How long have I liked British Airways? Well, that's over. I have more than 50,000 Avios (air miles), which is enough for a round trip to London. I have to pay about $250 in gov fees. Fine. Not great, but fine ( Read more... )

There's no point in arguing with stupid people on the internet. I know this, and yet I am tempted regardless. Why? Tell me why? They are incapable of understanding the most polite and fundamental explanations of things that needn't be arguments at all . . . like whether "jelly" means something different in UK English than US English. Is it ( Read more... )

Dear middle-aged male employers and anyone else who inflicts this on people:

When I sign my name on e-mails, that’s because it’s my name.  I don’t use an extra super special lengthy professional version of my name, I use my name.  I use the name I respond to, that I prefer.

Examples:

I sign my name “Elizabeth.”
CORRECT RESPONSE: you call me ( Read more... )

Aaaaah!  I don't have any work and I have to pay bills!

Aaaaah!  Suddenly I have three jobs at the same time!

repeat ad infinitum.

I got a rejection letter from an agent today. This is not a particularly uncommon occurrence; what is uncommon is that the agent was good enough to tell me two major reasons why she rejected my story ( Read more... )

I heard an announcement on the radio for a hypnosis weight loss plan which said that it was better than a diet because diets don't work, you always slip ( Read more... )

If I wanted to pick one word, one single word to make the Doctor stop sulking and come help me, the word I'd pick would be "children."

I very much like to listen to the radio while I’m driving.  Up until recently, I listened to country radio as I drove.  I’m quite fond of country, for the most part, but roommate Ruby, with whom I now live, despises it.  Before country, I used to a lot of Christian rock, before I got bored of the fact that it was almost invariably ( Read more... )

No, I haven't finished the book.  I just thought I'd post this brief review of the first 80 pages for any of you who thought, "Hey, new Rowling book, I think I'll check it out!"

My advice?  Don't.

So . . . I expected the book to be a darkly comedic social commentary.  It is, instead, miserable, bitter, and dull.  There are far too many characters (20 ( Read more... )

So the other day I refused to hear out Dad on an argument which hinged on the belief that Christianity is wrong, on the basis that his argument was fundamentally flawed because he came to it from a false worldview.  He called me closed-minded.

Um, yes.  Wasn’t it Terry Pratchett who wrote that the problem with having a wide-open mind is that ( Read more... )