Biggabertha

Unfortunately, I was stupid in this case - thank you for that large type up (but you've removed it all now so it's irrelevant), Anonymous but I understand what you meant by it. I made a mistake with this transaction and while it has costed me quite a severe amount of money, it's a lesson well learnt - do NOT ever try and be nice online (especially forums) without keeping yourself safe. If DukeTOGO really is ill, his "100% send it tomorrow" and such, would've come through and so on. Finally, because this was settled outside of eBay and I was trying to be nice, I sent the payment as a gift - you cannot dispute sending money as a gift and the way I paid also locked my bank out of it too. Suffice to say, I will never again, try and "save" a seller some fees, ever again and I would advise anyone else who reads this, not to be so easy as me to trust someone online. It was an expensive lesson and as tempting as it would be to release DukeTOGO's information publicly, I have a feeling that those details are likely to have been faked or even changed by now.

Another update: It's been over a month since the last message I've gotten from Duke TOGO - despite several reassurances and "100% get it to you tomorrow" kind of responses, I've had absolutely nothing at all or even a message back from him. I understand things are difficult for him healthwise and that life always comes first but this has been an extremely disappointing and frustrating experience.

Another update: still no goods from Duke TOGO and no reply to the text message I sent yesterday. While any number of things could have happened, being assured delivery last week has fallen through, which sucks. If I don't hear anything from him today, I'll start proceedings to reverse the charges. (After what I said about being careful... sheesh, what a bad example..)

Good start on being cautious with your addendum! One thing I've learnt from overhearing conversations on the matter, is you should try to imagine how would you attempt to overpower yourself. What would be the most likely attack that someone would use against you, that would work well on you? Then you think of counter measures for it - things like always keeping one hand in your pocket, clutching your keys as a makeshift knuckleduster. Most of the time, you only need to graze someone before they flee and you're within your right to defend yourself so long as you don't use excessive force. But keeping an eye on your drink and making sure that your meal(s) are never tampered with are good places to start.

Yes, keyword: moderation! The trouble about having something that tastes good is that one is tempted to overindulge from time to time! "Yes! I got a job! Time to celebrate!" "Yes! I got the platinum trophy! Time to celebrate!" "Yes! I got on the leaderboards! Time to celebrate!" ... and so on... But yeah, I'm lactose intolerant so even the milk in my tea doesn't do me any favours but it's tea so I DON'T CARE, MUSCLE THROUGH IT, NO BEING A WUSS Ahhh... I always imagine having my meals rather like a bento - with each food group in their own pile/part on the plate or bowl and then going from there, lol I'm very much a visual feaster!

Congratulations and well done! All the best to you and I hope things go well! Something that I'd just like to touch on though - please do be careful. What's worrying is that socially, men aren't really "taught" to be careful while women/girls are taught from a very young age to be extremely cautious (of men). Normally, when a guy is about to go on a date, the social norm would be to wish them luck with it and some even go as far as wishing they get "lucky." When a lady is about to go on a date, they're given all sorts of cautionary advice and it's all well-founded - but they're rarely wished luck or to get "lucky" the same way men are. In your situation, I hope for nothing but the best but I also would like you to be a little careful - at least on the first date! Would it be too personal to post a brief amount of detail to how things went on this blog..?

King Cold! Interestingly enough, in both the Japanese and Cantonese versions of Dragon Ball Z, the famous English scene where Goku's power level as measured by Vegeta is "OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAND!" is actually only eight thousand! Been meaning to get back to watching anime - hard to watch anime when you play a videogame though - subtitles are hard to read when you have a dual screen set up so devoting time out in the day to (binge) watch is a little trickier for those of us who haven't learnt how to manage their time better! I think I'll check out some of the popular stuff... like Bakuman, Sword Art Online and this Attack on Titan. Still have tons to get through (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Clannad, Seikon no Qwaser...) Eagerly waiting for Evangelion 4.0 but 2015!! Nuuu!!

It also depends on what kind of bacon you use! For some, the rindless bacons are some of the better bacons out there while others may prefer streaky bacon and so on! Personally, I've discovered the delights of cooking with real butter (such as steaks!) for about a year now and I can feel it on my waistline/veins! After going twenty or more years without using butter regularly to suddenly introducing it into my diet, my body must be going nuts! Yuki, would you serve that as is or would you eat it with boiled rice, more (sweet) potato or so on..?

