When they were introduced, he made a witticism, hoping to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. Then each drove home alone, staring stright ahead, with the very same twist to their faces.

"Now I will walk, as if I had an end in view, across the room, to the balcony under the awning. I see the sky, softly feathered with its sudden effulgence of moon. I also see the railings of the square, and two people without faces, leaning like statues against the sky. There is then a world immune from change. When I have passed through this drawing-room flickering with tongues that cut me like knives, making me stammer, making me lie, I find faces rid of features, robed in beauty. The lovers crouch under the plane tree. The policeman stands sentinel at the corner. A man passes. There is then a world immune from change. But I am not composed enough, standing tiptoe on the verge of fire, still scorched by the hot breath, afraid of the door opening and the leap of the tiger, to make even one sentence. What I say is perpetually contradicted. Each time the door opens I am interrupted. I am not yet twenty-one. I am to be broken. I am to be derided all my life. I am to be cast up and down among these men and women, with their twitching faces, with their lying tongues, like a cork on a rough sea. Like a ribbon of weed I am flung far every time the door opens. The waves breaks. I am the foam that sweeps and fills the uttermost rims of the rocks with whiteness;  I am also a girl, here in this room."

Virginia Woolf, The Waves

Hi, so I don't know where this is allowed and where this isn't, and I will be posting it to several communities, so if it isn't alright then feel free to let me know and I'll delete the post.

I created a community called co_morbidity , where people dealing with more than just one specific issue can go to discuss them all in one place, as well as  how these issues may be connected and dealt with instead of focusing on them separately. There is more detailed information at the community about what I hope this place can be, and of course that will change and grow as people join and make it what they need it to be.

Anyways, if people join then they join, and if they don't then they don't. But I really think it could be something great to have in addition to our more specific lj communities.

Just curious how many other users here are queer/gay/whatever. I understand if you don;t want to answer.

I am open about it. I am gay. I came out when I was a teenager. I have been with my partner, K, for 4 years.

I love him. I want to get better for him. He doesn't deserve to be with someone messed up like me. Even though our state doesn't even allow civil unions, when I do get better I am going to ask him to marry me.

So there it is.

What is your HG long-wearing foundation? I'm currently using Lancome's Teint Idole Ultra, which I really like, but I'm looking for something with a bit more coverage to hide pores, some redness from pimples, as well as some minor acne scarring. Plus I'm a bit of a foundation whore and always wonder if I can find something better. I've tried Colorstay and Estee Lauder Double Wear and loved the fact that they looked flawless almost all day, but they always break me out (maybe it's the SPF?). Some foundations I'm thinking of trying are Make Up For Ever Matt Velvet, Make Up For Ever HD, Prescriptives All Skin Liquid Mineral Foundation, and Diorskin Forever Extreme Wear. I have very sensitive combination skin that is especially prone to breakouts. I'm also pretty fair skinned with pinkish undertones, so good color selection is important. Does anyone have any reviews or recommendations? I'd really appreciate it! :D

It's brilliant, being depressed; you can behave as badly as you like.

- High Fidelity, Nick Hornby

"She pined in thought, and with a green and yellow melancholy she sat like Patience on a monument, smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed? We men say more, swear more, but indeed our shows are more than will; for still we prove much in our vows but little in our love."

Hey guys, the weather is finally turning colder here, which means it's time to make some slight adjustments in my skincare routine. For those of us with combination skin, cold weather poses a unique challenge: how to keep dry spots (like cheeks) hydrated, without creating excess oil in the T-zone? Dry, cold weather can cause skin to lose moisture and become irritated, which can actually lead to more oil in areas like the forehead, nose and chin (which tend to have larger pores). Not sure if you have combination skin? Take a tissue and press it against your face. If there's oil on the tissue where it touched your T-zone, but no oil where the tissue touched your cheeks, you most likely have combination skin.

I was getting tired of constantly blotting throughout the day and trying to cover up shine with makeup, so I recently switched some of my key products to help balance out my combination skin. Here's a peek at what's working for me.

