by Ron M. on July 21, 2011

Charles asks…
I’m a good way through my novel but still have not come up with any name. Please could you help, I will tell you a little bit about my chick lit novel.
The novel is based on 4 best friends, they are all pregnant at the same time. Each chapter goes behind closed doors of each best friend.
Isla Matthews is married with a little girl, she is the most successful best friend, running her own wedding planning business, owning their own home, and still juggling having a family. She is expecting her second baby. Her life seems perfect but behind the scenes there is something really up with her marriage : her mother in law. After a huge argument, her husband leaves her and Isla is of course devastated.
Abby Hatheway is expecting her first child, not married but in a long term relationship. She longs to be married though but her partner is not so keen. This causes a lot of tension. Her boyfriend goes away for work and Abby starts her own home business, including getting a partner on board who happens to be a single dad. When her boyfriend comes back he’s a changed person, he is jealous and argumentative. Something obviously happened while he was away, it leads to him physically abusing Abby.
Amelle Jersac is a timid woman, mother of 2 young girls and expecting her 3rd. It was never her life plan to have children, but she met her husband and everything changed. They have lived happily mostly, but now her husband is distancing from the family. Amelle is convinced he’s cheating and even follows him and goes through his things to try and find evidence. The truth is completely different and completely life changing.
And finally Lola, an independent, sensible single teacher who loves life. That is until she gets pregnant by the married man she’s been seeing. It’s completely unlike her and she is mortified with herself. She ends the affair without telling him she is pregnant, only to realise she’s in love with the guy. She has to move on so starts to consider giving the baby up for adoption. She still hasn’t made up her mind, and she is yet to tell the father.
I haven’t really come up with anything good, I was thinking something like Bump to Bump, or Lifes Little Bumps. Something to enrol pregnancy and the fact that everyone has problems in life, everything is drama. I don’t know, any fresh ideas or help with mine….please help! thanks

I’d say just ‘Bumps’, I wouldn’t want to name it something more than a few words, or create a kind of cheesey new slogan, just keep it simple, and as you say already, the word bumps can mean 2 things, both of which apply to your novel.

Paul asks…
ok…im not asking for a specific answer, but rather basic feedback…i want your thoughts.
Look at how society is modeled(especially in modern times). You have roads/airways/waterways(veins); these paths allow the transport of vehicles(blood cells) which inevitably lead to homes, businesses, recreation areas, etc….(organs, the things that keep us running). doesnt this kind of tell us that society is based off of basic human functions? It works the exact same way we do. It malfunctions, the same way we do(usually because of bad people). I just find the numerous parallels quite odd. Couldnt society/civilization have been the next step in evolution? We couldnt physically evolve anymore, so the individuals began to evolve into one giant entity.
nice…i like that david…but; if you realize and accept evolution as a certainty, couldnt you speed it up? maybe the fact that we have recognized the processes behind evolution, we can now make it occur faster. Maybe evolution is no longer what makes us survive in our environments, but rather what we can do to make our environments more survivable?(i dont know if survivable is a word, but it works here…so whatev.)

We are what’s running the civilization. If we can’t change, then the civilizations won’t change, or improve. We have this instinct of creating things around us in organized way, functioning as we build more and more into it. In a way, the cities and towns are like our body system. But the parallel aren’t that… Parallel.
The civilizations could grow rapidly, but the human evolution is much slower. Maybe we won’t for another millions years before our evolutionary step is physically apparent.
So, like I said, we as an individual have to advance our mindset and intellect to change to create new things in our “civilization”.

