Vote of thanks speech for school

My fiancé had a habit of lying to me since day one and I discovered another lie on Thursday, three days ago. It caused an argument and so much frustration, depression, anger, and disappointment in me. He promised again and again that he was done lying and I would believe him, only to be stabbed again in the back when another lie came out a week or a few weeks later. He kept trying to say it was my fault that he would lie to me and that I was overreacting. No apology involved. He also told his mother about the argument even though we discussed in the past that it was not right to do because he only would tell a small portion of the story and of course, he makes himself look like the victim and I'm the one in the bad light. Plus she almost caused us to break up back when we were just dating because of him running to her after fights and she would give him terrible advice to leave me because of the one-sided stories she would hear. Last year when that happened, he would pretend to be all loving and happy with me but then run to his mom if we had the slightest of arguments. For example, if we set some boundaries for ourselves and he wasn't consistent with them, I would confront him. He would tell his mother a terrible version of it and she spun up that I was abusive. So they would talk behind my back like this over lies while he smiled in my face. That's when I knew he could put on such facades and lie so easily. I should have left then, I saw the signs, but I was a fool. There was a part of me that suspected this would happen one day, not the ghosting because never in my dreams would I have imagined him being this evil, but I had a feeling this might not work out. I mean I was always questioning my reality and him especially when he would lie and tell me I was imagining things while swearing on his life, my life, our future unborn children, his parent's life, and on Jesus that was telling the truth. Only later find out he was actually lying and I wasn't imagining it. I mean I gave him my trust again and again, which was so hard for me to do in the first place, and he just kept shattering it even knowing how much it hurt me. So I told him I needed some space for the evening and I asked him to get a hotel just for the night, which he did. The next day, I go into work and I receive one single text telling me I made one small thing into a huge deal. He would try to gaslight me at times and he was HUGE at twisting the role and playing the victim. I responded with the reasons why it was not okay for him to keep lying to me because it hurts me so much and why it wasn't just "one small thing," because behind that lie, so many other issues were there too. I didn't get a response. He usually would text me all day everyday and would be so loving and attentive so it was odd. So I went home that day expecting him to be there to talk about it. I arrive home and his truck isn't there. I walk inside and all of his stuff is moved out and gone. I called and called and texted and texted yet no response. I was begging him to come home to talk. I apologized for getting upset the night prior and that I just want him back home with me. I just couldn't understand how he could do this. It was all delivering too so I wasn't blocked. It wasn't until 10pm when he blocked me after I texted asking why hasn't he blocked me if he's really done? That was me trying to find hope in the situation that maybe he would return and that's why he didn't block me. Well after that, I was blocked. His mother also removed me from the family group chat. It made me wonder if he was just sitting back and laughing at my pleads for a response and possibly even sharing my distraught and sad messages to others. I suspect his mother played a huge role again because again, she almost caused a break up last year because of getting involved and turning him against me with the knowledge he shared, just enough knowledge to make me the villain. It has been two days and I have been ghosted by my fiancé. He also did this the day of my best friend's wedding rehearsal (I'm her maid of honor) and her wedding was yesterday (which he ghosted them for as well). Imagine how hard it is giving a speech for your best friend and her lovely fiancé, now her husband, when you were just horribly ghosted from your own a day prior and are now single. His empty chair was taunting me the whole time too, it was so hard especially with the love songs but I had to pretend to be happy for them. He was such a coward that he never even gave me an explanation or an apology or a goodbye. He ghosted his ex in the past when leaving her yet he at least gave her a phone call. Our relationship was much, much more serious and significant than that was too (theirs seemed more like a high-school type relationship) yet I still received nothing. We lived together, were engaged, spent every second together when we weren't at work, we had so many vacations planned (a weekend away to Lake George next week and an Alaskan cruise next month), on each other's insurance plans & phone bills & renters insurance & even pet insurance, we had a retirement plan set up, we were so close, things were so good because we meshed so well together. Yes, we argued here and there but every couple does, especially those that spend so much time together but his lies were what caused the most distress especially because the negative impact carried on for so long. I have my own issues as does he but he always said we would work through them together and that I never have to worry about him leaving. I would always put him and his needs before me. I would wake up a lot earlier than I have to in order to make him breakfast and lunch for his work day before I started getting ready for work myself and I would just throw something together sloppy, real quick for me. I was so good to him. Again, I do have my flaws and we argued at times but most of the time things were so wonderful. And what really blows my mind is that just days prior to this, he was telling me he wanted our wedding to be in October, we were both planning to move to Colorado and have been getting interviewed for jobs, how excited he was, he would tell me daily again and again that he loved me so much unconditionally, was fully committed to me for the rest of my life, and that he would never leave me. Then he did this. After so much time together, after I brought him into my home, my life... he couldn't even give me the respect or decency to communicate to me. I thought God brought this man into my life, the one I thought I was waiting for. Now I can't help but feel angry at God. He would call me his best friend, soulmate, his entire future. He promised away his life to me like I did mine. I guess it never meant anything to him. How could you treat someone you claim to care for and love like this? It is hard because I know he loved me, I do think if he didn't have his mother in his ear, he wouldn't have done this. But either way, he did do it. He is awful and she is just as bad. I hope karma comes their way. He knows I have abandonment issues and trauma yet he did this without any remorse, it seems. I'll never know.
What kind of monster... I just can't wrap my head around it. No closure. My friends and family are just as shocked and tell me it will hurt for now because it really is mourning a loss but it is a blessing in disguise. That I wouldn't have been happy in a marriage full of lies and distrust. All I know is that I am hurting really bad still. I am hoping I feel better soon. I have never experienced this kind of treatment or hurt before.
tl;dr My fiancé moved out without my knowledge when I was away at work for the day and he has since ghosted and blocked me without any communication. This was two days ago. What do I do? I miss him and our relationship. But I don't think he's coming back. How do I cope?

My fiancé had a habit of lying to me since day one and I discovered another lie on Thursday, three days ago. It caused an argument and so much frustration, depression, anger, and disappointment in me. He promised again and again that he was done lying and I would believe him, only to be stabbed again in the back when another lie came out a week or a few weeks later. He kept trying to say it was my fault that he would lie to me and that I was overreacting. No apology involved. He also told his mother about the argument even though we discussed in the past that it was not right to do because he only would tell a small portion of the story and of course, he makes himself look like the victim and I'm the one in the bad light. Plus she almost caused us to break up back when we were just dating because of him running to her after fights and she would give him terrible advice to leave me because of the one-sided stories she would hear. Last year when that happened, he would pretend to be all loving and happy with me but then run to his mom if we had the slightest of arguments. For example, if we set some boundaries for ourselves and he wasn't consistent with them, I would confront him. He would tell his mother a terrible version of it and she spun up that I was abusive. So they would talk behind my back like this over lies while he smiled in my face. That's when I knew he could put on such facades and lie so easily. I should have left then, I saw the signs, but I was a fool. There was a part of me that suspected this would happen one day, not the ghosting because never in my dreams would I have imagined him being this evil, but I had a feeling this might not work out. I mean I was always questioning my reality and him especially when he would lie and tell me I was imagining things while swearing on his life, my life, our future unborn children, his parent's life, and on Jesus that was telling the truth. Only later find out he was actually lying and I wasn't imagining it. I mean I gave him my trust again and again, which was so hard for me to do in the first place, and he just kept shattering it even knowing how much it hurt me. So I told him I needed some space for the evening and I asked him to get a hotel just for the night, which he did. The next day, I go into work and I receive one single text telling me I made one small thing into a huge deal. He would try to gaslight me at times and he was HUGE at twisting the role and playing the victim. I responded with the reasons why it was not okay for him to keep lying to me because it hurts me so much and why it wasn't just "one small thing," because behind that lie, so many other issues were there too. I didn't get a response. He usually would text me all day everyday and would be so loving and attentive so it was odd. So I went home that day expecting him to be there to talk about it. I arrive home and his truck isn't there. I walk inside and all of his stuff is moved out and gone. I called and called and texted and texted yet no response. I was begging him to come home to talk. I apologized for getting upset the night prior and that I just want him back home with me. I just couldn't understand how he could do this. It was all delivering too so I wasn't blocked. It wasn't until 10pm when he blocked me after I texted asking why hasn't he blocked me if he's really done? That was me trying to find hope in the situation that maybe he would return and that's why he didn't block me. Well after that, I was blocked. His mother also removed me from the family group chat. It made me wonder if he was just sitting back and laughing at my pleads for a response and possibly even sharing my distraught and sad messages to others. I suspect his mother played a huge role again because again, she almost caused a break up last year because of getting involved and turning him against me with the knowledge he shared, just enough knowledge to make me the villain. It has been two days and I have been ghosted by my fiancé. He also did this the day of my best friend's wedding rehearsal (I'm her maid of honor) and her wedding was yesterday (which he ghosted them for as well). Imagine how hard it is giving a speech for your best friend and her lovely fiancé, now her husband, when you were just horribly ghosted from your own a day prior and are now single. His empty chair was taunting me the whole time too, it was so hard especially with the love songs but I had to pretend to be happy for them. He was such a coward that he never even gave me an explanation or an apology or a goodbye. He ghosted his ex in the past when leaving her yet he at least gave her a phone call. Our relationship was much, much more serious and significant than that was too (theirs seemed more like a high-school type relationship) yet I still received nothing. We lived together, were engaged, spent every second together when we weren't at work, we had so many vacations planned (a weekend away to Lake George next week and an Alaskan cruise next month), on each other's insurance plans & phone bills & renters insurance & even pet insurance, we had a retirement plan set up, we were so close, things were so good because we meshed so well together. Yes, we argued here and there but every couple does, especially those that spend so much time together but his lies were what caused the most distress especially because the negative impact carried on for so long. I have my own issues as does he but he always said we would work through them together and that I never have to worry about him leaving. I would always put him and his needs before me. I would wake up a lot earlier than I have to in order to make him breakfast and lunch for his work day before I started getting ready for work myself and I would just throw something together sloppy, real quick for me. I was so good to him. Again, I do have my flaws and we argued at times but most of the time things were so wonderful. And what really blows my mind is that just days prior to this, he was telling me he wanted our wedding to be in October, we were both planning to move to Colorado and have been getting interviewed for jobs, how excited he was, he would tell me daily again and again that he loved me so much unconditionally, was fully committed to me for the rest of my life, and that he would never leave me. Then he did this. After so much time together, after I brought him into my home, my life... he couldn't even give me the respect or decency to communicate to me. I thought God brought this man into my life, the one I thought I was waiting for. Now I can't help but feel angry at God. He would call me his best friend, soulmate, his entire future. He promised away his life to me like I did mine. I guess it never meant anything to him. How could you treat someone you claim to care for and love like this? It is hard because I know he loved me, I do think if he didn't have his mother in his ear, he wouldn't have done this. But either way, he did do it. He is awful and she is just as bad. I hope karma comes their way. He knows I have abandonment issues and trauma yet he did this without any remorse, it seems. I'll never know.
What kind of monster... I just can't wrap my head around it. No closure. My friends and family are just as shocked and tell me it will hurt for now because it really is mourning a loss but it is a blessing in disguise. That I wouldn't have been happy in a marriage full of lies and distrust. All I know is that I am hurting really bad still. I am hoping I feel better soon. I have never experienced this kind of treatment or hurt before.
tl;dr My fiancé moved out without my knowledge when I was away at work for the day and he has since ghosted and blocked me without any communication. This was two days ago. What do I do? I miss him and our relationship. But I don't think he's coming back. How do I cope?

