Ever wonder what it would look like to send a tech-addicted child from 2024 back to 1997?Apparently, not much different.
Hey. I just wanted to see if anyone could relate to this because it's always felt really isolating.
I had a mostly emotionally neglectful childhood. I was alone for a lot of it. For example, starting in 1st grade I would get off the bus (after an hour ride) around 4 and no one was home until after 6. Then the rush to make dinner, live their lives etc while I sat there 5, 10, and 30 years younger than everyone else.
Eventually I turned to the family computer. I had every Sim game that was made, I'm pretty sure. I started there and even had the earliest "learning" pc games for 1st-2nd graders, etc. Soon I was spending multiple hours per day on the computer. Before the year 2000.
On the weekends, I would spend several hours on the computer as my parents watched tv or a rented movie, each of us eating our takeout in front of our screens. My legs fell asleep a lot. I would always put off going to the bathroom and when I finally did, it was like I was being roused from a fugue state.
When MSN messenger came out, I was on it constantly. I jumped onto YouTube. MySpace. I got Facebook the moment it was open to anyone not in college, because I was still in high school. I wasted years of my childhood and then teens on the computer, but my recent disturbed realization was that it started SO early.
I partly feel bad for kids today who live online because I feel I did the same thing. It might have been a bit earlier, and yeah I didn't have the likes obsession right away or cyberbullying, but that addiction to checking swallowed up my fleeting time and held my mind captive. The crippling anxiety I hear about today is what I experienced on my own, decades ago. And didn't understand what was happening to me. I was diagnosed with ADHD late at age 17. But to this day I am convinced that the majority of my formative years were just so steeped in an addiction that I didn't learn important skills.
Just in case you're wondering, I'm 33 today. I barely graduated high school and flunked out of a few colleges before giving up and not getting a degree. I'm happily married with kids I adore but I do feel like my chances at success and true personal fulfillment were stolen by a simple addiction to technology. I wish more took this issue seriously; it is truly dangerous. I traded my childhood and adolescence for a distraction.
I was just a lonely little girl who wanted to pretend I wasn't.

Hi! This would be my first time at a Disney park of any sort. Only have a day, commuting in from Paris, and will have 2nd grader in tow so I'm factoring weather in August, kid walks slower, and the fact that Disney thinks it's a peak day when I looked today the Premier Access Ultimate was quoted as $199 dollars per person per day. That makes our 'entrance' fee total go from like 350 to 950. lol. wut.
From reading past entries I know that you can do Premier Access One for the rides you want but the price varies from like 5 to 18 euros (roughly).
Since everyone's going at different times of the year,I want to ask about summer weekday during peak season. Would every ride I want that's got a long line going to be like $20 for the single Premier Access? Even then, I would have to use it on 10 rides to feel like I should have gone with ultimate.
Is it annoying to use the time slots for the single premier access? Or totally doable even for a newbie?
And does it help to get there right when they open? (no magic hour access for us)
Thank you in advance!

I'm young, like really young, male, turned 15 in February. Please, Mods, don't block this, I just want some advice.
When I was 7, we moved from my country to Germany, this isn't a story about the new country is shit and everyone is an asshole, no, I'm half German though one of my parents. But I lost all my friends, I had like 7, we were the best group ever, this was almost 8 years ago, but still nice times. All good, I moved to a new school, the 1-year in 2nd grade in a new country was kinda lonely, but in the 3rd grade I made a best friend, really exotic kid, half Japanese half Icelandic, nice dude, he was into video games like me (as much as a 3rd grader can like video games, basically Nintendo) we were good friends, maybe we could've been best friends, but he moved at the end of the 3rd grade, I lost another one. Entered 4th grade, I made some really good friends, 2 best friends, and a friend circle as wide as 5-6 kids. But in Germany, after the 4th grade, you move to secondary school, and both my best friends went to a different school where I didn't get accepted, pretty sad, but they still lived in my neighbourhood, we still saw each other, were good friends. I also made new friends at my new school, and one kid from my old class who landed in the same class as me also became my friend, 6th grade, I made 2 new best friends, and again had a pretty wide social circle, like 6 kids. All was good, I had like a few buddies from football club as well in school. Then came the dealbreaker:
WE MOVED
To a town, farther away, I left the city I'd called home from 4-5 years, and I was like roughly 11, so half of my life. It was hard in the new school, not gonna lie I felt pretty sad, I was kinda fat back then, but 7th graders don't care about that. I was REALLY really lonely through the 7th grade, I only had 1 "buddy" who I was twice a week in school, he was cool and all, just not a friend. 2nd half of 8th grade, I made new friends, now 9th grade is about to end, and these are my only 2 friends, and really good ones as well. But our school doesn't go till the 12th grade, only till the 10th, we have 1 more years together. I'll try to get in the same school as them, but 1 of them will leave school after the 10th and become an apprentice directly. In Germany, it's really common to leave school after the 10th and do an apprenticeship or something, where you get a degree after a few years and start directly working.
Also, I never joined any social club except table tennis every Friday, where I made a few good friends, all my friends have been doing a plethora of such activities since they were like 6. For example Daniel, one of my 2 best friends, he's been playing chess since 5, swimming since 4, and Jugendfeuerwehr since 7 (basically kids learn how firefighters work). Nice when you don't fucking move every 5 years. Now I've also joined more stuff, like in February I started taking Piano lessons, and in April I started Chess club with him, alongside Table tennis sice the 8th, but I feel life kinda messed with me, I couldn't make any long-lasting friends.
I mean sure I'm not lonely right now per se, but 10th will be over in a year, I'll probably lose my friends again, start again in the 11th, and then lose them again after the 13th. (In Germany, most students have school till the 13th grade)
I guess what I'm trying to say is, most people, even lonely ones have had a nice childhood with long-term friends and hobbies, I never did, and it's eating me alive, making me feel pretty damn lonely, especially knowing I'll lose my current friends in about a year.
Any thoughts? Or advice on how to cope, make it better, anything helps, be blunt, honest, but a tad bit optimistic please?

