well, maybe if you weren't judging minkachupacabre, she wouldn't have to feel defensive. I'm definitely not made of money, but I don't hold her family being able to afford a six figure wedding against her. Do you realize that an expensive wedding is more likely to provide more jobs for average people than a less…

I'm partial to having a destination wedding. My mom is from a family of 10. Almost all of them hate each other, or, at the very least, are angry at each other for one reason or another (some of that is legitimate.) If I invited some of them, others would redirect their anger at each other at me, or use it as fuel…

I'm too old to have a crush on Dan Radcliffe, but I'm old enough that my first childhood crush was on David Bowie because of Labyrinth. Awesome choice of a horcrux!

We don't do that in Buddhism either, or at least, the sect of Buddhism I was raised in. We're also taught that any mentions of demons and the like are figurative rather than literal, and we have no religious problems with science. ;)

Thank you for so simply and eloquently putting into words exactly what I was thinking!

She Clarksonizes songs, indeed. That's one of the difference between a good singer and a great singer, being able to take a song and make it your own. I don't regularly listen to Kelly Clarkson unless one of her songs comes on the radio while I'm driving, but every time I hear her, there's a certain raw honesty…

Being chivalrous is more than just opening doors. That's just being polite. As a woman, i, too, hold open doors for others. I appreciate when people say thanks, and if they don't, I don't get upset about it, because holding a door open isn't a huge task. If you hold open a door for a woman and she isn't being nice…

Yes, I often find that guys who claim to be chivalrous really are guys who think if you buy flowers, jewelry, and chocolate all the time, the woman is required to pay it back with being docile and never saying no to his requests.

I dated a guy who was about 4 or 5 inches shorter than me. I'm 5 ft 6. I also went on a date with a guy who said he was 5 ft 10, and either he was actually my height, or his confidence was so small that it made him seem shorter.

I can tell you, as someone who has provided sexual abuse counseling, that this will absolutely have no negative impact on her social skills whatsoever.

As someone who has worked as a nanny, teacher, and counselor, I have great respect for you for doing this. I always ask children if they want a hug. If they don't want it, I never take it personally. Sometimes I'll offer them a high five, and if they still don't want it, I respect it. I always reinforce to them…

My mom just said, in response, "someone should open a restaurant where they sell gluten free artisanal air and charge a dollar per breath." I love it when my usually sweet mom gets sarcastic.

One of my uncles died the same way, at about the same age, too. He was a sweet person who had a lot of potential, but his addiction to alcohol destroyed his life. Sometimes people don't understand why I rarely drink, but it's because of seeing how that addiction tore his life apart.

When it comes to gift registries, I often give something off the registry and a small something that is personal. That way, the people who are receiving the gifts get something they definitely want, and something unique, unexpected, and meaningful. For example, I went to a wedding a few years ago where I bought a…

Two stories:

I'm not sure if you meant to respond to me or someone else. I don't think I used the word psychotic in discussing him. However, how in touch with reality is someone who thinks it's just fine to kill his mother and copulate with her corpse? That's definitely beyond just hating people. I've known plenty of people…

He's a very extreme case, and his diagnosis is outside of what I've been trained for, so I couldn't really say. But in far less dangerous and extreme cases, (we're talking people who don't have sociopathic or violent tendencies) most people slip up when they're faking it (I hate using that term, it's not really…

I know that, which is why I know that I would be the wrong person to work with him, not to mention that I don't have the proper training to work with someone like him. There are those who are trained, and thank goodness for them. Yes, it's a very difficult area of psychology to work in. You have to play your cards…

Wow, okay. I hope you don't mind if I respond.

1. I have had years of education and training in mental health. You have never seen me provide therapy to anyone, and you're basing your assumption on a very small amount of information. So forgive me if your opinion holds very little weight with me.

It would be hard. When I was doing counseling as an intern, most of my clients were referred through court or some other service. Many of them didn't have much interest in therapy, or cooperating, but they were required to do so as part of their judgement. But I found that many of those clients did end up finding…