Yeah. A PhD is an accomplishment, for sure, but what it basically testifies to is that someone is a stubborn bastard who stuck it out for a long time. That determination is a fantastic quality, but it is not the same thing as above average intelligence.

A small child swallowing more than one is believable — except, how long are you leaving a 3 year old unattended that they eat THIRTY-SEVEN of them? But 12 and 14 year old ingesting multiples? That's a special kind of idiotic, even on a dare.

Realistically, I think change would only happen in the wake of something very ugly and high-profile — like, something absurdly awful, like workers at an insanely busy Times Square eatery infecting dozens with the bubonic plague, or something. Which I guess is not terribly realistic. :/

And now I feel kind of bad, because I definitely used some careless and less than kind language to describe the woman involved in the stalking and other disturbed behavior — I was talking about her like she wasn't in the room because, you know, I didn't really think she'd magically appear here. (I am still weirded…

Here is a link to the gofundme, if anyone is interested -it seems legit but do your own diligence: http://www.gofundme.com/stay-family-tr…

I am truly sending you compassionate thoughts. I hope you can get some supportive help to reflect on how you direct your energies in the one lifetime you've got. Sometimes we need a little help - there's nothing wrong in having a trusted therapist, or using some medication, to help us achieve the meaningful life we…

I LOVE your user name and just had to say it. It gave me a laugh.

That's the stalker's blog! Are you Alisa? I should probably not poke the bear... :/

Yeah... I really dig her stuff, and just went googling for more one day, and was shocked. I think Notaro successfully got a restraining order against her, but I don't think that bars the Internet sludge. The woman is supposedly schizophrenic; it'd explain the dozens and dozens of alt accounts that comment places. …

She did have cancer. She also had (has?) a really nasty stalker that has not limited their vileness to the Internet, though there's no shortage of digital detritus. There was a well-done write-up about the stalker and the ordeal it's become over the years... though I'm having a hard time googling it right now. But…

Would you recommend it?

That's the thing that gets me about most cupcake places (yes, even the vaunted Georgetown Cupcake) — I can make way, way better cupcakes in my own kitchen. It might be a pain to do it, but standing in line for hours for mediocre cupcakes doesn't sound like a good alternative.

You have to appreciate all the not-so-subtle digs at the fourth season embedded in season 5 — it's repeatedly referred to as the "gas leak year." Not the gas leak incident, but literally, the gas leak that persisted at Greendale for an entire year and made them all temporarily insane.

It sounds like you parents loved you.

Hear hear. It's hard to talk about this without coming off as sanctimonious or preachy, and it's too easy to get derailed by "who has it tougher" debates (invoking both real privilege and BS excuses, often simultaneously). It IS hard, and we all have to make trade-offs.... but whatever one can manage, it is so worth…

Dang, that's great, for you. The regular price in the Chicago area and the DC area is $4.99, and has been for years. (I guess I could give them credit for not having raised the price in 5+ years... if it weren't so absurdly high to begin with.)

Obligatory, if you haven't seen it before:

There are some (okay, a very small few) products that are pretty hard to find elsewhere. Those 5% of my grocery purchases cost a lot more than 5% of my grocery budget, which does make me angry. I have been known to walk through WF grumbling aloud like a cranky old person at some of their pricing insanity.

Yeah, I think my family / bff were almost exasperated at the lack of direction. It was really hard to convince them that no, really, I fully trusted them and that they needed to just pick whatever it was they wanted.

Holy cow, that was half the cost of our entire wedding, which is to say, the cost of our really fancy dinner for fam/friends. I cannot fathom spending that much for someone else. You're a generous person.