To be honest, I felt like it was more possible to have a dialogue with you; the OP's responses so far in this thread haven't been the most welcoming. I think there's a good point to be made about not falling into the trap of obligatory buying, and I feel like you've made that far more amply!

I think my beef with the "buying just to buy things" comes in more with office place Secret Santa deals and whatnot. Always seems like a completely invented and unnecessary tradition to me, since people will buy for people they're genuinely friends with anyway. Similar to all the extraneous and expensive details…

I just think the term "useless crap" is highly subjective. My dad went on a rant last time I saw him about how he thought reading books was stupid because, and I quote "you read it once, and then that's it, isn't it?" To be fair he was pissed at the time.

Same here. Spending Christmas away from my family royally blows, but it's necessary sometimes. I still want her to have something nice at Christmas, regardless.

But, if you'll forgive me, you are still buying them gifts, right? Even if they aren't material stuff. So you're still in the gift paradigm, as it were.

Gilligan & O'Malley Women's Knit Pajama Set, $26, Target

You know, that's something I go back and forth on myself. Like I said, anime is freely offered by the Japanese people, and it's been promoted by the government as an international export. I think a lot depends on the attitude people bring to it. I know a lot of white/western people who watch anime and read manga with…

What about the "Gherkin" in London?

I dunno. I'd heard all the jokes about the Washington monument ages before I actually knew anything about it.

I dunno. I'd heard all the jokes about the Washington monument ages before I actually knew anything about it.

Kind of disappointing in that response. Hadid has always come off as a very gutsy woman, I would have preferred it if she'd been all "Yeah, I guess it kind of does, if you want to look at it that way. What of it?"

Otaku culture is a difficult one, because on the one hand it has a very different meaning in the West to in Japan (where is has a legacy of dubious connotations), but on the other hand the Japanese government has actively promoted the exportation of Japanese pop culture (and Otaku does refer to popular sub-culture in…

I think it's important here to distinguish between what is taken from a culture and what is freely given. Your friend invited you into her culture, and it seems like you both went out of your way to create as authentic an homage as possible. If you'd just gone out and bought a "Sexy Little Memsahib" outfit, which is…

Yep, and people picking specific breeds because they like the look or the idea of them and then not knowing how to handle their specific needs. I love border collies, but I would never, never buy or adopt one (unless it was elderly) because they are so high-energy and need a level of activity and training I can't…

Yep, and people picking specific breeds because they like the look or the idea of them and then not knowing how to handle their specific needs. I love border collies, but I would never, never buy or adopt one (unless it was elderly) because they are so high-energy and need a level of activity and training I can't…

I mean, just that crack about expecting her to be called "Dan" was bad enough as far as I'm concerned. What the heck is up with people that can't even comprehend basic good manners?

Oh God Oh God. This gave me horrible flashbacks to when dream bf encouraged me to eating an entire cake, after which a bunch of his friends (who IRL I was meeting for the first time the next day, natch) turned up and were like "who ate Tom's birthday cake?!" And dream bf just sat there laughing, the bastard.

Honestly, I think I would have preferred it if he'd just admitted that at a certain point, you have to sacrifice durability in order to achieve greater stretch/comfort. My thighs rub, and yeah, the comfiest, lightest fabrics will pill and wear down there.

I think this might be very relevant. The generation of women who are now getting the higher-up positions presumably started working in the 70's or 80's, when it was extremely tough to make any headway in a lot of companies and you had to be "better than the men," or at least better than the men at being a man. I think…