Part of your problem to date is that you thought certain details of your life mattered too much: the school you went to, the degree you got, etc. In a sense, you're still making the same mistake. You still think this stuff matters. You just think you chose poorly. It doesn't matter.

Many women have the advantage of having had PMS. Most never viewed it as a good thing, but I did in one respect. It demonstrated to me how powerful body chemistry is. How circumstances that on one day rattled my world, on another day could not dim the sunshine. It made me realize that circumstances matter very, very little. That said, a few random recommendations, in no particular order:

Don't sit home alone on the weekend. If all you're doing is sitting home alone, get a second job. It will get you out of the house, help you pay down your debt, and you can still feel refreshed if your 2nd job is different from your 1st job.

Join weight watchers and start walking every day--as though your life depends on it.

Sign up to teach an illiterate adult to read. I just started this myself. My student is amazing. Smart as heck, but didn't get the support she needed first time around to master a lot of vocabulary.

No fast food ever. Learn to cook. Bake your own bread. I just started making my own pita bread recently. Its a simple thing and it gives me such a feeling of joy to make it. And it tastes sooo good.

And if you really want to shake things up, adopt a teenager from social services. Okay, just kidding. But I did it and if you think things are bad now, just wait until a teen who you have adopted as your own is screaming at you about how you ruined their life. So few of them read the "grateful little orphan children" handbook. The nice thing is that--like all teens--they grow out if it.

Seek out human interaction of any kind. People today are too isolated and too sedentary. Fight against these. Its a struggle I fight myself every day. One thing you should definitely do is see if you can find a roommate to share a larger place with. It will save you money, and you will be forced into interaction. Just be careful about who you pick. Don't be in a hurry.

And stop thinking that spending money brings happiness. Frugality brings true happiness.

Limbaugh doesn't have to be smart. His schtick is appealing to xenophobic, anti-intellectual tendencies. The foil Rush that is not offensiveness for its own sake. Rather it is wit and finesse. Sykes possesses neither.

In fact, she would not give you the time of day. Many women make this mistake from time to time--viewing certain men as safe, disinterested companions just up for a good conversation. How we long not to be "liked". Why can't coffee or a glass of wine just be coffee or a glass of wine? Why can't we laugh and talk about work and friends and then go home to the people whom we adore--but who don't necessarily get our worklives.

I can tell you how she feels about you. She likes you. She is fond of you. She enjoys your company. Right up to the point where you reveal that your feelings dwarf hers. At which point she will feel some vague regret over what was lost and then not think much of you at all other than to avoid you. Not unlike how you might respond if a man revealed similar feelings about you.

You know, there are plenty of Christians that don't give "the end times" a second thought; and in fact find such preoccupations silly at best, and even harmful. Your family has merely had a rather limited experience. How lucky that they have you to quietly broaden their world, whether or not they want it broadened. And when I say "broaden their world", I do not envision you offering lectures--merely living.

In the words of scripture "let your light shine before people in such a way that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Or in other words, people will be compelled by your beliefs, whatever they may be, when the end result is admirable.

And please remember that people's beliefs are often far more complex than they articulate. It is the human condition to want to lay down a rule and then, when the rule doesn't achieve the desired result, to make an exception to that rule. Very likely your parents are making these sorts of mental calculations--even if only semi-consciously. You will never know all their thoughts. Just give them plenty of food for thought.