Darkora - Nik's Blog

Day Three - Love

“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.” ~ Brandi Snyder

Love is certainly one of the more... complicated emotions, one that is never the same twice. I feel privileged to have experienced love a few times in my short existence to date, I won't go into the sordid details because 1) a gentleman never kisses and tells and 2) it's none of your gorram business :p. Unfortunately (as I have learned through a lot of pain) lust can seem very similar to love at first sight and so the only way to truly find out is by riding it out and seeing where it leads.

Obviously, so far I've merely covered Eros (erotic love as defined by the greeks) and briefly mentioned Thelema (lust) however the greeks identified three other forms of love too;

Agape - which is defined as an unconditional, self sacrificing love - something that has been identified with religious experience though is also reserved for close loved ones like a partner or a child. Until recently I couldn't've said I'd experienced this, as I'm not in the slightest bit religious nor do I have any children however I admit that my feelings for my amazing girlfriend Amanda seem to have merged into this category - I would truly do anything for her (even though she can drive me crazy sometimes :P)

Philia - Brotherly love or close friendship, is again something I am blessed with - despite the fact that I am an only child, I feel a close bond with my best friends - while I cannot compare this directly with brotherly love, I can only estimate that it's roughly there... :P

Storge - is defined as familial love, something else I can certainly say I am blessed with, being part of a close knit family.

As far as I see it, love is an essential part of life in all its forms, for a start it keeps things ever changing, but also it is the glue that binds people together and has allowed us to create the great dynamic culture in which we live...

I probably rambled quite a bit there but Love is quite a hard abstract to talk about without going all tangential, though I must admit the timing is rather apt seeing as it's V day tomorrow...

Nik

We mourn. We remember.  We stand with the LGBTQ community against hate and violence.

Day Sixteen - The Weather; Return of the Haiku

The great British Summer

Best weather of the year! Beach time!

Oh Wait, it's still raining

Nobody in the history of planet Earth has fumbled so badly

I don’t even want to write a review of “Top Gun: Maverick” honestly, I’ve seen 1,500+ movies and I’ve never finished one that left me more depressed about the future of this country. I just want to stop thinking about it

No country should be allowed control over the internet,

least of all when the techniques they're talking about using are the same ones they decry the use of in China,

If this bill passes it could honestly be a death knell for the internet - please sign the petition.

This Bill must NEVER be passed!!! Spread the word and sign the petition!

US Helplines:

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

Child Abuse: 1-800-422-4453

UK Helplines:

Samaritans (for any problem): 08457909090 e-mail jo@samaritans.org

Childline (for anyone under 18 with any problem): 08001111

Mind infoline (mental health information): 0300 123 3393 e-mail: info@mind.org.uk

Mind legal advice (for people who need mental-health related legal advice): 0300 466 6463 legal@mind.org.uk

b-eat eating disorder support: 0845 634 14 14 (only open Mon-Fri 10.30am-8.30pm and Saturday 1pm-4.30pm) e-mail: help@b-eat.co.uk

b-eat youthline (for under 25’s with eating disorders): 08456347650 (open Mon-Fri 4.30pm - 8.30pm, Saturday 1pm-4.30pm)

Cruse Bereavement Care: 08444779400 e-mail: helpline@cruse.org.uk

Frank (information and advice on drugs): 0800776600

Drinkline: 0800 9178282

Rape Crisis England & Wales: 0808 802 9999 1(open 2 - 2.30pm 7 - 9.30pm) e-mail info@rapecrisis.org.uk

Rape Crisis Scotland: 08088 01 03 02 every day, 6pm to midnight

India Self Harm Hotline: 00 08001006614

India Suicide Helpline: 022-27546669

Kids Help Phone (Canada): 1-800-668-6868

FREE 24/7 suicide hotlines:

Argentina: 54-0223-493-0430

Australia: 13-11-14

Austria: 01-713-3374

Barbados: 429-9999

Belgium: 106

Botswana: 391-1270

Brazil: 21-233-9191

China: 852-2382-0000

(Hong Kong: 2389-2222)

Costa Rica: 606-253-5439

Croatia: 01-4833-888

Cyprus: 357-77-77-72-67

Czech Republic: 222-580-697, 476-701-908

Denmark: 70-201-201

Egypt: 762-1602

Estonia: 6-558-088

Finland: 040-5032199

France: 01-45-39-4000

Germany: 0800-181-0721

Greece: 1018

Guatemala: 502-234-1239

Holland: 0900-0767

Honduras: 504-237-3623

Hungary: 06-80-820-111

Iceland: 44-0-8457-90-90-90

Israel: 09-8892333

Italy: 06-705-4444

Japan: 3-5286-9090

Latvia: 6722-2922, 2772-2292

Malaysia: 03-756-8144

(Singapore: 1-800-221-4444)

Mexico: 525-510-2550

Netherlands: 0900-0767

New Zealand: 4-473-9739

New Guinea: 675-326-0011

Nicaragua: 505-268-6171

Norway: 47-815-33-300

Philippines: 02-896-9191

Poland: 52-70-000

Portugal: 239-72-10-10

Russia: 8-20-222-82-10

Spain: 91-459-00-50

South Africa: 0861-322-322

South Korea: 2-715-8600

Sweden: 031-711-2400

Switzerland: 143

Taiwan: 0800-788-995

Thailand: 02-249-9977

Trinidad and Tobago: 868-645-2800

Ukraine: 0487-327715

(Source)

Day Five - List of things I fancy doing

To some extent, this is my 'bucket list'

See the earth from space (Bill Bailey: Conveniently missing out 'become an astronaut')

Visit Australia

Learn to Drive

Fly faster than the speed of sound

Get Married & Have kids

Have more money than I know what to do with

Go Zorbing!

Learn to play an instrument

Finally finish working on my RPG system that I started six months ago

Play an MMO to completion (Max Level and do all the end content)

Learn Japanese

Stand at the summit of a mountain

See a tiger in the wild

be chokeslammed by The Undertaker

I dare say there are more things that should go on this list but that's all I can think of.

Nik