I am back-

[JarlWolf]

I am back, catching up.

Note though: I am quite disoriented and a lot has happened to me in the past week, and I am a little shaken from it.  So if I seem a bit slow to post just remember that, and that I also have to catch up.

[Buster's Uncle]

I feel the same way - it's been a busy, rather stressful, week.

[Geo]

Nobody's rushing. Sit back, relax, and catch up at your leisure.

[JarlWolf]

I feel the same way - it's been a busy, rather stressful, week.

I hear you. Been reading a bit and I know the weight of issues. I won't talk much about my problems as I like to keep them separate from my forum community and family/old time friends, but lets just say that a mixture of dispute, saying "goodbye" to an old friend and the subsequent void of that old friend not being there is chewing me up right now. So I am a little bit weary to say the least.

Other then that, I'll be continuing my AAR and other stuff soon.

Nobody's rushing. Sit back, relax, and catch up at your leisure.

I'll try my best to. Don't have the energy to do much else 

[Buster's Uncle]

Jarl, you know that we're your friends, and if you want to talk about personal stuff that's eating at you, or tell some stories, we're here for you, and will listen.

-Not that I expect a macho Russian, a proud survivor out of the toughest people in the world, to spill his guts, but you know, I wanted to let you know it was okay.

[JarlWolf]

Oh its not that I am afraid to talk to other folks like yourself, its just that this subject I know talking isn't going to do much for it, and at this point I know how to cope with such things. I don't even talk about these matters, with relations between me and my old colleagues/friends/ to my own daughters/family. Its a matter between me and my old comrade, as its a moment which you share just between you and your friend. Its hard for me to properly explain it, but im not bereaved at the loss of my friend. So I am not too stunned by the loss, I knew it was coming, he was going to inevitably die and he took it upon himself to end his life on his own terms and in a state where he wasn't so far gone that it burdened the memories/emotion of those close to him. I am sure you folks have lost people close to you before, so I won't bother describing it.

Either way, the man made his peace and we had our final moments of comradeship together before he put out his own flame. And I am thankful I had that sort of closing moments with him, as it makes it less painful when I remember him. As for the other things, its not too much of a concern. Just family disputes, rather keep it out of sight and out of mind. This community serves as a means of focusing creative energy as a means to relax myself, while also interact with people.
It's done its duty as that and continues to do so, and I am glad to be a part of it.

I apologize for the rant but I just like to clarify my perspective on issue is all.

[Buster's Uncle]

Nothing to apologize for; I didn't expect you to share that much, but in my country, people are more prone to want to talk about their problems, and it's polite to listen.

I'm more like an Eastern European than most of my compatriots that way; I tend not to talk as much about the really big problems, except to a trusted few in private.  It feels like it accomplishes nothing except to reveal weakness, and can even make you feel worse for having dwelt on it.  Small things, of course, I am quite comfortable grumbling about...

[JarlWolf]

It all depends upon perspective.

Personally I find that the only time and place you talk about your problems is when you are in trusted company and you truly feel weighed down, bottled up and helpless with a situation. Otherwise it's best just to find out how one personally copes to a situation and to find the solution for yourself. Otherwise you become too reliant on people, in my opinion.

[Buster's Uncle]

My mother's family could be Russian for their toughness, their brooding natures and their tendency to sarcasm and dry wit.  -Of course, I also take after my dad's family, who are boisterous like the Irish, but I think you and I see eye to eye fairly well.

But I have a confession that I hope will not cause you to hate me; both side of the family are ethnically over 80% German, with no Russian or Irish...

[JarlWolf]

I am a Communist who believes not only in social equity, but racial equity to boot., not some arrogant nationalist puritan BUncle. I have no real hateful prejudice against any race. I have prejudice against certain ideological stances.

I've served with (East) Germans before, and if anything I find them to be quite disciplined and martial people when the time calls for it.

Culture determines a mindset to an extent, but what makes a man is not how he is born, but how he is forged. A person inherits some traits from their parents and background- but its their experiences that determine that.

And if anything BUncle, ethnically I am barely Russian. I am a literal [progeny of unmarried parents] son of a Manchu father and a Belarussian mother, the only thing that makes me Russian is my citizenship card and my cultural upbringing.

[Buster's Uncle]

  I was teasing, man.  I think better of you than to think you'd think that, and besides, all MY people left the old country generations before the unpleasantness of 70 years ago.