School websites block take it off

I’m stuck. I don’t know what to do. I’m 19 and pregnant, the babies father is my on and off boyfriend of almost three years. I don’t think I love him. Ever since finding out I was pregnant I was having these thoughts. I thought about abortion, but I myself, could not do that without having an extremely guilty and probably dangerous conscious. I live with him, and I don’t want to be with him. I have no where to go. I don’t speak to my mother, she has said and done some very bad things during my pregnancy, and living with her would just give her power over me. I can’t live with my brother (who I lived with before) he doesn’t want a baby in the house. I can’t live with my sister, she’s a slob and can’t handle her finances whatsoever. My best option is to stay put, but it’s ruining my mental health. I live with him and his parents. His parents are gonna help out while we go to school, financially and taking care of my daughter. His mom makes a good amount, and his father doesn’t work. So it works out perfectly, they’ve been very supportive this pregnancy, but he hasn’t. He’s been very self centered, and I know it isn’t all about me, but I am carrying his child. I have my doubts about him. Ever since getting pregnant I’ve questioned his ability as a man, a father and a partner. He’s not a good fit for me. I’ve had major sexuality issues. Since it’s been imbedded in my brain that I’m with him forever, I question my sexuality even more. I don’t find myself attracted to him, but attracted to women. I always knew I was attracted to bother genders, but now I question my heterosexuality. He’s still a boy, and I’m becoming a woman, I feel like I’m moving light years ahead of him. He’s so immature and impatient, and gets upset over very small things. It’s hard to be happy or content around him. I feel almost emotionally abused and drained. I’m struggling with suicidal thoughts. I’m on antidepressants. I call the hotline when things get bad. But the thoughts are there. I don’t want to just because I have another life inside me. But if I were to do anything life ending, well then I wouldn’t be in this situation. I love my daughter already so much, but I’m trying to think about myself too. I can’t take care of her when I can’t even take care of myself. I want a good life for her, and I’m scared me or her father is gonna mess that up. I grew up in a broken home, that’s the last thing I want for her. Some days I just want to sleep, and dream forever.

For the past week, I’ve literally been getting the same scam attempts… today was the 5th time. It’s getting really annoying. 🙄
They always send an inquiry for a nice chunk of time, only to ask a million questions, and then to end with, “can you send a video?” to take you off the app. Of course that’s my cue to report, block, and deny their request.
But this is really irritating.
Does anyone else get these?

I want to apply to top schools but I’m curious would these stats get me in? My counselor last year had a talk with me and said I had no chance for dropping a math course because of medical reasons at the time and a lot of work (that class ended up being dropped due to complains of several students). She told me after a year though that I might have a chance. this year I’m working hard in making a difference but I’m rlly unsure due to the competitive top 20 class, they have limited and almost no ecs but still. If anyone does reply I would like to get some tips Ofcourse no one knows what exactly gets anyone in but any suggestions for ecs and what to improve?
For context my school is very low income and it does reflect in the education and state tests
Taking all IB senior year + top 5% of my class, 3.98 gpa/4.0
Also: Every Stanford student from my school majors into law or engineering never Econ or finance I’m considering Econ + poli sci
Sat planning on getting more than a 1400 gonna grind all summer possibly getting a tutor to get a 1500+
Ecs: Business club president + deca president for this fall, made a project website for 1000+ students and the college and career center to gain access to resources related to business and scholarships in general
Women in corporate related Organization co founder- making resources accessible, one one one help creating a college profile and ecs, tips for classes and more and more than 500+ ppl
Volunteer at a global law related organization where I write articles, possibly editor in chief board position if accepted
Volunteer (completed some research related to corporate and mental health) & internship -> PVSA award
Teacher assistant for 3 years where I created worksheets for middle schoolers that were simplified in the fields of economics, history mainly, and ELA. Did a lot of grading aswell and provided feedback to students
GWC alumni this summer (SIP awarded)
Data analysis internship & marketing aswell, found CDS of several colleges to create stats for a website and created content for a popular platform
Mock trial for two years, planning on running this fall for a board position
Career fellowship for this summer where the company funds a project (paid)
A writer of a economics related book publishing soon where students state how they became interested in the field and a specific event they applied economics, changing their POV
Also dual enrollment: Econ course & criminal justice course
Expected this fall: democracy related fellowship for women stipend provided, UCLA business program for free, a college mentee program guiding students into top schools if I do become accepted, and other scholarships and essay contests

Just a couple disclaimers: Please be nice, Im already dealing with a difficult situation. Leaving my husband isn't an option, we believe that our daughter needs one set of parents. Thanks :)
My husband , daughter, and Inare currently living with my inlaws. Moving here was last resort and it took a lot of convincing from my husband. The plan was while living here, my husband and I both go to work, and save for a house. We'd have help with the baby and cheap rent. But now our plans have changed.
I have never had an easy relationship with my MIL. She is a very singular person. She has CPTSD, deals with chronic pain and is under tons fo restrictions from drs. She's a very strong and admirable woman. In a lot of ways I look up to her. But I've had my struggles with her. She can be overbearing and an oversharer. She is overly involved in things she doesn't need to be. She offers constant unsolicited advice. And I don't feel like I've ever has a conversation with her that didn't evolve into her talking about her trauma, old family drama, and all the times people offended her. And as much as I want to be understanding of the things she's experienced, I don't really feel like she wants to get to know me and is only treating me like a trashcan for her bad experiences.
I have tried to set boundaries. Im not a good communicator and so it was really difficult for me to sit down with her and discuss what I needed. It was necessary though, especially since I had just given birth to my daughter. I asked her to back off with all the info dumping and trauma dumping (in kinder words but that was the basic gist). And I asked for a couple of other things when it came to our baby. But not too much later, my SIL came after me and accused me of trying to take my child and use her as a pawn to hurt my MIL. (Situations where children were used to hurt people was something that happened in their family unfortunately). I was extremely upset about this and since then not a whole lot has changed. Maybe I just needed to push harder for my needs?
It may not seem like a big deal but this is something that has me particularly upset too. We aren't allowed to use their washer and dryer or our own laundry detergent. I regularly go without clean underwear and work clothes. And I get rashes from the detergents they use. Everytime I've brought this issue up im told that I'm being pushy and expecting too much of my MIL.
There are TONS of other experiences here that have left me pretty disheartened and hurt. I feel like our needs aren't given any kind of consideration.
I don't feel valued here. And my mental health has seriously started to decline. Im struggling to make it to work, be a good DIL be a good mom, be a good wife, and on top of all of that still find time to be good to me. I've been thinking a lot about what the next best course of action is for me and how I can have the space and privacy to work through what I'm feeling. And I came to the conclusion that I need to move out. Whether that was going home to my parents or finding an apartment.
I've always had the mentality that of "if you don't like it leave". It took a lot to convince my husband. It's not easy to tell your partner that their family is the reason you are struggling. It took a lot of tearful conversations. Im not very good at standing up for myself but this is something that I need, especially if I want to be a good mom for our baby.
My husband is particularly upset. He feels that I have not tried hard enough to make this plan work. And he's upset that we are having to change our plans. Especially since part of the plan was sending him to school once we built up some more savings.
But, we put in an application for a cheap apartment her in town. And today we got word that we got it and our move in date is this Friday. And we broke the news to my inlaws and everyone is upset.
They all have their opinions and reasons as to why we can't move. Why it's a bad idea. Why financially we wont be able to pull it off. Even things like how my husband's brother was going to aply for that specific apparment even though we didnt know he was. Im being told that this is a bad impulsive choice even though im prioritizing my mental health. Im having a hard time feeling happy about this move. I'm hoping that maybe by writing this all out maybe I'll get some reassurance that this is the right choice.
Sorry if this was confusing. If something needs clarification please ask. I need just as much help understanding my situation haha

