Astrid

Is it dangerous? Should I consider seeing a physician tomorrow?

I ate some of the bred this morning and all of what I ate then looked well and very clean. I checked closely because its expiration date was yesterday and I'm usually quite careful about this. However, I didn't think it would go bad until tonight and ate almost an entire slice before I discovered a lightgreen patch on another one. I didn't see it before since the room was rather dark and the green isn't a very strong color - it looks more like a shadow, the bred underneath is still clearly visible and although there are several sports they are quite small... nevertheless, I'm quite worried now because I'm usually very careful with these things, especially as far as bred is concerned.

So, I'm just looking for some new comedy shows I can start watching.

I love: 30 Rock, Scrubs, Friends (and HIMYM, despite it being just a Friends rip-off), The Simpsons, The Office, Community, Modern Family, The Middle

I was okay with (but not particularly crazy about): The Big Bang Theory, Malcolm in the Middle, New Girl

I hate: To and a Half Men, Family Guy, South Park, The New Normal, Wilfred, Two Broke Girls, Don't trust the B in Apartment 23, Seinfeld

Generally, I don't care about how old or new a show is. I like sarcasm and some dark humour too (if people laugh at bad stuff happening to others, swear a lot or whatever... that's more than welcome). I prefer shows that don't have laughter in the background, but I'm fine with those who do, too.

My main problem with shows such as Two and a Half Men is that they just feel... cheap. The characters are the most typical, worn-out people ever, the humour is lame and predictable and I feel like they are repeating themselves over and over again. Since they are also very successful that's probably just me, but... yeah, I just don't like that kind of shows.

Any recommendations would be great!

My natural hair color is a dirty blond, but I've dyed it brown for almost a year. By now, he brown has grown out of it mostly, but I didn't want to go back to my natural color (since it doesn't look very good) and dyed it a light blond.

I would like to dye parts of my hair blue next month, using one of the Manic Panic colors. I'm a little worried about bleaching my hair since it's such an aggressive method and my skin is rather sensitive. The brand of hair dye I'm using right now works well for me, but other products have started to really hurt me a couple of minutes after putting them in my hair (even though I did the allergy test two days earlier and had no suspicious reaction whatsoever). However, while there is no bleaching product available of the same brand, they have some very light almost-bleached blonde tones.

Could I use those or would my hair (after putting on the blue) turn green, since bleaching involves a different process than simply dying it?

I was also thinking about trying to bleach just a small section of my hair first, so I wouldn't do much damage in case it should fall off or anything. If that works well, would it consequently work well for the rest of my hair too, or could the higher "dose" of bleaching product still cause harm?

I'm currently reading "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo and right in the beginning it is mentioned that Abdul sleeps on a "gritty maidan". I just can either find a translation for "maidan", nor a definition, so I was hoping anyone here knew what it is.

I was picturing something licke a hammock, but I haven't found a way to varify anything.

I bought a pack of grated Emmental cheese yesterday evening but forgot to put it in the fridge when I got home because it slipped underneath a bunch of groceries that don't need to be chilled and I forgot about it. I just found it now and put in the fridge, but I read that grated cheese is typically more prone to mold since it has got so much more surface than a "complete" piece of cheese.

So I'm a little worried now. Just because I can't see anything doesn't mean it's safe and I'm (often too)cautious about things like these. On the other hand it would be a pity to throw away an entire pack of cheese if it's still good... they aren't expensive, but it would seem like such a waste of food!

Is it still safe to eat?

I'm realizing that this question might sound strange, but let me explain -

Just by chance I've recently come across an article answering the question "why are Germans so rude?" and was quite startled. So I did some further research and it seems to be a rather widely spread assumption, especially among (US) Americans.

Being German that sounded kind of weird to me, especially some of the experiences that people wrote down. Of course I realize that many of those might just be exaggerations or things that occasionally happened (I've come across more than enough terribly impolite people throughout my life) but a reoccurring point seemed to be that, apparently, they perceived Germans to smile very little and look offended.

Some of those opinions, I must add, were voiced in a very hateful and offensive matter (and some of them were quite obviously related to the Third Reich since allusions were made that are simply not true for Germany as it is today), but others were quite diplomatic, which were the ones causing me to wonder.

I can't really judge whether that's true or not since I'm self-taught in regards to non-verbal communication and get told to smile more often and look less angry by a lot of people almost every other day... but it has made me think. About three years ago I spent 5 months in the US and one of the most confusing things there was that so many people were smiling at me all the time, making compliments to each other (even if they were obviously not true and they would've had the chance to say something more honest, yet complimenting, to the pertaining person instead) or saying "I love you, we should hang out some time" and all these things... even people whom I wasn't friends with and who must have been aware that we'd never actually hang out (none of us ever attempted to do so). While there were some very nice people whom I still have a lot of contact to, a lot of people I met seemed to be very superficial. Superficially polite, that is.

I mean... actually all of the people do the "basic" things I'd associate with being polite... you know, saying excuse me, please, thank you or asking somebody how they are doing every once in a while.