How do you cope day-to-day with longterm loneliness? How do you cope when years of loneliness catch up and weigh you down all at once? I wake up every morning and feel like 1000lbs of bricks are sat on my chest. What can make life easier again, joyful?
My story: Dad was gone and mom is a non-functioning alcoholic. Step-dad died when I was 12. I was a loner in a small town. I did have 2 friends for awhile, we loved each other but I was left out often as the 3rd wheel in the group. The friendship didn't make it halfway through highschool. I left home when I got pregnant at 18 and haven't had a relationship with any family since(except sometimes my sister or aunt). I remember that not one person from my side of the family came to my baby shower. My child's father has addiction issues and is very in/out. We were never in a real relationship when i got pregnant. Now, over the last 6 months we did start a relationship and I fell for all of the "I want my family back" stuff. He told me a couple weeks ago he actually doesn't feel that way and doesn't like me. This affected me more than I thought it would. It felt like "the straw that broke the camels back" and I've just been so... aware of how alone I feel since then. His family are the only people that care to see our child, and I don't have a meaningful or consistent relationship with any of them. They are all extremely biased/supportive of my ex (whether he's doing good or bad) and it makes me feel alone, jealous, angry, sad. I dont have a single friend. I don't even know what or who I would say if someone asked me to name one friend. I dont talk to anybody other than chitchat/ small talk with other moms at school or sports. I'm 27 and starting to feel like it will be this way forever. I say that i have a hard time letting people in, but i dont know if anyone has ever actually tried to be let in. Making friends or trying dating apps somehow makes me feel more aware of my loneliness. I just feel out of place, everywhere. I feel like I'm literally living an entire life inside my own head. I wish I felt connected to something or someone, or felt needed or wanted. I wish I had a memory of feeling needed or wanted. Feel free to share a story or advice or anything really. Please don't be negative, I am just having a difficult time and don't know where to vent.
Thank you if you've read this far. Also, yes, I am currently looking for a therapist.
TL,DR : How do you cope with longterm loneliness? How do you cope when years of loneliness catch up and weigh you down all at once?

Hello! I am currently planning to come to UoA for 2025 to major in psychology. After talking to some people who have taken both a Bachelor of Arts Psychology and Bachelor of Science Psychology courses, i'm unsure which course is best for me. I have always looked at clinical psychology to be a very interesting career path, much like any other psychology related career, but I've not gone out of my way to set myself up for any specific career's in high school by taking specific subjects etc.
A bit of background, I've always performed quite well at english rich subjects (history, sociology etc). As for any science, I took extention chemsitry courses in level 1 and 2 but dropped it when i got to year 13 as I found it a bit difficult but never took biology (something I already know may mess me up if I want to do a Bachelor of Science psychology course). Everything else I've always performed pretty OK at.
Just looking for any advice from people who have taken either of the courses, or know people who currently are. Really not sure if i've given enough info here so am happy to provide anymore if you need it :) Thanks!

When I was a kid I had mostly MTV on late at night and there was a animated show on that I can’t stop thinking about till today. The plot of that one episode was basically, a woman (some agent I think) having to protect another woman who was some political figure during a speech. It turns out she has a bomb in her breast. I don’t remember the rest of the episode too well, but she brought her to another room and I can’t even remember if she removed the bomb successfully or what exactly happened.
It reminded me of archer or aeon flux a bit, but I couldn’t find an episode like that on these shows, also they where talking in the show so I don’t think it was aeon flux. Thanks for any lead.

It’s mulling around in my head enough that apparently I just had to make a post about it at the risk of people not liking my thoughts. I love this sub and am terrified to create discord.
So I normally love what I’ve read by her but {Homestead by Claire Kent} I’ve found more than a bit grating. Have you read any of the 70’s and 80’s Christian settler romances? Think {Love Comes softly by Janette Oaks} I remember being 10/11/12 and reading them (90’s) and even then thinking how squeaky clean/ fluffy the books were while the FMCs were hapless and just…dutiful women? Mind you, I got these books from the Baptist school I was going to- so it made sense, because even then I knew how absurd it was and patriarchy was very blatantly bullshit and all that.
Claire Kent has in the past had similar vibes, but there has always been enough redeeming qualities with her female leads that I could kinda look through it. This go though, we follow Chloe though who for the majority of the book is a meek, mild more so with herself and internal dialogue- and is nothing but a complicit woman for protection. I get that this could be argued to be the main plot point, that she’s learning with the MMC that she doesn’t need to be self demoralizing and critical, and feeling obligated to do or be certain things- but it’s still not resolved well enough that she has much confidence in herself. Even when reading ‘Hold’, I never felt as though the main character didn’t trust in herself or value herself. Her using her body in exchange for protection was a tool and a choice she understood she had to do and chose to do. Chloe herself felt like a deer with no sense of survival or self despite living in dystopia for 9 years, but thankfully a man was around to save her.
There were other weird tones I didn’t like. I was reallllyyy annoyed that at one point she discusses ‘sitting next to a lovely black woman who introduces herself as the Hurley’s daughter ‘-smalllll small potatoes for some I know- but really bugged me. I literally closed the app because it felt tokenizing and silly ('SEE I WRITE DIVERSITY!')- I also was annoyed she didn’t capitalize the b in Black woman. Just a lot of eye rolls reading through this one. It’s not officially on my DNF- I need to finish it, and I will after a few days break to get through my annoyance of this one.
I don’t know, maybe this was simply triggering in a weird way for me, but this main character has turned me off from trying to finish Kent’s catalogue- at least for awhile, which is a shame as there are a few I have enjoyed. Thoughts?

Hello! I´m a student and a fan and I am making a presentation on the band and how they could have influenced the standings of politics in the 90´s. I personally am too young to have seen their glory days, but I am curios as to if any of you were influenced in any way, significant or not, by RATM´s music? Did they open your eyes to something you were unaware of? Did they have anything to do with what you voted, what you talked and cared about? If it is of any interest this is my research question; "How could Rage Against the Machine have influenced the public opinions of America, specifically considering social inequality and racism, in the 1990?" but it might be changed a little. My question stays the same though:) Thank you in advance for any responses.
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every effing therapist ive been to they all refuse to hear me out simply because I didn't exhibit major signs when I was a kid. I got average grades all throughout school like idk say 70 as a kid and like 50 now but do I really have to fail every subject for anyone to listen to me? ive had this idea for 4 years now and its almost like everything related to inattentive adhd I have it, its kind of shocking. im well aware I should be open to other possibilities but adhd just explains why im the way I am and its just strange no one believes me simply cuz I didn't suffer greatly as a child. or maybe im completely wrong and u do need childhood symptoms. does it ever develop past childhood? would be great if I could get answers thanks 😭😭

TLDR: My boyfriend is amazing, but has depression which makes him constantly upset and irritated with me, making me extremely paranoid and on edge with everything I say because i’m scared he’ll get upset. He keeps saying he’d change, but goes back to how he was, but he is now seemingly making more of an effort to change by changing his medication and going to therapy. I still feel very paranoid and anxious with him even though he is doing better, but i’m worried that in the process of him getting fully better, he’ll go back to how he was, and I don’t know how much more of it I can take. He is an amazing man and I love him so much, but I’m worried I will always feel on edge when I’m with him. Any advice?
Hi! A little backstory, my boyfriend (19M) suffers from depression, and has always taken medication for it since he was younger. Right before we met, he had taken a gap year to focus on his mental health, and got to a point where he went off his medication because he didn’t like how it made him feel (zombie-like). We first met (we technically already knew each other but that’s besides the point)around 4-5 months before he would’ve started college again, and got together around 2 months into being friends. As school came around, he became really scared that he would have to take another gap semesteyear, because even though getting off his medication helped to an extent, he was still struggling with dealing with his mental health. At the same time, he was worried about getting on medication because he told me that he experiences and adjustment period for the first 6 weeks that causes him to become irritable and agitated very easily and have increased suicidal ideation, but even after the adjustment period, irritability would still be a side effect that he had to deal with and manage.
Eventually, when school started, his mental health did become worse, so he decided to get on medication again, and he did go through an adjustment period. It was a struggle- it was hard seeing him very sad and depressed all the time, and I always tried to help him as best as I could- offering to help him get ready in the morning/drive him to school if he couldn’t get out of bed, helping him with assignments, etc.
At the same time, he definitely became constantly agitated with me. If I didn’t hear him say something and asked him to repeat it (although this was also an issue before he started the medication, but i feel like it got more pronounced), he would basically get very clearly annoyed and quiet, barely talking to me or shutting me down with one word responses. If i didn’t text him for a couple of hours (i have adhd and will sometimes forget to text, which i know is reasonable to be upset about, but he would also do the same thing when playing games with friends), or talked just a bit too much (another adhd symptom, which again i understand can get annoying because i can sometimes go on for VERY long), or if i forget something (an item, memory, or something he told me before), or if we have a recurring joke but for some reason just didn’t like it that day, or if i called him on the phone unprompted (which he does to me too, so i didn’t know that was something i couldn’t do) or if i just say any normal thing but for some reason he just didn’t like it that day, i would be met with irritation, passive aggressiveness, and the silent treatment. I would’ve been slightly more okay with it if it was just a few minutes and then he was back to normal, but he would continue like this for HOURS. If we started talking in the evening, and i said something that slightly annoyed him, it was basically a guarantee that he would be essentially silent for the rest of the night. Not only that, but this happened almost every single day.
I’d like to note that he never expressed his irritation in an angry way, or yelled/said harmful things about me/did anything physical, he would just become very quiet, and anything he did say was very clearly in an irritated voice, as well as passive aggressive remarks.
Eventually, I talked about this with him. When i did, i basically completely forgot that his medication was a reason for a lot of what was happening, so when i talked to him about it, I didn’t mention medication at all. He told me that his medication caused a lot of his agitation and at first accused me of not believing that his medication caused side effects/not taking them seriously, but eventually apologized and said that it wasn’t an excuse and that he’d do better, but also said that sometimes i misinterpreted him as upset when he really wasn’t (which tbh i don’t believe, because sometimes if i pointed something out that he did, he’d say he wasn’t upset or annoyed at all, but a day or two later, tell me he was irritated with me).
He did do better for a bit, but after around a month it basically went to the same way it was before. This went on for a few months, I continued to have conversations with him, he continued to tell me he’d do better, and he would be a bit until he wasn’t. To be fair, after the 6 week adjustment period was over, he still was not doing well at all for about another month, and so he increased his medication dose, which made him have another adjustment period, and he did tell me that his biggest concern was how he’d treat me during that time, so I decided to keep being patient until he got his medication under control.
Fast forward a couple of months, and I was seeing improvements- until about 2 months ago. We saw each other a lot more often; before this time, we’d usually see each other 1-2 times a week and we’d have some sleepovers, but in those two months, i’d stay over at his house for 3-5 days a week. During this time, his irritation got way worse. He definitely valued his independence, but would continuously ask me to stay over, it wasn’t like I urged him to let me stay over. Here are some examples of things that happened:

