"...the lesson in most books with evil or criminal protagonists tends to be that crime pays you back in very bad karmic ways. So probably seeing your favorite character wind up in a Siberian prison from which there is no escape will be enough to keep you on the right track and not turn you into criminal mastermind."

"Sure, though understanding a character's motivations hardly means you're likely to go out and kill someone yourself, since it's not like the thing keeping us from murdering people is that we don't understand why people do it." But, the thing stopping us from voting is that we don't understand why people do it?

I love texting (and sexting) with love interests, and if a guy wants to date me, he better fucking figure that out fast. Otherwise I will be one annoyed woman when he does get around to communicating with me in whatever way he prefers.

Well... it would be a cool souvenir. ;)

"just wait until you get raped I bet you'll like it" is an indescribably fucked up thing to say.

I know, I know, I'm a pig.

It's not always easy to look up when one's down.

I have a situation that I can't talk about. Basically, my life is going to rock tomorrow (champagne on a Monday morning level good news) or absolutely suck, so badly that I won't want to get out of bed. Dammit. My anxiety level is through the roof.

The serial.

The cat might be a BIT on the plump side.... ;)

Bragging about her looks? That's obnoxious. But the long, detailed, moronic emails one gets from guys on OKC are obnoxious too, and sometimes comedy gold.

I sympathize with absolutely-fibulous, but I don't see her friend as being obnoxious. Being a hot commodity on OKC doesn't mean that the vast majority of guys on there aren't idiots who deserve to be mocked. Being a hot commodity means that you get a ton of idiotic messages.

Replace "canteen" with "flask."

I graded 100+ philosophy of mind final essay exams in a weekend once. It suuuuuuuuucks.

Chew them off.

Dude, chill the fuck out with how you're talking to GareBear. Seriously. Lots of us say things here that are about the worst parts of our lives, and then turn around and ask for dating advice/fashion advice/etc. and expect that people will allow us to... how do I say this?... circumscribe the conversation as we see…

I don't want to say anything out of place, but I am so sorry and I remember very clearly various things you've said and am 100% on your side.

Ok, I guess, but I think only a really skinny person could even try to pull them off. The outfit as a whole makes her look totally washed out.

Oh my God. I am so sorry. We're here for you. Please vent and rage and tell us anything you want to, we'll talk to you. Much love to you and The Bean.

She is amazing! Something I should have added: she taught high school in Maine for a while, and was the faculty advisor for the school's first ever Gay-Straight Alliance club in the early 90s. The school told her: you drop that (which would be the end of the club because no other teacher would support it) or we will…