But then again I'm currently at a University and I don't know if these manners change depending on where somebody works later on in his or her life and right now, if we're not interested in or don't like each other, we just don't talk and pretty much ignore everybody else. It's not so much offensive but very, very neutral.

So, to return to my question: Is smiling a sign of good manners (to you, whoever might answer this question)? Do you feel offended when somebody talks to you with a very straight face or if that person doesn't insult you but skips compliments?

I realize that one can't really compare the "scale" of what is thought to be polite or impolite on one country (or culture) to another's (the same goes for humour, religion and such), but I'm fairly curious.

If you've actually read all ofthis and can answer some of my questions,

thanks!

~ AJ

...and be somewhat satisfying?

I know, for instance, that when you crave chocolate you can eat almonds instead. Nevertheless it's missing that certain "something". I am generally eating plenty of fruits and vegetables (especially raspberries, apples, frozen peas and corn) but I'm looking for further stuff though.

I know it's very vague but do you have any suggestions?

It just appeared in my Google Chrome and really annoys me since doesn't work as good for me as Google does. But when I googled for a solution it was only suggested that I look for Babylon in my list of programs (under "system control", but my laptop's menu isn't english, so I'm not sure if the translation is accurate).

However, there is no program called "Babylon" on my laptop and when I searched all of my files for it, nothing appeared either.

Does is have another name?

Or are there alternative ways to get rid of it?

I'm using Windows 7, by the way. If you have any suggestions that'd be wonderful since it drives me crazy that I can't just highlight a word, right-click and use the google-option-thing for it.

Ich möchte meine Seiten oben recht nummerieren und es funktioniert einfach nicht!

Wenn ich eine Nummer über den Feldbefehl einfüge, erscheint einfach nur eine grau unterlegte Zahl dort, wo mein Cursor gerade ist und die Nummerierung ist auch nicht fortlaufend. Da könnte ich die Zahl auf einfach entsprechend eintippen - allerdings stimmen dann die Maße des oberen Rands nicht mehr und der Abstand zum Text ist zu groß!

Ich habe auch schon versucht, einfach eine Kopfzeile einzufügen, was aber noch viel erfolgloser war, da sich der Inhalt ja angleicht (also auf allen Seiten "1" steht, wenn ich das auf der ersten Seite eingebe, und es sich auf allen auf "2" ändert, wenn ich es auf Seite 2 verändere usw.).

Ich bin aufgeschmissen - es geht einfach nicht! Und ein anderes Schreibprogramm kann ich im Moment nicht benutzen.

The question pretty much says it all - but here's some additional information concerning my situation.

I'm not at all athletic, but not obese or anything. I would like to lose about ten pounds, and then just continue to improve my health. I also don't have any athletic experiences. I'm eating acceptably, but not super-healthy either and have no desire to end up having diabetes or some sort of heart problems, which is why I want to start doing something now rather than once it's too late.

When I was a child I couldn't do any sports that put a strain on my knees due to a chronic disease, and when I was well enough to start sports I had already found other interests. Today, sports bore me. I would like to run, since I like to take long walks, but whenever I start I get incredibly bored after just ten minutes. I tried listening to music, but then I can't keep running (my physical feeling is a little off, I'm also a really bad dancer) and I can't think of anything either, because then I'll trip or run into passers-by.

Other than that, I'm not exactly strong (muscle-wise) and get out of breath quickly, but I suppose that's going to improve. My main problem is really the interest. Whenever I tell myself that it'd be a good time to go out and run a little, I already know that it will be such a dull activity that I'm much more tempted to do things I love and read something interesting, or study. Joining a team isn't an option right now either. I don't know a lot people here and I'm also not sufficiently trained to keep up with others. I'd be way behind everybody else and just not confident enough to do something I suck at with a bunch of people I don't know.

I'd be happy about every bit of advice!

Ich habe ein zwei-Sterne Kühlfach und das Gefühl, dass Speiseeis darin irgendwie matschiger ist, als ich es von einer "richtig" kalten Tiefkühltruhe gewohnt bin. Zuerst dachte ich, es läge vielleicht an der Sorte (billigstes Discounter Produkt, war ein ziemlicher Fehlkauf ^^), aber auch mit einer anderen Sorte scheint es nicht so recht zu funktionieren.

Liegt das am Kühlfach?

Oder vielleicht doch an der Sorte?

I'm really not sure how to explain it... I experienced similar feelings before, but they never were as strong. Sorry if my description appears somewhat odd to you, I'm just pretty confused and agitated right now, and I can't seem to get my thoughts in order.

I just feel like the world around me might not really exist. It sounds crazy and I know it's there, but I move my fingers and limbs around and touch things, but they are just... there, but not really. When I look around it is as if I was looking at something staged. It's my place, but if someone told me that it isn't really that but I was looking at it in a dream or from another room, I wouldn't be too surprised. Nevertheless, I KNOW that everything is just the way I see it, it just doesn't FEEL like it!

I've had a pretty bad week so far and generally didn't particularly enjoy the last couple of months, as I've been dealing with recurring depressions and such for almost eight years now and I'm beginning to feel pretty bad again without having a true reason for it.

But I haven't been feeling like I do now... at least not really.

Do you know what this is? Or if I can do anything about it?