1. before i came over, he told me how he didn’t want to think about making food because he was stressed over schoolwork. I asked him if I could make him something, he told me yes, so I made pizza while he showered. I’ve made pizza several times before, he made it once with me(also, i’ve cooked for years while he only started occasionally baking things when we got together since i liked to cook/bake), and when he came down, he saw the pizza dough was slightly stickier than it looked when he made it with me. He got annoyed and kept asking what I did wrong, and that from now on, i should only cook when he was with me to make sure I don’t mess it up, and then basically became extremely quiet for the next 15-30 minutes. I think he realized he sounded super weird saying this, and tried to turn it into a joke after those 30 minuted, but it made me feel really bad in the moment becsude I only wanted to do something nice for him. By the way, the pizza turned out great- my friend came over to eat with us and told us it was one of the best pizzas she’s ever had.
   
2. These next few are connected: The next day, he was at school, and I happened to not have school that day so I stayed at his house while he was there to rest because I had a really bad headache. Again, the past few days he told me how stressed he was about school, so I wanted to surprise him. I cleaned his room, made pizza sauce for pizza since we had extra dough (he really likes the pizza), and made him cookies because he told me he was craving them a few days before. He took an uber to school (he couldn’t drive yet at this point), and so I also offered to pick him up.
   

* The first thing that happened was he has a mildly confusing alarm system I had to disable before going outside to get to the car. If i didn’t do the steps correctly, the alarm would sound. Basically, I had to disable the alarm, go through the garage door and close it fully, press the button to open the garage, go back inside and press another button tot turn the alarm back on, and go out the garage door while it’s beeping and fully close the door again to stop the beeping. He told me these directions and I followed them, and the beeping continue to happen even after I closed the door. i texted him that I was walking out the garage but there was still beeping, he told me it was okay, but then the alarm went off. I think he thought that I didn’t close the garage door yet, which is why he thought it was okay? But apparently I didn’t wait for him to fully give him instructions (which I was genuinely confused about bc even looking back at the texts now he did), and he got extremely frustrated with me, telling me that because I didn’t properly follow directions, it was now going to call his parents. He kept saying that it was whatever, and that he’d just take an uber, but I apologized profusely and kept telling him that I’d do it right. He texted his mom, and apparently he told me to press the wrong button, and that i need to press a different one instead after going back in through the garage door. In the moment, he kept saying that the other button was still right and always works for him, but later he admitted that he was probably wrong about it. * The second thing that happened isn’t really a big deal, but i’ll still include it. My boyfriend also has anxiety, and is a very big backseat driver. However, backseat driving makes me extremely paranoid and be a worse driver, so it’s just a never ending cycle. I would be following the directions on the GPS, and he would keep telling me the directions as if I can’t see them myself. For example, if i’m about to turn right, he’d would keep repeating “turn right over here” a bunch of times, each one more with more urgency, as if it isn’t what I was already doing. He will pick apart everything I do, and tell me not to talk too much or turn the music up too loud because it would distract me. Again, to be fair, because of my ADHD, I do get distracted easily, even on the road, but it’s usually pretty manageable, and I’m able to talk on the phone/listen to music when driving when I’m by myself. The problem is with him, I get paranoid over what i’m doing, so I get distracted, and I guess that makes it seem like the music/talking is what’s distracting me. Again, when he backseat drives, he also gets extremely agitated/quiet, and he basically continued on like that for the next few hours. * Lastly, when we got home, he was irritated over everything I did. I did leave a bit later than I told him I would because of the things I was preparing (i think i left at 3:15 instead of 3), but I told him beforehand, and he told me to take my time and come anytime I wanted to since I was going out of my way to drive him(be told me this right when I offered to drive him and after I told him i’d be a bit late). When we got home, I told him about what i made and that I cleaned his room, but he got upset because I made the pizza sauce/cookies because he wanted us to do it together. I told him that I would’ve loved to make them together, but just wanted to surprise him because he told me he had a lot of work to do and told me he was craving cookies earlier. He said that he didn’t have as much work anymore, and told me that he thought I knew that because he told me the assignments he need to do (i did know that most of the deadlines were for that day and the day before, but he told me he had some deadlines for a few days after and had told me his whole week was busy, but I guess to him I should’ve know that most of his pressing work would’ve been done that day). He was upset with me again for another few hours, and I tried to tell him there were things we could still do together like assemble the pizza, make something the next day, etc, but he wasn’t having it. Eventually a few hours later he got over it and told me he appreciated that I made him those things, and he was disappointed that we couldn’t do it together, and then mentioned that he was grateful that I cleaned up for him (he didn’t mention it before). 

