Neutrogena makes a good one...my mom uses it sometimes, and it looks pretty real.

NICOLE!

P-C, I can say you were here with me all day. Trying on tiaras.

I think I will kill everyone today.

But not us, right? RIGHT?

Aw, P-C. I was hoping today would be better for you.

I worked till midnight, and then BART had problems today, and I keep getting e-mails that make me feel like I'm stupid for not knowing what to do when in fact NO ONE SEEMS TO KNOW WHAT TO DO.

But not us, right? RIGHT?

I need you people for hugs and/or making out.

I need you people for hugs and/or making out.

"Dudes to the left for high fives, ladies to the right for making out."

t /Strong Bad

Craxy dream last night.

I dreamt that Perkins, Betsy and I all went to live with Suzi.

I also had a VERY young boyfriend.

Thanks for the suggestions! I like Neutrogena stuff and will check out the fake tanner.

"Dudes to the left for high fives, ladies to the right for making out."

Heh.

I keep expecting to be fired for my apparent incompetence, but they can't because A) they need someone to write these reports NOW and B) as far as I know, I still don't actually work here.

Oh, P-C. I'm so sorry things are going so rough. I can't make out with you, but I can hug. {{{{{{P-C}}}}}}

Gud. I know you don't want to hear this, ...: she is not going to change. The only one with the power and will to change the situation is you. Change like that is violent and painful--sometimes moreso than the steady stream of daily unhappy is worth--and I would understand if you decided not to take that drastic step. But I think it's important for you to remember, if only for your own sense of power and worth, that you do not have to be at the mercy of your wife for the rest of your life.

Gud, Kristin speaks wise. As does Trudy. (and all the other caring people here who have your blinvisible back)

Most couples' counselors treat the union as the client and seek to preserve it at all costs. I don't work that way. Even when there are kids involved.

A union cannot be strong when it is not comprised of two caring people. By caring, I don't even mean loving or good communicating, just two people interested in keeping it together in some way that works for both of them. That might include a lot of things that people outside a given union don't preceive as good.

Given my limited experience of your disclosure here, it seems that there are things you don't want to give up in your current situation. If that is the case, and it makes sense from a distance, then it is clearly up to you to choose your own level of misery or mastery.

It's a little like loving what you do but hating your boss. You can 'let the turkeys get you down' as they used to say in my youth, or not.

Having a counselor of you own might really, really help you get some of the terrible feelings out of your body and give you some tools to cope in ways that work better for you. The very worst that could happen is you might end up being marginally happier and better able to deal with everything else in your life while surviving your wife.