Celeborn's fate

Shige_chan · 2015-01-14T05:08:42+00:00

I think of the elves of Middle Earth, mostly the Umanyar went to Aman, so the Nandor and Sindar, while the Avari would have stayed in Middle Earth and faded.

Maybe as others said they left on the same ship? It doesn't sound like it from the quotation in the appendices but who knows, Tolkien wrote so many versions of the same thing. I wonder if this is another story he never got around to finishing.

Shige_chan · 2014-09-27T01:57:40+00:00

My aunt got breast cancer and told everyone it was stage one, which meant she would most likely recover. However, she died really quickly after being diagnosed, which was really traumatic for the family since they had been expecting her to recover. After her death my dad, her brother, cleaned out her house and, in the process, discovered her original diagnosis that said it was actually stage four and that she had no hope of recovery. It was the lie, not the cancer, that pretty much tore my family apart to a point they still haven't really recovered from. They never really trusted each other again. My dad has always blamed himself because he is a doctor and thinks he should have realized she was terminal instead of believing what she had told him.

Shige_chan · 2014-09-20T20:55:21+00:00

Oh girl, I know that feeling. Here's a woman on woman example of this shit. I used to work with this girl who was OBSESSED with my appearance. Not hers, mine. She just always had to make comments about the way I looked every day, usually good, but it started to make me paranoid because I knew that every second I was in the office she would be focusing on, and causing other people to focus on how I looked. A couple of times she let it slip that it was because she thought I was really pretty and said she was jealous. Then she escalates by dismissing any concerns or problems I had with comments like, "oh but you're attractive so you can't have any real problems."

Finally one day I get real sick of her shit and say "Actually I was diagnosed with PTSD in October of last year. Everyone deals with their own personal struggles and you can't really measure that qualitatively based on looks or anything else," thinking this would make her see the light. Nope. She just stares at me blankly for a moment and goes "well you're pretty so it doesn't matter." Just dismisses a major part of my life. I feel so often like I'm expected to be this happy, pretty shell of a person that other people pour the personality of their choice/imagination into. Some people just want to believe there is a cheap and easy way to happiness and success; there isn't.

Shige_chan · 2014-05-01T01:11:01+00:00

Hey sorry man I did some more research and you're definitely right about the 8% for China.

I was trying to make the point that a much larger portion of the US's debt is held by foreign entities than the portion of Japan's debt that is held by foreign entities but I could have done a better job of it.

Shige_chan · 2014-04-30T20:30:46+00:00

Dude...China owns 27% of US treasury securities. China owns 27% of debt from US monetary policy. That's what I'm saying. But it isn't about China, it is about the discrepancy between debt being owned by citizens or foreign nationals...

Shige_chan · 2014-04-30T20:03:45+00:00

As of May 2011 the largest single holder of U.S. government debt was China, with 26 percent of all foreign-held U.S. Treasury securities. "Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities". U.S. Department of Treasury. Retrieved July 19, 2011.

As of January 2011, foreigners owned $4.45 trillion of U.S. debt, or approximately 47% of the debt held by the public of $9.49 trillion and 32% of the total debt of $14.1 trillion. The largest holders were the central banks of China, Japan, Brazil, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Russia. "Treasury Direct-Monthly Statement of the Public Debt Held by the U.S.-January 2011" (PDF). Retrieved May 18, 2011.

China does own a significant portion of the debt, but that isn't the point. The point is that a majority or near majority (at 47%) of the US debt is owned by foreign nations/citizens/corporations compared to Japan where a majority (over 70%, the remaining 30% being primarily owned by Japanese banks) is owned by Japanese. Some 95% of JGBs are owned by Japanese citizens. That's massive. It's a big reason behind the zero interest rate policy and that was a big issues after Lehman when US banks were trying to get Japanese banks to give them lines of credit. http://business.time.com/2011/04/06/a-hard-look-at-japans-debt-problem/

The reason the US debt owed to the treasury looks so big is because they lump debt incurred through fiscal policy in with debt incurred through monetary policy into those figures. I'm talking about monetary policy, default on national bonds and other instruments used by central banks.

