MrSmith

Fat lot of good that's doing her, eh?

To me, it's not that. It's "I'm taking a special night out with my female friends and all of us are leaving our boyfriends/fiancees/husbands home." Often, this includes a portion I left unstated which is that the ladies are going to go somewhere or do something that their other halves would not enjoy. This is as opposed to regular nights out with friends where it's all-inclusive and you go places and do things that everyone (male and female) would enjoy.

How about "Whispering Banshee"?

I would have tried the meat on the face, but no way in hell am I eating the brains of anything. I might have considered eating the tongue because I quite enjoy cow tongue (even though I haven't had it in 20 years since I can't convince my wife to make it for me). That's the best I could have managed in that situation.

Removed.

That would be "orgasmic resting face", as it's "bitchy resting face" and not "resting bitch face". Though, I suppose if you consider the person to be a bitch, then "resting bitch face" might be more appropriate... Meh. My wife likes to go dancing and those are always meat market type places. I don't sweat it for at least two reasons. First, I trust that she's not stepping out on me. Second, I know she can take care of herself. As a bonus third reason, she's been told (to her face) by guys that she isn't getting hit on because she "gives off a bitch vibe". If you trust your husband or wife, then their going to these types of places isn't an issue. Of course, it means they can't get stupid drunk where they lose the wits and the capacity to protect themselves, in addition to the usual ways in which you have to trust them.

I'm with everyone else. "Double presents" is bullshit. I've never heard of it. Certainly never experienced it. Never had that expectation. As for the role or traditional concept of godparents, there's two parts as I understand it. The first, as noted, has to do with religion and religious education. I don't really understand that much about that concept or what godparents are supposed to do on this front. The second, as I understand it, is that godparents are supposed to be the ones designated to house and raise the child should both parents die before the child is an adult. Now, I don't know how many people put much stock in that second one considering that so many people choose godparents who are not a couple already. Even my own parents chose an aunt and an uncle on my mother's side (and, thus, unable to marry each other). I know that my wife's family chooses godparents in that way, as my wife and I are godparents to our nephew (her sister's son, and the nephew we're closest to), while another couple are the godparents to our niece (the sister of our godson). I also know my wife's brother and his ex-wife chose two separate couples to be godparents for their two boys.

Ohhhh, yeah! I wish I could give this more likes. That makes perfect sense.

In these situations, I still apply and I make the case for why that requirement is unable to be met. Once that's done, I explain why I would be able to take over such a responsibility even in the face of no prior experience. Still, I understand your frustration and I share it whenever I experience such listings.

When my wife and I got married, her grandmother made the cake (she does brisk business out of her home making wedding cakes to order). The icing had to be whipped instead of buttercream because buttercream is too sweet and will make me physically ill. When we go to weddings, we ask if the cake has buttercream for the icing. If it does, I just pass on the cake. We ask discreetly and don't make an issue of it and passing on the cake is, for me, no big deal. It's not the last cake on Earth, after all.

That'd be ok for those purposes. They can control it (its ability to connect to the Internet) and I can still do some programming (there's a version of Vim for Windows).

I want to get on a jury where you get sequestered. I want to see what that's like. Probably terribly boring, especially because there's no computer and no phone. Maybe I could get a non-Internet connected computer so I could do some programming. Even more interesting would be being up for jury selection for a widely publicized case! Because yes I could ignore any information that I had from news reports or anywhere else (and I really could).

@Zola Maybe you can get out of it on a hardship basis? Show how detrimental to income it would be as a self-employed person and perhaps they'll dismiss you? That's the only thought I have. The only time I've served on a jury, I enjoyed it and would like to do it again. Honestly, if you're going to end up distracted about your loss of income, then you won't be able to give your all to jury duty. If it was my case, I would not want you on the jury because of it. I'd rather have someone who can fully attend to their duties as a juror, and I would be understanding of someone in your position.

As a programmer, I would rather deal with time than names - especially as a web developer. So many of the people I've worked for have thought 20 characters was "more than enough" for first and/or last names (either individually or together, with "together" being the more common). This drives me crazy because storage is cheap and unused storage costs nothing.

I don't know about that. People nowadays know what declawing a cat involves, but when I was a child and even a young adult, I didn't know what was involved in declawing a cat. This is something that requires on-going education because there's a whole new crop of future ignorant pet owners born every year. To say that people who are that ignorant shouldn't own a pet is like saying that because people don't realize how non-nutritious grocery-store-purchased pet food is shouldn't own a pet. I mean, some of the people on this forum probably still feed that. As far as I'm concerned, even Science Diet isn't much better because it's still loaded with corn, which isn't very nutritious and is responsible for allergic reactions in pets. On top of that, there are many (I would say "most") people who can't tell what's an allergic reaction in an animal and what is not. Furthermore, not only does buying more expensive pet food render unto your pet a better diet, it's actually less expensive in the long run because they eat less and they poop less, which in the case of cats means you're saving on cat litter, too. Yet people still have no problem feeding shit like Meow Mix, which is basically a colored and scented mix of corn, chicken feet, chicken beaks, bones, and whatever other offal that isn't fit for human consumption.

