*** Quick report on our Online Chat Conference (Saturday, 06/2/2006) ***

SPECIAL REPORT
What: SEC''s Online Chat Conference
When: Saturday, 05/27/2006 (11am-1ish pm)
Who: King67, Tao_lao, Coldbutcool, Kany, Satori

This week we had an urgent call for another online chat conference on Saturday since our meeting on Friday did not have enough participants. I''d like to have a quick report on this special event so that those who couldn''t make it to join us knew what was going on, and decide on joining us next times!

We had a pre-session meeting on Yahoo!Messenger to gather up and quickly introduce ourselves to each other. Then we held the main session on Skype The audio systems were all perfect except for mine (Satori''s), ''cuz my comp has been ill for a while. However, acknowledging the importance of this meeting, it tried its best - and I tried my best. (Clap clap to my comp and myself

Since we had only 5 people for a Skype session when we were supposed to have different groups to discuss on a weekly topic (this week''s topic is DEPRESSION), we started out with some informal talk. Nevertheless, we had chance to discuss on depression.

You would be amazed to find out that everyone had some experience at different levels and in various situations which are depression-related. Starting from the common STRESS that we all suffer from in one way or another, some of us may find ourselves stuck in depression, a more severe form of stress. (Please see the topic "Depression" started by king67 in our forum for more real-life experience) For instance, Kany and coldbutcool said that they were stressed rather than depressed, and suggested some ways to get out of it: traveling, drawing, hanging out with friends, talking with our close buddies, etc.

Meanwhile, king67 and me (Satori) experienced depression and have different reasons. king was pretty much stuck in his emotions about an old relationship (which I am not gonna go further to talk about since this is pretty personal ) - this may have happened to you all and you almost totally change your mood, sleeping and eating patterns, inner motivation, etc. It happened to me since I''ve been away from home and had to adjust to a new culture, new people, new ways of life.

Depression reached me at a stage when I even had some thought of suicide (though never tried to harm myself), but then I tried to get involved in activities, photography, reading, music, etc. and of course studying. My view about it is "So far, so good." It takes time to get us into real depression, and it takes (somehow always longer) time to get ourselves out of it. It takes effort and will also.

The discussion would have been more exciting if we had more members involved. Maybe the topic of depression sounds "dry" and not directly related to you personally, but someday you may find your friend thinking of suicide or isolating her/himself from the others; or someday you may find yourself knowing nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no one to share your mixed feelings with. Depression can reach everyone. We hope that if you ever feel lonely or hopeless or any down-kind of mood, try to do something else to distract your concentration on negative thoughts. If you can''t find anyone to call from your long-list phonebook, go online - find any of us, or write something out. Don''t be shy to express your feelings at those times - it''s more of a shame when we do nothing about it to change the situation. Once you are willing to do just anything at the positive side, you have more chance to get out of your depression, and get stronger after.

So, though the topic of depression was discussed today in our small group, it''s not closed yet. It''ll still be opened to anyone at anytime who needs help and share.

Finally, I''d like to thank King67, Tao_lao, coldbutcool, Kany, and epsecially Dimi. Your commitment and enthusiasm for SEC are absolutely incredible. I am really sorry that my schedule has been hectic (as well as my student life with all the dorm change, new classes, and all other social stuff) - but just as Dimi said, we never leave SEC. It''s in our heart.

Sis Dimi, it''s been a while and SEC has seen a lot of changes. The fact that this box still exists now proves that you have done a wonderful job and dedicated a lot into it. I am not gonna say any cliche or tasteless compliment or something - but I''d really love to thank YOU again for having kept SEC running until now. It will still be, especially now we have some new enthusiastic members, who will help us to get more and more members involved actively in SEC.

So everyone, thanks again for your participation, we had a great time together today. The next meeting''s details will be posted soon - plz keep updating yourself with latest information on SEC''s coming-up topics and events!!!


Have a great new + productive week! ^_^

Well I dunno why my one '' turns to be multiple '''''''''''' everywhere... It has been like that for a while with every post of mine in TTVN. Plz let me know how to fix it. Thanks!

