Shir, would it work to get a timer with a loud bell, so that you can say to her, "Right now I can give you 5 minutes, then I absolutely must get back to my studies. So I tell you what, I'll set my timer for 4 minutes 30 seconds, and when the bell rings, we will have time to say good-bye." Then when the bell rings, watch the clock, if she does not stop on her own, you say, "OK, it's time. I have to go. So sorry to rush you. Goodbye," in a very pleasant voice, talking over her if she won't stop to listen, and then regardless of her response, hang up.

Because you can't substitute for her therapist. If she is in that deep need, she needs to not be able to have access to an hour of your time for her selfish purposes. If she can get you to act as her unpaid therapist, she won't have that need to go back to a real therapist.

ETA: Shir, am I overwhelming you with saying all kinds of things that you should do? You can tell me to shut up if you want. How are you really feeling?

Really Really bad idea for Bubble Gum: [link]

Really Really bad idea for Bubble Gum: [link]

ohgodohgodohgod, don't click.

nasty nasty nasty.

I hates the boyfriend for posting that, I hates him, the nasty Baggins.

Could be worse, could be SPAM flavored.

Thanks for the warning, WindSparrow. I'm taking your advice.

A jury of my peers would not convict....

He didn't give me the option to not click. Just said it out loud. It caused more brain damage than Vogon poetry. I've still got grey matter oozing out of my ears.

nastynastynasty

Oh freddled gruntbuggly,
Thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits
On a lurgid bee...

Now, see, that's some darned mellifluous verse.

Have woken up to hear that the British National Party (terrifying fascists) has two MEPs (in the European Parliament). There's been a massive political crisis going on here for a while, of which this is one result. It's getting quite scary.

Shir, when I was 18, I *was* your difficult friend. (In my defence, that was a decade-and-a-half ago, and I've improved a lot and learnt stuff!) In my case, my long-suffering friends eventually cut me off and didn't see me for a while. It upset me, but it was the only way I was ever going to realise how much I was damaging them and how inappropriate my behaviour was. (Btw, is there any chance she's even vaguely on the autistic spectrum? I am, which was a big part of the reason I didn't understand appropriate social behaviour.)

I'm driving back to uni today, to spend the week working on my dissertation. Post-final-papers, I'm having a bit of academic disillusion. Would quite like to ignore my dissertation entirely for a summer. Blah.