"Temporary" Venting Thread III

[Mari]

All I can say is: >_< that sucks.

[Jonathan]

Tessar, listen to the sis, "better than never to have loved at all"!

And better to focus on the happy and nice aspects of your crush, than to ponder the negative sides that are out of your control.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Aw, Tess, that's mightily unfortunate. But, don't worry too much about it; I used to have a terrible, unreciprocated crush, but I'm pretty much over it, and very good friends with the former object. It's not the end of the world.

[Tessar]

It just irritates me that the one guy that I really like is untouchable. All of the guys I -could- have are slutty, annoying, flamboyant jerks that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. I mean, this guy and I just get along REALLY well.

Blech. Like you all say: at least I can have him as a good friend. That's the important thing. My life is better for knowing him at all, I shouldn't be petty just because it can't be as much as I wish.

[Nerdanel]

All I can say is: I wish people would accept the fact that everyone doesn't come to the office to babble and avoid work - some of us actually come there to get work done. It's a pity when that won't happen because a few don't only babble among themselves but force others to join the utterly boring conversations about how much work they have to do. I would love it if everyone understood the simple, yet powerful, signal: headphones on = don't disturb.

And the response to a simple, yet friendly NO, should not be puppy eyes or sobs - not in a university. Please. No wonder science isn't happening.

Sorry, I'm just horribly annoyed and I'm not used to it. X)

[Nerdanel]

Originally Posted by Tessar

It just irritates me that the one guy that I really like is untouchable. All of the guys I -could- have are slutty, annoying, flamboyant jerks that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. I mean, this guy and I just get along REALLY well.

Blech. Like you all say: at least I can have him as a good friend. That's the important thing. My life is better for knowing him at all, I shouldn't be petty just because it can't be as much as I wish.

That's a good, mature attitude, and a very sustainable one as well. And no one is untouchable - things change with time.

Good luck and enjoy his company!

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Tessar

It just irritates me that the one guy that I really like is untouchable. All of the guys I -could- have are slutty, annoying, flamboyant jerks that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. I mean, this guy and I just get along REALLY well.

Blech. Like you all say: at least I can have him as a good friend. That's the important thing. My life is better for knowing him at all, I shouldn't be petty just because it can't be as much as I wish.

It's a small pond issue, hon.

Quality people are just a small percentage of any population.

You're over-representin'

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Nerdanel

And no one is untouchable - things change with time.

lol. "Or what's a heaven for?"

[Nautipus]

Originally Posted by Nerdanel

All I can say is: I wish people would accept the fact that everyone doesn't come to the office to babble and avoid work - some of us actually come there to get work done. It's a pity when that won't happen because a few don't only babble among themselves but force others to join the utterly boring conversations about how much work they have to do. I would love it if everyone understood the simple, yet powerful, signal: headphones on = don't disturb.

And the response to a simple, yet friendly NO, should not be puppy eyes or sobs - not in a university. Please. No wonder science isn't happening.

Sorry, I'm just horribly annoyed and I'm not used to it. X)

I was going to say something similar.

[Nerdanel]

Originally Posted by Nautipus

I was going to say something similar.

I feel you..

[Nautipus]

What is happening to the world.


7 Dead in N. Illinois U. Hall Shooting
2008-02-15 07:11:18
By CARYN ROUSSEAU and DEANNA BELLANDI Associated Press Writers



DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — A coroner says another student shot at a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University has died, bringing the toll to seven, including the gunman.

DeKalb County's coroner says four of the victims died in his county. He says two other victims died at hospitals in other counties.

Authorities say the gunman was a former student at the university. They don't know why he fired on a geology class Thursday before committing suicide.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — The gunman who killed five students and wounded 16 others in a hail of bullets at a Northern Illinois University lecture hall knew the campus well: He was a former student.

Investigators and school officials did not immediately know why the man fired on a geology class with a shotgun and two handguns Thursday before committing suicide.

The shooter had been a graduate student in sociology at Northern Illinois as recently as spring 2007, but was not currently enrolled at the 25,000-student campus, University President John Peters said.

"It appears he may have been a student somewhere else," University Police Chief Donald Grady said. "We have no motive and I have no way of knowing what the motive was."

The Chicago Tribune, citing two unidentified law enforcement sources, reported on its Web site Friday that the gunman was a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Authorities did not release the gunman's name, but Peters said he had no record of police contact or an arrest record while attending Northern Illinois, about 65 miles west of Chicago.

