Central Valley of CAli, barely 20 years old driving home by way of Stop-'n-Rob for gas. Lost in heart&mind, working terrible service jobs, going toschool part time—sad, lonely—typical NYE right? Pull in get out to start pumping gas for my hoopty vehicle, leaning against the side of the car and looking up into…

Reading about this child always makes my stomach clinch. My nephew COMPLETELY self identified as a female, on his own, from about 3 yrs old. He would go by himself to a females closet and dress himself in womens clothes and makeup. His father, a USNavy commander, WOULD NOT HAVE THIS and the child was harshly…

Sadly the answer is no—two well educated cannot change the way ENTIRE socieity is set on functioning. My life was made better by marriage. My career was made wayway less by marriage. Reality wins again. xxoocf

You started a terrific thread. To echo others—don't allow yourself to be sucked into, me for example. housework&yardwork&schoolwork&NOTV&no fun internet like this :-) and if its really a sucker of a day do a Pomodoro. Simply put down words—freely randomly but still pertaining to your work—NOT JOURNALING—for 17-21…

Sitting here miserable w/ a belly full of nasty Rxs and a bad attitude. Thansk SO MUCH for the article and replies!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MADE MY ROTTEN DAY BETTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!xxoocf

If you have AutoImmune illness or THyroid problems it becomes even more apparent. However, don't think for a moment it won't be held against us. PS Canny sectys and PAs have known this for decades and keep track of the employers cycles to resist killing them on bad dayz. xxoocf

I admire your goals. As someone who read all you are attepting, if you get desp just read the middle (LostV egas) part of Goldfinch and you will be good for a while. xxoocf

I would neverEVERnever have gotten married and commited to a career if I realized the full extent of the second shift. Add in holidays. birthdays and other social horseshit and the benefits of working AND being married really tank. xxoocf

We never had kids and took a LOT of social grief for it. We both knew we had a history of mental illness on both sides of our family. Having grown up with mentally ill parents we were both terified of having children with mental illness. We have NEVER regretted not having children a minute. Our lives are full and…

I couldn't agree more. There is a thoughtlessness in offering full scholarships to minority or less than weathly students. Yep they made it. But still spend 4+ years with their noses pressed up against a window filled w/razor blades. It becomes too much hard work without the resources to dress, join, eat and play. …

I stayed at a miserable job for 8 long years. The Supervisor was openly and publicly foul to me and I was desperate to leave. I needed to have medical insurance for my family. By the time I left Iwas a mental and physical mess. It took me YEARS to physically recover and to this day I don't know how I would react if…

Terrible customers/Sunday church goers too. They would order complicated ice cream orders we all had to make too. Our favorite payback?? We would crumble up crackers very fine in the bottom of the milk shake glass. Then fill it and put their straw rightin the middle of all those fine cracker crumbs. They would…

Totally get it andlet freedom ring! But like all choices there are consequences. Can't tell you how many 25+ year old woman want a husband, stay home for a few years to raise a few kids and cannot find ANYONE ANYWHERE and belong to multiple dating online sites. It stinks but so sadly a lot of this horseshit is…

As a fan of noir and even get all the silly allusions to "Yellow King"(bleech) I am sad how this show I so looked forward to turned out to be so....boring. This genre grabs many writers interested in trying something new but ultimately YOU NEED TO TELL A STORY and m0st of all—how about a third act? xxoocf

I hear you and totally understand. Those of us that came from those backgrounds must ignore the ridiculous comments from those who—more than likely—would have never survived what we did. You did just perfect. You are just fine. We survived the fire are burnt clean&beautiful. xxoocf

I agree with everyone. I mean I really do. I agree w/ the author and all the commentators. BUT—and this is what JUST KILLS ME the nugget of truth encased in the writers article. We know from many studies on reproduction that optimal fertility for women occurs in the early twenties. Optimal time for doing the…

I really want this not to matter. I sold cosmetics for 20 years parttime while teaching school fulltime. I listened, used the stuff regularly and when I got "early retirement" because my MA++25 years exp was too expensive for my district—I was NEVER SO HAPPY as when I discovered this 60 year old......actually looks…

Scarves. ANNNND purses. I am disciplining myself to give one away every time I buy another one. It is veryveryvery difficult. xxoocf

Some other thoughts—find out your type (Myer Briggs for example) and realize if you come out Introverted type workingin the cube farm will be hell for everyone especially yourself. You may think you need the benefits, the salary but an Introvert forced to work in an Extroverts environment is…

Oh yeah. I'm all over this. My mother-in-law was a horder. My husband a little (Thank God!). It took me THREE YEARS to go through all her crap that was dumped in my house. I hate her so much. Even tho she was creamated I want to put her back together and beat her to death just for shiz&giggles. My number one rule to…