@kansasgirl: Yeah, I am glad she has a supportive husband. It's happened to a couple people I know and it's scary and not at all easy to see a loved one go through something like that. I hope she gets the help and treatment she needs.
This is very sad news. Elizabeth epitomized grace, dignity and strength in the face of hardship. My heart goes out to her family.
@jeccat: Or perhaps even a psychotic break.
@Teh Echoroc: Thanks, all, for your kind words.
I'm going through this with my grandfather right now. He has end-stage prostate cancer and he's been told he has a couple months at the most left. He's doing remarkably well and seems to have found a measure of peace in the knowledge that his time here is imminently finite. The family has really come together around him in the last week or so and we are all hoping we can have one last Christmas with him.
I sincerely hope Elizabeth and her family can spend Christmas and the time she has left together. I wish her peace and strength and the support of her loved ones.
I sincerely hope Elizabeth and her family can spend Christmas and the time she has left together. I wish her peace and strength and the support of her loved ones.
@Rote Zora: Me, too! I used to carry around a small Swiss Army knife, but I lost it. Now it's just the scissors and man, are they useful!
@the susan: Oh, yeah. I forgot about those. I have them everywhere. In my pockets, in my purse, in my wallet. Everywhere.
I carry around my own tea, too! I've been doing this for years. I always have a book and my iPod - I take public transit everywhere and I find these invaluable companions, not only for passing the time but also for avoiding awkward conversations with strangers on the bus. Also, collapsible scissors. They come in handy more often than you'd think.
@Penny: Thanks for your honest reply. Too often, women are lambasted for not being enamoured of motherhood. I remember when Angelina Jolie called Shiloh a "blob" and was criticized incessantly in the press for it. But she was being honest - a newborn is kind of a blob (an eating, sleeping, crying, pooping blob, which is what my friend, who is a new mom, said of her two week-old daughter recently). I wish more women felt like they could be really honest about how motherhood feels because less women would feel so damn guilty when they don't necesarily feel all glowy Earth Mother right away (or ever). I think one can still be a good mother and have honest reservations about parenthood.
@Gigi: I have never been pregnant or given birth and until recently, I was pretty anxious at the thought of both. Anxious to the point that I really couldn't see myself having children. But seeing my close friend go through pregnancy and childbirth and the first few weeks (so far) of motherhood and I am beginning to feel like, yeah, maybe I could do this. It won't be easy, but I think I can handle it. Of course, there are other factors at work in my life making me think this, but knowing someone close to me go through that experience definitely helped me see if as a reality and not just an anxiety-inducing fantasy. Oddly enough, what really made it all real for me was my friend confessing that she was a wreck for the first week. She didn't know what to do, her baby wasn't latching, her nipples were cracked and sore, she was exhausted and hormonal. She said she cried a lot and felt kind of helpless. BUT she got through it and managed to figure everything out and is doing fine. No challenge was completely insurmountable. Seeing someone I respect just basically break down, but still struggle through, was reassuring in a counter-intuitive way. It showed me that it's ok to feel helpless, but not to let my fear get in the way of something I do really want - to have my own family.
@fuzzylizardkitten: I was there! And I danced my face off to Santigold. I love her back-up dancers.
My friend S. He is one of the most loyal, devoted, caring friends I know. He really helped me get through my break-up this past spring. But most of all, he gets it. He understands privilege and what it means. He not only says he believes in empowering women, he shows it through his actions (such as helping a co-worker get out of an abusive relationship). I don't have to painstakingly explain things like abortion rights or rape culture to him. We can actually have a frank discussion about social justice without another "What about the men??!" diatribe. It is so refreshing.
Also, shout outs to my friend's husband, who cried more than a few times upon the arrival of their first child; my sister's smart, hilarious and strongly feminist husband; and my dad, who encouraged my love of science, always split the domestic duties evenly with my mom, raised me to demand respect and an equal partnership from the men in my life, and is the cleanest, most organized man I know. Oh, and he also used to do the raddest hair do's on my sister and I when we were little kids, which he adorably called "Swoop'n'Dash."
Also, shout outs to my friend's husband, who cried more than a few times upon the arrival of their first child; my sister's smart, hilarious and strongly feminist husband; and my dad, who encouraged my love of science, always split the domestic duties evenly with my mom, raised me to demand respect and an equal partnership from the men in my life, and is the cleanest, most organized man I know. Oh, and he also used to do the raddest hair do's on my sister and I when we were little kids, which he adorably called "Swoop'n'Dash."
@CurtCole: Nice! I love the idea of tapping the vast pool of the people who visit this site.
@ohblahdee: I think that is exactly what he thought he was doing, but that doesn't make it ok to say that kind of thing.
#groupthink
#groupthink
@Cerridwen: So a friend of mine who is, shall we say, emotionally unstable, posted this rant as her Facebook status which amounted to "Fuck you and you and you and him and her and everyone in this stupid fucking world!" There were a lot of F-bombs. Someone (not a friend of mine) responded by saying "Fucking the world just makes you a slut and we all know what the world does to those." Seriously?!?!? Your friend (who has a history of mental illness) is obviously in distress and you respond by bizarrely and inappropriately slut-shaming her? What the eff is wrong with people? I know he meant is as a "joke" but it was just so.....incredibly inappropriate.
#groupthink
#groupthink
People are assholes, y'all. Story in the reply.
#groupthink
#groupthink
@SomeAuthorGirl: Synergy!
#groupthink
#groupthink
@wtfox?!: Sometimes I feel like I am living in a Dilbert cartoon.
#groupthink
#groupthink
You guys, the people in my office are so negative sometimes. This Friday is our office Christmas party. Another co-worker and I got "volunteered" to coordinate a gingerbread decorating thing. We decided that it would be easier on everyone if we just did a cookie exchange kind of thing and provided decorating supplies to decorate our own gingerbread cookies. I was asked to send out an email to the staff, asking for people to sign up to bring in cookies and/or decorations (since the office has no money for such things). Apparently, I am now the Cookie Grinch because decorating individual cookies does not "encourage teamwork" and instead "promotes individualism." Jeebus people, they're just Christmas cookies! It's supposed to be fun. We're taking the whole afternoon off in order to not work and relax a bit and all people can say is (and I quote)"Your cookies promote a breakdown in communication." It's madness.
#groupthink
#groupthink
@Norton: I have a friend who is very, very picky and she is a supertaster. She really can't have spices of any kind in her food. Whenever I cook for her, I usually set aside a portion for myself that I can season more. But her pickiness extends past spices. She won't eat a whole variety of foods for various reasons. For instance, she won't eat cucumber or melon because she says that it overpowers the flavour of everything else. Goat cheese is too strong a flavour for her and she says rosemary makes her feel nauseous.
The things I am picky about, on the other hand, have really very little to do with flavour and much more to do with texture. I can't deal with foods that are pasty or mealy in texture. I'm getting better with it (I can now eat mashed potatoes, and actually like them, yay!). But I love Indian food and spicy food and strong flavours, like onions and black olives.
The things I am picky about, on the other hand, have really very little to do with flavour and much more to do with texture. I can't deal with foods that are pasty or mealy in texture. I'm getting better with it (I can now eat mashed potatoes, and actually like them, yay!). But I love Indian food and spicy food and strong flavours, like onions and black olives.
