I submitted my FAFSA on 1/22/2024 for the 2024-2025 school year. I have reviewed my answers to the questions and my name, SSN, and date of birth are correct. I also see on the FAFSA website it was sent to my school. The FAFSA is showing a system generated correction that took place on 5/2/2024 and it processed the same day. I have no idea what this system generated correction was about.
I was told in a meeting several weeks ago that my financial aid office had my FAFSA and it was being processed by them. Well as of today I have been told that they haven't received my FAFSA at all and it looks to them like I haven't submitted it at all.
This is for graduate school which starts in August so I am very worried that I will not be able to get loans in time. They have said they will escalate my issue and have someone call me ASAP. Unfortunately stopping by the office isn't an option as I live 9+ hours away currently.
Is this "system generated correction" the reason my FAFSA has this error? Is there anything else I can try? does FAFSA have people I can call about this?

I, 19F, am moving into my first apartment in July/August which is about 5 hours away from where I currently live. When I move, this will be my first time living on my own and away from my family. I am pretty excited, as anyone else would be, to have my own space since I grew up in a big family, being the eldest of five children. Growing up I've always had a rocky relationship with my family, both on my mother's side as well as my father's side. Ever since a young age, I've noticed that my mother isn't really fond of me, as she claims that me being born made her "stuck" with my father. She's been very vocal about it so it's nothing new. But when I was in third grade, I seen that my mother was really close to my younger sister. She would take her out, go do things with her, and I was left alone to watch my three younger brothers, who at the time were, 4, 3, and 2. During those times my father was working. But it was still the same for my father as well, I noticed that he was really close to my younger brothers, but I was never mad towards my siblings as I knew it wasn't their fault. After some time of realizing the way I was being treated by both parents, I stopped trying to have a relationship with them. I was kind of just there.
Once I made this realization, I distracted myself with school. I joined sports, band, an art club, and student council. School was my main focus but even then, I wasn't able to really do much for myself. Once I got into 2nd grade, this is the way my daily schedule would look like... I'd wake up, wake my sister up for school, feed my brothers, change their diapers, then make my sister and I breakfast then I would lock up the house and go to school. School would end around 3:15 and there was a 15 minute break to get to our after school activities so within that time I'd walk my sister home, make sure my brothers were fed and changed and would walk back to school to do my after school activities. Then I'd walk home and shower and start getting dinner made, after dinner I'd bathe my siblings and put them to bed then do my homework and then go to sleep. It was like this throughout second grade until sixth grade.
My father was rarely home as he worked a lot, he'd work a lot to provide for five kids as well as my mother as she had a hard time keeping any jobs. Throughout my childhood, my mother was struggling with addiction, both alcohol and substance, as for my father he his was alcohol. Bur during my sixth grade year, my mother made the decision to go to rehab in hopes it'll help with her addictions. We were proud of her but it's the way she went about it that threw us off. She kind of just up and left and didn't tell anyone until she was there for a couple months. She had some trouble and ended up relapsing so as of right now, she is almost five years sober. It would be a good thing but it is kind of scary based on how she acts now that she is sober. She will randomly lash out towards us, become very mean and scream at us and like an hour later she's back to normal like nothing happened. We rarely see her as she lives about 5-6 hours away from where we currently stay because she rather stay with her boyfriend and his kids.
Over the past couple years, it has became very toxic to stay with family members, such as my sister as she will randomly lash out as well and start screaming and cussing at anyone around her. My father is a good man, he has sacrificed a lot for us but there are times where we bump heads as I took a gap year this previous year. But mainly it is my aunts and grandma that I told I would be excited to move so I wouldn't be around them anymore. The way my aunts would treat me compared to the way they would treat my siblings and cousins was way different and it sort of made me feel bad. They always excluded me and told me that since I was use to watching young ones, they'd leave their kids with me without even asking and when I was under 18, they told me I didn't have choices as I was "too young to make my own decisions". My grandma was criticize everything I did, for example, if I was reading, it would be "why are you reading that book? you should be doing your siblings laundry", if I was drawing or painting, it would be "you should be getting dinner prepared instead of doing that nonsense" or if I was watching a movie or show she'd say "back in my day we ladies didn't sit around doing nothing, we learned how to sew, cook, clean, etc. so get up and do something". I'd understand if she was saying this to me if I was a lazy person but trust, I am not. I help my dad prepare breakfast for everyone in the morning, when all the young ones leave for school, that really is the only time I have for myself. But I still help my father help with feeding the animals such as our chickens, dogs, cats, and sheep. I do most of the heavy lifting as my father isn't in the best condition and tends to lose his balance and get dizzy and he also isn't allowed to lift heavy things per the doctors request. I help make lunch for whoever is home then after I do what I what I want but I am constantly cleaning as there are a lot of people living in this household. There is my siblings and I, my father, my grandma, my two cousins my aunt left here, my older cousin and also two of my other cousins and aunt who stop by everyday for a couple hours.
Anyways, I hope that was more than enough to get an idea of my family lol. Where I am from, there is a program that will assist with living arrangements and paying for trade school, and helping look for work after graduating school. I never planned on doing this program, as I originally wanted to go to a four-year university for Elementary Education but I had to put that on hold for the time being. The reason for putting it on hold was because of financial problems, the court ordered that since my father has full custody of all of us, my mother and father would go half and half on everything and if we are over the age of 18, they both still had to help assist with anything money-wise if we are still continuing our education. But my mother rarely helped, my father struggled with us five and so I made the decision to not go to school and enter this program and work at the same time to make money to enroll into school after I finish this program.
Recently during Mother's day weekend, the topic came up about me being accepted into the program, how they found out? I'm not sure myself. But everyone started talking about it, such as my mother my aunts and grandma and certain cousins, talking about how they how have a place to stay and can't wait to use my place as a getaway place or how they'd drop off their kids during fall, spring, winter, and summer break. I was caught off guard, still trying to figure out how they even knew I was doing the program and got accepted, and they continued talking about how excited they were, not for me being accepted, but to have a place to stay and how they will just "show up uninvited" as it wouldn't matter if I allowed them to or not because once again, I am "too young to make those type of decisions". I started to feel bad, a bit sad as well but as I sat there listening to them go on and on, I just became angry and upset. With the way they treated me the past 7 years, constantly talking down on me, bullying me, harassing me, I was just done with it. They eventually stopped talking, looking at me and waiting for a response, and I just looked at them and started laughing. It was strange even for me, as I always just stay quiet and agree with them. I told them that I'd never let any one of them stay with me especially uninvited, and I would not be allowing them to just drop off their kids without asking and if they did, I call the cops or CPS. I then told them that I wasn't going to allow people who disrespected me and treated me horribly to step foot inside my place as it is suppose to be my safe space and will not let it be filled with negativity. I said that the only people allowed there would be my siblings, my father and my one younger cousin who I consider my littler sister. I told them that none of them would be allowed to know where I live. Finally I said that one of the main reason I'm moving away is to get away from them because they are mentally and physically draining. Then I told my mother that she wouldn't know where I would live at because I didn't want her running to my place every time her and her boyfriend would break up. I told her that I didn't trust her because of the way she would randomly lash out so I rather her not know where I lived. After I was done talking, they all started yelling and screaming, even crying about how it wasn't fair because they "did so much for me" and whatever but that's when I said that all they did for me was give me depression and severe anxiety. My father didn't say anything, he just sat there smiling and gave me a nod of approval. My siblings, especially my sister started defending me and that's when I decided to leave. I told two friends about what happened as they pretty much knew my whole life and they were proud of me for finally saying something but then I have extended family messaging and calling me, making post about me about how wrong I was and that I'm selfish and since I don't have kids I should just take my cousins with me since their parents are stressed.
I know I shouldn't feel this way but I feel like I should have stayed quiet and maybe just should have allowed them to go with me, even on breaks. What scares me is that I haven't moved yet to begin with so I'm nervous about what will happen when I actually do.
I'm sorry for how lengthy this post is, I just haven't really told anyone and used it as my place to vent and I apologize if this post is all over the place and confusing, I just needed to get it off my chest. But AITAH for telling my family how I felt and that I am excited to move to getaway from them?

Im about to be 33 weeks and my baby shower is in just two weeks. My MIL and mom have been planning most of it with my input and opinion in things. We had it scheduled and invites sent out a couple of weeks ago. We invited around 25 people and were expecting 15-20 of them to actually come.
Pregnancy brain blocked me from considering graduation season and how many people would be having grad parties. On top of vacation season as well… A lot of the people we invited are from our church and have overlapping guests with these grad parties. We already adjusted the time to later in the afternoon to try and allow more people to pop in, but so far we only have 5 people confirmed and the rest either can’t come or haven’t responded.
My mom suggested that we cancel the baby shower itself and do a post-baby party. Around 1 month PP where people can come and meet the baby and brings gifts then. (Not fond of a bunch of people holding my newborn and probably not respecting every rule…)
My MIL suggested rescheduling it AGAIN but to the next day. (This feels super flakey)
I feel like neither of these options are ideal, but neither is having 5 people show up and being super embarrassed.
I’ve had two people order me some things off my registry already and don’t understand how to go about this. I’m aware that the lack of people RSVPing doesn’t directly correlate to their care for me or my baby. But it’s still so hard to not be disappointed.
Advice???

