There is no getting around the fact that having an animal or several is a commitment. It might not be quite the same level as having a baby (most of the time), but it still means that you have a living thing depending on you for its every want or need. Of course, us animal lovers are adamant that they give back to us everything and more that we put into them, but that isn't without its controversies. Many people have wildly differing opinions on how to care for pets. This has been underlined in a recent Twitter thread, which asked about everybody's potentially controversial opinions when it c ..read more

Every adoptee has a different experience. It's easy to think of adoption as a universal good because it gives children consistent and healthy homes, but that's not always the case. Adoption can be an exploitative industry. Mothers can be coerced into giving up their children against their will. Not all adoptive homes are safe, nurturing places for their adoptive children to grow up in. There are a lot of former adoptees who resent the system that took them away from their birth parents, and I would never begrudge them that grievance.  While some adoptees have bad experiences in their ado ..read more

Working in the hospitality industry can be challenging. There are a lot of factors to take into account, in addition to the long hours, entitled guests, and constant barrage of unreasonable requests. The story that follows is an account of a frustrated front desk clerk. A woman approached the Original Poster (OP) while she was working the night shift. She stormed into the hotel and insisted on being checked in right away. But not long after she arrived, OP recognized that the woman in front of him was the same guest he had been trying to get in touch with to get the reservation confirmed for ..read more

I understand the desire to elope. Weddings are massively expensive and time-consuming, and if you're a person who doesn't thrive on attention and white dresses, it might not be for you. I feel like the public perception of elopements is that they only happen for illicit reasons… like if a couple is running from something, or secretly married to someone else. But I think in reality, elopements are usually practical decisions made by couples who just don't want a wedding and don't want to talk about it.  On the other hand, if anyone close to me chose to elope, I'd be a little disappointed ..read more

One of my favorite life hacks for feeling productive after I've wasted away in bed all morning is getting in the kitchen and cooking a substantial meal. I've engaged in a hobby, rewarded myself with something delicious, and created leftovers to enjoy for the rest of the week? Nothing can stop me now! I may be biased, but it's times like these where basic cooking skills truly feel like a blessing. At the same time, it would be wrong for me to act like cheffing up a storm is all smiles and rainbows and tradwife cosplay in frilly aprons. The reality is, most of us cook because our bank balances ..read more

Do people actually have friend groups that resemble the group in Friends? Is the way these six people live their lives happen to anyone else in real life? I love my friends, but it is rare that I get to see them more than a couple of times a month. I also don't actually have a 'friend group', I just have 1 or 2 friends from each era of my life that I see on totally separate occasions. Plus, I have no idea who my neighbors are, and I have barely said more than a sentence to them in the 2 years in which I lived in my apartment. So yeah, my life is in no way, shape or form anything like the life ..read more

No matter how much time passes, there seem to be new wojaks that spring up every year. If you are unfamiliar with what a wojak is, this is how our friends at Know Your Meme define them:  "Feels Guy, also known as Wojak, is an MS Paint illustration of a bald man with a sad expression on his face. It is often used as a reaction image to represent feelings such as melancholy, regret or loneliness. Wojak memes as a genre have grown to include various remixes and edits to the character " Basically, a wojak is a drawing of a face meant to represent a certain type of person. Some of the most ..read more

While I also love dogs, I'm eternally grateful to have grown up in a cat person household. Call me biased, but I think it makes you cooler. Our family cat was so clingy she was almost dog-like, but she also taught me and my sister how to be around animals in a way that served has us well over the course of our lives.  Also, being around cats from a young age gives you the major advantage of being able to better understand cat memes. Of course, this brand of humor is very accessible to all, but knowing what it's like to share your life with our feline friends undeniably gives you an edge ..read more

Say what you will about the Harry Potter series, but they've got no shortage of villains. I know it's not a particularly deep revelation that a children's series about the battle between good and evil has a lot of baddies, but I think Harry Potter villains stand out! Often, in books or movies where there's a "movement" for evil, all of the baddies can blend together into a monotonous group of haters. It's no fun to try and fight a bunch of no-names! In Harry Potter, the dark side consists of The Big Bad (Voldemort), disgusting henchmen cowards (Peter Pettigrew), schoolyard bullies vaguely ass ..read more

We still love Donkey though ..read more