>No one's getting kicked to the curb without a valid reason, though. And yes, there seems to be a shortage of men of a certain age who aren't completely afraid of commitment; and aren't even more afraid of a female who can speak her mind, cook a decent meal, and take care of herself. At least in my experience.<

LW, do you _really_ think so little of yourself that you have to have a man-any-man in your life? If you put the amount of energy you are using to rationalize this guy's actions into rebuilding your life, you'd not only come out ahead, but might find the man who _is_ right for you. You are lashing out at the on-point descriptions of this guy here because deep down, you know it's true--you just don't want to face it. If you want years more of living a lie just so you won't be "lonely," have at it.

>The people telling you to get rid of him don't understand that you are with him because there is something you need to learn from him. If not from him, from some other man who is equally flawed.<

Jesus, what is she--a slow learner? A word of advice. I wouldn't go to a battered woman's shelter and spout nonsense like that to the residents, if'n I were you.

I have been wondering how to slow the catalog deluge to my house for quite a while now. I'm still getting ones from companies that no one around here has ordered from in _years_. And these same companies (usually specialty food places like Figi's) up the annoyance factor by sending out "Last Issue If You Don't Order" catalogs a good two times or more. (And I would give a million to be able to ask Land's End and LL Bean to send a catalog per season, not one seemingly every other week.) In any case, thank you _so_ much Ms. Galst for coming up with answers to this problem.

1) Who does Kansas work for, and what's their goal?

2) Why is she a spy in the first place?

3) What's at stake for her with this case (and why should we care?)

4) What kind of person is she (and why should we care?)

>While Salon is not Carnegie Hall, the answer to the old joke is still valid here. There are smaller venues that are more appropriate for someone to learn how to do a comic strip.<

Eheheh. It's like the old joke about La Scala, which as noted for the quality of audience-dissing as it is for the quality of its opera singers. When some unfortunate tenor was getting jeered because he was having an off-night, he shouted at the audience, "We are _not_ in a trattoria. We are at La Scala!" To which an irate patron hollered back, "Well, _sing_ as if you were at La Scala." Schlesinger and Bachtell need to stop writing as if they were amusing their small circle of friends...

That should have read: "It's like the old joke about La Scala, which is as noted for the quality of..."

It never ceases to amaze me how nuts--and outright tyrannical--people can get when others don't celebrate Christmas in Norman Rockwell fashion. God, one of the best Christmases I ever had was one I spent mostly alone. I had worked like crazy weeks before to put in overtime, get gifts for everyone, clean up the house, and do dishes for the family get-together at my aunt's place. (As well, I was seeing this guy I was interested in...but that's another story. :)) I had never missed a family Xmas dinner, ever; but by the time Xmas Day arrived, I was exhausted. There was no way I could spend most of the day with the family--I would have been cranky from lack of sleep and very poor company. So--I opted out...and you would have thought I'd slapped Santa and the Spirit of Family Togetherness in the face on national television. My dad and siblings gave me a real hard time ("But what are you going to eat?" As if we didn't have a batch of food at home and I would have starved to death. "But you'll miss seeing Aunt So-and-So and your cousins." As if I hadn't seen them in years and would never see them again, ever.) And my uncle actually called me from the dinner to chide me for not coming. I felt a bit of guilt for a few minutes--then I ordered some Chinese food, cracked out the new ghost story anthology Santa had brought me, and kept the iced holiday coffee flowing as well as a nice run of cheesy TV Xmas specials. I enjoyed every minute of it, got a much-needed rest...and was in excellent shape to see Aunt So-and-So when they came over two days later. Ever since then, I've gone on my merry way when it comes to celebrating--and have found out that if you are doing what makes you happy at Xmastime, you _are_ celebrating.