That is all. You down vote negative opinions even if theyre valid, and even levy personal attacks. Really unfriendly environment for worthwhile discussion. Cant even make a post, folks will just spam with TOO LONG DIDNT READ, and ITS A GAME TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT.
If you have anything to say that isnt, this game is great and i will be playing for years to come its attacks from every direction.
any way copy posting my MM complaints that no one can generate a coherent reply to. If you didnt read the whole thing then dont bother commenting. you don
Please lay out several counter points to the points im about to raise. VALID points. And keep in my mind master modes as a concept is okay, however im am totally against limiting ship mobility in any mode, at least a mandatory mobility limit.

1. Master modes locks combat into a tiny speed envelope, forcing face hug fights and reducing the skill ceiling by an insane margin. It is now a DPS race. "Its to fix jousting!!!!" no sweet child, good pilots dont joust, they glue themselves to their enemies blind spots, or try to. Watch avenger ones videos, hes rarely jousting. Jousting is a mid tier tactic. High level pilots wont joust unless they want to force one to recharge shields or get missiles off. So no, if you were jousting pre 3.23 thats a skill issue. Now there are no skill issues. Its who has better DPS. noice. guess thats good for low skill pilots. Huh guess that explains the vote a bit?

for example pre 3.22 i would always watch my closure speed on the bandit, if its more than 300 m/s ive fucked up. Now thats not an issue because you cant even go fast enough to get closures of 400+ m/s. No need to manage speed when there is no speed. sigh. On top of the speed nerf, all maneuvering thrusters have been nerfed, so actually flying evasive and weaving shots is impossible. That was 3.22s actual high skill meta. Literally dodging laser bolts in my flipping space ship. SO COOL :))) now what is it. BRRRRR my guns bigger my ships hull is heavier...
I was nearly unkillable in my old m50, as long as i didnt make a mistake -talkin PvP here-. Its not like i could kill much but they couldnt kill me, unless with a lucky missile hit. Now nope. M50 is just as weak as a noob would expect :(( sad day man.

1. Master modes makes ganking far easier. QT jamming is insane right now and the fact that higher speed is locked to a spooled drive, (which makes ZERO sense, but well get to that) means that you cant even move and youll have no shields cuz you spammed into Nav mode. Get wrekt literally ANYONE who isnt the very best pilot, and even then you stand little chance as the ganker is likely in a squad. For those that play{ed} Elite dangerous, think FDL gank squads chain interdicting you. That is now in Star Citizen. Thank you master modes.

Why this sub supports this i have NO idea as you folks seem to hate gankers and "griefing" yet this is OBVIOUSLY going to make that problem SO much worse. Everyones talking about "youre not supposed to play solo" disregarding how much of a time sink this game is... and how getting people together consistently is not easy. And beyond that, thats also encouraging gankers to group up as well, how do you not realize that? And AND ontop of that they say work together, for what? the pultry rewards you get, and then have to split?? at least give us mission stacking amongst party, like Elite dangerous has, if youre gonna mutter about wing men and the like...

1. MM makes flying less realistic than it was in 3.22. And dont go on about how 3.22 was realistic either. That's not relevant. What is relevant is that 3.23 is LESS realistic than 3.22. For one the shift to nav mode to combat can force a mach 5 to mach .08 deceleration in 1.5 seconds... guess what buddy, youre dead, your neck snapped... this game has g forces and g out modeled soooo why tf am i still awake after that? less immersive right there. and yes i know the elevators have insane acceleration as well and im willing to suspend my disbelief for that as it would be sucky to have long ass elevator rides where youre getting thrown around. IM not willing to suspend my disbelief for some asinine feature that violates the laws of physics on several points. or at the very least the laws of this game. Like how the hell am i even slowing down. Considering they nerfed retro thrusters and even before they couldnt get close to that kind of deceleration. Its literally the GAME just saying "OPE YOURE IN COMBAT MODE YOU GOTTA GO SLOW NOWWWWWW" that legitimately makes me angry. its an insult. And then it forces you to stay at that speed. hey, buddy? im slamming thrust, im in space, that means im accelerating. thats how physics works. It doesnt matter what freaking mode my ship is in. If im hitting thrust im going faster and faster. If im hitting no thrust then i continue at current speed. meaning the game is LITERALLY FIRING YOUR RETRO THRUSTERS TO PREVENT YOU FROM MOVING. guys this makes me unresoanbly angry. theyre using my ships thrusters to prevent me from going to the speed I fucking want. GET YOUR GRUBBY FUCKIN PAWS OFF MY FUCKIN CONTROLS. I DECIDE WHEN MY THRUSTERS FIRE. ITS MY FUCKING SPACE SHIP DAMMIT.

okay im sorry turned into a rant there. it just makes me super angry, and they do shit like this IRL too, they being car companies. Forcing my damn car to brake and shit, with no way to disable it. Treating us like children, really irks me. This is a god damn game man, let me move freely.

1. Where in sci fi does a ship need to disable its sub light maneuverability for any mode. Ill wait. Not Star trek ships. Not star wars ships. Not any popular sci fi i can think of that has a dumb ass mobility limiter. Why is that? cuz it literally makes no sense. You always need energy to slow down in space always. the only way i could think of them justifying the slow down is if they said something like the quantum drive distorts space around the ship and you cant go faster safely, or something. which is to say that in QT mode youd be slow Not in combat mode. lol.
   
2. Also stop talking about fighters taking down Hammer heads in PvP. If you have a crew of 4 GOOD gunners and a solid captain, no fighter is taking you down, not even 2 fighters. If youve got one or two gunners in your HH yea your vulnerable, but you can always run and come back, try and ram, theres options. At least there was.
   

All in all this update took alot away from combat to add a cheap Arcady gimmick. Combat pilots arent satisfied and arent having fun. Folks talking about relearn combat. Why would i relearn something thats less fun? answer, i shouldnt and i wont. This ggs for me and Star Citizen until this is cleaned up. It doesnt need to go back to 3.22, but it does need to change drastically, and in the direction of 3.22. Many combat pilots feel the same as me.
Any reply i expect to address at least 2 points i stated.

Here’s some background:
I moved in with my boyfriend over a year ago, and from the get-go, our landlord (his grandmother) has been causing issues and stepping on our boundaries, and we’ve finally reached a breaking point.
It started with her showing up without asking, then it became her starting projects in the home without asking (like leaving us without a working kitchen for two months while she remodeled), then we weren’t allowed to fix things without “her guy” being there (air was out for over three days waiting on “her guy”), and now the biggest argument has come to a head: the lawn.
We live on about four acres of land, and it’s covered in trees. It’s a private drive, only 10 or so houses are built on the property, and we are in the very back. Last house on your left. You would have to drive to our home, use the dead end roundabout, and go back to see our house unless you live across the street, or next door. All of these homes have lots of land.
Both my boyfriend and I work full time, and I finally just finished being a full time student. My boyfriend is picking back up in his education and is shifting into full time student work, on top of his 40 hour work week. Almost everyone on this drive is either extremely rich (lavish houses) or retired. Or someone died and the child offered us a renting situation, such as our situation. So, these people either have someone else mow, or they have all the time in the world to.
For over a year, his grandmother has complained about the consistency in which we mow. It’s not quick enough, it’s not to her liking, she could do it better, whatever. She lives on her own 100+ acres 20 minutes away, not sure how ours impacts her, but fine. It’s not “how she likes it”. We’ve been able to get over this so far, but now we’ve learned we have neighbors calling and complaining about our yard.
PLEASE.
Because of this, his grandmother is now threatening to kick us out unless we mow to her frequency, and she complained that she’s getting countless calls from these people complaining about us and our yard. Again, these are all older people who are retired who spend their days mowing, or have the money to pay someone else. WE DO NOT. WE ARE ONLY 23 AND 22.
He mowed last week (it had been raining for two weeks straight - hence the grass was long) and it took him five hours to mow the back, front, and sides, and he ran out of time for weed-eating because we had my graduation to attend. This is not something he or I could manage with a full time work schedule, and school on the side, at the frequency she’s asking. It’s just not happening. She’s insinuated we should be keeping the place like a dentist’s office, mowing every week and planting cute little flowers. I said no. It’s a house. It’s grass. Get over it.
We pay rent. We keep the inside clean. We don’t throw parties. We go to work, come home, and do our thing. I don’t know WHY these people are SO bothered by a little long grass. To the point of almost harassing our landlord and offering to buy the land. like??? I’m so lost. And angry. We mow the lawn. This is not a situation where we just don’t. It’s just not how people who don’t live here want it to look, and I’m sick of placating the situation.
I want to annoy the crap out of these people. It’s two homes in particular who have been calling, and they both have lots of land. It’s also a VERY republican part of town. Please give me all the unethical ideas, because these people need to mind their own business. And I’m DONE.
TLDR: boyfriends grandmother lets us rent, has been complaining about the fact that we don’t mow as often as she wants, now neighbors are calling and complaining, and we’re being threatened with eviction if we don’t placate these people