I'm a 27 yr old, who feels kinda lost. Granted I have my 2 kids, a stable job, a wonderful boyfriend, and a supportive group of wonderful people in my life. I just found out that I'm pregnant and the family is excited. However I'm currently taking my abuser to court and it's been getting stalled. Multiple times. What I mean by stalled is that they keep pushing it off for one reason or another. I wanna give you guys some background before I ask my questions.
When I was 11 my biological father signed his rights away, gave me to my biological mother and (at that time) my stepdad, and left my life. I remember, on my birthday, the school threw a wonderful party for me. Then my dad picked me up from school early and we drove to a gas station miles away and I saw my biological mother for the first time since I was 8. My stepdad gave me gifts and I saw my dad signing something on the back of his car and handing it to my biological mother. We eventually got back to my bio mom's house (after a tire flying off the car and spending a night in a hotel room) and got settled. We lived in an old house and they converted the dinning room into a bedroom for me. So in order to get into the kitchen from the front room, they had to come through my room. Every night my stepdad would come by and run my head. Tracing over my hair from the front of my head to the end of my pixie cut hair. At that time I thought that this is what a dad who loves their kid does because my bio dad wasn't that affectionate. 6 months after we got home from the gas station, my stepdad adopted me. Since he was 14 years younger than my mom and only 10 years older than me, it was easy to get along with him. I saw him more as a friend than a father and my bio mom was distant so he'd be the one interacting with me. When I was 12 my bio mom and adoptive father used to check if I brushed my teeth by smelling my breath. My bio mom stopped doing it and asked my adoptive father to do it, so he was the main one that checked my breath. Once he joked about if I were to do it again that he'd kiss me. I told my adoptive father that I wasn't scared of him and he kissed me. The adult activities followed a few days after that. When I was 13, I had a boyfriend who I told that my adoptive father and I did adult things, because I wanted him to know that I knew about that world. My bf (at that time), let's call him Tod, informed me that my aunt needed to hear my stories. So I told her. I remember her face going pale for a moment and then she was back to her normal self. Since I was only at my aunt's house because me and Tod were picking out me a homecoming dress, we got in the car shortly after I told my aunt. She drove us (me and Tod) home and there was a white car there. I got taken into foster care until I was 14 (only spending the beginning of 8th grade in care). I felt so bad for talking about what happened between me and my adoptive father that I recanted what I had said and ended up being placed back in the house with my bio mother and adoptive father. The adult activities continued just a couple weeks after I got home. When I was 16, I ran away with a new bf. That bf got scary aggressive so I messaged my bio mom and told her I needed to come home. She told me she wasn't going to be there if I came back. I didn't believe her because she's lied to me multiple times before. I broke up with him. My adoptive father came to get me and got me back to the house. My bio mom ended up not being there. So for the next couple years, I still went to school, adult activities still continued, alcohol and drugs were introduced, physical violence started, more abusive language came out, and all of that my adoptive father made sure of. I found out I was 3 months pregnant when I was 18. I got kicked out. Keep in mind it was only me and my adoptive father in the house. I ended up getting myself an apartment and was able to make a little money by selling jewelry and crafts I made. All that time, I didn't understand that what he did to me was wrong. So when he showed up to my apartment with flowers and a card for mother's day(even though the baby wasn't born yet), I let him inside. My adoptive father apologized. The cycle started all over again except for the drugs and alcohol because of the baby. I gave birth and couldn't breastfeed so he started smoking green with me. My adoptive father caused a huge fight that cost me my apartment so I moved towns away into a friend's house. We will call her Bee. Bee had dated and had a kid with my brother and we were really close. I knew Bee since early highschool and she knew a lot of what I went through. I made friends there and Bee had my kicked out of their house so me and my first born moved into another friends house. I got beat there so I call my uncle to help me find a place. Unfortunately my uncle didn't know what my adoptive father had done so they showed up to pick me up together. We (me, son, and adoptive father) moved into adoptive grandma's house. The cycle started again. This time he was the only one who was allowed to drink and it was behind doors because Grandma was against it. I didn't even know until after. It was in that house, he disclosed to me that he used to peek through the slats of the wall of the bathroom while I showered when I was 11, and that he was the one to leave the vibrator on the counter for me to find. Adoptive grandma bought me and my adoptive father a house that needed some work on. Adoptive father attacked adoptive grandma so we got evicted and moved into that house alone. The house didn't have electricity or running water, but we were able to stay clean and comfortable because we knew how to survive in that environment, but even I can admit that's no way to live. Drugs and alcohol were common. Adoptive father also gave me(I don't think I have to say in what way) to several of his friends. One night, a friend of Bee's came over and hung out with us after my son fell asleep. The friend had brought alcohol over and we all had a few drinks. Adoptive father because angered and the friend left. My son woke up because of the yelling so I picked him up to comfort him. I should have left him there because what happened next I still hold a lot of hate towards myself for even though my son is perfectly fine now. Adoptive father became more and more upset by the minute so I moved so it'd put space between us. I moved to where there was a table between me and adoptive father. I'm still holding my son at that time. Adoptive father comes rushing towards the table and throws it out of the way. He swung at me and I turned my body thinking that I had to block the blow for hitting my son. I didn't turn quick enough and my son (only 1yrs old) had a red mark on his chest. Adoptive father paused for a moment in shock that he hit the baby and gave me enough time to put the baby down and grab my phone. I started to call my closest friend at that time (who was aware of my life story and was on call whenever I needed a safe place) but adoptive father grabbed my phone, hung up, and held me down until I told him I wouldn't leave the house. I waited until he was asleep and call my friend again. Minutes later me and my baby were in a car heading to safety. The last time I spoke directly to my adoptive father was when I was 21, and that was because he called me and asked if I pressed charges against him for hitting the baby. I told him, no I didn't but his bio dad (who he hated) was the one to talk to the cops and gave them pictures of my bruises. He spent 2 years in prison for assault and that was his third strike at that time. The states attorney found out that I had a child with my adoptive father and called me on the number I gave the cops. 4 years ago they opened a case of incest against him and have filed charges. The trials and sentencing dates have been postponed multiple times and the next courtdate is in July of this year. The last one was supposed to be in April, however the defense attorney was sick. 2 years ago, while I was in a lot of counseling appointments, I finally understood what grooming was and that my childhood and teenage years weren't supposed to happen. At least in a good family, the situations I was put in wouldn't have happened. I found out that my adoptive father married Bee (the friend who had a kid with my brother) and that they had 3 kids together. My brother found out that that couple had beaten my niece and now has full custody of my niece.
I currently live in a home with my kids and bf. I have a job. I have kept up with every court date. I have shown up for every courtdate. Even driving hours to and from the court house because I lived 2 years in a different state. I have done everything in my power to make sure my kids are safe and away from the situation. However I feel like my oldest will need to know who his bio father is eventually. He's only 8yrs old rn. He does resemble his bio father in some ways that are only shown when he's mad or trying to hide something and it scares me every time. I love my kid and I feel horrible everytime my mind sees my adoptive father in my son. My son knows that his biological father is responsible for a scar across his middle finger because his bio father turned on a industrial fan while my son's hand was on it, but that's all he knows about his biological father. How do I go about helping him not turn into the type of person his biological father is? How would I address it later when he has more questions?

