will cost you $19.95. And, funnily enough, they don't offer a student discount.

Firstly, I agree with the posters who said this article was hard to follow. If Hustad has indeed written a self-help book (too lazy to check), I hope she had better editors than for this essay, which I found too fragmented and with no real thesis. I thought the tag was interesting, and then became thoroughly confused. Topic sentences are your friend.

Secondly, this reminds me of back in the day, when I would get anxious to the point of walking out rather than bring my CD purchases to the Warehouse counter. What if the cool guy behind the counter thought I was a dork for buying The Body Guard soundtrack? I'm more comfortable about buying my music nowadays, but did I stick the new Pink album in between my Menomena and CSS CDs? Yes, yes I did.

Thirdly, I take issue with the people who are soooooooo confident and aren't they just so cool that they don't have to identify with a certain brand or group or author or band or whatever? Congratulations. You've escaped the scourge of the 21st century...most aren't as lucky. Certainly I'm not. And did I spend at least an hour constructing my e-harmony profile? Yes. And did it revolve around my author, band and film enthusiasms? Yes. Why? Well, that might have made me shallow, but "Exhausted middle-school teacher with feminist tendencies who is enraged at the state of education, the economy, and the ongoing war" probably wasn't going to get me many dates either.

because she is the most honestly written character. Of course, she got most of the attention as the centerpiece of the show, but to me, she was the most multi-faceted, complex character, and I could relate to her.

The gay man thing bugs me, too. What, suddenly we have a show that focuses on four successful, funny, sexually adventurous women, so of course they must be stand-ins for men.

To all those who are upset that this is a headline piece, well, like or not, this movie is a culturally touchstone...one of the very few movies where WOMEN were willing to dress up and stand outside a theatre for an hour or two. Usually movies that inspire that kind of passion have spaceships and aliens or pasty dudes dressed up in capes and masks. All it takes for chicks is a funny, honest portrayal of four women who have deeply devoted friendship and love for each other. That's where the true romance of the show was, no matter how many times Big and Carrie got back together. Unfortunately, that's a very rare thing, so even if the situations were fantastic, unbelievable, etc., people are willing to shill out twelve bucks for a movie that elevates women beyond the typical perky girlfriend/harried single girl/shrewish bitch roles that they so often are forced to occupy.

doesn't necessarily equal high emotional intelligence. We've all known that person who is off-the-charts brilliant with books and numbers and charts and stuff who couldn't figure out how to interact with actual human beings if their life depended on it. Just because you know that you have grand thoughts doesn't mean you know enough not to go around spouting that information. Intelligence does not equal self-awareness does not equal a sense of humor.

That said, the amount of venom spewed at 20-somethings/grad students here frightens me. You want to know why we're so fucked up? It's because for 18-22 years, we've had a clear path or direction. Then, suddenly, no one is there telling us what to do anymore, and it freaks us out. So some people shit, some get off the pot, and some go to grad school. Don't you remember that feeling? A little empathy, please.

LW, I don't know if you're obnoxious or not, because I've only read one two-page document out of your life. Dude, just go out and spread the love...I mean the love for your fellow man, not romantic love. I have to agree with the people who've told you to be on your own for awhile. Now, if only I could take that advice myself...

probably would have expressed disappointment in me, had I pulled something similar. Her mom's not trying to control her, she's trying to express a certain set of values: in this case, your cousin, my niece, should come first in this little drama.

I'm not close to any of my cousins, and therefore do not share any of their friends. But some people's cousins are more like sibling-friend relationships, and maybe this is what the LW had. Now the cousin feels betrayed and angry, but it's not just a friendship that you can easily sever; there's blood there.

On the other hand, to expect the LW to give up a trip to Europe is extreme. No, if it were me, I wouldn't like knowing that my cousin was off gallivanting about the old country with my ex, and I definitely would turn down looking at photo albums, but a trip to Europe is special, especially in a big group of friends.

Basically, I don't know...mostly I felt like I couldn't invest an hour in this thread without posting something. Good writing people, damn...