Weekend Events
Manhattan Project B Reactor Tours The B Reactor National Historic Landmark, Richland Daily, 8:30a-12:30p Free
Petting Zoo/Hobby Farm Jostens Petting Zoo 10a $8
Mushroom Fest Adventures Underground, Richland 10-7p Fri-Sun
Auditions for Disney's Newsies The Broadway Musical ACT, Richland June 3 & 4 3-6p
Slamtastic IV - Indoor 3on3 Tournament Mid Columbia Hoops, Richland June 1 & 2 8a-5p
Friday May 31
Events
Opening Weekend Rise & Shine Bake Shop, Kennewick 9a-4p
CBC Dental Hygiene Club Fundraiser Red Robin 11a-8p
Huge Yard Sale First Lutheran Church, Kennewick 9a-3p
A Drag Queen Hoedown Out & About, Pasco 5-9p $15
Classes
Mini Van Gogh class Bristle Art Gallery, Kennewick 6p
Kaizen League Tri-Cities Triple Crown Classic Judges/Referee Clinic Pacific Kicks Tae Kwon Do, Kennewick 7:15p
Apollo Presents Water Follies Spring Splash Playground of Dreams 9a-10p
ImproveIntermediate Level Line Dance Lessons Branding Iron, Kennewick 6-9p
Fck it up with Lacey Lifted Lotus Yoga, Kennewick 6-7:15p $7
Crackle! Boom! Pop! Honeycomb Studio, Kennewick 2p $Unk
Yoga for TC Cancer Center Kaylor Ace Wellness, Richland 11:15a-12:15p $Donation
In Bloom Acrylic Class Yellow Dog Art Studio, Richland 6-8p
Community Healing Through Breath The Studio Bespoke, Richland 6:30-7:30p
Sporting
TC Thunder Twilight Meet #1 (Youth, Open, Masters) Southridge High School, Kennewick 5:30-10:30p
Jet Ski and Boat Rentals Howard Amon Park, Richland 5-6p
Games and Comedy
Solar Spirits Trivia and Taco Truck Solar Spirits Distillery & Tasting Room 6-8p
Karaoke with Pam Rose Tumbleweeds West, West Richland 7-10p
Art Krug Comedy w/ Drew McGrath Jokers Comedy Club, Richland 7:30-9p $12
Macrame Class: Wall Plant Hanger with Metal Hoop Anything Grows, Richland 6:30-8:30p
Music
Ben Naught Iconic Brewing
Fifth Friday Fete Barnard Griffin, Richland 6-8p
EMO Night Rays Golden Lion, Richland 8p
Blue Hour Open Mic Caterpillar Cafe, Richland 6-8p
Dr. ROCK & The Sturgeons At Michelle's, Richland 7-10p
Cindy McKay and Sally O’Neal Emerald of Siam, Richland 5-8p
Live Music with Jack Rothwell Rattlesnale Brewing Co, Richland 7-10p
Live Music with Frazer Wambeke Goose Ridge Winery 5-7p
Saturday Jun 1
Events
Artist Alley at the 23rd Classy Chassy Car Show & Shine Downtown Kennewick 10a-3p
Kids toys, clothes, & shoes release Wood & Neutrals, Kennewick 10a
Everyone's a little gay in June! DSH3 #156 Sam's Saloon, Kennewick 12p
Book signing- Kurtis Dolman Barnes & Noble, Kennewick 12p
Pride Kickoff Moonshot Brewing, Kennewick 12-9p
Cards, Cars & Collectible Show Kennewick Public Market 10a-5p
National Dino Day celebration Gesa Carosel of Dreams, Kennewick 5p
MCBA Field day 3619 W 4th Ave, Kennewick 10a
Food Truck Crawl Summers Hub, Kennewick 11a-8p
The Backyard Festival The Tin Hat, Kennewick 4p $20
Clothes by the bag & $ .75 Pants The Family Resource Center, Kennewick 10a-3p $8/bag
Hot Mess Cool Night Market Hot Mess Burgers & Fries, Kennewick 6-10p
20 Year Anniversary Celebration Hobby Town, Kennewick 11a
Abandoned Vehicle Auction Police Impounds and Private Impounds Rad Towing, Pasco 9a-12p
Cards, Cars & Collectible Show Kennewick Public Market 10a-5p
76th Annual Rose Show Columbia Basin College 1-4p Free
Pride Prom Columbia Basin College 7-11p
Huge Yard Sale First Lutheran Church, Kennewick 9a-3p
DSAMC Flower Planting Play Date Mac's Garden Center, Pasco 11a-1p
National Dino Day celebration Gesa Carousel of Dreams, Kennewick 5p Free
Terrarium Workshop Studio Paloma, Richland 3:30-4:30p
TCAB Recital 2024 John Dam Plaza, Richland 3p
1st Saturday Flight & Bites Lunch Monterosso’s, Richland 11a-1p $Var
Midsummer Festival + Summer Wine Club Release Longship Cellars at Horn Rapids, Richland 1-5p $64
Classes
Orchid Arrangement Workshop It's All In The Details, Kennewick 6-7:30p $75
Prancing Peacock Paint & Sip Art YOUR Way, Pasco 6-8p $42
Como la Flor Selena Paint & Sip The Medusa, Pasco 6-8p $42
STEAM Workshop: Pollinators! Columbia Park Trail, Richland 10a-12p
Hat Burning and Decorating Class Red Mountain Trails, Benton City 2:30-4:30p
Sporting
Level 7 - Mid-Columbia Tennis Junior Spring Championships 2024 Kamiakin High School 8a-4p
Big River Inagural Year Race Big River, Pasco 8a-11a
Outdoor Survival Training by Mid-Columbia 99s Columbia Basin College 9a $99
Summerfest Open Horse Show Franklin County Saddle Club, Pasco 8a-6p
NAMI Tri-Cities Walk Your Way Event 2024 Howard Amon Park, Richland 9a-12p
LAGERS & LUNGES on the lawn Iconic Brewing, Richland 1:30-4:30p
Games and Comedy
Trivia Night with Musical Bingo Aub's Lounge, Richland 5-7:30p
Karaoke Night Wine Social, Richland 8-11p
PRIDE Month Karaoke with Amber Bamber The Emerald of Siam, Richland 5-8p
PRIDE Month Karaoke The Emerald of Siam, Richland 9p-12a
Music
Stompin Ground Outside Longbranch Saloon, Finley 8p
Montez de Durango & Pattulla 81 Rancho De Las Vacas, Pasco 8p $Unk
Jägernauts Rattlesnake Mountain Brewing Co, Richland 7-10p
James Hunnicutt, Yotes Dog Bite Harris and Cory Peterson Ray's Golden Lion, Richland 8p
Frank n' Debi Jazz The Emerald of Siam, Richland 9p
Tresspasser Tumbleweeds West, West Richland 7-10p
Sunday Jun 2
Events
Tri-Cities Pride Festival Peanuts Park, Pasco 12-6p
Pride Night Drag The Emerald of Siam, Richland 7p $Unk
KA 10U Spaghetti Feed Village Bistro, Kennewick 4-6p $20
Father's Day Market/Bazaar Gesa Carousel of Dreams, Kennewick 12-4p
Storm Fest 2024 Ray's Golden Lion, Richland 6:30-11:30
Rest & Reset Day-Long Retreat The Yoga Community, Richland 9:30a-5p $150
Classes
Charcuterie workshop Muret-Gaston Wine Bar, Kennewick 3-4:30p
Beach Sign, Paint Party! D's Wicked Cider, Kennewick 5-7p $39
Food & Wine Pairing Dinner Monterosso's, Richland 5:30p
Sporting
SSSCC Event 6 Tri-City Raceway at RMEC, Benton City 7a-4p
Branded by M - Summerfest Open Horse Show Franklin County Saddle Club, Pasco 7p
Poses and Pours with Trinity Hot Yoga Goose Ridge Estates, Richland 10-11a $50
Games and Comedy
The Pub Prelims 1 The Pub, Kennewick 9p
Music
CBC Spring Choir Concert Columbia Basin College, Pasco 7p
Monday Jun 3
Events
Tri-Cities Pride Festival Peanuts Park, Pasco 12-6p
Transportation Improvement Plan Open House Cafe con Arte, Pasco 4-6p
Classes
Charcuterie workshop Muret-Gaston Wine Bar, Kennewick 3-4:30p
Games and Comedy
Game Night Live Round Table Pizza, Richland 5-7p
Music
Open Mic The Emerald of Siam, Richland 7-11p
Tuesday Jun 4
Events
Transportation Improvement Plan Open House Cafe con Arte, Pasco 4-6p
Future Eagle Day and Open House Heritage University TC, Kennewick 4-6p
Mobile Market (drive thru) 2nd Harvest Eastgate Elementary Kennewick 11a-1p
Silver City Brewery Tap Takeover The Underground Taphouse, Pasco 6-8p
Classes
Birds Of A Feather, Paint-N-Sip Shooters Sports Bar, Kennewick 6:30-8:30p $39
Stepping Stones Class Paws to Play Dog Daycare, Pasco 7:30p
Richland Rod And Gun Club Catfish Seminar Richland Public Library 7p
Sporting
Southridge Volleyball Camp for 6th-8th graders Southridge High School, Kennewick 4:30-7:30p
Music
CBC Orchestra Concert Columbia Basin College, Pasco 7p
Live Music with Siena Christie Wine Social, Richland 6:30-8:30p
Acoustic Night with Steve Carver The Emerald of Siam, Richland 6p
Wednesday Jun 5
Events
Transportation Improvement Plan Open House Cafe con Arte, Pasco 4-6p
Night Market Summer's Hub, Kennewick 5-8p
Life in Richland: Hanford Workers and Their Families Walking Tour The Uptown Theater, Richland 9-11a
Classes
Sips and Stems-Peony Party Richland Dugout, Richland 5:30-6:30p
Big Foot Beach Vacation- Art with Aubrey Crepe Haus + El Compadre, Kennewick 6:30-8:30p $Unk
Sporting
Pride Bowling Spare Time Lanes & Arcades, Kennewick 6-9p
Music
Jazz Jam's Hosted by Collin Wilson The Emerald of Siam, Richland 1p
White Bluffs' Howling Choir Club Performance White Bluffs Elementary, Richland 7p
events can be found on allevents.in and just a note, some events may have tickets required or payment at the door information I was unable to find