I recently got off the waitlist from Duke, and heard that I got a full ride to the university if Dublin, and I have no idea what to pick. I am a first gen student. At Duke I would get a masters degree in environmental management, but take on significant debt. However their program is one of the top environmental programs in the world, would offer me a lot of connections, and give me hands on experience. The university of Dublin is full ride but i feel like it will be harder for me to get a job once I come back to the United States. Their program is also shorter and Is in wildlife conservation, which narrows the focus significantly. If money wasn’t an issue, I would pick Duke. But I don’t know if the loans are worth it. Does anyone know anything about either of these programs or how federal loans are for graduate school? Thank you!

pt.2
I thought It’d be fine but I kept procrastinating and it always built up and built up and built up and I didnt do it and that was the last straw when I started getting minor panic attacks. At first it wasnt bad and this was near the beginning of trhe year but next year it got BAD.
I had panic attacks just getting in the car to go to school. I was just lonely stressed depressed and felt trapped and it felt terrifying.
eventually our school counselor and my regular counselor helped find a place called a PHP program. only problem with that program is that it felt very awkward to me.
You see, not to get political or anything but I was raised conservative and thats how I believe I dont hold anything against liberal or woke people all our opinions are just the same but the way they handled stuff and I was raised was too much. Instead of me being able to worry about handling my anxiety I had to worry about being politically correct and pronouns all the time and if I messed up or anything I was a bad person. And I also have a relatively dark sense of humor which is very common for kids and people with trauma and stuff its just relatable and stuff and I make jokes around my friends abt ravism and stuff and sensitive topics bc its funny to us. We take all those things seriously in a serious context like if I heard a guy harrassing a kid bc of his race im givin him a piece of my mind (I like to speak instead of fight J often have a lot to say and love my voice being heard but yall have prolly figured that out by now lol) but anyways something as dumb as that got me to speak up and ask if it makes me a bad person and a woman literally said “If you make racist jokes doesn’t that make you racist?” which rlly got to me bc im not racist I just didnt realize that my dark humor abt stuff not just that but thats the prime example for this story but instead of getting over my anxiety I felt I always had to be hyper aware of everything I say and if I make one wrong move I’m some evil horrible human being. and I still feel like that now but not bc of that bc i learned that they just didnt get me and theres a time and place for that stuff. But in THERAPY which is supposed to be all abt talking abt ur problems and getting advice and venting I “overshared” even tho it was brutal it had to do with the convo and was something important to how i felt abt it. but away from school my anxiety subsided until I went back it flared up like hellfire. eventually I just failed all my classes, didnt work, dropped out of a play that I was more excited for than anything bc I was too anxious and all I got was pop some pills and youll be ok but eventually they realized “crud this cant keep happening” so they sent me off to a residential facility. basically its an in between of a psych ward and baccaraction but at first I HATED IT

1. It aas scary I’d never been away from home so long especially with complete strangers and there were a lot of scary things too. 2. I finally got a gf two days earlier which gave me purpose but still hurt to have anxiety. 3. I cried at least twice, It was an amazing experience but at first b4 u realize when people go a bit wild they seem to be lunatics when ltr u realize they just cant handle their pain like u it just gets more violent for them. but I met a lotta great people but one in particular, we’ll call him tony. He was a staff member an old guy but in pretty decent shape. Super wise and nice but also real and had issues like everyone. He had a tattoo of the star of david I will never forget he said he had it bc the book of david changed his life. I started back into the bible more, reading a lotta proverbs, started following Jesus and try tk be a better person and follow hos will although I made a million mistakes but one time I got a horrible attack and I finally realized what was missing what wasnt working.

You see, not to get political or anything but I was raised conservative and thats how I believe I dont hold anything against liberal or woke people all our opinions are just the same but the way they handled stuff and I was raised was too much. Instead of me being able to worry about handling my anxiety I had to worry about being politically correct and pronouns all the time and if I messed up or anything I was a bad person. And I also have a relatively dark sense of humor which is very common for kids and people with trauma and stuff its just relatable and stuff and I make jokes around my friends abt ravism and stuff and sensitive topics bc its funny to us. We take all those things seriously in a serious context like if I heard a guy harrassing a kid bc of his race im givin him a piece of my mind (I like to speak instead of fight J often have a lot to say and love my voice being heard but yall have prolly figured that out by now lol) but anyways something as dumb as that got me to speak up and ask if it makes me a bad person and a woman literally said “If you make racist jokes doesn’t that make you racist?” which rlly got to me bc im not racist I just didnt realize that my dark humor abt stuff not just that but thats the prime example for this story but instead of getting over my anxiety I felt I always had to be hyper aware of everything I say and if I make one wrong move I’m some evil horrible human being. and I still feel like that now but not bc of that bc i learned that they just didnt get me and theres a time and place for that stuff. But in THERAPY which is supposed to be all abt talking abt ur problems and getting advice and venting I “overshared” even tho it was brutal it had to do with the convo and was something important to how i felt abt it. but away from school my anxiety subsided until I went back it flared up like hellfire. eventually I just failed all my classes, didnt work, dropped out of a play that I was more excited for than anything bc I was too anxious and all I got was pop some pills and youll be ok but eventually they realized “crud this cant keep happening” so they sent me off to a residential facility. basically its an in between of a psych ward and baccaraction but at first I HATED IT

1. It aas scary I’d never been away from home so long especially with complete strangers and there were a lot of scary things too. 2. I finally got a gf two days earlier which gave me purpose but still hurt to have anxiety. 3. I cried at least twice, It was an amazing experience but at first b4 u realize when people go a bit wild they seem to be lunatics when ltr u realize they just cant handle their pain like u it just gets more violent for them. but I met a lotta great people but one in particular, we’ll call him tony. He was a staff member an old guy but in pretty decent shape. Super wise and nice but also real and had issues like everyone. He had a tattoo of the star of david I will never forget he said he had it bc the book of david changed his life. I started back into the bible more, reading a lotta proverbs, started following Jesus and try tk be a better person and follow hos will although I made a million mistakes but one time I got a horrible attack and I finally realized what was missing what wasnt working.

hi everyone, I am about to be a junior in college and am having trouble finding a way to continue to pay for school. This is the breakdown of my situation: For first year, I recived a pell grant around 1,000 and my mom took out a parent PLUS loan. In my second year, I was put in Satisfactory Academic Probation due to my GPA. Due to this, I lost my pell grant and loan until my GPA goes up. For my second year, my mom used some of her saving and paid for the costs using her credit card. If I pass all of my classes this summer I should start receiving financial aid again. My major is very rigorous and majority of classes require at least 9-15 hours of outside studying. Due to this, I don’t work while I am at school.
Going into my junior year, I unfortunately was not able to get on campus housing due to the housing shortage so i have to live off campus this year. My mom cannot afford to pay tuition/ rent out of pocket anymore so she suggested that I look into to private loans. The financial aid office referred me to a company that they directly work with and said it would be easy to apply and get approved. I called today and they said I cannot take out a loan by myself and need a co-signer. My mom told me that she probably cannot do it because she has acquired debt from paying out of pocket the previous year. I was on the phone with them for about 2 hours on hold and I had class before she got the information for the co-signer. Because of this we never got a definite answer on whether she would qualify or not. I don’t know the details of my mom’s financials and I am not sure of what her credit score is. The company is Sallie Mae. Does anyone know what the minimum credit score requirement is for a co-signer? And are they another companies that will possibly give me student loan in this situation? Any advice helps!