Just posting because I'm concerned about there being no response from Duke TOGO for a week (nor has he logged on since), both by this forum and by text message. I'll send an email to the paypal address that I sent the money to and wait a few more days. Hopefully, nothing major's happened, I don't really want to reverse the charges.

Even pressing my nose against the screen, I couldn't make out the thin comics' numbers! Thanks, Yuki

Yeah... That's the trouble with Miso... Getting the ingredients is a pain but maybe they'll turn out like Balsamic Vinegar and boom in demand so production of them gets acceperated..? Ahhh.... I doubt it but still...! Yeah, it's surprising what a difference stocks make when cooking - freezing broth or soups tend to be often forgotten... Bovril was the bomb back in the day! Man.. Maybe I should get a jar of Bovril sometime... (Reminds me of days when a pack of Polos were 12p!) Yeah, it's a chinese based curry but I wasn't a fan until my sister persuaded me to keep eating it and when I finally DID start liking it, she got pregnant and went off of it, blah! Eating alone sucks!

Yes! I would like/want them! Awesome - I don't think I can Private Message yet since I signed up today/a few hours ago but I assume you would accept PayPal? I think my PayPal is wired up as an echeque when I'm doing anything other than paying for goods or donating - so it may take a few days to clear. In the meantime, would you be able to get a delivery estimate/quote on them..? Twenty two japanese manga (or are they chinese..? They seem very honji/Kanji heavy on the cover) and three english books are fairly heavy - my English DragonBall collection is sixteen volumes and come to around five kilos. You may need to go with Parcelforce 48 rather than Recorded Delivery or Special Delivery.

"Hey wow, eighteen Guyver manga, volumes eight to twenty-two and three English ones I've never seen - nice collection!" *scrolls down* *nearly spits out tea* "FORTY NINE BOOKS?!" Seeing as postage within the UK (with Royal Mail being as they are...) could hurt... would you be happy with £150 + postage?

First thing's first: Yuki: "I can't be bothered to cook my own tea" Wow, what a nice topic! SO nice to see the development (from no cooking repertoire to more challenging dishes!) and enthusiasm here! If there are any more miso soup tips/methods, I would REALLY like to know them! I've been pretty happy with the sachet ones bought from TESCO but they're so expensive and chock full of preservatives (and salt). I think that curries can be improved greatly by making a large batch of stock and then keeping it cool with a film of vegetable oil covering it. My dad used to make some great curry stock before he started forgetting what he put into it. Off of the top of my head there was: Flour Madras Powder (I think that that's just normal curry powder) Vegetable oil Garlic Ginger White Ginger powder Sharlots Leeks Onions Bayleaf (like the pokémon!) Coriander Cinnamon Five Spice Citrus peel (lemon, lime and orange) Banana peel It was a really big pot and always an effort to carry from the cooker to under the table - always taking at least two people to do so! (We've even kept the stick that's stirred the same pot for over thirty years!) I really like a mix of ginger and spring onion dressing with my white meat. It's one of the very few bits of flavouring that I have with my food. It can be a little too oily for me but I really like it when it's done just right (still can't do it as good as my parents...) A very nice dressing I tasted when I was at my friend's place was a mix of Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil - went very well with anything to do with bread. Thousand year old eggs are so not for me! Neither are salted duck eggs or congee! I used to have to add a dollop of Bovril just to be able to eat my congee when I was young and it kinda defeats the purpose of it, I feel, if I'm having almost equal parts congee and Bovril, lol Errr... onto what I eat... I looooooove the idea of a full English Breakfast! Before my local greasy spoons closed down while I was at University, I was always tempted to get their gut buster! Nowadays, I settle with having Jordan's Crunchy Oats and Crispy Nuts instead. If I'm gonna cook, it'll be some kind of omelette and ham sandwich for something warm or if I have the time, I'll steam then stir-fry vegetables with either quorn mince or leftover meat and leftover rice (for an impromptu fried rice). After getting bollocked to no end about adding Bovril to my congee, I've grown so used to having bland food that I just never add any sauce, condiments, salt, pepper, spice or even soy sauce/ketchup to any of my food - but I do buy expensive ingredients... (Debbie & Andrews Harrogate Sausages, roasted ham joint from a local butcher, local eggs (that SAY they're Free Range but who knows, right..?), (corn fed) whole chicken etc.) Having McDonald's and KFC over twenty miles away helps to keep my fast food intake down but when I do eat there, I binge pretty badly (I always order fries with no salt so you get fresh fries! I know I'm being a dick, I'm sorry but cold chips SUCK!)