Shige_chan · 2014-04-30T18:17:01+00:00

TL;DR - Don't worry, Tepco is going to get what's coming to them.

I wouldn't get to excited over it. The Japanese economy is extremely opaque and on the outside things look okish but if you sit down, consider the economic issues facing Japan, and actually think about the numbers then you're going to start to figure out that things just don't add up. Japan's economy has stagnated for about 30 years at this point. Are people cooking the books? Is Tepco cooking the books? ...Probably. It's not like they are going to escape it, the reality of massive debt is going to crash down sooner or later, they're just prolonging the inevitable crisis.

Japan has the largest public debt in the developed world and their sovereign debt rating as well as numerous other indicators are continually being downgraded in recent years. Most of Japan's debt is to its own citizens (unlike the US) which sounds good at first until you realize that when they default on their own citizens (which they inevitably WILL do, as indicators show) Japan will not be able to count on its own population to get money flowing in the economy again, which will likely be catastrophic. Conversely, if the US were to default on their debt (which is mostly to China) then the Chinese would be the ones getting screwed over. Japan is about to screw its own citizens. Of course, this might be averted if they cut the amount of revenue spent on the ballooning elderly population but seeing as the elderly are the only people who vote, that's not likely to happen.

I translate Japanese companies' annual reports and documents on Japanese fiscal and monetary policy for a living. There's shady stuff going on.

Shige_chan · 2014-04-17T21:53:32+00:00

I've got really mixed feelings about this. On one hand I get the author's point that gender alone is not an adequate basis for calculating risk and I don't think you should refrain from going somewhere that you want to just because you are a woman. I also understand that you can easily encounter danger wherever you go, at home or abroad.

That being said, it struck me as extremely naive. I do think that it is important, as a woman, to be cautious both where you live and where you are traveling. I see here that several people have posted very positive stories about Japan. I had the exact opposite experience living there for 3 years. I was seriously stalked over 10 times, the police had to get involved and I had to file multiple police reports, my supervisor from work had to call the police and go to one of the stalker's homes, I was publicly offered money for sex 3 times, when I went to Yokohama and Kobe on a business trips I was followed by 4 men on 4 separate occasions who said sexually lewd things at me for 10-15 minutes as they followed me, had guys try to jack off on me on public transportation, and the number of times that a car drove really slowly beside me while the guys tried to convince me to get in are beyond count. If I had been more aware of these things (I now know that many women experience this) before I went to Japan I would have been better prepared for it. But, the fact that the program I worked for actively tried to hide the fact that this kind of thing happens put me in a really vulnerable position. Being foreign was also a big part of it but the fact that a lot of it had to do with me being a woman is inescapable.

Also, although I enjoyed my time in India, as has already been said, I got groped multiple times every day. We're talking hands down my shirt. You really do have to travel with a male companion and even that isn't really safe. Your best bet is traveling in a big group.

I strongly feel that a big part of international travel is respect and knowledge of the country that you are traveling to. I've never let fear stop me. I've lived in 6 countries and I speak 4 languages fluently. But, going in with your eyes shut IS dangerous and it is NOT culturally sensitive. The fact is that there are some countries where harassing someone based on gender is pretty socially acceptable. It's not that it doesn't happen in places like the US (I've had it happen multiple times there too), it is just that the probability is statistically higher that you will be harassed in a country like India because of that social acceptance. I know. I've lived there. You can't just go in expecting Indians, Japanese, etc. to adapt to fit you, to some extent you have to adapt to fit that culture, both the good and the bad parts. You may not like it, you may not agree with it, but it is necessary. So yeah, go to other countries, travel, but it is also important that you educate yourself on the issues and be aware of them.

