I am not up in arms. As long as you never deny the amazingness of potato chips in a sandwich.

I am not from the midwest, but I agree with you on everything but the cheese part. Wisconsin makes some *AMAZING* cheeses.

French fries in pita (with falafel or gyro, obviously). Fuckin amazing, man.

There are regional food tendencies, and the Midwest's is pretty distinct — not a lot of spices, often very meat-heavy, heavy on mayonnaise and cheese. It is not a thing everyone likes. There are also people who hate New York pizza, or Southern food, etc.

At another point, one of the guys asked for a water refill. The waiter picked up the cup, set it down on the bar and then just started staring off into space. The guy asked him again. The waiter picked up the cup, made it in a little further down the bar, and then just set it down and stared off again.

Yessss cannot wait to see. I might have to make something similar for my niece.

I think we would have been friends.

I'm 26 and nowhere near marriage (quite single), but the one thing I know about my future wedding: fuck nice food or a fancy band, I want every single person I love there, drinking free booze, and dancing dangerously close to a bonfire.

My hippie-artsy-slightly-crazy-middle-of-nowhere-Maine college roomie got a mall photoshoot as a 4yr-old, which could not have been incongruous with her/the rest of her upbringing. It is SUPER creepy/doll-like.

Maybe start her off on something a little more age-appropriate, like "Feminist Killjoy" or something. A "Raging Feminist Bitch" photoshoot would be a great way to welcome her to her teen years.

I'll bet. Can I ask for details?

This is not an argument against piercing a baby's ears, but it's really not very painful to have done as a result.

Heh, same. Got them pierced freshman year of college; I'm in grad school now and just got second piercings. We'll see what she says this weekend...

I couldn't really hide it, but I tried, and I do think I successfully hid the worst of it. I still live with all that, but I am in therapy and medicated and very open w the people in my life about it :)

What's crazy is when you find out how ONTO you they are though. When I was 24 and having dinner w my mom and complaining about the last guy I'd dated, my mom encouraged me, as she had before, to date multiple people at once, then said "I know that's not really your style, sweetie, but you know, you don't have to sleep…

I didn't have to go through any of that, but I was super-duper depressed, and have my old diaries to prove it. It is SUCH a hard age, but I fucking love teenagers for how absolutely insane they are.

Yeah, more than anything as a teen, I lied about my massive, massive depression/self-mutilation. I mean, also about drinking and smoking pot and where exactly there'd be parental supervision, but more the parent-protective lying that the self-protective.

Oh, no, I actually don't think that's it, from what I know of her. That is not in defense of him at all, I am just 99% certain that's not what's up. He actually rejected the ex after they made out, too (multiple sources confirm this). Really I think he was tryna pull me in with one arm and push me away with other,…

I think it's back and forth sometimes, but overall, for the most part, I believe we move forward. I don't have much to add. I just know it's really, really, hard, and I also know it ends and you'll be able to breathe again. In the meantime, solidarity hugs.

Rilo Kiley's "Better Son or Daughter" is my favorite favorite song when shit's rough.