• Avene Cleanance Soap-Free Gel Cleanser for Oily, Blemish-Prone Skin: This cleanser is specifically formulated for sensitive types, and it leaves a fresh, clean feeling. I generally use this only once a day because I've found it can be over-drying.
• Topix Replenix Fortified Exfoliation Scrub: The clay base produces an exothermic reaction—which means that when combined with water, it releases energy in the form of heat. I was kind of blown away when I first tried it. It actually warms up the face and leaves skin baby-smooth without drying it out.
• SkinCeuticals Daily Moisture for Normal to Oily Skin: I've been applying this moisturizer all over my face at night, and sparingly to cheeks and other dry spots in the morning. My skin feels hydrated and soft, without the midday oily shine.
• Sothys Hydra Matte Fluid: Perfect as a makeup primer and/or as a lightweight moisturizer to absorb oil throughout the day.

What are your go-to products for combination skin, especially in the winter months? Got a mask you love or a moisturizer that disappointed you? DIY treatments that totally worked? Do tell! And please, beauties, don't forget to wear sunscreen, even when the sun don't shine!

I love the clothes on Modcloth.com etc, but does anyone know any British online stores which stock a similar style of clothes, shoes and accessories?
I know I can get things shipped from Modcloth, and I used to order a lot from American stores but exchange rates and changes in shipping and customs costs mean it is no longer economically preferable :(

Thanks :)

Thanks for your help in my last post!

Someone posted a similar question as this not long ago but I was wondering what people's opinions on this specific thing is.

I've been out of work since April and have been trying to find anything that I'm qualified for. I live at home with my mom and she's pays the majority of the bills. I went Vegetarian in May. What I'm wondering is this:

Would you work at a fast food restaurant serving meat to other people when you don't eat it yourselves?

I, personally, have no desire what so ever to work in the fast food industry. Not because it's beneath me or anything but because I dont' want to be serving meat to other people. I don't try to shove my views or beliefs on anyone but...I find it hard to see my mother cooking meat and eating it. The thing is she's wanting me to take ANYTHING that I'm offered. Even if that would mean flipping burgers myself.

She thinks it's really stupid that I'm a vegetarian and has no problem telling me so. She rolls her eyes any time I mention it or something is said about it on TV (yet just this morning on I think it was Good Morning America they were talking about all the ways meat can hurt you if it's undercooked).

I think I'm just frustrated and needing to vent a bit to people who might understand where I'm coming from. I dont' want to work somewhere that serves and cooks meat. I dont' want to be one of those people serving deep fried grease to other people. There's a reason I myself don't eat that stuff! But I feel like if I tell her any of this I'm just going to get yelled at for not contributing enough to the house and--in her views--not even trying. I have no problem working 40 hours a week, heck I'll work 50-60 hours a week.

Meat just grosses me out anymore. I don't see something to eat when I see a hamburger, I see a cows eyes looking back at me. Maybe that's because I grew up on a farm where cattle were present but...that's what I see.

But yea, my question is: would you, being veg*n, work somewhere that served meat? Or sold it (like a grocery store)?

You know — we've had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that it was being fought by aging men like ourselves. We had forgotten that wars were fought by babies. When I saw those freshly shaved faces, it was a shock. "'My God, my God — ' I said to myself, 'It's the Children's Crusade.'"

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

So, we (my husband, myself, our housemate, our daughter, and our house mate's daughter) moved into a home (Washtenaw County Michigan) about 2 weeks ago.  It's a great house, and the landlord seems to be pretty cool and understanding, but there are some things going on with the house that are frustrating and we believe we deserve a rent credit for. 

The landlord seems pretty agreeable, but we don't know how much we should be asking, nor do we know if all of this stuff is reasonable for us to ask for a credit.  He wants to be fair to us, so we want to be fair to him.

