Nightingale

they're bad for your nails, but biting them is just as bad, and hurts more, and, because nails can bleed if you bite them down too far, leaves you open to infection. its harder to bite your nails down to the quick when they're under acrylic. if you're really worried about the salon, ask to see their autoclave that they should use for all metal tools, and bring your own files and stuff with you, so you know they're only used on you.

Loyola Marymount for undergrad and graduate, and I'll be going to Chapman for law. Both private schools.

is it so surprising that a celebrity couple might have fertility problems too? Just because they're famous and have money, it doesn't mean that they're exempt from many of the problems that other people face. Because of Cruise's strict Scientology beliefs, fertility treatments probably weren't an option.

weird. none of my merit scholarships have had anything to do with income. heck, I make more than 40K now myself, and still got a 40% merit scholarship to law school. They base it on GPA from undergrad and grad work, LSAT scores, and your personal essay and things like that.

Ok. Now THAT is offensive. Adopted kids are just as much their parents children as biological kids, emotionally speaking. My brother and I were adopted, and I don't think there's any way our parents could love us more. We're definitely their kids, and I'd be willing to bet my folks would take issue with anyone saying otherwise. oh... According to BBC reports, Nicole left scientology after her divorce. PS- An apostrophe does not mean "Look out! Here comes an S!"

the accent's not fake. she was born and raised in austrailia, I believe.

hehe. thanks. Clownburner took that picture and made an avatar out of it for me.

You can't finish college at a decent school without acquiring a work ethic somewhere along the way, no matter who's financing your education. you're still the one who's got to sit down and write the research papers, get them turned in on time, study for exams and such. My parents offered to help. I didn't let them help much, but they made it clear to me that at that time in my life, I was to consider school my job, and treat it as such, which meant showing up for class, completing all required assignments, including extra credit, and doing everything I possibly could to get the best grades I could. I had a part time job that covered my living expenses. my folks made it clear that if the job was interfering with my studies, that I could quit and they'd give me the extra cash, but it wasn't necessary, and I liked my job. I finished with a 3.8 GPA, and, one semester, if I'd taken all my classes for credit (as a dance minor and film/screenwriting major, I could take technical dance classes and certain film classes for 0 units, if I was maxed out on units) I'd have had 27 units. I got straight As that semester. If that's not work ethic, I don't know what is. 27 units was TEN classes in one semester (eight 3 unit classes, one two unit class, and one one unit class). most university students take four or five classes per semester. Sure, I didn't have much of a life, but I finished school early, and was able to get a jump start on my master's. I worked much harder at college than I've had to in any of my jobs afterwards. I'm not compromising my work ethic any...the jobs just aren't as much work.

my response wasn't to Rehmwa. It was to turtlespeed, who called scholarships welfare and said they should be turned down. and no, I wouldn't have a problem with Bill Gates having a scholarship that was earned. If he made the grades and had the test scores and other requirements, he qualifies as much as anyone.

my first kiss pass was a surprise from an instructor who was also a good friend. He did my A license check dive and gave me a kiss pass as a congrats. He knew me well enough to know I'd be cool with it, which is important. surprise is fine, if you know her well enough to be sure it'll be ok. otherwise, ask first.

so you're saying I should turn down a 40% scholarship to law school just so I can pay for it myself?? sorry, but that's just plain stupid. Many scholarships are provided by the university to attract students the university sees as desirable, who will help build its reputation. They're not welfare. They're EARNED. Merit scholarships are earned through things like high GPA, test scores, such as the LSAT, and other various personal achievements. Its basically the university saying "we're going to PAY you to come to our school." so, even if the merit scholars, like myself, aren't paying cash for their education, they are reimbursing the school in other ways, by going out into the workforce, doing a good job, and claiming that university as their alma mater.

