Is slapping the shit of chirpy twits in their early twenties tantamount to child abuse, or is it just good clean fun?

I vote for good clean fun.

A Valkyrie!? That's awesome!

I was trying to think of something that I wouldn't need a wig for - hate wigs. I saw the Valkyrie & thought "Busty & Blonde? I can do that!" Though the costume, of course, is nothing like the standards of the Vikings at Ren Faire, but I have to keep reminding myself, there's garb and then there's costumes.

Can't wait until I get to my home computer to see steampunk Charlie's Angels! (And I keep meaning to post my pics of Steampunk Ghostbusters from Masquerade...)

I've several times come across message boards where idiots in their early twenties chirpily proclaimed that daring to get knocked up after 30 is tantamount to child abuse.

Ugh. I had a personal ad when I was about 21 (what? it was free!) I had an upper age limit of guys I was interested in of about 25 or 26, I think. This 30-yr-old completely disregarded my limit and contacted me - because he wanted a very young woman so that she'd still have quality eggs. He was Cree.Pee. (For other reasons too, but retroactively very insulting to this over-35 gal).

ChiKat, you'd be married if only you'd fast for eleven Tuesdays straight and repeat this one mantra eleven times a day.

You know, part of me wants to do this just so you have scientific evidence to bring to your mom. . . . . What's the mantra??

The black woman/white man couples I know are mostly family--my family is mostly women, mostly black, and mostly living in white places. But eyeballing it flips the numbers quite dramatically.

The only guy I'll claim as having been a boyfriend was white, but I'm choosy about men, not race. I'm an equal opportunity luster.

You know, part of me wants to do this just so you have scientific evidence to bring to your mom.

Serious. She's already said it doesn't matter if you actually believe, right?

For those of you who identify as bisexual, have you had equally long relationships with same sex as you have with opposite sex partners?

No, but it was always harder to find women who wanted to go out with me. Men are the low hanging fruit.

Also, I tended to have bouts of monogamy followed by sleeping around. I have only had three relationships that lasted more than 6 months.

P-C, good news, Shrika and her mom ARE Gujarati! And her mother is really nice! I'll ask her mom if she knows a nice girl. Or I'll start buying Shrika comic books now for your back up plan.

Anyone else keep picturing Shakira?

I feel sort of sad because DH asked a few of the kids if they liked Owen. Not something I would have asked but all the kids replied, "Yeah...but he's kind of weird." This really breaks my heart. I think we're going to be in for a really rough road when he hits adolescence. But they were excited about coming and they did all seem to have a good time.

You know what? "Kinda weird" might be less intimidating once they get to name it like that.

Those rough adolescent times may well be mitigated by kids who've known Owen for years and enjoy his company and feel welcome in his home.