Warning this is a long one. If anyone has seen Gilmore Girls, please picture my grandma as Emily Gilmore because I seriously don't know how they were able to capture my grandma so accurately.
This morning, I (22f) had what feels like a huge blow out with my grandma (74f) over text this morning. For a big background, I am my grandmas only living descendant. My birth mother died when I was 3 in a car accident, and she was my grandmas only child. My mother struggled with bipolar disorder and was in an abusive marriage with my father. After she died my grandparents attempted to get full custody of me and the result was visitation under grandparent rights. The court petition is available online and can be found by searching my full name, which is so great for me. Obviously, there was bad blood between my grandparents and my father. I grew up in the middle, scared to show that I loved my grandparents but also slightly distrusting of them because the stories they would tell me were different than what my father would.
I have tried to set boundaries with my grandma in the past. She calls me by my dead moms name occasionally. I ask her not to, she still slips up and does. She's inviting me to go to my moms grave, I don't feel comfortable doing that. She makes me feel guilty about no one putting flowers on their graves when they die. She's convinced I'm bi-polar despite me having been tested 3 times and being diagnosed as not bipolar. She will make passive aggressive comments about not only my but my boyfriend (23M) of 4 years weight and stretch marks. I've told her that we both struggle with eating disorders. After graduating I went from being 120lbs at 5'7 (underweight) to being 190lbs (overweight) in 4 years, some of the weight gain was healthy then the past year and a half I've put on the majority of it, becoming unhealthy. The past year and a half I have also had severe mental health struggles. I have ADHD, depression, and anxiety. I struggle to do a lot of basic things. I was seeing a therapist but then my insurance changed so I am trying to find someone new. I am on medication. I am actively getting help.
My grandma will call me 20 times in a day regularly. She'll text me more than that. When I haven't answered she has called my boyfriend at his job. She will harass my boyfriend and demand to know what I do every hour of everyday, despite him being at work apparently he's my babysitter. It is negatively impacting our relationship because he feels he's being forced into a parent role. She ruined a job interview for me one time because she wouldn't stop calling during it. I am terrified for her to show up unannounced. Luckily we live 4 hours away from each other, so I think I have a safe enough buffer. However, every weekend for the past month she has been trying to come and stay for the weekend.
Now on to the main confrontation/issue. My grandmas mom, my great grandma, offered to give me 1k a month so I could focus on finishing my degree (after this semester I have a semester & then a class left.) My only condition was that I focused on school. This morning my boyfriend sent me a text that said I needed to talk to my grandma as they were withdrawing their financial support. He sent me screenshots of their texts, I am going to transcribe them best I can without making this post too long. I feel like its getting long already lol.
GM to BF: We'll pay for her therapy. She needs talk & medicine. Her psychiatrist should do both. But the monthly 1k, so she doesn't have to work while she's getting the rest under control hasn't helped her. I'm afraid it has given her too much time alone, which is bad for her. I've worried that helping her not to have to work was a bad idea. She does much better with interaction. Maybe encourage her to come over, or take a trip with me during the next 3 weeks (my summer classes start). She needs interaction. She was much better in high school because she was so involved.
BF to GM: Will do, she has been looking at getting a summer job.
GM: Doing the monthly may be hurting more than helping. She wasn't even successful with her classes, even without the outside job. I THINK she would do things if she was here. Crafts, cards, all the extended family. Right now we're just paying her to stay home and read. I don't think the 1k will continue. It was for her to do her classes without having to work through December.
BF: I'd text her and mention that. You should talk to her SPECIFCALLY about losing the 1k.
GM: But it didn't work so why would we still do it? Classes were supposed to be her job. She completed 10 of 18 hours. She didn't do her weekly progress reports and didn't send us her finals. Never once. If that was her "job" paying her weekly, and anyone else as her boss, would she still have that job?
BF: I don't have that answer. I can't speak for her on those things.
GM: You know the answer is no. This is not helping her. This is a face to face conversation. Her story is not what I know to be the truth as I related to you.
GM: I know she lost her scholarship and just isn't telling us. I'm sure she's not proud of it. I told you earlier, that I knew she was in a bad place. That was when I needed to help her. Not after it was too late. She just said there was a cap on the amount of scholarship and she's used it. She's getting a student loan to finish. I'm proud of her for doing that instead of asking us. BUT, what I've pieced together is what I said earlier. And her loan is because she has to pay back the scholarship and tuition going forwards. Right now is the best time for her to transfer(to a college where she lives.) I knew we were in trouble when she sent me a photo of a stack of books she checked out from the library. I had zero time to read books when I was a college student, and I didn't have a job in addition.
BF: While that may be true, you also were in different classes. It's good for her to have time to do things she likes when she's not in class.
GM: I had a social life with other people. I did not stay isolated. She does well with others. Alone drags her down. Just like her mom. A powerhouse when she's involved. Depressed and anxious when she's alone. She's become totally reliant on you. She's lost her independence and drive. I know its flattering you want to be her savior, but for different reasons, its crippling for both of you.
BF: I don't want to be her savior. I really don't.
GM: Rescuer
BF: I really want more than anything for her to be self reliant so we can both lean on each other. I just know at the end of the day I will always support my girl.
GM: That's best but she has to let go & stand up. Develop a broader network to build strength, You are her core! Like a center pole in a tent. Now she needs the other stakes to have the support.
I took 14 credit hours this semester and I only dropped 1 class that was 2 credit hours because I could take it in the summer and lighten my load. I passed all my other ones with As & Bs. I misspoke to my grandma about my scholarship. I told her it was 5k and then I was out but in actuality it was 20k, 5k per semester not total. I've used 4700 so far. That still doesn't explain why she thought I had lost it but ya know. I see my friends at minimum once a week. I have 6 close friends I regularly see. I text with them daily. I grab dinner with them. I game online with them. I attend class 2 times a week. I only see my boyfriend 2 nights a week and on Sundays, and we LIVE together.
My grades conveniently became available online at the same time this conversation was sent to me. So I took a screenshot of my grades and sent them to my grandma.
OP to GM: Here are my grades. I also sent them to grandpa. Thanks so much for believing in me, not. You are the last person I want to see or talk to right now. BF showed me everything. When I am read to talk I'll let you know.
GM to BF: I cannot believe you did this. Now she is furious with me & won't talk to me. I told you that in confidence. You need to fix this. That's not good things for her to know out of context.
OP to GM: Actions have consequences. The consequence of your action is that I am not speaking to you. If you continue to message BF, I will be blocking you on his phone. Not only today, but previously, has been highly inappropriate. I am NOT a child. I do NOT need babysitting. I do NOT need rescuing by you. You are NOT my savior. Stop trying to be.
GM: *Long message trying to re-explain how the messages were worded.* I told BF you're smart and a powerhouse! I just want to see your independent spirit and get you there again. I am your biggest supporter. You're misinterpreting this.
OP: BF screenshotted everything and sent it to me before I ever said anything to you. I don't know how reading exactly what you have been saying about me is misinterpreting things. Please stop messaging me.
When I was in high school I was awake from 6:00am-2:00am. I was in 10 clubs/sports, all honors classes, I was starving myself, I slept less than 4 hours on average. I was a walking zombie that was living off a strange energy that being starving & sleep deprived creates. I was miserable. I was depressed. I was anxious. I only had time for friends in school. If you didn't have a class or lunch with me, you never talked to me. I struggled with school work at home because my adhd. I was not a powerhouse, I was fighting to survive everyday and I feel like I used up every piece of energy I'll ever have then.
This is where we left off. I feel guilty confronting my grandma about it, and feel like I should apologize. But like I said to my BF after he got upset with me for him being in the middle:
Its an incredibly overwhelming relationship that has baggage older than I am which has been put on me my entire life. It has been like this my whole life, except that until I was 18, I was the middle. I know it's a lot, but this is how she is. She is an intrusive controlling and manipulative person, while it may from from a place of care, she still is those things. Herr loving me and being kind to us does not take away the hurt and pain that she causes me. It is not care and love when there are stipulations to that care and love. She's constantly weaponizing my dead mom's mental illness against me. She wants to send me money so I don't have to work and can focus on school but when that actually helps me then I'm not nearly busy enough for her liking. She's also creating a hostile environment where I can't express if I am struggling because then it'll be "I told you so" and then I'll have to drop out of school because they'll stop providing financial support.
So reddit, AITA for confronting my grandma about her texts to my boyfriend?

I'm a senior in college and graduating on Sunday! I'm super excited but I have some extra money to spend at my college cafe/store before I go. I want to use it all up since we don't get it back. I was wondering if anyone had ideas about what I could get that will last for a bit? For context I have about 200$ though the prices of things are marked up there.
I've gotten a few boxes of pasta so far. I'll be living on my own very shortly after school so I'd love to start building some sort of pantry while I don't have to spend my "real" money. We can't buy any spices, and I'm planning on getting some tampons if they restock them before the week ends.
Anyways! I'd love some advice. Thank you!

