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What events have shaped your life? How? Why? Have you had any 'revelations'?

Obviously, my biggest turning point was becoming religious. It makes me feel a lot better about the world and myself, and it gave me a whole new way of viewing life.

Another was when I first learned about the BNP and other neo-Nazi/white supremacist movements. I used to be a strong atheist and thought a facist government would be a good thing, but now I really see how ignorant and racist I was. A few people I know have had this 'facist phase' and I wondered if it's something to do with confirming our identity in a predominantly caucasian country.

The largest event in my life was (so far) us moving to Dubai (Middle East) at the age of 10. After 5 years there it was a real cultural, eye-opener. And I realised that a lot of people REALLY don't like americans.

You lived in the Middle-East? Cool. I always wanted to go to Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem.

Went there. The Isrealites (Do I call them that or Jews?) were pretty racist. Our driver happened to be a Palestinian, and while the armed police let a jew/isreali driver by, they stopped us. Checked us, made us take out and unpack all our bags on the dirt then pack them again. However, the Palestinian was very kind, and had even warned us that it might happen if we drove with him.

I come back to Aus. I have NEVER loved the green so much as that moment. I had only had sand and bushs as well as rich villas (glitzed with cropped lawns and the like) to look. Now, here, there was ACTUAL natural greenery. And surf. Oh god, the surf! How much I had missed it. Everything in Dubai, while shiny and nice, had seemed a little, artificial. Don't regret moving there though. Not one moment. GOD BLESS AIR-CONDITIONING!!!

Life-defining moment? My brother was in Afghanistan a few weeks ago with and his friend was killed my a land mine. My brother was shipped back to England with shock (he had to pick up the pieces and carry them back to camp) and when he arrived home and I saw him I had a very powerful emotion that I have never experienced before. We're not an overly "love you brother" kind of pair, much preferring silence over chat, but I was absolutely overcome with love when he arrived. Sounds stupid but there you go.

Makes you think about the world a bit more, and what's important, and what's not. I'm not a relegious person, but hopefully if God is around and is taking notice, he'll keep our soldiers and our brothers safe. Cheers.

2 specific things changed my life:

1) At grade 5 i was told by my mom not to hang out with asian friends anymore (she said i should focus on getting A on english )

2) And then the divorce ( its not originally that bad , because growing up i knew it was inevitable )
however the thing that made it worse was my mom told me to keep it a secret till she meets him in person that she was just going to talk.
Then my dad phoned me and asked where my mom was , i lied and said err USA . he then told me , i get one chance , tell the truth or he'll never trust me.
At that time i thought i'll endure his anger and kept lieing for my mom. Next phone call i receive was my dad telling me she divorced him.

I can go on and say more but people dont like seeing children speak badly of their parents .

Luna, don't mind old man Frazz too much, they're not all like him.

The whole "don't speak ill of your parents because they created you" angle is idiotic. If it's about Christian morals stuff them, if your parents are doing something bad or wrong out with it and call them on it. My parents are awesome but my parents talking about my grandparents, oy vey!

A general lack of direction has shaped my life. I thought of joining the military at one point, but I decided against it.

I have tried to develop multiple careers, only to decide on design.

Come to think of it going to the Burning Man festival was probably the single most life altering experience I have had. All shenanigans aside I really learned to let loose while maintaining a safe distance from the more dangerous parts of the whole scene. The whole thing was quite odd, but I felt like I learned a lot about people in general by going. Flying a kite in the desert is a great feeling.

I can only really pick one that has truly had a big impact on my life. When I was 14 my mother was arrested for her third D.U.I. After she got out of jail (it was only a couple of days until we posted bail) everything changed. She quit drinking completely. It was tough for her but she changed so much after that. She became a real mother to me then. She has been sober for over five years now and over that five years our family has changed so much. We don't yell, argue or fight anymore. It's quite lovely.

BrookM wrote:Luna, don't mind old man Frazz too much, they're not all like him.

The whole "don't speak ill of your parents because they created you" angle is idiotic. If it's about Christian morals stuff them, if your parents are doing something bad or wrong out with it and call them on it. My parents are awesome but my parents talking about my grandparents, oy vey!

Ok in that case let me get this out of my system.

