Let me preface this with this is *not* a flame. I hope most people don’t think Down kids look alike or have all the same characteristics/physical features. In fact, Down people can have some of the classic characteristics (eye shape) and none of the others. Everything I have read (and seen) indicates these kids look more like their *families* then each other.

Alex looks so much like Pete sometimes, especially with his facial expressions, that can be spooky! He definitely has Dad’s smile, for which I am glad. And actually, he does not have hardly any of the classic characteristics of Down, so most people don’t even know when they meet him. (could be why it took two blood tests to confirm it!) He is adorable, loving, happy, and cute. It would take more than a casual observation to tell he has it, as he does not have the “usual” look of a Down child.

That said, I fully back anyone who would consider cosmetic surgery for their Down child. Why? Because in today’s world, we are doing everything we can to “mainstream” these and other children with learning or other disabilities. We are pushing them to be and achieve all they are capable of. A person’s perception of himself is partly based on how others perceive him. If cosmetic surgery helps others to accept a person in a less biased way, then I feel it is worth the doing. You want your child to be given every opportunity to succeed, & this may be a small price to pay for the chance.

Has anyone noticed how Matt Perry suddenly became a lot better looking between seasons? I personally think he has had cosmetic surgery and has spent a lot of time in the gym. If you look back a few of seasons (especially the first season) he was this skinny, ugly looking guy and now he looks quite handsome. His popularity also seems to have increased since his appearance has changed.

Have you taken into account his pill addiction that he went into rehab for? He became a rather feeble character during this time, which, although a shame, actually helped develop the character of Chandler quite a lot, bringing out his insane qualities (see TOW The Ski Trip). Erm, yeah thanx, I’ve been here for a while – tend to sit at the back tho’ and not get in the way. From what I can gather I’m not a full member till I spot a glaring continuity error.

I suppose I could witter on for a while, it’s like when someone who obviously knows you chatters away to you, and all the time you’re thinking ‘who the hell are you’. So go on then, where on earth do you know me from? You may be confusing me with another BigAl. I know that the media present gorgeous people in all their ads. Sometimes I look at some of the guys and look in the mirror, and sigh. But I know I’m not them and they’re not me.

I could probably use a hairpiece and I’ve thought of dying my beard and mustache to get rid of the grey (I like my hair ‘salt-and-pepper”!), but I haven’t done either. If the therapy does the trick, she’ll understand that she does not need to have a perfect body to be sexy, or to be a worthwhile person. Of course of she’s married to someone who constantly put her down because her breasts are “too big” or “too small”, she should send him to the therapist or she should go to a lawyer. No one deserves that.

I think breast implants and nipple piercers have more in common that either is immediately aware of. While the ideal embraced is different in each case, they’re both modifying the body to achieve a personal aesthetic goal. It would seem to me to be advantageous to emphasize the similarities between the two and simply accept that there is room for more than one ideal. i doubt very seriously whether anyone manages to achieve the extreme of individualism such that *all* of one’s own actions are of one’s own choosing and do not rely in *any* way on external, social influences: no man is an island, etc.

Human cultures sometimes exhibit the mysterious ability to move rather like a flock of birds; it’s almost like everybody in that culture get more or less the same impulses and ideas at roughly the same time. From the perspective of the individual, this may appear to be purely a matter of personal preference. For example, in the early 1980s i discovered a local bottling company that produced a brand of root beer that i was very fond of.

Before i knew what happened, that particular brand — IBC — became very “trendy.” My preference for this brand of soft drink appeared to me to be arrived at completely independently of this emerging trend, but now i’m not so sure. i think Jung called this phenomenon “synchronicity” — it is as if we all swim in the same sea of shared thought.