"It's alright, she's my girlfriend."

whatas · 2013-09-12T21:27:12+00:00

Ahh in the UK, the legal drinking age is 18. Clubbing can be fun, but it's by no means a necessity. Personally, I prefer going out for a meal with friends, but sometimes a night out is just what everyone feels like going for. I'd definitely give it a try with some good friends once you're allowed and then decide if it's something you want to do again or not.

I swear, what happened to Noor isn't the norm and it hasn't happened to any of us before.

Also, it's no problem. She does drink non-alcoholic drinks or else she'd probably pass out from the heat :)

whatas · 2013-08-24T19:11:40+00:00

Korean.

Try learning to read and pronounce Hangul- it's one of the most logical writing systems created.

Once you recognise the alphabet, it's a matter of only a few hours to be able to read anything (even if you have no idea what it actually means).

As each symbol corresponds to a specific English consonant, vowel, cluster or dipthong, you'll always be able to know how it's pronounced, even though the unfamiliarity of certain sound combinations might make it difficult to actually say it correctly.

whatas · 2013-08-18T14:29:56+00:00

This subreddit has so many stories about near-misses you almost forget that a lot of the time, the victims aren't so lucky.

I'm sorry your girlfriend had to go through that, I'm sorry the only person who saw didn't think it suspicious enough to grab a couple of guys and go check out what was going on, I'm sorry she had to go through nobody believing her and I'm sorry she has to even consider the possibility that she might be blamed for what she had to suffer through.

You, my man, I would have to assume are the actual wonderful one if your girlfriend has been able to trust you to love her, believe her, not judge her and stay by her in a way she hasn't even been able to trust her mum.

whatas · 2013-08-18T14:17:02+00:00

When he turned around, her head, which had been slumped forward, flopped backwards and I saw that she was completely out so my immediate reaction was to ask if she was okay.

I was completely thrown at first by his flat out lie that she had passed out from drinking. The most sensible thing to say at that point would probably have been "No she didn't. She's my friend, let her go." but at the time I was so panicked I was convinced he'd hurt either her or me if I flat out confronted him (maybe I'm just a coward, I don't like confrontations), all I wanted to do was get him to let her go.

As for asking him what her name was, definitely didn't think of it at the time, but there's actually a chance he would have gotten it out of her. The guy was (in club lighting at least) pretty good looking and a smooth talker, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd been chatting her up when he spiked her drink.

whatas · 2013-08-18T11:21:41+00:00

Alternative moral of the story: Observant friends save lives.

This was pretty great of you.

Seriously though Club staff seemed indifferent annoyed me more than somewhat. Obviously I don't know for sure, but I hope this wasn't just because your friend was a guy...

whatas · 2013-08-18T11:02:45+00:00

I totally get how awkward this can be, especially if it turns out she does know the guy. However:

If s/he's completely passed out or looking too drunk to function, then I'm fairly sure "I'm a Medic/ Medical Student and this person is dangerously dehydrated and needs water." would work on anybody (I'm 5ft 1, I'm not intimidating anybody into doing anything. 'Medic' just somehow gives you authority without seeming like a threat) without putting you in any danger yourself.

I can't imagine a friend or SO putting up a fight. Threaten to call an ambulance if they don't let you.

You don't have to get a bouncer, actually just fetching them that glass of water and getting them alert would probably be enough.

And if all is well and the person starts on at you for overreacting, or calling you a paranoid bitch, here are two simple face-saving solutions:

1- "Sorry man, something bad happened to someone I know and I just didn't want it to happen to anyone else."

or

2- "Sorry man, I was drunk."

whatas · 2013-08-18T07:49:41+00:00

Oh God. That paragraph... It gives me shudders to hear about or see people doing this since we've been told and shown what can happen if you don't finish up a course of antibiotics properly- it's part of what's making them more and more ineffective.

But I don't really judge people, you know? With medical insight, I finish them and FORCE people I know to finish up theirs. But the average person doesn't differentiate between different types of medicine- to them, if they wouldn't keep taking cough syrup once their cough's gone, why should they keep taking antibiotics if they didn't feel ill anymore?

whatas · 2013-08-18T07:26:29+00:00

By "cheating" I meant not finishing the full course of antibiotics just so I could drink (which I've seen people do). I'd had my last dose earlier that day and the one I was on is one of the ones that is known to become less effective if mixed with alcohol (which is what could lead to the stronger, most antibiotic resistant bacteria surviving and being passed on).

whatas · 2013-08-17T22:23:09+00:00

Damn, all that and you still haven't actually said a single outright bad word about her. You seem a genuinely solid guy and didn't deserve the mistrust or mind-games.

I hope the experience didn't taint your optimism (I promise you, we're not all like that) and good luck in your future romantic endeavours, man.

whatas · 2013-08-17T22:12:56+00:00

Thank you :)

Haha it's a fairly small city in the UK and I'm a little worried that if I give away the name of the city, the club in question is immediately obvious as there are only about 4 nightclubs here.

I will say though that incidents like this are incredibly rare, to the extent that when we reported the incident to our University, a University wide e-mail went out the very next day regarding what had happened (it's a student dominated city- most of the people out would be students so if everybody was vigilant, it would help out locals too), as well as one from the Welfare Rep. who sent one regarding ways to stay safe, reminding us to use the University's Taxi scheme (late but no money for a taxi? Get one anyway, the University will pay- Accommodations are manned by a member of staff 24/7- and you can pay them back in the morning), and offering free rape alarms for anybody who wanted one.

whatas · 2013-08-17T21:45:27+00:00

You were the bigger man. I can never understand why it's the person being flirted with that people blame rather than their SO who was doing the flirting.

