Analogy lesson plans for middle school

Hey everyone,
So I start school again in the fall of this year. I’m majoring in advertising with a concentration in copywriting. I’m really excited to study copywriting because I love writing creatively but want a steady job that’s flexible or even remote, but is still supporting me financially. Extra room for freedom, and I plan on being a working actor, so having a side hustle is really important!
Anyways, back story aside, I just want to get a head start on honing copy, so I’m curious if there’re any books or videos I can watch on YouTube that you guys recommend. Truly, the only reason why I’m asking, here, is so that I can get reliable answers since most videos on YouTube are the gurus and scammers trying to sell you a “get rich quick!” course on copy.

Oklahoma City, OK – Mrs. Lauren Peck-Weisenfels, the drama teacher at Classen School of Advanced Studies at North East High School, has come under scrutiny for allegations of bullying and discriminatory behavior towards autistic and physically disabled students. The claims have ignited concerns about the treatment of vulnerable students in the school’s drama department.
A Troubled Past
Four years ago, Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels was a teacher at Classen School of Advanced Studies Middle School. During a virtual class in 2020, she allegedly expressed disdain for teaching autistic and special education students, stating, "I hate teaching autistic & special Ed students!" This remark, reportedly overheard by the mothers of two seventh-grade students, prompted complaints to the school administration.
Despite these allegations, Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels was later transferred to the high school, where she continued to teach drama. Concerns about her behavior persisted as students from her middle school classes advanced to high school and found themselves once again under her instruction.
Current Allegations
This school year, a sophomore student who had previously encountered Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels in middle school was placed in her class due to limited elective options. According to the student and their mother, Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels continued to exhibit unkind and discriminatory behavior. The student, who is physically disabled, was allegedly ridiculed for their inability to keep up with costume-making tasks and was marginalized within the class.
In February 2024, Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels emailed the student's mother, stating her intention to fail the student for wearing headphones in class, even though the student was not being disruptive. The email hinted that Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels felt slighted by the student’s lack of engagement, which the mother attributes to previous verbal and emotional abuse.
The Role of Headphones for Autistic Students
Headphones are a critical tool for many autistic individuals, particularly teenagers, to manage sensory overload. Studies show that about 87% of autistic individuals experience sensory sensitivities. Headphones can help mitigate overwhelming sounds, enabling students to focus better and participate in classroom activities more comfortably.
Despite this, Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels reportedly expressed a desire to fail the student for wearing headphones in class. This attitude reflects a lack of understanding and accommodation for the needs of autistic students, who often use such tools to navigate their environment effectively.
May Incident and Unreported Bullying
In May 2024, tensions escalated further when Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels threatened to fail the student over a makeup project, despite the student attending their grandmother's funeral. This incident, while serious, was not formally reported at the time.
Additionally, another student, who uses a cane due to a physical disability, has been subjected to bullying by Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels and her entourage of students. The bullying has occurred behind the student's back and included mockery of their use of a cane and their social media activities, particularly on Tumblr. These actions were not reported until the evening of May 17, 2024, when the student with headphones informed their mother about the incidents.
The May 17 Incident
On May 17, 2024, Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels and a group of students allegedly taunted the aforementioned student in her office, calling them "lazy," "deaf," "ditzy," "slow," "stupid," and "a hindrance to the drama department." Believing the student couldn’t hear due to their headphones, the group reportedly yelled the student's name mockingly. The student, however, overheard everything but chose not to engage.
The same day, Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels reportedly threw a tantrum, slamming items around the classroom in an attempt to provoke a reaction from the student, who continued to ignore her.
Perpetuating Ableism and Discriminatory Rhetoric
Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels’ behavior is not only harmful to the targeted students but also perpetuates ableist and discriminatory rhetoric among her student entourage. By encouraging and participating in the mockery of disabled students, she is teaching her followers to normalize and perpetuate these harmful attitudes. According to psychological studies, teenagers are highly impressionable, and the behavior modeled by authority figures can significantly influence their beliefs and actions.
The Psychology of Living Vicariously Through Teenagers
Research indicates that some adults feel the need to live vicariously through teenagers, seeking approval and acting like them to fulfill unmet emotional needs or relive their own youth. This behavior can be particularly detrimental when exhibited by educators, as it blurs the boundaries between professional and personal interactions. Statistics show that about 30% of adults who exhibit this behavior struggle with identity issues and seek validation through younger individuals.
For teenagers, witnessing an adult, especially an educator, behave in such a manner can lead to confusion, loss of respect for authority, and the normalization of inappropriate behavior. This can contribute to a culture of bullying and exclusion, as students may mimic the adult's actions to gain favor or avoid becoming targets themselves.
The normalization of such discriminatory behavior can have lasting effects, contributing to a culture of intolerance and bullying. Studies indicate that witnessing or participating in bullying can lead to increased aggression, anxiety, and a distorted sense of empathy among youths. It is crucial to address these issues to prevent the spread of abusive behaviors and to promote a supportive and inclusive environment.
Parental Actions and School Response
Following these events, the student with the headphones relayed the incidents to their mother after school on May 17. The mother promptly contacted Kendall Stills with OKCPS via text message, though no response was received. That evening, the mother filed a formal TIPS report with Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS), detailing the history of bullying and including screenshots as evidence. She also contacted the parents of the student with the cane, encouraging them to email Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels and file a formal TIPS report. The mother included the names of the students in Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels' entourage and mentioned her own student in the report to help corroborate the incidents.
The parents involved are currently awaiting a response from OKCPS. Given that next week marks the last few days of the school year, it is uncertain when or if a resolution will be reached. The allegations against Mrs. Peck-Weisenfels highlight broader issues of inclusivity and respect for disabled students within the educational system.
Broader Implications
The situation at Classen School of Advanced Studies raises important questions about the responsibility of educators to create a supportive and nondiscriminatory environment for all students, particularly those with disabilities. As the community awaits the school district’s response, the case underscores the need for vigilance and advocacy to protect the rights and well-being of vulnerable students.