Hi yall, I live with my mom & my older sister, who has a moderate learning disability. Her level of development came to a halt somewhere between a 2nd grader & a 4th grader but she is 34 years old. Does not really comprehend money too well, struggles counting coins, does understand consequences, is very very easily influenced & does not have a strong sense of right and wrong. In high school she befriended a boy who asked her to take money from her mom or dad’s wallet, and see if she could find any mp3 players for him & she did it. After she was caught because I was missing my mp3 player & my parents were missing 80 bucks, she confessed as if nothing should or could have been wrong. This was the first major incident and there have been some in between BUT recently, she signed herself up for Facebook dating, met someone and started hanging out at the park with him. One day she comes home clearly high on something & stayed up all night, my mom questioned her but she denied that she did anything. Shortly after she developed a foot infection & my mom had to pack her a hospital bag, ended up finding METH pipes & baggies in her room… when confronted she said “yeah” like it wasn’t anything special. She hasnt been allowed to hang out with this guy since getting out of the hospital, but she asked my mom today to take her over to his house to “hang out”. We tried explaining to her that she is not allowed to do that because she has shown up she doesn’t make the right decisions there. She got frustrated and told us she was going to go on “a walk”. My mom has her location & shortly after she left her location showed her on the freeway heading to the next town over, my mom texted her and my sister told her that she went and asked the neighbors to give her a ride (they have offered her rides before and she’s asked them as well but never to another town) and she was on her way back to this guys house….
There are no resources out there to help my mom, what the hell is she suppose to do? How can we keep her safe ? She could lose her state assistance if they find out she’s getting high, how do you punish a 30+ yr old who doesn’t even understand that what they are doing is wrong ??

