Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/60755
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD The multicultural Macquarie University, in suburban Sydney, Australia, said its restroom posters, installed last year, have been successful in instilling toilet etiquette. The lined- through figure of a user squatting on top of a toilet seat was especially helpful, apparently. Complaints of unsanitariness were such that some students were timing their classes to use restrooms in a nearby mall instead. (Lest anyone believe the problem is confined to multicultural institutions, a recent memo by the 785-member Lewis Brisbois law firm in San Francisco instructed employees to clean urine from toilet seats, to always take the farthest stalls or urinals available, WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of April 8, 2012 ARIES (March 21-April 19) You haven't at- tained your goal yet, though it's not for lack of trying. You've taken action. The most likely reason for the delay is that you're simply not ready for the responsibilities that go along with your goal. Appreciate this blessing in disguise. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You don't believe you should be immune from trouble and strife. Instead, you accept that obstacles are a part of life, and you welcome the challenge this presents. Seeing life as a game helps you take a playful approach. Being a mature problem solver, you'll inspire others to behave in kind. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) The animals take leisure time at their, well, leisure. Human ani- mals like you sometimes subvert these instincts in order to answer an email or cook dinner. When will you unwind? When you fi nally let yourself. Hint: Sooner is better than later. Chuck Sheppard to mask sounds by toilet-flushing (if desired), and to not make eye contact in the restroom. [Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 1-12-2012] [Above The Law blog, 2-1-2012] Can't Possibly Be True Louis Helmburg III filed a lawsuit in Huntington, W.Va., in February against the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and its member Travis Hughes for injuries Helmburg suffered in May 2011 when he fell off a deck at the fraternity house. He had been startled and fallen backward off the rail-less deck after Hughes attempted to fire a bottle rocket "out of his anus" — and the rocket, instead, exploded in place. (The lawsuit does not refer to Hughes' injuries.) [Courthouse News Service, 2-2-2012] U.S. Immigration agents in a $160,000 Chevy Suburban that had been custom-designed and -armored specifically to protect agents from roadside kidnappings became sitting ducks last year when kidnappers forced the vehicle off the road near San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and got the door open briefly, enabling them to fire 100 rounds and kill one of the two agents inside. According to a February Washington Post report, the Department of Homeland Security had failed to modify the vehicle's factory setting that popped open the door locks automatically whenever the driver shifts into "Park." [Washington Post, 2-13-2012] Kathleen Mathews was outraged that the local community could turn on her 26-year-old son, Jesse, who had been charged with capital murder for killing a Chattanooga, Tenn., police officer. She told the judge in a letter that Jesse is a "good man," and lamented, "You do one little thing that pisses people off, and they want to hold it against you forever." [Chattanooga Times Free Press, 2-12-2012] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM CANCER (June 22-July 22) You're talking to yourself in a certain manner all day long. It's time to become more aware of this, as there's a specifi c message being communicated from you to you that isn't helping matters one bit. With simple awareness of this, you can change it. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Facts can be checked, but truth is trickier because it's highly personal and individual, based on a philosophy or a feel- ing. You'll be looking for information this week to guide your way. Don't get too hung up on the facts. What will help you more is the truth. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) It is said that there was a soldier in World War II who fell from an airplane, without a parachute, from an altitude of about 18,000 feet and survived. His fall was cush- ioned by the branches of pine trees and a blanket of deep snow. You may feel lucky this week, and you will be! But pack your parachute anyhow. ADVICE GODDESS You Lite up My Life LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) It's nice when the things you want come easily to you. But thinking it should always be this way is a recipe for frustration and sadness. You accept that challenge is just a part of life, and you welcome it. You feel ready to take on the full range of responsibilities that come with successful living. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) Pressure should not be allowed to build in our lives. It's not good for your attitude, and it's not good for your health. Help yourself out by regularly let- ting off steam this week. Plan ahead. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) New goals won't gel until you've taken them through a process of soul searching. Though you want something you may encounter resistance to the idea. Consider it a breakthrough. It will help you want the right thing. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Objectively, you may not want to be a part of a clique, but you may realize today that you already are. At least, that's how it's seen from another person's point of view. You'll have to go out of your way to be aware of this. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) People who have made mistakes and have been forgiven will have more love to give. This is true be- cause they've been on the receiving end of a bigger love; they've been shown the way. It's something to take into account, as you'll be in a position to accept a gift from such a person this week. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Your brain is always working to protect you and your assets, the most important of which is your time. Snap judgments based on visual cues, stereotypes and the like will, for the most part, be accurate enough to keep you from getting distracted by people and situations that will waste your time. Cape Fear Eye Associates, PA Beatrice Y. Brewington, MD General Ophthalmology Professional Interests: •General Ophthalmology •Glaucoma Treatment •Macular Degeneration •Diabetic Eye Diseases This man I've been dating didn't want anything serious. I don't either. I explained that I just wanted to hang out and have fun. We were going out several times a week, sleeping together at least once a week. Suddenly, he freaked, worrying I'd get attached. I reinforced that I absolutely don't want anything serious, but he seemed unconvinced. He went away on business and called the day he returned, and we hung out and slept together. The next day, he said we needed to slow things down because he wasn't feeling we were getting closer. (Isn't that the point of not getting serious?!) The whole thing started making me feel bad. I blew him off, and now — crazily enough — he's calling, texting, asking to see me again. Where do we go from here? — Baffl ed By Holiday Mathis to keep things casual — even when they're sure casual's all they want — men tend to assume that's how all women are. But, there are otherrs, and you're one of them. The problem was convincing him of that. Sure, you kept saying "no strings attached," but he fi gured you just had your hands full Because so many women seem unable Amy Alkon •Disability Exams •Treatment of Eye Disease and Injury •Cataracts •Refractive Error (hyperopia, myopia, astigmatism) Now Accepting New Patients Celebrating over 25 years of Excellence %!(Pr9 Ahrrvyyr I8 910.484.2284 8hrArh@r p weaving them all into a big net. He, on the other hand, is a man who knows exactly what he wants: "None of that mushbucket stuff!" Until he doesn't know: "Hey! Where's my mushbucket?!" It seems the main thing he wants is to be in control. So, when it became clear you wanted things casual, he kind of blew you off — probably your cue to throw yourself at him — but you yanked him off his game yet again by blowing him off right back. (Men, especially, are compelled to ditch what's chasing them and chase what's trying to ditch them.) The guy essentially set up a hamster wheel and then complained that the hamster wasn't getting anywhere. Unfortunately, people are messy. Part of what's messing him up may be the romantic mythology that says "fi reworks or nuthin!" — that a relationship isn't legit unless it's "going somewhere." (You can't just plan something for Tuesday and, if that goes okay, maybe see a movie on Thursday.) As for where you go from here, a frank talk is in order: Can he handle the casual thing he thinks he wants — or is he a closet committer? If he can live without the promise of a future, you can probably have some good carefree fun in the present: "I love the way you hold me; I love the way you make love to me; I love the way that, afterward, you get out of bed, get in your car and go to your own house." Amy Alkon all rights reserved. APRIL 4-10, 2012 UCW 23