Admin., Secretarial & PA Hi, I need some help. In "Admin., Secretarial & PA", what does PA stands for?

How do you feel about dear being used as a noun?

How do you feel when people you don't know and have never talked to before calls you "dear"? Here on italki I receive regularly messages from men that start with "hi dear", "hello dear". Is it just me or it really sounds odd and uncomfortable? 

P.S.: not referring to "dear" being used as adjective.

My young cousin Today my youngest cousin, Vinícius, came to my home, to spend the day. He is six and is so cute. He arrived with a bottle of allergy medicine and lots os plastic insects that he showed me one by one telling me their names. Soon he started feeling itchy because he's allergic to a lot of stuff including cats and I happen to have four of them. So I gave him 5mg of his medicine as he instructed me and he felt better. He pretended to have lunch but only ate about three bites of his cannelloni, he never eats proper food, but likes all kinds os snacks and loves Yakult. He said that he wanted to play a video game, but he played each one for about five minutes, before asking to try another one. He then made me two Kung Fu Panda characters paper dolls. I guess he knows by now that I like to keep his drawings so he always makes me some when he comes around. I presented him with two coloring books, one with animals and the other one with monsters and I think he enjoyed it. He told me some of the Japanese words he learned and I taught him some other ones. He played the keyboard a bit, showed me some songs on Youtube including the one he is going to sing at school on fathers' day. He then played-fought with my husband numerous times but the fights would only happen at the sound of Osamu Kitajima's "Masterless Samurai". My husband is completely exhausted.

Mon premier texte en français Salut. Je m'appelle Larissa et j'ai vingt huit ans. Je suis brésilienne et j'habite dans l'état de Minas Gerais. J'ai deux chiennes et quatre chats; J'ame les animaux. J'aime aussi les films, la musique, la cuisine. Je veux apprendre le français parce que la langue sonne bien et je voudrais voir des films français sans sous-titres.

About me pt.2 I have had many animals through my life, mainly when I was a kid. At the moment I own two dogs and four cats. All of them came from the streets, except the older one that belonged to a friend; We have many stray animals in Brazil, unfortunately. Most of my life I've thought that I was a "dog person" and that cats were cold and treacherous and that I didn't like them, but at that time I hadn't had a cat, so how could I say that? I guess we all do it to some degree, like kids saying they hate food they've never tried. Lately my interest for plants and gardening grew and I started buying ornamental plants (flowers, cactus, succulents, etc.) and some herbs (oregano, rosemary, basil, etc.). Now my house has a lot of green and it is really nice taking care of it and make sure they grow well, but I still kill some from time to time and it sucks. Recently my cat decided that it was a good idea to pee in my rosemary, and now looks like it's going to die, it is still a young, frail plant. I'm cultivating those herbs because I like cooking and it's hard to find some types of green fresh herbs around here. I have been cooking since I was nine and it's a really fun process to me, I like exploring flavors and trying new ingredients and recipes; nevertheless when I'm cooking only for myself I don't feel inspired at all, it's so much better to share a meal! The sad part is that I hate doing the dishes and around here dishwashers are not an equipment that many people own, maybe because it's still too expensive and people think it's expendable. I guess that's all I have to say about myself right now, hope the text isn't full of mistakes.

About me pt.1 For many weeks I have been stuck in this idea that I should write something in here but I have nothing to say. The truth is I would like to create something more interesting and creative than a diary entry talking about my day or a text about myself, but apparently I'm not inspired enough to do it, so a text about myself will have to do. I'm currently 28, which sometimes scare me because I feel that I was suppose to be a "standard adult", have all my shit together, be sure of what I want to do with my life, have a good job and money to travel and buy stuff, be sure if I want to have kids, know how to keep my home always organized and clean, be sure to study French and practice the piano and drawing, never forget to take care of my skin, meditate everyday, exercise, eat well and be fit; But the truth is I'm still trying to figure everything out. When I'm doing well in some fields you can be sure that I totally forgot about the other stuff, I'm always too interested in something to keep the right balance in my life, and maybe I'll never find this balance anyways because I'm not like that. The secret is to live the present with no expectations but it's a tough day to day practice. I feel very attracted to the arts and means of expression everything related to aesthetics. The thing I like the most is probably music from many genres, specially if it has clever arrangements, experimental sounds, smart lyrics but I like many things that are not like that, the main thing is to click with the song/artist. I also like movies a lot, specially the dramas with sad or open endings and also those with a surrealistic, dreamy feeling. I like documentaries as well. I'm an architect so I have an attraction for design in general, specially architecture, interiors and art objects. I also like books, specially physical books; it's so great to hold a book, to leaf through it, it's so much more dynamic. The last book I read was Fante's "Ask the dust", it was superb. I also love comic books and graphic novels. My favorites are "Asterios Polyp", "Jimmy Corrigan", "Forming" and Robert Crumb's stuff.

