Up & Coming Weekly

DECEMBER 23-29, 2009 UCW 31 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM ADVICE GODDESS Schnapps! In The Name Of Love My girlfriend of a year is 21, and I'm 22. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her, but there are issues. She has money problems, including $14,000 in credit card debt. Yet, she demanded I get a credit card, and when I refused, kicked me out and said we couldn't live together until I got one. But, I'm most disturbed about our night at a concert. She got really drunk, started arguing with some hippie girls, and ran off. I tried to follow, but she'd disappeared, and doesn't have a cell. I was really worried, looked all over town, and finally went to bed at 3 a.m., feeling helpless. The next day, as I was leaving to look again, the hospital called. Some Mormons brought her in after finding her passed out in the bushes. She accused me of not caring, saying she would've stayed up looking for me. Her parents blame me for her drinking, and said I'm a bad boyfriend because I wasn't there when she needed me, sleeping instead of continuing to search. Meanwhile, the last time she got drunk and disappeared, she was making out with a guy I used to work with. This is my first long- term relationship, and I need to know, who's the whack one in the concert situation: me or her? — Blamed As looking for love in all the wrong places goes, looking till you find it passed out in the highway underbrush, drooling on a squashed Pringles can and missing a shoe, pretty much tops the list. This girl doesn't need a boyfriend; she needs a search party with tracking dogs — just in case the Mormons take a night off from combing the bushes for drunks. Unless you've left out some bit about tying your girlfriend up and forcing Jack and Cokes down her throat, the one to blame here would be the party who's doing all the partying. Next in line is the party that failed to teach their little partier any sense of personal responsibility, then failed to pick her up by the scruff of the neck and drop her in rehab. Instead, they tell you it's all your fault. Right. Are you in a relationship or a scavenger hunt? You're apparently expected to go door-to-door at 3 a.m.: "Sorry for waking you, Ma'am, but I need a cup of colored sprinkles, three mothballs, one tanked, belligerent girlfriend, and $14,000 to pay off her credit card debt." What's missing from this picture? (Besides about eight hours of her consciousness and her right shoe?) That would be any sense of remors e on her part for the worry, lost sleep, and parental berating she put you through. Of course, you don't seem to require that — or any sign she has even a passing interest in your welfare or happiness. And you really have to ask who's the whack one? Um, that would be you. And not because you went to bed at 3 a.m. the night she set out on her wobbly 10K, but because you've been sleeping through this entire relationship. Wake up, something's burning! (That's because you're in HELL.) You need to do two things: Get out, and don't repeat this behavior. Well, actually, do look all over town for a woman — one who shares your values and interests and makes your life better because you're with her. In other words, no, you don't just say "Wow, she's pretty!" and call it a day, or you're liable to end up with just another pretty face — face down in the bushes. Amy Alkon WEEKLY HOROSCOPE THIS WEEK in the STARS www.Astrology-101.com ARIES - March 21 thru April 20 Full Moon moves through your Home sector. Expressing your creativity can become amoney maker. Opportunities are all around you. TAURUS - April 21 thru May 21 If at fi rst you didn't succeed. 2010 is the time to try again. By following up old contacts (in person) you may be in for a nice fi nancial surprise. GEMINI - May 22 thru June 21. The Full Moon is in its proper place to help creative Gemini's fi nd new money making opportunities. A new outlook could bring additional dollars. CANCER - June 22 thru July 23 Full Moon in your sign is a great way to start the New Year. Take pride in your abilities and seek new ways to promote them. LEO - July 24 thru August 23 Listen to your intuition. Full Moon could bring favorable answers to questions if you "sleep on them". Look forward to a great year VIRGO - August 24 thru Sept 23 Hopes may soon be fulfi lled. Full Moon brings new light to your sector of Wishes. Joining new groups opens new doors of opportunity in 2010. LIBRA - Sept 24 thru Oct 23 Flaunt your talents and abilities. Full Moon in your Career sector can bring rewards and recognition in the New Year. Success is in your stars! SCORPIO - Oct 24 thru Nov 22 Traveling for business may bring new social pleasures. Favorable Full Moon aspects could open new doors of opportunity in 2010. SAGITTARIUS - Nov 23 thru Dec 21 Full Moon sheds new light on Investment opportunities. Trusted advisors may offer new directions. Don't get locked in for a long long time. CAPRICORN - Dec 22 thru Jan 20 . Close business or personal ties may soon be playing a more important role in your life. Times change and those who change with them will benefi t AQUARIUS - Jan 21 thru Feb 19 Changing conditions should improve Job activities. Persevere in efforts to fi nd new directions. Your talents could open new doors in the New Year ahead. PISCES - Feb 20 thru March 2F0 Positive overtones from the stars! 2010 may bring new relationships for romantics and recognition for those with specialized abilities. NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Commercial test-preparation courses are already popular for applicants to top colleges and graduate schools, and recently also for admission to prestigious private high schools and grade schools. Now, according to a November New York Times report, such courses and private coaching are increasingly important for admission to New York City's high-achiever public kindergartens, even though the applicants are just 3 and 4 years old. Basic coaching, which may cost more than $1,000, includes training a child to listen to an adult's questions and to sit still for testing. Minimum qualification for top-shelf kindergartens are scores at the 90th percentile on the Olsat reasoning test and the Bracken School Readiness knowledge test. [New York Times, 11-21-09] Police report In the past three years, at least 39 drivers in Dallas have been ticketed by police offi cers for the "offense" of being "a non-English speaking driver," according to a Dallas Morning News investigation in October. The software for offi cers' in-car computers features a check-off box with the phrase, perhaps leading offi cers (and their sergeants) to believe it constituted a separate traffi c offense rather than merely an indication that the motorist might not have understood an offi cer's instructions. The police chief expressed shock at the report and promised to end the practice. [Dallas Morning News, 10-23-09] The Public Record: From the Findlay, Ohio, police: "A woman called the police early Saturday morning (Oct. 31) during an argument with her husband after he claimed that the woman's daughter performed oral sex on him, and the daughter was better at it." [The Courier (Findlay), 11-2-09] From the Steamboat Pilot (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Nov. 4: "Police were called to a report of a suspicious incident in the 2900 block of West Acres Drive where a woman reported that she found feces in her toilet that she did not think she put there." [Steamboat Pilot, 11-4-09] Five people were arrested in Los Angeles in October and charged with kidnapping and "torturing" two "loan modifi cation" agents who had taken fees while promising to save their home from foreclosure but had allegedly failed to help. [KTLA-TV (Los Angeles), 10-26-09] Short on Cash? • Rates as low as 5.9% APR* • No payments until February 1, 2010 • Borrow from $1,000 up to $2,000 www.fortbraggfcu.org Fort Bragg Locations: Bastogne Drive Hefner Plaza Fayetteville Locations: 1638 Skibo Road 6300 Ramsey Street 7840 Raeford Road 800.793.2328 or 910.864.2232 *APR = Annual Percentage Rate. Membership restrictions apply. Actual amount of loan contingent upon credit worthiness. 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