Hello everyone. Need advice. Long post ahead, so please bear with me.
I've (f21) been in a LDR with my boyfriend (m23) for a little over six months, known each other for almost a year. We fell in love quickly, as it almost seems we were designed for each other. He's like none of my exes, and I'm like none of his. We quickly established that we have long term intentions with each other that will hopefully lead to marriage and that we'd felt this way about no one else before. I still love him.
We are both a part of a religion where it is normal to talk about sexual history and any other intimate history up front, which we did (or so I thought). Early on we had that conversation and it included sharing our sexual history, the length / major details of last relationship and breakup, whether or not we'd lived with exes or were considering marriage with / engaged to other exes at any time, things of that nature-- things that would be hurtful if found out later. Not more detailed than necessary as to provoke each other, but enough to have transparency about each other's past before continuing in the relationship.
We started "talking" about two months after he got out of a 2.5 year long relationship, and it was the only girl he was ever sexually active with. He told me this during the conversation above. Naturally, learning this was enough to provoke my RJ but I largely kept it at bay and was able to address a lot of it with myself and move on over time, without dragging him into it.
Until I began catching on to some dishonesty
A couple of months later he revealed to me that he was actually SA-d by his ex girlfriend and that most of the sex was coerced, and the times it was not coerced, he felt pressured into it. He didn't call it r*pe, but that's what it is. I was obviously horrified that he had this experience (I have, also, but felt comfortable mentioning it up front), but it also upset me because I was led to believe that he had consensual sex with this girl, and as a result I had been jealous for a very long time. So I immediately felt overwhelmed with my own guilt for ever feeling jealous, and over the weeks afterwards struggled back and forth between that guilt and the same jealousy, although I knew the jealousy was wrong. This was kept to myself. I would never expect someone to come forward about their SA immediately, and so I can't really say he did anything wrong by keeping it from me, and I wouldn't call this a "lie" like the things I'll go on to mention below. Anyway, weeks passed and I was able to move on and was just thankful he felt comfortable enough to come forward.
January. Random bout of jealousy while in person. I go through his phone while he is in bathroom and find out that he, just a couple of months prior to us dating and right before his last breakup, had been planning to move to Florida by the end of the prior year to live with his then gf who had just moved (same one who SAd him). I also found out that they'd lived together for a few months during the relationship. This was all completely contrary to what he had told me, and I was extremely heartbroken and confused that 1) He'd lie to me about it, since we established up front that this sort of thing is important to us and 2) Why he'd want to move across the country to join someone who had sexually assaulted him. Obviously, going on someone's phone isn't ideal but I likely wouldn't have found out otherwise. This fueled my distrust and insecurity. We hashed it out and he apologized with what seemed like a sincere apology, and said that there is nothing else he is hiding from me, and that it won't happen again. I did my best to believe him, and tried to get over it all. And largely did-- less due to effort and more to due forgetfulness.
A couple of months pass, and I come to visit him for the week of Valentine's Day. When it's time to leave, I missed my flight, and that following week was extremely difficult. While he had to go back to work, I had to do school, and he let me use his laptop (as I didn't expect to be there that long, and didn't bring mine). While I was working, notifications kept popping up in the corner for email, literally a couple every minute. I noticed that a lot were ads from local apartment complexes (he had never had plans to move, I thought), and let the curiosity get the best of me. I began looking through these emails and learned that he and his ex girlfriend, for 2 out of the 2.5 years, had been looking to move in together and were touring apartments regularly. They had actually signed on one and paid the down payment, and had plans to move in. I confronted him about this, and he immediately got defensive and I just lost my shit from there. He admitted to me that he had planned on keeping that a secret from me indefinitely, hoping I'd never find out because he "knew it would break my heart." My heartbreak, however, was less about the content of the lie and more about the fact that he'd lied (again). He stated another reason as him being ashamed. He did clarify that the plans to move into the apartment had fallen through, but I had never felt so betrayed in my life. We had a long conversation about it, he said that he was sorry and that there was "nothing else" he was keeping from me, and I verbally forgave him and tried to move on. I thought it was a very mature conversation, perhaps the most important we'd ever had, and it meant a lot to me. I found myself almost thankful for the conflict because it lead to such progress. My efforts to forgive failed, though. The next day while he's at work I searched his iPad and found out that after our conversation that he slandered me to a friend (someone I'd never met, but was about to be introduced to) over text and told him he was considering breaking up, conveniently leaving out that he had lied to me several times and that I wasn't actually a crazy freak. I confronted him about this, feeling somehow even more betrayed, and wondering what the hell I'd gotten myself into. We had another conversation just like the last, he said this is the last thing and that there's nothing else, apologized, and I tried with all my might to forgive him.
As you can imagine, this all makes it hard to believe anything else he's said and would say-- compliments, reassurance, normal chit chat, stories, everything. There comes a point when you go through a cycle of forgiving someone being deceived finding out repeat where it destroys your ability to trust and also to forgive, and as a consequence it's hard to forgive that person for destroying your ability to forgive. Word salad, but I don't know else to describe it. It's really sad. But this all particularly bent my mind about the SA. I don't doubt that he was SAd at all, but I would be lying if catching him in other serious lies didn't at times make me hope he wasn't lying about that, too, especially since I've been through it and take it very seriously. It's a tough thing to deal with, as I am normally conditioned to believing survivors no matter what. But what do you do if someone DOES lie about it? And how do you know? I had already shoved aside confusion as to why he'd stay in the relationship to begin with, because I understand abusers can put the abused in an impossible position that's very difficult to get out of, but learning that he had planned to live with her and HAD lived with her just exacerbated that confusion times a million.
All of this being said, we are still together and love each other. I haven't caught him lying about anything else. But I'm at a point where I swing wildly back and forth, depending on the day or hour, on whether or not I see him as the best man in the world or as the person responsible for destroying things about me. I had dealt with liars in past relationships and it really screwed me up mentally, and I spent years learning to grow a healthy capacity for trust again. So being in such a new relationship and having it happen once more has really been a slap in the face. I hate that I feel so inconsistently about my lover and don't know whether I'm the problem or him, perhaps a bit of both, and I definitely don't know what to do to move on. I doubt every compliment, every bit of reassurance, every kind word, every promise, even though all of this happened months ago. I know he's trying to repent but I can't get myself to consistently believe him, even though he probably is being sincere. Forgive the long post. And if you're willing, please help me.
All love. Thank you. -- C

I’m not actually buying anything yet so everything is theoretical but I am trying to plan out a budget for a car and how to save up for it.
I’d want something small, fairly affordable (i’m in high school) and durable enough that it’s not breaking constantly (rip to my dreams of a fiat500)
must haves: • air conditioning • seat warmers (preferably but not necessary)
don’t really have anything else to add, any ideas? I’m in Canada btw.

The article will show analogies between Domain-Driven Design and mathematical modeling

Mathematical modeling

Students are introduced to mathematical modeling in a school. Roughly speaking, it is the translation of a problem from informal human language into the language of mathematics for subsequent solution.
(1) John and Bob ate three apples at dinner. John ate twice as many as Bob. How much did each eat?
(2) Let x be the number of apples that John ate Let y is the number of apples that Bob ate.
Then: (3) x + y = 3 x = 2 * y
Solving the system of linear equations:
x = 2, y = 1
(1) - problem statement in the domain area (2) - mathematical modeling (3) - mathematical model
Another example from the world of physics - we need to calculate how much fuel is needed to fly to the Moon and back. There are Newton's Laws of motion of celestial bodies, there are data on fuel, the vehicle, the mass of the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, the calculated trajectory and other information.
The whole power of the mathematical apparatus is the absence of semantics. It doesn't care whether it's counting apples or the trajectory of a rocket. It is a formalized system that operates with soulless symbols according to established rules. Arithmetic has its own rules, algebra has its own rules, Euclidean geometry has its own rules.
The achievements of the natural sciences depend on how accurately and completely they construct mathematical models for their problems. If the mass of the moon is not specified, it will be impossible to give an answer to the above problem. On the other hand, if the proposed trajectory is mathematically unattainable, physicists will have to change it.
A mathematical model is a general projection of the problem to be solved from the physics side and the math side into some "common" space.

