not that I want more bad news for my state, but here y'all go: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090903/MICRO060101/90903033/Parents+can+opt+out+of+Obama+address+to+kids

Don't read the comments unless you really, really want to lose faith in humanity.

Sumner County here (suburb of Nashville) is requiring students to have permission slips to view it. I am ashamed....

I'm a southern white who voted for Obama; 90% of my southern white friends did as well. Two of my northern white friends, while asking me if all the food in the south was fried, told me they thought the man "the terrorists wanted" won the presidency. Yup, it's only southern whites that are the problem.

For a true, under-the-radar, indie zombie flick involving male friendship and an undead female "love interest", you'd do better to find a screening of "Make-Out With Violence," which has all the goods and icky subtext minus glorified rape.

is past behavior. Has he cheated in his previous relationships? If the answer is "No," then I think it's probably likely he'll be faithful to you. If the answer is "Yes," well there you go. If the answer is "This is his first serious relationship," that's an issue unto itself.

Google this: exploding head syndrome. I live in a peaceful house and still occasionally hear crashing noises when I fall asleep and wake in the night(it's gotten better with age). Not to say that it's not your landlord, it's just something to consider since you say it happens right before you fall asleep.

Yernar has the right idea. Also, I think I know you. Anyway, this time off could be a gift, an opportunity for a new direction. The winds blew your sails away from certain shores, and you thought that's where you were headed. Well, fuck it, the winds know better than you! Ride those sails to other shores.

I worked for Hollywood Video in high school, just as the transition from videotape to DVD was happening. We were, at the time, authorized to halve or completely negate loyal customers' late fees. We had a large clientele of ex-Blockbusterers. Granted, this was the suburbs, so those were the two choices. Also, Paramount refused to distribute more than one copy of their titles to Hollywood (in favor of "guaranteeing" it at their child company) and I've held a grudge ever since.

And I'm not sure what the post's author means by Hollywood copying the color scheme. When I worked there, we wore cummerbunds*! The color scheme was decidedly red/black/white. The last time I went in, it was purple and black.

*had to double check the spelling on that one. LOL, if only I would've known that in high school!

Me too! My copy of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" was edited, but I didn't know until months later. When discussing it with a friend, I realized that one of the final scenes was a lot less ambiguous in the theatrical version. You better believe I was pissed!

I am so there with the LW. I got married young, right out of college, and we're coming up on our six-year anniversary. I never had second thoughts about my husband, but I did have second thoughts about his family. Love his mom, but his dad has some mental problem that is ignored by all involved. I can count the number of sentences he's said to me on my fingers and toes, and the number of times he's made eye contact on my left hand. I used to think it was me, but he has no adult friends, and well, long story short (too late), it's not me.

They are a lot older than my parents, and I kind of just regard them as grandparents, rather than in-laws. Since I live in the same town, we have to split holidays. In half. As in, Christmas morning at his parents, Christmas afternoon at mine. As in, two Thanksgiving meals. This is because both families are controlling and want to be the primary family where we spend our time. It doesn't matter how we divide the rest of the year up (most of that's with my family, where we can also drink openly--his family are all teetotalers), holidays are calculated to the minute.

My advice: you love your fiance, then it's worth it to grin and bear it and make the sacrifice for him. My solution is to bring a good book along. When his dad stares off into space and his mom starts clipping coupons, I crack that puppy open and catch up on some good readin'.

I may be exaggerating a little bit. His dad's gotten better since he had a health scare a couple of years ago. You realize, then, you're there for your husband and he's there for you. He can't choose his family. And you have to give them a chance, just like they have to give you one, too. There's always something new to learn.

1) your niece/nephew. I had a very close friend whose uncle committed suicide, and it has haunted him his whole life.

2) reasons for being human. It is my belief that we are here now (and we don't know what comes after) to experience life as a human being. To have feelings. To have senses. So throw yourself into it and don't take it for granted! Even pain is something more than nothing. Even sorrow. Even that inexcorible emptiness that stings like a dagger in the heart. The next step, we feel nothing, so enjoy the pain and the euphoria. All of it. For as long as you are allotted it.

Live it--all of it, even the ugly bits--for your mother, who wouldn't even take the years you have left if you offered them to her.