I have to stop reading advice columns

Ooof: "Attractive men scare me, so I only date the ugly ones." See also, "I'm a princess in love with a troll."

Reading bad things is not unlike eating the cheap, tacky candy corn and circus peanuts. You know it's the worst type of bad for you (so bad and not even good!), but you can't help it, and it's something to snack on in between helpings of Bourdieu. Probably another reason I'll occasionally read a Modern Love column, just to stir my own pot.

I blame this nasty habit on my family working at the LA Times all those years when I was a kid and "Dear Abby" being in the comics section, which is still one of the ways I like to pass time. Ironically, I really love Nathaniel West's Miss Lonelyhearts.