If it’s helpful at all: My mom is a narcissist, too, and though she never beat me, she did do other awful things. I worried A LOT before becoming a parent. But I married wisely, did some good therapy, and now I have an amazing kid. I mean, all moms think their kid is amazing, but mine is really actually the sort of…

This dude? He’s my husband in twenty five years. My husband who went to NOLA last week and was all, “Jazzfest? Whatever. No, i wanna see the WWII Museum!” (He wants you to know that he would never misuse “whatever” in that fashion.) He’s an awesome husband. Highly recommend. Just make sure he’s got someone else to go…

A friend of mine was dying of cancer. Slowly. She used to be an accountant and decided that what she’d do with her time waiting for chemo treatments was go over her itemized hospital/medical bills to catch any mistakes.

When I miscarried, the tech did the ultrasound and left to show it to some doctor. Then the tech had a nurse come in and tell me that the baby had no heart beat. I never saw the doctor.

This! I was coming here to say this! I am the only happy parent I know and I think it’s all to do with our choice to have one. There are some good studies “One and Only” that show that people with one kid are happier than people with no or more than one kid.

Yeah, it’s not a universal solution. I suppose we should Lysistrata the rest of the supporters.

I have a new strategy with the Trump. Withhold the grandchildren.

That’s like saying sex has too much potential for rape. If it’s not your jam, that’s fine. Just don’t yuck on someone else’s yum.

You lasted long than I did. <i>I write spanking smut</I> and I couldn’t watch it. It was nauseating. Literally. I have a half cookie here that isn’t getting eaten now.

Hey hey. Kink IS ok. Because in good kink everyone is upfront about it and consents.

Unrelated: You have the BEST Kinja name evar.

Theres pkenty of scifi/fantasy romance! Seconding the recommendation for Ilona Andrews. Add the steampunk adventures of The Iron Seas books by Meljean Brook. I’ve heard Kim Harrison’s Hollows series classified as romantic urban fantasy. Jeanine Frost and Christine Feehan aren’t my jam but many of my friends adore…

No. Because they aren’t doing any of this in a clumsy or awkward way. It’s all carefully timed, choreographed, and calibrated to test boundaries, to never have witnesses, and always attack someone in a position of lesser power. If dude was hitting on the chair of his department in this way, that’s because he’s…

Sweetie, no

Ha! I tried watching it recently as an older adult (I was 20something when it came out) and I can’t watch it. Loralai is ridiculous, yes, but really it’s because Emily makes me want to stab her. I need more therapy before I can see her as anything other than a narcissistic control freak who lacks any empathy or…

Unrelated at all: Is it telling that when I saw that photo, I thought “What is Abby Bartlett doing in a bad wig?”

I read a lot of sci-fi. So when I see Ted Cruz, all I can think is that alien invaders read a memo about how humans are supposed to look and move and they didn’t bother with actual specimens. Then they subcontracted out the meat-suit to the lowest bidders and programmed the brain with remedial empathy emulators. And…

I swear I was not interested in this movie at all (other than a kind of abstract, “Yay, I like those actresses! I am glad they are getting work!”) But now I AM SO EXCITED! That’s a fine trailer right there.

Seconding Little Robot (graphic novel) and adding Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer and Princeless (graphic novel). If you are OK with boy protags, consider Incredibly True Story of a Part-Time Indian.

I was hanging out on the playground with the other moms and they were all talking about their V-Day date plans. The conversation got to me and I shrugged and said, “Dinner and Deadpool.” Then I had to explain Deadpool to these (very non-geeky) moms. I came up with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead meets Kingsmen…