Me and my sister used to play piano ( i was lvl 5, she is lvl 9 close to been able to teach )
after the divorce my dad refused to support us ( he says my mom stole money from him , told us to use that )
My mom says she didnt , so she sold the piano and car to pay tax. My sister told my dad how bad the situation was ,
my dad said ok what can he do , he cant let us suffer just to get the money out of mom's hand. So he mailed us money monthly.
Then my mom used the money and bought jewelery instead of on us. This enraged my father even more , by this time my sister
went to university in utah and im left by myself with my mom. So my dad wanted me to make a choice , live with him or live with her.
Knowing my mom is spoiled and stuck up she wouldnt last a day without his support , i told my dad i will stay with my mom.
My dad thinks im stupid / rash / for making that choice (he doesnt know i stayed out of sympathy because im worried for my mom)
So that was pretty much the where it goes bad with my father too.

He hasnt return to canada for a long time , he lost his canada citizenship because he never check in.
I have to help pay for mortgage + property tax because my mom dont work.
My dad gave me some money to support me , told me to use it only for myself .
But what can i do , i must use the money on paying taxes. If i dont , the government will take it away.
So my dad said he know , he wanted to force my mom to take out the money she took from him.
Then my mom tried to sue him , and that was the last time my dad sent money.

Thats how it is , im the middle ground where they use to get each other -_-

If anything, the death of my grandfathers and my now dying grandmother have made me think more and more about leaving a mark of sorts, as we all want to some degree.

Spending a month in Lithuania for school gave me a taste of how good my country actually is. It also taught me to be prepared for everything, something that I'm still clinging to with some desperation.

My biggest turning point was finding out that I was a social leech, a fifth wheel, a hanger-on desperate for interaction with the "cool" crowd.

Gee, Luna that's awful. Forget the whole "respect parents because they're your parent". At this point I'll call 'em like I see 'em. And your parents are jackasses. (Mostly your mom as far as I can tell)

LunaHound wrote:

BrookM wrote:Luna, don't mind old man Frazz too much, they're not all like him.

The whole "don't speak ill of your parents because they created you" angle is idiotic. If it's about Christian morals stuff them, if your parents are doing something bad or wrong out with it and call them on it. My parents are awesome but my parents talking about my grandparents, oy vey!

Ok in that case let me get this out of my system.

Me and my sister used to play piano ( i was lvl 5, she is lvl 9 close to been able to teach )
after the divorce my dad refused to support us ( he says my mom stole money from him , told us to use that )
My mom says she didnt , so she sold the piano and car to pay tax. My sister told my dad how bad the situation was ,
my dad said ok what can he do , he cant let us suffer just to get the money out of mom's hand. So he mailed us money monthly.
Then my mom used the money and bought jewelery instead of on us. This enraged my father even more , by this time my sister
went to university in utah and im left by myself with my mom. So my dad wanted me to make a choice , live with him or live with her.
Knowing my mom is spoiled and stuck up she wouldnt last a day without his support , i told my dad i will stay with my mom.
My dad thinks im stupid / rash / for making that choice (he doesnt know i stayed out of sympathy because im worried for my mom)
So that was pretty much the where it goes bad with my father too.

He hasnt return to canada for a long time , he lost his canada citizenship because he never check in.
I have to help pay for mortgage + property tax because my mom dont work.
My dad gave me some money to support me , told me to use it only for myself .
But what can i do , i must use the money on paying taxes. If i dont , the government will take it away.
So my dad said he know , he wanted to force my mom to take out the money she took from him.
Then my mom tried to sue him , and that was the last time my dad sent money.

Thats how it is , im the middle ground where they use to get each other -_-

Oh dear poor thing, I really think you sided with the wrong parent here. I've seen this before with a close friend, a Dutch Texan, who lives here with his mother. His mother is leeching off him now, not to mention being a lot of other things. Just like with him, it would be better to start anew, away from that all. Move out if possible! I'm not saying pulling the door close behind you completely but this is a not a good situation for you.

A *good turning point in my life ( where i learned to have strength and change of view on life ) is when i watched Aria.

Then i spoiled myself and bought the 12 manga and read 1 chapter per night before bed. If only i can think a fraction of how the author thinks -_-

Is that the gondola manga?

LunaHound wrote:
A *good turning point in my life ( where i learned to have strength and change of view on life ) is when i watched Aria.

