With you - I know plenty of people in "vocations" and "skilled trades" who are making an absolute mint, especially when they're their own boss. Even better if you can get into a union here in Hollywood, and work in the business... you risk lousy job security, but they keep those unions tight and they have to hire…

I'm with the "parents did too much for their kids" poster (I absolutely see major evidence of that in my generation) AND also with you. I remember when the Occupy Protests were in full swing, and all the media were talking this up as people finally taking their power back from the corporations who destroyed the…

Thanks for saying this. I completely understand why "childfree by choice!" is a rallying cry... if you really don't feel you're missing anything, then childless is not the word for you and I can understand why people find it insulting. But I have friends who ARE childless, in their own words. They physically can't…

Some men totally care. I turned down a guy who made multiple sexual advances towards me because I just thought he was an immature creep - in his mind, it was all about the large 'port wine stain' birthmark (I forget the medical term) on his face, if he didn't have that, obviously I'd f*** him like mad! Did I mention…

Living in Hollywood, I have to say: obvious plastic surgery = "hey, you've had plastic surgery", not "you look younger." I'm generally inclined to guess a person is older than they actually are when they have the frozen face... my 20-something friends who are doing botox "preventatively" look older, because you just…

OMG. I knew someone similar. He basically thought going to the period was like pooping. To quote: "you go to the toilet, you get your period, it's done. Why do women make such a big deal about it?" Grown adult. I really want to know what he thought pads and tampons were, or if he was just so isolated from the whole…

So true. My husband is this person. He pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, damnit, and anyone who doesn't is to blame for their own inadequacy! Never mind that he's an attractive, tall white male who went to excellent schools, has traveled the world, has very high-level connections in his industry even if he's…

With you. My family are all 8000 miles away in Australia, so yes, I upload a cute baby pic once every couple of weeks , sometimes one a week. The funny thing was I so conscious of not wanting to be that mother who documents everything in their child's life, I want to be 100% present in his life - one photo of your kid…

I'm pretty sure you're trolling me, or you need serious help with reading comprehension. Did you actually READ more than one sentence of my comment? Because I said right there in my post I'm sure my airport "gift" is also partially due to how people dress and how they carry themselves. And I certainly never said…

Oh god, I don't think she's medically overweight either - I'll be quite happy if that's all the "middle-aged spread" I end up with, my mother is really gorgeous - I think you need a little more weight as you age to keep your face looking great, and even Mr Cat admits my mother looks younger than his, who is less than…

My cultural norm for body types of young (college-age) women, which is (as I acknowledged in my post) different than the norm in the US. Not better or worse, just different. As I said, I didn't see anything odd about the picture initially, but when I read all the hateful comments I looked again and had to admit they do…

Non-American. I didn't go "oh look, fat girls!" when I clicked on this page, but when I read the comments about fat-shaming and went back to the picture, I admit (I am going to get flamed so hard for this) I did think all three girls were overweight, or the cartoon was scaled incorrectly... they should be taller to be…

It comes back to what I would say is one of the more interesting questions in the feminist sphere these days: do we have to support all choices because they're choices and choices = freedom and freedom = good, or are some choices not okay because they're harmful to "the cause"? And what is "the cause" now, if it's not…

I'm glad you're better! I had to get over my body issues first when I had heart issues in my late teens - you're taking your shirt off in front of a lot of old cardiologists (and, on one fun occasion, a room full of students!) to get sonograms or ECGs, and eventually you just stop caring. The only time I was weirded…

The goss I have on Handler, from an ex-friend of hers who worked with her for the first two years of her show - eventually she makes everyone around her Handler-clones, and the writer's room is so bitchy and snarky it's like a snake pit; she drinks like a fish and fired my friend because she went into sober recovery…

Absolutely a boy's club, especially in news. It always amazed me how j-school grads and wannabe journalists (in my home country, at least) were overwhelmingly women, and yet men occupied the top positions at almost every job I worked. I'm seeing it now; my younger brother is being flooded with job offers as a new grad…

Oh so true. Pregnant with a pure white baby? Here's a whole stack of "portofolios" from loving, Christian homes to choose from, and they'll pay all your pregnancy expenses through our private agency! You can even request an open adoption where you negotiate regular contact or communication with your child and their…

Thanks for your detailed answer! This is a really interesting approach - but I admit, I'm divided. For me, an important part of my university education was finding the relevant existing research on my own, and learning to reference and draw from that research without plagiarizing ideas (or heaven forbid, entire…

Oh boy... at least I know who won the civil war! I do confess though, my first Thanksgiving fell in the first month or so after I moved to the US... we were driving to my brother-in-law's place for dinner when I spotted a guy walking down the street in a totally awesome costume. Cue this conversation:

Thanks for your opinion on my "dismissive attitude toward algebra," but I obtained degrees in both mathematics and pure economics before deciding the humanities were more "my thing," and I didn't have to do my grad work in math just because I could. I actually quite like my algebra... shock horror.