Hi Nora!
I'm Villies!
I'm an ex-Scn, ex-SO child recruit and I don't put my name out there. You were talking about me, or people like me!
I'm sure my identity's been figured out, but I don't shout my name and face from the mountain tops and I don't care to right now.
That doesn't make me a goober, like you say. Huh-oh Hot Dog.
And here's my reason why :
First:
Mental Health is tough! You and I both went without basic human decency and were treated like garbage, for years! Not only were we treated like garbage, we were made to believe we were. We internalized anguish and suffering for years. We were in a coercive militaristic cult!
You want to go up the mountaintop and cry out! Good for you! Hurray! It's not the only way to be.
Just like you can't take other kids toys, you can't tell me to yell at a camera like you or I'm a goober if I don't. You have to leave the kids with their coloring book alone. You can't have them in your game if they don't want to and leave them alone.
Sometimes I'm not all Hero-tough-guy. Sometimes when bad things happen in my now-now life, I dissociate and crash for weeks. Sometimes just because! Weee!
Sometimes, I get confused about how I feel and think, too. Being a second-gen SO is a tough brain ouchie. Sometimes that doesn't make us very smart and stable adults and gives us big feelings we have difficulty understanding and controlling.
I like to stop and think really much before I say things I'm not super-sure about and even then I make a lot of mistakes. I thought a lot of things and said a lot of things in my life that turned out really wrong. I doubt myself a lot now, I stop to think a lot, and I believe that's a good thing. It's really better to be this way than what I was given as a child!
I know you feel super-duper sure about what's good for me, for us, but I'm not. I'm living my life! You're living yours! I know, big feelings are hard. But we have to stop, and think, and let answers come.
For me, it's studying, and building the life, by myself, that I wasn't given, and with a brain that skips a beat once in a while. And oohwee, it's not easy! I think that deserves respect, don't you?
Two:
The schoolyard has kids that think hurting another kid is cool. They think beating up the nerds is cool. They get cheered on when they start a fight by goobers that don't know any of us but want to see a fight. The bullies think their ideas are the best ideas. I don't think they're cool and I don't give my lunch money to bullies.
Now, you want either I join in beating up the nerds, close my eyes, or get beaten up myself. No thank you!
I'm waiting for the bullies to go away. I think after having smoked all of mom's cigarettes and used all the nerds' homework, they'll run out of people to start a fight with and become boring to the kids that cheer them on, and the rest of the nerds can go on building something better.
Cult recovery, is really boring most of the time! Like, really really boring! If we yell at everyone that don't think like you or make a big crowd display out of people that need help, well, it doesn't help! Sometimes we need friends and people that give us a hug and good words, not a piñata party with Mike Rinder or Chris Shelton hanging from a rope! Or worse, bully those that need help to come out of the cult, yelling at them from the street!
It's hurting people, especially the poor piñata, and it only makes the cheering goobers happy and those guys don't care about you or me. Plus I think their cheering and cries for blood is getting in the way of thinking clear thoughts and keeping with reality. I know I would! It's not why I come to the schoolyard! No thank you!
You know who else thinks their way is the only way? Scientology. And we're done with that.
I hope that answers you why Ex's don't jump on your wagon!

Hi, i’m basically just going to dump my senior year into this post.. it’s super long… going into my senior year in the fall, I had a boyfriend since junior year at 16. it was kind of messy when we got first started dating, because he was one of my recent friends ex-boyfriend of like two years . with the things he would do to me, i thought i deserved it because of how shitty i felt about myself for what i did. I was really confused because I thought I “loved him”, but some of the things he would do to me I knew weren’t okay or normal. like some examples are that he spit in my face in the middle of an argument, he choked me, several times, he would stay outside of my house when I tried to break up with him, and when I would park, he would come out from the side and choke me and tell me that I was making a mistake by breaking up with him. he also burned me with second degree burns and i made up excuses for him afterwards, telling people i had bandages on my arm because i dropped hot food on myself. And after every abusive thing he would do, he would end up “love bombing” me. like he wrote a 4 page story about us, wrote very long poems about why he loved me, and always talked about us getting married etc. take in mind he also cheated the first month in with the ex from before, and i should have left then but i ended up breaking up with him 10 months after when he choked me the week before. that’s when i knew that how he treated me wasn’t okay. i never told my friends about any of it while i was going through it. after the break up he wouldn’t stop calling me and following me. i was in a parking lot, a 30 minute drive away from him with my friend, who goes to another school, when i callled him to leave me alone and have a mutual, peaceful breakup (that’s all i wanted) he showed up in about 15 minutes after i turned off my location and tried getting me out of the car, but my friend ended up getting out herself and telling him that he needed to leave. i was so confused on if i should break up with him or if i was being dramatic. so the next day in class during school i made a pros and cons list (it ended up being all cons). i was also researching , questioning if what he was doing was wrong. i never listed out everything he did to me before, it was all jumbled in my head so once i wrote it down, i knew that it was abusive. the next day, somehow my document got flagged by Ai for the school and my counselor called me in and said he had to report it to the police department and call my parents. i was an absolute mess, i couldn’t stop crying and i begged my parents to not do anything. he also checked the cameras in school, and he told my parents that my ex was following me around all week and i hadn’t even realized it. so that night, my parents took me in the department, and because i was a minor, they decided to press charges. i was so angry, hurt, sad and when i tell you, the following weeks i begged them to not get the police involved and just “talk” with his parents. that didn’t happen. so i got interviewed and the police recommended that i filed for a DV restraining order. i felt so shameful and i knew that it would effect my social life. i blocked him on all socials after, and he ended up coming to my house while my parents were home and calling and texting them for 20 minutes trying to get inside the house. saying he needed to “see me” . they called the cops but he left and then the cops ended up going to his house and interviewed and served him. during the restraining order process, we went to the court about three times which is pretty abnormal for a RO. Because we were trying to make accommodations for him to still be able to go to school, but he ended up lying on the affidavit and his lawyer was like, illegally representing our principal, and the school ended up expelling him for that reason. the principal ended up, calling my parents to tell them that he got expelled, and he said that going to a private school was a privilege not a right. And during this time, people started to know why he wasn’t at school anymore, and I go to a very small school, and I heard that some people were saying that he never “seemed like the type to do anything like that.” I never talk about the situation with anyone, except for my two closest friends, I don’t tell anybody details, so everything was known by telephone or by his friends. i don’t like to talk about the whole situation with anybody because I feel like that’s a bad look on my part if that makes sense? Fast forward to spring, him, and his ex started hooking up again, and she left her boyfriend for him, but she keeps going back and forth between her two exes and i can tell it’s probably still toxic. she also doesn’t believe me. sometimes I think that, maybe the reason that she doesn’t believe me, is that if she does accept it, she might have to recognize that some of the behaviors that he’s done to her aren’t acceptable, and might fall under abuse. and prom is coming up, and his best friend hosts the huge after party every year, which basically the whole senior grade is invited, like 70 people. But his friend didn’t invite me, and invited him. And I’m trying to not let it bother me, but the fact that he’s going to be there with the whole grade just kind of hurts me. while he is at an after party for a school he doesn’t go to anymore, im gong to be sitting at home. and also every single one of my “friends” are going. and some people are saying that they feel bad for me and others will say in response “she did it to herself” which makes me really upset, because I never wanted anything to get out in the first place. And also another one of my closest friends always plays neutral in the middle, and that upsets me too, but I don’t really ever say anything about it. when i mean “neutral”, he will hang out with the ex, sometimes the ex will try and invite my friend to go hang out with her and my abuser, and I don’t know why it upsets me, but it does… i just feel like it’s accepting his behavior and invalidates everything . I also texted the best friend who is hosting prom, and I have never been confrontational about what happened, but I said what he did was shitty to do. And he told me basically summed up, that I was the one that got the restraining order on him and that my ex wasn’t a “criminal”. and I guess in the end, it’s good that the charges went through, and I have a restraining order, because if I never had any of that, people around me would think I was the girl who cried wolf. people at my school never talk about it to my face, but I know that they talk about it behind my back. also, two months after I got the restraining order I ended up talking to a guy at a party that I’ve kind of been in love with since i was 14, and he asked me what happened to him and said “you’re crazy”. which I know isn’t anything too mean, but I just feel like that implies the view of a lot of guys in our grade towards me for the whole situation. Also, sidenote, that night, when we were hanging out, I remembered what it was like to have normal interactions between a boy and a girl in a relationship, and it just felt really nice for one night. i just kind of hate the position I’m in, and I wish none of it ever happened, and I feel so emotionally, detached, and like I’ll never really find genuine love. Which I’m not looking for at all right now. but I have to prep myself before I walk into school everyday and through out the day I ask God to give me strength about 30 times . And I don’t really know how to feel better. i’m 18 now and going to be graduating soon, and but sometimes it’s just really hard. I don’t really know why am posting this, but I feel like I just need some guidance or something.

I don’t know where to ask this really. Or who turn to anymore.
I am a male 23 soon turning 24 years. I’m single and has been judged about it for a long time. I got kind of 2 problems. I work a normal office job feeling kind of stuck. I never feel that I have time for anything and I try to keep up with my hobbies of drawing and programming however most of colleagues have told me that i’m running out of time to get good at any hobbies anymore. I wanted to try learning guitar and 3d modelling but kinda gave up thinking how maybe I will never get good at those hobbies anymore. I get so terrified of time running out and how people always mentions that time just flies by eventually.
I’m also really scared of moving out since i’m still single. I don’t like the idea of living alone. I had a girlfriend when I was 18 but she was cheating on me. Ever since then i’ve just started building this image of how nobody could ever want to interact with me and how everyone is just better than I am, several parties and events i’ve been on people comment how weird or ugly I look which i’ve in a way started believing. What doesn’t help is me liking nerdy stuff like gaming or anime either. I’ve always seen myself as the loser in every friendgroup i’ve been in. My friends and parents always ask me when i’m gonna get a girlfriend and I feel so useless everytime they touch on that subject. I’ve kinda compared myself to those I guess typical incel stereotype and kind of accepted myself to be one or about to become one. I have been trying to go to the gym but I berely have the time anymore since I always work.
I’ve tried therapy but they just send me around to several places where I get a new therapist everytime who knows nothing about me and I can never actually get to know any therapist or continue on from the first session.
I’m sorry if this is a very selfish vent because I know a lot of people have it worse than me of course. I just want to feel happy again. I just feel sad or useless everyday for a couple of months now. And getting older just makes it worse.