Domain-driven design

This methodology was proposed 20 years ago by Eric Evans in his famous “big blue book”: Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software
For many, DDD is when if you are, for example, making an online store, you must have Product, ShoppingCart, etc. classes, i.e., entities in the code must correspond to business entities. This is not really about DDD.
The main goal that Eric Evans set when creating his methodology was to enable you to create a program architecture in such a way that you can satisfy the client's requirements with maximum probability and build a clear, maintainable and extensible system. Get a quality and successful program product.

Comparison of design methods

DDD is mainly aimed at complex non-typical tasks with vague/varying requirements, to minimize the risks of spending a lot of time and money and not getting something usable in the end.
In cascade development (waterfall), the client gives clear requirements to the business analyst, the system architecture is built according to them, and programmers make code according to it.
In agile development (agile, XP, iterative) the client gives general requirements, a prototype of the system architecture is built on them, programmers make code on it, the system is shown to the client, corrections are made, the next version is released, etc. in a circle.
In case of DDD the joint work between domain area specialists and programmers goes all the time of development. The link between them is the domain model and ubiquitous language. For the first few chapters of the book, Eric Evans talks only about them and their importance.
The main point of the domain model is to be a constant projection of the problem being solved from the client side and the developer side into some common space. Everything in the domain model should be reflected in the program architecture. And vice versa - if a programmer discovers that some business rule cannot be applied or it is better to do it differently, he is obliged to open a discussion about it and initiate changes in the domain model, without making attempts to simply code it in “the right way”.
The domain model itself lacks semantics, it is written using UML diagrams and formal documentation. Semantics is given to it by a ubiquitous language in which the whole team (including the client) communicates. Each term of the domain model must be understood equally by all participants.

Parallels

Analogy to the space flight example above: - math model = domain model - physics = ubiquitous language - mathematical apparatus = software development - mathematical modeling = domain model development process
From this we can draw the corollary that just as in the first case, mathematicians' deviation from the supplied mathematical model will easily lead to wrong/unnecessary results, so in the second case, developers' deviation from the domain model can lead to failure in the end.

In his book, Eric Evans gives the following real-life example. Internet Explorer used to save “Favorites” as files with names corresponding to page names. When the user tried to specify his name, he sometimes got an error “Invalid file name”, although it was not obvious what files had to do with it. This was because the developers were using their own model and the client wanted something different.

Summary

Thus, there is a strong idea of mathematical modeling behind DDD

Hello redditors, I have an opinion question to ask.
I just graduated from college, and was accepted to NYU for graduate school in the fall. Only about 50% of students get scholarships, and I received a 50% tuition scholarship from them to attend. The program would put me exactly in the job field that I want to pursue life long, and I genuinely find joy in the idea of pursuing said career (Public Policy Analyst). My career goal requires education beyond just my bachelor’s degree, and I genuinely love school and am excited about continuing going to classes. I’ve met some great people who will also be in my program that I am excited to see there. I also plan to live in NYC for many years to come, and have not found a single other place in the world where I feel like my most authentic self. The program is one of the best in the country, and has faculty who have worked on Capitol Hill and other amazing organizations. The program will be superrrrr good for my chosen field and unlock many connections lifelong. I truly feel like I have the key to my perfect future in my hand with this opportunity.
All of this sounds great, right? Well… as you can imagine I would be taking out an exorbitant amount of student loans for this Master’s program. Even with the 50% tuition, the cost for 2 years of the tuition is a little over $100k total (I have no idea how people pay that without scholarships!!!) Thankfully, my undergraduate tuition was completely paid for through a scholarship that I earned, so I don’t have a lot of student loans besides my living expenses from that time. This allows some leeway for grad school expenses, however, I would be looking at around $100-120k in loans at the end of all of this…
Thankfully, my career field will most likely fall under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness track, so I believe that I will be eligible to get these loans paid for. It is not a 100% guarantee though. My career field makes somewhat decent money, but if these loans don’t get forgiven, I’m looking at a cool 20+ years paying off these loans.
Given the overwhelmingly large amount of net positives of this program, I am thinking of just going for it and taking on the loans. At the same time I am not sure how wise this is given the number and uncertainty in the loan forgiveness. I know that as an adult I need to make this decision and I am the one who will need to pay these off eventually. However, I was hoping to get some input from strangers with zero stake in my life who will give me the straight up facts (the lovely people close to me in my life of course said to follow my heart and go for it, but I am sure that they just don’t want to hurt my feelings). So please, if you feel so inclined redditors, give me your input!

So I had a bit of a health scare and am trying to lose some weight as a result. But since I am ✨recovered✨ for many years, I am trying to do this in various healthy ways. I've got no experience in "healthy weight loss" only in completely maladaptive methods like b/p, severe restriction, and medication abuse. I'm in my 40s. My friend is in his 40s. He happened to be there when my health scare happened so he's particularly invested in my outcome. So today we are talking and he's asking about my plans and suggesting some weird things. So I immediately just decide to tell him about my disordered past. He's known me since high school, but he never knew this. He's seen my weight fluctuations over 25 years but we never talked much about it. So today I confess all of my disordered behavior and that it's hard not to go there. Hard to keep myself from falling into an old pattern, but that on the flip side I also feel disgusted with myself for not just easily slipping back into an old pattern. Like who am I? What am I? It's so distressing. So then he's like "well try it for a day. Don't commit to anything. Just try it and see how it feels" and I legitimately honestly think that because he's a man he is ignorant to what he's saying. He's ignorant to the damage. He must be. Because I know he loves me and doesn't want me to be hurt or damaged. I know he's worried about my health. But I think that having grown up as a male person he's never had to deal with unfair expectations put onto women, he's never dealt with ED or anything related to this and he's just completely clueless. I feel horrible. He literally didn't think my saying I was considering severe restriction was bad. Am I that far gone? That to an average person it seems like a good idea for me to eat toddler meals? Because I really must be that disgusting and broken that toddler meals is what I deserve and should have. Sorry for this rant and thank you for reading. Tomorrow I'll be probably eating toddler portions and seeing how it feels, just for one day. Fun.

