Nosy questions.
 

You are a very decent human being. My respect for you has risen enormously today (which quite frankly is no big feat given how I felt about the verbal abuse in the past). You should give a class called decency, civility and how not to be fucking rude to people.

Baby showers (etiquette warning)
 

Sometimes a sig line can impact the message in unintended ways.

People who need to share stuff coming out of their nether regions
 

I was recently asked by a woman I was deposing (actually deposing, get your minds out of the gutter) the following string of questions, while in the bathroom during a break:

1) How old are you anyway? You look like a teenager.
2) Are you married?
3) Do you have kids? Well, that's a silly question. Your husband would not let you work if you had kids.

My actual responses (followed by what I wished I would have said) are below:

1) I'll be 30 next week. (16. Can you believe they let me pretend like this? I haven't even graduated from high school yet.)
2) Yes. (Are you kidding? I haven't even been to prom yet).
3) No, no kids. (You freaking idiot.)

Vegan poll
 

I was going easy. I feel your pain, brother.

People who need to share stuff coming out of their nether regions
 

Some asshole opposing counsel once asked me the "you look just about my little daughter's age!" variant on this to try to intimidate me with his greater age, wisdom, experience, and enormous martini gut. It was deeply satisfying to kick his ass in court.

So tell me how you really feel
 

I'm crushed. I didn't know it was so painful for you. One wonders why you put yourself through it at all.

Sniff.

People who need to share stuff coming out of their nether regions
 

My husband and I got carded the other week. At dinner, like right at the table, by the waiter. WTF. Kind of funny, but then again, kind of annoying. We dutifully pulled out our IDs. It was an expensive restaurant too. Very odd.

People who need to share stuff coming out of their nether regions
 

Dear Mrs. Finch: I know you appreciated me holding your hand, wiping your brow, and giving you water during the ten most painful hours of your life. Sadly, I will not be available to do so again, because I learned today that it would make me uncivilized.

Sidd(judge much?)Finch

Sad news for Thrasher
 

Absolutely. But, in fairness, G3 was responding to people who were telling him that their lives were better than his.

Sad news for Thrasher
 

I realize that feelings about debt are not always the result of rational thought, so this will probably fall on deaf ears, but a mortgage isn't so bad.

Student debt is so crushing psycologically because you can't get away from it with self respect (not to mention that under bankruptcy laws it is very difficult to get away from period). It's there; you've got to pay it until its gone.

With a mortgage, on the other hand, one can always make choice to walk away - i.e. sell the house and pay it off. There is some risk of being "upside down" in a mortage, especially in the first few years, but the risk is small and the amount one is upside down is likely to be only a small percentage of the total loan. It is much more likely in most areas of the country that a short turn around on a home loan will result in a financial windfall.

If I lost my job tomorrow, or quit it because I just can't take it any more, I could sell my house and have no mortgage, but I'd still have the student loans. That's the difference. And its a big one.

Of course, none of this is to say that paying off a mortgage as fast as possible is bad (although there are arguments for just that), just that mortgages themselves aren't so bad.

Happiness and Bankruptcy
 

Actually, if you have some clue what you are about and a taste for some risk, you can combine these two sentences and pursue some jewelry-steal inspired happiness of your own. If you have a good jeweler around, you can do particularly well buying loose stones (appraised or not) and having them set. And, eBay has some interesting quirks that can work to your advantage, depending on what you are looking for. Haven't tried selling anything there, though - I'm afraid I'm still a packrat, and I feel for some reason that if I'm done with something I should give it to charity not sell it. :shrug:

Remember that jewelry appraisal prices are comically inflated. If I paid 1/2 of the appraisal price for anything I would feel like I got royally fucked. And I'd be right. Then again, I'm cheap as hell. I am sort of waiting for one friend of mine to maybe ask another friend of mine to marry him, and if I get wind that he is going to do it, I plan to coarsly offer to hold his hand while ring shopping, because I am convinced that I can find him 2x the ring at 1/2 the price, so long as he doesn't get sentimental on me about a Tiffany ring being "special" or some such bullshit.

BR(speaking of this seasons purses, I picked up a vintage crocodile number on eBay for a song)C

Sad news for Thrasher
 

Nice response.

I am still trying to not reach through the screen and smack Thurgreed and Greedy. Especially Thurgreed.

As you both age, you'll find fewer and fewer women to whom you can make these stupid comments. Or you can simply chase younger and younger skirts.

I can quickly tick off a half-dozen women friends who are in their early 30s and unable to conceive. We've all "joked" for the past three or four years how all of our children will look alike, since we will all be adopting. (The one girlfriend who is currently pregnant used IVF because they were unable to conceive naturally.)

The point is, many more people will be offended by your comments than you think. Rather than assume you will offend a very few, assume you will offend a great many.

People who need to share stuff coming out of their nether regions
 

After a very long night at work, I went to the store to buy champagne at midnight (for my birthday and because I felt I deserved it). It was a $65 bottle of champagne and all I brought into the store was my visa card. Dickhead highschool kid cashier decides to card me. I said to him, don't start with me, please don't make me go out to the car for my id, I have had a long day and besides if I was underage I would have bought the Malt Liquor. And I must have had that look on my face because he let me buy the champagne without my id.

People who need to share stuff coming out of their nether regions
 

WHilst delivering the Brazenette by c-section, my dear husband began to give me a blow by blow, Howard Cossell-ish running commentary. "Oh my word. She's made the first incision, all the way across your belly, and now she's reaching in..."

At this point, he looked at me and said, "Do you want me to continue?"

If it hadn't have been for the spinal, I'd have punched him right then.

There are some things I don't want to imagine, much less have described.

Bn'(but none of that annoying cone head for the Brazenette)B

Sad news for Thrasher
 

Couldn't the same be said of any unsecured debt? Mortgage debt is not bad because your payments are effectively going towards current consumption, not past consumption. With just about all other debts (car loans being a possible exception), you're paying for something in the past.

Student debt is particularly bad because, as a lawyer, you're paying for education you now are questioning the value of altogether.