Hey Shane357...I haven't forgotten about you. This week has been hectic with the election, my birthday, and things going on in my life, but I hope to write you back tonight. Thank you for sharing with me about your experience with faith, being an ex-Muslim, how you are searching for the faith that you feel best matches you. I will write you soon.

Yes, it does feel like a dream...more like a nightmare. I can't believe this is happening. It has felt the way you described it.

I take it your friend is upset about how the election is going. I'm upset about it. I can't even fathom how folks can vote for this horrible person...but I tell myself that everyone has the right to vote for who they feel is best. If they feel it's Trump, so be it...but I really believe he will set the United States way back...

Thank you for the video... I started to watch it, it's definitely funny. I didn't know you were an ex-Muslim. Did you choose to stop following the Islamic faith for any particular reason?

Yeah, this is like a morbid car crash--wanting to see what happens.

You're welcome! I'm glad it made you smile. Go JB!

I have something that will make you smile...I saw "The Accountant" today...and Jon Bernthal was in it...!!!! :-)

To answer your question...I don't want to say a person can never change because I believe God can change people's hearts. At the same time, a person has to *want* to change. Sociopaths typically don't see anything wrong with what they're doing. If they don't even feel guilt for conning, manipulating, and harming others, where is the motivation to change? Also, sociopaths tend to blame their victims/targets. They turn others against the person they targeted by engaging in what's called character assassination/smear campaign. A sociopath would most likely dupe their therapist, manipulate them into believing "oh, he's changed"...when really, they haven't. How they operate is completely different from how you and I operate. They're unable to empathize with others. If you can't feel what another person feels, or at least, try to put yourself in another persons' shoes, that leave a part of your psyche barren and empty. Which can lead to all sorts of behaviors to say the least.

It was very frightening. "Survived" describes it perfectly. I survived and am stronger than before. Wiser, too. Before, I trusted too easily. After, I went through a period of trusting nobody, which isn't good either. In time, I found my middle ground where I learned to allow a person to *earn* my trust.

I hope you *NEVER* experience an encounter with a sociopath/psychopath. It can turn a person's life upside-down. I got fired from two jobs--the first job is where I met him. I ended up moving back home to my parents. I was depressed, and took a natural remedy to combat it. I had nightmares about the guy for a year. Even seeing a certain scene in the first Hunger Games movie triggered memories. (The scene where Cato and the Careers chase down Katniss and she's treed.) Seeing men who looked like him (tall, blonde, blue eyes) would remind me of him. I got past that visible trigger by forcing myself to interact with men who looked like him, but who were not him.

Gregory is such a slimeball. I hated how he was swarmy with Maggie and I'm glad she called him on his nonsense. You're right, we haven't had a really strong character like Negan in awhile. I can't wait for next week's episode...it's supposed to run from 9pm-10:30pm with oodles of commercial breaks! I couldn't agree more: the characters that make you stop and think: would I do that?! are the ones that reasonate because it could be any of us in a awful situation and we all wonder what would we do? Not do? That's why we love our Shane Walsh! Speaking of Shane...I started a photo album on here called "For The Love Of Shane Walsh" and added some pics, graphics. I'd like to add memes and fanart--pro-Shane, anti-Shane, anything-Shane. I'm not sure if other posters can add to it, but if you can, please feel free to do so!

Thank you for understanding. Work has been busy as usual. The census (# of patients) on my team has been really high lately.

I'm embarrassed to tell you that I didn't know where Qutar is...I had to look it up! Wow, that's so awesome! Do all your grandparents live there? The years do fly by. If it seems fast that you went from 1 year/2 years old to 15 years old --wait till you get to be my age! The older you get the faster time flies. (Bday celebration tomorrow!!)

It is definitely surprising. I need to reread more of my favorite stories to see how I view them now.

Thank you! I'm very happy too. He's an awesome guy!

LOL I will not multitask like that again. In fact, I made sure to bake the frozen pizza first before the show started. Cookies are really easy to burn. I think they only need to be in the oven for 10 minutes...it seems like anything past that...burnt cookies!

Wow, how did I manage to write the same post in a row? My head's in the clouds...

Ohh, you have four brothers! I'm so sorry--I thought you had three, I forgot it was four.

Yes, allergies are awful. I hope yours isn't severe and that you can enjoy the walnuts again.

Oh...and I baked chocolate chip cookies with walnuts for my now-boyfriend (we made it official after watching The Talking Dead), and close friend...and I was so into watching S7E1 that I burnt the cookies! Yes, my apartment smelled like smoke for a minute. LOL!!!!

isn't it interesting how rereading can give you a new perspective? I find that rereading things I read years ago--I pick up things I didn't see before, or I see it differently. You're older, you have more life experience so it's different. Are you all caught up with the comics? I started reading, but have lots of catching up to do.

