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On Sept 13th, 2004, a man who had fled to a war zone to save himself from himself was able to marry a woman who was brave enough to go against her family and her culture in the name of love. In the summer of 2003 the man had an epiphany. For reasons that are irrelevant to this story, he realized he needed to start over before his behaviors destroyed him. He remembered the last place he'd been happy was the military, but with his fucked up knee he'd probably not get far in trying to reenlist. He also wanted more freedom than an enlisted man had. So he became a security contractor, moved half way around the world away from all influences and alcohol, and before Christmas of that year he was in a foreign country watching the sand blow around. She was living with her parents, as is the custom of her land for unmarried women, and working as a pharmacist. She'd had an arranged marriage planned, but it had fallen through when the man had immigrated to another country before they were actually married. She was young, beautiful, and with a respectable career. She had no shortage of suitors, she had taken to wearing a ring and pretending it was a wedding ring because she got so many proposals in a day. Wealthy men, men of local fame from the media and the government services attempted to catch her eye. None did. She originally thought he was Lebanese, as he was sundark from working in the desert heat and dressed in local fashion. He spoke Arabic poorly, though, and he was in fact an American. She had nothing against Americans, she'd lived in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion, and like the native Kuwaitis remembered US soldiers as liberators. Still, Americans were an unknown quantity, often looking for a short term relationship that would destroy a woman's reputation and chances of a respectable marriage. She initially was leery of the American, but finally relented and went out with him for dinner and a beach visit. He invited her to his upcoming birthday party, she agreed to attend. They would have their first kiss. Love would blossom. They would consider marriage. Her father initially agreed, but due to pressure applied by the brothers for reasons that are unimportant to this story, withdrew his consent. This made marriage impossible in the country they were in, as his signature was required for a legal marriage. They created a plan that was both simple and devious. She would say she wanted to fly to Jordan, where they maintained a home, to forget about the American. He would fly to Jordan with all of the required paperwork. Jordan did not require the father's signature because of the earlier arranged marriage, he had already signed stating she could be married and Jordan didn't require him to say WHO she could marry, just that she could. Over the course of weeks she brought clothing and documents, he took them and stored them in his house. She flew out on the 8th of Sept. He flew out on the 10th. Her father would fly out on the 14th, which would greatly limit her movement, as he would want to spend the time with her. On the 9th he received a call from a lawyer in Jordan he'd hired to research and was told he needed many more documents than what they'd already gathered. The details are unimportant to this story, but he was hard pressed to gather them and there were some shady dealings, but he got it done. The plan was almost destroyed due to bureaucrats and a religious holiday. They were unable to marry on the afternoon of the 10th, as had been the original plan. He hired a fixer. The fixer, The Chechnyan was very resourceful, drove them to multiple embassies to get required documents and stamps. He stole court documents, he may have kidnapped and/or bribed a sheik to do the ceremony, it was never quite clear which. Like I said, Jordan's not real picky as long as the right people get paid. The details are unimportant to this story. For the price of a lawyer who thought he could get it done in a few months, months they didn't have, he made it happen for the couple on the Express plan. They were married on the 13th of September, 2004, in the living room of a man they'd known for all of 3 days, in front of witnesses he'd hurriedly gathered from his neighbors. There were no pictures. They were in a hurry, she needed to return before her cousins grew suspicious. He had not thought to bring a camera, his nerves were raw. She returned to her home, he to his hotel, to await their marriage certificate. The Chechnyan went to the court to get the certificate, knowing there were "irregularities" in the packet of documents but also knowing how Muslim cultures work he said this was best. He told them we'd already left on our honeymoon, which they would understand to mean if they revoked the marriage she would be unable to find a proper marriage again. The Chechnyan returned with the certificate, legally binding in any Muslim country and with it, one could get a civil certificate binding in the US. In gratitude, when The Chechnyan refused to take any additional money, he bought a mattress and box spring. He knew that the one The Chechnyan and his wife slept on was worn out and they suffered from back pain because of it. The Chechnyan had no choice but to accept, as he knew it would go to waste if he did not, and his honor was not impugned by accepting the gift. He only had to get his bride away from her family to spirit her away. He was now familiar enough with Muslim culture to know there were places that unescorted women could go that no man could enter, such as a hair salon. He told her to make sure she had her passport and to go get her hair done. Sure enough, her father dropped her off with the understanding he would pick her up again in 3 hours. The Chechnyan pulled up, she came back out of the hair salon, and he drove her to the hotel where her groom was waiting, not willing to risk the father seeing him if he went to pick up his bride. The Chechnyan took the couple to the airport, where they would fly back to Qatar. He gave his cell phone to The Chechnyan. Just before the plane closed its doors and the no electronics message was read, she sent a text to her father telling him not to pick her up, that she was with The American in a private cab on the way to Syria to be married. The false trails were laid. The Chechnyan would call him a few days later and say that yes, the father had called the phone. Yes, he'd told him that he'd bought the phone from an American at the airport in Damascus for a very good price because he was flying to the USA with his new bride. The false trails were complete. In an abundance of caution, they would fly to Cyprus two months later and get married again in a civil ceremony. The documentation was cleaner, it was in English, it would be a much easier presentation for her visa to move to the US with him. They would continue to celebrate the 13th as their anniversary, though, because that's when they knew that the law, her family, and the culture couldn't keep them apart any longer. The couple had a son. Once his contract was up, they moved to the US and built a life. It wasn't always easy. There were adjustments, there were misunderstandings, there were some tough times and some hard work, but they built a life. He was forever changed. His anger subsided, he adjusted, he learned moderation. He had, quite frankly, been a gigantic dick for much of his life. He realized that she was much too good for him, and he strove to be who she deserved. He failed. He backslid. He still does, but he's a much better human being for the trying. She is, he believes, happy. God send that it remains so.