Hi! I am 25 and found out TODAY I am pregnant. I stopped taking the pill last year but we’re ALWAYS careful, honestly we only had sex twice since my last period and I don’t even remember it being anything special bahahaah. My significant other and I are not planning on more kids (he already has one that I treat as my own now). I was really hoping I was just late from work stress but I just KNEW something was off and am lowkey kind of proud I knew my body so well haha. I thought maybe it was just stress because I am changing jobs, some family stuff going on, AND I have a trip to go out of town all in the same week.
Anyway, I found some information that was helpful on the plan c website and am taking the abortion pill at home— but I am really wary on how I know it will work. Any advice? I am only 6 weeks along so it is supposed to be 98% effective. I would just really appreciate reading anyone else’s experience!

Creepy Neighbor
I’m scared and I’m not sure what to do. I, female 28, live in a pretty small apartment complex. For context I had a roommate who just moved out as she started school so I am currently living alone. This situation isn’t a new one but has become more noticeable to me probably because I have no one to distract me and I now feel less safe and more alone.
More context The layout of the apartment is the living room is in the middle with a kitchenette and space for a dining room. Then on opposite sides of the living room doors for each bedroom. There is also, in the living room, a sliding glass door that leads to a small balcony. We live on the second floor of a three story building in a very small complex, so in general in the day it feels very safe. Also to give you an idea with the blinds open I can see into his apartment so I know he can see into ours. Our lighting situation is awful though so we try to get as much sunlight as possible through the day.
At night however is where I’m starting to feel very uncomfortable. I had noticed the man directly across from our apartment building watching my roommate and I on occasion while we watched tv at night or we were in our living room. My roommate didn’t think much of it until a couple months ago when she really caught him starring, I typically have the seat that faces more towards the window so I notice more often and see this when it’s happening. Well since she’s moved out the situation has escalated…it’s happening a lot more.
Tonight I stayed home sick from work I usually work until 10:30 pm and he usually isn’t awake or at least the lights aren’t on. I was turning off the lights after taking out my dog and I glanced over and he was starring directly into our place and directly at me. I know I’m not crazy and this isn’t a coincidence. When he knew I saw him he dropped his head down so fast but didn’t walk away….he just stood at his door. He does this. I’m so uncomfortable and I don’t know what to do, it happens during the day time sometimes but not nearly as often as at night and we need the natural lighting because we have no overhead lighting in our rooms and minimal lighting in the apartment in general.
Im scared this could escalate into something more or maybe I just watch too much true crime. Should I be concerned and should I do something about this, besides the obvious closing my blinds at night??

Not sure where to begin but I've always suspected my younger step brother has undiagnosed autism with sociopathic behavior (speculation, based off his behaviors). Whenever someone SUGGESTS to my stepdad that he's a little bit off he gets very upset as if you are attacking him directly. For context, my brother does not really interact with ANYONE not even family, he never initiates conversation, if he does speak to you it's always 1 worded answers, he's always had trouble in school failing every year but is constantly getting moved up to the next grade (he is now in 10th grade, I've been noticing him failing since about 4th grade), he curses at my parents whenever they get him mad (he doesn't get disciplined in any way for being disrespectful, this is not true for my other siblings), he is not great with social cues and has inappropriate reactions to minor things. He spends most of his free time on his electronics, yes he is an iPad kid and my parents have never monitored his activity. He is the youngest of 5 kids.
The first time my nDad actually realized something might be wrong was the summer before he went to high school. My parents threw him a graduation party for finishing middle school. In hindsight, this party was for my parents and not for him because he was in his room the whole time and he would have never wanted a party anyway. Anyways the next day they see that he splattered black paint all over his room and wrote random things all over his walls (since then he does this whenever something gets him upset). My parents then ask me to find a therapist, which I was very glad to do because this should've been done years ago. I set everything up and took him to all his appointments (my parents were very hands off), his therapist at the time suggested getting him tested for autism and my dad did not receive it well. He then had a conversation with my brother where he "promised" to get out of his shell and be more outgoing within a years time. Again my nDad was STILL in denial, I couldn't believe it. Eventually the therapist ghosted us.
Fast forward to now, he is at risk of getting kicked out of school due to constantly cyberbullying his peers at school. He even got beat up at school because of it. The school reported him to the school board because he continued the cyberbullying after getting suspended for it a bunch of times. I simply suggested to my dad that he take away his electronics away because he is repeating the same behaviors, and he blew up on me telling me I don't pay the phone bill & that I need to get my life in order before telling him what to do. I then said I see why my enabler mom just stopped mentioning anything to him about this particular sibling and he lost it, threatening to kick me out the house.
I just feel bad because I feel like everyone is failing my younger brother and he is unable to get the help he needs and I am seriously worried about his future. I don't see him being able to be a fully independent adult, I cannot picture him having a job or going to college but my dad is always telling him he needs to be able to do these things, but where are the tools to help him get there?
TL;DR: OP suspects their stepbrother has undiagnosed autism with sociopathic tendencies. Stepdad denies issue, gets defensive when confronted. Brother shows signs like social isolation, school struggles, and inappropriate reactions. Despite therapist's suggestion for testing, stepdad insists on denial. Brother's behavior escalates, facing school expulsion for cyberbullying. Stepdad reacts defensively to suggestions for discipline. OP feels family is failing brother, worried about his future independence and lack of support.

hi. I turn 17 soon, and I'm looking back on what I did at 16. It was a really rough year, to say the least. I very likely have OCD, which has led to constant guilt, worry, and stress. I felt like I wasn't good enough or deserving enough for things, so I made myself miss out on opportunities.
Even on the very day I turned 16, my family bought me sushi and gifts. They were all smiling at me and happy. My mom offered to throw me a Sweet 16, and I declined. I remember later on that evening I just sat in the living room, lights off, the sky slowly getting dark outside. Guilt was crushing me for a small mistake- if you could even call it a mistake. I'm a huge overthinker, and what I did hurt no one. Yet, it was such a big deal to me. I felt like I didn't deserve my treats and my gifts.
Any subsequent mistakes I made were a big deal in my mind. I wouldn't let all my friends sign my yearbook because I thought I was a bad person. I didn't sign up to do this school year's play. I didn't do much schoolwork because I felt like I wasn't gonna go anywhere in life, so what was the point?
My family didn't take my mental health seriously; just got told to pray and read the Bible. Focusing on Christianity ironically made my mental health bad in the first place. I tried it in 2020 only because my 13 year old self thought the world would end and I didn't want hell. that's what kick-started my possible OCD, though I didn't know about it at the time. my intrusive thoughts got so bad this age that I found out i likely had the disorder. like, no, laying in bed and literally worrying yourself sick because you're worrying about past mistakes are not sane people things.
I'm just so sad about it. I know I can't go back and use my time better, but I'm still sad about it. Screw mental illness. Screw 16.

