I lived in a pocket of tolerable in the middle of a sea of red voters. It was a constant source of sadness to see what happened on the state level. Know when people say that if you don't like the political climate, then move? That's what I did. I don't know if I could stomach living in Rick Perry's Texas...even if I…

I'm originally a New Englander - my problem with living in Louisiana was that the culture of the South was so completely alien to me. I felt like less of a foreigner as a student in London than I did during a relatively long stint down south. I tried to adapt - ended up running away so I could live somewhere I…

I lived in Louisiana for six years....there is no part of me that wants to go to OK or TX.

The National Gallery of Art? The Hirshhorn? The Smithsonian? Air & Space? The Shakespeare Free For All, even? No-cost things that I take advantage of...all the time.

I was going to say "too bad they're all in the south or the midwest". I am a confirmed big city kind of person, and the only one that I would ever consider on that list is Columbus. And even that is a stretch.

Yeah, that's how I come down on it. I absolutely understand its use in contexts where a gendered pronoun is inappropriate or using some variation of "he or she" would be awkward. I use it fairly often myself, increasingly so over the last few years.

If you buy enough groceries, the Costco membership (don't know about the others) pays for itself pretty quickly. Can't beat the prices, and often name-brand (or their label - which is pretty much only on stuff that they feel lives up to a certain standard). I save a boatload buying things like bags of onions & sweet…

A variation on this is vexing me at the moment. Have two sets of travel dates possible. First set, airfare is nearly $300 cheaper - for the same flights - as the dates a month later. But expensive airfare is on the same weekend that I have friends out of town and thus would be able to stay free in an empty and…

Not only have I been (non-coercively) coaxed, I have told my partner directly: in times of high stress I'm not likely to initiate anything, and further, I'm likely to be pretty not interested at first.

Is that a tine test?

Mine as well. Dad and I built a Heathkit during my weekend visits.

Aaaaargh! This drives me utterly batty. Yes, a thousand times yes: we call female humans "women".

Yes - men are able to get vasectomies without regard to how many children they already do or don't have. I know quite a few of them. And let's not forget - if you can not bear biological children, you can still become a parent. The establishment says: lack of fertility is so abhorrent that we need to protect you from…

Yeah, I'm with you here. I always knew that I didn't want kids - I was the one who played with only the stuffed animals when my friends had baby dolls. I tried to make that "final decision" (medical sterilization) many times since about age 22, and I could not get any doctor anywhere to take me seriously, since "what…

I wonder if he's related to this guy?

I can confirm that it is possible to fall in love with a sentence. Jolie, I fall in love with yours all the time. No joke, I recommend your book by saying "you will love this woman's sentences".

Oh, yeah. Coffee. When I went back to school to do a grad degree, I decided to track my spending with a program. Tracking income was simple because it was a loan check at the beginning of the semester. The things that jumped out at me? Yup, the coffee. I didn't even consider it, because this was back before the fancy…

I dated that guy once! The one I didn't have to *always* pick up the check for. Was nice, while it lasted.

can't seem to get the image to post, hmm

Yes yes and yes. I buy them by the big-pack at the Costco (their Kirkland brand, which are as good as any of the better ones out there). It's a little goofy, but if I use a paper towel for something not-gross, I'll sometimes hang it on the kitchen faucet and use it a few hours later to scoop the stuff out of the sink…