I think everyone has a vice. What's yours? (If you think you don't have one, yours is probably pride. Ha.)

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Answers

Ice Cream. Especially in the summer. I can't live without it.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Diet Coke.

I don't know which part of the addiction will kill me first: The Nutrasweet/brain cancer or the caffeine/nervous system/heart attack.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I cannot miss those shows. I about died when the power went out on the season finales, fortunately a friend in a different time zone saved me. I'm a 30 year old woman, I lurk several boards for any spoilers, info, etc. I can find on the shows. I'm not well. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the summer. It's an obsession as well as a vice. *sigh*.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Chocolate. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.

And spending the day posting to forums when I should be getting some work done.

And chocolate.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

I'll see your Buffy/Angel vice and raise you: Popular, Real World and Making the Band (but only because I like to see them cry).

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

And I'll trump all those tv shows with my latest vice: Survivor!

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Snacks and Eastenders. I refuse to live without them, and I can't imagine a world where they exist without me.

And the Hissyfit forums. If I had kids, someone really would have called children's protective services by now (me, probably -- 'I'm trying to reply to a thread on feminine wipes and my kids are on my case for food or some shit -- come get them!').

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Cigarettes. It has already been 10 years. I rarely enjoy them much anymore but if I go without for too long I become a raging infant. Sad. I'm also very suggestible in terms of bad habits. Like, I saw the ice cream posting and immediatley thought "yeah!" and ran to the fridge and got some mint choc chip. The other night I watched the movie "Drunk". It is all about a bunch of recovering alchoholics and their wretched lives, not glamourous at all. But they all kept talking about how much they still wanted to drink and so I just had to go get a shinerbock! Ridiculous. And I am a pretty impulsive, compulsive shopper with tastes way beyond my means. Being suggestible, fashion mags are very dangerous for me. I am such a label whore, a retail slut. Don't you wish you were me?

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

This is it. I've been sober for over five years, I quit smoking ten years ago, due to allergies I had to cut wheat, eggs & dairy from my diet, and I currently do not have a t.v. A few months ago my husband asked if I had any plans to cut down on my internet use and I just laughed and laughed. What's left? Shall I turn off the computer and start shooting smack? A Mamas got to have something for herself.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

I absolutley love LOVE Dorito's snack mix, and anything chocolate AND yellow kool ade (orange pineapple). *sigh* gotta run to the corner store

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Sigh. Men. And chocolate. But mostly men.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

I've been off cigarettes four months now, but with my addictive personality, I had to substitute something. That something is Diet Pepsi. And sometimes I too worry about that Nutrasweet crap. Okay, but not enough to give it up, I guess.

Oh, and right now I'm way too into [mumbling] Survivor, the tackiest TV show ever made.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Sweets. Once I start, I can't stop. Today I tried to cut them out of my life. It was a very long and miserable day.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

I like a band called The Dwarves. Their lyrics are sexist and moronic, but the music is incredibly catchy and wonderful. I justify listening to their music by only buying their albums used. Those Neanderthals won't see a penny of my money! Unless they start touring on the East coast again.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Sweets.

Oh, okay, and porn comics, too. SHEESH! Get off my case!

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

I don't look at my love for chocolate and ice cream, indulging in what makes me happy, as a vice. But I know there's plenty of stuff wrong with me... let's see, I just have to think. Well, there's anger. I think I enjoy being angry, which of course is bad. I read somewhere that some people crave the anger chemical. Maybe it's adrenalin, I don't know. Anyway. Also there's the fact that I am an insufferable snob. I really don't understand why people like the things they do when it is so clear that everything *I* like is best.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

Pride apparently - or pehaps I am very, very boring.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Definitely smoking. And Pepsi One. If I go too long without either, I get very, very cranky. I do plan to quit smoking (again) but I'm also trying to lose weight and I found out early on that I can either not smoke or not eat, but not both at the same time. So I guess eating crap is another vice, but one I'm working on.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Crack Cocaine.

I don't know which is more of a rush, smoking a whole eight-ball in an evening, or maxing out a MasterCard with cash advances to pay for it all!

