Anthony P

I have a female friend whom I have recently (within the past two months or so) had a really burning desire to ask out. We have been friends for quite a while now, but I have concluded that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I did not attempt to spark up a serious relationship. For some reason I have not had great success in the past asking women friends out (I think they were not really desirous of a serious relationship and wanted a platonic relationship to continue). I do not know if I shot myself in the foot in previous instances by trying to be cool and ease into things too slowly. Am I better off going this route, chalking up past "failures" as just a natural lack of interest on the other women's part, or is a bold approach better in the long run? Please explain why you think one is better than the other. Thanks!

There is a woman that I am interesting in asking out; however, she is not really in my immediate circle of friends. I do really know anyone who knows her well enough to find out if she is seeing anyone currently. We met through various work events and I end up seeing her or working with her once every couple of months.

Tomorrow she is going to do some work for a guy that I work for in a town about forty miles away. I have debated making the drive down there to arrange a way to "drop in" on my friend while she is there just to create an excuse to test the waters on asking her out. This would not be my whole reason for going down there, though. I have friends who live in the town and I have been invited to an event later in the evening.

This is a long explanation, but I do not want to approach this in a way that might be creepy. I really like this woman and would like to get to know her better. Given our circumstances, however, it is really hard to casually create opportunities to chit chat and engage in normal flirtation. I feel that in this respect I might have to make my own luck. Ladies (or guys), where is the line between flattering interest and creepy interest?

This is the only link that I found. The commercial is pretty clever, but the music has such a fat groove – I would love to know who it is by. Thanks.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kag4-asiqJ0

What I mean is, is there a database that can help you find a song if you have only a very vague idea what types of commercials, TV shows or movies it has been on without specifics? For example, I know that Carl Orff's "O Fortuna" from "Carmina Burana" has been included in almost every dramatic trailer and commercial from "The Thirteenth Warrior" to the NBA Playoffs. I also know that "Sirius" (or the introduction to "Eye in the Sky") by Alan Parson's Project has been used in tons of sports commercials. I know this only because I knew the songs first and recognized them in the advertisement.

Sure, if I remember the commercial an unfamiliar tune is on, it is easy to hop online and find it after some quick investigation. But in this case, I am looking for an upbeat, Indie-sounding tune that has been used in sports equipment commercials that I cannot remember: (Nike, Adidas?). It features a synthesizer that, if I were to describe it, sounded like an emulation of a mandolin done on an 8-bit Nintendo. It kind of cascades down in these reverse appegios and... well, as you can see, I am sounding like a MORON because I have no idea what commercial/TV show/movie it is associated with; but I know that it has been used enough that I am bound to hear it again.

In the meantime, I am left impotent in my search for this commercially musical Holy Grail. By the way, it took me two years to figure out the singer and title for Paul McCartney's "Let 'Em In." The only way I found out was when it came over the radio speakers at IHOP and I screamed like a madman, "Does ANYONE know who is singing this song!" Thankfully someone was there to scratch a two-year-old itch.

I am pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my leg and lower back. It was from standing and playing trumpet a total of eight hours in one day. It has been five weeks since the incident, but I have dull soreness and stiffness still. It is mostly isolated to the ball and heel of one foot, and the calf and buttock of the same side. I suspect that it is taking longer because I am heavyset; also, because I am a musician, I have had other gigs that may have aggravated it again. Even so, does it usually take a while for a pulled muscle – especially a large one in the legs – to take so long to heal?

I have written just one verse to a song I composed. Though it is not much, I want to get some honest opinions to see if I am correct in grammar/on the right track:

Nihil sed umbra iam capit memoriam mortuam

Amoris quem dederam dum spem habueram.

Ergo quam tristis sum, si modo interdum!

(Nothing but shadow now grips a dead memory

Of the love that I had given when I had hope.

Therefore, how sad am I, if only occasionally!)

Thanks much – multas gratias!

Post scriptum: I am especially interested in my use of the pluperfect. I cite "Olim in lacus" from "Carmina Burana" as my inspiration for that construct, but I want to make sure it works. (You know, "Olim in lacus colueram, ubi cignus fueram....")

...if conditions are right?

For example, "I hope you get well" when you are not sick. "I ran down the court and shot" from a lawyer after trial. "My dog ate my homework" from a mortician.

You get the idea. I just feel in a mood to distribute 10 points....

There are three parts to this question:

#1 – Which it is

#2 – Why

#3 – What you think I mean by the question

Oh, and by the way – let's all remember that this is a public forum. The question is not lewd; the answers need not be either. Thanks.

Which is going to help you best make it through the day and why?

I play trumpet, piano, organ and a bit of the guitar, and as a consequence, have spent thousands of dollars in equipment over the years. I just bought my own Fender Rhodes, and though I am loving it, it only makes me realize that I have a long way until I get a Hammond B3 (with Leslie), Clav, Wurli, etc. I am serious about what I do, and have a good musical resumé to back it up. If you don't have vintage equipment, do you know someone who might want to sponsor me?

I know it is somewhat shameless, but I have heard of several people GIVING away what I am living out of a cardboard box to obtain; and trust me – it would go to a GREAT home. I would send you free CDs of what I do (you can hear a sample on iTunes. My band is Shades of Gray, and the album I play on is "Come to the Window.")

There. There is my brazen spiel. You can't see it, but my cardboard sign reads, "Will bust out funky jams for tasty keyboards...."

...and their awesome power. Why are you?

No, this has no double entendre. In all of my visits to the International House of Pancakes, they still look at me like I am from Mars when I ask for peanut butter. Chunky, at that. If you have not tried it before, have you heard of others that do?

...if it would save his life? How about for two strangers? Three? How many absolute strangers would it take until you felt that your mortal sacrifice equalled the price of your own life?

The answer is: mustard in the eye.

Not that I advocate violence, but if it comes down to it, which do you prefer and why?

The situation: you find a gateway to another dimension, and when you cross through, you realize you are a perfect mix of three film characters. The rules: the characters that make up your personality have to be portrayed by the same actor or actress (I could choose to be Dr. Alan Grant from "Jurassic Park", Merlin from "Merlin" and Vasily Borodin from "Hunt for Red October" because they are all portrayed by Sam Neil). What three characters from what three movies constitute your personality, and why the particular actor/actress?

*Talking to a stranger about your medical history

*Confessing a dark personal secret to a family member

*Speaking to a crowd of 5,000

*Begging money from strangers

*Being stranded in a foreign airport, unable to speak the native language

Movies, science, even professors murder an already "dead" language - if you know Latin, which school of pronunciation do you follow and why? (I use the Classical method - "Weni, Widi, Wiki...")

I would love to have an English word (or even a Latin derivative, for that matter) that accurately works like the Spanish "legañas" to describe the crusty residue that forms on one's eyelids while sleeping. So far, I have heard: sleep, crusties, eye boogers, and the like, but it leaves me unsatisfied. "Legañas" just works so well.

I mean, truly meaningful - not like getting lucky in the theater.