Well, if he's in jail, he won't starve and you'll know where he is.

Part of me agrees, as in perhaps this would be a hitting bottom and straightening him out thing. But the drug sentencing here is pretty bad and I really think he would not come out a better person but instead be more damaged.

His lifestyle of hours upon hours of League of Legends and getting high is ridiculous. Part of me wants to once again make the big long list of requirements to a road to redemption with his family, but even if he promised to comply, he won't. Frankly, he won't even promise to comply since it is obviously unreasonable for me to request him to pull up his pants and quit smoking.

I might even consider bringing him back and making him stay at my side and be my minion. But I won't do that to his brother. Bobby is doing all the right things. Excited about college and hanging with really quality friends. They both still do the 'you love him more' thing. They aren't the same and they do get treated differently, as happens in families. I know it is natural for them to have this perspective. But he has stolen from his brother repeatedly and treats him badly and I don't want to force him to have to live with him.

Right now I am thinking I might pack him up and move him in with my brother on the west coast of FL for a while. My brother worked in rehab for decades and has done all that B is doing and more in his youth. He has MS and frankly it would be good for him to have my son around because he falls sometimes.

Thanks, Amy. I may do that. Misery loves company?

Anytime, Laura. Jake is home with us now, because he couldn't find a job up in Fulton and Grandpa got tired of the bullshit. Since we're in a two-bedroom apartment with five people now, Jake has been told that he needs a job ASAP or we'll be going to the recruitment center. He's going to be 22, and he's not doing the drugs anymore but he still has no idea how to be self-reliant. And he's lazy as hell. I love him, but this situation has a clock on it, and it's already running.

Bah. I guess I needed to vent, too.

Yeah, Brendon is 21, going on 13. He doesn't honestly get that being tired because you stayed up too late playing games is not an excuse to miss work. Seriously, I know lots and lots of people, including myself, that partied hard at that age. But we showed our asses up at work on time even with no sleep at all because we had rent to pay.

It really does them no favor to enable the laziness. Sending a virtual chocolate martini to you, Amy. I feel your pain.

edit because are is not our

He doesn't honestly get that being tired because you stayed up too late playing games is not an excuse to miss work.

Oh my god, this.

Jake applied for one job yesterday, online, and looked at me like I was going to praise him. I'm just so tired of it.

Maude? Sometimes I wonder what year it is on their planet(although she's funny, in small doses...never really took to anyone else on that show, though it was a major rerun when I saw it.) Kind of like my mom's boss being upset about Jane Fonda in The Butler(seriously, the fact that this woman is a teacher should scare everyone...she had to ask my mom who Nelson Mandela is and she's in her fifties.) Have no advice on the slacking front, except my stepbrother used to totally be like that(and more) but now he has a job as an EMT and spends time with his kids and all that. We don't hang, but even I have to admit he has come a long way, and I had my kittens on "waste of skin 4 life" when we spent the most time together.(sadly, so did his own grandma, which, in an uncomfortable tableau. she told me once.)

You guys, I have a legit job hunt question.

I applied for a line-editing job with a publisher of mostly romantic fiction of all genres (really -- horror, urban fantasy, what they call steampunk, straight-up erotica). Also gay erotica and...

wait for it...

some kinky erotica (which is not why I applied; I didn't actually look at every title in their catalog, and they don't have a kink/BDSM category, so I didn't realize they publish it when I applied).

They replied, explaining the line-editor gig in-depth, and explaining that they take their editors' sensibilities into account when assigning manuscripts -- the example the editor used was "we wouldn't assign m/m or BDSM fiction to someone who is uncomfortable with it, for example."

Question: when I reply to tell them to send me their editing test, do I mention that I'm comfortable with m/m fiction and also have a good knowledge base of BDSM? I don't mind being forthright about that with people who publish it, but I also don't want to bring it up too soon or be creepy.

Do I just reply and reaffirm my interest and editing skillz and tell them to send me the editing test, and *then* if I'm hired do I mention that I know my way around a dungeon? Or would mentioning it now -- in a brief, low-key way -- give me an advantage?

I'm torn.

Me too. On one hand, I would say it brings you in line with the company's mission and distinguishes you, which seems good, but on the other hand, I always worry about seeming weirdly over-eager.(Like where's the line between "You've got spunk!" and "Security!")

Mentioning it now is a good idea. Can you tell me which publisher? If it's one who does a lot of that type of book, it's good to know who's willing to work on them.

I wouldn't be graphic, I would simply say you're comfortable with graphic sexuality of all kinds, thanks for the heads up.

I know that sometimes I hang back too much because of the stereotype of the chatty cripple who thinks everyone is her best friend.(And being a woman I get a double dose of worry about talking too much.)

Amy,

what is the "Recruitment Center?" This sounds Orwellian or post-apocalyptic. Like a final solution.