Satori, your return means a big boost of excitement to this little community. Seriously, I wouldn''t know what to do last night if you didn''t show up. Just as the meeting appeared heading into another disastrous halt, you appeared and picked me right up. Yes, I was disappointed and frustrated at the low participating rate last night. However, with your help, I was encouraged enough to manage to get one whole group for the conference.
Beside from that, I think we had a great time last night. The discussion was very formal and friendly. Satori already went over last night conversation so I don''t want to repeat again. At the end, we switched to Vietnamese and talked about all kind of stuff, Manga, food, vacation hot spots, blah blah. I really did have a great time yesterday and I think other participants would feel the same thing.
Once again, thank you all for who had come to the meeting last night. I owe you guys my gratitude that someday I will pay off.
King

Oh yeah, let me mention the manga a lil bit to clear those for you
Manga = Japanese comic books (truyện tranh Nhật Bản) When these are made into cartoon movies, the movies are called anime. Not anime has to come from a manga though. (It''s just like not all movies come from a novel )
It''s much easier to buy manga (translated into Vietnamese) in Vietnam than in the US (where manga is much more expensive), so it''s understandable that you''re not familliar with that
Plus, some people think they''re over-aged for those amazing manga/anime already... Ayye........ what a pity! I still love manga!!!!!!!!!!
Some of my favorites: Doraemon (not really sure if this one is called manga too... but I think so..), Black Jack (Bác sĩ quái dị), Monster, Anatolia Story (Dòng sông huyền bí), Phoenix (Chim lửa), Glass Mask (Mặt nạ thủy tinh), Rurouni Kenshin, Magic Knight Rayearth, HunterXHunter, Conan, Kindaichi ....... Tezuka is def my top favorite artist! Recently I saw one of his manga called Buddha telling + fictionizing about Prince Siddhartha (Lord Buddha)''s life. It''s a fascinating story - I stood in the bookstore to read it cuz didn''t have $ to buy, totally concentrated Goodness, two thumbs up to Tezuka! (If I had more thumbs I''d give him all )

Satori, pls share with me some space of yours for our meeting report last weekend. Thx.
Our group members: Aquarain(rain0, Coolbutcold (CBC), The big boss Dimi, and me. I am sorry that I am lazy to write a short report, so please be patient to read the long one.
After coping with initial problems such as rubber clock and very banana Skype netwoek we gather enough talented eighter to start our very excited disussion at 1 hour sharp delay from offical time 10 pm. Dimi , our big boss, is also our host who asks each member all the killing and headache questions listed by herself .
CBC, rain and I have the simplest answer for the first question ''''What are your criteria for ideal lover/ partner?'''', we dun have any specific criterias. Our high demadning big boss comes out with a long list of qualities which I believe I dun have enough time to list them all in this long report. I just list some; masculine (manly from in to out, from physical to soul ), talented, condident, and loyalty (sercurity). We skipped the second question because of our unenthusiastic responses in the first one. It is suprised that our member is not very condident to see them as an ideal lover when Dimi moved to 3rd question:'''' How many percent do you think that you are an ideal lover?''''
'' A confident man impressed me, in the way he talks and behaves'', said Dimi when she was asked ''what impress you the most in a lady/man?'' CBC is impressed by a intelligent man who is able to answer all of her questions. After finishing 3 questions we move to three case studies of win-lose, trade-off , live or death situations. First, what will you do if your ideal lover is not available? Dimi choose to wait until her ideal lover will available while the rest of us want to walk away.
Once again, we were put a tradegy in the second case study: how do we feel or what to do if your lover has very good memory and make comparision between you and his oldies. For me, such kind of things are unavoidable in our life, I choose to accept it ( Girls, dun tell me about your ex-boyfriends to challenge me, I had dozens of girl to make you suffer, just kidding). Our ladies were a bit uneasy in this case'' Between her and I, you have to choose'' (guys please notice, dun make a silly mistake here.)
In the 3rd situation, we are required to make a life/death decision: choose between the one we love or the one who love us and make us happy. Our boss chooses the latter because it not easy to find a guy who can make her feel happy. CBC goes for the guy she loves. She is the one who can die for love. Rain just wants to make her parents happy that will be her con***ion in her marriage. Her answer is not alighted with both options. That ends my report ()
Thank all the ladies for sharing. I had a good time and discussion. I felt very excited abou that. Sorry if I did not remember the facts correctly . Please feel free to correct me. Thanks.
Được tao_lao sửa chữa / chuyển vào 17:15 ngày 04/06/2006

Thanks for the update, Tao_lao. I wanted to join but could not make it. You know I''m interested in this topic (and well, who doesn''t?)
Take care!