Hey everybody,
This is my first post on this forum and I wish I had done it a long time ago. I wanted to share my story in the hopes that others experiencing a similar thing will feel less alone in their struggles. This is going to be a long post because there is a lot to unpack but I hope it helps someone.
I'm a 26 and male and have been struggling with anxiety on and off my whole life and was only recently diagnosed. I grew up in a religious family with many siblings in Canada. I remember I've always had anxiety related to uncertainty or lack of control. I think it also didn't help that my mom was quite strict at home and expected chores to be done perfectly. There was lots of discord in our family between my siblings and my mom and I think that contributed to exacerbating whatever predisposition I had towards anxiety. I remember having these episodes when I was younger that would last weeks or months where I would hyper fixate on a worry but then eventually it would pass and I would feel happy and normal again. I worried about if god actually existed, if what I was told about religion was true and for some reason the thought that it might not be true really bothered me. I remember my sister telling me about someone who had committed suicide when I was young and that scared the hell out of me for weeks (I had to sleep in my parents room) because it didn't make sense to me and I was scared it would happen to me. Aside from these month long episodes I also never felt a close emotional connection with my parents and I think as a result I developed a need to pursue academic achievements in the hopes I would be recognised and loved even though my parents didn't pressure me to get perfect grades. I remember also getting anxious about existential things that looking back seem kind of silly to be anxious about. For example when I first saw inception I got so scared that my life was a dream and I had no way to prove otherwise.
Whenever I would get anxious, I would talk to my parents about it and the basic response would be for them to pray for me and ask god to take away the anxiety. It felt comforting in the moment and I think they were doing their best but it never really helped long term. I never learned the skills to manage my anxiety on my own and would always seek external reassurance. Talking to my parents now they never saw my anxiety as something I needed professional help with - it was just adolescent things that would pass.
In junior high things were pretty good, I was homeschooled and I remember sometimes gettting frustrated with school but not more than that. In high school things were really good, I think they were probably the best 3 years of my life (2012-2015) - I did really well academically, was nominated for valedictorian and had great friends. I can barely remember feeling bad at all during this time. However near the end of my final exams I remember getting very anxious that I might screw up my reputation as the perfect student and fail my diploma exams - I had no reason to believe that I would fail but I was terrified nonetheless. I didn't fail and did pretty well but this feeling of anxiety persisted throughout the summer and into my first year of engineering where it got really bad - I had anxiety all day every day for most of the first year of university because I was constantly afraid of failing exams. Everyone said that engineering was hard and that a third of the people drop out and I thought my world would end if I didn't do well. I got stuck in a rut of near-constant anxiety that lasted most of the 4 years of my undergraduate - I rarely remember being happy or relaxed during this time.
Looking back at that time is very painful for me - I passed all my courses and even did reasonably well and graduated but I was anxious most days. During the first summer of my degree I worked as a merchandiser at a hardware store because my confidence was so low I didn't even really try that much to get an engineering job. During the summer of my second year I worked as a sales representative for an alarm company and I really felt gross doing that work. But I didn't believe in my ability to get a better job so I travelled around Alberta using dirty sales tactics to try to get people to buy theses systems and I felt so gross doing it. Looking back now there are countless memories I have of feeling anxious in so many situations - at home, at school, at work - near constant. I'm actually surprised I did as well as I did at the time with all this going on. I wonder now why I didn't seek out professional help but I think for the longest time growing up the response was for my parents to pray for me when I got anxious and so that's what I knew. Mental health, therapy, and psychologists were never discussed and to be honest I never really considered them. At the time I couldn't believe I was anxious because I had been so confident and capable in highschool. I think I had an ego and thought I would just grow out of it, that if I performed well in school my anxiety would go away with time. I thought I just needed to perservere and push through it. I didn't want to admit I needed help and I think in the back of my mind I was afraid to seek help because I thought anybody I spoke to about this stuff would judge me and say I was crazy, and that I was too broken and couldn't be helped. I think I was also a bit scared to seek help because I thought maybe it would make my anxiety worse.
After university things got better year by year. I have never returned to what appears to me a blissful time in high school. I think there was an underlying current of anxiety but it was pretty okay and more focused on specific stressful events that occasionally occured in my life - but it wasn't constant and chronic like it was in the 4 years of university from 2015 to 2019. I thought I was moving beyond it and growing out of it because from 2020 to 2024 or so things were pretty good. I had a good engineering job, made good money, and had good relationships with friends. I was exercising, occasionally doing some meditation, and had even done a bit of work on cognitive behavioral therapy for myself, but I had never gone for professional help, I thought I was dealing with it successfully on my own. I knew anxiety was normal and I never expected to completely get rid of it, but at the same time I did expect that I was passed the point of feeling these long, chronic periods of anxiety.
But in December of 2023/Januray of 2024 I got the most anxious I have ever been and I think it was triggered by talking with my older brother David about his difficult experiences growing up in our family and how he was struggling with depression. I shared some of my stuff and I think that opened the floodgates. My anxiety came back and I was absolutely terrified and depressed by the thought that I would have to re-experience those 4 years of university with chronic anxiety. Its kind of crazy but up until that point I never thought I had an actual disorder and I always thought that as I grew older I would outgrow it and I would be fixed. In January it was the first time I realized "holy shit, this might be here to stay and I might have to live with this for the rest of my life". I was so scared and terrified of having to live the rest of my life like I did in university that I started having suicidal thoughts pop up during the days - I never acted on them but these thoughts only fueled my anxiety and sense of hopelessness. It was only during this dark time that I realized I needed help and started going to see a GP. I did 8 weeks of mindfulness and meditation but this didn't really help - it felt like I was treating symptoms and not dealing with some very deep, long-term issues that I had never really spoken about with anyone. After the mindfulness I got into cognitive behavioural therapy and it was the first time I spilled everything to someone, my whole life story and it was a relief and a scary thing. A relief to get it all out but scary to admit to myself the extent of my issues. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and am only now unpacking things. The last four months since January have probably been the hardest of my life - every day feels like a struggle to get through, the weight of all my past experiences and reliving all those anxious moments feels unbearable at times and the idea that I will have to live like this for the rest of my life is just too much. And I wonder if I'm too broken to be fixed. Despite the awful mood I've been in for months, the doctors in the Netherlands have been resistent to prescribing medication before trying therapy and CBT. I'm not eager to go on meds but it does get REALLY bad some days and I feel like I'm just adding more highly negatively emotionally charged memories to a huge bucket that's already overflowing and I wonder if the meds would be helpful. I'm grateful that during this time I have a lovely friend that I can call in tears and she understands and supports me, I've also opened up more to what I'm experiencing with my parents who are supportive.
I'm glad I finally opened up and sought help and I wish I had done this 10 years ago, if it had worked back then it would have saved me so much time, emotional pain, and suffering. But I also recognize I was doing the best I could at the time with the knowledge I had, and I need to practice compassion and kindness for my past self. But I want my story to encourage others to reach out for help. I'm still in the thick of things myself but day by day, I hope to get better. It's difficult because I feel like I'm doing all the health things - exercising, meeting with people, talking to friends and family about it and yet it's very rare that I feel at peace with myself. To fix years of this anxiety its like having to open up a festering wound and clean it and purge it - it's gonna hurt like hell and I expect it will take a long time. I want to encourage others who may be too ashamed or embarassed or not sure about asking for help. Please do, the strongest and most courageous thing I have ever done has been to open up about these issues and ask someone for help. Don't wait like I did, don't try to push through on your own for years, ask for help and anyone who judges you isn't worth your time.
For myself I think it is going to be a long healing journey, not only to deal with my anxiety directly but to deal with the years of unprocessed trauma as a result of my anxiety. We can get through this together, stay strong!
I'm also curious to hear if anyone else relates to anything I have said here, its also nice to hear from others who have been in similar situations and how they got through it :)

For context my dream school is UHCO. I just finished my junior year of undergrad as a chem major and biology minor from a state uni in Tx located in my hometown. I worked hard and hate to have put in all this work for no compensation. Please ignore the numbering lol I had to start over every time for formatting but they should be continuous*
Also I didn’t realize how long this was and I apologies. Feel free to skip to end. Moreover please feel free to send/suggest personal statement, secondary app essay idea, scholarships based off any of this info, etc. It would be so so so appreciated!!!

1. My GPA is an 3.88 & my prerequisite gpa for UHCO is a 3.97. For my chem degree I’ve taken both gen chems, both inorganic chem, both o chems, quantitative analysis, and biochem and all of the labs/recitations associated with the courses. I only received a single B (1hr O chem I lab). The only other B in STEM classes have gotten was in Animal Form and Function (Biology, 3hrs). Outside of that the only Bs I’ve received had been in core class I took during Covid my senior year of HS (we had to go virtual half way through and I did not have laptop, wifi, a computer, nor cell service (I live in rural area) I was getting it done with my phone and public wifi from the town 15 min over before things really shut down bc of the pandemic).
   
2. I will graduate in Spring 2025 with my American Chemical Association certification (ACS), as my degree concentration is general chemistry and we have accreditation for those who chose to get ACS certified. (It’s basically a stamp for the program that ensures the programs academic rigor, once again it is optional for chemistry majors)
   
3. I have like 80+ hours of undergraduate research and am doing a Summer Research Experience (SRR) where we’ll be researching under our PhD mentors for 30hrs/week for a Summer 2 class. There are planned future conferences for this research including ACS & other annual symposiums to ensure proper scientific communication.
   
