Sappho

I am looking for an English translation of "Liebesbriefe Der Marquise" by German author Lily Braun to assist in my understanding of this book in my German class. Unfortunately I can't seem to find one anywhere. The title would translate to approximately "Love Letters of the Marchioness" or "The Marchioness's Love Letters." I can't afford to purchase a book, but am hoping there exists somewhere a version online, even if it's only part of the book.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.

This has been happening for about a week now, randomly. My face will suddenly turn red, usually starting at the ears and spreading from there. My face gets hot, and slowly the rest of my body starts to feel hot as well. I get dizzy, my vision blurs, and my eyes sting. After a few minutes my face continues to get hotter while the rest of my body starts to feel chilly.

This lasts between five minutes and a couple of hours before dissipating. I can't find any particular trigger - it happens at school, at home, and at work. Temperature does not seem to be a factor in triggering it, though cold air feels good when it happens. I have not been under stress recently, nor am I depressed, and alcohol is not involved.

Today it happened and I had a new symptom: difficulty breathing. It was not life threatening, I could still breathe, but my throat felt tight. I am getting close to giving in and seeing my doctor, but I'd prefer not to. I just wish I had some idea of what it is.

I have worked at this law firm in the word processing department (we take overflow from secretaries) for two years. I work in the same (very, very small) room with my supervisor. The atmosphere in this office is very professional, which is to say everyone is very "fake nice" to everyone else. She is always pleasant to me, but I have never spoken to her outside of work and have no desire to. I am the youngest person at the firm (22 years old, most people are in their 40s or 50s) so there is a large generation gap.

I just got an email from HR informing everyone that her father died. I am in a different office this week and won't see her until next Tuesday. The email included information on the wake and funeral. I have no desire whatsoever to go to either of these, but a lot of people at work will.

What is the appropriate thing for me to do? Should I give her a card or something? I expect to feel very awkward when I see her next week, any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

I bought this great-looking dark purple button-up collared dress shirt for work, and a light purple shirt to go underneath. (I am a woman, by the way.) The brand is Express. I look fabulous in this shirt but I didn't buy a pair of pants to go with it.

I'm about to leave for work but I can't seem to find a pair of pants that matches it well! I tried black but for some reason it doesn't seem quite right. The shirt has very thin pink stripes - the type that are just a single stitch of thread in a line, so you almost can't even tell what color they are. I have a choice of olive green, dark khaki, light khaki, black, or brown pants. Any quick answers will be greatly appreciated - I have no sense of this "fashion" stuff at all. Thanks!

Part of the muscle around my left knee has been spasming almost constantly for several days now. This also happened a few months ago, but the cause was never found. It is not painful, though the muscle is a little sore from all the work it's doing. It's just twitching uncontrollably. It is frustrating and it keeps me awake at night.

I know that the problem is not a lack of potassium or calcium, and it is also not overuse or strain. What else could be causing this?

Though this time it is only spasming, the last time this happened it was accompanied by joint pain. Although I saw a doctor and a rheumatologist several times, they never found the cause and told me it was all in my head, which was extremely frustrating. They seemed to believe that I was faking it for painkillers, which is not the case. I would prefer to not see the doctor again because of their dismissiveness last time, so if anyone knows what this might be, please tell me.

Thanks.

I'm in the "Frosty Mage" mission, trying to destroy the two orbs so that I can complete it. The problem is, every time I try to hit the orbs, they *heal* instead of taking damage! What is going on here? I can't find information anywhere and I don't know what to do...

My computer is just over a year old, and it has served me well - I haven't had to format it a single time since I bought it. It came with a combo DVD-R/CD-R drive, which has always functioned perfectly. Lately I have been using the drive a lot to make some homemade DVDs. The other day, it was in the middle of burning when it suddenly started making a loud clunking noise, like the disc was being bounced around inside the drive. I got an error message, the disc was garbage, and I had to start over with a clean one. Since then this has happened more and more frequently, when I am burning or even if I am just using a game CD. Sometimes it recovers and keeps going, but sometimes I get an error and whatever I am doing freezes. The discs come out with very fine, small scratches on them - not enough to render the disc useless or unreadable, but if it keeps happening to the same disc it will eventually ruin it. Any idea what is going on? I don't want to lose any of my CDs or DVDs because of it.