Participants: dieptam, mynuong, sillyboy, and King
I''ll make this report short and let the other members chip in the missing parts.
Like bro TaoLao said ealier, there was some technical problems with Skype that caused a very bad sound quality. Fortunately, the network improved as we moved further into the discussion.
We indeed had a very fascinating topic this week, regarding the choice and perspective of an ideal lover. The members were very enthusiastic to talk about this matter. I was about to quit the discussion because of the sound problem. But MyNuong told me to keep on and discuss this topic. Good spirit there meaningless
For the first question, our criteria are charm, intelligence, and the most important factor is faithfulness. Most of us seem to be very satisfied with ourselves as an ideal lover. MyNuong even said she is 99% to be a perfect lover. Wow, I''m wondering who would be the lucky guy to be her boyfriend. For myself, I''m not that confident in my ability. I think I''m a very bad lover and there are a lot of things I need to improve. So I said I''m only around 25% on my way to become an ideal lover.
After that, we discussed how can a lady/gentleman impress us. We all seem to agree that the voice of a person can have some influence on us. For this matter, I''m fascnated by diep_tam''s voice. She came from Nha Trang so her voice is very soft and sweet. And then, the person''s look can also be a significant factor that impresses us. As we get to know the person more, his or her intelligence would be more important to decide whether we still like that person, or decide to dump him/her.
After we finished this question, I had to do something for my dad; therefore MyNuong took over my role as a host. I will let her finish the rest of the report. Good luck

I want to share with you something that I can remember. But before I can start, I want to say something about why I think I can be an ideal lover about 99%. Maybe you have some con***ions to find a right partner but to me I do not care much of that. I feel happy when I am in love and I love with all I have and what I am, that''s all. I want to enjoy every minute when I am with my partner. Noone knows what will happen tomorrow so whenever you can have a change to be happy, to love and to be loved, i think we should take it immediately. I want to give you some poem that I have learned. It is useful for you to think about .
(In English version, you may find it isn''t written in a good way, because it is transelated into English from Vietnamese)

HAS IT EVER...?
Has it ever happened that in life''s exciting path
We passed each other by mistake
Wandering steps knowing that we were losing
A soul that we''d been waiting for so long.​

And here is the Vietnamese version

CÓ KHI NÀO...?
Có khi nào trên đường đời tấp nập
Ta vô tình đi lướt qua nhau
Bước lơ đãng chẳng ngờ đang để mất
Một tâm hồn ta đã đợi từ lâu​

You know, the rest of our dicussion was quite good, I think that .
About the case study 1 I am sorry to you, Sillyboy and Diep_tam. You, guys, stucked in that situation but I am so proud of you when you can overcome it. You are so great!. It is so difficult for you when you see your boyfriend/girlfriend going out with their lovers. You must be so sad, right? You did say her/his happiness is yours and you should respect them. I think not all of us can face to that problem like you. Now, you are just friends, it is fine because sometimes your boyfriend/girlfriend needs your shoulder and hope you can give her/his a hand. Do you agree with me?.
we moved on case study 2 without King. In this situation all of us isso sad if our partners compare us with their ex-one. Sillyboy thinks that It can happen but it cannot be repeated many times. He can feel better if his girlfriend can share with him about that memory, not comparision. But Diep_Tam said that she would tell her boyfriend about how sad she would be if he compared her and his ex-one and asked him not to do it again, am I right, Diep_tam?
After that King came back and He said something about his feeling when he meet that two problems. In the first issue, If his girlfriend married, he should respect her choice. He has the same thought with us about her happiness is his. But if she only has boyfriend and she doesn''t feel happy at all, King will try to persuave her to make she changes her mind and comes to him. In case study 2, King thought that his girlfriend doesn''t not respect him if she compares him and her ex-one. It is unacceptable.
And the last case, we all chose the first person. We thought that in the first person, he/she also possesses some criteria.
King, that is all what I can remember. Diep_tam or Sillyboy can you add more to fulfill it. Thank you all and hope you all in SEC can find your right partner and me, too. heheheh!