Yeah, I'm a nerd. Back in the dark ages when I was in high school, I felt incredibly isolated because I knew very few other people who looked at life the same way I did. Nowdays, I can easily find them on the Internet. There are a plethora of web sites and online communities where we can find other people who share our interests, whatever they may be. It has made life a lot less lonely for nerds around the globe.

A big part of being a nerd is being true to yourself on at least some level. When you're young, it's not just realizing that you don't fit in (for whatever reason). It's accepting it, deciding that you are going to go it alone, and not trying to conform beyond a certain amount of social camoflage. This is liberating, but it also exposes you to a lot of abuse. Life in middle school and high school can be miserable for nerds. Those are the years of peak conformity, where you are trapped in a concrete block human warehouse with a bunch of other inmates who have a lot of energy invested in maintaining their spot in the social heirarchy and view your disdain for it as a threat. It's why adult nerds hate the "suits" (managers, HR, executives, etc.). They represent social rather than meritocratic heirarchies, they remind nerds of the people who tortured them when they were young, and nerds (occasionally rightly) often view them as ruining the companies where they work.

As for empathy or lack thereof among nerds, being a nerd gave me a visceral understanding of what it's like to be an outsider, to be judged harshly for stuff that just didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, to be discriminated against and put down. This has colored my beliefs, politics, and interactions with others ever since.

Whoops, better make that nine!

Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray!

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Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray!

If we all had waited until we possessed complete self-knowledge before having children (not to mention a crystal ball to see into the future, the perfect job, the perfect spouse, etc.), the human race would have gone extinct. People have kids under less than ideal circumstances all the time and criticizing the LW for doing so isn't helpful. The kid is here and she can't undo her decision to have him. She needs to figure out how to deal with him while at the same time maintaining her sanity.

LW, don't worry about your astrological sign or personality type. Think in practical terms. You need a break from taking care of your 6-year old because it's wearing you out. All mothers need this at some point, so don't feel guilty. You will need to restructure your life so you can get this kind of break. The suggestions to put your son to bed early, send him to summer camp, skip the crazy-making playdates, have him spend more time with his dad and other relatives, and so forth are good ones, and I encourage you to check them out and do whichever ones are practical for your situation. By taking simple, concrete steps, you can reduce your stress and improve your quality of life, and that will go far towards improving both your relationship with your son and your own mental health.

You also sound like you are suffering from career burnout. It doesn't seem like novel-writing is working out as well as you thought it would. Along with changing your daily routine, take steps towards changing your career. Pursuing more satisfying work will help to get you mentally back on track. It doesn't seem like your financial situation is dire, so use this chance to figure out which kinds of work you'd like to do. If you were happy as a journalist, why not go back to that line of work? Pick up some freelancing, get back in touch with the people you used to do work for (if you're as good as you claim you are, they won't have forgotten you), and get back into the game. If you want a clean break from both journalism and fiction, talk to a career counselor, take a temp job doing something completely different, or volunteer your services to an organization you think is worthwhile.

Your son is 6, which means he's old enough to start grade school. Your role as a mother is going to change. As he gets older, he'll become more independent and make fewer demands on you (assuming that he's developing normally). You'll still have to be there for him, but he won't need your intense, one-on-one attention as much as he did when he was younger. Some mothers feel unhappy about this, but I'm betting you'll welcome it.

The bikers who organized and participated in Rolling Thunder are simply exercising their constitutional rights. Whether they are annoying or admirable is beside the point.

However, their meeting with Bush was a mistake. He deserves no honor for lying to the American people, miring America in an unnecessary war, and conducting his war incompetently. Rolling Thunder should have ignored his faux-manly posturing and instead focused on the thousands of American soldiers who have sacrificed their mental and physical health and their lives in support of Bush's middle east blunder.

“A post office box in Schenectady. You send in two dollars and a self-addressed stamped envelope and they send you back an idea.”

- Harlan Ellison