4. I have 300+ volunteer hours from my past three years in undergrad. This includes stuff from serving my church, volunteer organizations (that’s also a non profit), MD Anderson Cancer Treatment camp councilor, representing chem at recruitment fairs, being in student panals, etc.
   
5. I have been apart of 3 orgs: A non profit organization for drunk driving (where we volunteer from 9PM to 3AM offering free rides to intoxicated students, kinda like free Uber), the honor society association, and a Christian org. I was a Treasurer officer for the non profit org for a year and a member for two years. I am currently the vice president of my christian org and have been for a year (& continuing), I got promoted from Treasurer after holding the position for a year, and have been a member for three years and continuing on.
   
6. I am in the honors program at my college and of have taken the honors section of following classes: gen chem I/II w lab, & intro to stats. I’ve also honors contracted Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, and Comprehensive Biochemistry. All of these courses I have received an A in. To graduate as university scholar you must finish 12 hour of lower level honors course and honors contract 12 hours of upper level. Honors contracting is where you and the professor determine a side curriculum you must complete whilst in the course. (My last lower level hours is coming from Spanish in the fall and I have contracts sets in place for my last upper levels w/ P Chem I & II my senior year)
   
7. I was recommend by multiple professors to my university Academic Assistance and Resource Assistance (AARC) to be the tutor for their course. This program is regionally and nationally accredited and the tutors must be certified by the International Tutor Training Program. These courses include: Intro to Stats, Calc I & II. All of which I have tutored for 2 years. I was the team lead for the Calculus and Calc pre req tutors for a semester as well.
   
8. The AARC reached out to the chemistry professor teaching summer classes and asked for recommendations for who they would like to tutor the course. I am under the program of mathematics at the AARC. However, last summer two of my chem professor ask for an exception and put in a recommendation for me to tutor their courses for Summer I & II. They AARC granted it and I tutored Gen Chem I & II, as well as, O Chem I & II under the science department temporarily for those summer courses.
   

To put in perspective the skills I can demonstrate from the last two bulletins amongst the different environments: Walk-in table. This is where students can walk-in w/o appointment and find the subject they need help with. The Walk-in table I served was the ‘Big Math Walk-in Table’ and the tutors are required to be able to tutor up to Calc I, the pre reqs for Calc I and all lower level math. At any given time I could have 10 students, where a few clients are there for algebra, a few for analytical geometry, finite math, pre calc, Calc I, Calc II, etc. Student Initiated Session (SI). This is a form of tutoring where a professor recommends a past student for employment at the AARC to be a student instructor for their class. This individual is required to attend the course they are tutoring and to prep/plan a 50 min. secondary lesson outside of regularly scheduled class twice a week. Basically, create a lecture going over the concepts being taught. Sometimes these lectures are based off what the students recommend or what the professor suggest Appointments. This is where student select a tutor to hold a 50 min. private tutor session with the client and create/adjust study strategies and review based on there needs
Under mathematics I worked walk-in table for Calc I as well as the walk in table for Intro to Stats based off my recommendations for a semester and a professor actually noticed the quality difference of students work & an upward trend from my tutoring and inquired about me. From there I was asked to be her SI. I continued to do Walk-in table for Calc I & SI a Calc-I course for a year. Then I retired from SI and stuck to Walk-in tables for a semester. This is because the walk-in table was experiencing an immense amount of Calc II clients and I was one of the few qualified to tutor it so my help was needed more there than SI and this was the semester I was offered the Team Lead position over the Calc I program. Through this time I also held a number of different appointments. Ranging from algebra to Calc II. Moreover, for the summer of chem tutoring, I just held walk-in tables for the courses I was recommended for. The following year I was still on chem payroll and I was allowed to take chem appointments on top my math appointments for the next year.

1. I was asked by my General Chemistry Professor (whom is also my advisor) to be a TA for his Gen Chem I lab & later for his Gen Chem II lab. I have been doing that for about a year and continuing. Moreover, I was also asked by my Organic Chem professor to be a TA for his O Chem I lab. I did for a semester and was asked to continue to the second section but I unfortuanetly had a time conflict with a lab I was required to attend and could not accept the position.

Keeping some of these bullets in mind I have been a full time student (~15 hrs) while simultaneously working two jobs (Tutoring position and TAing) and held two officer position w two dif orgs for approximately a year. There was also a semester where I had three jobs (Tutoring position (whilst I was team lead), and TAing both Gen chem and O chem) on top of the officer positions.

1. I have about 35 hours of shadowing from varying specialties of optometry and a few from ophthalmologist.
   
2. I am taking my OAT in mid July
   
3. I don’t think high school stuff matters but I graduate as class Historian, and have many academic/club officer achievements as well as a multitude of service hours from HS. I went to a small rural 1A HS and had 29 in grad class. (I just barely made top 10% as 3rd ranked)
   
4. I’ve gotten academia awards/scholarships of different kind. For things like the amount of service hours I have, my grades, chemistry. Some of which are only granted based off recommendations. Nothing too spectacular tho.
   

All this to be said, I am first gen college student from a family of 7, where I am the youngest daughter. I have 3 older siblings (1M & 2F) who all tried college and have flunked out. As well as a younger brother now who’s tried and flunked out. After I graduate w my B.S. in Spring ‘25 I will be the first person from both sides of my family tree to have earned a higher education (For context my dad never finished HS and none of my grandparents even finished middle school). I have dedicated a lot of time to my studies. My family is economically disadvantaged and I primarily worked so hard so I could be able to eleviate some financial requirements for my eduction. (I even took my first semester of college the same time as my senior year of high school because it would be cheaper) Moreover, I had refractive and strabismic amblyopia from 4th til 10th grade before corrective surgery and it gave me a passion for optometry. I would like to go to UHCO as my partner intends to work in Houston after we graduate. I am applying to both optom schools in Texas and the one in Oklahoma. I hate to have put in all this work for no compensation and am curious as what to do?
Once more feel free to suggest personal statement ideas, secondary apps, how to words this info better, or scholarships based of this info. It would be so so so appreciated!!!

DC Next Proudly Presents:

The Linear Men

Issue Twenty:Family Reunion
Written by Dwright5252
Edited by Predaplant

< Prev. Next Issue > Coming Next Month


The Waverider
When she was growing up, Deirdre Harkness often thought about how things might’ve been different in her household if she had an older brother to take the brunt of her father’s attention. How her path through life could have been vastly different, her rap sheet a little more… non-existent.
Now that such a brother seemingly existed, albeit from another Earth altogether, she was starting to realize that maybe she was fine being an only child.
“Listen, this’ll go a lot faster if you stop being so obtuse, Deirdre,” Owen Mercer scowled, twirling one of his razor-sharp boomerangs deftly between his fingers as he paced the deck of the Waverider. Deirdre sat in the hot seat, the Linear Men staring at her on one side while her current and former romantic partners stood on the other. The multiversal children of Digger Harkness faced off in the middle, neither seeming to want to give any inch in their argument.
“Look, I’m just sayin’ I’d be able to find my friends better without some drongo stealing my schtick,” she responded casually, moving to take a boomerang of her own from her bandolier before remembering the new time cops had confiscated all her weapons. “Surely Jenny Sparks has someone better to send along.”
Was she being difficult? Absolutely. Was this petty argument preventing her from saving her missing teammates? Undoubtedly.
Did she want to take this pretender down a peg? You know it.
“Perhaps we can arrive at some kind of accord, beloved,” Ystin interjected, placing a hand on Deirdre’s shoulder. “I understand how jarring seeing this knave must be, but our comrades in arms are lost to time. Other priorities must take precedence.”
Sighing deeply, Deirdre fell back into the chair behind her, irked that this modified timeline removed all the progress she’d made in molding the chair to fit her form. She could see Liri wince at the force she had used to enter the chair, and felt a little bad about that.
God, she could be selfish sometimes.
“Fine. Fine, I’ll be a good sheila now. What is your plan, oh fearless brother o’ mine?” She felt the tension in the room let up slightly, and Ystin gave her a grateful smile.
Owen pulled out another boomerang of his and started pressing the buttons on it. A projection appeared, seemingly the timeline they were currently in. Biting back her instincts to make fun of her brother’s projecto-rang, she sat back and listened as he began to point at the timeline. “As you can see, this is the current stream that we’re in. You can see these discolorations,” he explained, pointing at the shades of red appearing in the mostly blue timeline, “that indicate the anomalies you’re normally after. Sure, they aren’t the best thing to have appear, but it’s within the Time Masters’ range of acceptable aberrations. From what Deirdre is saying, the kind of anomaly we’re looking for with this situation, with one team seemingly erased from time and another fully resurrected, should be lighting this up like a Christmas tree. That massive of a ripple effect from those changes would unmoor us into the Bleed, never to return.”
“But we’re clearly still here,” Rip Hunter said, scowling. “So you’re saying she’s full of it.”
“Not necessarily,” Owen replied, and Deirdre felt a slight pang in her chest as her brother came to her defense. He dialed in another setting and another hologram appeared, this time showing various circles floating around the timestream. “What do you know about time bubbles?”
Michael raised his hand, ever the teacher’s pet, apparently. “They’re basically pocket dimensions separated out from the timestream. The Time Masters use them sometimes to isolate threats to the stream or conduct experiments.”
“Gold star to you,” Owen said, and Deirdre rolled her eyes as Michael beamed. She missed Booster so much. “Yes, exactly that. So let’s say that these bubbles,” he circled a majority of them, “were made and accounted for. We’re left with a good dozen unsanctioned by the Time Masters.”
Deirdre’s hopes started to pick up before Rip dashed them. “But that’s also within parameters for a timestream. Nature abhors a vacuum and makes time bubbles naturally to fill in any blank spaces that appear. You’re grasping at straws.”
Owen turned toward the captain of the Waverider. “I’m sorry, did you want to run this presentation? I can go back to the Authority and leave y’all to your issues if you want.”
Before Rip could respond, Liri stepped in. “Rip, let the poor boy explain. You’re being an asshole.”
Deirdre blinked, surprised at Liri’s interjection. The AI she knew would never put the captain in his place like that. And even more shocking, she saw Rip pull back and motion for Owen to continue, clearly chastened by his crewmate.
Miracles did happen.
“You’re correct, the other bubbles not highlighted are indeed naturally occurring.” Owen pointed at them and expanded them. “But someone with enough access and know-how can commandeer these time bubbles and manipulate them for their own uses.”
Matthew Rider raised his hand. “So you’re saying our missing people could be inside these bubbles? But what about the damage to the timeline from removing them in the first place?”
“Good question. Like I said, this level of fuckery to the order of things should’ve made things completely unravel. That being said, it is possible for someone with a high degree of chronal knowledge and access to do it. It’d be damn risky, as one mistake could spell disaster. But… it's becoming more and more evident that whatever’s responsible for this isn’t an amateur.” Owen pulled up a blank file now, a glaring DATA NOT FOUND flashing in front of them. “You say you all saw Walker Gabriel vanish, and still have memories of him. He’s not in our databases anymore, and there’s not even a void left behind where he should be. This thing took him out and plastered over the timestream to remove any trace.”
Silence fell on the group as the idea of what they were up against sunk in. Deirdre pondered who or what could hate them enough to do something like this.
“So what’re our next steps?” Liri asked, typing away furiously at her datapad. “Should we search these time bubbles for our missing teammates?”
Deirdre smiled sadly as she heard Liri refer to her friends as teammates. This version didn’t even know these people, didn’t have any definitive proof that they even existed, and yet she took them in her heart as part of the team.
Owen shook his head. “That would take too long, and might tip off whatever’s doing this to our plan. We need more manpower for the search and a way to narrow down the field.” Roxy Rocket, who’d spent the entire conversation vlogging the control room with her camera, piped in. “Sciency stuff isn’t really my bag, but could you maybe look for people that interacted with these folks and trace them that way? Use their memories to bridge the gap or whatever?”
To Deirdre, it sounded like the kind of stupid thing that just might work. “I know someone that might be able to help us with that, and I can get some people together we could use.”
Hub City, Illinois
Something was wrong, of that Violet was certain.
Their journey had led them across the globe when they’d felt it happen, felt the universe attempting to steal another memory from them. Violet fought against the overwhelming vibrations that tried to steal the memory of their friend from them, using their powers to shield their mind and their heart. It took everything they had, rendering Violet unconscious for a day. But when they awoke, they still remembered Michael Jon Carter, Booster Gold. The first person in Violet’s memory that tried to help them.
It felt fitting, going from trying to discover their past to helping bring their friend back from oblivion.
The problem was, nothing was working.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Daniel Carter asserted, shifting on his crutches as he tried to close the door on Violet. They held their hand out to stop it, and felt fear trickle through Daniel’s aura.
“I do not mean to startle you, I am just trying to find some answers,” Violet explained, backing away from the door to give Daniel some space. “I know it sounds strange, but I am telling you only the truth.”
“Look, I wish you luck in… this whole thing you’ve got going,” Daniel said, “but I don’t have a clue about any future relatives of mine, whatever the hell that means. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for a job interview.”
This time, Violet allowed him to slam the door in their face. It was no use. It seemed anyone they’d attempted to contact didn’t have any memories of their friend. Violet knew that if they could only use their aura to show Daniel the true way of things…
But no. That would be a trespass they were hesitant to employ. There had to be a way to bring Michael back without hurting anyone. They would find it, they were sure of it. “Well, if it isn’t the most colorful person I know,” a familiar voice said from behind them. Violet turned around to see Deirdre Harkness approaching them from across the street. Unconsciously adjusting their hijab, Violet ran towards their former teammate and enveloped her in a tight hug.
“You are truly a sight for sore eyes, Deirdre,” Violet said, tears running down their face as they took in their old friend’s presence. “I could really use a friendly ear at the moment. I feel as if I have gone insane.”
Deirdre pulled back from the hug to look Violet in the eye. After a moment of searching, she smiled. “You remember, don’t you?”
Violet’s eyes widened in shock and joy. “Tell me you are not humoring me. You truly remember our friend?”
A wave of relief washed over Violet, and it was all they could do to keep their aura in check as Deirdre spoke. “Not only do I remember Booster and Rip and the others, but I think I have a way to get them back.”
Radiance, Pennsylvania
Living in a mansion wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. For instance, the amount of upkeep required to keep it from becoming a dusty mountain of sadness was just completely unrealistic for one person to do. That meant hiring people to help maintain the grounds, sweep the floors, clean the bathrooms and bedrooms.
Mitch Shelley was not a fan of people.
“No, I said not to make the topiary look like a Soder Cola can,” Mitch insisted to his groundskeeper, an older man whose proximity to loud saws all his life made him hard of hearing. “It looks corny as fuck.”
The old man shook his head. “I think it looks fine, sir. Plus I know your corporate sponsors will appreciate it for that gala you’re holding next week.”
Goddammit. Mitch had been dreading that stupid party ever since he’d been asked to host it in honor of his latest sponsorship campaign for the Soder Cola company. Sure, he wasn’t too involved with the planning (at least, when he could dodge the phone calls and house visits of the party planner he’d hired) but it still took up way too much of his time. That wasn’t to mention the fact that he had to attend the thing.
In a suit.
Ugh.
“Maybe you’re right. Thanks, Joe,” Mitch said, handing the groundskeeper a generous tip. Joe was probably the most down-to-earth of his employees, and he wanted to make sure he was taken care of. Joe shook his hand appreciatively and walked out the door, brushing past a red haired woman dressed garishly in some sort of costume.
“You’re a week early for the gala, darlin’,” Mitch said, waving her away as he tried to escape to his theater room. “I’m sure whatever skill you have will be enough to entertain the suits coming to this shindig.”
“Har de har, asshole,” the woman said, her Australian accent giving him pause. What was an Aussie doing in Pennsylvania? “I’m actually here for Resurrection Man. Need his help.”
Mitch sighed, “Look, I’m sure whatever cat’s stuck in a tree will get itself out. If this is about Lazarus, tell that fucker he can come and face me himself rather than sending his new sidekick.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Look, I know you. You’re a wild horse that can’t be reined in. You need adventure in your life, and I’m here to offer it. Ever time traveled before?”
Mitch stopped on the steps. “In a manner of speaking. What did you have in mind?” Maybe he’d hear this woman out. If anything it might last long enough to get him out of this fucking party.
Opal City
“Stargazer tipline, how can we help?” Jack Knight was surprised when the old phone line started to ring. Courtney had been right; most people used the app to ask for help. He’d almost forgotten the tipline was a thing, and it had startled him into dropping his tools as he worked on another upgrade to the Star Staff. His father’s laboratory made the ringing sound like it was coming from all over, so he’d almost missed the call when he couldn’t find the phone buried under all the schematics.
“Hello Starman, long time fan, first time caller,” a voice said from the receiver, the accent telling him this wasn’t an Opal citizen. “Need your assistance in a caper.” He was tempted to hang up the phone; no doubt this was some kind of crank call. “What’re the details of this… caper, ma’am?” He’d humor her for a little bit. Jennifer and Courtney had been on his case about crunch culture and making sure to take breaks, so maybe this could count as his allotted rest period.
“First off, I think I’m younger than you, so shove off with your ma’am,” the woman huffed. “Second, this isn’t a joke. Why don’t you come out of your little work shed and see what I mean.”
The line clicked, and Jack looked at the phone in confusion. What a weird call. There was no way anyone knew where he was at the moment, so he chalked it up to someone having a laugh at his expense. As he picked up his blowtorch to continue his welding, the intercom buzzed.
“Jack, can you please come up here and tell these yahoos to get their spaceship out of my backyard before they wreck my azaleas?” Jack heard his father’s voice resonate through the speaker. He jumped up to look at the outside cameras, and sure enough, there floated a spaceship of some sort.
He pulled out his phone and texted into the All Star Group Chat. “Hey, gang. Might need to be out of the city for a bit on a mission. I’ll keep you posted.”

Hello beautiful people, thank you for taking the time to read this.
I just figured to share my experience here as I'm unfortunately currently in a not very good state, I can't complain but this definitely not how I envisioned it to go like.
I was a medicine student in Ukraine and I've already graduated, I had to leave Ukraine cuz of the war that was ongoing, I eventually found myself in Aachen.
I've been here for 2 years now, first of all I'm grateful to be here and it's definitely safer and better than my original country, and anyway, I tend to connect better with people from Europe rather than my own country.
I was expecting my journey here to be very exciting and I had so many plans on how to do it, but unfortunately it's mostly depressing and saddening.
I'm not allowed to work, study or even attend a language course, and I haven't gotten an ID card yet too.
Ukrainians have all these benefits, people with Ukranian passports too, but since I am from Iraq, this is how the treatment is.
I'm not really sure what to do, the case worker people tell me that I'm in a "parking position" and I'm like yeah, I can feel it too.
In terms of money, since January I've been receiving money monthly from the city, but these benefits are stopping next month anyway and this just adds another layer of stress.
I'd love some ideas, advice, your point of views, I'm pretty lost but I keep my head up and try to stay positive.