I'm thinking about getting just one of these regular, thing, ring-like piercings in my lower lip. I don't have any other piercings so far, not even earrings. And I know that everybody has a different pair tolerance, but please don't just say something like "not at all".

Is it comparable to any other kind of pain or sensation?

And does the pain -or feeling of getting it pierced- last for a long time afterwards?

You know... just thought I'd ask. Anythign happened? Any thoughts? ;)

I need to know this for an upcoming exam, and this is what I think I know about them so far:

Phoneme: Smallest contrastive unit in the sound system. It's the smallest past of an utterance (so, in a nutshell, a single sound in a word, right?) and you can't change it, because otherwise you might change the meaning on the entire word.

Allophone: The realization of a phoneme. Basically, every person pronounces every phoneme a little different each time and you can't copy the exact sound you've made before.

The problem emerging from this is that they are obviously different in the way they are used in Phonetics, but I would personally classify an allophone as a sub-category of a phoneme. It seems to me that the only difference is that an allophone is the realization of the phoneme, which is rather theoretical then. But I wouldn't actually compare these things with each other, it would be as if I compared the photograph of something to a real thing, claiming that the difference is that I can use a real chair, but look stupid if I tried to use photographed furniture.

Am I missing or misunderstandding something?

Der Titel sagt eigentlich schon alles: Ich studiere im ersten Semester Amerikanistik, allerdings nur als Nebenfach. Bisher konnte ich noch an keinem Tutorium teilnehmen, da sich die Termine mit Pflichtveranstaltungen meines Kernfaches überschneiden.

Nächste Woche muss ich meine erste Hausarbeit in einem Seminar (Early American Literature) abgeben. Den Text an sich, bzw. das meiste davon, habe ich bereits geschrieben und auch genügend Informationen, um alles ins richtige Format zu bringen.

Mein Problem ist nun allerdings, dass ich nicht weiß, in welche Reihenfolge alles gehört. Kommt zuerst die Einleitung, dass eine art Inhaltsverzeichnis (bzw.) die Gliederung der Arbeit, dass ein Hauptteil (der u.U. weiter unterteilt ist), dann ein Fazit und am Ende die Bibliographie? Oder sollte ich das irgendwie anders machen?

Ich habe meinen Dozenten schon angesprochen und war auch bei der Fachschaft, aber irgendwie wurden ich immer nur an eine Zusammenfassung der MLA Guidelines verwiesen, worin es aber nur um das Format (Zeilenabstände etc) und die Zitierweise geht. Das ist mir aber bereits klar und keine besonders große Hilfe.

Wenn mir irgendwer helfen könnte, wäre das wunderbar! Inhaltlich und sprachlich ist meine Arbeit, glaube ich, ganz okay - ich bin zwar als einzige in dem Seminar im ersten Semester (obwohl ich keine Ahnung habe, wie das passiert ist) aber Inhalt, Sprache und die "Äußerlichkeiten" werden getrennt bewertet und wenn nur ein Punkt unzureichend ist, gilt die ganze Hausarbeit als unzureichend, weshalb ich inzwischen ziemlich nervös werde...

I'm 19 years old and started University in 2012, so I'm now living by myself and no longer at my dad's house. I've got a small apartment but, obviously, not my own washing machine.

That in itself is no problem as there are some in the basement of the building I live in. What hinders me from using them though is that I tried getting into the hallway leading to the laundry room a couple of times now and I just can't get in there.

I remember being extremely scared of small closed rooms, such as public restrooms and elevators, ever since kindergarten and (whenever I have a car) I don't park in underground parking spaces either. Usually, I can overcome my fears though. It takes me somewhat long but whenever I'm usually able to enter small spaces. I just stand in front of them for a while, look at them, take deep breaths and reason that nothing bad is going to happen to me - even though it feels as if I won't be able to leave again once I enter.

Now with this basement, it's different. It seriously looks like endless tunnels I'm trapped in in some of my nightmares. It's pretty dark and the lights don't work via a motion detector, so they turn themselves off after a while, no matter whether anybody is still in there or not. Furthermore, the basement connects three huge buildings, including underground carparks, with each other and they are a little bit like a maze. The person connecting me to the Internet had to do something down there and got lost for about 30 minutes.

I'm currently taking the bus to a laundromat that is downtown, but it's inconvenient, (a very little bit) more expensive and I just feel stupid for making that much of an effort, just because I can't get to the washing machines on my own. I've been down there with others, because it helps me stay calm, but I obviously can't call a family member every time, asking them to drive all the (250 miles) way to accompany me through a creepy basement.

Are there any other ways to stay calm? I feel like one of my biggest problems are that:

-the lights can go out any time and I'm terrified of standing in the middle of an almost pitch-black tunnel all of the sudden

-once I get in there, I'll have to return at least two times to use the drier and then pick up everything to carry it back to my apartment

-I just can't convince myself that I'm going to survive. I have no clue why, but it feels as if I was going straight into my own grave.

I'd be thankful for all the advice you could give me.

Oh, and I can't go to a psychologist right now. I'm not sure whether my insurance covers it and I also don't have time because my finals are coming up and I'm rather busy.