The bunny. THE BUNNY! Bless you, Internet stranger. Bless your GIF-supplying heart.

OMG, you win/lose. I hatehatehatehate being the center of a weird performance tribute like that. You just know the person in the clown costume is hating every minute of it (and if an adult in a clown costume likes singing happy birthday to a horrified 21-year-old, well, that's not better). And the boyfriend is a…

You are so sweet! Thanks! Scootches chair closer to new friend, immediately wonders how to spell "scootch."

Thanks. :) I think more than anything I was incensed by the implication that I would celebrate my 30th at Outback.

Thanks, I really appreciate the sympathy. A lot of people have responded with stories of missed or disappointing 30ths. I guess we all pick up and go on. When I was miserable last night, I made calls to a few out-of-town friends to complain, and they were terrific. It's helpful to be reminded to focus on the good ones…

I didn't want to write an opus in my opening post, so I left out a lot for the sake of economizing. Let's put it this way: one of the "crippling" diseases was a cold.

That's very sensible. I've been texting back and forth with one friend and more or less going in this direction, so I will continue to carry on. The benefit of texting is that I can fume while still writing something lighthearted that doesn't stress anyone else out.

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. :)