So I (33M) proposed to my fiancé (30F) a few months ago, and we’ve been planning the wedding ever since. She wants a traditional Catholic wedding, but I suggested something that may be a little abstract. I suggested having our wedding on a boat. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been obsessed with aquatic life, and I thought the next best thing to having a scuba diving wedding was one that involved being on a boat! My wife was heavily against this idea. When I asked why, she said that she is “deathly afraid of water, especially deep water, and would not want to be at risk of drowning if she fell in the water due to being in a heavy dress." I thought this was crazy of her to say, because clearly, if we were on a boat, there would be lifesavers and trained professionals that could save anyone that fell over. I asked if the cost was the true reason why she did not want to do my concept, and she said no, but I doubt that. We are both in graduate school and are in a decent amount of debt, but we have family members willing to contribute to the cost. Additionally, I have a family member willing to donate their boat for the wedding. The argument got pretty heated, with her calling me “ignorant” and saying that I’ve known about her fear of water for years and never listened, but this is the first time I’ve heard of it. She stormed off, and the argument ended there.
I am a deep believer in not letting fear guide your decisions, so when she said her only objection was being scared, I thought of a way to make her less scared. That night, while she was asleep, I ordered a water bed on Amazon, got two-day shipping, and set the delivery time to when I knew my wife would be at work. I called up a few friends to ask if they were free, and I planned to have everyone meet up to help me remove the old mattress and replace it with the new one. When it finally got delivered, I started working on removing the mattress.
Essentially, we were done by late afternoon, and I had enough time to cook dinner and get ready before my fiancé got home. We had a good night, and everything was going fine until she came to get into bed. I made sure to wash the sheets and covers and remake the bed so everything looked identical. When she got in, she said, “What the fuck is this?” so I told her what I had done and why. I just did it to make her less sensitive to the feeling of rocking in water! She started yelling at me, telling me that I never respected her decisions and that she wasn’t sleeping in our bed tonight, and locked herself in the guest room. The next morning, when I got ready to go to work, she still hadn’t left the room, and I assumed that that night she would be willing to talk. However, when I got home, the door was still closed and her shoes were unmoved. I texted her a few times, asking her to talk, before deciding just to go to sleep. When I sat on the bed, I sank incredibly deep. This was because she POPPED HOLES INTO THE WATER BED. It leaked everywhere, causing the carpet underneath to be SOAKING WET and damaged. I went to try the knob on the door to tell her to come out so we could talk, but the door was unlocked. The room was empty, and when I looked at the bed, there was a note stating she went to her parent’s house for a few days to think about this and us.
I told my friends this, and almost everyone is saying I am an asshole for doing this, but I don’t think I am. I just wanted my wife to see that a boat wedding is not that scary. AITA?

Ive been on the Internet since middle school and I noticed the most common characters from evangelion is misato and asuka. I've watched only a little of evangelion, so I don't know why a lot of people like these characters.
For example the appeal I heard for misato is that she like alcohol, doesn't sound much of a personalilty. They all sound one note the way people mentions these characters. I think one of the major appeals to evangelion is the Giant robot monster battles. the characters being brought up, especially now, are just hear because of nostalgia.

TLDR; My partners family hates me and treat him horribly and I just want to keep myself away from them. I want to stay as far away from them as possible, but don't want to force my partner to as well, or leave him with all the backlash. How do I do it?
First I want to give a little background on the situation. Me (23NB) and my partner (23M) have been together since middle school. We just started dating and never stopped, and it's been great as far as just the two of us go-- we've graduated college, moved in together, plan on getting married when we can afford it, etc. I am extremely different from his family. They are very traditional; catholic, everyone has lots of kids, no one has moved more than an hour away without being shamed, everyone is married by late 20's, women stay home to care for the kids, etc. They're also very rich, with a huge house, paid foare paying for all their kids to go to college, that kind of thing. I'm not religious, child free, planning on moving to a different region when I can, raised by a single mother and low contact with my dad, difunctional/not close extended family for the most part, nonbinary, autistic. We were always surviving but frugal, got things like free school lunches, first cars were beaters or from family friends, that kind of thing. Most of my partners introduction to things like not affording vacations, normal sized houses, how to grocery shop efficiently/with a budget etc. were through me since he just hadn't experienced those things before.
For a long time those facts weren't really a problem, often glossed over or not mentioned. I now realize it's because his mother (And my extent his whole family) figured we'd break up during/after college and he would find someone more to their tastes (Outright said to my partner when I wasn't present). I always had the feeling she didn't like me, but it was always brushed off as my misinterpretation since she was so nice to my face. Again, I now realize this is just what she does, she is nice to my face and then complains to my partner after the fact. That is the majority of my problem. As mentioned before, I'm autistic, and I need direct communication to understand if they want something. My partner and I communicate amazingly, and we've both been on the look out for things I do that might be considered rude, but we never spot any, yet she always has some small thing I've said or done to complain over. In addition, I came out to his parents after much anxiety and deliberation. His mom talked through the whole thing, I didn't get to mention most of the talking points I wanted, she said I should "get therapy" and did everything but say directly that I'm a trans man who's confused and when I come out for real my partner will break up with me (As in she heavily implied with things like "Well, if this happened..."). They've proceeded to not tell any of the rest of the family (Which I feel nervous to do myself considering their reaction), have never used my proper pronouns, criticize the more androgenous parts of me such as my clothes and hair, and have generally just ignored that fact about me.
The straw that really broke the camels back is this last family vacation. I've only been to three of their vacations, but they go on at least three a year with the family (Mom, Dad, my partner, his three siblings, grandma, and sometimes the sisters boyfriends), and no less than five a year with less than that (So just the parents, parents and one kid, etc.) depending on who's available. These have always been rather hellish for my partner. He's one of the middle children and draws the short straw on everything. I saw it a little the first two times I came along, but really saw it this time. Ignoring his suggestions while listening to his siblings, ignoring problems that only effect him/us and telling him/us to deal with it (Ex. only our shower didn't work on this latest vacation, that problem was ignored while similarly annoying problems for others had to be fixed immediately), "If you want to do that, you can pay for it" comments while paying for literally everything else the other siblings wanted, being told he should be more grateful and positive when he simply removed himself from situations to avoid being upset. There was not a single event or day that went by without his whole family turning on him for every little thing. And, from as nonbiased a perspective as I can give, he never actually did anything to deserve the treatment. He just wanted to occasionally do his own thing, make suggestions, or remove himself.
That's where I need advice. After one last incident right as we got home of one of his siblings crying to my partner about how I'd been so rude and done so many "microagressions" (I'm using their words, the examples given were when I joked about a situation and when I asked them to open something for me I couldn't get), I never want to be around his family for extended periods again. They can't tell me to my face they don't like me, our lifestyles are apparently not compatible, I never know what I do wrong until after the fact, etc. But just because I don't ever want to see them again, doesn't give me the right to tell my partner he can't ever see them again, I feel. He absolutely wants to distance himself from them, but his mom's overbearing and insistent nature makes it extremely hard which I am understanding of, and holds out hope they'll chill out with time. Breaking up, telling him to just suck it up and block their numbers, or giving ultimatums are not things I'm willing to consider. The last thing I want to do is build resentment or let his family tear apart this very functioning, very loving relationship.

