Thank you! I am very, very lucky. I had no intention of going into my field, going to the university I did (it's my local state university, and I was going to go to some fancy lib arts college and major in music ed - HAH!), or going to grad school. It all kind of happened by accident, but it's worked out really well…

Very, very true. My advisor is the chillest of the chill - he works from home on the regular and encourages us to work whatever hours are best for us. On the other hand, the most famous researcher in our field is notorious for calling his lab on Sunday mornings and making sure everyone is there and working and…

I can't tell if it's her inflection or what, but....ouch. It's so distracting. But now I have to wonder how bad my Italian accent is, because I know my fellow American singers recognize this book from every audition ever.

Ah, gotcha. Good point.

IANAL, but my understanding is that only medical practitioners (doctors, staff in doctors' offices and hospitals, etc.) are bound by HIPAA. If I share confidential medical information with you freely (as can be assumed happened here - she gave him the sonogram), there is nothing barring you from sharing that…

Louis C.K. isn't perfect, but I absolutely love his take on people who complain that they have to explain gay marriage to their kids. "Two guys are in love and they can't get married because you don't want to talk to your ugly child for five fuckin' minutes?" Same concept applies here - if you aren't ready to have…

Woke up at 5 am, got to school (this was early in my grad school career) around 6. Popped open a beer, helped set up for my lab's yearly St. Paddy's Day breakfast. Drank from 6-9. Took a nap on the hammock in our storage closet (yes, we have a hammock) from 9-11. Got to the bar when it opened at 11, snagged a booth,…

I work in a research lab, and we may or may not have a hammock in our closet. I'll never tell.

This story is only vaguely related to the topic at hand, but it's hilarious nonetheless...at my university, the facilities folks have little vehicles for getting around campus that are basically enclosed golf carts (same size/power, but with windows and doors). I was walking to class one day and saw one of said…

That's also a good way to respond to racist jokes. "HAR HAR HAR YOU KNOW BECAUSE MEXICANS ARE LAZY!" "Huh? They are? That's a thing? *look of befuddlement*" Most (not all) people are self-aware enough to feel like assholes when they have to explain it.

Right? And poor saps like me are still watching it...I feel like because I've been watching it from the beginning, I MUST see it through. But they keep fucking extending it...I keep hoping that this season is the last season, and NOPE. ANOTHER FUCKING SEASON. LET IT BE OVER, PLEASE.

Oh, I actually own it on DVD - I'm a recovering Catholic, after all. ;)

Ugh, it's been about 8 years too long since I've seen that movie. Note to self...

...and if we want to criticize that closed-mindedness, we can. That's the beauty of life. No one is saying that the sorority should legally, by law, be REQUIRED to allow these two women to remain part of their group. No one is arguing that a sorority is an "essential service." All anyone here is saying is that it is…

Oh god, that's absolutely heartbreaking for everyone involved.

You beat me to it! It's incredibly heartening that he knew which pronouns to use and did so consistently, but damn if it isn't depressing that this is such an anomaly.

It's pretty clear that you're intent on derailing rather than actually responding to the issues that people have with the statements that you've made, so I'm going to exit this conversation now. I wish you the best.

Seriously? "If you are a comedian you care about funny. That's it. There is funny and not funny. Any comedian regardless of race will tell you that." Not only is this statement straight up not true (Have you really met every single comedian in the world? Every single one? They're not all nice people.), it implies that…

"Only a SJW could argue against the fact that comedians, above anything else, should be funny."

The plastic surgery is getting crazy good. I knew my good friend for probably 3 years before he came out to me as transgender, and I'd seen him shirtless a half dozen times and straight up never noticed. His scars are barely noticeable. I wanna say he had top surgery about 10 years ago.