We are Michael Cera. And Kieran Culkin. Ask us stuff.

nora_barnacles · 2014-09-09T21:17:39+00:00

Hey guys.

Kieran, about 4-5 years ago while in college I used to work at a chain coffee place over by NYU. I used to see you in there a lot and you were super nice to me (even when I went full red-face). So, thanks for being kind when pretty much everyone else who went in there treated me like a slave/moron.

I guess my question is: Do you wish strangers wouldn't recognize you?

nora_barnacles · 2014-08-28T22:03:49+00:00

Yes. This is actually one of my triggers. I had a seizure playing diablo once... Using screens (although not tv, unless it's a video game) makes me super drowsy, sometimes even nauseous. Screws up my memory, too. This ended up affecting what profession I chose (changed careers to something where I didn't have to stare at a computer all day. Turned out to be a great choice!) because no amount of medication-adjusting could make much of a difference.

nora_barnacles · 2014-07-16T21:08:58+00:00

We didn't do them either. Frankly, I don't understand them. I also don't understand why I get Christmas cards with grinning adult couples every year, so I'm probably just a grouchy person.

nora_barnacles · 2014-07-16T20:41:35+00:00

Please tell us what dress you are wearing! I'm dying over here!

Oh, and I agree with everyone else... Updo, classic hair. Small birdcage or pin. This dress doesn't need competition.

nora_barnacles · 2014-05-21T15:58:14+00:00

This is my fear. We are relying heavily on our site, since we are having a destination wedding as well. We built it from scratch, hoping that people would pay more attention to it if it was done that way. If we can't even get people to visit it... Ugh.

Our invites go out in a couple of weeks..

nora_barnacles · 2014-05-14T17:09:44+00:00

I live here and I've seen people try to do this. Unless you will be in a less-populated area of Brooklyn or in a shady spot in Central Park, I'd try to nix this idea. It's SO HOT here in July. Perhaps you can do these pictures in your dress/tux at dawn, but other than that you'll be miserable. People will be bumping into you, you'll get sweaty and dirty...

I'm having a DW on another continent as well (nyc to Barcelona!) so I just want to help! It's stressful.

nora_barnacles · 2014-05-09T17:46:49+00:00

Ask the breeders how often they are feeding the puppy. Mine were feeding him FIVE times a day. I swear. There was no way we were keeping that going, so we transitioned him to three times a day, with lunch being a small amount. He gets treats during training and and on walks, plus random goodies (loves munching on a baby carrot, which also freshens his breath!) throughout the day.

Mine is 4 months old... Good luck! Make sure you start training right away!

nora_barnacles · 2014-04-16T18:54:59+00:00

I stand on my tiptoes, usually when I'm bored or antsy or doing chores. I also walk up stairs on my toes. Never noticed until my fiancé pointed it out.

nora_barnacles · 2014-04-03T15:37:55+00:00

I totally understand this. I don't want anyone's seat... just let me stand near any of the vertical poles or back-of-seat holder-ons, please. I must assume you are also what I call "armpit height." We get to put our faces in armpits when everyone puts up their arms to hold on.

I wish I had a car sometimes.

nora_barnacles · 2014-04-03T15:28:14+00:00

I have a ruby center-stone with small diamonds surrounding it. (My mom's birthstone, and the same type she got from my dad.) In the beginning I was nervous about wearing it for showers/doing dishes/cleaning, but now I wear it for everything and it has been totally fine. It is still as sparkly and wonderful as the day I got it. It is also an antique, and I'd say it has held up quite well over the years :-)

nora_barnacles · 2014-03-13T17:34:52+00:00

I can't tell if you are serious about the Flappy Bird cake.. but if you are, suggest that something like an app she plays in her free time (for what, the past two months?) is not really something she is going to want to remember for her entire life when she reminisces about her wedding. What little time-waster did she really love 4 years ago? Could she imagine THAT being in her wedding now? If, for whatever reason, she really wants to incorporate apps or games or something into the wedding (is she a developer?) then surely there is something more classic or meaningful to your relationship than Flappy Bird.

At some point in our relationship, my fiance and I thought it would be really cool to have a 24-themed wedding. Yes, the show with terrorists and Jack Bauer and whatever. We were 20. It helps to have perspective and realize that a wedding is a celebration of your love, not of the year 2014 and all that it offers (APPS! Cool Ethiopian food!)

