Hi! I did this three years ago and now I have some really really good friends. The #1 thing for me? Meetup.com. It takes some time and effort, and you have to be willing to say “I’m new and looking to meet friends and you seem cool. Do you want to meet for coffee after work next week?” but it’s the best tool I found…

Based on my intimate knowledge of Gwen Stefani lyrics I believe a hollaback girl is someone who yells back at someone who yells at or gossips about them. Gwen Stefani is not a hollaback girl because she is going to beat you up behind the bleachers.

Yeah, I mean, can you imagine if they cast a white guy to play Michael Jackson?!?

Yeah, I live in Toronto. We’re the fourth most expensive housing market in North America (last I checked). 158k sounds legit affordable to me. At this point it’s like “$400,000 but it doesn’t have a roof? What a steal!”

Don’t feel too bad - you know about her now!

I love Beverly Jenkins so much - I think I’ve read everything she’s written, some of it twice.

Because Quebec? It’s not actually a state funeral (sorry, Celine), it’s one step down from that, but it’s still funded by the province. It’s pretty weird and most Canadians don’t really get it but also don’t really care.

This is 100% me confessing my ignorance: I had no idea that Mother Teresa was white. I think I assumed she was Indian, and the “Teresa” was like a confirmation name or whatever. I know the name, but everything I know about her could be summed up in a keyword search: Calcutta, nun, orphans, white nun scarf thing.

Seems like God isn’t supporting their march... or is this one of those things where Christians talk about “mysterious ways” and “his plan”?

Literal chills.

Yeah, I feel so weirdly invested in her having a family (however it comes together) because of that documentary. This announcement made me really happy!

This looks interesting, but you can already tell that there’s going to be one bad guy. One company that bent the rules or took advantage or lied. The real crash was so much more complex, but a two hour thriller can’t come close to exploring that so we get to see the face of evil, instead of the thousands of faces of…

But this is the problem with the US system. It’s so polarizing. Hilary should be able to be a centrist Republican if that’s where her policies lie. Centrist Republican policies might appeal to a lot of US voters. Instead of having the whole country vote for the policies that suit them best, you have a small proportion…

I was in PEI a couple summers ago and so disappointed that it’s 100% Anne and no Emily! Emily was my favourite, I read and reread all three books. They couldn’t at least print the cover on a t-shirt or something?

I’ll forgive a lot of offensiveness if you’re funny enough. Unfortunately Ricky Gervais was not funny enough on Sunday. He’s been funny enough in the past, but this was not up to par.

Word meanings change based on use so I think this is a fight you’re going to lose. I suspect we will see it split so it retains its mathematical meaning but comes to be a near-synonym for “unexpected” in general conversation.

Petition to replace all stars with Poenys.

I’ve read other David Mitchell books and liked them a lot. I might read it eventually, it’s just nowhere near the top of the To Read pile.

I read and liked both of these. I liked Dark Swan Green by David Mitchell, too. I’ve read everything by Helen Oyeyemi except her first book which I own but am holding off on reading because then there will be no more by her. Have you read White is for Witching? That’s my favourite of hers.

Yeah, I think I have the same reading philosophy as you, but I’ve gotten better at achieving that. When I set myself the quota I told my sister that in some ways it didn’t actually matter if the final result was 18% or 23% (although I’m glad it was higher!), the point wasn’t really the number, it was the process of…