I got up “early” today (before 10 am) and am currently in my pajamas on my couch with my cats. One day I slept until 12:30 pm, but I was not okay with that. Basically I woke up, had coffee, got dressed, and met friends for happy hour. 😂 In my defense, I do have insomnia.

I absolutely love Jeff Zentner’s books, which Serpent King being my favorite. He’s YA but appeals to adults more, in my opinion.

Those orange bastards still scare me and I’m a full grown adult. I do not recommend watching that scene high.

This is my all time favorite movie, though!

I had no idea he wasn’t Indian!!! I had to google it. Wow

That’s weird, I didn’t know other people with anxiety have GERD!

Came here to say this and you beat me to it! I bow down to you.

Not a person, but BJ…

Are we the same person? This sounds just like what I went through. It will get better, but it took quite a long time.

Message me if you want to chat!

Not yet, but they are friendly and if they decide to get back together, they are going to get settled into college before they give it a go. They’re attending different colleges about 45 minutes away from each other, so it’s doable if they want to.

I’m not as sad anymore, but I still love the kid like a son. We’ve kept in touch, and my husband and I made plans to with him to take him out to dinner once he starts college. I knew him before my daughter did (I was his teacher), so he’s never been uncomfortable reaching out to me.

I’ve been asked for gift cards back too. My husband and I always get one each for Christmas, and last year she made a point of telling everyone that she had to buy my husband’s gift card from a place only he would go so I wouldn’t “steal” it from him. What the fuck? We’re married!!!

I didn’t even think about how I was raised affecting me never wanting to ask for help.

YES. THIS

I thought it was just me. I was a “selfish and spoiled brat” throughout my entire childhood and even occasionally into adulthood, and when I was in my early 20’s, my mom decided I had a “debt” that I owed her and started charging me monthly payments. (The “debt” was from past charges on their credit card that she decided weren’t necessary from when I was in college. Yeah, I shopped, but we’re not talking about a ton of money here - maybe $2000 over several years time.) I started out paying her because I was young and didn’t know any better, but she was awful. If she saw me buying something “frivolous” like a magazine, I would get yelled at for wasting money when I could’ve given that money to her. One day she apparently decided to forget about the debt and never mentioned it again. I don’t know if my dad talked some sense into her or she realized she was treating me a lot differently than my sibling. I used to get really angry when I remembered stuff like this, but now it just makes me sad.

Close! 😁

Ugh, I do not remember that. I couldn’t handle watching the primary debates.

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (nonfiction) and I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver (fiction) gave me a better understanding of gender. I work with a lot of transgender teens, and reading these books were extremely helpful.

Also, anything by Aiden Thomas. I adore their books!

I live in a very wealthy suburban area outside of KC with pockets of poverty, and we already have a huge discrepancy between the rich and the poor schools in our district. I teach in a high school with over 50% of our students on free and reduced lunch, and just a couple miles away is another high school in our district that has to be one of the richest (and whitest) schools in the state. We never have enough paras (because they’re not paid a living wage), so the rich school’s PTA raises tens of thousands of dollars each year to fund more paras (among other things), while our school simply cannot do that. Who suffers? Our special education students who aren’t able to get the support they need, which is in their IEP and required by law, our ELL students, our teachers, etc.

Yet we’re better off than our urban neighbors. It’s pretty common knowledge that if you live in the KCMO school district, you “have” to send your kids to private school.

I just hate this. I teach because I love kids, and I don’t want to see our public schools fail, yet I’m not sure what to do besides vote.

I tend to agree with you, but I would like to see Harris take down Trump in a debate.

For sure. I usually love a good tacky Walmart USA tank, but I couldn’t do it this year.

You know that Friends episode where Monica gives terrible massages and Chandler tells her she’s the best at giving awful massages? That’s the US. The best at being the WORST.

You should read every single one of Tiffany D. Jackson’s other books if you liked Allegedly! She’s one of my favorite YA authors. Also try Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

This is fucking insane. I can’t believe this is actually happening in our world today. I can tell you right now that no parent would want me teaching their child anything about the Bible.

I started on Lexapro and gained maybe 20 lbs that I couldn’t take off no matter what I did. Wellbutrin added to the Lexapro didn’t help too much, but Cymbalta + Wellbutrin is working well.

I also tend towards disordered eating, and the combination I’m on now has helped me pay attention to when I’m full so I’m not maniacally counting calories like I used to do.

I had a girl in my class named Lexxus, and I wonder where she is all the time!