Frustrated/Burnt out
l am seeking guidance to overcome my frustration. Our school's recent MTSS meeting has placed students in tiers for September, and the RS assigned to our 2nd and 3rd graders has doubled my workload. However, I am determined to find ways to effectively support all 50 additional students especially the 10 who transitioned from tier 2 to tier 3 towards the end of the academic year. To preface, students receiving intervention should not go from less support to most intense. There are certain cases that fail to respond to intervention but that goes further into the process not 10 students collectively! I got a little snippy in our meeting when they didn’t agree the students should move tiers but we are very data driven and there was regression. I want to talk to my principal and supervisor for guidance because I’m tired of working so hard but others aren’t held accountable. What should I do to express my concerns?

l am seeking guidance to overcome my frustration. Our school's recent MTSS meeting has placed students in tiers for September, and the RS assigned to our 2nd and 3rd graders has doubled my workload. However, I am determined to find ways to effectively support all 50 additional students especially the 10 who transitioned from tier 2 to tier 3 towards the end of the academic year. To preface, students receiving intervention should not go from less support to most intense. There are certain cases that fail to respond to intervention but that goes further into the process not 10 students collectively! I got a little snippy in our meeting when they didn’t agree the students should move tiers but we are very data driven and there was regression. I want to talk to my principal and supervisor for guidance because I’m tired of working so hard but others aren’t held accountable. What should I do to express my concerns?