OK. Old people are the exception for me. I have absolutely no problem moving aside for them, no matter how much room they're taking up. Why? First, it's easier for me to move out of their way than they out of mine. Second, I don't have the patience to wait for them to move out of my way. Third, no way in hell am I colliding with an old person and potentially causing them to break a bone. Fourth, they're not usually all that steady on their feet, anyway. Fifth, old people are generally paying attention to where they're going. For me, it's people who are not paying attention to where they're going or what they're doing that are my main targets, and it's people who are egregiously and stupidly oblivious. Usually this is young people and they are usually distracted by a phone or tablet. Old people generally aren't walking around with their faces buried in their phones. Typically, they're paying attention and are willing to negotiate a changing landscape to make room for other people. I also will give sight-seeing or touristy people a break because they're visiting, they don't know their way around, and they may be distracted by things going on around them. For those of you who don't know, Red Wing is a huge tourist destination and the sidewalks are regularly clogged on summer weekends. Drivers have to be especially patient and alert. I have to remind my father to chill out any time they come to visit (because they refuse to ride in our conversion van, even though dis|embarking from|to the van is much easier than their stupid Prius).

Exactly why I don't stop moving and don't give way. "Fuck 'em" is absolutely right.

Yes and no. My wife and I have started to make a game of trying to figure out whether he will advertise or not and, if so, for whom.

I've noticed this behaviour at the university where I work. It's particularly noticeable when traversing the library stairs between the first and second floors. The staircases are wide enough to probably allow five people to walk abreast, yet the college girls will traverse the stairs in pairs and take up all the available space. When this happens, I simply do not move for them and proceed up or down the stairs. I don't say "excuse me" or anything, either. I figure they can see me and they certainly know how much of the available space they're occupying, which puts the onus on them to move. I have had only near-collisions with them, though I'm sure one of them will eventually collide with me and fall down. For me, that issue is very similar to the one where they're walking and they've got their head buried in their device. I used to try to move to get out of their way, but I've stopped doing that. The reason is that they end up meandering across the sidewalk or the hall, anyway, which puts me back onto a collision course with them. When I see this happening, I just say "Heads up!" loudly; I don't slow my gait in the least, either. I had this happen just last week on the platform at the light rail station. There was a guy walking with his head buried in his device, even though there's a ton of traffic there with the masses of people getting on and off the train. He ended up having to stop his forward momentum and move to his right, and even then he did almost get knocked over. And I know there could be an argument made that I'm rude, but I figure that he wouldn't be in that position if he'd keep his wits about him and respect the fact that there are times when using your device is simply not appropriate.

This right here is why I'm glad that my dog that my wife bought me in 1999 died in 2007, which was just a couple of years before we became homeless. She hated all other dogs, except for her housemates. And I know that if I had had to surrender her to a shelter, she would have been killed. It would have been justified, too (she also hated all men except me and most children). I probably would have taken her to a vet to have her euthanized so that I could be there with her when she died, rather than ignominiously dying in a shelter surrounded by strangers because I was foolishly hopeful that she could be rehomed. You have a hard job, AgentRXS. I don't envy you. People shouldn't get up on their high horses until they've been where you are. I'm glad you got better!

I used to watch TWD. I think I quit in Season 4. I know I stopped watching before Negan came on the scene. I don't really miss it. I stopped watching in part because it felt like there wasn't any real character development happening. The other reason I quit is because I had had to move to Minneapolis during the week for the new job at the university. This meant I was only home (at the time in Kasson, MN) Friday night through Sunday afternoon, and I have this thing about not being able to sit through 14 episodes of a show at once. And that's about how many episodes had built up due to my keeping on top of other truly must-watch shows like Supernatural, Hell's Kitchen, Hotel Impossible, Restaurant Impossible (R.I.P. most excellent restaurant show!), Bar Rescue, Ink Master and a couple of others. So I just told the wife to watch it and fill me in. When it came back the following season, I just had no interest in picking it up again, even though I had the time. Side note: When I bought our TiVO, I got the cheaper four-tuner unit rather than the more expensive six-tuner unit. I thought, "Hey, we can record four shows at once. We'll never need to record more than that!" Fast-forward a couple of years and suddenly we really could use that fifth and sixth tuner.... LOL I'm guilty of the first two. As for the first one, I don't get to watch shows the night they first air because of the time I have to wake up in the morning. But it's fun (and practically irresistible) to come on these forums and read what other people are saying. I'll comment if there's something about which to comment and join the discussion. I suppose that's probably less than half the time, though. So maybe I'm not your target demographic there. As for the second one, I tend to reply to comments as I'm reading through the thread. I do tend to read all the comments in the thread as I have time, but I don't wait to accomplish that before I comment. Although, I never actually use the verbiage in your #2. So maybe I'm not your target demographic there, either. LOL

Whereas we Pisces are conflicted about whether the topic rises to the level that requires our input.

