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pledge drive

Short Answer Friday/Chat – August 3 – Pledge Drive Concludes

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August 3, 2018
boundaries, COMMUNICATION, creeps, crushes, Families, family, Feminism, Friendship, how to say no, Live Chat, love, Manners, Mental Health, neighbors, Overthinking It, Parents, pledge drive, saying no, Short Answer Friday, Social Media
256 Comments

Hello, it’s on!

Patrons can submit questions here (advantage: 1st dibs, more words). Anyone/Everyone can submit on Twitter (@CAwkward, #awkwardfriday), questions close at noon Chicago time, I answer as many as I can and update as I go between noon and 1pm. Whatever I don’t have time for gets held over for next week. Comments open once everything is posted.

This is also the last day (for a while, at least) that I remind folks about supporting the site. You can become a patron or send a donation anytime, of course, but these biannual reminder drives really help me be able to plan out nice things! One of these nice things: I’m officially hiring a graphic designer and a proofreader/formatter to put the finishing touches on an e-book of previously-published columns called #ThisF-ing Guy (And How To Avoid Him), so I can make it available before the end of the year. Thank you so much for all the support so far. This site is a labor of love, but it is labor, and it feels so great to be able to say “I run a fan-supported advice website.”

Cue the jazz flute which, I confess I started out including as a humorous homage to the NPR and WGBH-Boston pledge drives of my youth and my middle-school bad flute playing, but then I ended up listening to a crapload of jazz flute on YouTube this week, and now I’m like “JAZZ FLUTE IS AWESOME, MOAR JAZZ FLUTE PLEASE.” Proving that irony will lose out to sincerity every damn time.

Let’s begin: Talking to the neighbors about misbehaving kids, KITTENS, ADHD and learning to take compliments, bickering family/feeling bad about interacting with family, crushes (it’s okay to just ignore them!), when do you know if couples’ counseling is working, how to therapy, when to say ‘I love you’, drop-in houseguests, parents who want you to be their therapist, compliments that aren’t compliments.

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#1129: “Help with emotional baggage that is packed in literal boxes.” + Summer Pledge Drive Continues

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August 1, 2018
bygones, Families, family, Overthinking It, Parents, pledge drive, Reader Questions, self-care
240 Comments

Hi Captain,

You know how there’s a coping mechanism of putting stressful or damaging thoughts/memories in an imaginary box and closing it until you feel ready to deal with them? I have two literal boxes of potentially upsetting artifacts, and I don’t know what to do with them.

Condensed backstory: My parents had a very long, acrimonious, complicated divorce throughout my elementary school years (age 6ish-11ish). I’m an only child. I haven’t had contact with my father in about 25 years.

I have very few memories of this time, and what I do remember is vague and blurry, with brief instances of clarity. For example, I remember that part of the custody agreement at one point was that my father could never be alone with me in a bedroom or bathroom. I remember locking myself in my bathroom and refusing to go with him and the cops being called. (I was an intensely obedient child, so this was almost indescribably outside my normal scope of behavior.)

During these years, my mom recorded everything. She wrote pages and pages documenting everything every day and, I think, recorded (and transcribed?) family therapy sessions. She kept all of this in a couple of boxes in a spare room until she downsized to a condo several years ago. At that point, I ended up with the boxes. I don’t remember if she asked me to keep them or if she told me to or if we even had a conversation about it at all. (My relationship with my mom is quite complicated, and I don’t see a path to having a productive conversation with her now about this.)

I was lucky enough to have friends who agreed to keep these boxes in their storage space for me for a few years, but I’ve since moved states. Now, these boxes are in my home. I don’t know what’s in there, and I don’t feel emotionally ready to unpack them right now. I’m afraid of seeing what’s inside — both the content and the framing of it. I’m also afraid of blindly tossing them out. Keeping them unopened in my space has been a workable temporary solution, but it’s beginning to wear on me.

Am I tying myself in knots for nothing? Am I tying myself in knots completely appropriately??

Thanks so much for your time and perspective,

Living with Literal Baggage
(she/her pronouns)

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It Came From The Search Terms: Something ‘Bout July + Summer Pledge Drive

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July 30, 2018
Abuse, advice, bad internet dating, BREAKING UP, Captain Awkward's Dating Guide for Geeks, crushes, Dating, emotional abuse, Families, family, Feminism, Friendship, health, Manners, marriage, Parents, Patreon, pledge drive, Search Terms, Sex, Short Answer Friday, Work
130 Comments

Time for the monthly tradition where we answer the things people typed into search engines as if they are questions.

Before we get to it, it’s Pledge Drive Time! Twice a year, winter and summer, I interrupt our usual programming to remind folks that fun stuff like the Search Terms posts and the Friday short answers are funded by my kind and generous patrons and readers who support the site via PayPal and other ways. These donations allow me to keep the blog ad-free, invest substantial time in maintaining the community, reading the mailbox, and moderating comments, devote time to answering questions and writing new content, pay guest writers, and keep us functioning as an independent site. This year I’m trying to pull back on teaching and be a full-time writer, and your support is necessary and much appreciated for the care and feeding of me & my family. Please make a donation or become a patron if you can. Every little bit helps. (If you can’t afford to, don’t worry ’bout a thing, I’m glad you are here and reading.)