I was wondering the requirements if there are any (I’m in the USA/ Maine) about where I can find guidelines and rules on things such as perfumery and selling it. I can’t seem to find much regulations on it, and well known perfume sites and packages I’ve ordered don’t seem to have much labeling on the websites, boxes or bottles for ingredients, labels, warnings etc. Mostly just what the notes consist of, so they don’t seem to follow the same guidelines as cosmetics. I want to do things right and make safe products.
I have a heavy background in chemistry from college during my time in pharmacy school. I’m also an esthetician now instead, and own a small spa. I have training with the use of essential oils and use of carrier oils as well and knowing majority of what’s safe or not for topical use and always researching ones I may not be as familiar with. I’m interested in making perfume oils for body and hair, maybe some alcohol free body sprays and other similar products later on such as room sprays, candles, bug sprays, pillow spray, etc in time. I mostly want to start as a hobby for myself post RSV causing my asthma to go chronic a couple years back, and many perfumes and sprays here now affect my lungs, but Arabian and more natural perfumes/ oils have luckily not bothered me and sparked an interest in potentially making my own. If successful, I’d also plan to sell them as retail at my spa/ on Etsy or my business site as well as some potential craft or county fairs in the future and see where it took me as I got good at it, and had some well made and liked products which is why I’d like to know the guidelines for packaging and selling.
Also if anyone has any reccommendations of websites for trusted safe oils & scents, things to avoid, packaging, labeling, supplies to start with, other ingredients worth getting (pheromones etc), etc I’d love to take note of them! Also if there’s any affordable online courses worth taking I’d love that as well. Thank you (please be kind, I know it can be a tough and expensive industry with a lot of depth to it). <3

Just to preface, I'm not very close with my parents at all for various reasons and I especially don't usually get along with my dad. With that being said, I was going to decline like I always do when they ask if I want to go anywhere with them, but this time it was a whole Mother's Day thing and they were going out for dinner so I figured I'd be an asshole if I declined. Rather than driving myself separately I joined my parents in their car.
For context, I was part of my family's discounted cellular plan. I had to pay my dad on time, but I failed to do so which was admittedly my fault. He told me he would take me off their plan which I thought was completely fair. I decided to try a different carrier and my dad gave me a code to transfer my number. He made it seem like transferring the number wasn't related to cancelling the line, but turns out it actually was. I was doing a free trial with the new carrier so I didn't transfer my number right away in order to avoid complications, which was probably not a good idea in hindsight.
On the ride home my dad got to discussing how their carrier was still charging them for my line. I then him I still had service from the carrier they dropped me from, which I thought was just technology being weird since I watched my dad cancel the line and there was no mention of him getting charged after that until now. I didn't think to mention it to him at all which I guess was my mistake. He then told me I had to pay the $50 for the line which I objected to because he never said transferring the number is what cancels the line. Had I known that transferring the number is what cancels the line I would've transferred the number. He has a bit of a tendency to say one thing and then change it later to get his way which I suppose he does because he knows I'm not very good at remembering what people say verbatim, so this is what I thought was going on. At first my voice was raised a little, then he raised his over mine to where he was nearly yelling, but then my mom diffused it a little and both of us stopped talking. He went back to arguing about it and accused me of doing this "just to get back at his old man" which not only sounded absurd but absolutely wasn't true so I told him to drop it, which seemed to have really pissed him off.
Holding the wheel with his left hand, he raised his right hand threatening to hit me across the face. Initially I wasn't afraid at all since I thought there was no way he'd do this while he was driving on a highway with himself, his wife in the back and son in the passenger seat along with other traffic around, but he actually did it. He didn't sock me square in the nose or anything but there's a bit of bruising on my left eye from it. I raised my arms to block whatever he was going to do after that (he did nothing else) and eventually he pulled over to the side of the road and told me to get out, so I did and he drove away. There were no rideshare services around at the time so I was going to just get my steps in and walk home, but eventually my mom came back to pick me up. On the ride back and after we got home she essentially told me he hit me because of the "way I was talking to him" and that I needed to go talk to him about it, or in other words, apologize. The way I saw it, he had no reason to go from zero to a hundred in the first place nor did he have to get physical with me over it. In addition to this, when he apologized for flying off the handle at me for accidentally using a little too much soy sauce he said "we might do stupid shit but we're still you're parents" so I decided to just not apologize or say anything to him about it, which my mom told me I was "immature" for and that I was "making a big mistake" and just generally trying to make me feel guilty about it so that I'd apologize.
Me and my dad didn't speak to each other for a few days, but today he told me to come talk to him. Basically, he told me as a father he didn't regret striking me in the face because I'd been "disrespectful towards both of them for awhile" and that I was " talking to him like some punk off the street". He also claimed I was swearing at him saying "I'm not fucking paying it", which he insists I was doing but I'm almost certain I wasn't. He then said me saying "do it then" in response to him threatening to hit me is what made him do it and that next time he'd "close fist" me and kick me out if I disrespected him like that again since "it's the only way you're going to learn", even though I'm 99% sure I was saying "drop it". Then he admitted that if I told anyone else what happened, they probably wouldn't agree with what he did, but that as a father he felt he made the right decision. Finally, he said that if we butt heads again (which he also admitted would most likely be soon), he expects me to "open up the dialogue" between me and him. But considering the fact he just threatened to punch me, someone who's comparatively weaker than him, in the face if he detects what he considers "disrespect", I'm not really interested in opening any type of dialogue with him.
TL;DR dispute over cellular plan with my dad gets physical

I graduated university about a month ago and ended with a 3.1 GPA (BA in Crim), unfortunately I had some serious health issues during my 4th year and caused that semester to go horribly, I ended up having to take a year off due to medical reasons.
This last year I was placed on Honors List for both semesters (3.75 & 3.8) and managed to salvage my GPA into what it is now. I have been thinking about law school for a while now (Couple years) but my GPA is holding me back from even attempting.
Considering this I have thought about the best way to increase my chances, which include, applying next September and studying for the LSAT for a year, attempting to land an entry level job or internship within the field of law and legislation, and working on my personal statement to explain my health issues during university.
Lastly, and I am unsure how much this will effect but I do have work experience since I was 16 and worked all throughout University.