Hey all,
This may be a pretty lengthy post. At this point, I’m posting to get the support of others (or the pushback to know I’m in the wrong) because I’m tired of the biased answers my parents and everyone else are giving me, and I need an outside perspective.
I wanted to ask for advice regarding a topic that's really been nagging me. My old friend and I are on a call right now just talking things through, and as someone who was honestly hurt real bad I need to ask for advice about what to do. I can't really talk to anyone else in my personal life about it, as my parents would likely try to make the decision for me
I [16M] was best friends with J [16M] for over 12 years. According to my mother, we met at 2-3 years old when we were at preschool and got along very well, and he was invited to my 5th birthday party. There are so many specific memories I could bring up, which I could never stop writing about, but we grew up together. He was my only friend growing up, being born with a speech impediment that has since been corrected and the label that comes with it. We went through periods where we talked nearly every day and periods where we talked once every couple of months. But we made a lot of memories, and each time it’s as if we never stopped talking.
We created things together, spent holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years hanging out together, pulling all-nighters. And these are less than 0.1% of all our total memories. It was honestly the most amazing friendship I’ve ever had and will likely ever have, unfortunately.
November 2022 was the two year anniversary of a small Roblox game I created. He had been recording and making videos for the longest time, and I had just released a video to celebrate, which he seemed to be impressed by. Again, it was as if we never stopped talking, but from that period on it was every single day. We had never talked that much, spending weekends together and doing amazing stuff. We even streamed together on YouTube to raise money for charity as part of the Thanksmas event. And he’s in a lot of my videos and other creations.
We pulled each other through hard times. High school, as you can guess, is where romantic relationships begin developing. Whenever I needed advice, he was there, and vice versa. I helped him get through a toxic girlfriend he had, and he found love again.
The only thing that really bothered me was that I was the one who introduced him to ChatGPT, which is an amazing tool if I’m being honest. I’m not mad about that, I’m mad that on my 15th birthday, which I believe is a milestone if I’m not mistaken, he didn’t take the time to write just TWO words “Happy Birthday” that would have been enough, and instead used ChatGPT to generate a birthday card, just smack dab copied and pasted. I brushed it off though, as it wasn’t too big of a deal honestly and only stands out now that the events that transpired have taken place.
This new girl he had, we’ll call S. S is an extremely manipulative girl, very good at it I’ll admit, but our mutual friends at the time, L, C, and K picked up on that, as well as myself. I consistently tried to warn him, but it was no use, and he was beginning to change to the point that it was irritating me to new levels. It’s important to note he confided in me about how unhappy he was yet he stayed and acted as if everything was normal, and appeared upset when I brought up the times he told me he was upset about everything.
Eventually, it got to the point that was all we talked about. S. It was so damn annoying. We couldn’t even have normal conversations anymore. And I wasn’t the only one, as C and I talked about it occasionally.
August 23, 2023. The day my world changed forever. He told me to screenshot messages containing him confiding in me, and send it to her privately. I did so, and she posted it to a group chat containing J, herself, K, C, and myself, and just started berating him. It’s important to note I had previously let her off the hook for insulting my mom, which I never do at all. It’s important to know that I’m not forgiving at all, and when I do forgive, it’s pretty rare. Although I can’t be sure, I believe it may be tied to the fact I used to be so forgiving to the point I allowed people to walk over me in elementary and middle school, and I never will allow that again.
The stuff she said, honestly, if she were not a girl (I would never hit a woman) and she were next to me, I would have knocked out her teeth. Although my mother and I argue from time to time, one thing I cannot deny is that she went through absolute torture to keep me alive when she was pregnant with me, and now I’m a fully healthy young teenager.
So I just started releasing everything, telling her how I felt about her hurting the people I care about and trying to play victim. It’s important to note she used J as a rebound from an ex she was clearly not over (you don’t compare exes 24/7 in a new relationship, guys!) and I previously was not going to call this out at J’s request. However, after she started going after my friends, I just said I would do it. J threatened to block me as a way to deter me (which actually solidified my decision to do it) and it was at that moment I just felt the switch of brotherly love and care (he was practically my brother) turn off in my mind. I could not believe he would threaten to do that for a girl he had been dating even shorter than the amount of time since the summer started, after well over a decade.
He blocked me on Discord after I challenged him to see if he would really follow through or take back what he said, and when I say I blocked him on everything, I mean EVERYTHING. If he tried to reach out to me through even Gmail, I wouldn’t know because it would go straight to my spam folder.
I didn’t know much, but what I did know was that he tried to reach out to me twice through mutual friends, asking for forgiveness. I learned through K what the deal was, at J’s request. A week later, S’s mother found out, and although I will not say specifics, let me just say that I’m not even sure if I can legally say anything without landing myself in a courtroom to testify.
I got a video in my YouTube recommendation tab in November (one of my comments on his videos got over 50 likes or something) about him returning to YouTube and addressing “everything.” I was interested, so I watched the entire thing, and I was surprised that a good third or so of the video was about me. I learned that he was fine the week after because this girl spoke to him (which really says a lot in my opinion) and only after his life went downhill did he realize what he did. He expressed how bad he felt about it, how he missed me, and how it’s worse because he feels like he could have fixed it, as (he claims to have lost me, not the other way around) he didn’t lose me to something like a car accident, or cancer, or some killer disease, and he was essentially pleading with those watching that he lost to reach out to talk about it. I ALMOST reached out, as he said we didn’t have to be friends, but I didn’t at the time.
Now, life has gone by at its normal pace. It was very hard living with it every single day. It's been about nine months since it happened, and we finally talked about the entire thing tonight. The thing is, I really do want to forgive him, but I'm just so anxious. I haven't healed, I'll admit, from what happened and I don't think I ever will. I see a beautiful future, but I'm also really scared that something worse could possibly happen in the future.
I wanted to ask, what would you do? If you were me in this situation, would you try to fix everything, or just leave it in the past?

I (14f) have feelings for my best friend (14f) [lets call her A] and I don't know how to go about them. She always says she's straight but everyone (including our close friends) thinks she's just in the closet. I personally think she might be asexual but haven't brought it up with her because I'm pretty sure it's not something she's considered and I think she should figure that out on her own terms. We've talked about romance and those kinds of things and she mentions wanting to be in a relationship but she always talks about not wanting to have sex with anyone and finding it entirely unappealing. I'm also aware that we might just be too young and she might think about it differently as we grow up. Anyways, we became friends through one of our other mutual friends (13m) [J] who dated her childhood best friend ( they've known each other since they were like 3) and at first he joked about how we got rlly close rlly fast and that we hung out with each other without him more often. Lately he's been my confidant which is always a little weird because it turns out he likes her too and confessed to her a few months ago. (She hates him now because he told one of our other friends [M] that he liked A because she was so much like ([N] his ex and A's best friend) & that the two of them, A & N were practically the same person. (They're really not) So now its all sorta weird. But getting back on track, she's sort of flirty with me (I think, I don't have much experience with these things) and I think it's different than how she is with some of our other friends. We all always hang out in the library during lunch (We're nerds, we're all literally the top students of our school) and sometimes she just randomly holds my hands or stares at me for no reason. Most of the time we're there as a group she and I are like in our own little world and our friends notice it too. We went behind some shelves one time and they all said we were making out (I wish) and they sometimes say things like "Oh go talk to your girlfriend" or "I think your girlfriend is calling you" and she never corrects them. Some of our other classmates think we're dating because we always walk each other to class too. (Neither of us does that with other people) But i don't know. I'm not planning on making a move but I just don't know what to do sometimes when I get overwhelmed if she's being 'too' friendly if yk what I mean.