As is traditional, let’s begin with a song to set the mood. Lyrics here :

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#824: “My mom is obsessed with my looks and my weight.”

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February 6, 2016
Abuse, emotional abuse, Families, family, Feminism, health, How Not To Be, how to say no, manipulation, Mental Health, Parents, pledge drive, Reader Questions, saying no, self-care
411 Comments

Dear Captain Obvious,

My mom has always been on about how I look, but since I’ve turned 16 it seems to have gotten worse. She got me a fitbit that she makes me use (which I hate because it tells me I eat too many calories a day, even though it’s the recommended amount), made me diet with her, and constantly makes comments on how “I should go to the gym more,” even though I’m a perfectly healthy weight for my height. If i’m about to leave the house with no makeup on, she says “Oh why don’t you put a little foundation and mascara on before you go?” and is visibly embarrassed if she sees m in public wit none on. She also hates me wearing my glasses, as they “cover up my beautiful face” and will make more comments on them if I wear them outside the house instead of my contacts. My boobs aren’t very big, but my thighs are, so she’s always pushing me to wear push up bras and slimming clothes. It’s gotten to the point where I’m embarrassed to not be made up, am starting to obsess over my weight, and am just downright lacking in self-esteem. I’ve tried bringing it up before, but she either plays the victim or pretends like she never did any of that. Any advice on what I can do?

Sincerely,
I’m only 16. I’m not a model.

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It Came From the Search Terms: August And Everything After

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August 27, 2014
Abuse, Captain Awkward's Dating Guide for Geeks, Culture, Darth Vader Boyfriend, Dating, Families, How Not To Be, how to say no, manipulation, Manners, Mental Health, Overthinking It, Personal Safety, pledge drive, Relationships, saying no, Search Terms, Short Answer Friday, Social Interactions, Social Media
82 Comments

Let’s play the game where we answer the questions people typed into search engines to find this place. Punctuation added. Wording unchanged. 

1. “My bf won’t choose me over his brothers that are rude to me.“

I don’t know what the nature of this choice is, like, probably your boyfriend won’t ever cut off or stop talking to his brothers on your behalf, but your boyfriend should definitely stick up for you when and if people in his family are rude to you. 

2. “When he says he doesn’t have time or focus for a relationship.”

Time and focus may in fact be factors, but also, “he” doesn’t want to be in a relationship with you. I’m sorry, that sucks to hear. Move on from this prospect, is my advice. 

3. “How to turn down a friend down politely convincing her you love but can’t engage in a relationship right now.”

This is the wrong way to go about it. If you don’t want to be in a relationship, just tell her “I don’t want to be in a romantic relationship with you, I’m so sorry, but I value you very much as a friend.” Let her heal for a bit and then you can most likely be friends again. If you use the “not right now” excuse you leave her hanging and hoping, and it’s going to be so much worse.

4. “What it means when a girl say she does not think it will work out.” /”What did she mean by saying we can’t cope with each other?”

Most likely translations: “I don’t want to be in a romantic relationship with you, but I’m using neutral language like ‘it won’t’ work’ to try to spare your feelings.”

5. “How to respond to a compliment on your looks.”

From an acquaintance, not delivered with a leer, like, “You look really nice today?” a good answer is “Thank you.” It’s what people expect to hear and will complete the conversational circuit with maximum efficiency. 

Yelled at you from a moving car? It’s not a compliment at that point. 

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Summer Pledge Drive: Give me a dollar and I’ll give you a movie.

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July 10, 2012
pledge drive
27 Comments
Mannequins in the hallway, waiting to be put away.

Production Still from The Wardrobe. Photo by Mari Provencher.

Dear Readers,

It’s the time of the year where I ask folks who want to support the site to throw a few $ in the tip jar if you can.

Here’s a link to contribute using PayPal. If something funky happens with the link (and something funky may well happen), my PayPal account is the same as the email address for the site: welcometoawkwardtown@gmail.com.

Here’s a link to contribute using Dwolla (free to anyone in the USA with a bank account).

Contributions are not tax-deductible. To be blunt, every contribution means less freelance work I have to hustle for in the next few months which means I can continue blogging, continue eating, and do some actual screenwriting(!) for a change.

This year, I will offer a download of my short film, The Wardrobe as a thank you for donations of any amount. What happens when your wealthy lover tries to remake you into who he thinks you should be? Disturbing things, that’s what. Based on a short story by Australian author Danielle Wood, the movie is an homage to Vertigo, The Twilight Zone, and every makeover montage in every movie ever where you liked the “before” version better.

Anyone who donates will get an email (within 24 hours-ish) with a download link and the password to watch the Vimeo version so you can watch the film however is convenient for you.

In the past the thank you reward for donating was an awkward short story I wrote called The Best Dog In The World, about when you know you have to break up but you’re not quite ready yet. If you missed out then, here you go.

Thank you in advance for your generosity, and thank you always for your loyal readership, constructive and insightful comments, and always-interesting letters.
You can support the site at any time, of course, but you’ll see a reminder and a link to this post somewhere in every question/answer for the next week.