More than a hundred students cried and hugged as they gathered outside the Phi Kappa Alpha house early Friday to remember Dan Parmenter, a 20-year-old sophomore from Elmhurst, who was among those killed.

"I'm not angry," his stepfather, Robert Greer, told the Chicago Tribune. "I'm just sad, and I know that right now what I need to do is comfort my wife."

Witnesses said the gunman, dressed in black and wearing a stocking cap, emerged from behind a screen on the stage of 200-seat Cole Hall and opened fire just as the class was about to end around 3 p.m., sending panicked students fleeing for the exits.

"I kept thinking, `Oh God, he's going to shoot me. Oh God, I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead,'" said Desiree Smith, a senior who dropped to the floor near the back of the auditorium. "People were crawling on each other, trampling each other."

Four people died at the scene, including three students and the gunman, while the other two died at hospitals. A graduate student who was leading the class was wounded but was expected to recover.

It was unclear if the gunman shot at random or if he targeted certain students. At least two of the wounded were hospitalized in critical condition.

Lauren Carr said she was sitting in the third row when she saw the shooter walk through a door on the right-hand side of the stage, pointing a gun straight ahead.

"I personally Army-crawled halfway up the aisle," said Carr, a 20-year-old sophomore. "I heard this girl scream, 'Run, he's reloading the gun!'"

Senior Ashley Dallman said she was in an acting class in a neighboring building when several students from Cole Hall came running in. Her professors locked the doors and they listened to news reports on the radio for about an hour before school officials told them they could leave.

"We all started crying," she said. "We didn't know what to do. It was a very intense moment."

George Gaynor, a senior who was in Cole Hall, told the student newspaper the Northern Star that the shooter was "a skinny white guy with a stocking cap on."

Officials said 162 students were registered for the class, but it was unknown how many were attending Thursday. Four of the dead were female and two, including the gunman, were male.

Eighteen victims were brought to Kishwaukee Community Hospital, where one died, according to the hospital's Web site. One male was transferred in critical condition and died at OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, an official said.

Minutes after the shooting, students phoned each other and sent text messages even before school officials could warn them, many said. The school Web site announced a possible gunman on campus within 20 minutes of the shots and locked down the campus, part of a new security plan created after a student at Virginia Tech killed 32 people last year.

"This is a tragedy, but from all indications we did everything we could when we found out," said Peters, the university president.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sent 15 agents to the scene, spokesman Thomas Ahern said. The FBI also was assisting.

Classes were canceled Friday. Students were urged to call their parents and were offered counseling, according to the school Web site.

The university was closed for a day during final exam week in December after campus police found threats, including racial slurs and references to the Virginia Tech shootings, scrawled on a bathroom wall in a dormitory. Police determined there was no imminent threat and the campus was reopened. Peters said he knew of no connection between that incident and Thursday's attack.

The Northern Illinois shooting was the fourth at a U.S. school within a week, following attacks in Baton Rouge, La.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Oxnard, Calif.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

I really can't bear it.

People should be able to go about their business without being shot.

[Mari]

I can't get it. Just can't.

[Nerdanel]

Yeah, well.. People can't surprise me anymore. There's not much else to expect than total stupidity.

Street car race kills 8

[The last sane person]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

"better than never to have loved at all"!

Whomever said that had his/her head wedged firmly up their ass.

I've lost anything that I ever dared love, and it does not make up for it.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by The last sane person

Whomever said that had his/her head wedged firmly up their ass.

I've lost anything that I ever dared love, and it does not make up for it.

I'm really sorry, honey.

But it's in your sig line. We're bound together by our hearts, not our hates.

[Mari]

The battery of my dictionary went out. Normally I'd celebrate the break from translating, but I really need to work on it. I'll continue tomorrow with the paper versions then, when I'm back home.

[The last sane person]

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

But it's in your sig line. We're bound together by our hearts, not our hates.

And our pain.

[Mari]

As the Dutch saying goes: Gedeelde smart is halve smart. (When you share your pain, it becomes only half as painful)
Though obviously not everyone will experience this the same way and there are some pains that you can't share. Still, it's a nice saying.

[Nautipus]

I can see that there is a continuous conversation going on here, but i wont get involved right now.

My vent: My tank is healthy, as are the animals that reside in it, but the algae and bacterial mats are running rampant. They are spreading almost as fast as I can clean them! I'm really startin to get PO'ed here, and I need to get a couple of sea stars to take care of the algae, as well as cut back on the food I put in there. Hopefully the next big water-change should ake care of things.