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Smoking, for sure. I quit for 13 years, then 2 years ago, I thought I could smoke just one (I sound like that Lay's potato chip commercial). I was hooked again in 2 weeks. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Also, I judge people based on the music the listen to. It's the only thing I'm snobbish about. I'm trying to work on that.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Man, Jonny! Are you okay? Should we post an intervention or something? Anyway, I'm addicted to italian pastries and I have to eat at least two blk/wht cookies a day even if I have to walk to the bakery.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

The other day I was considering taking up smoking. (I wouldn't actually inhale, though. I just want something to do with my hands and mouth while I'm standing around.) But I figure gum's cheaper, right?

Jonny, please don't lie. Everyone knows that Mexican tar heroin you insist on taking is way worse than plain old crack.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Actually, my favourite vice is trolling for flames on other people's forums! :)

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Karen, I can relate. I'm one of those occasional smokers. I used to smoke a pack a day, but when I was 18 I got mono and ever since then I could smoke here and there without going full blown. When I became pregnant with my first kid, I quit and dic so for four years. During that time, I had no desire too whatsoever. Then an old high school friend came out to visit me whom I hadn't seen in 14 years and she had some Marlboro Lights (the only kind I WILL smoke) and I lit one up for the hell of it. At first it was totally disgusting, but within that week she was out, I started smoking again. Then 3 years ago I quit again and did so for a year until I was at someone's house and someone had Marlboro Lights and again I started up.

I can go days without smoking and it doesn't bother me. I refuse to buy them. The problem is that my husband keeps buying them. It's a nasty, nasty habit.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Smoking. Cussing out mechanics when they screw me. Searching the internet for people I knew in high school (just found one yesterday in Austin, as a matter of fact!) and tripping them out when I contact them, and PROCRASTINATION. Definitely. I'm procrastinating as I type this.

Ummm...okay. If I had nerve enough to go to the local stores and rent them, I would be watching pornos a lot. They're hillarious, some of them. *Can't believe I just admitted that*

-- Anonymous, June 16, 2000

Coffee!! I drink it morning, noon and night. And of course, half and half. I refuse to drink coffee without it. Well, that's a lie, but you get the idea. Chocolate is in the daily food group somewhere, right? Whew, I'm safe then.

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2000

Sydney: you said "Cussing out mechanics when they screw me."

I thought of about 3 jokes to make about that, but I'm making the supreme effort and keeping them to myself. [smiley face]

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2000

Not to sound redundant, but...smoking. I have quit once a year for the last 3 years, stayed off for 5 or 6 months, then start back again, thinking I can have one or two. I quit for GOOD in January...then went to Nova Scotia for my mother's birthday, and everybody smokes there, two year-olds walking around with butts hanging out of their mouths, and I succumbed. But the good news is that this was almost 2 months ago, and I do seem to be socially smoking now: I'll go days without one, then smoke half a pack out drinking with a girlfriend. (I promised The Husband I wouldn't smoke in front of him -- he quit with me in Jan. -- but last night we were sitting on a patio at a restaurant, it was a beautiful night, we were having a serious/drunken conversation, and the next thing you know, the waiter gave me his pack of cigarettes to keep on the table because I was bumming so many.)

It sucks that smoking is so bad for you, because I really really love it. I'm not one of those people who think it's disgusting. Hey, has everybody heard that new research has found that smokers are less likely to get Alzheimer's or Parkinsons diseases? So there ya go.

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2000

Bath & Body Works stuff. I'm the freaking store manager and you'd think I'd be tired of it by now but noooooo (I get a 40% discount). Anytime we get something new in, I buy two. It's under my bed, in my closets, in my GARAGE. Anyone that comes to my house gets an armload of it and my stash never gets smaller. It's a sickness and I must be stopped.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

For starters, Ebay. I cannot stop. Someone please help me. Is there a twelve step program for ebay addiction?

And like many others, smoking. Cigarettes, and, um...what Lynda Barry calls "The ancient substance" in "Cruddy." (Read that book right now if you haven't done so yet. Lynda Barry is awesome.)

And I drink more often than I should.

