Nataly

No no no... I am a flautist and a pianist (and *almost* a guitarist), but not a bag-pipe player (what are those called, anyway?!)!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Have you two been talking??? My mom's default answer to every imaginable problem I might or have had is "move back home" (to Canada)...!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I've got tears rolling down my cheeks as I write this... I just received a belated birthday present from my mom... Our relationship has been very strained over the past couple of years, and we have barely spoken in the last year... So this summer, she was at a used book sale and she saw the third volume of a book she and I both loved... She didn't know about the 3rd book and assumed I might not have read it either (I have, but who cares). I open the book and there is a post-it explaining this and that she bought it thinking of me... There is also a long note telling me how much she misses me... And in the middle of the book, I found a CD... Get this: she recorded herself reading the entire first chapter... Such memories of her reading to me as a child... (Actually, usually it was me reading to her, and it was a rare treat when it was the other way around.) A lot of effort (and love) went into that tiny little parcel... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Dude, that really sucks, but glad it wasn't worse... A friend of my ex was telling the story of how he once flew off his bike... Split his helmet right in half, but that helmet totally saved his head... He also said he would never again ride without one. He has left over pain (from a broken neck), but was pretty lucky overall. Sounds like you were as well, thank god

It's not cause and effect. It's Maslow's Pyramid. ^^^ THIS ^^^ "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I was the first person to vote and I put "not me!" My younger sister always had/caused so many problems that no one ever bothered to pay attention to me (the middle child)... That's not to say I never did anything wrong... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Who is the person that keeps "fucking up" in your immediate family and where does he/she stand in the pecking order?? "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Me too! Can't think of any cool stories in particular... I do know they never had a lot of money so the fact that they chose to invest in piano lessons for all three of us for all those year was/is a real gift. Didn't always feel like it at the time, though... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

"Never say never" has always irked me. Because you've just said it. Twice. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Depending on the girl, camping can be very romantic... Cosying up by a fire, gazing at the stars all night... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

That's probably quite true, except that the human factor is still present (computors are designed/built by humans)... But the truth is people like to actively drive... And for the same reason speed is not limited in cars/bikes (people like to speed), car automation has not yet become a reality. Although there would probably be fewer traffic jams if cars were driven by computers... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Well, having a child "simply because you want one" does sound selfish/crass, but if you bring a child into a loving environment, isn't that the most important thing?? I dunno... Personally, I can think of lots of bad situations for a child to grow up in, but a child who is loved and wanted??? Doesn't sound so bad to me... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I really believe that we were not designed to move much faster that 20-30 mph... So to compensate for that, as a car driver you need to specifically look for bikes/pedestrians, and as a biker/pedestrian you need to be extra aware of the cars around you. And even doing that, you can have an accident where you genuinely did not see or react in time... We are not capable of paying attention as much as we need to all the time in order to avoid all road accidents. We can greatly reduce accidents, but we cannot eliminate them alltogether unless we ban vehicles that go at "superhuman" speeds (ie: anything faster than 20-30 mph)... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I recently got my C-licence although I could have gotten it a loooooong time ago (I took a long break from jumping). I thought it was useful to review the PIM and do the exam. Having jumped at many different dropzones, I find a B-Licence is a useful thing to have... If nothing else, it gives people a reference about what your theoretical level/knowledge is. Getting the C-Licence?? Not necessary, in my opinion, but again it signals to people that you have a certain level. You may suck way more that the guy who never got any licence at all, but at least when you go somewhere new, people will pretty much trust that you are reasonably safe and leave you alone. If you keep fucking up, though, it doesn't matter what licence you have, people will notice. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I believe it goes much deeper than that for some people... I think some women have dreamt of experiencing the richness of pregnancy and the bond you must feel and the experience of creating and bringing life into this world... It's a very powerful instinct/drive and for some adoption would take away a huge part of the experience they crave. I'm not saying adoption can't be extremely rewarding - perhaps in some cases *more* rewarding - than having a child of your own... But the desire to procreate is strong for many, many, many reasons, and I don't find it very hard to imagine why some women want it even if their situation is not ideal. For me, a loving environment trumps so many things when it comes to raising a child... Heck, nobody's perfect, and if only perfect people in ideal circumstances had kids, the human race would become extinct very quickly! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I would like to find one really nice thing I could do for someone in a way that makes it look like their problem just magically worked itself out... But off the top of my head I can't think of anything specific... Hmmm... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I don't want to have kids, but I can believe that some people reeeeeealy want to experience every aspect of motherhood, including pregnancy. Of course we would all like our circumstances to be ideal before we bring a child into the world, but for a lot of people this is not realistic. And for someone who really wants to become a parent, what compromises are "reasonable?" Not give birth yourself? Wait until you are more financially secure? (Might never happen.) Wait until you find "Mr. Right?" (Also might never happen.) So I can sort-of understand the thinking behind having a kid with a friend... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Would you ever consider having children with a friend? becomes Would you ever consider having children with a fiend? "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I worked with a guy who called me Jenny for about 2 or 3 years... I corrected him a couple of times but after a while I kinda thought it was funny so we all went along with it until some newbie asked him: "why do you call Natalie 'Jenny?'" And he was like: ??? Everyone was laughing and the look of total confusion on his face was absolutely priceless. But seriously, how that guy never figured it out before was a source of constant amazement/hilarity. Still wonder how long we could have kept it up if not for the new guy... Still... Would have been easier to understand if he had called me Natasha or Nicole or anything vaguely resembling my name, but nope... Jenny... [shakes head] "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Adrien?? WTF?? That's a guy's name! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Both spellings are correct, just like "color" and "colour." However my name is not, never has been and never will be "Nathalie." Which, as John correctly pointed out, I'm not that fussed about - it's more this girl's general attitude. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Never thougt about that one! For me it's "never say never"... Because ya just said it TWICE!! Or "trust no one"... Technically, that doesn't make sense. If you don't trust the person saying this, does it mean you should NOT listen to their advice?? Because if you did that, you should trust *everyone* and that also makes no sense!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

French people incorrectly spell "Natalie" because in the French spelling it's usually with an "h" ("Nathalie"). Non-French people can't get "Léveillé" right, because, well, they're fucking not French... So I'm used to this and frankly it's *nice* when people take the time to write it properly, but since I think it's pretty easy to get it wrong, I don't take it personally when people (unsurprisingly) get it wrong! HOWEVER, I just got asked to correct the spelling of someone's name on their event name badge... This person has never once spelled *my* name correctly, and you can see right on the email that the registration for the badge (with the incorrectly spelt name) was done by someone else... So not only does this dim-wit not understand that I'm not her fucking PA, but she's dumb enough to rant about the importance of correct name spelling to the person whose name she has incorrectly spelt on every single email she has ever sent... Hmmm... There isn't even any point in getting upset... Because she's just fucking stupid and getting upset won't change that... So my response is just "hmmmm"... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I don't know why, but I actually clicked on that. Now if I die, the last thing in my browsing history is "dolphin masturbates with decapitated fish"... Hmmm... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Doesn't make much sense, but vaguely reminds me of something... My friend's kid just turned 3 and she is asking a lot of questions about EVERYTHING... So one time her mom answered out of exasperation: "because the cow." The kid thought for about a second and said: "because the sheep?" So apparently, when they don't know or don't want to answer it's: "because the cow, that's why." The three year old also uses that answer when she doesn't know or when she's just messing with her parents!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss