Do you surprise your man?

"Do you ever surprise your man? Other than giving him gifts on his birthday or anniversary, do you surprise him? Do you tell him suddenly one fine morning, how much he means to you? Do you send him a note telling him how much you value his love? Do you make him feel good about himself by appreciating his qualities amongst friends? Do you make him feel happy with your surprises? Many women don't.

Every man likes appreciation. A man gets tired with the constant demands of his work. Sometimes few women don't support their men positively. They love to criticize and find faults. They forget and ignore his good qualities. How can they expect good relationships?"

One of the incredibly nice things to do for a man is to buy him flowers. Women receive flowers for special occasions and sometimes for no reason at all but men don't often receive flowers very often so sending him with a bouquet will be a welcomed surprise. He will appreciate the novelty of the gift and be delighted with the gesture.

Scuba diving

The Great Lies of Scuba Diving

• Sure, anyone can learn to dive!
• Diving is perfectly safe!
• Nah, you don't have to be a good swimmer to dive
• You can learn to dive in just three days!

The ways to freak out the new diver onboard

• Have him actually read the disclaimer form.
• Tell her that everyone was commenting on how her butt looks much bigger underwater.

The signs you should quit scuba diving

• When someone tells you that you must have dropped ten pounds, you look around for your weight belt.
• You wake up and immediately backroll out of your bed.

Fish out of water

My boyfriend enjoys SCUBA so naturally I was interested.

Scuba diving equipment has everything a man could wish for: valves (chrome), dials (luminous), compass (scientific) gas bottle (dangerous) and wet suit (cool). Nothing can really prepare you for your first experience of diving. If you imagine jumping into those IKEA coloured balls in the children's area and having Vanessa Feltz sit on top of you it might come close to the feeling. Even though you are only in a swimming pool there is a massive feeling of claustrophobia as you sink deeper and deeper underwater. The only thing keeping you alive is the breathing regulator in your mouth, which you grip on with your teeth as if your life depends on it. As indeed it does. You suck on that regulator like a piglet on it's mothers teat, looking mental with your bulging eyes and wild Don King hair. Learner divers are not an attractive sight.

I didn't enjoy ANY of my first diving experience. You get into trouble. You freak out. You get into more trouble. You freak out, this time with gusto. One thing leads to another.

Many reasons have been kicked around for the increase in incidents, but I believe the answer is very simple. The increased demand for agencies and instructors to train more and more divers has led to shorter, cheaper courses being run for relatively inexperienced divers. The inevitable result has been a drop in training standards and the emergence of a new breed of divers who simply are not adequately prepared to make deep mixed gas.

This is why we've had so many accidents – inexperienced divers have a minor problem and freak out. The thing is, if nobody tells you you're not ready to make these sorts of dives, how can you be expected to know until it's too late? Don't rush into teaching something you're not ready for.

My advice: Choose an instructor who cares. The casual ego centered instructor, male or female, who feels like he's the brave one because he can dive, who shows ridicule or lack of patience will make your lessons miserable, and you may never want to try again. Search for the instructor who is really a teacher and not just a person who relates the facts and techniques. The good instructor must be able to let you, the student, control the learning situation.

Blue

I like words and images. 'Blue' was one of my favourite words. I liked the feeling it made on my lips and tongue when I said it. Words have physical feeling, not just meaning.

Tokyo National Museum Hyokeikan

日本

現在是日本的梅雨季節。的確如此，綿綿不斷的細雨一直伴隨著此次日本之行。據說，全世界範圍內的梅雨現象是東亞特有的——中國的江南和日本。事實上，梅雨的說法也是由中國傳到日本的，早在漢代，有“賀梅子”外號的詩人賀鑄就寫下了“一川煙草，滿城風絮，梅子黃梅雨”的詩句，“梅雨”因此而來。

在東京街頭步行了三、四個小時，雖然已是深夜，但夜東京依然燈火輝煌，依然井然有序，一切都是那麼有秩序，和白天一樣。在東京大多數人都是坐地鐵上下班，大多數人工作生活狀態類似。在日本生活就是這樣清晰明瞭一切都是按部就班，沒有太多後顧之憂，沒有什麼意外發生，其實這就是生活，正常的生活。下班之後有人娛樂或喝酒，有人看書，有人談戀愛，每個人都在做自己應該做或喜歡作的事。

其實，人在哪里，生活的內容實質都是一樣的，吃喝拉撒遊購娛，區別就在於品質，在於心態，是否有一種物質與精神的雙重滿足感。免於物質匱乏，免於精神恐懼，公平、正義、言論自由、心情舒暢，對未來有預期，沒有恐懼感，這才是一個正常社會，一個理想之國。這樣的國家與社會才是值得它的公民引以為豪，發自內心去熱愛。否則奢談愛國主義甚至強迫人們去愛國，那又有什麼意義呢？所以，在日本，一般是不會灌輸什麼愛國主義的，因為，老百姓心中自有一桿秤。

Happy Birthday to YOU

It's your birthday! But you don't look any older;

You don't sound any older;

You don't act any older...

Are you sure this birthday is really necessary?

I would rather be at 30 than going back to 20. I may have worse eyesight, may be slower in response, but I believe I am a better gal than when I was 20, so I don't give a damn on the youth thing.

Clingy feeling