My health is fine, aside from a heartburn problem that I take medication for. As long as I try my best to keep my stress level down and don't eat anything stupid, the heartburn ususally isn't an issue. I've had quite a few problems with the HMOs over the heartburn issue, though. I had blue cross insurance. my doctor prescribed several meds, one after the other, to find one that works. I went through: Zantac, Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, and finally found Aciphex, which worked for me. I stayed on Aciphex, I didn't have any problems. Then, I get a new job. new insurance. Cigna. Cigna will not pay for the medication at all unless my doctor fills out some paperwork. She fills out the paperwork. The insurance still insists I "try prevacid" first. They don't care that I already tried it and it didn't work. I have to try it again, because its their recommended drug, and Aciphex "isn't in their formulary." So, I go back on Prevacid. Can't afford the several hundred bucks a month to get the Aciphex. Put up with it for a month, and then call the doctor, asking what the heck I have to do to get back on Aciphex, because I haven't been able to sleep lying down for two weeks, and can't eat much other than plain old white bread. (lost a lot of weight, tho...its easy to lose weight when you look at food and know if you eat it, it's going to HURT). So, she calls the insurance and yells at them. Literally yells at them. They agree that if I see a specialist, and the specialist recommends Aciphex, then they will pay for a portion. Fine. So, I jump through hoops for another month to get the insurance to process the paperwork to refer me to the specialist. Finally, I get in to see the specialist, who spends ten mintues talking with me and shruggs "if Aciphex works for you, we'll put you back on it." So, the insurance company, because of their own stupidity, had to pay for an appointment with a specialist to tell them what my doctor and I have been saying all along. So, I go back on the Aciphex, at a rate of $40 a month! (my standard co-pay was $5.) $40 a month is a heck of a lot of money on a teacher's salary. That's $480 a year for the aciphex. Fine. If it'll keep me pain free, I'll pay it. The other issue I had with Cigna is that they didn't cover any kind of "family planning medication" no matter why you were on it. I was on the pill for non-birth-control reasons, to regulate hormone cycles because I was an athlete and didn't have enough body fat to maintain a normal cycle. That medication cost me about $20 a month, or $240 a year. So, as a teacher, making $23K a year, I'm shelling out $720 a year in prescriptions. I was paying more in prescriptions a month than all my utility bills combined. So, changed jobs again and got back to blue cross insurance, which I've had ever since. I pay $5 for the Aciphex and nothing for the b/c pills, for a grand total of $60 a year as opposed to $720. Blue cross has not hassled me about any kind of paperwork from my doctor, nor have they required me to go back to the specialist, since, as long as I have the right meds, the situation is under control. When I got my current job, one of the questions I asked before accepting the position was whether or not they had blue cross insurance. I've had a fabulous experience with blue cross.

hugs and vibes to you, and blue skies to Bugs.

talk things over with your vet first, if you haven't done so already. the catbox issue can be aided with a ramp in and out of the box (my grandmother's cat had a hip issue, and that's what she used to solve the problem), and the blindness may not be as big an issue as you might think, since cats are pretty big on other senses like smell. make sure your vet is aware of your concerns, and make the decision together, because you don't want to have to wonder if you were overly hasty. Listen to your vet...its their job to advise in situations like this. I wish you the best, and hugs and vibes to you and your kitty.

I bite my nails, badly. my solution: acrylic nails. the acrylic has a different texture, so it reminds you when you're biting. also, even if you're biting acrylic, you're not biting real nail, so you're not hurting yourself (just don't swallow it!), and just go back to the salon and pay the $2 to get a new nail put on if you chew one off. if your habit is really, really bad, talk to your doctor about some of the medications used to treat trichotillomania (the disease where people pull their own hair out), which is a related disorder. I never tried this, but I've read about people who have been helped a lot by those medications.

went. paid for undergrad with loans and scholarships, student work jobs (as a lifeguard...only job on campus that paid well), and tutoring elementary and high school kids at a rate of $20 an hour. paid for graduate with loans and worked full time, which covered some of it as well as my living expenses. I just finished my masters. I'm starting law school in the fall on a 40% scholarship. the remainder of tuition as well as living expenses will be covered with loans.

If a woman is more interested in your wallet than she is in you, be glad you found that out sooner rather than later that she's the wrong kind of woman.

did you log in?

me too, both hotmail and earthlink.

I think feeling "uncomfortable" with another DZs staff jumping at your DZ is silly, so long as they're safe, heads-up jumpers. I've seen folks that work at Elsinore jump at Perris, use the tunnel at Perris. Nobody seems to have a problem with it. Heck, the two DZs even have a boogie where the planes take off at one DZ and the jumpers land at the other. If they're paying you for their jump tickets, why should it matter where they work? For a while, I worked at one karate studio while training at another. The reason was that when I went to train, I wanted to have fun, and I didn't want students bugging me while I was trying to train, learn, and enjoy myself. I always ended up teaching, answering the phone, or dealing with new students, instead of doing my own workout. Its harder to have fun at work. More fun to go elsewhere. Sounds like you kicked a jumper off your DZ for no good reason, and lost some money in the process, and possibly a bit of reputation.

hehe... seuss-art! http://www.sarahbaingallery.com/seuss_page.htm

this "being called on to defend our country" thing seems odd... defend us from IRAQ??? They never attacked us. How is that "defending ourselves"??? If someone attacked us, and for some reason I got drafted, heck yeah, I'd go. But I'm not going to go help kill people who haven't hurt us.

nobody's going to agree with a candidate on everything. I agree with Kerry a heck of a lot more than Bush. The gun control thing, I disagree on, but its one thing in the face of many, many more.

the "conduct unbecoming" thing is very vague, from the text of the UCMJ that I found online. It would depend on the current definition of the term being used. as for the sodomy thing... the UCMJ has been changed in the past. hopefully, it can be changed in the future.

I like the fact that he went to war when he was asked. I like the fact that he had the guts to stand up and protest AFTER, when he knew what he was protesting. I like his stance on the environment, specifically the ANWR. I like his ideas for funding education. I like that he believes Ashcroft has encouraged the violation of civil liberties, and that he plans to rectify this problem. I like that he supports completely lifting the ban on gays in the military. I like his support for civil unions. I like his stance against discrimination based on sexual orientation. I like that he supports a woman's right to choose. I like that he has stated he will only appoint pro-choice judges to the supreme court. that's just some of it. I can go on, but don't really see the need to.