Calling all past & current National Guardsmen! I hope in creating this post, I can help out future guardsmen's questions regarding PSLF.
BLUF: I joined the Army National Guard in 2013. In my 11 years, I have spent 1.5 years as a Federal Technician (Title 32). My only active time has been for Basic Training, Annual Trainings, MRT School, MFT School, BOLC, etc. All together, I have accrued approximately 2 years doing "Full Time Army stuff".
Question 1: Does my 1.5 years serving as a technician count towards PSLF.
Question 2: Do my Annual Trainings, Basic Training, Army Schools count towards PSLF.
Question 3: Do any of my drill dates count towards PSLF.
Now for the hand-holding...
Question 4: If any of these count towards PSLF, how do I verify my employment.
As a 29 year old, I feel that I can wrap my head around taxes, insurance, politics... But damn it, PSLF makes me feel like a 2nd grader being taught calculus. Plz Help

A Novel Species: Entries from Dr. Marshall
WARNING: THIS DOCUMENT IS CLASSIFIED AND PROPERTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE. IT IS A FEDERAL CRIME TO VIEW OR REPRODUCE ANY OF ITS CONTENTS WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORIZATION. QUALIFIED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Dr. Marshall, June 8th, 2012 -
Begin journal:
Hanging back at the ranger station today, seems like it should be a nice weekend. Weather cleared up after that long ass winter and the snows about cleared up. We’ve been tasked with monitoring this herd of elk moving through the area. I guess they’ve been displaying some “anomalous” behavior, approaching tourists seemingly unaware or unafraid of the potential danger. Odd but not unlike anything we’ve seen before. I’ve had Tim Dog posted up in the hunter’s perch for a few hours watching em. Gonna go radio for a report pretty soon. Other than that not much going on out here. Just the wind rustling in the pines and my good old girl Taby. She’s such a sweet dog :)
End of Entry #1
Dr. Marshall, June 10th, 2012
Entry: Something strange is going on here. Tim is back but with some interesting news. He spent another day up there monitoring the herd, but…. Something’s off. He used the Elk call we gave him and it worked, but it seems it might’ve worked a bit too well. Soon as the herd showed up, they just…. watched him. For hours. He was too scared to climb back down so he radio’d for a couple rangers. Rangers came and tried scaring em off, but the Elk wouldn’t budge. They just stood there, staring at him. In my 25 years of doing this I’ve never once seen Elk behave this way. Our current hypothesis is some kind of infection, but so far there just isn’t enough to say. I don’t like this. Not one bit. We’re gonna try to take samples from the Elk in hopes of finding out what in God’s name is going on out here.
End of Entry #2
Dr. Marshall, June 13th, 2012
Entry: Well it’s official - something is going on. We took samples of blood and urine from the Elk to be analyzed back at the lab in Sac. One of the rangers spotted what looked like some kind of tick or parasite latched onto one of the Elk. But when he tried to remove the Elk went berserk. Smacked him up badly and he had to go to the medic. We got a closer look after isolating one of em and it seems to track. We found a small, worm-like creature attached just beneath the haunch, tucked in the skin between the abdomen and the haunch of the Elk. It was half burrowed inside and didn’t seem to respond to any physical contact, but when we went for removal, the Elk started acting up again. So we latched it down and tried tranquilizing it. No dice. Elk won’t go to sleep. Won’t do anything except eat and stare. There is no way we’re dealing with some novel species. The hell is going on here? A larva that infects Elk—in North America none the less? It’s stranger than fiction. Anyway I’ve been having trouble sleeping the past few nights pondering the possibilities. In other news apparently some of the townies have been acting up lately. Man found dead out on the trail along with a few others in the same spot. Signs of predation after death. Folks been reporting hearing and witnessing strange behavior from their neighbors. The more I stay here the less I feel safe. If it weren’t for my job security I’d have left days ago. This place is starting to give me the creeps.
End of Entry #3
Dr. Marshall, June 19th, 2012
Entry: Lab reports came back. Supposedly heightened amounts of adrenaline and cortisol are present in the blood. They also found trace amounts of what seem to be tiny hairs, mycelia-like in nature. What. The. Fuck. We’ve begun postulating there could be some sort of fungal infection but this wouldn’t track with the presence of larvae in our Elk. None of it makes sense. I’m concerned we’re dealing with some sort of invasive species but I lack any explanation of what it could be. My sleep has become worse and worse over time. Lately I could swear I’m hearing shit. Thought I heard the voice of old Tim saying “Help, Help” in between strange mumblings and clickings. But when I get out of my bunk to look around—nothing. Hope I’m not losing it. I’ve heard the townies have been acting up even worse. Wandering about aimlessly in the woods. There was a bear attack just yesterday. Apparently the man sat there while the bear ate him, completely straight faced. I put in a request for transport back home to Sacramento. I’m done with this shit. I’ve seen enough. This ain’t the one for me. I know some young up and comer might want to come out here to finish my research. But I’m getting too old for this type of shit. I want to see my kids graduate.
End of Entry #4
Dr. Marshall, June 24th, 2012
This could be my last entry. I honestly don’t know. I’m to wait for transport home hopefully by July 2nd but I don’t know if I’ll make it that long. Tim is gone. He’s gone. Found dead in a cougar’s den about 10 miles away from base camp. But I swear to God I keep hearing him. I think I’ve lost my mind. There’s something in the goddamned cellar. And it’s mimicking Tim. I can hear him cry. I can hear him beg for my help. It’s real. I swear to God it’s real. I can’t get a wink of sleep and I’m counting the minutes till sun down every night. I’m scared. I want to go home. The rangers all left base camp overnight. I don’t blame them. Something’s the matter. Half the population in town has gone mad. People in droves, just wandering into the woods.
I’m going to go into the basement. I need to find out for myself what’s really going on here. Janelle, I love you. I’ll never forget that time we spent in Bora Bora after you finished your thesis. Take care of the kids. Tell Jackson his daddy loves him. Show them my catalogues. Teach them to love nature. I have to go. I love you.
Final entry.
THIS DOCUMENT IS PROPERTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE. IF FOUND, IMMEDIATELY CONTACT THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES. REDISTRIBUTION OR RETELLING OF THE DETAILS IN THIS DOCUMENT IS A FEDERAL CRIME.

