some pre-coffee thoughts here, so please excuse any incoherence that may follow:

teenage stress is very real, and should under no circumstances be minimized by adults. yes, as adults, we often find trivial the things that teenagers stress over. "who cares if sally sue wore the same dress to prom as you?" "is asking a girl out really that hard?" "there are other fish in sea... SO MANY other fish in the sea, why trip over this one?" the fact of the matter is, people learn to deal with stress by being stressed. the also learn what to stress over or not stress over by making mistakes with where they focus their energies. this is a critical part of being a teenager. yeah, many of the teenage stresses will be laughed at later, but that doesn't mean that they aren't real when they're happening.

edited to add: not everything that teenagers stress over is strictly teenage related, either. try telling a pregnant teenager, or the boy who impregnated her, that it is just a passing stressor that they'll laugh at later. real life happens to teenagers all the time, and their propensity to turn things into life or death situations (in their minds) can get really confusing really fast. i know teenagers who have dealt with life situations that i hope i never have to go through.

i never knew how far i could be pushed in a stressful situation or how i would handle it until a year ago (i'm 31). if i hadn't had the practice, who knows what would have happened? at any rate, not ragging, northern1, just adding a bit of perspective to the mix. i was a high school teacher for 4 years, so i've given this topic quite a bit of thought.

emf- GREAT PIX. i'm glad that you can get out and play with your knives. NOW GO CAMPING!!! you'll love it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />