I'm 24 and I say hi to every single dog I see. And sometimes squirrels. I thought was a sign of being delightfully whimsical.

I think the worst thing about an experience like this isn't what happens, but what it makes you think. I got mugged when I was in high school, and some punk decided to throw a fist across my face because I was there. In and of itself, it didn't do much (I'm apparently harder-headed than I even look!), but it sure as…

The only reason I like pockets on any article of clothing (excepting coats, because that's where I keep gloves) is so I have some place non-awkward to put my hands. If I don't have pockets, I end up either having my arms crossed which apparently makes me look mean or I end up doing some weird version of T-Rex arms…

I hear you. An inventory of my purse would take hours. My husband says that come doomsday or a natural disaster we could live, eat, build shelter and entertain ourselves just on it's contents.

and then the other one with the rat. I don't like rats.

And in Texas we get mums. Big, honking, fancy mums.

The former angsty 90's goth girl in me wants to say it's basically a popularity contest. It's a way to celebrate the beginning of the school year, and football. Usually the first home game of the year, there is a pep rally at school the day of the game. Here in Texas girls wear giant fake mums adorned with five…

At our work, we have to limit the size of our hiring pools. Each resume gets about 15 seconds to catch our attention. If it doesn't, we probably won't be calling for an interview. A good exercise is to take to top left corner of a paper. Pull it to the right hand until it forms a 90 degree angle. That section…

FWIW, I'll be telling my daughter:

Just popping in to say that I've been watching the pre-game coverage and I am really tired of the announcers and sideline reporters discussing how all this Ray Rice stuff is a "distraction" from football and can the Ravens "overcome" said distraction. I don't like that choice of words. Football is a distraction from…

My son came out to me yesterday.

He told me he's bisexual, and that he doesn't want to talk about the "male" part of his romantic interests. I said that there's nothing he could say that would shock or offend me. Then I told him that I won't berate him about it, but he's nuts if he thinks he gets some sort of pass on…

My husband does the same thing too. It's goddamn irritating.

In all of my 30-something years, never once has a woman approached me out of the blue to tell me how hot she thinks I am. Never once has a woman demanded that I smile. Maybe because women know that that shit is creepy.

You could just talk to them as if they were a person who doesn't need any more external judgments on their appearance.

if I spent hours getting ready for a date with YOU, feel free to tell me I look great. We have an established relationship at that point. Obviously if my husband compliments my appearance, that's fine.

It's a subtle issue, and you're right that not every woman reacts the same way to the same remarks. For that matter, the same woman won't react the same way every time. It's really important to be able to read body language and facial cues, because if you hit on a woman who's in a rush and just trying to get some…

This is the hard part: there's no one way to approach someone else. Gotta keep trying. But you'll see on this thread and elsewhere that a comment on a woman's appearance is probably not a good way to start off. Try, "I've been meaning to read that book; would you recommend it?" or "long line for coffee today,…

In the original post, isn't it made pretty clear that something that comments someone's taste is preferable to just complimenting their looks? I have very curly hair that I take a lot of pride in—"hey gorgeous!" and "your hair is gorgeous" communicate different things to me. The latter is both a compliment to my…

Whatever we fear has already happened to most of us, multiple times. There's no "until." We're allowed to learn from our lived experiences and react in the way that seems safest for us, but thanks for your attempt at a benevolent dicktatorship.