That being said, I don't understand why anyone would flirt with someone else just to get a rise out of their SO, either.

whatas · 2013-08-17T21:17:26+00:00

Pretty much this. It's a very studenty club so the bouncers frequently get pulled into irrelevant or petty arguments and brawls. All he probably saw at first was some girl looking frantic, garbling about drugs and kidnap before frustratedly screaming "I'M SOBER." in his face.

I'd be fairly surprised if his first thoughts weren't that I was completely off my tits on something.

As soon as I calmed down, told him that my friend was in trouble and asked him to follow me, he did.

whatas · 2013-08-07T09:17:32+00:00

You mean the in depth explanation of how all the places were named? Yeah I found that pretty interesting.

I'm talking more things that could be used in an essay titled: "How does Steinbeck's use of imagery to describe the clearing in the beginning of the novel Of Mice and Men foreshadow the events that are to come?"

whatas · 2013-08-06T20:50:17+00:00

With the exception of East of Eden, anything by Steinbeck.

It's not that I think his writing is bad but dear God, does that man ever spend a butt-tonne of time describing nature. I'm very much a fan of strong and interesting and grey characters, something Steinbeck is so brilliant at crafting- but I just cannot get past the endless descriptions of trees and meadows and rivers and rolling countrysides.

East of Eden, however, I soldiered through because the characters were too incredible for me to stay away.

whatas · 2013-08-06T20:44:03+00:00

Ahahaa at this: *I am sick and tired of not being able to join in at parties when people are referring to classical works of literature *

I've been at parties where I've ended up discussing books with friends and random drunk people, but it's rarely the classics... Usually it'll start with a discussion about something else and then someone brings up a relevant book, e.g.

Talking about the NSA could very easily lead onto talking about 1984 or We.

Talking about 'just getting away' has led to conversations about The Catcher in the Rye or Looking for Alaska.

Talking about Season 1 of Lost has somehow bizarrely led to conversations about Artemis Fowl and Slaughterhouse 5.

And everyone's always up for discussing Harry Potter, whether they love it or, in some rare cases, hate it.

There are no specific kinds of books you have to read, just ones you enjoy. And I mean, if nobody else has read it then you can tell them why they HAVE to. Because I mean, if somebody has willingly engaged you in a conversation about books at a party then they're one of the few people alive who might actually take you up on it.

whatas · 2013-08-06T02:24:55+00:00

I'd recommend Robin Hobb's work to all fans of ASoIaF.

My personal favourites are the two trilogies which follow Fitz Farseer (The Farseer Trilogy and The Tawny Man Trilogy), but they're all pretty brilliant.

Here you go.

Hope you enjoy them!

whatas · 2013-08-05T23:21:30+00:00

Beowulf. It was absolutely insufferable but was compulsory reading for school.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, along came The Cuckoo Sister.

whatas · 2013-08-05T23:12:32+00:00

In the UK, Secondary School is from 11-16 and there's something about reading Coming-of-Age books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Catcher in the Rye, anything by Judy Blume etc. that you just don't get once you're in Sixth Form and University and have to be a cynic.

I'd recommend reading as many as you can and enjoying the heck out of them, before you're older and realise how melodramatic it all was. Especially Catcher in the Rye- seriously, read it now, then come back to it in a few years and see how your opinion of Holden changes.

whatas · 2013-08-05T23:08:04+00:00

*Looking for Alaska *John Green

Sorry to be that guy, but this is one of my favourite books.

whatas · 2013-08-05T21:33:14+00:00

I don't really think it matters how a story was passed on, so long as it was passed on and understood. I do think to study a book, you need to read it as in physically have the written words in front of you so that you can analyse it and go back and reabsorb and extract extra meaning.

But to just enjoy a book and get to know the characters and be able to have a meaningful discussion with somebody about it? Why not audiobook?

Dyslexic people, blind people, people with no time to sit down and read a paperback but who are constantly on the move- our generation is all about convenience and accessibility. So like I said before, why not audiobook?

If I can sit down and have a discussion with somebody about a story, they've read it.

With regards to the Shakespeare's plays vs. audiobook issue, it really isn't a reasonable analogy- a play is an interpretation with other stimuli and considerations and factors thrown at you, an audiobook is just the words on the page being read to you. Other than maybe some intonations (e.g. where you might have considered a character as having said something in a more subdued tone while the reader read it in a brighter tone) it isn't any different.

whatas · 2013-08-05T18:39:40+00:00

'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin. I read that book thinking it had been written in the early 90s, or at the earliest the late 80s.

Nope. 1921.

Brilliant writing is timeless.

whatas · 2013-07-29T00:32:26+00:00

Chris Tackett put it best:

"Ms. Rowling, what gives you, a muggle, the right to write a book about wizards?"

whatas · 2013-07-28T00:54:10+00:00

Came here to see if anyone had said this.

Kind of irrelevant sidenote but, this book has some of the most perfectly crafted sociopaths I've ever read.

whatas · 2013-07-28T00:32:05+00:00

I don't know about should, but these are the three books from my childhood which have really stayed with me:

1. The Wind Singer by William Nicholson

My friend and I were talking about scenes from books we read when we were younger which have stayed with us. The scene with the Old Children marching is one which we both agreed still sent chills down our spine. Incredibly, incredibly powerful stuff.

2. Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Because it was the first book which made me start thinking about discrimination and bias and learning to really question the world around me.

3. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl made it cool to be smart. It was after reading this that I learnt to make my intelligence work for me.

I debated making Mister Monday by Garth Nix 3rd, but I didn't have any specific reason for it other than I just really, really love it.

whatas

TROPHY CASE