Sandy asks…
im a lib………so consider this before attacking those on the other side.
“The Proposal”
When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers must find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well.
Wall street, and the media normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of “tough decision”, and his board of directors gives him a big bonus.
Our government should not be immune from similar risks.
Therefore:
Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members.
Reduce Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State). Then, reduce their staff by 25%.
Accomplish this over the next 8 years
(two steps/two elections) and of course this would require some redistricting.
Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:
$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X $165,200 pay/member/ yr.)
$97,175,000 for elimination of their staff. (estimate $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each member of the Senate every year)
$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year. (those members whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 Billion/yr).
The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country!
We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It might even be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.
Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of representatives was established. (telephone, computers, cell phones to name a few)
Note:
Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we have 3 senators that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have been accepting full pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.
Summary of opportunity:
$ 44,108,400 reduction of congress members.
$282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.
$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.
$59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.
$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.
$8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings. (that‘s 8-BILLION just to start!)
Big business does these types of cuts all the time.
If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits, tax payers could save a bundle.
Now they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.
IF you are happy with how Congress spends our taxes, delete this message. Otherwise, I assume you know what to do………

Typical lib, wants to change the Constitution to fit passing whims. I’m a republican who thinks Bush was the worst president this country has ever had and that stimulus is necessary to keep us from falling in to depression.
I may agree that the whole lot in congress should be hung or sacked, I don’t agree we should rewrite the Constitution because you are in a snit.

William asks…
When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers have to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would also be eliminated. Wall street, and the media, normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of “tough decision,” and his board of directors gives him a big bonus.
Our government should not be immune from similar risks.
Therefore: Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members and Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State). Also reduce remaining staff by at least 25%.
Accomplish this over the next 8 years (two steps/two elections) and of course this would require some redistricting.
Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:
$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X $165,200 pay/member/yr.)
$97,175,000 for elimination of the above people’s staffs (estimate $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each member of the Senate every year).
$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year (those members whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 Billion/yr).
The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and would need to improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country!
We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It would be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.
Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of representatives was established (telephone, computers, cell phones to name a few).
Note:
Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we have 3 senators that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have been accepting full pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.
Summary of opportunity:
$44,108,400 reduction of congress members.
$282,100,000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.
$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.
$59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.
$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.
$8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings.
Big business does these types of cuts all the time.
If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25, or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits, there is no telling how much we would save. Now they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.
I also think they should all be limited to 2 terms.

I agree with you. I don’t see this happening anytime soon or ever for that matter. After they are out of term they shouldn’t be eligible for retirement or health care.

Thomas asks…
Twice, my apartment manager has let my parents into my apartment. Once when they wanted to put something in my apartment and again when my dad claimed he was worried about me. I did not give her permission to let them nor are my parents on my lease. When I asked her (the apt manager) why she did that, she claimed something along the lines of: parents should be like friends…they are your family…I have no problem letting them in, it’s not my business that you don’t get along with your parents. I was under the impression that the lease was under my name and she wasn’t allowed to do that. Then last week, my bathroom ceiling collapsed. It didn’t bother me too much because I knew I wouldn’t have to pay for the damages, however, the ceiling collapsed because the person above me left water in his bathroom. I don’t think the apartment is very safe now and I have no doubt that there is some sort of bacteria growing up there (my apt manager claims they sanitized it, but I don’t know if she’s telling the truth). On top of that, the building is fairly old and was originally painted with lead based paints. I feel like the bacteria and paint is now spread through my apartment. I brought that up with my apt manager as well and her response was along the lines of: you shouldn’t be living here then. It’s all I can afford and it’s close to school and my work. I just don’t know what I can do. I can’t move out because my lease doesn’t end until August. I could move home for the rest of summer, but I don’t want to continue paying for a place that I’m allergic to. What are my legal options?
Christin K: It is possible to be allergic to the ceiling collapse due to the dust and mold (the two things I’m most allergic to). Dust is probably from the collapse and mold from the collection of water in between floors (it’s even possible that the wood between the floors is rotting seeing that this building is about 80-90 years old).
Are tenants really allowed to let anyone in? Even if they know it is not an emergency?
I meant is there a way I can end my lease. I’m a college student. I got this place because buying a car to get to school was too expensive. Now I have to get a car because I cannot stay there under these conditions. I can’t afford paying for a place that I can’t stay in and a car.

Your options to do what? What do you want to do?
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