Then i spoiled myself and bought the 12 manga and read 1 chapter per night before bed. If only i can think a fraction of how the author thinks -_-

So did you get an A in English or what?

Your mother didn't want you having Asian friends?

I thought you were part Japanese or something? Isn't that a bit ironic?

BrookM wrote:Is that the gondola manga?

Yes :x

Manchu wrote:

LunaHound wrote:
A *good turning point in my life ( where i learned to have strength and change of view on life ) is when i watched Aria.

Then i spoiled myself and bought the 12 manga and read 1 chapter per night before bed. If only i can think a fraction of how the author thinks -_-

So did you get an A in English or what?

nope... B- ( sigh + lol )

Well, at least it paid off.

You know, my mother didn't mind me having Asian friends. She did not like, however, me having Asian girlfriends.

Manchu wrote:You know, my mother didn't mind me having Asian friends. She did not like, however, me having Asian girlfriends.

Dont listen to her , she is just jealous!

when asians are 20 they look 5 years younger than other races
when they are 30, they look 20
when they are 40 , they look 30
when they are 50 , they look 40
when they are 70 , they look 55

Just get your asian gf to buy this for your mom as a present:

My mother approves of everything, except for Protestant baptised girls for some odd reason.

LunaHound wrote:Dont listen to her , she is just jealous!

. . . that's a weird thing to say.

I thought ma's objections to me having an Asian gf were ridiculous at one point. She insisted that some backgrounds were just too different to work. I'm not sure if that's true for everyone, but I think it is a big obstacle. Even if people can work through cultural differences they do sometimes hide behind those differences as an excuse for not working things out. It's really irksome to hear "you just don't understand what it's like to have Korean/Chinese/Japanese parents" instead of frank talk about what needs to happen in a relationship. I cannot imagine saying to anyone "you just don't know what it's like to be white." Of course, the worse thing about these matches are when they are (even initially) motivated by racist/cultural fetishes. I have no idea what the slang for it is, but there is a reverse version of "yellow fever."

LunaHound wrote:when they are 70 , they look 55

. . . or about 800. It's like Asian women save all their aging right up until the end, when it all hits at once.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

BrookM wrote:My mother approves of everything, except for Protestant baptised girls for some odd reason.

Are you Catholic?

I'm a nihilist with no religious background. I used to see this cute British girl for a long, long time and when they found out she was Protestant, well...

Manchu wrote:
. . . that's a weird thing to say.

This is the "general" stereotype but more accurate then not

Korean - They wont hesitate to scream / hit you in public
Mainland Chinese - LOTS would marry you for fast visa / citizenship
Other Chinese - Most do care about $ (but mostly because their parents pressures to be so)

BrookM wrote:Luna, don't mind old man Frazz too much, they're not all like him.

The whole "don't speak ill of your parents because they created you" angle is idiotic. If it's about Christian morals stuff them, if your parents are doing something bad or wrong out with it and call them on it. My parents are awesome but my parents talking about my grandparents, oy vey!

Why are you picking on me? I never posted on this thread!

LunaHound wrote:Korean - They wont hesitate to scream / hit you in public

I dated two Korean girls. Both were quite sweet in their own ways. After seeing "My Sassy Girl," one of them did think this sort of behavior might be funny. It was not. The next one was generally more quiet. Also, where is your Japanese girl stereotype???

BrookM wrote:I'm a nihilist with no religious background. I used to see this cute British girl for a long, long time and when they found out she was Protestant, well...

I don't understand . . . Are your parents nihilists as well and have forbidden you (ignoring, for the moment, their own reductio ad absurdum philosphical predispositions) to date Protestants? How do they feel about Catholics? Hindus? Mormons? Unitarians?

Typeline wrote:I can only really pick one that has truly had a big impact on my life. When I was 14 my mother was arrested for her third D.U.I. After she got out of jail (it was only a couple of days until we posted bail) everything changed. She quit drinking completely. It was tough for her but she changed so much after that. She became a real mother to me then. She has been sober for over five years now and over that five years our family has changed so much. We don't yell, argue or fight anymore. It's quite lovely.

Excellent.

For me it was learning the discipline and dedication that it takes to play professional sports, and how it can transfer to anything in life.

And learning that religion is all bunk.