h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes, No1 son went to Glam. He managed to escape after four years

HPV is also lower in currence in communities were circumcision is commonly practised. Or was when I was ing, but things change.

I don't think my brain is wired right today. I have twice erased paragraphs about the effect money can have on people as I can't seem to string the thought together .

Speckly do get some real advice if your planning to make important descions about your health. Please don't take advice off someone on the internet, even if it is somene who says that they're a medical student.

No one knows whether you can catch HPV via lesbian sex.

I can make descions about what risks are acceptable my own health, but I'd be really uncomfortable about giving advice on the internet...

I was mostly joking though it is tempting. Natural to want to avoid something like that. But I will probably carry on getting them done till there is some more evidence either way.

Caerwynn, if No 1 was there in the past five years we probably saw him around the place . We just can't seem to escape.

*sidles through door and looks for a familiar face*

Good evening. I'm glad the salon is back up and running.

I've just read through the conversation to date and am inwardly digesting - some interesting thoughts on 'emotions'. Can't remember who said the bit about anger being a secondary emotion to a primary cause - but that rings true. I know that anger can often be part of many emotional processes - particularly grief - and seems to be a necessary 'thing' to be got through in order to get somewhere else.

The evil smear nurse *will* be inflicted on you again.

Hi y'all.

*looks round wildly, and scuttles back under Speckly, from whence I came*

Hi Teuchter!

You may well have seen him around, Speckly, although he spent as little time on the campus as possible. Mainly because he had to walk up and down a couple of mountains to get there, his digs were on the other side of Ponty. In spite of getting a 2:1, he still hasn't found any permanent employment and he left the Valley of the Damned nearly two years ago.

Personally if I get angry it's the result of another emotion, often someone else's!

There just aren't many opportunities for graduates in this area. We got very good degrees and are working for directory enquiries. Go figure.

Hi Teuchter, good to see you made it.

Hi Fattylizard, welcome.

Courtesy

One of the little bits of trivia I am endlessly picking up from coursebooks was that anger takes about 20 minutes to drain out of the system. So if you do manage to apply the brakes in an argument with someone it's a good idea to get out of the area for a while while you literally cool down.

I am a great believer in the idea that it is possible to offend people on the internet without meaning to - coming across as trolling. I also think that while the logical thing would be to say 'oops, not what I meant' one of the problems is that in certain circs that involves loss of face. The internet being a place which relys on written communication, being less than deft at it and admitting it is like standing up and saying 'Hello. I don't do elegant eloquance (eloquence?). I can't turn a phrase to save my life.' Which could lead to defensiveness, and a refusal to admit that there is anything wrong with the way you communicate. It's the Other Person's fault for not getting it...

Marv, as someone who in many ways was/ is going through exactly what you are going through, I'm down on the side of not giving in to inertia. Would have much prefered to stay where I was, especially as things were really becoming quite comfortable over there, but although it was very comfortable, staying put wasn't the right thing to do - but it was so nice and warm and fluffy.

That said, what made the last six months decidedly uncomfortable was the fact that I knew I had to go, but couldn't prize myself away, so the move has sorted that out. So actually my advice is to do as your pastor says, sort out what's right for you, make hte decision, go for it and then _don't look back_. It's not the same as not changing your mind later if things change again, but whatever you do don't regret it, and don't go haring after what might have beens.

Now can I rant about the uslessness of British people on the London Underground, please?

Oh and...

*Sinks onto sofa, kicks off shoes, which disappear back under a sofa, and happily wiggles toes*

*phew* I've prepared by talk and practiced on the flatmate who seemed mildly intrested in the whole thing. I got the gay section right according to him which was always useful.

*waves to Specly, Fat lizard, and the other new arrivals, great to have you with us*

I would think, even if you are a female who does not have penetrative sex, you would want to get your annual pap smear all the same. Or am I wrong? Z? What does our resident medical student say?

Welcome Speckly, FattyLizard, and dw2 (who I think might have gotten lost in the backlog already). I think I said hi to Seth earlier, but if not, welcome to you too. And welcome back Teuchter. So many new people all of a sudden!

I'm the King of Inertia. I've been slowly drifting around the same spot for something like 20 years, never moving more than 1 mile from it except for short periods. So it is ironic that I too recommend you resist the inertia, Marv. Ah, advice! So easy to give, so hard to live by.

Wasn't there something in the news about a year ago about a vaccine for HPV that was nearly 100% effective?
<-- taking almost all the room in the bean bag.

FG, no you wouldn't need one if you'd never had penatrative sex for two reasons..

1. If you haven't had penatrative sex you don't get HPV so you don't need a smear, it's almost unheard of for nuns and other women who have never had pentrative sex to get cervical cancer.

2. If one is *ahem* intactum per vaginum then the process of getting a smear is going to be very painful and uncomfortable - not really worth it considering the minscule risk of having a postive result.



Annual cervical smears? here the national cervical screening programme offers screening every three years? The evidence is pretty convincing - according to the regional service director who gave a lectre today. It's got a long latency period - and the majority of neoplasms are picked up before they become invasive at three year smears, in fact the majority seem to be picked up at 5 year intervals.

