What is the best way of hand-washing underwear? I don't mean specialty lace undies, but plain old cotton panties. I'm super sensitive to chemical irritants and the washer I have here in China doesn't rinse the detergent out well enough, so unless I hand-wash, my vagina is constantly on fire.

Thanks for the kind words. :)

I'd like to at this point, but I'm in a really small town. Almost no one speaks English here except for the people at the school, and even their English is so-so. I'm also not really sure how Chinese people deal with mental health issues. The kids at the school who we would consider as having learning disabilities are…

This week, Jezebel wrote about the return of Hyperbole and a Half with a blogpost about depression. I read it out of curiosity and I can see a lot of how I've been feeling lately in her post about how depression feels. I never really feel happy or excited about anything anymore. I just feel bored and sort of…

You sound like you know what she'd like. I think your plan sounds super sweet. You should do it! Best of luck to you!

Lol okay. Seems like a struck a nerve. You must be IMSing.

You set the whole thing up like some kind of hard-to-believe feat of bravery. As someone with a degree in women's studies, I'm curious to know why it's such a leap to believe that a man could successfully ask out a woman by the women's studies section.

Why is that so hard to imagine?

In Canada, our biggest bookseller is Chapters and a few years ago they changed their Women's Studies section to Gender Studies and put The Game in it. It's still a little rage-inducing.

Anyone else feel like Peggy is really selling herself short with Abe this season? She clearly regrets the decision to go with his stupid idea about the apartment. I don't see the relationship lasting. Peggy wants to be where the Drapers are and Abe wants to live like a bohemian hippy. His anti-consumerism is…

You need to start following people who tweet things that are relevant to your interests, especially if you also tweet about those interests. Post interesting content and links to things, rather than just daily observations. Most importantly, give it time. A few weeks is not enough time to build up a following.

You should watch Fringe.

David Sedaris is the best. I really cherish the night I got to meet him. He drew a dog in my book when he signed it.

I've been in China for a few months now and all the people around me look different to me. These women don't.

I really can't stand these violent troglodytes. But you know what? The fact that their reactions are so over-the-top insane and irrationally violent means they're scared. They're like children throwing a temper-tantrum because play-time is over and they don't want to go wash up and go to bed. And they're scared with…

I think The IO9 writers or editors or whatever have to pick your post to appear on the main blog, no?

That's a good idea. The classroom set-up isn't ideal for telephone, but it might work for the picnic day. Thanks!

So, I asked my university students (freshmen English majors in China - the class is oral English) for feedback on the class and they said they wanted to have less discussion on the book and more activities that get them talking in a more natural way. I've been doing ice-breakers like taboo and now I'm thinking I'll do…

Christian Bale is totally what male perfection looks like to me. Well, when he's not emaciated. American Psycho Christian Bale is the best.

How is it her fault if she feels pressured? You say that if she refuses, you will dismiss her as not worth the effort/time, not into sex or open about her sexuality. Women aren't stupid. They know what it means when the guy they're seeing asks them to go to the strip club with him.