I didn't want to quote your whole post to save space. That said, I found the entirety of it very interesting. I love discussing stuff like this. So your apology is completely unwarranted. Apology DENIED! :D I've heard about the Nephilim before. The little bit of reading I've ever done on the subject indicated it was angels that fell in love with humans and Nephilim are their off-spring: half-angel, half-human. The archaeological theorizing I have read postulated that these humans were the off-spring of Homo Erectus and an earlier human ancestor. Your readings about "The Watchers" and the information you present here is an interesting perspective. I hope we find out one day what is actually true. I probably was very lucky to come out of that experience relatively unscathed. One thing that I learned from it is that spirits can hear your thoughts. I say that because when I was using the board and later using automatic writing, I did not need to ask questions or make statements out loud. For the time that I did, I would start getting responses before I'd finished my sentence or question. I am convinced I have a guardian. It's one of the things that has led me to Deism as the tentpole of my religious beliefs. With everything I have been through in life, I feel like the presence of a guardian has been well and truly proven. Two NDE's; one in which I met a beautiful blonde woman who spoke with me and told me I could choose to leave and that would not "violate the plan", but would result in my never meeting her (and I was instantly in love with her), or I could stay and life would be difficult but I would eventually meet her. I would have been about 9 or 10 years old at the time. The other one in which I know there were multiple spirits around me who were there on orders to prevent my death, and yet spent several hours debating as to whether to follow instructions or to let me suffer the consequences of my choices. I remember one of those spirits was dominant among the group and emanated a great deal of power and, when it chose, menace; that spirit eventually put an end to the debate, which actually terminated much of the conversation between them all. I remember that spirit struck me as just, fair, compassionate, and yet absolutely rule/law-abiding, and would not hesitate to punish transgressors severely. I remember at one point during that NDE, it felt like it was just that spirit and me and I remember the awe I felt being in its presence. I don't know whether there is such a thing as an archangel or not, but the way I felt in its presence and the read I got of its personality lead me to use that term as the closest, most succinct descriptor. I suppose you could also compare it to Judge Dredd. Other things that lead me to believe I've got a guardian are the fact that my most urgent (like end-of-the-rope type) prayers are always answered. For example, as I recently posted, my brother-in-law is fighting leukemia. When I found out his white blood cell count was spiraling out of control, it really REALLY upset me and the only thing I could do about it was pray. While I was praying (and crying), I suddenly knew I was not alone in the room anymore (or the house, for that matter; my wife was out of town). I felt like something touched me on the head and a sense of calm swept through me. And that's just one example. I have to really be in dire straits to get such an immediate answer, though. So for me it's really sort of an ace in the hole that I can count on when the chips are really down. If I pray for stupid things, like winning the lottery (and I have), those are roundly ignored (which is fine because I don't need to win the lottery). It's taught me a lot and, while I don't pray every day, when I do pray I try to ask for things for other people. It's easy to ask for things for yourself; asking for things for other people is hard.

I remember that episode. I also went and looked her up online and found that same information. It sounds like the baby was adopted by the woman's husband and it sounded to me like the boy was back on track. I could be remembering incorrectly, though.

When I was a kid, I would get premonitions. I could tell what would happen and who would be involved, but I couldn't tell when it would happen. As I've gotten older, they've deteriorated into premonitory feelings, really. I'm trying to open myself back up to them so I can get more information. When I get them, I get really woozy and will almost pass out from it. I can sometimes tell who'll be involved/around; other times I can tell generally what will happen. Mostly, I can only tell whether it'll be a good or bad thing that will happen. I had an experience last week and I'm pretty sure my job at the university is going to end next year. I just can't tell if that's because my title here will change or because I'll be working somewhere else. Back in 2009, we were living in Milwaukee and I had an experience on the Thursday before Labor Day. I knew we would be in a car accident in the coming days, but I couldn't determine how far in the future. So, we avoided driving for three days or even being in a car. If we had to go somewhere, we walked. Well, we got invited to go just north of downtown to visit a friend and her family on Labor Day. This required driving and we were like, "Well, nothing's happened yet." So we went. On the way home, we're driving through downtown, which streets were basically deserted .... except for a silver Mitsubishi. That car was three blocks ahead of us when we got on the street behind it and I told my wife right away that we were going to be in an accident with her. I thought I was going to be wrong because she finally settled into the right lane and put her right turn signal on. As we were pulling even with her, she decided to turn left. Nobody was hurt and she tried to claim that we caused the accident. I called the police because I didn't have any insurance at the time and got it documented that I was in the left lane, she was in the right lane, and that she turned left from the right lane. So that saved us a lot of money and ended up with her getting a ticket. I try to listen carefully whenever I have these experiences. LOL