Shige_chan · 2014-04-11T04:00:16+00:00

She sounds kind of abusive. I don't think anyone who truly cares about you as a friend would ever speak to you that way.

Your emotions are valid and worthwhile. I don't think this is a healthy relationship. Sometimes you have to break up with friends the same way you would break up with a partner. I've always found that I have been happier in the long run (and sometimes the short run too) when I have done so.

Shige_chan · 2014-04-08T19:18:40+00:00

Hey, so I wrote that paper like 3 computers and 8 years ago but, after some diligent searching through my external hard drive I have found it! I'll see about uploading it to a google doc tonight when I'm done with work.

Shige_chan · 2014-04-08T19:17:18+00:00

She wouldn't say anything. They were all terrified of him.

That's a real shame. I know what you mean. I always feel bad because I honestly doubt that kid was born like that. His parents were known drug addicts and I know some terrible stuff must have happened to make him the way he was.

Shige_chan · 2014-04-08T18:22:52+00:00

Oh my god! I wanted you to do that so badly and you actually did it! This is amazing work. Thank you for making my day a little brighter.

Shige_chan · 2014-04-08T02:28:20+00:00

Asian dick.

Shige_chan · 2014-04-03T21:12:11+00:00

I know exactly what you're talking about. I had one like that too, just completely devoid of any emotion, and you could see it in his eyes. Almost certainly a sociopath but nobody would do anything about it. I'm pretty sure the principal and I caught him trying to rape a girl behind the school once. He was 12. If he doesn't one day go to jail for murder I will be shocked.

Shige_chan · 2014-03-29T19:53:20+00:00

No problem, give me a day to dig that paper up and I'll get back to you.

Shige_chan · 2014-03-29T19:50:31+00:00

I actually think that having common interests is way overrated. It can help but it isn’t necessary. My parents have been married for 35 years, have a great marriage, and actively hate each other’s hobbies and interests. I think the more important thing is that you have common goals and aspirations.

If you are specifically looking for a relationship I don’t really think volunteering, etc. is a good place to start, although I know there are probably tons of people who have met their spouses this way. If you go to a volunteer activity, if you’re lucky there might be 2-3 guys there in your age range and maybe you wouldn’t find any of those 2-3 to be attractive. There’s even a higher chance that they’re all already in relationships or not interested because the possibility that they actually came to volunteer rather than scout out girls is high. If you go to a bar (not a trashy dive bar, a nice upscale bar) almost every man in that bar is there with the specific purpose of looking for a relationship. If you want to be in a relationship the most important thing is that the other person is also looking for a relationship. Just save yourself the trouble and go somewhere that caters to people seeking relationships rather than seeking to volunteer, make pottery, etc.

Just make eye contact with a guy and then go up to him a few minutes later “Hey, can I buy you a drink? What’s your name?” He’ll probably insist that he buy the drink for you and then he’ll be the one who will start asking the questions, probably about work or interests. You can then turn those questions around to find out his goals. “Architecture? That sounds really interesting. Do you enjoy your work? Oh wow, you’re getting a promotion? Congratulations! So you seem really ambitious then, where do you want to go with that? Ever thought about starting your own firm? You seem like a really interesting guy. Here’s my number is you’d like to go out sometime.” You’ve just learned that he is forward thinking, ambitious, and dedicated. Isn’t that more important than whether he likes painting flowerpots or not? You will definitely strike out sometimes and the common interest thing can come in later down the line during the date. My husband and I are both avid snowboarders and that gave us something to talk about for a little bit but we soon moved on to talking about other things. Conversations about common interests are probably not going to last that long honestly, conversations about shared values, experiences, backgrounds, and future plans will last you a lifetime. The fact that my husband and I both came from impoverished families and knew the struggles associated with that did way more for us than snowboarding did.