And I read too much.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000

Jen-

How lucky are you to work at B&BW! I'm a total whore for that store, I don't know why, but everytime I'm there I end up sticking my tongue in all of the lotions and gels and those cool jelly jars. Last time I was there I almost got kicked out. It all smells so good I can't *stand* it and have to taste it! However I'm holding my own personal boycott ever since they stopped carrying Fresh Linen and the White Barn stuff. If you have any tucked away under your bed or in your closets gimme a shout!

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000

Sweets, shopping, posting on forums, procrastinating like a demon, picking at my skin when it's grody (that last one's gross, but I figure we're all friends here, right?)

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000

Guilt. I worry and feel guilty ALL THE TIME.

Sloth. I have a postcard on my bed that says, like the Warren Zevon song, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead". It's sarcastic. I sleep whenever I can. I also like to take long baths and have fallen asleep in the tub.

Extravagance. I always think I have more expendable income than I actually do. I don't really NEED any more clothes, shoes, purses, toys, books, music, etc. -- but does that stop me? Hell no.

Bad dietary habits. For every vegetable I manage to find and eat, I have at least five bad things that will kill me in the end.

Lately--and I'm embarrassed about it, because I went 32 years without doing it--I've given up on confronting one or two friend of mine about their annoying behavior. After all, I'm not perfect. But instead of defending them like I used to (sometimes after I'd reached the breaking point and whined about something, no less), I now agree with people when they say "so and so is a bitch" or "so and so is a jerk". I guess that after several years of being the recipient of shitful behavior, I got fed up. It still sucks not to defend someone who is supposedly your friend, though, and, well, see that first item on my list? Guilt? Hello, Guilt. Ironically, ever since I started saying "you know what? You're right, that IS ahitful behavior! I DO deserve better than to be treated like that" and having less time available to hang out with these friends, they have suddenly gone through remarkable changes for the better, and have become somewhat more responsible, helpful, unselfish, etc. How's about them apples?

I worry too much about what others think of me and get depressed that I don't know what the rules of interaction are. Everyone's are different. Stepping on toes accidentally sucks. Currently am dealign with this uncertainty in relation to my ex-boyfriend. We're supposedly friends, but he blows hot and cold and gets weird at times. So instead of saying "fuck you and whatever you think of me, we aren't dating anymore", I get all spazzed because his opinion still matters too much to me. Which is lame.

I'm somewhat snotty about the music I like. I like what I like, and I accept that you might not like what I like, and I'm okay with whatever you like IF I DON'T HAVE TO HEAR IT, but I won't, for example, get stuck in a car with you if you're playing stuff I can't tolerate. It literally makes me miserable to be trapped while top 40 blares at me. I live in blidssful ignorance re: the Britties and Chrissies and Jessies and mandies and Rickies out there, and I'm not likely to 'lower my standards' (see? snotty!!). But I'll be polite about it. If all you like is crap, however, I'm going to start thinking you're insane and have crap taste, at least in music. Which is also okay and doesn't make you a bad person, but that means we won't talk about music. Ever. Since music is important to me, we eventually won't talk with each other very often. This is definitely a vice, because instead of finding commonality with people, I'm letting something like personal taste dictate the amount of time I'm willing to be with them. Bad!

And, oh yeah, I don't floss.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000

COURT T.V.!!! It is addicting. I get so into the trials and it's usually broadcast LIVE! It's like real life Perry Mason! The "Las Vegas Millionaire" Trail was really a good one. Also I love coffee! So I drink my coffee, clean the house (sometimes) and have Court T.V. going on at the same time. Makes for a dramatic day!

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2000

Yo Cubby, I probably do have some Fresh Linen candles buried in my garage somewhere but you'll have to come dig them out :) Actually, I think the White Barn Candle Stores are still carrying it. BBW stores aren't going to carry White Barn stuff anymore since the company is opening more White Barn stores (every mall with a BBW will eventually get a White Barn store). Go here: www.whitebarncandleco.com

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2000

Men. Coffee. Men who get up in the morning and make me coffee.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

Young girls, photography and Ruby's Cafe on the Pier in O'side for breakfast. James

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2000