Hello all. I'm a grad student in the US. I did a bachelors of science in Biochemistry and completed all the medical pre-requisite courses as far as I can tell. My undergrad GPA is 3.97 and science GPA is 4.0. I went to a California State University for undergrad. I'm at a UC for grad school. I graduated from undergrad a few years ago and went to a Biology PhD since I didn't really have a plan and it felt like the most logical next step. I figured I'd do academia, but its definitely a lifestyle I can't live with. I had always considered medical, but never took action since I didn't have much of a desire for it until now. I am wrapping up the first year of my PhD and I feel an overwhelming desire to leave the PhD program and pursue medical.
I've thought over this decision carefully and I think it is the right choice for me. I'll be the first in my family to do medical school and don't really know who to turn to for advice/guidance. I'm reading through the helpful posts and FAQ's. I'd like to share my plan and ask for any advice anyone has.
I'm planning to stay in my PhD program until I've gotten all or most of the pre-requisites/extracurriculars complete then master out. As far as I can tell, these are the pre-requisites/extracurriculars I have not done yet: MCAT, clinical hours, shadow hours, volunteering hours, CASPER, preVIEW exam. I have completed: getting a bachelors degree, having a high enough gpa (I think), leadership experience being a TA (for general bio, general chemistry, Calculus II, and Calculus III), and getting research hours. I should have a publication in pre-print in a few months (hopefully).
I'm planning to take the MCAT by May 2025. I'm also trying to get in contact with some family friend doctors to do a month or two of shadowing and clinical hours in 2025. I'm still a bit confused on the CASPER and/or preVIEW exams, but I'll take them when I do.
As far as age. I'm currently 24 and will be ~27 by the time I apply. I am a bit worried about being older than others applying for medical school but I think it'll be ok since I am determined to do this.
I'd like to apply for the medical school cycle in fall 2026 (start medical school in 2027). I would appreciate any advice on my plan or in general. I would also appreciate some positive affirmations lol (its hard to come by in grad school. Lord knows my PI does not help with boosting my confidence).

I (f23) feel like my life force is being drained from my soul. I don’t sleep. I don’t eat. I don’t drink water. I barely make it to my job which I use to do a regular 9-5 but now I can only stomach two 3 hour shifts a week.
Last October my younger brother (m14) took his own life. He was my best friend, I don’t have other siblings and never wanted anymore after him. He was all I needed in a brother. He was the absolute best person I ever knew and I know no one in my life can ever compare to my brother. No one knew how bad he was struggling. We knew he was going through something but we all chalked it up to teenage angst because he was so good at hiding what he was truely feeling. He did he late at night. When everyone was asleep.
When my broken dad told me my brother killed himself my life ended right there. All the plans and all the dreams I had for the future taken from me within a span of a second. That first week after his death has to be the most traumatic experience of my life. I would sit there for hours hearing my dad wail for his son…I’ve only ever seen my dad cry twice in my life. Hearing the blood curdling screams coming from my step mother. Having to talk to the police about how my brother was found. Finding my brothers note and crying for hours and hours. I would try to sleep but everytime I would try my brain would imagine how my brother was found. How his body was discovered. I even went to my brothers school a day after his death to see his group of friends. Seeing a group of young men cry and scream for there mate was really hard. It was also hard to look into these young boys eyes and tell them it will be okay and that my brother loved them.
It’s been almost 6 months since all of this and time has seemed to move on for everyone but every day when I wake up it feels so fucking fresh. I wake up and it feel like my brother just died yesterday. I don’t know if I can do the rest of life like this. I seriously don’t know if I can do it.

Hello, GoG
I'm back for a fourth attempt, hoping that persistence will finally pay off. This time, I won't just tell you about the game or my love for the tower defense genre. Instead, let me share a whimsical tale that captures the essence of Bloons TD 6—a story of a monkey named Gerald and his epic battle against balloons. The expanded version
Once upon a time, in a jungle far, far away, there lived a shy monkey named Gerald. Gerald was known among his peers for his extreme introversion. He often hid away in the school bathrooms to avoid group projects, preferring solitude over social interactions.
On Gerald's ninth birthday, which coincided with Valentine's Day, his parents devised an unusual plan to help him break out of his shell. They set him up on three blind dates. The mere thought of sitting across the table from another monkey sent Gerald into a panic. On his first date, Gerald fainted from stress. On the second date, he ended up in the emergency room with a racing heart. His parents, realizing traditional dates were too much for him, decided to try something different for the third date.
This time, they set Gerald up with a balloon. Despite the absurdity of the situation, Gerald found himself drawn to the balloon, which he named Stacy. Stacy wasn't just any balloon; she had a face drawn on her and a personality that captivated Gerald. They did everything together—picnics, walks, dancing, and more. Gerald didn't care about the strange looks they received; he was happy.
However, Stacy had a darker side. She was unfaithful, often flirting with and following attractive men. On their anniversary, Gerald caught Stacy in the act of cheating. Heartbroken and furious, Gerald vowed to rid the world of all balloons. He formed a task force called "Bloons Tower Defense" (or Bloons TD) to execute his plan. Over time, the task force evolved, with the latest iteration being "Bloons TD 6."
Determined to exact his revenge, Gerald overcame his introversion to lead his team against the balloons. His mission became my mission, and now, I want to join Gerald in his quest.
So, dear GoG team, I ask for your kindness and support. Let me assist Gerald in his battle against Stacy and her cadre of balloons. Your generosity would mean the world to me.
Thank you for considering my request. I hope this story brought a smile to your face, and I wish you all a fantastic week.
Thank You So Much
P.S. Who wouldn't love monkeys popping balloons? It's pure fun!
Bloons TD 6
SteamID