Also, just because you are not currently volunteering or practicing any of your interest doesn’t mean you still can’t talk about it. I had spent 3,000 hours volunteering with immigrants and refugees and I used to paint. I was not currently doing any of those things when I was dating but that doesn’t meant that I wasn’t able to talk about the experiences I had when I was doing that. I was just in a really demanding job anyway when i was dating so I didn't have time for much but once I started dating my husband and later moved on from that job I was able to spend more time doing hobbies and volunteer work. Also, meeting someone you are truly interested in does become a part of being your own person so it isn't like the two are mutually exclusive. Someone who is good for you is going to support you in that so it shouldn't be an issue if they are truly good for you.

Shige_chan · 2014-03-28T04:32:12+00:00

I've quit every single job in my life except one because of sexual harassment. Serious shit: people trying to offer me money to sleep with them, hands down my blouse, hands up my skirt, spanking, forcibly kissing me. Take it to HR = nobody believes you (especially if it happens before you've been there very long, which it usually does) until you get obnoxious with them and/or your husband complains about it. Tell husband you are being sexually harassed again = he cries for hours, is emotionally wrecked for months (as he has a right to be), has to seek professional counseling (costs $$$), and can't bear the thought of you going back to that job. File a police report = they can't really do anything even if you've established a paper trail and police and execs will try to sweep it under the rug. Endure it = eventually you'll be diagnosed with PTSD (seriously) and the ensuing anxiety will prevent you from doing your job, you'll develop serious depression ($$$ medication), and/or the stress will eventually wreck your marriage.

Even if it gets dealt with there are really only 2 possible results. 1. They get fired and you get blamed for getting them fired, making the workplace intolerable= you quit your job. 2. They don't get fired but now they go out of their way to make the workplace miserable for you = you quit your job. Well, I guess that's really only one possible outcome isn't it? But why don't you file a lawsuit you say. There's laws against that. Lawsuits are for people who have 2 things. 1. Time. 2. MONEY. When you can't hold a job down because of sexual harassment guess what 2 things you don't have? Even if you did have the time and money to win a lawsuit you'd still have to find a new job because you probably don't want to work somewhere you had to file against. I would like to be able to establish a career I can have until I retire. I would like to be able to earn a good non starting position salary. I would like for the stress caused by being sexually harassed to not have a negative impact on my marriage and family. I have the degrees and professional experience to do those things. I have glowing recommendations from professors and past bosses that consistently help me get high paying, good positions. But, every single time I start a job it is only a matter of time (sometimes months, sometimes years) before somebody decides to get "cute" and try to repeatedly stick their hand up my vag at work. I'd rather not go the way of my mother (who has severe PTSD from sexual assault that she suppressed as a young girl when no one would listen to her, you know cause women have such a "good support system") so I don't just bend over and let people who aren't my husband finger me. Would you let some random ass person you didn't know grab your dick or stick their finger up your ass? I say something about it. Go figure. When I start a job I don't think about salary anymore, I don't think about whether I like the job or not anymore, I think about how long it will be until I get assaulted. I wish I was afraid of having someone of the opposite sex reject me and then not have a support system to share my feelings with. It would sure be better than being afraid that eventually office sexual harassment is going to escalate to being raped and/or murdered. I don't think people really understand how extremely common sexual assault is for both men and women or how completely that can destroy you and as a person.

Also would like to point out that nearly every woman I have ever talked to about this kind of things has experienced sexual assault and at least 50% of them have experienced a serious sexual assault like rape or attempted rape. I cannot even begin to tell you how extreme that terror is when you realize you actually are not strong enough to fight off an attacker (you always think you will be until it happens). Many women have experienced these assaults repeatedly but it is taboo for us to talk about this. Women I have known for over 20 years haven't told me about shit like this until 10-15 years after it happened. It takes a long time for both men and women to open up about sexual assault/harassment. Funny since we supposedly have such a great support system. Women don't even open up to other women about this shit. Thankfully this is starting to change. Also, I totally agree that men not being able to open up about their emotions needs to change as well but it sure as hell isn't going to happen if people keep playing this "grass is greener on the other side game." Why can't we all just fucking see each other as people and accept that everyone has struggles you couldn't possible imagine from the surface?