So this is a theory I've been mulching up for a bit. Bear with my while I lay down the groundwork of common understanding before I go into my point.
The premise of Trad Wife Life is two partners marry and they each take different roles. The wife stays in the house and maintains it, does domestic, culinary, childcare, and administrative labor all unpaid. The husband goes out and earns money to maintain the house and the family. The idea promoted is that happiness is found from the separation of these roles as each person does what they are good at and enjoy. Generally, this idea is pitched as a conservative traditional value relationship, where the roles are separated by a sex binary, and doesn't include room for gender diversity.
Relationships like this have already existed, generally in religious communities and in the past. Individuals in those societies are raised to believe that they must embody these roles, and that their duty is to find a way to make those roles work to the detriment of their own happiness, comfort, safety, and well being. Men in those cultures are raised to believe their duty is to punish and control their wives. Women are raised to believe they must be subservient and obedient.
This leads to unhappy people. The wives are financially unstable and physically vulnerable as laws do not do enough to protect a person who provides unpaid labor in exchange for the promise of being taken care of. Husbands are put in a horrible position where they are told they have to embrace the evil in their hearts to properly serve a higher power by enforcing the obedience of those 'below' them.
It is not possible for a healthy relationship to properly thrive in that setting.
"Trad Wife Life" idea cannot succeed with conservative values of subservience and sex binary based roles.
The only way it works is with liberal values of sex and gender equality, mutual respect, and the ability to adjust a relationship based on what each person needs, rather than what each person's "role" is. A happy and secure Trad Wife Life is possible, but that only works if the partnership includes a bank account where the breadwinner puts money aside that only belongs to the domestic partner for the sake of their long term financial security.
It is only possible if the domestic labor is seen as equal to the financial income labor, and not something owed by a subservient partner who must be punished if they step out of line. Mutual respect can't exist if one partner is berated by the community for not trying hard enough whenever something doesn't work, and the other is told by the community that they are owed the body and labor of the person they are supposed to love and support.
"Trad Wife Life" in a conservative setting is a BDSM relationship without agreed upon behavior or safewords.
"Trad Wife Life" in a liberal setting is a living agreement based off of mutual respect, loyalty, communication, and love where the community holds space for the relationship to change so that all parties in it can be happy.

Hello. I’m starting to think about grad schools, but I’m so nervous. I graduate with my bachelors in December. Anyway, I don’t really have much experience at all because all throughout my bachelors studies, I’ve had health issues and haven’t had time for extracurriculars. I worked at a daycare for 5 years and I have helped a few children with their speech. One of those parents is willing to write a letter of recommendation for me. Would that be a good idea? I’ve done an SLP job shadow. I’m a good writer so I hope I have that going for me for my essay. I don’t have a very good GPA. My CSD major gpa is a 3.22 and my overall gpa is a 3.4. I’d love to attend Michigan State University, but I know it’s probably out of the question for me. They say their minimum GPA acceptance is a 3.0, but I know that doesn’t mean you can necessarily get accepted with that gpa. Has anyone attended their SLP grad program? I’m so stressed out thinking about this. I just feel like I’m not good enough and way below the other applicants have to offer. My health problems have held me back from many different opportunities and I hope that it can’t hold me back from grad school. Please help with advice!!! Please!

I want to build essentially a kegerator-type thing that can be placed outside and uses ice instead of a refrigeratofreezer. Eventually, many of the parts will be pulled indoors and a chest freezer will be repurposed, but for now it would be outdoors.
I am aware that jockey boxes exist, but I don't like the idea of loosing all the beer in the long cooling lines.
I know what I need to do via insulation, water proofing, etc to fit 4 kegs into a sort of top opening setup behind taps - I do enjoy carpentry and will be focusing somewhat on presentation.
However, the taps themselves are where my question comes in. I currently dispense from my garage fridge with picnic/party taps (all duotight), which works fine because it's mostly just me right now. But, in preparation for a party at a farm (hence the need to go ice powered instead of electric), I'd like to upgrade my presentation.
I need 4 taps and I'd like to be at least somewhat intelligent on price. To that end, I'm comparing two different S/S forward sealing taps available from my local homebrew shop:

1. Intertap S/S forward sealing
   
2. Krome S/S forward sealing
   

The Intertap is $38 and the Krome is $25. Is there a reason for this difference in price - as in, would I regret going with the Krome?
I'm planning on running the taps through a stained and sealed 1/x3 or 4 board backed by another inch of insulation for 1.75-2" of thickness. If I'm going tap > stainless shank > duotight female beer thread to 8mm OD, would I be able to get away with a 2 and 1/8 inch shank, or should I spring for the 3 and 1/8th?
Is there anything you wish you knew when setting up a proper draft system that you'd like to share?

My daughter turns 4 this year. My friend's daughter is having her 3 year olds birthday party on my daughter's actual birthday (a Saturday). We attended last year but it wasn't my baby's birthday. Could I still take her to the party? I think she would have fun but I don't know if she'll understand the other girl getting gifts instead of her. We aren't having a party for her just take her to do whatever she wants and cake and presents with immediate family at home.
Ideas? Advice?

Hey all, I'm getting a divorce and had to sell the house that was shared with my ex, I made a little over 14000 on the sale. I have since moved into a apartment with a coworker. I work as a paramedic and make about 3,400- 3,600 a month depending if I pick up any overtime or If I have any required classes to take. Overall I like my job, but I want to go back to school and do something else eventually. I can see myself doing this for the next few years while I finish my degree. I attended college for 2 years right after high school but never graduated. I'll break down some of my debt and monthly expenses. The move was a bit more expensive than I thought it would be. I have about 2,200 in savings as a emergency fund, this will cover about 2 months of living expenses. I'm saving a lot of money by living with a roommate, so I can easily get that up to around 4,000 within a few months. I don't plan on using any of the 14,000 to help with this.
Debt- I have about 750 dollars in Credit Card debt between 2 cards, I just had these paid off completely about 2 months ago but used them to assist with the move so I did not have to pull any money from my emergency funds. I have a 2018 sedan with about 140,000 miles on it that I still owe a little over 5,000 on it. I also owe between 5-6,000 to my university, If I want to go back to school this must be paid off. My last college is holding onto my transcripts until the money is paid.
Monthly expenses- My required monthly expenses are about 1500, this includes my car payment, rent, utilities, phone bill, car insurance, gym.
I work for the state so I am apart of the state retirement system, each check they pull out 9 percent to go to that.
I'm not sure if I want to go ahead and pay off all of my debts, which would use up a majority of the money, or If I just want to pay off my school debt and continue making my car payment. I'm also considering paying a double car payment since I have extra money each month to try to get it paid off sooner. I'd be into the idea of using maybe 5,000 and putting it into some kind of savings account with higher interest rates and just locking it away for a while.
I have no experience in saving and this kind of thing, so I'm not sure what would be best going forward.

If you are a Brew Wiz, please do not read further to avoid spoilers. I know you guys browse reddit, but I'm not sure if you look at this one.
Hi everyone, first time posting here. I'm having some difficulties with a social encounter I am planning for the open table I run (currently 4-5 players). Pretty much it's a birthday party for a gang member that the bard has been invited to play. The main goal of the encounter is to run the majority of the session and to offer players a chance to obtain information about their current quests undertaken (We're running Lost Mines of Phandelver and we're in Part 3 where they have a number of quests to follow-up on). My main concern is that my approach is too laid back. I plan to have various small encounters for the party members to interact with and have free reign. Mini-games, if you will. But I am worried this will split up the party into each smaller encounter, dividing gameplay. I'm having trouble coming up with ways to offer engagement for larger amounts of party members within these encounters. I wanted to get the community's thoughts on how to engage 4-5 players in an open social encounter like a dinnebirthday party.
-My initial ideas are: Wild magic potion bar, a cursed treefolk and wood elf that need medical or magical aid, gang initiates that are hesitant about or coerced into joining, Speaking with the acting leader of the gang for history regarding the area and potential quest location they are searching for. My main concern here is that I'm having difficulties thinking of encounters that are fun, but also provide the opportunity for social engagement to obtain lore and information. Any and all thoughts/ideas are welcome.
-I also have a number of empty rooms to fill in the hideout (Tresendar Manor) and I'm hesitant about using a table to autofill them. I was originally going to turn the doors into a magical puzzle where each door is a portal leading to another door in the manor. This would give them freedom for creative shenanigans and it takes care of the need to fill the rooms (aside from a treasure/loot room for solving the puzzle). I am worried about this coming across as lazing writing though since there are like 10 doors that we established in an early session (I struggle sometimes with forward planning). I wanted to get the communities thoughts on the portals idea or alternative ideas to use in place. Or if I should just use a table.
Additionally, I wanted to test out a mechanic with the bard, but unfortunately he will no longer be present for the next few sessions. So I am planning to have his performance act as a random event (players roll a d20 and 1d6 and 1d4) that determines whether a buff or debuff is applied to players' rolls and which skills are affected/by how much. I wanted to get the community's thoughts on the balancing of this.
I appreciate any and all ideas or feedback on the encounter. I'm going for a 'fun house' vibe with the birthday party and just want to make sure it's balanced in terms of offered player engagement. I'm worried it will turn into players running in separate directions, resulting in whoever isn't currently in an encounter just waiting for their turn.