I think it's a great idea! I would totally do it - plus if you don't have to commit to three years, then you can just try it out for maybe a year to see how it goes? If it's absolutely unbearable, then you could move. I don't have a super amazing story to share, but I am living with my parents right now in order to save money. I would love to have my own apartment but the opportunity to build up my savings was just too good to pass up. Also I am living without a car to keep my expenses low. And I am always looking for opportunities to cut costs because I would like to be financially secure one day. So y'all inspire me - because it's so tempting to want to just go out and get a new car and apartment now instead of taking advantage of a temporary time during which I can boost my savings. So hopefully someday I can buy my own place. :)

Well I think the main problem with some of their work might be some of their empirical methods. From what I recall, their econometrics was what other economists had a problem with. And of course faulty econometrics would lead to erroneous conclusions.

Yay! An economics convert ;) I was an econ major in college :tongue_smilie: I learned from textbooks and classes but that can be kind of a dry method. I took my first economics class in high school and we read parts of Freakonomics by Steven Levitt. Although the validity of some of his work is contested by other economists, it can still be a fun way to sort of get an introduction to the world of economics. At least for me, I found it fascinating that economics had so many applications and it made me really want to study the field more. But if you do read it, just keep in mind that some of the author's conclusions have been contested. We also read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich which was not really economics based but really gave a great account of what it's like working in various minimum wage jobs and trying to survive. I'm not sure whether you want a more rigorous introduction or a more gentle introduction? Personally I think charts and supply and demand curves and math in general is awesome (after all, I am an actuary :)) but I know that type of stuff bores a lot of people to tears. But understanding the theories behind economics can be really important - it gives you a deeper understanding. So if you are interested in more of a mathematical introduction to economics, then I could recommend some textbooks.

I was one of those "lame" teens too :D I always like to remind my parents (jokingly) how lucky they were - I was such a rule follower! :lol: The worst thing that happened at a sleepover for me was in 6th grade a bunch of us girls decided to sit and tell each other everything that annoyed us about each other. That didn't go well...lots of hurt feelings all around...

Around here we pass people waiting to turn all the time...not sure if it's legal though - I'm assuming it is?:)

Oh and I never learned in driver's ed about it being a law that you can't stay in the left most lane continually. Around here, most of our left most lanes are HOV lanes so during HOV hours they are used by people who meet the qualifications (and they are definitely not passing lanes) and during non-HOV hours people seem to just use them as fast lanes.

I voted that I would pass on the right but: it depends on how slow the driver is going. If he/she is really not going that slow, I might just re-evaluate and stick to the left lane. Sometimes it's just not worth the effort to try to pass someone, especially in crazy Northern Virginia traffic. I wouldn't tailgate though or flash my lights or anything. A lot of NoVa drivers tailgate and I think it is dangerous since it doesn't allow you much stopping room. In general I'm just a very non-aggressive driver. Which makes me not fit in very well with my fellow NoVa drivers. :lol: Oh and I learned to drive here too. I didn't really learn anything about a passing lane either. It always seems more like a free for all instead.

Did your lease say anything about hanging pictures? In one of my prior apartments, I was allowed to hang pictures as long as it was not excessive and it only left a small hole. Also the landlord didn't want paint torn off the walls. But when I moved in there were already some small holes in the walls from prior tenants, so the formal agreement was me adding to them was not a problem. Thus, when I moved out I was not charged anything out of my security deposit for the holes.

I live in Virginia and from my recent experience renting, my landlords have charged me for cleaning. Even after I scrubbed the entire apartment and left it pretty much spotless, the landlord sent me an inspection sheet and deducted around $50 of my security deposit because they claimed the stovetop hood was greasy and that there was a small cobweb in one of the ceiling corners. It made me mad because I was sure I'd scrubbed the place down and didn't think I'd overlooked anything, plus $50 seemed ridiculous as a charge but I figured it would be too hard to fight it. But now I'm thinking it was even more unfair because the landlord should have expected to do some cleaning between tenants anyway? :confused: In your situation, I would first send a very strongly worded letter laying out your position and firmly stating that you will not be paying the $5000. I don't think you even have to hire a lawyer yet - sometimes just making a bit of a stink is enough to get the offender to back down. It seems like the landlord must know that this is unreasonable and is probably just hoping that you will go along with it because you feel you have no other choice. At least from my experiences dealing with people involved with sketchy business practices, they seem to assume that I am naive because I am a fairly young female but as soon as you start resisting most of them back off. But I'm definitely no expert - but there are a lot of guides out there about landlord and tenant law and what to do in the case of conflict. I think Nolo has a book on the subject? At least I know they have helpful legal books on a lot of other subjects.

I've gotten gluten free groceries before from Amazon - they have good prices for buying in bulk (just have to make sure I really really like the product ahead of time:lol:)

Thanks - off to read now....:)

And Presbyterians (at least PC(USA)) baptize infants :)

All of my friends who have the singular view of salvation though still believe in the position of "Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner." The way they've explained it to me is that even though you've been saved, you still are continually seeking to honor God and that we are all sinners. So once you've been saved, your salvation is not at stake, but you should still be confessing your sins, realizing that you are a sinner, repenting, etc. So, they don't stop working on themselves once they get saved. To them, being saved is only the first step. I'm still not sure which view of salvation I have though.