Oh and just for the record, this is the first thread I've had to lock. An untarnished record of approaching a year has now been ruined, bceause certain people aren't able to have a mature discussion. You know who you are. If you want to start another thread, go for it. But be warned: one wrong word and it's gone. If people can't discuss things like adults then I've got plenty more locks to go around.

/This is why puncuation is a must, everybody.

My point very much was that MLP is not over sexualized. Hell, I went and watched an episode just to see for myself. Its as sexed up as the Smurfs or Fraggle Rock, as in 0%. The fact that a certain subset of fans makes porn out of it doesn't make everyone who likes it a deviant, and CERTAINLY doesn't mean the official show is over sexualized. Welcome to the Internet, people make porn out of everything. Hell, I'm going to google Cars porn right now. They are freaking cars, and I bet there's porn out there. Ok, NSA, if you ever wanted a Google search to blackmail me with, here it is. Ok, wow, don't do that. Googling 'cars porn' reveals a picture of a dude with his dick in a tail pipe. Not a drawing, a real photo. Changing it to 'disney cars porn' does in fact reveal "fan art" that is porn. Which is why I asked, which is sexualized, Datte's nose art drawing or the "official" cheetara pick you posted. Why this incredibly wrought conversation about a totally asexual cartoon that's fetishized by some at the expense of its other fans? Now, let's all forget that I googled Cars porn and not put this in the out of context thread. Dicks.

The story of how I met my wife is almost as good. A mutual friend brought her over to my place and got us both shit-faced. Umm.. yeah I guess that's about it.

I've seen some pretty good family guy stuff around.. I've never seen the it but if it's your thing more power to you. Live and let live. With all the wierd shit out there I've never seen why Bronies are such a big deal and get so much hate.

Over identification with ANYTHING isn't healthy. When you define yourself by your hobbies, job, or whatever, it's not healthy. Police officers, doctors, lawyers, bronies, etc.

My thread. Mine. All mine. Feel free to comment, feel free to post, feel free to question my masculinity.

Hi, my name's Dylan guess what im hear now it is time to throw the spelling and grammar out the window

Waterproof server. Too much beer. Broke server. Sorry

Roll another fat one Dave!

We need to get back on topic and stop name calling. Datte I will like whatever comments I want . Stop taking things personal. Not once have I personally attacked you about the subject.

Pony porn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WkzdqpOH8o

^ F that!

Same here. Thanks for that. There's a community of Disney pervs, too. I'm sure there's Spongebob porn out there, but I'm not going to be the one to Google it. (Suck it NSA, one less thing for you to laugh at me about).

I created an account just to add another vote for PC.

Glenell's never been the brightest.

Hopefully towards his head, thrown from the other side of the pub. Teehee.

Wow, just wow, that's incredible. Thank you for sharing your tale. Now for the questions: -What did her mother think of all this? Are they still in contact? -Did you court her in Arabic, or did she speak English? -Where did you fly to after handing your phone to the Chechnyan? The USA and then return to Lebanon to finish out your contract? -While you completed your contract, did you have fear of reprisal? -What move did you use to get her out on that first date, it must have been Shephard smooth. -That is seriously novel material, especially being non-fiction, honestly, I think you could sell your story. -Now I really want to a picture of this Arabian Princess wife of yours. Preferably one without you in it, screwing it up.