For context I live about 2000 miles away from my family with my fiancé who is in the military and is supposed to deploy at any point in the next month or so which is just so great because I also don’t know when he’s coming back. We’re getting married in October and trying to plan that around his delayed deployment is extremely stressful. I am a full time undergrad online student and just added a minor while I’m starting my honors thesis research project in which I’m conducting my own study this fall. I work full time in a special ed classroom and while I love kids and love working with special needs kids and have a couple years of experience, I hate the classroom I’m in. There are 11 kids in it who are constantly, and I mean constantly, having behaviors. And I love behavioral analysis and all that, that’s what I’m studying, but these kids are so low that any behavior corrections do not work. And so I deal with kids pushing other kids, breaking their glasses, putting their hands in the toilet, eloping, dropping to the floor, everything you could possibly imagine. And the kids who do understand actively choose against making good choices. But schools are about to let out and I now have to find a new job for the summer which sucks. My fiancé was supposed to deploy about 2 months ago and didn’t so we’ve been sharing a car and while I love spending time with him more than anything, my only time alone now is my 30 minute break at lunch which I have to listen to my annoying ass fucking coworker yap the whole time in the teachers lounge. Also she is super frustrating too because I have to pick up a lot more slack because of her. But because I don’t have any alone time or time to reset after work (I usually would use my car ride home to listen to my music and reset) I've been taking my overly stressed, reactive work-self home to him and he told me today I have been mean to him a lot lately and I feel horrible about it because it's the last thing I want to do and he does not deserve any of that. On top of everything, we also found out that we are moving across the world at the end of the year so we now have to buy a new car, put a down payment on a place out there, buy a washer & dryer, and also move everything out there which includes our dog, who is also a massive pain in the ass as he is in his pterodactyl phase and constantly getting into anything he can. On top of all of those expenses (and the wedding), our roommate decided he is going to move out at the end of the lease instead of going month to month like we originally agreed on doing until we move, which means we have to find a place to live for 4 months. This means another down payment on an apartment when the studios around us don't go for under $2300. Great. So after he told us that, I decided that I could not attend my cousin's bach party in the summer in order to afford attending her wedding as a bridesmaid in December (which is also 2000 miles away, during the most expensive week to travel, and about a week before we move across the world), and told her I cannot pay my portion of the air bnb but that should be fine because its still 2.5 months out, and she could find someone to go in my place, find a different house, or ask everyone else to pay my portion which would come out to $30/person, which sucks, but I cannot spend $1500 on someones bach (flying, activities, airbnb, grocery, dogcare, parking my car, etc.) during this year of all years. I know I am kind of the asshole for canceling so close, but I can't control all of the unexpected finances I had come up this year. This understandably upset her, and she basically gave me the ultimatum of if I don't pay my portion for the airbnb she is gonna kick me from the bridal party. So that's fantastic truly. And on top of that, my parents are coming out to see me in a couple weeks, and this will be the last time I see my dad before he goes into a surgery that is extremely risky and if does not go well will leave him blind, and I am currently no contact with my deadbeat addict mom as she blocked me on social media for a reason unbeknownst to me. So I am fucking tired. I am stressed. I am burnt out. I am overwhelmed. I am frustrated. And I don't know what to do with any of those feelings because they are truly all "time will fix it" issues. I go to the gym, I eat well, and I prioritize sleep. But I am just stuck in this fucking limbo and I am treating my fiance like shit and I am performing so reactively at work and I feel horrible about that. Ugh. I am hoping this vent will help me get everything off my chest so I can be and feel better. If you read this far, thank you and I appreciate you.

I wanted to recommend this new podcast called Mortal Lands, which is dedicated to the Sarah J. Maas books, but is currently focusing on ACOTAR. There are currently three main episodes out, covering the first 34 chapters of the first book. Even though this is a reread by the hosts, they keep it spoiler-free and do a great job of bringing the perspective of a first-time reader. There are new episodes on Mondays and bonus episodes on Wednesdays, where they include full series spoilers. Also, there are currently no ads.
They do spend a bit of time each episode on summarizing the chapters, but this is mostly interlaced with commentary. The banter is hilarious – I posted some lines I found funny, but it’s even better on audio with the actual delivery:

• On Feyre’s dad: “I just want to chop off all his toes.”
• On Feyre's hygiene: “So when they’re trying to be nice to her and he says that she’s clean… And she takes it as flattery. I don’t think she realized how much she stunk. Think about when you’re pregnant and you’re High Fae and your smelling has to be beyond that of a pregnant mortal female, right? … You smell something that stinks, you vomit. Like the sheer will of these people to not be throwing up…So it was probably actually a really nice compliment. Like, ‘Oh, you can get clean, I really didn’t think it was possible. You are so stinky that I am genuinely shocked by how clean you can become.’”
• On the film adaptation: “How do you watch something with someone in a mask? There's going to be so many close-up shots... lip shots. Him licking his lips, just being like, 'Mmm, that breakfast was good.'”
• On crafting Lucien’s eye: “Tamlin just went to the blacksmith and said, ‘I know you’re normally doing hoofs, but... do you think you can make an eye? How do you feel about balls?’”
• On Calanmai: “Didn’t it feel like such a line? To me, it gave such frat party, like ‘Oh, we’re just creating magic for the land. Oh, this is for the land.’ … I think it’s such a line. It’s like, ‘Oh, by the way, fae women or fae females, don’t worry, we have to do this for the crops. Like, this has to happen for the crops. Oh, no, there’s no other way. This is the only way for the crops.’”
• On Alice’s appearance when Feyre sees through the glamour: “I literally bet she transformed. Not only was her skin tree bark, but then in my mind, her head became like a tree. And just like it’s cut off at the top. Like Groot. Alice turned into Groot.”
• On Feyre drinking fairy wine: “I think she chugged the first drink. I don’t know, in my mind, or maybe I just made that up. In my mind, Lucian’s like, ‘Don’t do that,‘ and she chugged it. She was like, I’m taking this in a one-er… She got the funnel. Like Sarah J. Maas describes getting the funnel and just like drinking it.”

Website: https://www.podbean.com/pu/pbblog-jri9h-1198bbb
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mortal-lands-a-sarah-j-maas-book-club/id1741449766
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4RuqRxYkzDXFkQoS5Tezv0?si=KcZLDA_NSb-UsJIMNVa3-A
Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/podcast/8c8bac00-ec8d-013c-3086-0affccc8fded

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and i hope you'll enjoy it as much as i did writing it
again a huge thanks to for helping me with my grammar and spelling
[First]-[Previous]
Memory Transcription Subject: Vaill, Venlil Rescue
Date [standardized human time]: November 28, 2136

The paws that went by on that ship were better than the one in the pens. No one was eaten, and no Grays were stalking around. It was like they were avoiding us. No one but me knew where they were taking us, others guessed we were being moved to another cattle farm, which I guess wasn’t far from the truth, but most were quietly stewing in what was likely our last paws. The cut from that thing had healed up mostly, and was now scarring without the proper medical attention.
I didn’t tell the others that we were going to the ‘extinct’ predators home, that would only create more panic, so I kept my mouth shut so that the people here might have some hope. Even if it was a false hope.
The cargo bay that they had loaded us into was a similar dark metal to the cattle facility, but this one was missing the old rusty metal meaning this was likely a new ship. I doubted that these monsters could clean anyway.
They didn’t communicate with us at all. They stopped feeding us and just left us in the cargo bay with a bucket of water and a crate of food. There was no sense of rationing it so it was gone within the first 2 paws of this cattle exchange.
I don’t want to be a human’s play thing, they are just as bad if not worse than the Arxur. I have seen what they did to one another… they are so brutal.. I couldn’t finish the video about them..
A few of the other Venlil around me also had scars. We were lucky to escape that place alive… or were we?
The ship began to slow and the tell tale sign of entering a atmosphere was felt. This was a feeling that I had felt before when I would stay with my father. I used to go with him on some of his colony work. I would stay on the ship so I was never in harm's way.
The ship landed and we saw the Grays for the first time in several paws. I assumed that we were on the predators’ planet, but as we disembarked we were greeted by nothing but us cattle and… an old neighborhood of Venlil design? The Grays herded the last of the cattle off, throwing or shoving them, and once we were all off the cargo bay doors closed and the engines powered back on… they took off and just left???

