For what it's worth, P-C, it may very well be a good thing if they don't support you financially in your new endeavor. Even though you may have to tough it out on your own (which is in itself fairly admirable), it'll be all on you. The control they may feel they have on you will be substantially less if they don't pay for it. Not that I'm necessarily advocating you turn down such support if it turns out they'll continue to offer it. Just... it can be a good thing. Also, you get man-hugs.

Well, changing gears for a second to announce...

beathen is here!

I am her very first Person from the Internet she has met.

We have eaten spaghetti, and are now going to go see Phantom of the Opera.

beathen, would you like to say a few words?

P-C is awesome! I can't wait to meet more of you soon!!!!

beathen clearly loves exclamation points.

And now I bid you all adieu.

I broke the news on Christmas, my mom's birthday. I figured my mom would be in a good mood, and I wanted to ruin it, in the spirit of giving.

That's unkind, it's unpleasant, it's childish, and it's grotesquely self-serving. My emphasis at this moment - I have to go out and it's probably a damned good thing, because otherwise I would say a few things that are probably neither b.org-allowable nor personally forgiveable - is on number three.

Or, you know, he's saying, in retrospect, that it wasn't his best decision ever. In ironical fashion. With a dark humor.

I snort/laughed in painful sympathy when I read it.

I just got an email from my mom that my brother is all freaked over my niece saying she wants to go to a less-good college than she has always said she wanted. He is worried she is "ruining her life." My mom told me she sent him an email pointing out that my parents didn't want him to go to Princeton at 16 or me dropping out of high school either, but they believed in us making our own decisions and that it worked out for all of us and suggested he leave her alone. How oddly coincidental is that?

Say Hi to beathen for all of us.

Once upon a time, I needed some counselling regarding a major life decision. My parents offered to pay, but I refused because I didn't want strings attached to the gift. Student loans suck but they are the lowest interest loans you will ever have (says the woman with $70K+ in student loans).

he simple knowledge that I need to lower my cholesterol and blood pressure, and that I'd look and feel better, isn't enough to motivate me. But make it a competition, and I'm on fire to go.

Heh. At work this evening, as some of us were leaving, my boss' boss heard me talking about low-carb, and said she thinks we should all do a weight-loss competition in teams--each put in like, $5 or whatever, and then split up, etc (there's a gym opening around the corner from work, and a bunch of us are talking about joining, too). I'm thinking that'll keep me much more motivated--and keep the people I see every day on my back about it all!!

Connie, just so you know, in the above sentence I read "ex" as "no longer living" vs. "legally separated."

Hee. That's some violent Bitches!

I was in a meeting this morning with a client and I looked at the woman sitting next to me, and her mug said, "Wolfram & Hart Law Firm."

Hah! That's pretty cool! And subtle.

Hmmm, there's a lot of fucking in this post

A post with that in it from NoiseDesign should really be a WAY more interesting post than it actually was. ND, tell us stories!!

Things come out at holidays, I think, because very often there's a whole "Oh, we're all together and Norman Rockwell should have used us as his models of the perfect family, isn't it grand?" thing, and that can cause the people brooding in the corners to snap

Heh. SOOOOO many people I know came out (as in, "I'M TEH GAY!") at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner...

I have refused several offers from my parents because I did not want the strings attached. Of course, I'm all about cutting as many strings of guilt and gratitude that I can, with them. It's a little extreme for most people.

I would rather DIE than have weigh-ins with my work team.

I think I'd rather strip naked in front of my work team. Which I so don't want to do.

but they believed in us making our own decisions and that it worked out for all of us [snip] How oddly coincidental is that?

I know, I kinda almost wanted to direct my mom to this thread, but mom on Buffistas? Ummm, no.