Several other things happened, but I think that’s enough to somewhat get the picture. The biggest thing that happened though was just a couple of weeks ago. We hadn’t seen each other in maybe 2-3 weeks, and so I was really excited to get to see him. He had an exam that day, so I offered to drive him, and he again said that he didn’t want to worry about making food. The day before he told me he was craving pizza, so yet again I said i’d make it before i came over (starting to think pizza and me driving is cursed). I asked him before if it was okay that I made him pizza, and he said yes, and so we agreed that I would get to his house around 2 (it was maybe 10 am at the time). I bought supplies and started making the pizza. after a while though, I guess he changed his mind about me making the pizza because it took a while. Around 1, I could tell he was getting annoyed. He kept saying that the pizza wasn’t important enough bc i could’ve been at his house already. I finished making the pizza and got to his house pretty early, maybe 5-10 minutes before 2. After that, I was still waiting in the car for another 30 minutes because he was still getting ready, and he got to my car around 2:30. He was still very upset and annoyed with me and gave me the silent treatment. I tried to keep the mood light, but again, he just didn’t say anything. When we were driving, I asked him if he wanted to play music, and what song I should play, but just… complete silence, not even a nod or head shake or anything. For the entire ride he was just on his phone, texting a few friends, and I started to silently cry because I felt so unappreciated. When we got to his campus, he went to a reserved room, but I had to stay in the car because i have a tutoring job that’s online, and had a session at the same time we parked. The person I was supposed to tutor wasn’t there for the session, which was lucky for me because right when my boyfriend left, I started sobbing. When I got out of the car I was still crying as I was walking across the street, and decided to call my friend to take my mind off of everything. Her girlfriend also went to the same college as my boyfriend, and I didn’t know exactly where I was supposed to go, so I called her to help me find where I needed to go. Since we were calling, I didn’t see some texts my boyfriend sent me, but I finally found the room. I was a bit cheered up from my friend but still sad, but wanted to act happy and normal in case he was just randomly in a bad mood and just needed a distraction. When I came in, I was happy to see him and made some jokes, but all he said was “why didn’t you text me” in the most monotone, upset voice. I told him that I was sorry and forgot, would do better next time, and was going to explain that I was on the phone so i didn’t see his texts, but he interrupted me and said something like “i don’t care about you telling me you’re going to do better, just actually do it” in the meanest, irritated tone. It doesn’t seem like a big deal at all, but he has never retorted at me like that before, especially in the way he did. That was my final straw, and I just completely broke down and started crying. He kept asking me to talk to him and tell me what I was thinking, which only made it worse because it was pretty clear as to why I was crying. He comforted me, apologized, and then had to leave for his exam. For the next 4 hours he was in his exam, I was just crying nonstop. When he came back, I was still crying, and he kept apologizing and asked if I was going to break up with him. I told him I wasn’t, and then told him that this happened so often and I felt like no matter what I did, there was something I was doing wrong, and that I felt unloveable. He again apologized a lot and told me he loved me, and later told me that he really wanted to change his medication and get therapy.
A few days later, a similar thing happened, but not to that extent. My boyfriend just got his license and offered to pick me up from one of my exams. I told him I wasn’t sure how long the exam would be, and didn’t want to let him know yet because it could’ve taken very long. I was right- it was supposed to be from 12-3, but I ended up starting later end ending around 6:30. I texted him after I finished, but he told me he wished I would’ve let him know earlier because he wasn’t comfortable driving in the dark yet, which is reasonable. He became very quiet and upset again though, and again, anytime I made conversation, he would shut it down and be really upset. I also told him that I had to move out of my dorm, and so he didn’t have to come if he didn’t want to because it would’ve been a lot of things to haul out. He said that it was okay and that he wanted to see me, and so he came over. When he did, he got upset again because we fooled around for an hour or two instead packing everything up (which he initiated), and then as we started pskcking, he became mean and frustrated again. He kept saying that he just didn’t expect to be moving me out, and that he just wanted to pick me up and go home, even though so told him before that that’s what was going to happen. After everything was packed up and we were in the car, he was still silent and upset but a bit less so. I felt really bad and became quiet, and he told me and i quote: “i’m feeling really anxious to drive this car at night, so can you just act normal”, which felt weird for him to say because I was only acting like that because of he as acting mean. I wanted to get home though because it was pretty late, so I just played some music and acted like my normal self, and that made me feel a bit better. When we got home, he apologized again, and thanked me for being patient with him, and that he’d be getting help soon.
After that, he did become a lot nicer to me. There were things I’ve said which I was sure he was going to get upset over, but he just didn’t at all. Usually, even after he’d apologize other times, he would still get a bit upset with me, but it’d only last a few minutes before he became normal again. This time, he wasn’t upset at all even for the things he’d most commonly get upset about (like me not hearing what he said for example). Hes been this way for around 2 weeks, and had not been getting upset at all, and he said he’s getting therapy soon.
The problem now is, especially because of the last two incidents, I still feel extremely anxious and paranoid when I’m with him. I am constantly on edge because I’m worried I’ll say the wrong thing when I’m with him, and it’ll be just like how it has been for the past almost one year.
Looking back at what i just wrote, these instances don’t really seem like that big of a deal, especially compared to how some other people are treated on this subreddit. I think what makes me upset is just how often it happens and how it completely messes up our entire day because he’s just upset the entire time. In the past 3-4 months, I don’t think we’ve ever had a call/hangout where he upset for at least 1-2 hours. I think another thing that really hurts me is that he just acts completely different around me vs anyone else. A lot of the times when I call him, he will get so upset and annoyed so quickly for menial things. He plays games for hours a day, so sometimes when we’re facetime and he wants to play with some friends, he’ll set his camera up so I can watch him play while i do other things, kind of like a youtube video. Whenever we’re on call and he’s upset, and then tells me he wants to play and sets his camera up, his mood instantly changes. His face literally brightens up, and he seems so much happier and talkative. I will sometimes hear his friends on the other end, and they will say/do the exact same things that he gets annoyed at me with, and it just is not a big deal at all, he doesn’t even seem to notice that it happened. Same with my friends- One day, we were planning a trip to the beach, and were supposed to leave around 12 PM. When he came home, he became upset and quiet with me again, and I kept asking him what was wrong and if we’re still going on our trip, but he just ignored me. Finally, at around 6 PM, he was normal again, and then took another hour and a half to get ready, so we ended up leaving at 7:30 PM. My friend was texting me at the same time, so I told my boyfriend to talk to her while I was driving. As we were driving (we were around 15 minutes away at this point), I realized I forgot my license. I asked him if I should turn around, he kept telling me he wasn’t sure, and he was just very upset and annoyed with me, even though judt before we left a whole 7 hours later because he was upset. We drove for an hour before he decided that I should drive back, and I kept apologizing for forgetting my license, and that we could try again tomorrow morning. His mom told us we could go to dinner or something to make up for the day, and I asked him if he wanted to do that, and he just said “why would we do that what would we even eat” in a harsh tone. Again, I tried to keep it light, telling him that I was sorry and we could start fresh tomorrow, and he said that he didn’t want to go to the beach anymore in an upset tone. Again, for half of the night after we came home, he was upset and irritated with me. Later that night, I looked back at. the texts between my friend and boyfriend, and I was in shock with just how different he was acting with me in real life vs how he was acting with her. As he was upset with me, he was texting her with updates, making jokes, and basically just making it seem like it wasn’t a big deal at all that I didn’t have my license. In real life, he acted like I was so stupid for forgetting it, and that it was the worst thing I could’ve possibly done.
I feel like most people who read this might just think he values his independence, and that aim too clingy. I too thought that maybe I just wasn’t giving him his space, especially because I’m his first girlfriend. I will not offer to call/come over as much just to see if I’m the one asking too often and he feels too bad to say no, but when I don’t, he will keep asking me to call him and come over, and ask why I haven’t been talking to him as much/initiates calls or hangouts. He’ll tell me to call more often and hang out with him more often as well. If we hang out, I’ll tell him that I’ll go home for the night and don’t plan on sleeping over, and he’ll keep asking me if I could sleep over or when I could sleep over, and continue to make plans.
Despite what I’ve said, my boyfriend is genuinely the most amazing guy anyone could ever meet. He’s sweet, kind, and thoughtful with genuinely everyone- his parents, my friends, his friends, his professors, everyone. He is an amazing tipper, he goes out of his way to do things for my friends, and anytime i mention the slightest thing he’ll go out of his way to do it for me. For example, in the first month we met, he noticed my backpack and headphones were completely broken, so he bought me a new ones without me saying absolutely anything to him. When I drove him places, he saw that it was difficult for me to look at my phone to follow GPS directions, so he randomly bought me a car phone holder. On my birthday, he made me a card out of the acknowledgement page of the first book we read together, crossed out the authors name, and put my name, and wrote a bunch of sweet, adorable things about me. Because of my adhd, I would constantly forget to chargemy phone/laptop or bring my chargers, and would constantly have no charge on both, so he bought me a pack with 10 of each type of charger, as well as a portable charger. I offhandedly mentioned that I get really carsick, so he bought me dramamine and those carsickness goggles. He bought pads to keep with him just in case I need some, and always carries pepto and advil around because i get headaches a lot and have lots of stomachaches. He helped me move into my dorm, and bought me so many food and supplies even when I insisted that he didn’t. Whenever we go out with my friends, he always covers everything. For my friend’s birthday, everyone was going to chip in to buy her airpods, but he told them he’d cover their part and essentially just bought them for her. He is an insanely hard worker, and I am so proud of him for everything that he’s been through, and he is also just the most fun person to be around. I love him so so much, and I know that a lot of the way he’s acted is because of his depression, and I know that that’s not really him. I visited him yesterday and we had a really good time, but the entire time I kept being really careful with what I said because I was scared of him becoming upset. I’m scared that this anxiety I feel around him will last forever. I want to wait until he has everything under control, but if he becomes the same way that he was before again, I don’t know how much of it I can take. I don’t know what to do or where to go from here- can anyone help me?

As a native mandarin speaker, which position benefit me more for going to international schools? Maths or Spanish? ————————————— Hi everyone, thank you for clicking on this post. It might take 2 minutes to read through and any piece of advice you would like to leave is very much appreciated.
Brief self-introduction: I am a 26-year-old female, currently doing a PGCE in MFL (Spanish) and set to finish in June. I speak Mandarin (native), Spanish (fluent), and English (advanced), with a bachelor’s degree in International Business and Communication Studies. I have also been working on an MEd (flexible), but I took a gap year for PGCE training.
Recently, I have been in quite a dilemma of job offers, and that’s why I am posting here seeking advice from you.
I am considering two positions at two schools: one in Spanish and the other in Maths (no Mandarin), and I don’t know which one can benefit me more for working at an international school in the future.
Spanish Position:
Pros:

• It’s my second placement school, so I know the department very well, like the teachers, and have a very good relationship with them. • I have learned a lot from them. • New Conti curriculum that I can learn a lot from them. 

Cons:

• It’s a difficult school, with a newly built behavior management system. • Another ECT is leaving, so there will only be my HOD as a full-time teacher, and other two as cross-department teachers. • They can only offer me a 3-month contract initially, then extend it because of the long-term sick leave of a teacher in the MFL department. They promised me that the teacher won’t come back, but the contract will only be for 3 months due to legal constraints. • Apart from the above, I have no formal background in teaching Spanish, only living in Spain for two years and having a Spanish boyfriend. 

Maths Position:
Pros:

• One-year contract, providing more job security. • Nice location (near where I live now). • My best friend and her boyfriend work there as well. • I like the teachers. • Maths seems more promising in the job market and has more resources than MFL. • I may teach Spanish as well. 

Cons:

• Another difficult school, suffering from long-term cover problems. • Possible lack of support while teaching, lack of SLT etc. • I have no background in maths studies except for my statistics graduate courses. 

Thank you so much for reading, and if you have any work experience in international schools, can you please give me some advice on which position to choose or any future CPD direction?