The Gilgamesh King [3] Shamhat was worried. Would Enkidu be able of defeating Gilgamesh? What would people think of that strange creature? In order to make him look more like the other men, she cut his hair and ripped a piece of her dress to cover it. But Enkidu continued wearing his horn crown to remember of his friends, the animals. Shamhat pointed to Uruk by far. Enkidu was impressed. He have never imagined how a city could be beautiful. In the next morning, people gathered to watch Shamhat and Enkidu approaching the city gates. Gilgamesh ordered the stoppage of the building of the wall during that day, so everybody could watch his victory. He stood on the top of the wall and yelled to Enkidu: "I'm the king of this city and of this people! No one walks in without my permission! I defy you to come here and fight me!" Enkidu climbed the wall. "I'm ready!" - yelled in responde. It was the most frightening fight the people have ever seen. They fought for hours. The earth trembled, and a beam of light crossed the sky, as if the gods themselves were fighting to control the world. Gilgamesh and Enkidu had similar strengths and no one was winning. Then, suddenly, Gilgamesh stumbled on a loose rock, lost it's balance and fell on the edge of the wall. Everything happened so fast that people couldn't believe what they were seeing. To everybody's shock, Enkidu leaned over the wall, caught Gilgamesh by the arm and pulled him to safety. Why? Enkidu had won. Why would he save someone who was trying to kill him? Gilgamesh stood back up on the wall, staring Enkidu. Everyone who was watching held their breaths. Gilgamesh stepped forward in Enkidu's direction, stopped, opened his arms and hugged him. The king finally understood what it was to be human. He wasn't alone anymore. He had found a friend. The parties went on for days. Shamhat was chosen to conduct the biggest parade that have ever taken place in Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu, now brothers, would look and wave from the top of the wall.

The Gilgamesh King [2] Everybody used to say that the only person in Uruk that didn't like Shamhat was Gilgamesh, and that it was a proof that he didn't like no one. She was the most beautiful woman in the city and the most refined singer in the temple. But would she be able to calm that savage? The hunter didn't want to go back in the forest to be humiliated again but he didn't dare to argue with Gilgamesh or to disobey him. The hunter took Shamhat to the place in the forest where he last saw Enkidu the last time. He lefted her alone and ran back to the city. When the night arrived, Shamhat played her harp and sang in the darkness. Her voice spread like a spell across the forest, Enkidu followed the sound and stopped behind a tree. He had never seen something so ravishing. He slowly approached Shamhat, so he would not scare her. Shamhat saw Enkidu and stopped singing. He looked more like a beast than like a man, but she knew he wouldn't hurt her. No one had never looked at her with such kindness. In the days that followed, Shamhat taught him to speak and to sing and fell in love with him. They explored the paths of love and Enkidu promised to be with her forever. Shamhat was afraid. Enkidu shouldn't approach the city of Uruk, where Gilgamesh waited to destroy him. But Enkidu refused to listen to her. He wasn't afraid, he would fight to death for her. The saddest part to Enkidu was leaving his animal friends. They reunited to say goodbye but weren't able to understand why Enkidu was abandoning them and he wasn't capable of giving an explanation. Everyday, from down to dusk, Gilgamesh looked from his tower, on the top of the big wall of Uruk, waiting for Shamhat to be back. Everyone in town had heard about the savage that could come from the forest to save them from their cruel king. Gilgamesh knew what they were thinking and he was going to kill the stranger in front of everybody from Uruk so no one would think about defying his government.

The Gilgamesh King [1] A long time ago, in Mesopotamia, a king called Gilgamesh was sent by Sun god to rule the city of Uruk. Gilgamesh was part god and part human. He looked human, but didn't know what it was to be human. He had power and wealth, but wasn't happy. He had everything but friends. He lived always alone and because of that, became bitter and cruel. One day he decided to show how strong and powerful he was and to make people remember him forever. Gilgamesh ordered, then, the construction of a big wall around the city. He required that his men leave their work and families to work in the construction. The women would bring the food. The children were keep away to avoid people from loosing time playing with them, At the beginning, people helped with good will. The king probably had good reasons to wish to build a wall. Was an enemy planning to attack the city? The wall was increasingly high, and people more uneasy. What size should it be? It was already higher than any wall in the world, but even so Gilgamesh demanded the works to go on day and night. Men used to faint from hunger and fatigue. The food was scarce. Everybody was begging for mercy, asking Gilgamesh to stop, but he didn't listen. In despair they prayed, asking god Sun for help. God Sun heard their prayer and ordered the creation of another man, as strong as Gilgamesh. His name was Enkidu and he was made of clay. Since Gilgamesh didn't learn a thing living among people, Enkidu was sent to live with the forest animals. Soon as he met the animals he learned to take care of them, but he didn't know human kindness because he had never seen another person. Enkidu didn't like the first man he saw. It was a hunter chasing animals in the forest to kill them. Why would one do that? - asked himself Enkidu. He ran to help his friends. He pushed the hunter over from his car and helped the injured animals. The hunter ran back to Uruk to tell Gilgamesh about what he saw in the forest. He called Enkidu "the strongest man alive". Gilgamesh was furious. "There's no one stronger than me", he said. "Bring this creature to me and I'll prove what I'm saying. I will destroy him in front of everybody." The hunter said he wasn't able to capture such a strong savage by himself. "So", said Gilgamesh, "let's allure him here. Call Shamhat, the singer. Allow her to allure him here with her charm and music."