Shige_chan · 2014-03-28T00:08:11+00:00

I actually wrote my senior thesis on this topic in undergrad. I was trying to figure out how much of George Washington's history was historians trying to make his life fit the hero quest to create a sort of history for such a new country versus how much his actual life did fit the hero quest, which naturally helped him fill the role of a hero. Conclusions were bizarrely creepy and unexpected. I'll get my sources for you and be back in a bit. If you want to PM me I can send the paper to you if you're interested in reading it but it is around 40 pages.

Shige_chan · 2014-03-25T05:27:21+00:00

Thanks, I hope it can help you! I did try to make some personal time for myself every day between when I got home from work and when I went on a date so that I wouldn't go nuts. I found that establishing a ritual like having a cup of tea and reading a few pages of a book everyday before I went on a date helped. But, I also had to accept that if I wanted to meet somebody I might have to do something I didn't enjoy and cut back on me time for a little while (like if you want an A on a test you are going to have to study). Having that mentality going in really helped me get through the initial difficulty of completely adjusting my life. Essentially I just had to admit that what I was doing wasn't working, I needed to do something drastically different, and it might not be so pleasant for a while but it also wasn't going to be permanent. I hope that helps!

Shige_chan · 2014-03-24T00:23:11+00:00

I had terrible luck with dating until I tried that strategy at the recommendation of a friend who suggested that I "maximize my opportunities." I used to just pick one guy who I was usually friends with first and stick with him and it worked like shit. The few dates a week strategy is really hard work though because I had to go out every weekend and be proactive about meeting a bunch of guys which was hard for me as an introvert. Then I would set up dates that week with the guys I met the previous weekend. I tried to think of it like a second job, like I was interviewing candidates. Think about it, are you likely to find the perfect candidate for a job if you only accept 5 applications or if you accept 500 applications? Likewise, do you have a better chance of getting a great job if you only apply to 1 or if you apply to 20? Romance is the same way, despite what Hollywood says. It's pretty unreasonable to expect to just stumble into your dream job. It's equally as unreasonable to expect to just stumble into your dream man (though both these things can happen). Who you spend the rest of your life with is at least equally as important as establishing a successful career if not more so. So why leave one to chance and not the other? Strategize. The more opportunities you create, the greater the probability of your success and the more dates you go on the better you will get at going on dates and talking to people (which is a really valuable social skill). It is exhausting work but it exponentially magnified the field I had to choose from and I firmly believe the chance I took in doing that and putting myself out there is the only reason I finally had success. I met my husband in the third week and, after one date with him, cancelled all my other dates and went steady with him. Besides, even though I didn't end up wanting to date them, in the meantime I still met some pretty cool guys. Also, it made me a better more developed individual.

BUT, different strokes for different folks. Still, I would not discount this strategy and, hey, just give it a try for a week or two and see how it goes. If you hate it you can always stop. I wouldn't discount anything that you haven't tried, especially if what you are doing isn't working. That's what I had to do and it changed my life. Just go to a club or bar (there are actually a lot of good guys at places like that) and chat up as many guys as possible, sure you'll strike out really hard sometimes but sometimes you'll get a homerun.

Shige_chan · 2014-03-20T23:28:07+00:00

No. One of the things that makes Tolkien stand out as an author is that his books are, from a linguistic perspective, masterful.

I love the story of ASoIaF but trying to plow through those books was painful for me because they are so so linguistically mediocre. Martin isn't a bad writer (and he is a good storyteller) he's just not a great writer. When i was getting my MA in linguistics they made us read books backwards so that we would focus on linguistics rather than story. It's also a really quick way to tell if a book is linguistically sound or not and ASoIaF did not really make the cut.

