You are my personal Hero of the Day.

The alternating appeasing/avoiding/invalidating personality is one of the hardest to deal with, in my mind. It's crazy-making. But of course that comes from personal experience.

Seriously. I absolutely HATE the limp/dead fish handshake. I have a hard time hiding my disgust for this. Not necessarily in professional situations, but there have been times when I've literally recoiled from the dead fish handshake and wiped my hand on my pants or shirt like the person gave me something I didn't…

Is it just me or has a good portion of the content on Jez taken a complete nosedive since the redesign? This story is just one example. I suddenly feel like punching something almost every time I get on here. Or maybe I'm just old and grumpy. At 33.

I have come back to this comment again and again since yesterday to snort and ease some of my similar distress. It was even better that I read this less than a week after being in an LB store, plowing through rows of some god-awful, bedazzledasfuck knit tops that had PARIS emblazoned on the front. I wanted to pull…

Indeed!

Teleworking, for me. I can answer emails AND watch the unraveling shitshow that is Today. It's super.

Ugh, thank god! I've been having some kind of annoying skin distress for the past several weeks, and I keep thinking, "What, skin just turns a corner when you're 33 and that's it? THIS is what happens?!" Wow. And I'm pretty sure all those cigarettes have really helped out, too.

C'est brillant!

YESSS!

Ugh. This problem gives me butt shivers. I work in a small-ish office (less than 100 people), and I'm never sure what level of acknowledgement is appropriate. I'm not often in my office, due to the nature of my job. And I don't actually work WITH most of the people in my office, because my division is almost…

Now THIS is living. I like your style.

And here's the rub: you're going to die, anyway.

Indeed. I was hoping someone would bring up this angle—I was struggling to put it into words. I grew up solidly middle-class, and my parents created a household where I wanted for virtually nothing and also never had any concept of money. All I knew was that we had enough, and I never had to worry. Now, despite…

I've spent most of my 30s—so far—freaking out about all of the above in this thread. I'm 33 now. Around 30, I was planning on having a baby with my then-husband. Instead of a baby, I got a divorce. Everything since then has been topsy-turvy. I have fewer friends, I downsized into a smaller apartment, I have less…

Well, it's interesting to reflect on this. I do know my upbringing (emotionally abusive, narcissistic mother; a father who was either always away on business or defending her behavior) has much to do with the relationships I've had with men in general. I'm just now figuring it out, sort of. (I'm 33.) But I'm…

Indeed! Should've read more carefully... I am always anticipating the crap grammar.

THANK GOD. I didn't have to be the one to point it out. That particular error is like 1,000 granule-sized porcupines in my eyes. Even worse: peeked. Ugh!

Amazing! Thanks for sharing that. I have plenty of nights of segmented sleep, and I thought it was just part of getting older. (Whoop dee doo, I'm 33.) But really, I try not to stress out if I wake up in the middle of the night. I read. I might get up and do something uninteresting. And then when I'm ready, I…

And why is this? I had the same experience, years ago, and went to an urban university that included plenty of what I called "non-trads." (I actually befriended a woman in my program who was 30+ years older than me, but I don't suffer fools and she was just honest, funny, and trying to figure out her shit like…