Carol is so much better on the show than the comics. Her and Shane are two characters that did way better on the show than the comic. Yes, I saw Sunday's episode and I was laughing too. As soon as Morgan rolled her into the auditorium to meet King Ezekiel and his pet tiger Shiva, and they were giving her fruit...it had me laughing! It was a much needed release after the emotional intensity of the premiere (which I loved and watched again!)

isn't it interesting how rereading can give you a new perspective? I find that rereading things I read years ago--I pick up things I didn't see before, or I see it differently. You're older, you have more life experience so it's different. Are you all caught up with the comics? I started reading, but have lots of catching up to do.

Carol is so much better on the show than the comics. Her and Shane are two characters that did way better on the show than the comic. Yes, I saw Sunday's episode and I was laughing too. As soon as Morgan rolled her into the auditorium to meet King Ezekiel and his pet tiger Shiva, and they were giving her fruit...it had me laughing!

I agree. I love all the TWD characters, but we haven't had someone as strong and really out there like Negan for awhile. He's so intriguing, love-to-hate, hate-to-love, and JDM is just so perfect as him.

What you've learned re: hereditary vs. environment re: psychopath and sociopath--I've read that too. It's really interesting. I agree that it's more environment. It's definitely interesting, but I will say that to read about it and to experience it are two different things. I met one person in my life who matched the traits of sociopath: lack of empathy, manipulation, lying...it's a lot to explain just on here (I can write a longer message on FFN), but when I tell you that this was someone I was afraid of...I mean it. The man came off as charming and turned out to be the worst person I ever met in my life. To go from being my friend to my enemy overnight is an experience I'll never forget. I didn't think of him as being a sociopath until three people used that term to describe him.

Please don't kill me--I still haven't gotten to your essay yet. But I shall! It's been an exciting week for me. I'm in a new relationship, I'm taking my god-daughter upstate tomorrow night, so that we can check out two culinary arts schools--one on Friday, and another on Saturday. She's 17 and a high school senior. I can't believe how fast the years fly. I was her age when she was born. And now she's 17 and getting ready to take the next step after college. I'm so proud of her! I'm even excited about my new TWD fanfic, since it's my first multi-chaptered story and I'm writing characters that I haven't written before (Daryl, Hershel, Dale, Andrea, etc). They've been in my fics, but not with any direct interaction with Shane.

I'll have to check out the thread that @DragonRacer has about Negan. I hope they put Negan's origins on the show. He's a fascinating character.

While I think there's a very slim possibility of someone being born psychopath--such as inheriting certain personality traits from your parents...I think most are molded by their environment. It's a constant debate in the psychology field: are psychopaths born or made? I think it can be a little of both.

I get what you're saying. Sometimes the most flawed characters are actually the most human. We may not like them at first (or at all), but they represent something that resonates with each of us. I really like Carol and Negan, but Negan....as brutal as he was last Sunday, there were certain lines that made me laugh. JDM is perfect for the role!

You're very welcome! I hope the comments helped. I wrote a lot, but I wanted to give you as much feedback as possible.

LOL That made sense...it's like you told me you have three younger brothers---so the oldest out of the three. I can understand where your mother is coming from re: your second younger brother--if he can get the dyslexia addressed now before going to school, it would probably be better.

That definitely sucks about the walnuts. I was going to put them in chocolate chip cookies today for my two friends, but one has severe allergies to nuts so I'm making her a separate batch.

Hey...guess what! I finally finished beta-ing your Shane fic. I sent you two separate messages on FFN. It may help to read your fic as your reading the comments I left you. I hope it helps out and that you continue writing your story. I'm going to read your essay sometime today, and I'll send you my new Shane/Rick fic now. :-)

I haven't read "Here's Negan" yet, but I like that they are fleshing out his character more. I like to think that no one, not even Negan, just became who he is overnight. It's awful what he did to Abraham and Glenn, but there's something behind the behavior--the need to dominate, to control. I hope they put his backstory into the t.v. series.

Yeah, it definitely sucks. I will send you the link if I find it. Okay, I'll send you what I have for my new Shane fic...it's an alternate universe, has Dark!Rick, and is a what-if story...I'm excited because it will be my first multi-chaptered fic for TWD. I have to read your essay --I may read up on "Liar, Liar" on Wikipedia only because I haven't seen it in years. I did open the document and skimmed it and saw that you applied the philosophers to your essay which is really neat!

That's okay, no worries. I remember you told me you were the oldest of your brothers. Do your brothers go to school or are they home-schooled as well? Chocolate chip is yummy! Me and my friend are going to bake those cookies on Sunday so that when my other friend joins us for TWD/Dinner Get-Together, we have choc chip cookies for dessert. I want to add walnuts, but my friend is allergic. That is weird that your mouth feels strange after you eat them. Do you have other allergic reactions?

I'm the same way: a night owl. It's worse when I don't have to wake up early the next day. Some days I'll stay up real late...once I did 5:30am. But I do the same: crash on my bed...get real tired. I loved naps as a kid, and even now, I love taking naps. You're so funny! You were in the sandbox while your Mom was lying down! :D

Hey, I got your essay on FFN! Thank you. I still gotta finish beta'ing your fic. And...I started another Shane fic!!! :-) How is the art class at the library? Look forward to hearing from you!