Hi I’m an 18 year old female, this happened 20 mins ago my mom took me shopping at the mall for my birthday, I love my mom she’s so sweet on our way pack I was walking slightly fast to the car because I’m on my period and really needed to sit down and my mom knows this when I got outside I was noticed my mom wasn’t begging me so I happily sat waiting for her for a few seconds and then she came out holding the bags and her coffee she said “hey why did you walk out so fast I need help” she said in an stern voice I said “oh I’m sorry I wasent meaning to walk fast and if you needed help you could have called out to me and I would have came out happily to help” she kept telling me it was disrespectful it turned into an argument and she said “from now on I’m just gonna say no to things you wanna do” I was so confused so I said “what… you’re just making that rule right now because you’re emotional I walked out “fast”” she yelled and stoped me mid way saying “I’m not emotional!” It turned into a bigger thing her just yelling and yelling and I didn’t want to yell and for it to turn to a big thing so I said ”I need some air I’ll be right back” I said calmly and opened the car door and sat in right next to the park door before she came out yelling “ get your ass balk in the car you’re grown ass woman crying on the street” I started feeling slightly embarrassed I got in the back seat seat hung but I bit my young before she started yelling saying she the mom and yada yada yada I dealt my fist clench before u scared out “You’re not mom for the past 18 years you haven’t never been there for me you don’t get to sit here and try to act like one now do you have any idea of the shit you put me through no you don’t so don’t sit here and try to act like a mom now!” (My mom was never there for me till I was maybe mid middle school I didn’t see her as a mom till high school like 13 or 14 and she kept dragging me the relationships I never had a father he had 12 kids and my mom when I was in elementary got into an marriage and he would physically hurt me and things and his friends too it only lasted two years) I’ve never screamed at anyone and especially at that time it was like I was someone else and as soon as I finished I started apologizing and hyperventilating and my eyes got mode my moms head hanged low and I could tell my words hurt, I kept saying sorry over and over hyperventilating I love my mom I feel bad but not it definitely needed to come out in how I felt but not in that way never in that way. We’re still in car driving home and I saw her tear up again I feel bad but u don’t most of my child hood she was out partying she was my age when she had me for a while I thought she was my older sister and my grandma was my mom I don’t remember my mom a lot growing up I feel bad so AMITA for yelling at my mom if I am I understand why we as kids should never yell at our parents.

i've been looking around at anchorage on google maps lately for no particular reason (i peruse google maps on a frequent basis but i've been stuck on yall) and i'm seeing that you have a lot of potential to become a much bigger city. and not with sprawling, with density. it's honestly something you should anticipate, climate refugees are gonna start being more of a thing, alaska is cheap and beautiful and it won't be sizzling or drying out or flooding any time soon, plus the us as a whole is the #1 immigrant destination, so a non-insignificant amount of growth could be coming from them in the future. and that's not to say that your city will end up swamped with destitute people, moving this far away is gonna be a task only done by the wealthier of those that are soon to be fucked by co2.
but the point is that with the political will, anchorage could be an urbanist metropolis no matter who may end up in the future. you have about 70 mi2 of usable land, after excluding your many amazing parks (the urbanized area of the bowl excluding elmendorf and anc and surrounding parks is 77 but there's a lot of parks within there and merrill field). without using excessive densities or losing parks, the anchorage bowl could house 1 million people, a density of a little over 14,000/mi2, or about 1/3 of the density of koreatown in la. and this wouldn't be uniform, some of the area i included is steep hills in the bear valley area, or industry, so those would have fewer people, and downtown would ofc be denser and have more. considering the amount of empty non-parky space around the city, that could be developed into dense, mixed use areas where people both live and work. additional services like schools, fire stations, hospitals, etc, would obviously also be part of densifying a city. legalizing multiplexes on single family lots alone could easily double or triple your population because of how large your lots are, and that'll also introduce gentle density into existing suburbs without destroying the fabric of the neighborhood. your existing strip malls could also be redone to include a lot more commercial area. but places across the us are overbuilt for commercial, with several times as many sf of commercial as countries in europe, a big reason why so many storefronts are empty (there's just too many), so more commercial areas might not be as necessary as redesigning them. office space could also be increased in density, both in downtown and across the city, commuter suburbs create terrible traffic. speaking of downtown, most of the historic buildings have been gutted for parking or new highrises, leaving it just a shell of what it once was. a whole lot of infill is gonna be needed, and while that might seem impossible because of the amount of earthquakes you get, take a look at japan, that's what i also say to people that think more skyscrapers in la is a bad thing. japan has stronger earthquakes than even alaska, but they don't fall down too often.
now for the transportation aspect, good job if you've read this far. first of all, i 100% acknowledge that more people own more cars and therefore make more traffic. but not everyone needs to drive all the time, if we get people to drive less they'll own less cars and make less traffic. now that does also seem hard, you're in alaska and if there's one thing you're known for it's being cold. but we can learn a lesson from finland here. oulu has similar temperature variations to anchorage (just a little colder in the dead of winter) and a little bit less precipitation. helsinki is slightly warmer and wetter as well. but both of these places have plenty of active transportation, even in the winter. oulu is known as the winter cycling capital of the world and has excellent bike infrastructure made especially for the winter, with frequent plowing of bike paths. pedestrian and bike infrastructure is significantly cheaper than roads and could easily be massively beefed up to crisscross the anchorage bowl. about half of trips made in the us are under 3 miles, so most-all of those could be replaced with walking and biking, and in most places outside the us they are. now on to transit. your transit system sucks. it hardly has any routes and many are infrequent. i haven't visited (i would love to) but i've looked at a map of it once and it was so tiny. with 5x as many people you could support a whole lot more bus routes, and probably even two rail lines, one north-south from downtown to the south of the city and one east-west from the airport to uaa. if they were to be adequately grade separated (road crossings aren't level so it doesn't interact with traffic) and run frequently enough then they could easily serve a city of a million, and higher density development would be clustered around those stations, again like they do in japan and what is slowly starting to happen along the e line here in la. something like 40-50 bus lines traveling primarily straight down arterials but some also connecting specific places + the two rail lines (could totally be light rail) would be great for a city of that size. bus lanes on some streets would separate them from cars and could be implemented on street segments where multiple bus routes run. and lastly, car transportation. we're deprioritizing car transportation in this idea so no major upgrades would be necessary. one thing i absolutely love about your roads is the roundabout exits, and having them in some other places too, roundabouts are great ways to keep traffic constantly flowing and eliminate lights. keep it up with that. the only main thing would be to pave your roads in the southern end and maybe turn some of them into two lane roads with sidewalks, since there'll be a somewhat higher volume of cars. also a big thing to consider is eliminating minimum parking requirements to make the cost of construction, maintenance, and later renting/buying places cheaper, and it'll reduce people's inclination to own a car if there's less parking everywhere.
this is all hypothetical, but should you ever get an influx of population for whatever reason i would suggest you guys put out proposals to enable good urbanism practices in the city and maybe the whole state. if you agree with these types of things, run for public office, be the person who engineers these things, it takes the power of the people to get change done in a democracy. so the easiest and most effective thing you can do is vote, if enough people vote the right way then change can be made.
in all honesty i am expecting a flood of downvotes from nimbys. also fyi i am from los angeles where changes like these are happening and i've done plenty of research on this topic cuz it's kinda my nerd thing. i used to want to move to anchorage but i've set my sights on seattle and vancouver now, i might not move away from here but i would totally to escape the hot weather (i am the total opposite of a snowbird). thank you for reading this insanely long post

My son has been asking about when he can read the "grown up" books like me, which at the time was the First Law series. It got me thinking about what he could read in his growing years until it's appropriate to read something more mature like that. This is my attempt, using major fantasy series only (there are plenty of standalone that could be supplemented in there as well). I tried to keep in mind the complexity and length as well, beyond just the dark or mature themes. I imagine this should get him into high school at least.

1. Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan - Youthful and adventurous, centered on Greek mythology.
   
2. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - Begins as a children's series and matures over the books.
   
3. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - Classic children's literature with deep allegorical themes.
   