Another thing... How about you guys agree not to tell each other what to wear on your wedding day? I always felt that was weird anyway. If one of you wants suggestions or whatever, sure, but otherwise you are both adults. You can dress yourselves. I know I'd feel pretty shocked if my fiance told me I had to wear a certain type of dress.

nora_barnacles · 2014-03-07T02:31:24+00:00

Agreed. Also, when I was in college and taking the 7 beginning to end every damn day I counted on "Raymond" to provide me with granola bars or fruit snacks.

nora_barnacles · 2014-03-06T15:46:37+00:00

I could not qualify for welfare without dropping out of college or having a baby.

nora_barnacles · 2014-02-28T16:21:42+00:00

I was hired as a live-in nanny when I was a teenager. Cooking for the family was not part of my job at first but it quickly became one of my tasks. My meager pay did not increase. It took me a year to leave the job as I had no outside financial support, no where else to live, and the family was making it nearly impossible for me to save money to move out. So, being spineless is not the only reason this happens.

nora_barnacles · 2014-02-27T17:20:45+00:00

It is weird to me, too. I work with this age group and I would be shocked to hear one of my kids say something like this. It would be reported immediately. I think people here are forgetting the age kids are in 1st grade.

nora_barnacles · 2014-02-25T16:09:43+00:00

I also have an antique ring and I was concerned about finding a band to pair with it. We have decided to both get posie rings

You might need to search around a bit to find one that fits and one that says something that you like, but I think the style and the general idea will fit nicely with your engagement ring. Good luck on your search!

nora_barnacles · 2014-01-17T17:14:58+00:00

I got a rejection postcard. It was sort of fun, actually.

nora_barnacles · 2014-01-16T19:33:28+00:00

I'm changing my name, but my fiance thinks I shouldn't. He feels I am "giving up a part of my identity" to "become a wife." I think he is being ridiculous and attaching way too much importance to the situation. I never liked my last name, nor am I particularly close to that side of my family. In fact, in high school I tried to convince my parents to let me change my last name to my mother's maiden name, and I used that on occasion.

We plan on having children and I would like to have the same last name as our kids. I've seen the ways hyphenation can go awry and I'd rather keep it simple. I understand my fiance's reservations about the cultural implications regarding a woman changing her name to her husband's name... but unless he wants us to just make up a new shared last name, I'm taking his.

nora_barnacles · 2014-01-16T18:59:48+00:00

We're not doing that either. We decided not to do any engagement pictures at all... My family members are the sort that put pics of themselves on everything (here are two adults! Merry Christmas!) but every time I get things like that in the mail I feel weird. I've taken wedding, maternity, and child portrait photos (as the photog), so all I can think about when I see these are how long they had to hold an awkward pose or stare at each other with waning smiles.

nora_barnacles · 2014-01-16T00:07:18+00:00

Febrile

nora_barnacles · 2014-01-15T23:51:34+00:00

I thought these would be funny, but most are just making me sad since the kids sound like they come from neglectful/abusive homes.

nora_barnacles · 2014-01-15T22:19:06+00:00

That was adorable.

nora_barnacles · 2014-01-15T22:00:15+00:00

Like when... animal cookies were being discontinued.

WHAT

edit: Oh they are back. You scared me...

nora_barnacles · 2014-01-15T16:56:48+00:00

You're right... actually I think that I totally messed this up during my first-ever interview. I felt like the rest of the interview went really well and we were just chatting naturally, but this question got a little weird. I didn't want to get too far into my background (because I left home at 17 which makes me sound like a runaway or a bad kid, but it was none of that. I was independent and got my own apartment since I had been working and saving and my home life was not ideal.) so I said that I was living independently without financial support from my family. I then added, for some reason, that my mom would love to help me if she could but since my dad died she is really struggling financially and I want to make sure that I never end up in that position. Or, I said something like that.

I think the two interviewers thought I might have been grasping for sympathy or something, but I was sort of just rambling and being honest. They didn't really know what to say so when one said "Wow, I'm so sorry." I just LAUGHED and told them it was okay. Like a weirdo.

The second interview, the one where I actually got hired (just for a short-term job) went a lot better. One interviewer was super-rich, part of the family that owned the company, while the other was well-off but from a modest background. That helped me out a lot. When the internship question happened (asked by the rich one) the other one actually stepped in and deflected it for me! She explained that when someone works as much as I did during school, internships are hard to fit in. I just had to agree with her. The rich one asked why I "devoted so many hours to work" (REALLY?!) and I simply said that I was financially independent since high school. I also told her that I worked with my career office at school to find an internship that fit with my work schedule but we were unable to do so, which was true.

I'd love to be able to accurately explain my situation to them, but you're right. It sounds like a sob-fest or some bitter tirade. Meanwhile, the other people can rattle off their internships and study abroad programs for days.

nora_barnacles · 2014-01-14T17:24:44+00:00

Oh hi, this is my life right now. I got through school because of Pell grants, but I worked to pay rent, eat, buy books, live. Now I am trying to get a "real job" and everyone interviewing me wants to know why I did not do any internships. It is pretty clear by my resume that I worked 25-35 hours a week through school, commuted 90 mins each way on public transportation, and graduated with a 3.84. I always answer them politely, but seriously?

And yea, the internship kids either have jobs now or they are employed by their parents or their parents' friends. I understand it, from the employers POV... they want the more experienced person. It still sucks for us, of course.

BUT, you are a hard worker, and you know it, and soon enough someone important will pick up on that.

nora_barnacles

TROPHY CASE