a half of work--no way!--and I doubt I will ever have a voice like his... But as I continue to improve in the years ahead, that type of voice is the direction in which (I hope!) I am going.

 

I was tempted to learn Groban's version of “Hymne à l’amour," but I have almost no experience singing rock (even though I like rock) and much experience with songs from the 20s, 30s, and 40s (which I adore). For this reason, I stuck to the gorgeous original.

 

If anyone wants the sheet music (piano and vocal) to either Piaf's original version or Groban's reworked version (or both), let me know in a private message. I can e-mail them to you as attachments as long as you tell no one who sent them to you. :) (The Piaf original is hard to come by, and I had to order it from France. Groban's version, on his second album, is in his second songbook and easy to find.)

 

In case you cannot tell, this is one of my favorite songs of all time. :)

 

--------------------

 

And finally, here are the original French lyrics:

 

--------------------

 

Le ciel bleu sur nous peut s'effrondrer

Et la terre peut bien s'écrouler

Peu m'importe si tu m'aimes

 

Je me fous du monde entier

Tant que l'amour inondera mes matins

Tant que mon corps frémira sous tes mains

 

Peu m'importent les grands problèmes

Mon amour, puisque tu m'aimes...

 

J'irais jusqu'au bout du monde

Je me ferais teindre en blonde

Si tu me le demandais...

 

J'irais décrocher la lune

J'irais voler la fortune

Si tu me le demandais...

 

Je renierais ma patrie

Je renierais mes amis

Si tu me le demandais...

 

On peut bien rire de moi,

Je ferais n'importe quoi

Si tu me le demandais...

 

Si un jour la vie t'arrache à moi

Si tu meurs, que tu sois loin de moi

Peu m'importe, si tu m'aimes

Car moi je mourrai aussi...

 

Nous aurons pour nous l'éternité

Dans le bleu de toute l'immensité

Dans le ciel, plus de problèmes

 

Mon amour, crois-tu qu'on s'aime?...

...Dieu réunit ceux qui s'aiment!

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Ameen, in response to your OP, I had no idea you felt this way. I value your pms very much. You seemed to be really busy so I tried not to bother you but you can always send me a message if you like and you can pretty much depend on it that I will respond once I find it.

 

I have not been very active on these forums in recent months and I have not yet read this thread beyond this post but...

 

Well, I'm not really that active on the board (I read a lot but don't post much), so I may not be the best person to reply. But for what it's worth, here are my observations.

 

The people who I would characterize as "popular" on the boards are people who post A LOT. Maybe not every post they make is responded to a lot, or even at all, but they put their opinions out their on a variety of subjects, so eventually they end up in conversation.

 

 

In the past I've been one of those who posted A LOT. I've felt a lot like you, Ameen, in that people don't respond a lot to my threads. But once in a while I do happen to start a thread to which I get a lot of responses. I especially like those threads (that I start) that take on a life of their own. That tells me people liked the topic enough to make themselves at home in it and engage each other in conversation.

 

Where I get the most "fuzzies" is the friends I make over time in contact within other people's threads. I find it especially gratifying when someone expresses appreciation for something I say in response to a problem they posted. Somehow, that gives me the feeling that I'm worth the air I breathe.

 

For what it's worth, Ameen, I opened this thread because your name is on it. I tend to do that a lot--open threads because of whose name is on it because I tend to like what that person posts because it's usually worth reading even if I don't post a response. (ExC would get too rsmartinish if I responded to everything, though in the past I have responded to a large number of things I read simply because I know how good it makes me feel to have someone respond to me--I wanted to pass on the favour.)

 

Second, it might help to respond to those who respond to you. I'vebeen the one to respond on a couple of your threads, and you neverposted anything in reply.

 

This helps a LOT. When I post something, I like to see how others respond. If nobody responds I think it must not have been all that worthwhile--maybe just a waste of Webmaster Dave's webspace. It certainly does not make for the fuzzies of friendship.

 

I'm not complaining, and it didn't hurt myfeelings or anything. It just can't really be a conversation unlessyou reply to my reply and so on.

 

Agreed. Online, the only way to connect with others is via the written word or ideas visually expressed. On these forums we normally do that with conversation.

 

Third, I've only used theshoutbox once, but it seems to be a good place for the one-on-oneinteraction you seem to be craving at this point. Might be worth a try.

 

Warning about using the shoutbox. It may seem like one-on-one when one is in there, and therefore private, but I think anyone in the world with internet access can see every word that is being exchanged. So far as I know, nothing is ever deleted so that people can scroll through months or years of shoutbox conversations if they feel so inclined.

 

The pm system is one-on-one and private so far as I know, the same as email.

 

EDIT: Now I realize FiddlingAround did not say "private," just "one-on-one." Sorry about that. The shoutbox is one-on-one so long as no one else joins the convo.