The biggest thing is that he was suppose to have a lot of these issues taken care of before we moved in, but he didn't.  The whole house was really filthy, so we're trying to clean up all of the messes that the previous tenants left, including things such as:  a large amount of spider and cobwebs in one of the bedrooms, a very strong cat urine smell in the basement, a large amount of dust on all surfaces, dirt built up around windows,  stains on carpets and walls.  We know that there is a certain amount of normal ware and tear on a living space, but this places more or less is like there was nobody here for a year, and they just left their cats in the basement.  We want compensation for our time, is this a reasonable request?  How much compensation should we ask for? An hourly 'wage' of time spent?
He called a cleaner, and they charge 35$/hour for a 2 person team.  But he says "You guys are already making a dent in the mess and you know what you want to happen so I figure you probably want to finish"

He is giving us a credit for the Nature's Maricle used to get rid of the cat smell.

The day after we moved all of our food into the fridge the fridge broke.  His handyman came over and threw EVERYTHING away, including things that were not perishable--we had them in there to extend shelf life.  Is it reasonable to ask for compensation for those things? We went to the store and priced things out--most of those things were unopened, actually and it came out to be $128.69 worth of groceries.  Also, we were without a fridge for a week because he had to buy a new one.

Most recently we are dealing with mold.  There was an ice dam in the roof last winter(when the old tenants lived here), and a small leak in our bedroom closet.  He came to fix it last week and found that the whole ceiling of the closet had mold in it.  They took all of our stuff out of the closet and 'quarantined' off the closet with some plastic there is no door on it--it is a huge walk in closet.  I am wondering if actually was safe for us to be living here...he said it is not the 'bad' kind of mold, "even though all kinds are not good, but it's not the bad kind"...that was last Thursday.  Yesterday he came and tore a part of the Ceiling out of the closet, which has basically opened it up to the outside...it is not warm here in Michigan in November...and we have to live with this until Friday.  Is it reasonable to ask for compensation for this?  We are running the heater and responsible for the gas. I would imagine that we are losing a decent deal of heat since the only thing that is blocking it from what is basically the outside is a piece of plastic.

Also, all of HIS stuff is in the garage...why am I paying for that space when it is filled with his stuff?  He said he was going to move it...but hasnt yet.

I know the house wouldn't pass an inspection with the mold thing because he is trying to get it all fixed up by the 23rd, when the county inspectors come.



Any information or opinions are appreciated.

Is it illegal to open someone else's mail? (In Canada, specifically.)

Proxy situation: Roommates A and B are both over the age of 18. Roommate A routinely opens mail which is addressed to Roommate B. Is this an offence?

I've been able to identify a section of the Canada Post Corporation Act which seems to be headed in that direction, but I'm unclear on if it applies to mail that has been delivered, or just mail which is in transit.

I'm not looking to prosecute, just looking to have something I can wave under their nose.

I've been off celexa since the spring, and have slowly gotten worse.  I mainly stopped taking them because of the side effects, but I've read that lexapro is similar but tends to have less SE.  So I'm going to ask my doctor for it tomorrow.  I'm going to look into some sort of therapy too.  Someone I can talk to, about what I want to talk about and what I think is wrong with my life.  Not to some shrink who has a specific program he gives out to everyone he sees.

I'm going to try to get social again, slowly.  Maybe play in a band, maybe play shows, if I can manage that.  That's my first goal.

... but I'm about to show his stuffs again. Enjoy!!!



( for people with lots of friendses, a cut. )

'Absolutely.' Penrose pointed approvingly at me, the alert student in the front row of the lecture hall. 'We're on the same side, Paul. I want people to come together, not divide themselves into separate enclaves. The ultimate gated community is a human being with a closed mind. We're breeding a new race of deracinated people, internal exiles without human ties but with enormous power. It's this new class that runs out planet. To be successful enough to work at Eden-Olympia calls for rare qualities of self-restraint and intelligence. These are people who won't admit to any weakness and won't allow themselves to fail. When they arrive their health is at a peak, they rarely touch drugs and the glass of wine they have with dinner is a social fossil, like the christening mug and the family silver.'

-J.G. Ballard, Super-Cannes