Letters to the Editor
Lurker
Published Letters: 13 Editor's Choice: 2
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Another battered and bruised Jeopardy vet
[Read the article: Who is Louis Bayard?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was on Jeopardy! in 1985, in the second season of its present incarnation. I was another who never lost a game of Trivial Pursuit and regularly had all the answers while watching at home. I aced the written part of the tryouts, I enchanted the contestant coordinators in the stand-up part of the tryouts, and I was called to compete a scant week later. I creamed all the other contestants in rehearsals that day. I thought for sure that my day had come and I was unbeatable!
Alas, I happened to be there the same day as one Chuck Forrest, a slight-of-stature law student who was the Ken Jen of his day. Chuck decimated all comers, became a five-time champion, and went on to win that year's Tournament of Champions and become the all-time biggest money winner in the history of Jeopardy up to that time. Later that year, 20/20 even did a feature story on him -- turned out he'd spent something like a whole year practicing his buzzer technique and reading up on trivia.
To add insult to injury, an incorrect answer at the end of Double Jeopardy left me in third place. (Note to self: Crazy Horse, not Sitting Bull, led the attack on Custer's cavalry.) I went home with my tail between my legs, a nice oak wall unit and a bunch of lovely parting gifts including endless hot chocolate mix, non-stick cooking spray, and panty hose.
Being on Jeopardy!, win or lose, is a blast. As others have said, by far the worst part about losing is that you have to go home and don't get to play any more.
Thanks for the article, Salon. It brought back a lot of good and not-so-good memories!
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Stay put!
[Read the article: My boyfriend wants me to move, my daughter wants me to stay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please don't sell your daughter out for this man. You know for sure, with 100% certainty, that staying is what's best for her. So... end of discussion. You are her mom, it is your responsiblity to do what's best for her.
Stay put. If you move to the city to be with this man, it will be a nightmare of epic proportions and it will be all your fault.
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gaYtheist
[Read the article: An adoptee, exposed]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I read your letter with interest, and thought that the "adoption conversation" you find boring could be easily avoided by answering "yes" or "no" to the question by referring to your adoptive family. If you adoptive family is musical, I'd say you have every right to say you come from a musical family. And if they're not, the answer to the new acquaintance's question is "No, not really. I'm the only one."
Voila. No adoption detour. My DH is adopted and that's how he always handles questions about his family in a casual context such as you've described.
Not that you asked for advice, but this just jumped out and me and I thought I'd put in my two cents.
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I am so un-hip...
[Read the article: I'm obsessed with being a hipster]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...that I was 7 pages into the Letters section before I realized LW wasn't talking about Colonial Williamsburg. But I do thank her for the visual of hipsters living and working side-by-side with the colonial re-enactment crowd.
BTW, sign me up for the "LW is an idiot who needs to get over herself" committee.
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Heh...
[Read the article: An adoptee, exposed]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...I've been posting on too many message boards. "DH" is shorthand for "dear husband."
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You lost me at "5"
[Read the article: My boyfriend is checking out chicks while I'm standing right there!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I get what Cary's trying to suggest, and it's not the worst idea in the world. But I find the whole "1 to 10" thing just icky, and the idea of a woman participating in that kind of thing ("you're right -- she has a fat butt") makes me recoil. I'm thinking it would be more consistent with both sisterhood and girlfriendhood to try and find pleasing attributes in the women the boyfriend is ogling, and to point them out instead of being so critical. And it has the added benefit of making the LW seem self-confident and magnanimous.
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This really isn't that hard
[Read the article: My husband won't do his laundry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Cary is completely right about this. It's not about the laundry, it's about a whole lot of power/responsibility issues in the marriage. Those are hard to solve, but the laundry thing is easy to solve.
Stop doing it.
Period.
Let it pile up as high as the sky, but do not do his laundry ever again, not even once.
I had a similar show-down with my husband some years ago. I informed him that the Laundry Fairy had left the building, and that was that. He lets it pile up for weeks at a time, but when he runs out of socks and undies he manages to get his laundry done. Your husband will, too.
Good luck to you, LW. It seems like you have a lot on your plate, and I wish you well!
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If you don't know how he feels after all this time....
[Read the article: I'm in love with my bandmate]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...you're kidding yourself. If he were interested in you in "that way," you'd know. I have been in your position and after every outing I'd call my friends and wail "I still can't tell how he feels!" That was my own self-delusion: By continuing to do friends-type things with me and failing to make any moves in the direction in which I wanted things to go, he was signaling loud and clear that he wasn't interested in going further.
This has happened to me twice in my life. The first time I did as Cary suggested, and the object of my affections was kind enough to let me down easy. The second time, many years later, I eventually figured it out for myself.
I'm sorry... I know this isn't what you want to hear. But sometimes he really is just not that into you.
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Haven't
[Read the article: Memoir in six words]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]lived up to my potential.
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I met my first husband in the personals...
[Read the article: I'm embarrassed to admit I met my guy online]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...before online dating. When asked how we met, I used to say "I ordered him out of a catalog!"
Met my second on match.com back in 1996, when online dating was considerably less mainstream than it is now. Had no hesitation fessing up either then or now.
I guess that puts me in the "get over it" column.