WARNING: THIS DOCUMENT IS CLASSIFIED AND PROPERTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE. IT IS A FEDERAL CRIME TO VIEW OR REPRODUCE ANY OF ITS CONTENTS WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORIZATION. QUALIFIED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Dr. Marshall, June 8th, 2012 -
Begin journal:
Hanging back at the ranger station today, seems like it should be a nice weekend. Weather cleared up after that long ass winter and the snows about cleared up. We’ve been tasked with monitoring this herd of elk moving through the area. I guess they’ve been displaying some “anomalous” behavior, approaching tourists seemingly unaware or unafraid of the potential danger. Odd but not unlike anything we’ve seen before. I’ve had Tim Dog posted up in the hunter’s perch for a few hours watching em. Gonna go radio for a report pretty soon. Other than that not much going on out here. Just the wind rustling in the pines and my good old girl Taby. She’s such a sweet dog :)
End of Entry #1
Dr. Marshall, June 10th, 2012
Entry: Something strange is going on here. Tim is back but with some interesting news. He spent another day up there monitoring the herd, but…. Something’s off. He used the Elk call we gave him and it worked, but it seems it might’ve worked a bit too well. Soon as the herd showed up, they just…. watched him. For hours. He was too scared to climb back down so he radio’d for a couple rangers. Rangers came and tried scaring em off, but the Elk wouldn’t budge. They just stood there, staring at him. In my 25 years of doing this I’ve never once seen Elk behave this way. Our current hypothesis is some kind of infection, but so far there just isn’t enough to say. I don’t like this. Not one bit. We’re gonna try to take samples from the Elk in hopes of finding out what in God’s name is going on out here.
End of Entry #2
Dr. Marshall, June 13th, 2012
Entry: Well it’s official - something is going on. We took samples of blood and urine from the Elk to be analyzed back at the lab in Sac. One of the rangers spotted what looked like some kind of tick or parasite latched onto one of the Elk. But when he tried to remove the Elk went berserk. Smacked him up badly and he had to go to the medic. We got a closer look after isolating one of em and it seems to track. We found a small, worm-like creature attached just beneath the haunch, tucked in the skin between the abdomen and the haunch of the Elk. It was half burrowed inside and didn’t seem to respond to any physical contact, but when we went for removal, the Elk started acting up again. So we latched it down and tried tranquilizing it. No dice. Elk won’t go to sleep. Won’t do anything except eat and stare. There is no way we’re dealing with some novel species. The hell is going on here? A larva that infects Elk—in North America none the less? It’s stranger than fiction. Anyway I’ve been having trouble sleeping the past few nights pondering the possibilities. In other news apparently some of the townies have been acting up lately. Man found dead out on the trail along with a few others in the same spot. Signs of predation after death. Folks been reporting hearing and witnessing strange behavior from their neighbors. The more I stay here the less I feel safe. If it weren’t for my job security I’d have left days ago. This place is starting to give me the creeps.
End of Entry #3
Dr. Marshall, June 19th, 2012
Entry: Lab reports came back. Supposedly heightened amounts of adrenaline and cortisol are present in the blood. They also found trace amounts of what seem to be tiny hairs, mycelia-like in nature. What. The. Fuck. We’ve begun postulating there could be some sort of fungal infection but this wouldn’t track with the presence of larvae in our Elk. None of it makes sense. I’m concerned we’re dealing with some sort of invasive species but I lack any explanation of what it could be. My sleep has become worse and worse over time. Lately I could swear I’m hearing shit. Thought I heard the voice of old Tim saying “Help, Help” in between strange mumblings and clickings. But when I get out of my bunk to look around—nothing. Hope I’m not losing it. I’ve heard the townies have been acting up even worse. Wandering about aimlessly in the woods. There was a bear attack just yesterday. Apparently the man sat there while the bear ate him, completely straight faced. I put in a request for transport back home to Sacramento. I’m done with this shit. I’ve seen enough. This ain’t the one for me. I know some young up and comer might want to come out here to finish my research. But I’m getting too old for this type of shit. I want to see my kids graduate.
End of Entry #4
Dr. Marshall, June 24th, 2012
This could be my last entry. I honestly don’t know. I’m to wait for transport home hopefully by July 2nd but I don’t know if I’ll make it that long. Tim is gone. He’s gone. Found dead in a cougar’s den about 10 miles away from base camp. But I swear to God I keep hearing him. I think I’ve lost my mind. There’s something in the goddamned cellar. And it’s mimicking Tim. I can hear him cry. I can hear him beg for my help. It’s real. I swear to God it’s real. I can’t get a wink of sleep and I’m counting the minutes till sun down every night. I’m scared. I want to go home. The rangers all left base camp overnight. I don’t blame them. Something’s the matter. Half the population in town has gone mad. People in droves, just wandering into the woods.
I’m going to go into the basement. I need to find out for myself what’s really going on here. Janelle, I love you. I’ll never forget that time we spent in Bora Bora after you finished your thesis. Take care of the kids. Tell Jackson his daddy loves him. Show them my catalogues. Teach them to love nature. I have to go. I love you.
Final entry.
THIS DOCUMENT IS PROPERTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE. IF FOUND, IMMEDIATELY CONTACT THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES. REDISTRIBUTION OR RETELLING OF THE DETAILS IN THIS DOCUMENT IS A FEDERAL CRIME.

