My old boss (16-17 years ago) is now a romance/erotica (are they the same?) novelist. Like a successful one. Since she sold her business at that time, she's had about 50 books published and made the NYT best Sellers list. Pretty awesome for her. BTW, the business she owned, that I worked for, was completely unrelated to erotica or writing/books. It was a small office, so we worked pretty closely together, literally and figuratively. I have no idea how she got her foot in the door.

Watching 3yo DGD take all the books off her shelf and lay them in a line on the floor like a train track = priceless. DS24 (her dad) used to do the same thing with shoes. Every shoe in the house would be lined up like train tracks through the living room, down the hall, into his bedroom. LOL we lived in a really small house back then. *sigh* Good times.

In what could have been a shining moment for him, the dumbass announced the death of the Isis leader, and in practically the same breath brags because he wrote twelve books and they all did 'extremely well.' He's an embarrassment to watch!

Book fair OP here. So that lady is now telling people that if they aren't going to send their kids to school with money, even a dollar or two for junk, to keep them home. Um so parents who work should lose a day's pay? Also, she's taking it to the PTO, and is going to "shame" local businesses into donating money to a fund so that no one feels left out. And..."The people who run things around here are flooding our district with underprivileged kids." Huh? Median home price in the district is nearly $300K. Yes, there are some struggling families, but they aren't the only ones who don't send money for the fair. One year I felt bad for ds' friend who was sad that he didn't have any money. I gave him $10 - then received a call from his mom that night, who was upset - he'd already bought books the day before. Kid was just playing me! She made him return the money.

Looking for opinions. The newest brouhaha in our town is the school book fair. A mom who volunteered noticed a couple kids who were crying because they hadn't been given money by their parents to buy anything. She made a big post shaming those parents and saying how she had to spend $100 of her own money to make sure everyone got something and now another about the other school's fair coming up, and to message her if they can't afford "the few dollars" for their child not to feel left out. Some parents don't send money bc their kids already have tons of unread books from previous fairs, or they're going on Family Night, and/or they are trying to teach their kids that you can't always have everything you want. Those parents are being called "mean and cheap." Thoughts?

I'd like to hang out with different age groups but there aren't any places near me to do that. Church Sunday School and groups are segregated by age group and gender. Book clubs don't read books that men would like, it's more like a hen party than book discussion group. Socials are for seniors or teens or young marrieds, never all mixed together. Volunteer work is mostly older people. Younger people like to meet at bars.

Worst female boss I ever had: Told us she was going to go to HR and report a male college for sexual harassment as a way to get him fired, because he wasn't productive enough. We reported her, and she was suspended for 1 week, and then was right back in her VP role. Second to worst female boss: put down the week I was off after my mother died as vacation instead of bereavement, because it made her books look better. I didn't find out until after she had left the company. Third to worst: held up my vacation request so she could put hers in for the same week, and get it approved, and then asked the top boss to deny my request so we would have enough coverage (yes, I reported her too). Worst male boss: Didn't give me a raise because took all my available vacation, which showed I wasn't as committed to the company as my colleagues. No contest, if we are dividing only by gender, I'll take male bosses.

My bil and his wife are expecting their first child in November. It's so cute. They're in that phase, where they're reading books and taking classes and acting like everyone is raising their kids wrong. They've registered for the most ridiculous crap, too. I could tell they weren't excited by my baby shower gift because it wasn't Disney princess shit, but it's cool. I know damn well they're going to appreciate the thermometer and diapers more than Ariel plushies. Having a baby isn't cute. It's survival, lol. But they'll learn.

It's funny--I can usually tell people's age by what technology they use. People my dad's age (early 60s and older) almost all use checkbooks and keep a register. People more my age and younger all use online banking apps that show me my checking balance instantly and I just have a debit card. My dad has a smartphone but he refuses to actually use anything on it and for him, the most frustrating thing is that the world is basically built for smartphones now. I hope I'm not so stubborn as I get older that I refuse to adopt new technology.

I'm kind of 'meh' with regards to men and dating these days as well. I did the marriage thing. Did it for 16 years. It's not all it's cracked up to be and honestly, some of my most stressful times were due to my husband's behavior and characteristics. Not a bad guy at all but he drove me crazy a lot of the time. And he was needy. We raised our kids and then agreed to part ways, amicably. I finally felt like I could breathe again. I don't need tons of companionship, my grown kids are great and I have friends and that's plenty for me. The rest of it can come from my pets and books. I'm kind of an introvert anyway and tons of conversation is not my cup of tea. And I've never been that interested in sex, either. I