Good for you, Dodai! No point in sticking around where you cannot grow and climb! As for me, I don't have any reasons left to read Jezebel. Think of my increased work productivity! I'll go home on time every day now and have more quality time with my dogs!

I get all that, but I also think that my dogs understand individual words, which is not a rational belief at all. For example, I'll tell one of them while I am cooking, "I give you raw beefs, but not this. This is chicken! It might gots salmonella! I like your schnozz, though. It's fuzzy. SCHNOOOOOOOOZZZZZ!!!" To…

Fair enough.

:( No; YOU are being awful. We all tell ourselves little lies to comfort ourselves. You like to ruin them for no good reason. I will tell my dog what you said!

Not *anything*? Not even that your dog understands you when you talk to him? Not even that your late beloved uncle sent that warm weather on your race day? Not even that eating your "lucky breakfast" before your big exam will help? NOTHING? No irrational beliefs at all?

Wellll.... I did my thesis work on snow behavior, so mine was also seasonal, just the opposite season. :)

Ooohhhh... that is *really* cool. And you do field work, too! I wish you luck in finding work in your field again!

Are you a miner? A glacier researcher?

Thank you, but I live in Alaska. I need sleeves from September through May, usually 3 or four per arm (long underwear, fuzzyshirt#1, fuzzyshirt#2, coat). :)

But all black people look the same, so that was easy, right?

That really pisses me off. I know I shouldn't care, since I'm already into middle age, with a successful career, PhD in engineering, and doting Mr. Arvay, and I should not give one fuck about what I look like, but I live in a rural area and split wood, haul water, clear land, keep working dogs in shape, etc, and I'm…

You're right! I give! Despite my best efforts, I have lost this Very Important Debate. Well, gotta go home to my lonely life with all my cats now, so I'm out. Have a lovely evening!

You seem awfully worked up about a stranger's opinion of another stranger.

Wait, first of all, no, my primary reason for not getting the warm fuzzies from this story is the same—that a guy who seems to have an external audience (look! at! these! roses! look! at! this! diamond!) seems to care more about external validation than about the relationship. My opening statement in my original post…

Meh... whatever. I'm happy for them if they are happy, but it's not something that pulled at my heartstrings, is all. "make a big deal in the press" see that's kind of what harshed the warm fuzzies for me. Like bunches of roses or giant diamonds, "romantic" gestures that get publicized in the press seem more like they…

"'I started in September 2011 and by December I had 34 grammes, which is a huge amount. 'Some days I'd be camping next to the river and I'd start as soon as the sun was up and carry on for 14 or 15 hours a day,'"

Meh; he sounds more like he's in love with the idea of romance than the woman. I'd rather have my partner at my side hiking and skiing on weekends than out panning for gold while I hang out by myself. My ex proposed with a gigantic, sparkly diamond, not even considering the fact that I don't like diamonds and don't…

"a house with no pool"?? Dear Lord, that poor girl definitely scrambled up from the bottom, huh?

The second letter writer sounds like she is also lacking in platonic friends. That guy is an asshole. I was with a similar asshole for six years. I did work full-time, in fact making more money than he did and moving across the continent to support him when he was undergoing chemotherapy treatments for his (curable…

"The sad answer is this: we're worried we won't shape up."