1)You said, "You seriously can't spend some money on a dress and shoes and stand up next to your friend at a ceremony? " What your friends spend your money on is their decision. 2) Their disinterest or whatever it is IS more important than your happiness. (And your happiness is really dependent on getting the wedding…

Not wanting to is a perfectly fine reason. It's not like someone needs you to visit them in the hospital or babysit their kid; a wedding a lot of trouble (and expense, and yes, sometimes just a dress and shoes are too much money), and it's not a necessity. The point is to say no gracefully. But you don't get to demand…

Coworker of my brother came back from seeing Romeo and Juliet, stormed into the office and bitched, "OH MY GAWD THEY DIIIIEED WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY TELL ME!?!"

You can be perfectly happy being who you are, but believe me, the continual nasty remarks from the peanut gallery of life can wear you down. And frankly, it's nice to look in the mirror and not see what drives you crazy.

I have one of those conditions called "orphan diseases" or whatever, that causes problems with the lymphatic channels and swelling throughout my body. While I've always been a bit chub with, even at my college thinnest, a bit of a double chin, I now have a swelling on the left side of my neck under my chin. I've been…

I certainly hope you told them you only had sex with the waitresses.

I have students who write like that.

Treadmills can be boring, but when I used to go to the gym I made it a point to watch the news or listen to music while I ran. And running in the gym as opposed to the street means you avoid birdshit, dogshit, and batshit crazy drivers and harrassers.

I like exercise instructors and trainers who motivate you, but the "MORE!FASTER!HARDER!" type just crack me up. I've learned more from trainers who said "Listen to your body/don't push too hard/avoid injury" and such.

I teach Business English, among other things, in Spain. One day, one of my students, who was a regional sales manager for a major auto company came to class half steaming-half snickering over the seminar he had just been forced to attend: Daniel Goleman, lecturing on "Your Emotional Salary" (which I guess was a shill…

I guess this is the result of her latest elimination diet.

For letter 2: if your roomie's BF had pulled a gun on her, he wouldn't be welcome in your home (or shouldn't be). Abusers tend to escalate, and even involve friends and family as collateral damage. Call 1-800-799-7233 (National Domestic Abuse Hotline) ASAP and ask for advice.

McDonna is as good as her collaborators. . I'm older than she is and I remember her from when she was traipsing up and down St. Mark's Place in NY or reading about how she was dancing in front of the DJ booth nightly in Danceteria. I like a fair number of her songs, and I think she's an ok dancer and singer and…

Ok, even accounting for the fact that lots of these comments, and perhaps much of this post, is tongue-in-cheek, .....who the helll gives a rats ass about who shits where as long as it's not on the carpet, in the lobby, or on my sofa? Bathrooms exist for a reason, and if they smell like shit, IT'S BECAUSE THEY'RE…

Erp, I no longer live in the US but in a furrin country where health care is free and if you don't vaccinate your kids, you won't have a good chance of getting any health care for bebé in the future, (not that you're banned, but they will wear you down with common sense) so the problem isn't so bad here (though it…

You're right, Europeans don't have any idea of how large the US is till they visit. I've had friends from various countries ask me if the NYC subway goes to D.C.

One thing people in Europe notice is that young Americans don't seem to travel very much. I try to explain to people that most US kids leave college with crushing debt, and that Americans get very little vacation time compared to other parts of the world. I think it would be great to give younger people the chance to…

And now we get to watch that batshit crazy family implode as power struggles ensue, dirty money is fought over and scandals come to light (I've always gotten the creepy feeling that something of a nasty, sexual abuse nature was lurking there.)

Yeah, she sure is pretty, and though I am not savvy enough to say whether or not she's had plastic surgery, most of her beauty seems natural to me. I used to roll my eyes at her so-called natural lips until I saw a photo of her as a baby and realized, dayum, she WAS born like that. The woman on the left is her mom,…

Yes, Graham crackers were invented by a 19th century nutcase who thought that masturbation and sexing and all that nasty was bad for the brain and soul (ditto corn flakes). And you really must see Alan Parker's "The Road to Wellville". It'll make you understand why every other day brings another pronouncement on what…