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(ExC would get too rsmartinish if I responded to everything, though in the past I have responded to a large number of things I read simply because I know how good it makes me feel to have someone respond to me--I wanted to pass on the favour.)

I think this is a good point, too.

 

There was a time when I was more likely to respond in order to be supportive than because I felt there was something I could or should say. With the great many threads as well as the large number of members, that can not only clutter the boards with my posts, it can turn into a voracious time and mental and emotional energy consumer for me.

 

When I was newer here, I basically lived in Testimonies. Now I pretty much avoid it, due to my conviction that that's the forum here where I could and should most give social support to posters, yet by the same token, it's also the most demanding. I'm always left with the feeling that if I respond, I should respond well in order to show that I cared enough to actually read the op and think about it, and to acknowlege that what the poster is expressing is important. But then if I respond to anyone, I should also respond to everyone who starts a thread there. There was a time when I tried to do that, but it's so impractical and consumptive that I just can't. So I tend to not respond at all any more, so as to not make certain ones feel like I'm ignoring them.

 

A person could look at my post location history and easily conclude that I don't care at all about Testimonies, but actually, it's just the opposite: For me, that's still the most important forum on the site.

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:Doh::Doh::Doh:

 

NO NO NO!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

I typed out a long reply, and for some reason it did not post when I hit "add reply" and was not saved automatically. AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

One useful thing I've learned is that if you type a lengthy reply, copy the whole text before submitting it, that way if there's a problem and it doesn't post, all you have to do the next time around is paste what you just copied.

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:Doh::Doh::Doh:

 

NO NO NO!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

I typed out a long reply, and for some reason it did not post when I hit "add reply" and was not saved automatically. AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

One useful thing I've learned is that if you type a lengthy reply, copy the whole text before submitting it, that way if there's a problem and it doesn't post, all you have to do the next time around is paste what you just copied.

 

I learned the same thing the hard way. So have lots of others here.

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Sorry. I have been unusually busy and haven't been able to get on the board too often. Now it's Saturday night at 1:19 AM, and I have promised myself I would respond to this thread, use my exercise bike while rewatching a past Supernatural on DVD, and then relax enough to sleep.

 

@ Everyone: If you ever want me to look over and then comment on a thread, just ask by PM. I am very, very happy to do so. Also, if you have posted a response to me and I have not seen it, please don't think me rude. Just a little overwhelmed--and not very good with a computer or a website. Just tell me by PM.

 

I'm afraid I have not been opening too many new threads of late. I think my busy schedule has been affecting my OCD, as I find myself getting very, very nervous at the mere mention of Christianity or Islam. (Thankfully not Judaism, as my Yiddish lessons take place in a synagogue.) By the way, after three lessons I conjugated my first verb using only Hebrew letters. HIGH FIVE!) I have been using this board for exposure therapy/CBT to get past all that, but I have not been reading it in order to respond. Again, sorry.

 

Also, despite the number of things I need to get done, I also need a lot of downtime doing non-stressful things so that I can relax (which is good for OCD). Right now, since the board is exposure therapy/CBT and not relaxing, I'm just not here that much. This will change.

 

Finally, I think my OCD had a lot to do with my starting this thread, as if I were looking for reassurance (the worst thing for OCD!) that people here liked me. Bad Ameen! Bad! :Hmm:

 

And, OCD aside, I am a natural attention whore... Again, sorry.

 

At any rate...

 

@ R.S. Martin: You are NOT bothering me. Not at all. Your life experience is so completely different, and I value your words for that reason. I will get to your PM soon--although probably not until after Wednesday, when my schedule should lighten up a bit.

 

Believe it or not, Mennonites and Pennsylvania Dutch came up in Yiddish class, for the languages they speak are, like Yiddish, based in Middle German but not truly German. In the case of Yiddish, it is roughly 60% German with a Yiddish accent, 20% Hebrew and Aramaic, and 20% Russian and Polish with some tidbits of other languages thrown in. Sometimes a single word can come from more than one language, as is true of schlamazel (an unlucky person): The negative prefix schla- or schle- comes from German while mazel is Hebrew for "luck."

 

If you have ever seen the Laverne and Shirley theme song, you know schlamiel and schlamazel. They are both unlucky, but the schlamiel is the one who always spills soup and the schlamazel is the one who always gets soup spilled on him or her.

 

@ Loren: I hear you. Actually, there is no specific place I go on this board. I just click "View New Content." Come to think of it, I am sure Off Topic is where I usually do most of my posting, although I have never thought about it before.

 

@ Citsonga and R.S. Martin: Ironically, I always tell my students that they should save every 10 or 15 minutes when they are writing. Shame I didn't. Bad Ameen! Bad! ;)

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