This didn’t make sense in the slightest… Why would they just leave us their cattle here? There weren't even any predators here to take us just, the empty space of a lost colony.
Then it clicked with me that other predators must already be here and they wanted to hunt us, they were just as bad as i had thought. I had failed these people before, but I wouldn't fail them again.. I just needed to find something I could use, anything.
I won’t let these people or myself be taken by monsters… not again.. I can’t.. I will not fail my job again.. I-
I was pulled from my thoughts as more ships landed around us. I was ready to try to protect these people but they were… of Venlil make…? This had to be a sick joke played by the predators. they had to have stolen our ships. There was no way my people had anything to do with these monsters, they couldn’t be reasoned with.

It has to be predatory tricky.
I watched with bated breath as the landing ramps touched down, ready to be proven right, but to my shock and horror, Venlil medical staff began to come out of the ships and started to load the cattle onto stretchers, and then take them to the ship board.
My head was spinning and I felt sick about what this could mean. Had the Tarva betrayed the Federation and made a deal with these things? No, that wasn’t possible. They made it very clear they would never talk with us prey, let alone make a deal. For the first time I was at a loss.
How had we been sent back to our people? We were food for the Grays yet they had just let us go. This didn’t make sense…
My breathing had become irregular and I started to feel dizzy. Nothing about this made any sense.
HOW WERE WE RELEASED.. What had Tarva don-
I fell back from the shock from all this and was loaded onto a stretcher, my breathing quickened and everything went black.

***********


I woke in a stretcher being wheeled into a hospital room. I pawed at my eyes trying to see clearly and when my vision unblurred I saw a large figure with a black reflective mask over their face and Venlil by their side, I didn’t recognize the tall one. Had we made first contact in the time I’d been gone..? Why didn’t they have a tail?

A growl suddenly came from the tall one that my translator told me meant “You’re safe now, you’re on Venlil Prime. I’m Andrew, and this is my friend Annek. She and I are here to help as much as we can.”
I didn’t say anything. For all I knew this was a dream.. misplaced hope the Arxur wouldn’t just give us back to our people. Annek couldn't actually have made it out alive. There was something that had to be happening. Had my home been taken by the humans that Arxur had spoken about, was this tall one in front of me one of them? Was any of this even real..? Was I still in a pen..?
The Venlil made slow steps to me and started to untangle my fur.
“What’s your name?” the Venlil asked me softly. If this truly was Annek, then how could she not see it was me? Had the Arxur really mangled me so much that my best friend couldn’t see that it was me.
Again I didn’t answer.
How could I just go back to normal after what I had seen? Why was it so hard to just be happy to believe the lie even if only for a while, this was my friend?
I had an uneasy feeling of being watched like in the cattle pens. The comment that the Arxur made stuck in my head, but I didn't see any ‘extinct’ predators.

As the tall thing started to walk over to me with slow uncertain steps, I tensed up and my paw grabbed the fur around my legs. It seemed to slow as I did which showed that it had at least a minor amount of empathy and wasn’t a human, and I began to relax, still perplexed as to why we had been given back. Had the Federation hit the Arxur hard somehow and got us back? Was that even possible?

“hello? Is anyone in that head of yours?” I was pulled back to reality by Andrew shaking my shoulder softly.

“…. Y-yes j-just lost i-in m-my head.” I was stuttering much more than I would’ve liked to, but it was impossible to not stutter. My voice was a far cry from what it once was deep and hoarse from disuse.

“So there is someone in there. What’s your name?”

“U-uh, I think i-it was V-Vaill…”
How was my name that far away in my own head…?
The Arxur had deprived us of anything that let us feel sapient and my mind was reeling from what seemed to be a safe place… why would they let us go? Especially me as I was on the taller side of Venlil..
Annek's ears shot up upon hearing my name. “V-Vaill? You're alive?!”
“Y-yeah, I guess I am…”
“You two know each other? Never mind, do you know when you were taken by them?” the tall thing growled.

“I-i’m n-not sure…”

“Well Vaill, I’m going to check the database for when you were last seen so we can get an idea of how long you were gone, ok?”

I flicked my ears in agreement nervously when he walked out of the room, and I was left with the Annek, who seemed overjoyed to see me after all this time.
“Vaill! You’re alive!” She hugged me tightly, wrapping her tail around me as well.
“I-I didn’t think you m-made it out a-alive, A-Annek… it's g-good to see you again.”
Lacking the energy or the will to say or do anything else, I let myself fall back into her embrace, which lasted for a few moments before she went back to brushing my fur.
After around {20 minutes} passed she had finished straightening my fur. It felt good to feel like a person again, to remember who I was, but I would never be my full self again, not after what those things had done to me…

After some time Andrew made his way back with a holopad. He tilted the screen so that I could see, fortunately it was in Venlil script so I could read it.

“I-it's been f-five months…” It had felt like an eternity in that nightmare, time slipped away from me. I’d been stuck in my own head, wondering if there was a way I could’ve done more to protect the people of my town, knowing I failed.

There is nothing left for me here anymore, the people who cared for me, gone…
I was a failure for not doing better and protecting them, I should’ve done better.. I failed Annek, she is the last thing I have.. But she deserves someone who can protect her.. She doesn't need me…
“So you two know each other?” the tall thing growled, which snapped me back to reality.
I remained silent, unsure on what this thing was but Annek didn’t seem to mind it, so it was clearly prey like us, which meant I should start calling it by gendered pronouns. They seem male, at least by Venlil standards. I was not sure if this is real but Annek was all I had left. Even if this was a dream, I would trust her.
“Yeah, we met a long time ago. Vaill and I were best friends up until he was taken by them.”
“I-I.. yeah, we met d-during s-school..”
My head was spinning, still caught up on what that Arxur had said… humans… but there were no ‘humans’ where I had been offloaded, there were only Venlil.. That meant that the humans must be here… but no one was panicking and if there were predators here, people would panic, wouldn't they?
I trust Annek, I need to ask her about what the Arxur said…
“A-Annek… d-do you k-know.. If there a-are h-humans h-here..? The A-A-Arxur s-said we w-were b-being sent as ‘p-pets’ for them…”
The happiness from Annek drained as her ears drooped. The tall one, Andrew I believed they called themselves, froze and took a step back. Why would he do that? Unless… unless h- it was…
“A-Annek?.. W-what… what…”
It looked at my best friend.. like it had forward facing eyes, which confirmed my suspicions and my fur puffed out with fear and my ears pinned back against my head. I pushed my paws on the bed and tried to get as much distance as I could. It was standing in the doorway so I had no way out. My worst fears had been proven true, the Arxur wasn’t lying, we had simply been moved to another cattle farm… one that was once my home… Venlil Prime had fallen to the monsters I wanted to protect it from.
“Vaill there's no need to overreact, the humans are our friends, Andrew is my exchange program partner, he hasn’t hurt anyone. I can’t even imagine him hurting anyone,” Annek said that… with confidence? Why would she lie for a predator? Why was her tail wagging!?! It was like she trusted this thing, no, it was like she LIKED it?!
“H-has the taint r-really gotten to y-you, Annek?”
“Vaill, the humans are the ones that saved you!”
How could she say that after what predators had done to me! I knew this was too good to be true.
Annek was blind to their trickery and yet she was so sure of herself.. I trusted her.. But not that thing behind her..
“H-how can you trust it?”
“He has done nothing to hurt me. Please, just give him one chance.” Her eyes and body took on a pleading look.. Damn it, why was she so good at that?
“F-fine, one ch-chance, but that's it.”
That same happiness returned back to her and almost fell over by the door where it caught her.
She may not see it, but I do, I will atone for my mistakes by proving that these humans are up to something. It shouldn’t be hard, I just need to make it to an exterminators office. ‘Till then, I'll play along with it’s game.