If you live near a university with a graduate program in psychology, they might have a free clinic. Graduate students training to be clinical psychologists provide therapy and they are supervised by professors. Just another idea about where you might be able to get some free help.

About the gp vs. psychiatrist, for my insurance I didn't even have to get a referral to go see a psychiatrist. You could go directly to see a psychiatrist. So if possible, I might go directly to see a psychiatrist, simply because psychiatrists are experienced in that field and can do a more thorough evaluation. At least for my insurance, they actually preferred people to just go directly to the psychiatrists instead of going to the gps first. Just another thought. :grouphug:

Could you go see a psychologist to talk to? At least for me therapy helped me through a lot of my mental health issues (including depression). I'm sorry you're suffering.:grouphug: ETA: also I know you said you don't want to do meds, but maybe you could talk to a psychiatrist for an initial evaluation? that was the first step I took when I realized I needed to seek help. A psychiatrist could help guide you to the most effective treatments and also give you a diagnosis.

Haha I need that paint by number kit! I've tried painting by hand (on a blank canvas) and the results are not good...:lol:

Well I'm doing it for my job - I have to study and then sit for the actuarial exams. So I read textbooks and teach myself the material. It's pretty fun actually. :) Learning math from professors was always hard for me anyway...I had trouble paying attention, studying on my own is more hands on!

I agree that it really depends on the kid. I volunteered a lot in my church nursery as a teenager - and I worked in the infant room (and got a lot of babysitting jobs from that which was awesome too!). I loved rocking babies and playing with them. But the nursery coordinator assigned me more responsibilities and let more work regularly in the infant room with the same responsibilities as an adult volunteer because I had already proven myself with simpler duties and everyone knew that I was responsible and experienced. I have really fond memories of those years spent volunteering in the nursery, both of the time spent with the babies, but also the time getting to know the moms. It was so wonderful for me to have older women (just meaning older than me!) to be around and just learn from them. So, I think it can be a really positive experience - and teens can take care of young children - but you just need to be careful about matching how much experience they have with what duties they have. And at least at my church, no one seemed to distrust me with their infant just because I was 16 or 17. I think it depends so much on experience and maturity. But my church nursery didn't put 13 year olds in with the infants. But if a 16 year old has several years of experience caring for infants I don't see why you should ban them from helping with infants just because of their age?

So Presbyterians are Reformed? This is making more sense to me now, why I didn't hear much of altar calls and much about the sinner's prayer till I got to college. In college I joined an inter-denominational group and the campus pastor was Pentecostal, so that was my first introduction to a different way of Protestantism. Which I guess this is all why reading some of these threads about Catholics versus Protestants is confusing to me because my upbringing doesn't really seem to fit neatly into either characterization. And btw, I've decided to try out a local Anglican church tomorrow morning...baby steps right? :lol:

So while we're talking about infant baptisms: I was baptized as an infant. I always thought it was the norm to be baptized as an infant until I got to college and met some people of other denominations. So does anyone know why there's the split among Protestants on infant baptism? From what I've gathered (from reading wikipedia;)), the mainline denominations tend to believe in infant baptism. So do they view infant baptisms similarly to the Catholic church? I know this is really sad that I don't even know the basic theology behind the denomination I was raised in - off to do more reading! :)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has felt that way - sometimes it feels very awkward praying with my more evangelical friends just because I can't figure out what to say. Add me to the list of people who are now considering maybe trying out a RC/EO church. :)

That's interesting that you say that salvation is a continuing experience. It kind of makes sense and is sort of in line with what I have come to believe. So much to think about! Y'all really have me pondering all this stuff now - and seriously realizing how woefully uneducated I am when it comes to theology! :)

I always thought that when people said that they had a personal relationship with Jesus it meant that they prayed and talked to Jesus. I'm still grappling with what that looks like in my life - I'm not a very demonstrative person and I'm not very emotional about religion or my beliefs in general, so I'm not sure what a relationship with Jesus is supposed to be like. Like there are people in my life that I love and respect who are much more emotional about their faith and demonstrative about it but then being that demonstrative is just not my style. But we Presbyterians were nicknamed the Frozen Chosen at one point, so I figure I'm in good company with my non-demonstrativeness :lol: At this point I feel like I believe in Jesus but I don't have a super personal relationship with him because I'm not really sure what to pray about or when to pray. But I kind of hoped I was covered because I prayed the Sinner's prayer and Jesus knows my heart? So I guess in answer to your question I feel like Jesus knows everyone's hearts and thus only Jesus is equipped to make salvation decisions.

Have you considered flipping through one of those career books that has a bunch of career ideas for a students who chose a particular major or students who have a particular personality type? My library had a bunch of those career type books and so one summer while I was in college I picked a book up on careers for economics majors. As I was flipping through the book, I saw a page talking about what actuaries do and I was really interested. So, that's how I stumbled upon my future career. Can you think of it as narrowing down your interests - like you don't have to pick one specific career but just be thinking about general career paths? And maybe try to read as much as possible about what different careers entail and what daily life is like for a person in that field so you can get an accurate picture of what it would be really like if you went into that field. Those are just some of my random thoughts - I went through this whole process not too long ago (I'm in my early twenties), and I know it can be stressful but try to enjoy the process of exploring different careers!