DEAR ASK A PUNK -My band was playing at a club a couple of towns away and, as sometimes happens, after the show we hung out with some of the locals. These locals included girls, and I ended up having sex with one of them. I don’t have a girlfriend or anything, so there’s nothing wrong with that, in fact at this point, getting with girls is the only real benefit to being in my band since we’re not a famous or even very good band. It’s not like it was completely sleazy or weird, but one thing was: During the action she bit my shoulder really hard and broke the skin, drew blood, actually she took a bite out of my shoulder. She just said it was an accident and a “moment of passion” thing, which is a compliment, but my shoulder still hurts. I’ve done plenty of stuff with other girls before, but I’ve never BIT A CHUNK out of anyone. I don’t know if I would hook up with her again because of it, but I haven’t actually SAID that to her in our emails and chats. What should I do? …Raw Meat

One of my favorite things about the internet is that I can read 'local news' from anywhere in the world. It helps me get a clearer perspective on things. Find a town or city anywhere on Google Earth and then search for the local newspaper. London, Lisbon, or Lihue, they all have an online version of their newspaper. Give it a try. Meanwhile, one question this week. DEAR ASK A PUNK - I wanted to spend

DEAR ASK A PUNK - I fear I’ve become a cliché. I’m right in the middle of my thirties, and I'm thinking of adding another cat to my apartment. I haven’t had a real relationship in six years and I have pretended that doesn’t bother me. My day job in an office pays my bills, isn’t all that terrible and gives me health insurance (I’m healthy, but you never know) but I see time accelerating and pushing me along with it. I’m definitely NOT flipping out about having a baby as soon as possible or anything, so that’s one cliché I’m avoiding, but after seeing my slightly older friends go unexpectedly baby-crazy I know I can’t rule it out in the future. I guess I’m just feeling like I’m a little bit pointless and I don’t even know that I could figure out a new “direction” even if I had to. What do you think? …Ms. Lost.

Greetings – Two questions & answers today since you’ve all been so patient, but before I get to those I want to remind folks that this isn’t a “review” website. While I appreciate the links to your band pages and assorted websites… and I’ve heard some great stuff (and some not so great, in my humble opinion) I’m not about to start plugging bands or reviewing records/songs on this particular website.

DEAR ASK A PUNK -The summer is almost over and for the first time in my life, I don't have to go back-to-school in September. I graduated last spring from a state college with a standard 4 year degree and then, like every summer before, moved back to my parent's house and got my old summer job back and was just relieved to be DONE with school, but everything got more expensive this summer and I spent so much money on gas going to and from work and out with my boyfriend or friends (we live in the middle of nowhere, so there's a lot of driving) that I've barely saved anything, not enough to move anywhere or make any major changes. Also I haven't yet done any of the stuff you're supposed to do like write my resume or any of that and I don't know what I'm going to do if September rolls around and I'm still working that same job and sleeping in the room I spent my childhood in. It feels like I'm slipping into a vortex. How do I get out of it? …Summer Girl

Greetings. I had two emails this week that didn’t ask specific questions, but they raised some issues that seemed to be worth addressing. So if for some reason you’re disappointed by the nature of my ‘answers’ remember that there weren’t any specific questions asked.

DEAR ASK A PUNK - Like everyone else, I put all of my anger and dysfunction into songs I wrote with my band Now my songs are out there and it feels great like a weight has been lifted and I liked to think that people would hear my songs and respond to them, since they're all about the usual stuff – f-ed up parents, dirty uncles, crappy life – all the stuff I went through. The thing is, it seems like no one and I mean no one will listen to our songs –The other half of the problem is that the few people who have listened to it are either friends or even worse, family members. So my friends are looking at me all weird because of the stuff I say in the songs and my family is mad mad at me and each other and everyone is acting like I either made stuff up or even if its all true, it is the sort of stuff that shouldn't be talked about in public. So how do we get more people to listen and how do I get my family to stop listening?

DEAR ASK A PUNK - I live with my girlfriend. We get along great, but now she wants to be in my band. She can play guitar fine, better than a lot of guys I know, but not better than me. I guess I just don't get why she wants to. We usually don't agree on stuff musically anyway and I don't think we would be good collaborators. And also if we were in a band together on top of living together I think that would be too much together stuff. It's not like I want to cheat on her or anything but I want to keep my band stuff different from my home life.. and what if we did break up or something? then that drama would cause even more problems if we were in a band together too. and that would also piss off the other guys in the band. …RobertRobert

DEAR ASK A PUNK - I’m thinking of quitting grad school (writing MFA) and I feel stupid. I’m not exactly young (29) and I waited a while to go to back to school and I made such a big fucking deal about it to everyone. I don’t know what I was thinking… It’s just like my undergrad experience only worse… and I’m not some big drama queen. I think because I’m older now I just see what bullshit most of it is, and that makes it worse. Everyone is so full of themselves (the teachers and the students) and it seems like the writing workshops are popularity contests more so than useful critiquing sessions. I’m wasting my time and my money I fear, but I admit that I would also feel mortifyingly foolish if I had to go home and tell everyone that I quit school after making such a big deal about it. I guess my question is, how do I get out of this with some grace or if I have to stay, how do I make the best of a bad situation?

Greetings all. I've noticed a slight uptick in the site stats, so I want to welcome all the newer readers to Ask A Punk. Please feel free to jump in and submit some questions. DEAR ASK A PUNK - I've been working in a hospital for over a year. I love the work and it is exciting to help people and the people are great. On my first week of working there I was invited out for drinks and everyone was so nice, not like so many of my previous jobs. I want to become either a nurse or an EMT or something. My family is happy because it's really the first thing I've been excited enough about to think about as a career and because I'm talking about going back to school to pursue it. "Back to School" is a big deal in my family – everyone went to college but me and while I don't hold the title of "Family Fuck-up" …which goes to my college-educated jailbird brother in jail for drugs, I haven't exactly been the greatest success story either. But here's my problem… I'm drinking a little more, but tha...