shiner

A lot of times when that happens one of the two starts wanting to be more than just friends, if they are both single. But I think it is possible.

Brighton Beach is a hard core Russian-Jewish immigrant pocket. That's where the Russian Mafia started out its U.S. operations. A good book to read on that subject is Red Mafyia by Friedman.

Happy Birthday!!

I heard Bin Laden was the head of the CIA in Saudi Arabia. Then he got pissed when the U.S. dumped him. Is this true?

Happy Birthday! May all your wishes come true!

I see, if there is an affective way to control (limit) access, they probably have some. But I imagine controlling access for so many people for so many sites is pretty hard. The mirror is a cool idea.

I wander if people in countries governed by totalitarian regimes such as Cuba and North Korea have internet access. This would allow them to completely transcend the boundaries set for them. Does anybody know?

There's another thread in this forum on "happiness". I want to start one on "confidence". What exactly is "confidence"?

Actually I don't know what they are like. But I found this article about them. Even though they are pretty famous there isn't much on the web about them. Since the formation of The Apex Theory in 1999, the members of this Los Angeles quartet have paid respect to their musical roots. Andy Khachaturian (vocals), Art Karamian (guitar) and David Hakopyan (bass) are all of Armenian descent. Sammy J. Watson (drums) is not, but he is nonetheless a key factor in the group’s “heavy Mediterranean groove.” Three quarters of the band were raised in the Los Angeles area; Watson grew up in Chimacum, Wash. As teens they sponged up a variety of musical genres, from heavy metal and pop to jazz and classical. But before then, David, Art and Andy were already absorbing the Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Near Eastern music they heard at home. The Apex Theory’s past goes back to junior high, when Andy and David met as students attending a private Armenian school in Hollywood. The pair played in numerous bands together and separately throughout their high school years. Meanwhile, Andy met Art in another pre-Apex band, and the band began to take its present shape. Andy, David and Art had almost given up on finding a drummer when Andy heard Sammy playing in another band and invited him to sit in with The Apex Theory. The band played its first formal showcase in March 1999 at the famed Troubadour in West Hollywood. The four-piece quickly developed a rep for intense live performances, packing clubs all over Hollywood and attracting an army of record company A&R scouts. Apex later recorded a show at The Roxy, burning their own CDs of the gig, which they made available to fans at performances. Encouraged by the energetic response, the band went into a Van Nuys, Calif., studio in 2000 and cut their debut recording, the EP extendemo, which they also released on their own. Ultimately, DreamWorks Records principal Michael Goldstone tendered them an offer they could not refuse. In early 2001, the band entered NRG Studios in L.A. with producer Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Sugar Ray, Lit, Eve 6, Pearl Jam) to cut the material bound for The Apex Theory, the band’s first major-label debut, released Oct. 9, 2001

Hmayk, What do you mean by "creator"?

I saw Hyesingles. I thought it was pretty cool. They give very detailed profiles, pictures, etc. I haven't gotten into it yet, but I can see myself doing it later on. Chances are nothing will come out of it but it wouldn't hurt either. I think the Online thing doesn't sound as radical as it used to.

You definitely need the 3 things you mentioned. It is important to have goals, so that you can work towards them. In the process you have to make sure your work is amounting to something. But to have the focus and perseverence these goals must be heartfelt, you must have that inner drive. So you really can't let others set those goals for you, or you can't copy other people. You must have your own, and these arise from the way your daily life unfolds. It's true there are some who never develop any. This is not good. I guess eventually you should make a more conscious effort, but while young you can let things arise as long as you have the overall desire to accomplish something. The important thing is exposing yourself to a wide range of things.

There is also "The Apex Theory"

Is happiness the ability to share your feelings? If I feel something and nobody else around me feels it could I be happy? I guess I'm talking more on the long term.

Harut, You don't have to make such a great conscious effort in setting your priorities just yet. Along the way they will come to you naturally, based on your experiences and how your life unfolds. Right now you can just have the motto "I still don't know exactly what I'm gonna do, I'm taking it day by day". As long as you don't do anything too messed up, you will learn, develop, and become whoever you will become. If you are still in college you still have time. Maybe there are those around you who say they want to get married, or they want to go to law school, or they want to own some business, or travel. But everybody's different. They're plans will not necessarily work out. Many follow one path only to change themselves later. Even though they act all convinced they are not sure either. Some feel they need to do certain things to uphold a certain image, etc. The only thing you can do right now in my opinion, is expose yourself to as many different environments, people, things, etc as possible. Give yourself as much of a chance as you can to see things with your own eyes, and experience them on your own. Then you don't have to count on other people's opinions to form yours, and I think this is very important in this society. Try to be as open minded as you can through the process.

In the "character and psyche" part they mention how Armenians act differently among foreigners, placing them in higher regard. This may be true in some situations, but it is countered by "Armenians are the best and unique" mentality in other situations.

You guys should also read the "character and psyche" part. I think it's true (it gets more and more true the farther you go back in time). Whoever wrote this did a good job. They mentioned both negatives and positives as part of one phenomenon. It's up to the reader to decide whether the whole phenomenon is good or bad. Actually it had a very factual tone to me (but it's funny, interesting, and true that it can also be considered satyrical).

Halys80, Very well said about the "marriage between families" thing. If you come from a typical Armenian family, marrying a nonArmenian will definitely alienate you from your parents. I'm not saying they'll love you less, or you'll love them less, but by default there will be a certain degree of alienation. This happens even if they approve of the nonArmenian person. As far as your immediate family assesing the situation from an outsider point of view: most traditional Armenian parents have this "my little boy (who is past 30) is perfect and too good for anybody other than who I think is right", "my little baby girl (who is also past 30) is a princess and nobody is worthy of her unless I know their parents etc.", "my little boy/girl still needs me to approve every decision they take because they are so innocent, etc". A better person to give you their opinion (or at least balance the view of parents) is a really, really good friend, especially a friend that you grew up with. Many don't have this luxury of a friend. But maybe a sister or brother, who is more you peer and in tune with what's going on.

Harut, You are right, it is possible to be an immigrant without having hard core "old world" views. Actually, now that I think about it, my parents who are immigrants also, don't have hard core "old world" views either. But oftentimes the two go hand in hand. Of course, it depends on the person though and how well integrated they are to modern day society. Maybe I should just use "old-world" to refer to those who apply 19th/early 20th century standards to life in the 21st century. They don't realize that the society they grew up in is COMPLETELY different than the society their kids are growing up in.

Her advice makes more sense now because you have come to those conclusions yourself based on your own experiences. There is a differnce between reaching an opinion based on your own experiences, and having an opinion because someone else told you to believe it. I think when we merely listen to someone we are not as convinced of what they tell us, as the times when we go through these experiences ourselves. Many Armenian parents don't realize this.

Have ya'll seen John Edwards and others communicate with spirits of the dead? Is this true? If so, what does it prove?

Even though immigrant/old world parents want what's best, they want to CUSTOMIZE their children's lives to fit their own needs/ideologies/views. They also get involved in your career choices, and every other aspect of your life. They dictate what you do under the pretext of offering you "guidance". It is this excessive "guidance" that prevents you from becoming your own person. Their motto is you can do whatever you want as long as it's "appropriate" (a word used to describe their own narrowminded views).

Nairi, You are right. I think that environment has an affect on you. For some reason Europe (especially the Netherlands) is much more liberal on drugs than the U.S. and the rest of the world. I wonder why. Over there going out to a club and "popping a pill" is equivalent to going out and "having a few drinks" in other places. So obviously it's no big deal. Experimenting with drugs is not necessarily bad (especially soft drugs like weed). The problem is that what starts out as experimentation or casual, recreational use degenarates into something much worse. And there are certain drugs that are beyond experimental and shouldn't even be touched. If you have something going for you in life to keep you motivated while sober, something to live for while sober, and a very stable life, recreational use is less likely to degenarate. It's just a good way to relax, let loose, maybe see things in a different (but not necessarily happier or less accurate) way. It's just like drinking. It's cool to go out with friends on a Friday night and have a jolly good time, but being an alcoholic with nothing else than the bottle to live for is a completely different story. But everybody is different. It affects everybody differently. Some actually hate it.

Sev mard, Yeah, kids are very curious and innocent. The same thing would probably happen if a white person would be seen in a remote part of Africa.

Sev mard, I don't know about now, but before the 1990's a lot of those countries you mentioned had no blacks at all. So people in those countries have no idea what blacks really are like, but they have major perceptions (illusions) that blacks are inferior, violent, etc. I don't know where these illusions come from (that is a different topic). It could be old movies, or images of poor Africa, gossipy stories, or other things that they had limited access to. Now that you mentioned this, I remeber an incident from my childhood. I grew up in Romania in the 80's. I was playing outside with some kids and a black guy happened to pass by (very rare occurence, maybe he was a student from Africa or a diplomat). We were all like "Look there's a black guy", We were staring at him like a bunch of fools, as if he was an alien. But in some ways he was, because we had never seen a live black person before and it was something extremely unusual for us, especially as little kids.