@Rilo-Andy: I know exactly how you feel. I'm an aspiring writer, and I have started to refer to my debt as "crushing." Because I am drowning in it, and spent most of this week unemployed. There are two things that keep me going, both told to me by Ron Moore:

@PurpleDaisy: Also a good idea! I don't know of a Haitian community, but I'm in LA and we've got pretty much everyone, so we probably do.

@Tippi Hedren: I don't know, but the crazy thing is that on that side of the family, it's my uncles who are fuck-ups. This one aunt may be a crazy racist asshole, but she has a home and pays her bills and doesn't break any laws. I have very few uncles on FB, though.

@Tippi Hedren: I know how you feel. My crazy-ass aunt posted a thing about how if gay people want to get married, they're not allowed to call it "marriage" for the same reason that "negroid" people can't call themselves white. And she got some responses along the lines of "this is so right and well-said!"

@envirodesigner: How about photography? There's the start-up costs of the camera and editing software, but then there's an excuse to get out of the house and take pictures, and then spend time editing them (not just "increase the contrast," but really editing them).

@shorty63136: There is a way to do this! Someone told me a couple weeks ago: go to Settings, Privacy Settings, Profile Information, and then there will be an option in the drop-down lists to "customize." When you choose this, you have the option to exclude certain people from seeing certain things.

@angelina jolie-laide is a gaudy tulip: That's a good idea. I really wish they were taking blood. I am all about giving blood. (Funny story: a solicitor called once for the sheriff's fund and when I said I had no money, he was all "just $10!" And I said, "you can have clothing, toys, blood, but money is one thing I…

@theysaidwhat: I am currently teaching myself to knit (as in, the needles are sitting next to my computer with three very messy rows on them) via this site:

@angelina jolie-laide is a gaudy tulip: HA! Coincidence, I swear! Great minds just think alike.

I am learning how to knit via the interwebs. It's tough!

@cantankasaurus rex: I like the Anastasia, but I'm a little more of a traditional girl. I think it depends a lot on your body type - I would not be able to pull off the Reese. They're both beautiful! And so very different!

@thecameralovesyou: This probably doesn't help, but people call me Rebecca all the time. And from other Rebeccas I've spoken to, I'm willing to bet you get called Rachel on a regular basis too. So I think of them as sister-names.

I was speaking with someone at work once and he asked me my name. (That the gentleman's native language is Spanish will be important.) Then he asked me to repeat it. Then he said, "that's my son's name! Except he spells it different." Which is how I learned that many Hispanic people hear my name as Richard, which is…

@quitelikely: There was a woman who worked closely with the scout troops in my town growing up who called me Racial. But LA is the first place I've been where people look at my name spelled out and ask me how to pronounce it. When they have to guess, they usually go for Rachelle. It's odd. I don't mind Raquel, because…

@greeneyedfem: Very good point.

@Haystacks: Oh, absolutely. I think part of what I was trying to say is that some of these women are really just bitches, but because they don't have an outlet to be bitches, they become abusive assholes. But you're right, some of them would be abusive assholes anyway.

The first thing I think of is the group of women in Persepolis who went around making sure everyone was following the modesty rules. It was, of course, a real occurrance, and there's been some version of it in pretty much every religion, but what it boils down to is that these are women trying to get any amount of…

@withoutabaedeker: Television Without Pity knows all!: [www.televisionwithoutpity.com]

@ab33: I've also seen them at Bed Bath & Beyond. They have a whole "as seen on TV" section. Bonus: 20% off coupons!

@gennie catastrophe: it's not personal: Eesh. My sympathies.