I’m doing actual work of late (midterm season and higher ed employment application season overlap in a horrific way), which is not to say I’m not spamming Twitter with #LawandOrderlessons and song ideas for #DuneTheMusical.
So in lieu of posting, I bring you:
Allie Brosh’s Adventures in Depression.
A pep talk for writers by Chuck Wendig.
An old Kate Harding post on dating and Dumb Luck (someone nice linked in comments here, it deserves a signal boost).
The Socially Awkward Penguin. My power animal.
The parenting sorts among you may be interested to know that my smart and funny college friend became a real grownup and a published novelist! Check him out at Fathermucker.com.
Oh! It’s still Advice Week over at Sexy Typewriter. I’m feeling like the Letter Writer in the first question here should say something to her boyfriend along the lines of “Do you ever think about getting married? I love you a lot, and I’m ready to start at least talking about that.” I’ve never understood people who want that whole thing to be a surprise that they pretend they’ve been studiously ignoring all this time. “He WILL ask me to marry him, but only if I never bring it up and let everyone maintain plausibile deniability that this is a huge surprise.” Arghhh, noooooo, just ask.
CaptainAwkward.com 
No no no. The way to handle hugely important life decisions is to spring it on your partner as a total surprise. Preferably with at least 50,000 people and a major TV network watching you on a Jumbotron.
I heart Allie. I miss Kate.
Argh, so true: I cannot understand the idea that a proposal is supposed to be a surprise! Like if you have not discussed getting married WITH THE PERSON TO WHOM YOU PLAN TO GET MARRIED, that’s weird, right? You’re sitting there silently hoping he’ll ask you to do this thing you really want to do…instead of just asking him?
The rules are very clear: Only men can ask, and they will only ask if women pretend that they’ve never thought about it before. If you admit you want to get married, the man’s boner falls off and you’ve guaranteed it will never happen with your grasping, needy ladyways.
I hit the Halloween link without really paying attention and then wondered if the person screaming outside was okay or if I should call the police.
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Well played.