I love this thread. Way to step up and take responsibility! Brain dump in 3, 2, 1:

Fun! You're going to have a great time. London is one of my favorite cities. The museums are free, so definitely build in some time for those even if you don't want to be a tourist — the reading room at the British Library is beautiful, I'm not sure you can just plop your laptop down but it's worth investigating.

I miss Topshop like crazy. So much awesome should not fit in so little space.

As you said downthread, when you reward a user, he continues to use people for as long as he can. A lot of people learn subject matter expertise in college, but for others, the real lesson is that your parents aren't going to do your homework or wake you up in time for class anymore and you have to start being an…

Honestly, (the majority of) the feedback here has been good for that. I just really, really, really needed to blow off this steam tonight so that I can shake it off and be gracious tomorrow. I know they will feel guilty and I will probably just brush it away and insist that I'm fine, because I can't stand the thought…

Thank you, but more importantly, I'm sorry yours was so awful. I will take one sad night over a month's worth of fallout any time. Internet hug of solidarity!

I'm willing to try, but I guess what I'm wondering is: does moving on require me to lie and say things were fine when they weren't? These are supposed to be my friends, people I can count on when I'm hurt. The idea that I have to pretend I'm not sad around them to spare them guilt over having caused my sadness...at…

Yes! In normal circumstances, I would have no trouble having a healthy dialogue and saying, "Hey, this happened and it was kind of shitty." But because they're all so fragile right now, I feel like the responsibility is all mine to be kind and forgiving, but I can't just magic away all of my emotions and I'm kind of…

Other people have managed to give me real advice, both positive and negative, without the condescending tone.

Yeah, February was awful on a micro and macro level this year. Thanks for your support — I'm sorry your 30th was sucky too!

Thanks for missing the point entirely. Way to uplift the spirits of a stranger over the internet by being a raging asshole.

You are so welcome! It might predate your target time period by a few decades, but it might still be useful to know that the 1900s were a HUGE difference for women from what their mothers had experienced, and a lot of things we take for granted right now — the ability to go to the store and shop for brand-name goods,…

Thanks, I really need the sympathy right now so I appreciate your comment. :)

How, how, how on earth did you score such a magnificent username? I am jealous!

I am definitely feeling resentful and I agree, it's not going to go away on its own. Thanks for the words of encouragement. :)

Sorry this is so delayed. Just wanted to say: You are very welcome. Hope it works out!

This may be no help to you whatsoever, but I found The Tycoons by Charles Morris to be fascinating on this subject. Lots of the book is about the major businessmen of the late 1800s/early 1900s, but it's also about the major shifts in business of the time and how they affected other areas of American culture,…

I need Friendzone advice.

A friend once told me never to write things down - meaning don't put your thoughts into an email in the hope that it will be less emotionally charged than a conversation. All you'll be doing is keeping a record of things that can be dredged up years later and used against you.

Ugh. Right now "the story" is going to be, "And then he proceeded to keep secrets from me and shut me out of the conversation for months while I got progressively more and more irritated." Maybe the solution is to hunt down these people and explain to them that they are turning your perfectly good boyfriend into a…