I have seen my personal physician, a hand surgeon, a chiropractor, and a rheumatologist for this, and none of them can figure out what is wrong with me. I have been tested twice for Lyme, lupus, and arthritis, and all three have come back negative both times. I'm a 22 year old female with no history of severe injury or health problems.

Several months ago the joints on the left side of my body suddenly started to hurt. Most affected were my left wrist and knee, both of which have been injured in the past - tendonitis in my wrist two years ago, mild knee injury six months ago, but neither had given me problems till then. Also affected were my shoulder, elbow, knuckles, and ankle. The pain comes and goes in waves. Exercise and movement seem to make it worse, though staying still does not make it better. It gets worse all the time despite my taking a prescription anti inflammatory every day. The doctors have given me no painkillers. (Out of room for question, will add more details.)

I only use my inhaler very rarely, when I'm having severe trouble breathing due to very bad air quality. Tonight was one of the times I needed to use it, and I immediately began feeling the unpleasant side effects that I normally get, most notably tremor and spasms. I was in the car (as a passenger) when I used it, and noticed that I was dizzy and my vision felt strange, which I don't recall happening previous times when I've used the inhaler. When I got home I looked in a well-lit mirror to find that my pupils were incredibly tiny. My vision is usually very sensitive to light to the point where I squint even in moderate light, but so little light was getting in that I could open my eyes wider than I've ever opened them before.

I did an online check for side effects of albuterol, hoping this was normal. I found dilated (widened) pupils as a rare symptom, but not a word about shrunken pupils. The shrinking started to go away after about 20 minutes.

I am well aware of the dictionary definitions of these two words. My question is, what is the difference, in psychology, between a psychological addiction and an obsession? It seems to me that the two are extremely similar. I do not refer to physical addiction, but to psychological addiction.

Also, how does one determine whether a person suffers from an obsession or a psychological addiction? Is it simply the preference of the one making the diagnosis, or is there a set of criteria that explicitly defines each?

Thank you.

I have been doing research on this for a while now and am having trouble finding exactly what I am looking for.

I am thinking of going into anthropology and am going to use this experience to help make my decision. As such, I do not want to teach in a big city, and I do not want to live in a dorm with other teachers. I want to live with a host family in a poor area, preferably rural.

I cannot afford to pay for the whole trip, so I need to find something that will pay me. I am not looking to make a profit - so long as I break even on living expenses while I am there, I'll be happy.

I am not picky about what country I go to. I would prefer something in Asia, but if that is not possible I am open to going elsewhere. I would like to teach for three to six months if possible.

Thanks to anyone who can give me some advice and point me in the right direction!

I have heard that it is possible to collect yeast which floats around in the air which is suitable for cooking. I am looking for specific instructions on how to go about doing this, or a web site which will explain it. Thanks!

I asked my chiropractor about this, and he said he'd never heard of it before. I've been doing daily stretching exercises lately to try to loosen up my body and help me get in shape. Whenever I do a stretch involving my legs, I start to get pins and needles from the knee down after a few seconds of holding a stretch. Similarly, when I do a stretch involving my arms or shoulders, I get pins and needles from the elbow to my hands. Eventually the areas go numb. The sensation slowly goes away after I release the stretch.

I have had people watch me stretch and I know that I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not terribly flexible yet, but I can do basic stretches and I'm getting better. Still, the pins and needles will not stop. Any ideas as to what is going on here?