Hey all, thought I'd share this list and a short guide to it. The idea of a viable hero-power OTK druid deck has been on my mind for a while, and I think I've finally got a working list after many iterations. I piloted this list to legend today, going 18-8 (69%). (I have about 50 tracked games with this deck in total, but I will be focusing on the current iteration, which has seen significant changes since its inception.) I believe this deck is very fun and challenging to play, and has no absolutely terrible matchups in this meta. The most satisfying part is its capability to farm highlander warriors. (5-0 on the way to legend) Hope you all enjoy the deck!

Hero Power OTK

Class: Druid

Format: Standard

Year of the Pegasus

2x (0) Innervate

1x (1) Funnel Cake

2x (1) Glacial Shard

2x (1) Peaceful Piper

2x (2) Celestial Projectionist

1x (2) Dryscale Deputy

2x (2) Groovy Cat

2x (2) Popular Pixie

2x (2) Sing-Along Buddy

2x (2) Watcher of the Sun

2x (3) Card Grader

1x (3) Swipe

1x (3) Zola the Gorgon

2x (4) Chia Drake

1x (4) Ignis, the Eternal Flame

1x (4) Park Panther

1x (4) Sheriff Barrelbrim

2x (4) Spread the Word

1x (5) Magatha, Bane of Music

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To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

