My mother is very Catholic, and yet at peace with gayness. I remember being 13 and in a middle school play and all the girls were just in love with Kurt. And Kurt was beautiful, and everyone said he was in love with the leading actress, and he adored me as a friend, which somehow gave me a sheen of popularity that I…

I wanted to be an astronaut and an astronomer! (The Challenger accident put a damper on that one, but I did grow up to be a physicist.)

I keep wondering if Kate Middleton is a bit like a friend of mine (who happens to share her name) who always lost weight in the first trimester of pregnancy. Something about pregnancy hormones (and perhaps morning sickness) caused her to drop weight like crazy for the first trimester. In fact, that's how she knew she…

First day of 7th grade. Mom was at work already. I discover blood in the panties. Call for Dad, explain calmly what is going on. Dad proceeds to rob Mom's stash of pads in an incredibly supportive if mildly awkward manner.

I do not think this is weird at all. I think there are a lot of people who lie about how frequently they shower because they just don't need to do it that often.

I am even more relieved to discover that the Saints pre-pick kiss pictures, because my season tickets put me between dad and brother.

My friend used to teach two in the same class. They had to go by last initial: Unique P. and Unique W.

My brother dated a Jennifer Lopez and I'm friends with another one. It's a surprisingly common name.

All I could think was that the girls are going to LOVE Brock in middle school theater, and he's going to break all of their little hearts. Eee, he wants to be on Broadway.

When my ex called off the wedding after a long engagement, I sold the ring to pay for the deposits that were not returnable. Of course, it didn't cover the $12,000 or so my parents paid for a wedding reception that didn't happen, so they donated the event to charity to be used as a fundraiser and took it off their…

I concur. Pretty much the most perfect video ever.

I managed 2 and 10! My shelter rescue came with the name Mannie, which we pretend is short for Manderson Pooper. He's just that cute.

You are not alone.

If there are multiple clinics in an area, then obviously there's no need for Planned Parenthood. Because obviously, people could go to another clinic for the exact same services.

When you're in this kind of situation, wherein your mother-in-law is poison, there are really only two end results: either your future husband sides with you, or he sides with his mother.

Our physics club had a grand time blowing up water bottles for a demonstration day. It was hot, so we had cases of bottled water to stay hydrated. When the bottles were empty, they'd get loaded on to our trebuchet to be exploded mid-air. Fancy.

He's first on my list, too! Mrowr!

I have trouble finding this problematic. My mother would have given me my brother's name if I'd been the boy. She'd have given him my sister's name had he been a girl. My parents reasonably picked out child names of both sexes, just in case. That I know that I'd have been Michael and my sister would have been Mark…

That dubious little cavalier puppy. He also believes it is fake.

One of the reasons that people failed to evacuate for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 is because there were so many shelters that did not take pets, and people refused to abandon their animals. Such an effect was noted, and now shelters are encouraged to take pets, because otherwise, people put themselves in danger to stay…