Hi, I’m stuck between two graduate schools and need advice from people in the field. One school is Duke, where I would be getting a masters degree in terrestrial ecosystems and environmental analytics. The other is a school abroad that gave me a full ride and the degree would be in wildlife conservation. Duke, however, I would have to take loans for. Duke seems to be better for finding connections in the field and getting experience but are the loans really worth it? Would getting a masters degree in the field give me a big enough salary to pay off those loans, or is it just better to go to the school with less resources and have no loans? Thank you!

Hi folks. The TL;DR: I'm looking for recommendations on books, YouTube channels, etc., that will help me build "basic" bike knowledge.
I have been riding for 4 years now and put in about 6,000 miles on a hybrid bike before I finally finished my degree(s), got a job, and had the money to invest in a road bike. Prior to this point, I was using a too-big Marin Muirwoods a friend gave me for free, and I just didn't have the money to do much in the way of upgrading--I slowly bought cycling shorts, bibs, and jerseys as I had money, and I learned a bit along the way, but I just didn't have the money/community around me to help me learn or step up to the next stage. I almost always ride alone on rail trails because there isn't much of a cycling community where I am.
So, all this to say I am not a "beginner" to bikes but I am a beginner in the sense of not really knowing anything technical. I'm obsessed with my new road bike and ride ~100 miles a week as part of my training for RAGBRAI, and my lack of knowledge is starting to catch up with me. I can change a flat (usually! ha), know about taking care of my chain, can take off the wheels, etc. I know some basic concepts about using the gears, obviously, and I have a sense of what "cadence" is, tho I don't have a bike computer yet (planning to get one soon--money has just been the issue as I adjust to having savings again after 7 years of school). Most recently, I've been looking at indoor trainers for the winter or on days when my dog is too anxious for me to leave the house for a ride--but I'm bumping up against not really having the technical knowledge to understand what I'd need or why one might be better than another. But it's...so hard to learn?? The videos I watch usually end up being way too technical, even when I look for "beginner" etc., and I imagine that I don't need to tell y'all that asking male cyclist friends questions is often more frustrating than trying to figure it out myself. Again, not much of a cycling community here, and local bike shops don't offer classes or anything. So, I'm looking for recommendations on books, YouTube channels, etc., that will help me build "basic" bike knowledge to help me move to the next level of understanding my bike and improving in my training. What helped you learn?
I suppose also if you have comforting words about finding all the cycling language and tech stuff confusing, I'd appreciate that, too, lol. I literally have graduate degrees! I'm not dumb! But I just don't have the head for a lot of the technical stuff at all.

Hello cat preparation family, I've been in this group for quite some time now and I tend to follow all the discussions, especially during this time of the year where you make arguably one of the most important decisions of your life, choosing a correct B school. I'm a senior from GLIM from back in the day, and I've been in touch with many recent alums that seek guidance from me concerning the further recourse of their journey. I saw the interim placement reports of GLIM, and I want to articulate a much more palatable version of the same ; let's decode it further shall we ?

• I personally know the person who got the highest package from this year's batch, he's from my hometown. Even he is awestruck with the numbers that have been flaunted on the website and the offer letter that he has signed.
• The point about new recruiters is true.
• They are claiming that they have placed over 90% of people, but in reality these include people who were on a sabbatical and they had to join their parent organisations after their course had end. So what they are doing is including these bunch of people in the placed category, but not including their post MBA salary in the calculation. This is because sabbatical peeps generally get much lower CTC's as compared what one can expect from campus. This year however, people who went back to their parent organisations have got a much higher salary as compared to a larger fraction of the cohort.
• GLIM advertises this as a list of participating companies, as many of them either ran away from campus after not knowing that a 1 year MBA could exist other than ISB, or they simply revoked their offers and fled. The list includes many companies that simply floated a JD and never bothered to show up, like Zopper, Neo Roots Design, Chola MS, Laxai Life sciences etc.
• They have simply cut pasted the placement statistics of the previous year by changing the headings. The top 75% didn't have a 18.3 LPA, it would at most be the top 10-15%.
• Most of the batch got anywhere between 8-15 LPA, with a significant portion of them oscillating around the lower end of the spectrum. This is true only when you don't consider the folks who are currently unplaced and unlooked after, then in that case the range would be between 0-15 LPA.
• The industry wide classification of placements is a blatant lie. NO ONE GOT PLACED IN STRATEGY CONSULTING UNLESS YOU CONSIDER ACCENTURE STRATEGY, which is barely a strategy consulting firm. Whatever consulting there is on campus is tech consulting. Strategy consulting roles didn't come to us 4-5 years before, it doesn't come now. That is because there is a serious positioning problem for great lakes where they inherently only get companies famous for analytics, and the Placement cell doesn't put in that extra effort to help change the positioning of the B school.
• Accenture, Delloite, Infosys and TCS did make the highest no. Of offers. This has been a main stay for many years now.
• No way in hell the average is 17.3 , it's gonna be somewhere between 14-15 based on the inputs of the outgoing batch students. The numbers never made sense back in the day, and it simply doesn't make sense today as well. Don't just use a pinch, take a bag of salt before you trust the placement reports of any B school in general, not just GLIM.
• I don't recall anyone getting a General Managerial role from campus, I might be wrong though someone from the current batch please correct me if you're seeing this.
• The worst part that I'm hearing that never happened during my time is that the placement cell are continuously calling the unplaced students and harassing them to opt out of the placement process. Many of them have genuinely not been given enough opportunities, and this was never the case with GLIM back in the day. The GLIM I knew was compassionate, and helpful. But with the recent change in management, things have sadly changed for the worse. I'm hearing things like management is calling up these unplaced students one by one, and playing divisive politics. People who don't want to comply, are being soft threatened by saying that either further opportunities won't be given to that student, or worse, their marksheet and other documents wouldn't be released from campus. The placement cell is digging their own grave, as such threats can be legally binding, and the person who is responsible for harassing these students and playing with their career can actually face jail time if the student chooses to go down the legal route. If the GLIM administration is seeing this, please don't destroy the career of so many kids who have come to y'all with hopes of kickstarting their career. I was actually proud of being a GLIM Alumnus for quite some time now, but recent incidents have compelled me to take a tougher stance w.r.t the matter. Don't do this, GLIM. Just Don't.

Feel free to add any more pointers. Many people won't say this, but I believe it's your duty to analyse both sides of the coin before you invest your hard earned money into an MBA program. Misinformation is a serious issue, and the only way we can combat this is by actually engaging with the alumnus, not by taking everything the placement cell has to say at face value. All the best for your upcoming B school journey guys.