Hello from Bruce

[Bruce Chang]

Hi, I am Bruce from China. Majoring in English and later international law.
Hope to learn some business tips and make some friends here.

[jamesray50]

Hi Bruce, welcome. Are you living in China right now or are you here in America studying? Your English seems to be very good, how long have you studied English?

[Spider]

Welcome aboard, Bruce.

[Business Attorney]

Welcome to our community, Bruce.

[vangogh]

Welcome to the forum Bruce. All that studying is paying off. You speak or at least type English really well, much better than many people here in America in all honestly. Hopefully you'll be able to make it over here one day. Maybe we'll help you with business tips and you can make a ton of money and then come visit everyone. :)

Thanks for joining the community.

[Bruce Chang]

Thank you for your warm welcome. I have learned English for more than 10 years and I am still staying in China.
I really like this forum, it's like a big family.

[vangogh]

I guess we are like a family. Many of us have been typing back and forth to each other for several years now so we probably know each other pretty well.

[jamesray50]

I have only been on here a few weeks and I already feel like I have several friends. You will like it here Bruce.

[vangogh]

Funny Jo Ellen. I feel like I know you a lot longer than I really do. You took quickly to our family and I'd say our family took quickly to you as well.

[Bruce Chang]

Thanks, this community gives true desire to participate.

[cbscreative]

Welcome, Bruce. Studying international law sounds very ambitious, but then again, studying English when you're not native to it is ambitious too. Many of the native English speakers tend to forget how difficult it really is, but I believe it's either at the top (or close to the top) of being the most difficult language on the planet.

[jamesray50]

Well, I appreciate all the help I have been given and hope I can give some help in return. I have been on lots of forums in the past and for the most part have been ignored. It seems like a click develops among people on forums and newcomers are ignored. I'm glad that is not the case here. This forum has a lot to offer. I'm glad I found it.

[vangogh]

We try very hard not to ignore people. Cliques will always develop among any community, but whenever I see someone knew and especially a thread with no replies I jump in to say something even if I can't really help. I figure at the least it will help the thread rise back to the top of the new posts search and get someone's attention.

Plus I still remember when I joined my very first forum and how it felt not to have people respond and to have people respond.

[cbscreative]

Speaking of vangogh joining, his post on the 9th would be the 5 year mark on his join date of the old SBF. The reason I know his join date is that it is on my birthday. That also means I just hit 50 (insert all your jokes here). Feel free to raz me about it, I can take it because I feel as good as I did at 30. If you feel the need to do so, a new thread would keep us from hijacking Bruce's intro.

[vangogh]

I hadn't realized you remembered my initial post because of the connection to your birthday. I knew you always remembered the date, but I thought it was because you had joined at a similar time.

By the way we both share the same day of the month for birthdays. And 50 stopped sounding old when I reached 40 and beyond.

[Blessed]

I'm not even to 40 yet and 50 still doesn't sound old to me :)

Happy Birthday Steve!

[jamesray50]

Happy Birthday Steve and you too Vangogh (whenever it is).

[cbscreative]

I hadn't realized you remembered my initial post because of the connection to your birthday. I knew you always remembered the date, but I thought it was because you had joined at a similar time.

By the way we both share the same day of the month for birthdays. And 50 stopped sounding old when I reached 40 and beyond.

I also remember it because I started that thread there to celebrate your one year anniversary date...the thread that lived for over 3 or 4 years and even continued here for a while.

50 certainly doesn't seem old to me any more either. As I got closer, it allowed me to get used to the idea in advance. Now it's just a number. My wife and I are friends with a couple who are in their 60's, the wife about 62 or so and the husband at least 67. They both look and feel much younger, and a lot of "age" is in the mind. We also have another couple in their 60's who are friends of ours, both retired, and they don't look that old either.

My wife's aunt worked in a retirement home and didn't retire herself until she was over 80. She was taking care of people younger than herself. Both her and my wife's uncle are now well into their 80's and still living at home independently...the same home they've had since marriage because they never had a reason to move. My wife's parents are both in the upper half of their 70's and still independent and active. They do a lot of traveling too.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I did have an enjoyable time and you may have noticed I was even gone from here for a few days. I'm not too old to be active. :)