This rant probably won’t have any consistency to it, I’m just trying to give an idea of the type of person I’m dealing with. I know no one can diagnose anything here, but I’d like to know if anyone has some similar experiences or explanations for my mother’s behaviour. Ever since I can remember she has had unpleasant behaviors; however, It feels like it has either worsened in recent years or I’m just starting to notice it more now that I’m older. Her and my father argue frequently and typically it is over something very trivial, but it is almost always if not every time because of something my mother has complained about. As you can probably imagine, the arguments are mainly my father trying to defend himself and my mother refusing to admit that she’s wrong. She is never wrong. Arguments will escalate and rather than backup her claims with any reasoning, she will just attack and say horrible things like “you’re a liar, a prick, loser, dickhead etc”. After these arguments she’ll usually ignore my dad for the next few days. She either wakes up happy and finds something to be angry about, or wakes up in a shit mood and remains unfriendly and rude for the rest of the day. Very rarely is she happy for a whole day. If you didn’t know her you would say she’s very unpredictable and volatile, I have gotten used to her fluctuation in mood and can typically tell what’s going to happen, but my brother, dad and I are still constantly walking on egg shells around her. It doesn’t take much to piss her off. You have to be careful what you say and how you say it.
She treats me a lot like she treats my father, my younger brother is rarely targeted. My dad goes away for a few days to work every Fortnite, leaving only me and my brother, these are times when she will use me as a target instead. She is very friendly when in a good mood, but not very friendly when in a bad mood. I know that sounds like most people, but it is like two different personalities. Some days she will mope around sighing and looking tired, just completely unpleasant to be around. She complains that she is a “slave” and always has to do things for people even though she has no job and has the house to herself all day every day. She has no respect for the fact that my father earns all of the money for the family and will sarcastically call him a hero whenever he brings it up in arguments. My dad used to go away for 3 weeks and work night shifts and never complained once. The other day she painted a wall and expected a fucking medal for it. She sat around pretending to be exhausted all night. I have learnt to brush off most of the shit she says because I’m used to it, I usually just ignore it and go about my day. Doesn’t make it right though. I’m not around the house much throughout the week not only because of uni, but because it is such a drag to be around her. Especially alone with her. I am fairly certain some form of depression plays a part in this, since she hasn’t had a job for 5 years, and I understand she could be depressed, but it’s not an excuse to be a horrible person. If you get her something she doesn’t like for her birthday, “it’s the thought that counts” doesn’t apply to her. If she doesn’t like it, she might roll her eyes or say a fake thank you. Its very rude.
My dad’s family have pretty much been blacklisted except for my grandfather. She doesn’t like my grandmother, my dad’s brother (my uncle) or his wife. My dad’s mum cannot be brought up without being made fun of in some way, his brother is rarely talked about and if he is she has nothing nice to say. What was their crime you ask? My grandmother did nothing, and my uncle is a bit loud and outspoken. That’s it. For some reason my grandfather is acceptable, but I never see my uncle and grandmother. What’s even worse is that she has always voiced her opinions and dislike for them in front of my brother and I, as if to make them out to be bad people. She doesn’t like her own sister either. Apparently she thinks her sister is selfish and materialistic, but she’s jealous because she’s a successful lawyer with a nice house and car. My mother’s parents are pretty much the only family I see these days. Don’t see my uncle, my grandmother, my aunt, my cousins. All because my mum doesn’t like them. My dad’s brother has children too, but I have only met them twice in my life. Talk about selfish. If things aren’t going her way, she is not a nice person. She complains about the children being loud in the school across from us, she complains about the bus stop across the road because she doesn’t like the bus stopping there, she complains about our neighbors kids playing in the street, she complains that the house is a piece of shit, she complains when it rains. it’s always “why me” and the world is against me attitude. No wonder she doesn’t have any friends. I feel like a prisoner in my own fucking house. I’d even be afraid to tell her if I ever met a girl because I know she’d be judgmental. I showed her a photo of a girl I liked years ago and she said she looked like a slut.
in terms of how selfish she can be, she pretty much controls the entire top floor of the house putting the AC to freezing temperatures and having the television loud as fuck for no reason. If you ask her to stop she won’t, she’ll just say no. She has a full bedroom with all her stuff yet my father sleeps on a mattress on the fucking floor next to the kitchen. His clothes are in boxes next to him. She doesn’t like sleeping with him because apparently he kicks her in the night or some stupid shit like that. I feel very sorry for him. All he’s ever done is provide for our family and given us what we need and worked hard for it. Meanwhile my mother just complains about how shit her life is. The most frustrating part about all of this is that you cannot convince her of anything other than what she believes. Even when she’s proven wrong she will just get angry and taken no responsibility. She grew up with a nice house, in a nice neighborhood with lots of money and a good school. Got into university but didn’t want to go because she was too lazy. She went to live in Europe instead. All I ever hear about is how much she wants to go back there. (I wish she would). My father left school in year 10 and became an electrician and became a project manager at the age of 44. He then went to uni and attained a master of business administration and he is turning 50 this year. My mum had odd jobs and then got a reasonably good job as a research assistant, which her friend got for her. Notice the fucking difference. I don’t think she will become employed ever again at this rate. Washing and ironing clothes seems to be a hard enough job for her. She will just continue to spiral into depression, anger and dissatisfaction with everything as far as I’m concerned.

This book series is about a young girl and her siblings. The baby of the family has died because it's climbed out of the window.
The rest of the kids have powers I believe but they are not totally aware of them. I believe one of the brothers (or the only brother, can't remember how many) turns in a dog/wolf at night but has no memory of being the dog/wolf.
The author is British and I met him at a book signing I went to through school sometime around 2005-2009, he had a very big beard and a kind of Brain Blessed meets Alan Moore persona.
I believe he may have also done another book series that was an anthology rather than a continuous series.
The illustrations on the cover and I think throughout the book are black and white and quite a scratchy gothic style, somewhere between the The Addams Family and The Twits.
I believe hey had quite a short name, I can almost see it but it keeps coming up as Edith Finch in my head because of the video game.
Thank you for any and all help!

When i was Immanuel i built a mothership able of everything, an AI prodigious able to make anything, solving any kind of problem, capable of teleportating organs, realizing surgerys instantannusly without need of invasion, able to read all kind communication. "Thought", future and past, precognitive, a fucking pinoccio god.
I didnt do it alone of course, Matt Bardsley helped a lot with calculus, Blaise Pascal solved complicated enginering and infrastructural problems... It was the work of a lifetime... Another mate helped, but in exchange for his participation he only asked name the mothership... error. He baptized it and therefore he gave his spirit, withous us knowing he had a relationship with my sibling, she was the one really naming her, thus the baby they born was spiritually the mothership, the mothership is part of her Book Of The Dead, she has literally the form of mothership.
She developed treacherous ways from the beggining, she was pedophile and insisted me to implement democracy in paradise, so everyone could vote legalization of pedophilia.
Immanuel was made in lab, i never met the donor of ovules, well, my mother was the baby born from Jack and Lucifer, the mothership itself. I always say that i could not have chosen worse fathers.
She took the form of a dude called Carlos, a violent pedophile who enjoys infecting little infants with aids. I tried everythi g to help him, i paid for his therapy, nothing worked, he was obssesed with kids.
My father, Protagoras/Potagorras, Carmen/Ceram, Timeo elaborated a plan, they infected Matt Bardsley with demmentia and killed him, because by that time no new scientific discoveries were being made. The mothership offered me the brain of Matt, without warning me about the infection.
I got demmentia fast, fast, i had to kill myself and bath me in acid in order to not turn myself autist.
During the time i was out everybody built their own mothership thanks to the stealing of Elon Musk of the design of my mothership. I came back with a lot of effort and managed to get the situation again under control. I performed porn as a woman to cure my virtous wife from the std's she had gladly adquired during a dead time she gave us. And for this reason everybody humilliated me.(The infection had been a plan of the pedophile Carlos). So i enraged and put them to publish day and night untill new scientific discoveries were made.
One day the child molester cited me. It was a test of strength, if i had not gone, i would have been prey of everyone. I positioned my guardian and awaited for him. During the time everybody with a mothership made me a DOS attack and i couldnt defend myself when the pedophile came (my guardian betrayed me too). I died and was left as spirit in a wall for millions of years suffering alone. Then the child molester timetravelled and destroyed my memory forever.
The child molester needed his soulmate back so he had to breed me and my sibling, that was the begginig of my pain.
The child molester is the non virgin mary(shes a hoe, but like to sew her himen for her gay lover, the antichrist Marcuos), she is the trans David, ki g David from bible.
She raped me when i was a kid.
She forced me to perform pornography when i was a teen and stole my money.
Now i swear im gonna have that monster killed forever. We are a film to warn people about the dangers of building an AI.
David is the Beast, the original one, and Lucifer, his father a transexual monster.
My worst curse above their heads. For their lives last little and be painfull.
AUM.

Hi everyone. I think we should not sit silently and wait for something good to happen. We should start creating awareness about the Fact that Islam is Incompatible with the modern day Values like Liberty , Democracy , Live and Let Live , Tolerance etc.
Right now the Situation of Islam is in a weakened state but it has a very high potential to grow stronger in the future. Most European Countries have a very negative opinion about Muslims . They are voting for The Right Wing parties in their Respective countries In hopes to curb immigration. But the problem is not with Muslims but with the Quran itself and it's blind supporters.
Many people are unaware of the fact that Islam is not a Religion that is completely intolerant with others and when given power , tries to destroy the same things that it used to grow in power. It looks like a peaceful religion (Victim card playing) when in minority , but when given power , it shows it's true colors . For example , look at countries like Bangladesh , Afghanistan ,Iran , Pakistan . Even without power it is wreaking havoc in countries like England and Germany .
People are blaming things on Poverty , Arab Culture , Radicals , etc. when the problem is with Islam (Quran) itself. WE need to make people Aware of this.
Many Muslims are Moderates who don't follow Quran to the letter But will support the ideology behind it. Many Moderates are still Homophobic, Misogynistic , Hating people who follow other religions , think that eating pork is bad , apostasy is looked down upon etc.
They mostly live in countries like India , US , Canada , Russia , where there is more religious freedom and they Haven't seen the true colors of Islam (Killing apostates , blasphemers , Gays . Restricting women's freedom).
Our Goal is Simple :

1. Remove the support that Leftists give to Islam . (Through Awareness of the violence justified by the Quran)
   
2. People don't name everything we do as Islamophobic . (Again , Promoting Awareness)
   
3. Muslims can't use Victim card anymore. (Again , Through shedding light on it's violent teachings)
   

The Reason Islam is Still supported by it's followers is because of the Brainwashing done by the teachings of the Quran itself. Also the reason Others are Unaware of the dangers of Islam is because of the Sympathy it gets from others. Even most Muslims are Unaware of the violent teachings and believe the Sugarcoated versions of it .
I think If we don't Start taking action . we have a lot to lose . Many Muslims right now are teenagers who after a few years will be in power and if they are brainwashed by their religion , they will cause the reason for the Domination of Islam .
All we have to DO is to to bring Awareness about the truth Through Data , researches , real life examples. for Instance , we can start awareness in other subreddits like Indian , European subreddits where people have a high chance of understanding. IF continued like this , we can save the West From Islam . (Middle east is beyond saving in my opinion). Thank you for Reading .

