She cracks like three or four times, and can't hit the high notes anymore. But it's not, like, "bad". She sings the song on key and mostly correctly. It's just that we've come to expect her to hit the high notes so it's jarring when she can't. To me she sounds like she started cold, not warmed up, and is trying to…

DO IT! Living abroad is great. Other countries are better.

Same here. I'm an expat in a country with low public university tuition (though not subsidized childcare) and national health care and despite this country's problems (mostly, China is our problem, and the rest of the world is not paying attention) it's a better lifestyle overall. People are continually asking me when…

You can't do hand-me-downs for tuition or child care, though, and those are the biggest costs.

I wouldn't say so. Even my husband emphatically can't cook, but even he can reheat food and do a decent job of chopping, julienning, grating, zesting etc. and generally be helpful in the kitchen.

What's weird about that shirt is that, I know that's what his son who was murdered used to say when he greeted people, but I doubt his son ever said it in Chinese. So why is it in Chinese?

(And, for Chinese, it's far too polite. You don't use 您 for a friend. In Taiwan you hardly ever use it except perhaps on a…

Um, but that doesn't make sense - I can make better food than the crap at giant corporate chains (I'm a very good cook). So by definition those aren't the restaurants I mean. I bitch about those because the food sucks, not because of a markup.

I don't bitch about markups when the food is good and I couldn't have made it myself. But when the food is crap I could have made better myself, damn right I'll bitch. It'd be better for those restaurants not to have existed in the first place.

Ever just tried insisting? Like sending it back and asking for the manager until you get your full pint? I do it. It usually works. I'm more trouble than the saved alcohol is worth.

I'm not outraged at the markups. I'm outraged when the markups are ridiculous. Charge me for 2 glasses what the whole bottle would cost in the store? OK. Charge me $12 for a shitty whiskey sour? Screw you.

Yeah, I get that. Obviously "we just can't afford it" is sort of a dealbreaker. I'm thinking more of families where they could afford it but for whatever reason, they just don't help out.

I get that and the money was just an example of what it cost me. But the point stands: if parents can afford to help, I'm surprised that some still wouldn't.

We are? I still don't particularly care for my mom's cooking nor am I a fan of American chain restaurants, but that was the food of my childhood.

But cats are only *sometimes* indifferent to their humans. Other times they are just desperate for love and cuddles, and it clearly comes from a place of genuine affection.

yeah, I get that. What I wonder about is families who can afford to, but don't. Especially if the kid is in college. I suppose if the kid really is ungrateful or is way too old for that shit (and not for a good reason, like just lost their job or struggling in another way, but genuinely trying - I'm thinking of the…

This is not a fully horrible story nor is it a big deal. I won't win this thing but I want to share because it's cathartic.

Why just think it? Why not say it?

Being extroverted does too. In order to get through certain points in life, you have to be happy in your own company for extended periods of time, especially if you are single and stuck in a place where it's hard to make friends, at a job where socializing isn't a thing, working from home, widowed, sick of the "I'm…

Yeah, I get that. I'm thinking more about families who probably could afford to help out, but it seems many don't. And I'm not saying even if they can afford it that they *have* to. It just seems odd to me. That's really all. And of course some families can't afford it.

Yeah, I can see that. I definitely don't mean my query to be like "your families don't help you out? WTF?" or anything like that.