Looking for Love?

Looking for love? Australian study has some ideas
AP - Thursday, July 16

ADELAIDE, Australia - If you're looking for happily ever after, Australian researchers have a suggestion: Find a partner who shares your smoking habits.
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Researchers at Australian National University studied 2,482 married or cohabiting heterosexual couples over a seven-year period to pinpoint what the relationships that were still going strong had over ones that fizzled.

So what predicts romantic longevity? Age, for one.

Couples in which the man was one year younger or up to three years older than the woman had less than half the separation risk of couples where the man was nine or more years older. Couples in which the man was two or more years younger than his partner also showed a higher risk of splitting up.

The study released this week _ called "What's Love Got to Do With It?" _ also found that relationships in which the man was at least 25 at the time the couple got together were more likely to last. So were ones where both partners shared a desire to have children _ or shared a desire not to.

Money, too, plays a role: Couples with low household incomes were more likely to split than those with moderate or high incomes. Men who were unemployed had less stable relationships, as did men whose parents had separated.

A nicotine habit can have a profound impact. Relationships in which one partner smoked and the other didn't saw their risk of separation shoot to more than 75 percent of those in which neither partner smoked.

The study found, however, that religion, education levels and alcohol consumption had no effect on marital stability.

The researchers used data from the "Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey," conducted by the government from 2001 to 2007.

Happy Birthday to Me

Huhu!.... my birthday is coming next week...but I am not celebrating it cos I know for sure I was not born on this day..Huh? What? and Why? I know thats your reaction and your questions in your mind when you read this.... hehehe you see I have two birth date. And its different months too....Ok, I can blame this to my parents but at the same time I am thankful to them also for giving me two birth dates. So at least now, I know I have two age and I feel younger lol....

Funny kan? But for those people yang born in 1950's or earlier than that, the age or the date of birth never correct. Either their age become younger or older from the original birth. For me, I was made younger hehehe... In my birth cert or Identity Card, my date of birth is 29th March, and that made me Aries....but my actual date of birth is 29th December, and thats real me, Capricorn. So sometimes, I am confused of myself...I can be Aries and Capricorn lol....but I never celebrate my birthday in the month of March.

Some of my colleagues don't know about this unique dates I have. So usually, they will wish me Happy Birthday on this date ( 29th March)...and I just smile away hehehe... The feeling is not right cos you know very well its not my birthday. I usually celebrate my birthday on 29th December with my children, just dinner in the coffeeshop. Nothing so special....I remember I have celebrated my birthday in a big way when I was 21 years old. We have disco and lots of food and many friends attended....

Oh ya, I tell you a story. When I was in Germany visiting my friend in December 2006, his parents decided to give me a surprise birthday lunch with their friends. And indeed it was a surprised for me cos they celebrated it in a wrong date! - instead of 29th December, they made a special lunch for me on 28th!.... At first, I don't know what the occasion was. I thought it was just lunch...Suddenly when they started singing happy birthday and bringing the cake to me, I was like ''aah...eeh... ooh...*Sigh* (what's this?, aah...its wrong date...thats what I say in my heart... keeping myself quiet).....until they finished singing......everyone wished me Happy Birthday....and instead of me pretending that it was my birthday, I think I embarrassed my friend's mum by telling her, that it was a wrong date. And you can imagine how she look at me! She opened her mouth wide for a while and take a deep breath then she closed her mouth with her two hands...and say, oh no! are you sure? and I say yes, its tomorrow, not today...but its ok ....so everyone laughed hahahaha.....really funny!

So anyone have 2 or 3 birthdates?