American Chimpanzee

  Hard Core Advice From Hard Core's Hardest Core...  John Leslie! Dear John,      I am a senior in high school, and I have been dating "Brianna" for 10 months. She graduated last year and attends a community college, but really has no ambition to be or do anything. We spent last summer together, and I honestly fell head over heels for her.      Here's the problem: I have been accepted to a college that's out of town. It's always been my dream to go away to school, so I told Briana that it wouldn't be fair to either of us to stay together while I'm away, but that I want us to be together as much as possible until then. However, ever since I said this to Brianna things haven't been the same. She's begun cutting herself, and tells me if I leave she'll kill herself.      You see, Brianna's dad left when she was 12, and she's still crushed by it. She doesn't get along with her family, and tells me ...

Every morning my father goes on his morning walk, rain or shine. Even the days he  doesn't  want to go, he'll go. Sometimes our conversations will go like this: "Man," he'll tell me, "I  really  don't feel like going on my walk this morning." "Why don't you take a break?" I'll ask him. "What?" "If you're not feeling good, why don't you give yourself a break?" "A break from what?" "From your walk." "From my what?" "From your walk." He'll pause. Think. Chew on the idea a bit. "Why would I want to do that?" he'll finally say. "I'm just saying, if you're not feeling good." "Who said I'm not feeling good?" "You told me that you didn't feel like going on your walk." "Yeah, but I didn't say I didn't feel good. I just said I didn't feel like going on my walk. That's not the same thing....

Hard Core Advice From Hard Core's Hardest Core... John Leslie     Dear John,       My girlfriend and I are going through a very rough time after five years together, and we are now on an extended break.       I am trying hard to address my own issues through counseling, and one of those issues is dealing with being lied to. I can't stand it. I am a rather honest person, but my girlfriend is far from it. After being exposed to her little white lies for so long, I have become aggressively suspicious and controlling, and borderline paranoid. I am hoping to address this and learn to "let go," since the snooping, spying, and obsessive grilling of her for the truth is destructive.      I try to offer her opportunities to tell me the truth about things, but her first reaction is always to lie. It could be about something as innocuous as what she spent her time on in the evening, or it could be something ...