TL;DR - There are good and bad shows out there, watch what you want, we are all guilty of watching things that others would find abhorrent. ~Long Post~ I've never really been clear (Mainly as I chose to not explore what the pervs gound appealing in MLP) on the Over sexualization part of MLP, but I will say this, "we (The members of this forum) have all seen pics of ponies dressed up in lingerie, with tits, in a sexual pose". Now I am not a prude by any stretch, but thats not my cup o' tea, and I can see where others take exception to it. Now on the flipside of that, there isn't a single one of us on these forums that would NOT commit atrocious acts for a few hours with: But, there is quite a bit of distance between the above and this stuff below: WARNING: NSFW/LIFE (DISCLAIMER: Obviously this is not a good representative of the MLP artwork that is out there, it was chosen from two different artists that have NOTHING BUT artwork like this. Seriously, this is all they draw) Found these off of a generic Google search. There are worse out there so I don't recommend doing it. Regardless of all that though. I don't doubt that the cartoon is probably really well done. truth be told, I would rather my son watch MLP instead of things like "Uncle Grandpa", or "Dan VS", or "Mad TV", or the "New Looney Tunes", or "Total Drama Island", or the "New Teen Titans", or "Spongebob", or any of a hundred other shows that are just frigging horrible for young minds. MLP seems to have genuine decent lessons in the show geared towards teaching decency and being a good person. All that said, my son isn't really a fan of the show, and neither am I, but, too each his own. As far as the Sports fan analogy, I completely agree. I cannot watch College football because of the fan base here in Alabama; and I will never forget the first actual fist fight I saw between an Auburn fan and an Alabama State fan. That shit is just fucking retarded. //Starting to get the idea that Dave is trolling all of us here and we fell for it.

It's fascinating.

I'm hoping so too. I liked to test out free champs in custom games in case I really hated them and didn't want to finish a game with them. I would never leave in even a bot game because I hate leavers but there are champs I've tried and hated and didn't want to put up with playing them for 40 minutes. I don't mind if they lower it I just think it was dumb to completely shut it down even though there was a time limit on how much you could play it a day. Make a max exp/ip and call it good, don't completely shut it down.

Have you guys checked out this site. Pretty good http://beeradvocate.com/lists/top

Oh the suspense is killing me.

So...apparently the anti-pony crowd seems to rely heavily on believing its tied to sexual perversion? I love cartoons. Not just the "made for adult" cartoons, but shows like Recess, Phineas and Ferb, Spongebob, etc. I watched Recess when I first got out of the Army and didn't even have kids. I was a very angry person at the time. It was a bright spot in my day. If the pony thing gives that to someone else, who cares? They try to force it on you? Holy shit I hope you never meet a sports fan who's team is finally winning and how everyone else is just jumping on the damned bandwagon, not REAL fans like them.

Fraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace, so glad to see you again John!!! <3

Lol. It's funny man. These younger generations still feel like kids into their 20's. Any excuse to keep living at home usually too. I was out at 18 and doing my own thing. It's not necessarily a knock on them, but times are certainly different.

HI! Nothing much! Yeah you too! Oh no i can't handle more shows. Im already in the middle of watching Dexter/Breaking Bad/Under the Dome, and now Sons of Anarchy has started again. But i guess i'll find a way to fit it in

Definitive answer = yes. changing does improve your odds. I actually came up with a simple program to run the experiment 10,000 times for a college class In it's simplist terms: Staticistically speaking the first box you pick will be wrong 2 out 3 times. This means that the correct box is one that you didn't choose 2 out of 3 times Since the host will never reveal the winning box, when he reveals one box, the other un-opened box now has a 2 out of 3 chance of being right. . . . And Doc, it makes a huge difference whether or not the host knows which box to open or is randomly choosing one of the 2 boxes because you can't eliminate when the host reveals the winning box. You've lost the game right there.

This could be a problem... O,O

That doesn't help me in the slightest. I honestly can't tell if this is satire or if this is a serious thread. The whole post reads like "brony" is a substitute for "gays". In the closet? Tolerant as long as they don't force it on me? Is this like when one of the Teletubbies was supposed to be gay?

Glad you're getting a break, it's well deserved! Sent from my DROID4

I've worked with juveniles for the past 7 years in group homes, detention centers, intake facilities, and as a therapist. There's without a doubt a difference in the level of respect this younger generation generally shows toward their elders (and their peers) than previous generations. The pendulum has swung too far in the wrong direction. Kids used to get it pretty hard. Maybe, some could argue, too hard if you go back in history far enough. Now we are all about protecting our children, which is great, but that can even be taken too far. It's hard for parents to raise their children how they were raised because it's not the same world, not even close. This generation has been tossed into a global society (largely because of the internet) which has to have some major implications, but I don't know what just yet. Everything they've been raised around is instant gratification. Instant messages, programmable tv, microwave dinners, porn, etc., they're constantly in a stop-watch world where things are moving so fast. I'm sure they're more stressed in some ways because of the knowledge they have of the world that many of us probably never did. I grew up playing army/guns in the back yard. Playing kickball. Riding dirt bikes. Doing kid shit. These kids grow up watching people get beheaded online. We can't comprehend what it's like to be them, and they can't understand where we came from either. We're growing rapidly right now. We are living in a special technological era. Times are changing fast and I don't think kids are ready for it. They're back-lashing because they're scared and confused. .02

Nice find Mike, It looks so good graphically, just hoping the gameplay is as good. I really need to start sweet talking the missus so I can get a PS4 sooner rather than later, I soooo want to play 32 v 32.