My mom bought an avocado a couple of weeks ago and stuck it in the fridge as a treat for her pet sugar glider, but never used it. I finally decided to claim it for my own and make some guacamole, but the inside has some brown stringy streaks in it. Is it still okay to eat? Will it taste bad? I tried tasting some of the fruit but it doesn't really taste like anything on its own.

Also, what are those brown strings? Is the avocado starting to grow or something? They appear to be coming from the rough spot where the fruit was attached to the tree.

Thanks!

I am working with the wildlife biology department at my college on their new web site. My job is to gather information on careers in the field. I still need information on state biologist, zoo biologist, marine focus, policy focus, and GIS/remote sensing careers. I am looking for people who would be willing to answer some simple questions about their careers via email. It wouldn't take a lot of time, and it would be an enormous help. I am also looking for web sites with general information about the careers.

I have been working very hard on this, but I'm getting down to the wire and I really need to get as much info as possible over the next couple of days. Thanks so much to anyone who can offer me any help!

I have recently been having fun making some random crafts with whatever materials I find around. I went for a walk in the woods today and got pine pitch on me by accident - it smelled wonderful and the smell followed me around all day. Is pitch flammable? If so, does it leave a residue? I am wondering if it would be possible to use it as an ingredient in a scented candle or similar item.

A few days ago a mysterious hard lump that feels similar to a swollen lymph node appeared on my left wrist, around the bottom of the back of my hand. It gets sore when I use that wrist too much. At the moment, just about every lymph node in my neck is horribly swollen (when I turn my head it sounds like Rice Krispies in my brain) and they are causing pain to shoot up my neck constantly. I figure I am probably getting sick, or fighting off some sort of infection. I get swollen lymph nodes in my neck all the time, but never my wrist! I don't even know if they exist there.

I also have tendonitis in both of my wrists. When the soreness started on that side, I thought it was just a flare-up. I've never heard of tendonitis causing lumps that are visible under the surface of the skin, but for all I know that is the cause of this mysterious thing.

Any ideas as to what this probably is? If I can't figure it out, I'll have to see a doctor and make sure it isn't anything serious.

I am looking for a way to provide light in my room without using electricity. I tried regular candles, but the flames ate up all the oxygen in the room within a single hour. It is far too cold for me to open a window, so that option was out.

The light doesn't have to be overly bright, just enough to read by. It need not be on twenty-four hours a day - more like ten or so hours per week at most, perhaps for five hours at a time. I'm not ruling out fire, but if I'm going to use fire it will have to be in such a way that it doesn't consume very large amounts of oxygen too quickly. I cannot drill holes or modify the building in any way.

I am hoping that perhaps there is a particular type of candle or burning fuel that prevents the fire from using too much oxygen. Any and all ideas are welcome, I only hope I'll find something that works.

I have looked at past questions that were similar to this one, but not exactly the same. I am looking for, quite simply, which uses more electricity between a standard microwave and a small toaster oven to heat the same food. I know that a microwave is on for less time, but I do not know how much electricity per minute each of the devices use.

I am trying to figure out which will use the least amount of electricity to heat my food. For argument's sake, let's say the food takes three minutes in the microwave versus ten minutes in a toaster oven, which is about standard for the things I'm looking to heat. Taste is not a factor in this question. If anyone could give me a source for their answer it would be doubly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

I know that plants need a certain amount of nutrition from the soil to grow, and that when growing plants indoors, the only nutrition they get is what you give them. I am trying to grow these plants completely organically, with dirt from my backyard, using nothing bought from a store except the vegetables/plants from which I took the seeds. So far I have large sprouts of morning glories and catnip, and small sprouts of tomatoes, green beans, cucumber, and green bell pepper. They seem to be doing very well with a combination of filtered tap water and mineral water, but I want to make sure they don't suddenly die out because they are getting too much or too little of something. The mineral water is bottled still (not carbonated) Italian mineral water. I have southern exposure in the window that they sit in, so sunlight doesn't seem to be a problem. Any tips for growing these through the winter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!