Social security. When I see a kid starting to act up, I just remind myself that the little bugger is going to be contributing (chump change, but something) to my blissfull child-free retirement. Then I make faces or try to amuse the kid and I feel much better about life. Trust me, the negativity I used to feel toward screaming brats just raised my blood pressure and made me feel like a jerk. Let it go, people.

As a lifelong journalist who has long envied WSJ-ers fat salaries and byline-a-year work habits, all I have to say is: Welcome to our nightmare, suckers! The newspaper business is imploding and we're all struggling to survive. Now, perhaps, as journalists lose their middle-class entitlements, the profession will return to afflicting the comfortable and regain its dignity.

My condolences to WSJers adrift in a desolate job market, NOT! HA HA HA HA! (Sorry, can't help myself.)

who enjoys a bit of funk? I once had a boyfriend who worked in a roach coach frying food all day in the heat, and I loved greeting him when he came home. Where is the eharmony for people like me?

I acted on a similarly romantic whim and left SoCal for the Northeast. It's been good on a lot of levels, but I do miss being part of a growing economy. A growing economy equals lots of places to work. Big chunks of the Northeast/Midwest are in major decline and you may get stuck working at Wal-Mart--if you're lucky. Be warned.

I'm the child of a single mom as well, who like nola above has never settled down or had kids of my own. The very idea horrifys me, as I remember the chaos and emotional upheaval of my own childhood. My anger at my mother's choices has grown with age.

Where are the defenders of single-moms-by-choice who loved their childhoods? Are they all in jail, or what?

These soldiers are the best of our country. Too bad so few have been willing to speak up about the madness around them.

I'm glad I'm not the only 40ish person out there questioning the stifling life that many of us have embraced. Didn't we learn anything from our parents? Didn't we learn anything from the generations who have made it clear that the Eisenhower ideal of spouse/kids/full-time drudgery/mortgage/buying shit is a soul-sucking nightmare for all involved? And now with the economy hollowed out, constant financial insecurity makes the whole situation unbearable. Get out while you still can.

Yes, until the youngest is a teen, it's probably better to live as you are. But pairing up is an economic necessity these days, unless you have a (non-stock-market-dependant) trust fund. I was happily single for years but I must say the economic benefits of partnership make life a lot easier. There is a reason humans have lived in pairs for millenia, especially in tough environments.

Bush's U.S.A. is a tough environment!

Guiliani did good things for the city, no doubt, but he was only able to get elected in a town that gets much of its information from print. He's creepy, insincere and downright undead-looking on camera, especially lately. Every time someone askes him a difficult question, he lets out this death-rattle-like chuckle, bares some seriously fake-looking choppers and spills some insincere drivel. Meanwhile, the maniaical gleam never leaves his eye.

He never had a chance in TV land, thank god.

Cary has some good points, but I also think an addiction to chaos plays a role, and that may have roots in your childhood. Also a fundamental lack of self-worth--you feel you don't deserve a good job and sabotage yourself. But then again, you're not hurting anyone, so why the heck not try new things? If you realy want to change, try Zen meditation, for real. I did the same thing for years (have more than 15 jobs on my resume and counting) but the only thing that staves off my intense restlessness is Zen, which trained me to sit back and look at how my mind was operating. It works, try it.

Any fans of Wharton or Austen MUST check out the NY Housewives. The first episode was just silly, but by week 2 it was getting seriously interesting in the interplay of personalities and class aspirations. Seriously, this show is amazing in what it says about NYC culture and quite entertaining, in a schadenfreude way.

Lady, even those of us who have had the guts to be out there interviewing (yikes, scary!) since our teens are struggling now. Blog, IM, whatever, but don't expect to be paid to write at a time that real writers are being laid off left and "write."

Start a dialogue? Go to J-school? Are you people insane or living in some kind of bubble? Writers are being laid off EVERYWHERE. If you don't have an insane fire in your belly to do journalism for free, just get a teaching credential or learn how to raise organic goats. Heck, mortgage broker is a more secure career right now. You armchair journalists out there, keep your traps shut or you're going to doom this person to a life of disappointment and pain!

I'm trying to decide which group of Housewives disturbs/fascinates me the most. The OC group was shallow but had a certain innocence and grit--they keep going through mulitple marriages and abrupt changes of fortune. The NY group were admirable in their focus on their kids, but seemed much nastier in their social dynamics. Overall, I think I'd rather be rich and shiftless on the West Coast, raise kids on the East Coast.

If you want to know why the Democrats lose year after year. Get over yourself, Goblin. These shows are a modern version of "check out the neanderthals in the next cave" and satisfy our fundamental curiousity about how other people live. Sorry you're too intellectual to appreciate it.