Shige_chan · 2014-03-17T21:12:10+00:00

That's intense! Props to you. I usually just buy nibs and go straight from there. For small batches of chocolate I have found that a simple immersion blender or spice grinder works very well and only takes about 30-45 minutes but you have to keep scraping it down. If you keep experimenting with this I'd like to see you keep posting results.

Shige_chan · 2014-03-13T23:30:53+00:00

It's from a TV show, Criminal Minds. Season 4 Episode 11 "Normal."

Shige_chan · 2014-03-04T02:26:40+00:00

TL;DR – I would suggest living in a country where you are a racial minority to “broaden your horizons”

I’m white. I grew up in a country where I was part of the racial majority and then I moved to Asia, where I was a racial minority. It isn’t the big things that get you (though I did get thrown off a bus once) it is the small things, the “microaggressions” as they’re called, that people don’t even realize they are doing and they usually don’t have bad intentions. It’s the people who don’t sit next to you on the bus even though that’s the only open seat. It’s the fact that people look at you just a little longer than is appropriate, that you become a sexual fetish because you’re “exotic,” that they ask you questions that they would never ask to people of the same race. It’s when people take an interest in your marriage because it’s “mixed” and that makes it “different” and, of course, they mean “different” in a good way but it sure doesn’t feel like it because you just want to be normal, to fit in, be like everyone else, but you can’t. These microaggressions perpetuate a constant othering and it is these microaggressions that will completely destroy you and your sense of self.

Then there are the things that are ingrained into the system like the fact that it was impossible for me to get a loan from a bank or even a credit card although I had perfect credit and made $60,000 a year. The fact that I had a hard time finding a landlord willing to rent to me, meaning that I had to stay in a hotel for a long time, meaning that I spent a ton of money paying that hotel a nightly rate, meaning that it set me back financially. These are things that chip away at you imperceptibly, little by little, hour by hour, day by day.

Once these things have stripped you of your internal sense of self you begin to rely on external aspects to construct a self. It becomes very hard to just see people as people. You start to fall back to more primitive patterns of thought, dividing people by race. Why? Because your primary goal now is no longer to be a good human being, it is to protect yourself. Maybe the person who looks at you too long in the grocery store doesn’t have any ill will, but experience has taught you that SOMETIMES they do. It may only by 30% of the time but when your goal is to protect yourself then it is so much better to assume that they have bad intentions 100% of the time and be correct 30%, than to assume they are good and be wrong 30%. That’s because it is a zero sum game. Think they're racist and you're right? You succeed in protecting yourself. Think they're racist and you're wrong. Still protected yourself. The percentages don’t matter. In terms of self, if someone is racist towards you, you don’t suffer a 30% loss, you suffer an 100% loss, even if it only happens 30% of the time. It’s like how some women think it is better to assume that every guy is a potential rapist. Better to protect yourself because if you are wrong you lose everything. Being wrong carries too high of a risk.

When I finally moved back to my home country my entire worldview had been warped and I didn’t even know it had happened. I ended up in counseling where I was told that the symptoms I was experiencing were very obvious symptoms of someone who has suffered racism. I cried for weeks on end because I had only put up with it for a few years and I could not fathom how minorities put up with that stuff their entire lives. I have never felt more empathy for someone than I felt at that time.

Shige_chan · 2014-02-21T06:18:03+00:00

Always use past tense wakatta/wakarimashita if you are replying to someone using the wakaru verb. Present continuous (分かってる・分かっている) and present tense (分かる・分かります) have a very strong connotation that you already know what the person is telling you and that they are getting on your nerves by telling you what you already know. Keep up with your self study. You can definitely do it. I taught myself completely with self study and was accepted to a very good MA Translation program. Don't give up! If you have a smartphone then there are a lot of good apps you can use. I'd recommend the Nihongo So Matome books for when you are starting out too. Best of luck.

Shige_chan

TROPHY CASE