...I drank that way for a long time. I'm not sure when it happened, but one day I found that my evening drinking had changed into daily drinking. And my evening drinking had reached a point where the alcohol was coming out of my pores the next day. And everyone knew then - work, school, social, family, that I had a BIG problem. I lost a lot of friends then. It has taken me many years to get my life back together and I hit a hard rock bottom.

The highs without alcohol are very different. I volunteer with Hospice. I have a sponsor child in India I adore and I am putting her and a few others through good schools there. I've visited India and learned the joy of surviving a cab ride there! I've learned the pleasure of a garden, and of all things, topiary in my front yard. These are better highs, which I can look back on with as much pleasure as when I did those things, not like when I was drinking. Back then the next day after I drank I had to figure out where I had peed the night before, which was sometimes not the toilet.

Still, the addiction is there. When I was in treatment for cancer I actually enjoyed the pain meds - so much that I told my oncologist and we worked together to make sure I wasn't getting addicted.

Sorry, I don't know where I am going with this, but, I have a feeling you are not going to stop drinking. I've heard this story hundreds of times in AA. I hope you will not end up one of the people dead on the highway, DUI, perhaps your children also dead, or other innocents.

...Can you imagine all this stuff going on in the White House if McCain had won? It would be like having a Jerry Springer guest in DC....

...seems to be a time when kids are exceptionally horrible to each other. I was going to a Catholic school where I was the only Protestant, and I was the target. My father taught me how to fight and fight hard. When Billy Murphy (Geez, I remember the kid after 40+ years) went to pound me one day, I gave him a beating fueled my new skill and my survival instincts. I seem to recall throwing a desk at his him. And that was the end of it. Not saying this would work for every kid, but the principal didn't care, the priests durned a blind eye, and the teachers watched, and this worked for me.

Sure enough, after I got myself off the bottom of the picking total pole, another child was selected who had buck teeth. The bullies made her so miserable she tried to kill herself, at which point her parents moved her to a public school, where I hear she was happy.

This is ridiculous. My fiance teaches autistic kids. At four and five years old, they bite, scratch, scream in class. THAT behavior is not beneficial to anyone - except maybe the doctors who have to treat my finances periodic infections.

If you want to learn to haggle, start at yard sales. If the price tag is 10 bucks, say, "Could you take 6 for it?" But expect to pay 7 or 8, which is what the person running the yard sale will probably say. Depersonalize haggling, by using such words as "Could". another example - when looking at an article of clothing, say, "I'm not sure this would fit my child/aunt/whomever Could you take whatever sum for it?" If it is something you really want, don't try to haggle, because the desire for said item will show on your face and you won't have any luck. I always haggle at antique and junk stores. I wouldn't haggle at a western store such as a 99 cent store, but I do at yard sales, farmers markets, etc. I never haggle at charity sales (especially sales to benefit cancer victims and homeless animals :) ), but anything else is fair game. It's an art that takes a while for westerners learn, but I am glad I did, as I travel in the developing world a good bit where you haggle for everything.

...speaking of 99 cent stores, anybody remember the Simpsons episode where Homer gets all the family gifts at a 99 cent store, a dog squeak toy for Maggie, a pad of paper for Bart? That was hilarious....also I suspect that generally, there is never actually anything at a 99 cent store that someone actually needs.

Just my 2cents on the 99 cents.

...I see this happening now more with couples, and I find it odd. When I have needed a job, I got a job - even if it was something I didn't like or want, like waittressing, which is hard when you are past 30, or working at a bookstore, even yardwork, which I am doing now. When my father was laid off, I recall he did construction until he found something better. This business about being too 'creative', an 'artist', is just another work for 'lazy'. If you are happy with this guy, and don't really mind the possibility that he may always leach off you, then go ahead and find a cheap apartment, say goodbye to having a home again, etc. If he won't change now, with the spectre of losing your home, then he won't act later. Personally I think you're a chump for allowing yourself to be used.