You spend the whole relationship you have with someone making sure that they always know how replaceable they are. You take extra pains to let them know that they’re not special, and you criticize them constantly. You refuse to make a commitment of any kind. So eventually they just give up and accept that it’s never going to be what they want and need, and they leave you. If you’re genuinely surprised by their decision, I think you need to wake the hell up.

The most prevalent theme for me this past year: Love or Death. But death seems to be winning out for it's realistic and appealing quality. I don't see it as negative. The prospect of finding, acquiring, keeping, and nurturing love not just for another person but also myself? Daunting. 0+

I ran away from home when I was ten. I stayed away for a day and a half. My folks were plenty worried. I had unpleasant and frightening experiences which, in today's world, would have had very serious consequences, death being not an unlikely one of them. When I went home, because I could not imagine a way that staying away could work for me, at that time, my folks treated me well for a while, but then it was back to the way it was. The next time I ran away, years later, I had a better plan, and I never went home again.

They just faded away. For awhile there the city was so romantic. Walk along here something in the distance then come across someone playing beautiful music. Its a shame they're gone now.

I can only speak through my own experiences, however I’d like to offer some advice to those out there who have children with Autism. Don’t force your children to want friends. If they want friends, put them in a situation where they’ll be able to find some. Once they feel comfortable, then they’ll gradually learn the ropes on their own. If your kids don’t like something, there’s a good chance they never will, especially if you keep pushing it upon them. Leave them to find their own interests and they’ll be happier about themselves.

I’ve spent less and less time with my friend. The last 4 years, she moves out of Vancouver for 4-12 months at a time living elsewhere. There’s no contact when she’s out of town and I get on with my life and get closer to other friends. Then a week before she comes back, she texts me “Hey I’m coming back!” But we have no glue and I’m not in any rush to see her. She’ll be here for a bit, and then it’s the same thing from her: “Leaving soon, we should catch up before I go!” She knows so little of my day to day. And if I text her, she’ll return a text 3WEEKS later. What does one do with a person like this?

It seems to me that the people who are so ready to tell someone that they need to get over it or forget about it, are often the ones who caused the problem in the first place. Or they benefited from a situation where the other person was harmed. I understand that anger can be destructive, but without it things rarely change. When someone is raised in a society where only certain people are socially allowed to be angry, and if they’re told they’re crazy for fighting against discrimination or subjugation, it’s pretty normal for them to have a lot of resentment. Until a person can truly acknowledge the privilege they’ve been granted purely by their physical manifestation, I don’t think they have the right to tell someone who hasn’t had that privilege not to be angry and to just get over it.

I recently had an ex try to come back into my life. They have been diagnosed with a life changing ailment. However, they trashed my life and lied relentlessly about me when we broke up. They even messed with my career at that point. It's been a few years since that and I had moved past it, but their recent communication just seemed self fulfilling and shady. Your actions when you're healthy don't change when you get sick.

I took an accounting course. Dry but very useful content. A man befriended me. After a few accounting conversations, he asked me to set him up with my single friends. I literally only know his first name and would never in a million years introduce him to my friend network for his selfish needs. I don’t know if it’s because it’s spring, post pandemic or boredom, but your loneliness problems are not mine to solve.

So there’s this guy that I used to chat with a while back. He lives in the United States. I couldn’t relate to him since he basically didn’t want to grow up. His entire life revolved around watching children’s entertainment, day in and day out. Never watched any adult shows like a sitcom, a soap opera or even the news. He once said to me how watching kid’s shows have corrupted his life in many ways and has made him want to be a kid forever. No, I don’t think watching children’s entertainment makes him want to be a kid forever. He knows it’s not for his age, but he’s in denial. It seems to me more like he has Peter Pan syndrome. And if that is the case, it’s something he’s going to have to eventually move on from because life only gets tougher as you get older. It’s all a part of growing up.