It's really an quite effective programme as well, - it's about halved the rate of cervical cancer in the country - and that's cervical cancer in all women not just the ones who have screening.

Yes there it seems we are well on the way to a vaccine against HPV, I had a lecture from someone involved in the development of the vaccine today as well.

The question will be which age is it given at, bearing it mind that giving it to all teenagers before they become sexualy active is a difficult task. If it's given at school someone of them will think "ooh I've had the injection that you need before having sex - whoo hoo lets do it.."

I repeat - please please please don't make a desicion on whether to get a smear or not based on reading this, talk to your GP or gynecologist first.

So many newcomers! dw2, indeed, I believe you're floundering in the wake with your interesting question unanswered. Please don't take it amiss; there seem to be at least two full-fledged discussions going on here. Don't be embarrassed -- repeat your question if you like.

So, Speckly, you're de-lurking? And welcome to Fatty Lizard and welcome back to Teuchtel who managed to walk into the middle of a fire storm at the end of 64X -- glad you came back.

I've had a long day full of company, errands and politics, so I'm just going to get a cup of tea, curl up on the couch and listen for a bit.

I wondered where everyone was, having unsubscribed from the Atelier during the s**tstorm. I see there is a big backlog for me to go through, but it will have to wait.

Cervical smears - love em or loathe em, you may not live without em.

Oh - and all gals of a certain age can be all smug and pleased, because when the frequency that you have to go for smear tests starts dropping the frequency that he has to go for prostate tests starts increasing. Very , very

Ben

50 mins to read the backlog. Very very interesting thread.

Lil - I like the idea of focussing more on discussion and less on daily trivia, but it would be nice to have somewhere to talk about all our fine doin's. The cafe, perhaps.



Ambling through the emotions bit of the backlog, I find I have different kinds of anger.

I have a very calm cool anger; I remember once saying to a colleague (he was my boss actually) that I was too exhausted to have a tantrum about something he had not done. He still backed off nervously, and I realised that exhausted anger was even more effective than the ranting kind.

I have in fact almost lost the ability to rant and rage at other people, though I can be so angry that I shake. The last time I felt that angry I did not say anything, just stood up and walked out. If I had not done so I would have torn the muscles in my throat when I started yelling. (I had been told by a boss to act unethically, and it rendered me speechless and shaking).

I have completely lost my ability to deal with being ranted and raged at. I will turn off the TV if there is shouting on it, and I will walk out of rooms where people are shouting.

Interestingly, the last time anyone shouted at me was the summer of 2001. I told him not to, and walked out when he continued to do so. I am not sure if the fact that I have a zero tolerance for being shouted at has meant that no-one does it near me.

I tend to get very very articulate when I am angry: very clear, cold, very pointed and very very precise. Not that any of you have ever seen me behave like that here on hootoo. Course not!



FG: if one recognizes their negative emotions are coming from within themselves and are not a reflection of reality

I have said this elsewhere, and will say it again, but one of the reasons I am grateful for experiencing PMS is that PMS shows me that our experience of the world and our interpretation of it is *always* filtered through the chemicals that are washing through our blood and our brain. There is no such thing as an objective view of reality, and there is probably no such thing as reality either. It helps to know that nothing is real.



WM: So how should one express a negative emotion in a way that is healthy for the emoter and harmless to those in the vicinity?

If this happens a lot, then learn meditation and breathing techniques. Meditation changes the relationship between oneself, one's body and one's emotions, giving one more space and time in which to select one's reactions to events.



Bed, now, before I fall over.

B

[Hyp]

[MTG]

Howdy, everyone! Great to see all these bright and cheery faces once again! Greetings to Seth, dw2, Speckly & FattyLizard, Teuchter (returning?), and......'someone else' about mid-way through the blog. Refresh my fading memory for me, okay?

I won't go into the conversation about "you know what", as I a lot when I even think along those lines. [Ask Titania (in private) how shy on the subject I can be.] Now, little innuendos, innocent kidding, and off-hand remarks [by Rosie Palmer] that become 'double-entendre'---Well, THERE's my playground. In a sense, that naive sort of light-hearted view of the "s-word" activities keeps me rolling [in the hay] right along. As one member [?] of the Atelier mentioned earlier, not everyone has an eloquent vocabulary; even though I consider myself a cunning linguist, I stall lick some refinement in my delivery...

On the topic of anger, I'm in the midst of a quandry between my wife and I. We had a situation come up this evening where we didn't see eye-to-eye, we each ass-u-me'd certain motives on the other's part in what was said and done, and we let our tempers fly.

It only lasted a short while, but it was destructive, nonetheless. And it came at a bad time. We were pushed for time to take our youngest daughter to her school this evening for a Science Night she'd been anticipating all week. I wound up leaving my wife behind to take our little girl to the event. Upon our return, my wife was still and we still haven't patched it up right. Dang it! I want to get to the part, but I think it'll require a bit of for raising my voice. Aside from the damage we've inflicted on each other in the process, it to know our daughter witnessed us losing control of our thoughts and words. (Thankfully our actions didn't escalate to the ludicrous.) I probably just need to my wife right proper, give her a , and tell her I still love her. I believe that's what's worked for the last ten years; maybe it'll work again...

B4thesungoesdownonouranger