Sweet Sixteen. Even though it seems like a decade ago, I can remember mine fondly. To celebrate the big day, I took a weekend trip with eight of my closest girlfriends (and my mom). The ten of us spent the weekend shopping around town, pigging out on calorie-filled treats, jumping on hotel beds, and playing Twister in the elevator. It was a time of pure innocent fun. We weren’t thinking about job applications or the divorce rate. We were careless, young, and free. It was a perfect time to be sixteen. Read More »

Just recently, I heard through the grape-vine about a little video-chat sensation called Chatroulette. Now, we have all heard of Skype, a video chat used to communicate with friends for free. But creators of Chatroulette decided to float to the rebellious side of things and create a video chat for strangers. Of course, this is the next best thing since AOL chat rooms.  Me and my friends had a blasty blast with those things in seventh grade, so chances are we can have just as much fun 10 years later via video, right?

I took it upon myself to recruit my noble roommates to find out. After we had a five minute primp session in front of the webcam, we decided it was time to take the plunge into the Chatroulette universe. There we were, tilting her heads back and forth in the webcam establishing our places on screen, and nervously debating pressing Play [trust me ladies, this phase was as melo-dramatic as it sounds].  It is quite nerve-racking to toy with the possibility of being face to face with a stranger. On the internet. In my bedroom. So, with our utmost courage-we pressed play. Read More »

You’ve worked extra hard to get the money to rent that beach house with friends, ran a few extra laps at the gym to fit in that bathing suit, and have been sneaking into a Mystic Tan booth once a week so you can look naturally bronzed. Now that you’re finally ready to enjoy your summer, what’s the last thing you want to deal with?

Creepy old men.

Oh yes. They’re no longer just standing with their equally balding buddies in the corner of your favorite bar, perpetually trying to buy you cheap drinks, slurring that if they didn’t have a wife and three kids they’d “totally take you out”. They’re now renting beach houses in the same places you are, just waiting to pull out their towels and plop their 40-Something bodies down next to you in the sand.

According to an article in The New York Times, there’s a breed of older men who just aren’t ready to give up their college lifestyle—even though college ended twenty years ago. These guys have been renting summer shares for decades, and see no reason to leave their annual vacations, or cruising ways, behind. Read More »

So my dad has a really tight knit group of friends. Guys, gals, married, single, old, young, he’s got ‘em all. It’s actually kind of sweet, and it gives me hope for the longevity of my friendships. Anyway, they’ve all known each other and been BFFs since college, so naturally they’ve all been a part of my life. Cookouts, football games, Dungeons and Dragons tournaments… Oh yeah. They’re all huge, colossal nerds; just like my dad. But you know what? I was too, and it’s totally cool. I’m not ashamed of my nerdy past.

But whatever, those days are gone (I swear) and I digress. My point is that after you hit a certain age and you haven’t grown out of it, you’ll always be a huge nerd. (And I don’t mean me.) So why this is now my problem? Well in the past two years since I became legal, my dad’s sadly overweight, still-single at 50 computer nerd friends have reared their ugly heads and have started to use what seems like the same lame pick-up attempts their younger counterparts try on me all the time.

Suddenly I’m getting IMs from men I once thought of as weird but kind uncles (one of them actually IS step-mother’s brother), and it’s not, “hey kiddo, how’s school? Keep up the great work!” No, instead, this is the kind of message I can expect: Read More »