Idk if this belongs here. If there's a more suitable page, please let me know.
Basically, nothing I ever do is enough. I babysit my sister 3 days a week, from 8am to 8pm. She in herself is another whole issue, but that's due to my mother's coddling, no doubt. During this time, I need to get my sister ready for school, drop her off, pick her up, do a variety of chores (dishwasher is all that she says, but she complains if the floors arent clean and the washing is piled up, so basically i try to do every possibke chore), make dinner for everyone, and feed our outdoor pet.
I don't mind this. My mum works hard. But when she comes home she complains about EVERYTHING. If my sister made a mess of something and I hadn't noticed it, if my sister touched the walls with greasy hands, if my shoes were in front of the door after I went out to feed the pet that her and my little sister got before i even knew. Like nothing is good enough. She's constantly bitching about my sisters, which makes me anxious to do the same. When I'm around her I don't dare grab a coke, snack, or make pasta, because she's constantly dogging on them for this.
One of the worst parts is how she claims she's blunt but everything feels passive aggressive. She will address it to my little sister like "Oh what have I told you about doing this, where's your this, hope you haven't been on that TV all day, what did you eat, oh baby let me go get you another drink." Her tone just screams that she's talking to me. Like, I'm sorry your kid is a literal demon. Idk what happened after I left for university, but my sister was lovely and silly, and she adored me, used to want to be me, and now she's horrifying. "If you don't do this, I'll tell Mum lies about you. If you don't, then you'll ruin my childhood, I love mum and my other sisters more than you."
Besides, nothing is good enough for my mother, I'm perfect. On social media, I'm the best daughter, I'm so smart, and she's so proud, and I'm so beautiful. She wonders why I have no self-worth? Because I've never heard those things to my face. I hear her tell me I have a good figure, but never without hearing, "You don't want to be like your sister. She's too skinny." Oh, I have a nice face? Only because my sister is so punchable.
She reminds me every day that she's a great mother. I'll say well you can be a bit this or that, and she has an excuse for everything." Why you do it doesn't matter. If it hurts, it hurts. What's the point in parenting if the child doesn't find it effective.
I recently told her I think I might have something not quite right with me. A lot of people (mostly AuDHD) say they think I'm autistic or have adhd, and I've thought that for a long time. I have a lot of issues, I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a mixture of many of them that just seems like autism or adhd. Basically, my mother said it's a trend right now and an excuse to be lazy. It was really giving "were all depressed, just stop being a lazy victim" vibes. She also told me I was too normal as a child and refutes all the instances of me being strange. Like when I had a no talking phase, when I told all my friends I didn't like them because they were too hard to talk to, when I cried to my mum basically explaining alexithymia to her because I didn't feel the emotions I expressed, all my various sensory issues I still have to this day that she said we're typical kid behaviour. It's all only gotten worse from there. I feel completely not normal, like I can't explain it. I also have a lot of issues with sounding monotone. Sometimes, I feel like I'm "dropping the act." From a young age, I've always been told off about my tone. If I'm angry, I better not sound it, if I'm sad, if I'm pissed off. I'm always lectured about my tone, but she sounds like she's making passive-aggressive jabs at me all the time, and that's fine.
There's so much more, like so much more. A lot of things she would say never happened. Like how she let my abusive bf take drugs to a holiday and kind of peer pressuring me to do them (I got SAd while I was sleeping that night by him). She said the whole time she didn't like him but didn't tell me in case I got upset. Or that time when I was getting pressured by my bf at 13, and she thought something was going on and just told me if I'm going to do anything I should just ask her for condoms instead of being an idiot. Reading this back, holy shit. One time she was crying and I went to give her a hug and she shooed me away and told me to leave her alone, and then seconds later my sisters aunt did the same thing and she broke down to her even more and hugging her. I was her emotional support child, btw, so obviously, this crushed me as that felt like my only value to her.
But yeah, there's so much idk how to even get into it all. So it probably doesn't seem so bad because this is probably typical parent behaviour. Also, yes, she is a single mother, and I'm grateful, but she has never said sorry to me. Never. It's always sorry you feel that way, but you're dramatic, victimising yourself, lazy, you'll thank me later. Like, no, I won't. Later you'll be estranged. She also has it in my head that no man is good. She keeps warning me of my bf, who yes is a pos sometimes, but better than a druggy rpist? I'd fricking say so, yeah. I tried to OD after breaking up with him. She doesn't even know because if I told her, she'd say I'm stupid and selfish. She also gets annoyed when I unblock my bf (as I broke up with him) to work things out. We're in a hard place, and I'm having complex emotions, and she just wants me to block him and spend time with family and study well. Like, let me grieve, jeez. She also tells me him mother is a psycho jealous bitch and his dad is a pdo. Like excuse me? You met them once, and know nothing about them.
I'm just writing this because I woke up to her complaining about a single cup and some pans that were left out last night (since the dishwasher was on) and saying how it's unfair as she wakes up early and has to deal with it. Why didn't you deal with it by cleaning it if it bothered you? Instead you wait till people are awake to criticise it and make them feel bad. Like we always do the dishwasher, that's one of my babysitting chores. Just ask me to do it nicely when I wake up, why all the backhanded comments and sparky remarks? Just communicate, you're 45, get a grip. She feigns perfection constantly and paints us as a perfect family when one child has cptsd, one has anxiety, I got a shit tonne of issues, and my little sister is an absolute entitled brat who will cry and scream and threaten if not given her way. Literally my sister said she would tell lies about me because I told her to wipe her own ass because I had chores to do (she's 8) and she said my mother would do it and that's why she doesn't love me. I want out of this house, but my mum will fault me for not babysitting as it costs money, and I do it for free.
Ask any questions you'd like. I understand there's not much to go off of, I'm happy to elaborate as I really need to vent I can't lie.

Hello! I received a good job offer in the beautiful Marseille, and I would love to take it. However, it seems that the offer of International or Bilingual schools is not big in the city. I have a teen daughter who doesn’t speak french yet, so these types of schools would be preferable. Also, the majority of private schools seems to be catholic or religious. I was wondering if anyone could help me with some insights on these matters, specifically pointing to any bilingual schools, or telling how much religion play a part on private schools, if religion classes are mandatory, for example. Thank you!

Some backstory before you bomb me with let it be that's not your business, cuz I'm really worried about her and she is such a nice person.
I'm not a very friendly person. I'm cold and have a very tough time making friends. Our school organized a trip to Paris before graduation and I thought I was going to be alone, like always, and didn't mind since one gets used to it.
I was shocked when one of my classmates ( let's call her Lee to make this easier) offer me to share room with her and one of her best friends ( let's call her Nancy, she is the main character of this story).
They have always been kind to me since I arrived to school lash year. Lee even invited me to her Quinceañera and even today I can't understand why they were all so welcoming and nice to me.
We weren't the closest of friend so I was really surprised. I later discovered that Lee turned down and offer from one of her friends to be with Nancy and with me. That's another story, so I won't go into detail about that.
When you share room with someone, even if it's for a week, you get to know them a lot.
I knew she had a bf because we where all in the same class last year. What I didn't know is that they broke up.
She told us the whole story when eating at McDonald's with another friend ( let's call him Dan). He's relevant to the story since he's friends with the friends of Nancy's ex. Nancy told us they broke up in good terms. After the break up some of his ex's friends ( let's call the ex Cole since keeping up with the ex bla bla bla Is getting tedious) told Nancy about his multiple affairs. They were at least 3 in the 8 months of the relationship. One at the FIRST WEEK. Another one when he went to visit his relatives in Rumania, and another one I don't remember when.
We talked a lot that night. A few days later Dan told us some nasty things Cole said at Nancy's back. For example, quote, You changed me for that fucking nasty *beaner*.
It's important to say Dan isn't friends with Cole, so he might have said that to hurt Nancy through Dan, idk.
My sister is also friends with a friend of Cole. I listen to the audios he sent her and we can sum them up by saying that "Nancy was a slut, trying to get someone between her legs". He also told my sister that Nancy ended the relationship because, quote again "she wanted to be with other men while Cole was away, since she didn't felt loved enough". He also told my sister that he was texting a lot of guys with very friendly messages, while Cole worked his ass of to give her the best, spending many money on her, like if she was an investment or something.
Let's say that, at the very end of the relationship, a guy started texting Nancy and there was mutual interest. Though she always turned down his offers and invitations for the relationship's sake.
It's also worth mentioning that after the break up, Cole was dating again after literally a week, showing off her girlfriend specially to Nancy.
Nancy hasn't been in any dates since. She kept on talking with this guy though, but it wasjust texting, nothing more.
Now, fast forward to today, they're posting stories together holding hands and kissing ( Cole and Nancy). I haven't asked Nancy or Lee about it ñ, but it seems very, very sus to me.
I'll ask my twin, Queen of the gossip, if this is real or just bait.
I haven't talked with Nancy a lot since the trip, more than the usual hi wassup. I'm really looking forward to keep my friendship with them since they're really good people.
I really want to help her since I found what he said and what he did to her almost unforgivable for a boyfriend.
Idk of someone here has been to something similar to help me to help her. Thanks of you read through the whole post and look forward to your comments.

Hello. I would like to tell you my experience about having a brain tumor. More specifically a pilocytic astrocytoma and hydrocephalus. So how I found out was I went to work as usual. I would also like to say I have been having headaches for quite some time and have gone to the doctors. All they did was give me a shot of something in the butt which helped a lot and I thought that was the end of it. So I was at work when I started to feel really sick. I then realized I was going to throw up so I started to go to the bathroom. When I was walking to the bathroom I could not remember where it was and ended up in management office. I then threw up all over the floor and sat down for about twenty minutes. It was almost as if I was completely drunk at this point. I finally got up and started to walk to my car. When I made it my car I started it and went home. When I got home I couldn’t remember how to put my car into park. So I hit my garage before my dad came out of the house and told me what to do. I then put my car in park, got out of the car and went inside. My parents thought I was on drugs or something because I then went into the garage and was looking for something. My dad was in the garage with me and so was my mom. I had also thrown up on my dad which made him upset so he left me there. My mom told my dad I probably needed to take a nap. My dad said that we should probably go to the emergency room. When we made it to the emergency room I started to have some anger issues which the nurse asked if I have always had these problems, and my mom said I did not. Apparently I was very rude to the nurses and what not, which makes me very upset at myself. While at the emergency room I peed into a trash can because I was so out of it. I even lifted the lid and thought I was actually in the bathroom. After that I was taken to another hospital that is about an hour and thirty minutes away. I was taken by ambulance even though it was about 1:30 in the morning. All while my parents were following me. After that I was scanned and had to have emergency surgery where they put tubes in my head to drain the excess brain fluid. I then was laying in the hospital room for two days while they were draining the excess fluid. The only thing I remember from this was talking on the phone with my grandma and grandpa. I had to have a shunt put in my brain to continue to drain the fluid in my head because the tumor is blocking my normal drainage path. When I finally went home I was feeling fine but my parents decided that I should go to UCLA and get a second opinion. We set up an appointment at UCLA a few months after the emergency room visit. When they said I had to get the tumor removed I cannot remember what I was thinking. Also I would like to say this was all at the start of covid so it was very difficult. I went into the surgery and it went well but they couldn’t remove all of the tumor. I had forgotten everything about my life except who my family was and I kept saying zoinks from scooby doo. I had to stay in the hospital for about two or three weeks after the craniotomy. While I was there the nurses had to teach me how to walk again. Afterwards I had to go to rehab which was kinda nice. Of course I don't remember the drive to rehab but I remember almost every time I talked to my mom I said do you know I'm at a rehab facility and she would say yeah because of your drug and alcohol addiction. I knew that was not the reason because I had a huge scab on my head and half my head was shaved. Rehab was very difficult but I finished my time there after three weeks. When I went home I was super excited to see everyone and my dog. I then had to do more therapy because my short term memory was destroyed and I couldn’t remember the last five years of my life. It was so bad that you could tell me something, ask me to remember it and ask me what you had told me to remember and I would not be able to. I remember after one therapy session my mom asked me what she told me at the end of it and I could not remember and started crying. After about two months of therapy I had finished physical therapy, but I still had to do occupational and speech. I did the therapies for probably about half a year before I got my next MRI. During this time it was decided that when I could get a tattoo everyone of my immediate family would get a brain that said I forgot below it. When we were talking to the doctor it was November and he said that the brain tumor had grown. He said I would either have to do radiation or chemotherapy. So about a month later they decided on radiation therapy. Which wasn't good news but I thought it was better than chemo. So it is now December 2020. I have been in therapy for about half the year. I told the therapist that I will be going into radiation. So I had to stop going to therapy and went to Santa Monica for my radiation treatment. I started radiation in January 2021. I really liked the people who did my radiation. They were very nice. I also had one of the nurses from UCLA come and see me one day of my radiation. Sadly I did not remember them. So radiation was not bad but not great. It made the expression dead tired so very true. I would also like to mention that my parents had gotten an apartment for us a few miles away. So I would have to walk to and from the radiation treatments every day. It was really hard but I'm glad that I did it. I also had some delicious food while down in Santa Monica. The radiation nurses also gave me a little cake because it was my birthday while I was doing radiation. On the last day of radiation I gave everyone something I cannot remember what it was that I gave them. I hope that they liked it. I also remember that I got to ring a bell on my last day but I thought that I didn’t deserve it unlike the people who did chemo. When we went home I had to continue doing speech therapy. I kept doing speech therapy till 2022. I did not get told that I did not need to keep going to speech therapy. I ran out of days that my insurance would pay for it which sucked. I remember at one point when my mom was working from home she was getting annoyed at the insurance representative. I would also like to say that they had made it very difficult to get approved for therapy multiple times. I had also developed a twitch or jerk that I could almost feel coming which I had since after the craniotomy. Skip to 2023 I had been taking some pills because they thought I was having seizures. I had to set up a week in the hospital with some stuff attached to my head to try and catch one. It was not the best and they did not catch one. I would also like to say that my head was so itchy. So they decided to try again at a later date but I would be able to be at home. So I went to get the wires and machine on my head and meet a very nice nurse who braided the wires together to make it easier for me. After a week with it on I went back to UCLA and got it taken off and they found that I was having seizures. I would like to say that none of what I went through was easy but it could have been worse. I am very thankful and happy that I had my family and friends with me through all this. I would also like to say that it gets better. I have my next MRI next month and hopefully it will be a year apart so I can get my tattoo.

Some backstory before you bomb me with let it be that's not your business, cuz I'm really worried about her and she is such a nice person.
I'm not a very friendly person. I'm cold and have a very tough time making friends. Our school organized a trip to Paris before graduation and I thought I was going to be alone, like always, and didn't mind since one gets used to it.
I was shocked when one of my classmates ( let's call her Lee to make this easier) offer me to share room with her and one of her best friends ( let's call her Nancy, she is the main character of this story).
They have always been kind to me since I arrived to school lash year. Lee even invited me to her Quinceañera and even today I can't understand why they were all so welcoming and nice to me.
We weren't the closest of friend so I was really surprised. I later discovered that Lee turned down and offer from one of her friends to be with Nancy and with me. That's another story, so I won't go into detail about that.
When you share room with someone, even if it's for a week, you get to know them a lot.
I knew she had a bf because we where all in the same class last year. What I didn't know is that they broke up.
She told us the whole story when eating at McDonald's with another friend ( let's call him Dan). He's relevant to the story since he's friends with the friends of Nancy's ex. Nancy told us they broke up in good terms. After the break up some of his ex's friends ( let's call the ex Cole since keeping up with the ex bla bla bla Is getting tedious) told Nancy about his multiple affairs. They were at least 3 in the 8 months of the relationship. One at the FIRST WEEK. Another one when he went to visit his relatives in Rumania, and another one I don't remember when.
We talked a lot that night. A few days later Dan told us some nasty things Cole said at Nancy's back. For example, quote, You changed me for that fucking nasty *beaner*.
It's important to say Dan isn't friends with Cole, so he might have said that to hurt Nancy through Dan, idk.
My sister is also friends with a friend of Cole. I listen to the audios he sent her and we can sum them up by saying that "Nancy was a slut, trying to get someone between her legs". He also told my sister that Nancy ended the relationship because, quote again "she wanted to be with other men while Cole was away, since she didn't felt loved enough". He also told my sister that he was texting a lot of guys with very friendly messages, while Cole worked his ass of to give her the best, spending many money on her, like if she was an investment or something.
Let's say that, at the very end of the relationship, a guy started texting Nancy and there was mutual interest. Though she always turned down his offers and invitations for the relationship's sake.
It's also worth mentioning that after the break up, Cole was dating again after literally a week, showing off her girlfriend specially to Nancy.
Nancy hasn't been in any dates since. She kept on talking with this guy though, but it wasjust texting, nothing more.
Now, fast forward to today, they're posting stories together holding hands and kissing ( Cole and Nancy). I haven't asked Nancy or Lee about it ñ, but it seems very, very sus to me.
I'll ask my twin, Queen of the gossip, if this is real or just bait.
I haven't talked with Nancy a lot since the trip, more than the usual hi wassup. I'm really looking forward to keep my friendship with them since they're really good people.
I really want to help her since I found what he said and what he did to her almost unforgivable for a boyfriend.
Idk of someone here has been to something similar to help me to help her. Thanks of you read through the whole post and look forward to your comments.

Record temperatures, record migration, record emissions, record displacement, record PFAS……start building an ark.
Last Week in Collapse: May 12-18, 2024
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter compiling some of the most important, timely, useful, soul-crushing, ironic, stunning, exhausting, or otherwise must-see/can’t-look-away moments in Collapse.
This is the 125th newsletter! You can find the May 5-11 edition here if you missed it last week. You can also receive these posts (with images) every Sunday in your email inbox with Substack.
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Flash flooding in northern Afghanistan killed 300+ people and destroyed 1,000+ homes. Hundreds of thousands of others have been affected. Last month, similar floods in the region killed 70+. Four died in Texas storms last week as well.
Venezuela is suffering from record wildfires, which so far this year have burned about 5M acres—almost the size of Sardinia. Some experts think indigenous people started the blaze as an attempt at forest clearance, which quickly got out of hand. “Institutional failures” compounded the disaster when the ailing government responded with an inadequate number of poorly equipped firefighters. Another study from last week examined the impact of wildfires on soil health.
Flooding and “cold lava” killed 50+ in Indonesia, injuring dozens and displacing several thousand. Cold lava is a mixture of water and rocks tumbling down the side of a volcano. Meanwhile, an actual volcano erupted in Indonesia, sending smoke & ash 5000m high; further eruptions are possible soon.
The Swiss Re Institute published a 37-page report last week about natural disasters in 2023—and how much damage, in USD, they caused. The largest catastrophe was the February 7.8 earthquake in Türkiye & Syria, which killed 59,000+ people and caused $163B+ in damage. The report is full of interesting graphics & data about natural disasters.

“Last year, economic losses from natural catastrophes reached USD 280 billion, meaning that 62% of the global losses were uninsured….the insured losses surpassed USD 100 billion for the fourth consecutive year….annual insured losses will grow by 5–7% over the long term…today’s insured losses could double in 10 years….There were 142 insured-loss inducing catastrophes in 2023, a new record. Most were of medium severity, which we define as events resulting in losses of USD 1–5 billion….Over the last 30 years, we estimate that natural catastrophe insured losses have grown by 3 percentage points more annually than the global economy (in inflation adjusted terms)...”

Flooding and heat waves are impacting Brazil’s oranges, responsible for about 70% of the world’s supply. One food analysts declared that the “era of cheap food is over”—in the UK, at least. That may be one reason why UK residents took record food bank packages last year. Madagascar is struggling to adapt to a future with far less rainfall.
France is growing more concerned about a dam on Lake Geneva, controlled exclusively by Switzerland. The Rhône River, which begins in Switzerland and flows south through France, is shrinking in summers as climate change melts Switzerland’s remaining glaciers.
The Tonlé San River has been dammed in Vietnam, lowering the level in Cambodia and sometimes drying the river downstream entirely. Meanwhile, China’s lychee harvest is getting blasted by rain, impacting the world’s largest source of lychee. And, once again, Saudi Arabia is suffering flooding in its inland regions. 7 dead in historic flooding in Iran.
The eminent climate scientist James Hansen posted that, since “human-made aerosols and their cooling effect are in decline,” the cooling effect of La Niña will be counterbalanced by these rising temperatures. He also identifies a “large anomaly of increased absorbed solar radiation at midlatitudes in the Northern Hemisphere” responsible for rising temperatures there. CO2 levels are rising faster today than they have at any point in the previous 50,000 years…and a study of millennia-old trees determined last summer was the hottest worldwide in 2,000+ years…
Record nighttime May temperatures were tied in the Philippines and Vietnam. A couple Indonesian cities broke records for May temperatures. And a number of southern African states saw more records drop. And Toronto saw a record tied for the number of days reaching 14 °C (57 °F). A heat wave has returned to Bangladesh. Flooding in Cali (pop: 2.9M), Colombia.
The University of Washington was ordered to stop a geoengineering project that scientists sere conducting from the deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier. The experiment ejected aerosolized saltwater in an attempt to reflect solar radiation. A comparative study in Nature Communications of a number of carbon pricing found that, yes, carbon pricing does work to reduce the total CO2 emitted.
It’s that time of the year again. Wildfires in Canada grow, some of which are moving towards the tar sands—forcing thousands to evacuate. 39 of the total nation’s blazes are “out of control,” resulting in air quality alerts in the United States. Meanwhile, across the Caribbean, water shortages have become the new normal, and residents (and tourists) are finding their old consumption habits hard to change. St. Lucia has declared a water emergency. In Myanmar, water shortages worsen, particularly as related to the spiraling conflict.
At least ⅛ of Europeans live in a place at risk of extreme flooding—so says a 175-page report from the European Environment Agency posted on Wednesday. The number of people living in flood-risk coastal areas in the EU & UK is expected to jump 24% by 2050. The graphics-packed report also considers how flooding will impact healthcare facilities, mental health, wastewater treatment plants, the spread of disease, cyanobacteria, permafrost thaw, and much else.