4. The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi - Engaging for younger readers, involving magical creatures and adventures.
   
5. Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer - A blend of fantasy and science fiction with a young criminal mastermind as the protagonist.
   
6. The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon) by Christopher Paolini - A young adult fantasy series featuring dragons and epic quests.
   
7. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman - A bit more mature, dealing with complex themes and darker elements.
   
8. Redwall Series by Brian Jacques - Anthropomorphic animals in a medieval setting, meant for older children and teens.
   
9. The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud - Includes witty, mature humor with a mix of serious themes.
   
10. Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan - Adventure and coming-of-age themes aimed at younger teens.
    
11. The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper - A mix of Arthurian legend with modern fantasy, suitable for middle school to young adults.
    
12. The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin - Starts pretty simple but reveals deeper, more introspective themes.
    
13. The Old Kingdom Series by Garth Nix - Explores more complex themes, suitable for older teens.
    
14. Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson - Moves into more adult themes with complex magical systems and light political intrigue.
    
15. The Shannara Series by Terry Brooks - Classic epic fantasy with a traditional good versus evil plot.
    
16. The Witcher Series by Andrzej Sapkowski - Contains mature content, including complex moral choices and dark themes.
    
17. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - Epic in scope with complex narratives and a vast character ensemble.
    
18. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson - Uses deep world-building and complex themes.
    
19. The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb - In-depth character development with emotional and mature storylines
    
20. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin - Firmly in the mature theme camp now. With complex characters, and intricate plots.
    
21. The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss - Detailed storytelling and mature themes. At a point where better reading comprehension/attention span is very important for the full reading experience.
    
22. The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson - Complex with a vast scope, and a wide-spanning history. Includes themes of war, mortality, and suffering.
    
23. The Black Company by Glen Cook - Dark fantasy focusing on the lives of mercenaries in a gritty, realistic setting.
    
24. The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie - Known for its dark humor and morally gray characters.
    
25. The Broken Empire Trilogy by Mark Lawrence - Features a dark, ruthless protagonist and mature, grim content.
    

This can also hopefully serve to help someone find a series that fits their flavor or maturity in a book.

I came out to my parents two years ago, but even back in high school I had been voicing my gripes with my chest. I was supposed to get top surgery last year, but my parents decided to put me in a psych facility (which I came out of 10x worse than I entered, btw but thats a problem for another time).
They said “oh you can get it this year,” so I find and meet a reputable, board certified plastic surgeon. I send in the proper paperwork, psych evals, health insurance, etc….but my family’s insurance is changing! It won’t cover it.
I’m an adult. I came out as an adult. I’m still young enough to be on my parents insurance plan, ofc, but at this point, I need to explore ways to fund it myself. My chest is my biggest source of dysphoria, and every stressor makes my chest bigger. I have gone up an entire cup size since coming out, and three(?) since I first brought this up years ago. It’s to the point where it’s also affecting my physical health because my chest is too heavy to make most cardio possible, causing me to gain weight, causing them to get bigger, and so on.
I’m legitimately frustrated, and it’s such a major blight on my conscience that I’m not sure how many more years I’ll make it. I just had my last day of my contract job the other day, and I’m looking for similar work. I’m working on returning to school to finish my bachelor’s, so what else can I do to supplement the cost in the meantime. I live in the US, so I know it’s going to be expensive.

So I've never posted here before but this is an issue that has been sitting on my shoulders for a bit now. Recently I had a dream about a friend who I cut off last year and I've been thinking about reach out again. Things have changed but the fear I harbor just hasn't. For context unfortunately I have a long story to type. As recently I've recovered from a two year long stretch of extreme depression and well this happened during that time. Sorry.
Between the years of 2022 and 2023 my life basically spiraled down the toilet with no end in sight. One of my close friends died, my great uncle died, I lost two friends in ugly ways and honestly I'm better off from those two, and I also was stuck in an abusive (mentally, emotionally, and sexually) relationship with my now ex boyfriend. 2022 was hard. Harder than I've ever experienced and compared to that year the years of depression I'd experienced were honestly a cake walk of teenage bullshit.
The thing is I spirals so hard that at the beginning of 2023 I made an attempt on my life. I'm not proud of it. And since I've seen a few different professionals and admit I still have some therapy that I need to get. (It's just not cheap to see a therapist and a psychiatrist.) The reason this is important is because during this time we were still friends. Seemingly close friends and I talked to him a lot. Mind you my mental chaos can be hard to handle and I try to keep an open mind about people not wanna hear me go on about my misfortunes but I always have the mentality wanting them to tell me. Like let me know if I'm being to much and I'll pull back because I don't wanna overwhelm you. But this friend just let me go on and slowly seemed to just pull from me.
I felt that pull and changed tones with them. Focusing more on maybe us hanging out or how they were because I couldn't tell if it was me or if something was wrong. And I really cared about them, I still do I mean we'd been friends since middle school. We graduated high-school together back in 2015 this one someone I considered one of my best friends. But slowly I think I began to realize I wasn't theirs. It probably didn't help that we always had this will they won't that weird attraction to each other. And during this time he admitted it was still a thing but said it wouldn't work out because he considered me codependent. But even still went on to admit physical attraction to me later on which confused me more.
Regardless when all was said and done after the attempt I went and apologized to him because I'd lied and said I was okay when I wasn't. And when he told me that he knew? Well something inside me died. Something about him knowing I was tettering on the edge and just sitting and waiting because I wasn't woman enough to admit it felt weird. Because it wasn't a talk to me when you're ready it was more like if you won't just spit it out than I'm not gonna bother. With a mixture of that and his canceling of everytime we planned to hang out I let myself flip my lid. Naturally I went back and apologized but it didn't seem to have any affect anyway. Like it bad never happened. So I let myself fade away.
To this day I sometimes wonder if I even made the right choice. I mean I could have just asked him to tell me what's up. Or expressed the truth of the depth of my feelings when it felt like I was bring brushed off and the only conversations we could have were about the girls on his dating app possibly catfishing him. Or maybe I was right to assume he just didn't want me in his life anymore. I've just got myself all mixed up because he was one of the single most important people in my left to me. And the ghost of that still lingers.
TL;DR During a really depressing time a friend and I fell out of sync. Because I felt they didn't want me and my depression around anymore I made myself scarce. It's been a year but I still miss them and wonder if maybe I should grow a pair and reach out.

Me and my friend want to start a podcast when we graduate, and I would like to know how to start one. I’ve only been in a school podcast, so all I really know is how to make the Spotify account, record, and edit.
I didn’t enjoy the school podcast I was in, so I don’t want to jump in to a new one so quickly, especially because of the circumstances of why I didn’t like it. I kinda wanna start on YouTube, making videos of just me talking to the camera and getting more comfortable with talking to myself for other people, but I would love to know how to take podcasting more seriously.
I plan on using Notion to plan out the podcast, but is there anything else, besides equipment that I should know/obtain? What are some tips for engaging people in our episodes and keeping the flow with conversation?