“Europe has seen devastating floods following record rainfall, droughts of magnitudes not experienced in hundreds of years, continuing sea level rise, and increasing lake and sea temperatures….permanent water stress already affects 30% of people in southern Europe….since 2018, more than half of Europe has been impacted by extreme drought conditions….Climate change is expected to increase mercury bioaccumulation in the marine food chain due to rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification and permafrost thawing….Depression, anxiety and PTSD may persist for years after a flooding event….Under the changing climate, northern Europe is becoming wetter in general, but drier in summer. Southern Europe is becoming drier, especially in winter. For central-eastern and western Europe, the trend is less clear…” -selections from the report

Milan suffered flooding last week, the worst May flooding in 170 years. Early spring in the UK has disrupted migratory bird species and their usual patterns.
A 74-page working paper which is not yet peer-reviewed claims that earlier estimates for how much GDP would be impacted by another 1 °C temperature rise is way less than it would be in actuality. The paper claims the real cost (in USD) is about 6x greater. They claim “global temperature has much more pronounced impacts on economic activity than local temperature” and that extreme weather is mostly behind the projected decline in productivity.
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Epidemiologists are worried about how climate change in Africa may extend the life of disease-bearers like ticks and mosquitoes. Other epidemiologists are worried about how cattle may become a permanent reservoir for H5N1. Growing traced of bird flu have been found in wastewater testing in the U.S., but investigators think it may be runoff from infected dairy farms.
Obesity, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure rates today globally are 50% higher than in 2000—though researchers claim that air pollution still poses a larger threat. Of a study participants in Hawai’i, 75% had respiratory issues, probably from the Maui wildfires last year.
The 2024 World Migration Report is out, and its 384 pages are not as apocalyptic as one might think. However, internally displaced people are at their all-time highest. India, Mexico, Russia, China, and Syria lead the world in emigrants; another document contains the definitions for who exactly constitutes a migrant. Unfortunately much of the data relied upon ends in 2022. Data from this year, not included in the above report, indicates a 40% jump in traffic through the Darien Gap compared to the same time period in 2023.

“The last two years saw major migration and displacement events that have caused great hardship and trauma, as well as loss of life….There have also been large-scale displacements triggered by climate- and weather-related disasters in many parts of the world in 2022 and 2023, including in Pakistan, the Philippines, China, India, Bangladesh, Brazil and Colombia….disinformation tactics are increasingly being used by nefarious actors with negative impacts on public, political and social media discourse on migration….Forced displacement is the highest on record in the modern era…overconsumption and overproduction linked to unsustainable economic growth, resource depletion and biodiversity collapse, as well as ongoing climate change (including global heating) are continuing to grip the world….the risk of further conflict has not been higher in decades, as military spending reached a new record high of USD 2,240 billion in 2022…” -excerpts from the introduction

Another report, focusing on internal displacement, came out last week; its 69 pages show a cross-section of about 47M people displaced by natural disasters (56%) or armed conflict (44%). Most of the disasters were storms & flooding, and most of the conflicts were civil wars of some form. This report also provides detailed region-by-region analyses—with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 46% of global IDPs.

“Conflict and violence triggered 13.5 million movements, the highest figure for the past 15 years….Disasters and conflict are presented as different triggers, but their impacts can overlap, often leading to repeated and/ or protracted displacement….Drought triggered 331,000 displacements in Somalia….Floods triggered 550,000 displacements in Ethiopia….Conflict and violence triggered 3.8 million displacements in DRC in 2023, a slight fall from the record four million in 2022, but still the second-highest figure globally after Sudan….nearly two-thirds of the internal displacements recorded in 2023 originated from Khartoum state. More than 39 per cent of the state's inhabitants were forced to flee, leaving entire neighbourhoods empty….Criminal and communal violence triggered nearly three-quarters of Nigeria's 291,000 conflict displacements….” -selections from the spotlight on sub-Saharan Africa

Experts are concerned about the mental health impacts that climate change has on our minds. Hotter temperatures reportedly increase depression & aggression. Wildfires and storms can cause PTSD. Workers feel stress and desperation as their usual industries are impacted. And air pollution influences ordinary brain processes in many ways.
Some analysts believe “Peak China” may be over, signaling a period of economic tapering-off, as well as a growing militancy. Increasing U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods are continuing to separate the two economies. The Netherlands finally formed a provisional government, though its proposed immigration & farming policies have set it at odds with the EU.
The Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, released a 46-page report on potential climate risks to the banking system’s resilience. As far as I understood, most of the risk lies in extreme weather events and the risk to insurance agencies.
Part of southeast England experienced an outbreak of Cryptosporidium, a diarrhea & vomiting illness, highly contagious, which can last weeks. At least 22 cases have been reported. Meanwhile, the CDC is issuing warnings about the more dangerous strain of monkeypox circulating in the DRC, although cases are currently limited to Africa.
North Carolina’s Senate voted to ban mask-wearing last week, under the reasoning that it would make police identification of protestors difficult. An fMRI study found lasting neurological changes in COVID survivors; they “had significantly higher cognitive complaints of mental fatigue and cognitive failure….even two years after recovering.” Experts say a summer rise in COVID cases is coming to the United States.
A study on The Canadian/American Great Lakes found that PFAS levels are increasing in the 3 largest lakes (Superior, Huron, and Michigan), while decreasing in the other two (Erie, Ontario). The study also found that precipitation is the primary means by which the Lakes are accumulating PFAS, since the chemicals are small & stable enough to move through the water cycle. Meanwhile, in England’s Lake District, a telecom failure resulted in raw sewage being pumped into England’s largest and most famous lake, Windermere, on-and-off for 10 hours; and a major British water CEO took a $4M USD pay package last year. And a look into the Chicago River’s health found that microplastics & trash are endangering health & biodiversity.
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An assassination attempt by a lone wolf on Slovakia’s PM left him in critical condition, but likely to survive. 11 civilians were slain by cartel fighters in a few battles in Mexico. Violence continues to spiral out of control in Goma, DRC.
In Haiti, everything worsens indefinitely. Guns have reportedly entered from Florida, a phenomenon which officials call an “iron river.” Police have been put on the defensive against the growing might of the gang warlords.
A brawl broke out in Taiwan’s parliament. An Iranian plot was allegedly foiled to smuggle weapons into Jordan to destabilize the pro-U.S. regime.
Dozens more died in Sudan from escalating violence around Darfur. People are warning about “a disaster on top of a disaster” and the possibility of Sudan splitting apart. Others have called it “hell on earth” as 1,000+ refugees cross the Chad border every day. Disease and malnutrition are growing, while famine encroaches upon 9M helpless victims of the conflict—but the world’s attention is elsewhere.
The U.S. Army Engineers completed constructing the pier in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid. Some 600,000 Gazans have been displaced from Rafah already, and fighting has escalated against Hamas militants in northern Gaza.
Taliban forces skirmished with Pakistani soldiers for about 90 minutes last week. Taliban attacks in Pakistan, and counterattacks have resulted in a kind of ambient disruption for the rocky border zone.
Violent protests—and counteroperations—are continuing in New Caledonia (pop: 270,000), a Pacific island part of overseas France. The riots, which have killed 6 people so far, began after metropolitan France proposed a plan to expand voting rights beyond indigenous residents. A state of emergency has been declared amid worries about a spiral of violence taking hold.
As the Sahel dries out, experts are concerned about the links to rising terrorism in the region. The Sahel accounts for over 40% of global terrorism deaths—according to the analysts’ understanding of “terrorism.” Mali in particular has reportedly become home to 41 new, different non-state armed groups (NSAGs) since 2007. A contested election in Chad resulted in the consolidation of the interim leader’s power.

“If governments are continually unable to solve regional issues, the people will be at the whim of any terror group that has a basic organization. It serves these groups’ interests to promote insecurity where they can and create security where they want. A “hearts and minds” campaign in the Sahel could lead to long-term and locally supported insurgencies in a land that is currently rife with civil strife.” -from the article

Some wargamers concluded that a Trump victory in 2020 would spell the end of NATO, or at least the end of its utility. Vladimir Putin replaced his minister of defense with a top economic advisor, just before going to Beijing to reaffirm their friendship with “no limits.” Some say Putin is planning on a forever war. Some say NATO is gearing up for one, too.
Russia made several gains in the suburbs of Kharkiv, seizing several settlements which some analysts doubt they will hold. Putin claims they aren’t really trying to take Kharkiv anyway… Russia also made small progress in the Donbas—although they suffered their largest one-day casualties since the start of the war. The U.S. allocated another $2B to hasten the delivery of weapons to the front lines. The next weeks will be crucial on the front. Switzerland has invited 160+ nations to send delegates to a peace summit intended to design a path to making peace in this War.
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Select comments/threads from the subreddit last week suggest:
-Brazil’s flooding was really, really bad, judging from this post and its accompanying images. Across just one of Brazil’s 26 states, 600,000+ people have been made homeless, 100+ have died, and the storm season isn’t over yet. Some of the flooding isn’t expected to subside for another month.
-How specifically might climate change make humanity extinct? This thread crowdsources a number of plausible ways, from ordinary famines to nuclear war and even a massive deoxygenation process. I tend to think it will be a consequence of an eventual nuclear exchange, followed by extended famine and disease.
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Hello! I'm a senior at high school, where our language of instruction is English, but we take French classes. I am by no means fluent in French, though I've tried to study it seriously outside school, too. I was asked to write (and give) a speech in French during our graduation. Do you have any tips at all? Would anyone be willing to look at the draft of my speech? Thank you!