Gameplan: The ultimate goal of this deck is to OTK your opponent with your hero power. We have Groovy Cats to buff up our hero power, as well as Celestial Projectionist and Zola the Gorgon to copy them and Peaceful Piper to tutor them. Once we get our hero power to 5+ damage, we play Sing-Along Buddy, hero power, Popular Pixie, and hero power again for a total of hero power x 4 damage. When this is not enough, we can even use Ignis, the Eternal Flame to get a 1 mana windfury weapon, bringing us up to 2 + hero power x 8 damage, enough to put almost any opponent away in the current meta. While the Druid class typically suffers from a lack of removal, the good news is that the game often doesn't last long enough for removal to be an important factor. Instead, we stall off the opponent using Glcial Shards, Watchers of the Sun and Sheriff Barrelbrim. With this powerful draw package as well as the inclusion of Innervate and Funnel Cake, I often ended games on turn 7 with a 28 damage hero power.
Mulligan: The deck has an incredibly powerful draw engine, with Peaceful Piper tutoring our key combo piece. In the mulligan, always look for Peaceful Piper and Groovy Cat. Dryscale Deputy and Popular Pixie are decent 2-drops if you feel like you will need to contest the board. Park Panther is a very good card to contest the board, especially against classes without pings such as Paladin. If you are going second, Card Grader is also a good option. Against slower decks, keeping a Chia Drake can be worth it as it gets cheap spells out of your deck and can hit Spread the Word, which is often a 0-mana draw 2. If you have a Groovy Cat or a tutor for it, consider keeping a Celestial Projectionist or Zola the Gorgon if you know your opponent's deck is slow. Don't keep spells, as you want to draw them with Chia Drake. Only consider Swipe against aggro and Spread the Word if you already have a Groovy Cat.
Against Faster Decks: This deck is very flexible, and has a different playstyle against fast and slow decks. Against faster decks such as board-flood Paladin, Spell Mage, Hunter, Fatigue Warlock and Excavate Rogue, you will have to contest the board in the early game to prevent being overrun. Peaceful Piper into Groovy Cat will almost always feel good against these decks. You will sometimes have to tempo out Popular Pixie, as a 2/3 that comes with a ping helps stabilize the early game. Park Panther is an amazing 2-for-1 against faster decks, especially if they can't remove it after it's played. Once you are no longer being threatened with being overrun, you can stabilize if needed with cards such as Watcher of the Sun, Sheriff Barrelbrim, and even copy them if necessary. (Celestial Projectionist on a forged Watcher of the Sun is often a clutch heal 6) Ignis' 1-mana weapon is an amazing option as poison-damage, poison-deathrattle, and lifesteal-anything will swing the game in your favor against faster decks. Once stabilized, you may begin to draw out your deck with Chia Drake, Spread the Word, and Magatha, Bane of Music. By the turns 8-10, you will likely have drawn most of your deck, and have a Sing-Along Buddy, Popular Pixie, and a 5 attack hero power. At this point, you can usually close out the game with Sing-Along Buddy, hero power, refresh, hero power, for a total of 8 mana and 20 damage, as faster decks typically don't guard their life total.
Against Slower Decks: Knowing your opponent is playing a slower deck allows you to be much more greedy, which is often needed due to their high healing / armor gain. Fortunately every Warrior and Priest I ran into were Highlander, which are pretty slow decks. Always keep Peaceful Piper and Groovy Cat, but also look for draw cards such as Card Grader(if going 2nd), Chia Drake, and Magatha, Bane of Music. A very important part of the slower matchup is being able to copy at least one Groovy Cat, as a 20-damage hero power will very rarely do the job. Do not play your groovy cats without copying them, as they will be removed and your Zola and Projectionists will be useless. Instead, use your turn 5 to play groovy-zola, or turn 6 to play groovy-celestial-groovy. 7-attack hero power is optimal, 9 is okay if you think you can be greedy. Always choose 1 mana and prioritize windfury on Ignis, but poison is also okay as it prevents them from building a board. By turn 8-10, you should have a 7-attack hero power, Sing-Along Buddy, and Popular Pixie, which is usually enough to close out the game. You may have to Ignis windfury, or swing face once to get tougher opponents into lethal range.
Pitfalls:

1. Losing to taunt - This happened a lot in my experimentation phase, but this really should not be an issue for the deck. The deck has so many minions, there should usually be some on the board that are able to ping down small taunt minions. If you are playing a deck that has the reborn Zilliax taunt, either kill them before turn 8 or get a poison Ignis weapon to deal with it. Park Panther, Swipe, and Barrelbrim are your other options. Barrelbrim is especially good if you can get him online, as using the location is free.
   
2. Playing both Groovy Cats against control - This almost always goes wrong. 5 attack will not get the job done, and you will be relying on Ignis to get windfury, when you may actually need him for poison. If your second cat dies before you copy it, you have 3 dead copy cards in your deck/hand.
   
3. Holding Popular Pixie against aggro - Sometimes it feels bad to "waste" a Popular Pixie on turn 2 to gain tempo. But surviving the early turns is the main goal against aggro. Get past turn 5, then figure out a way to finish your opponent.
   
4. Not choosing 1-cost Ignis weapon - Always choose the 1-cost Ignis weapon. Windfury wins you the game, poison is a 1-mana board clear, lifesteal is a 1-mana full heal. The weapon gets scaled by your hero power, so you want it to be as cheap as possible. Also, don't equip the windfury weapon against control until its your lethal turn. It will get viper'd.
   
5. Wasting Glacial Shard - If you have an extra mana, don't just mindlessly play your Glacial Shard. You may need it to freeze a huge minion, keep a Park Panther or Sing-Along Buddy alive, or disable a weapon. Quartzite Crusher would be a HUGE issue in the DK matchup if the deck did not have 2 Glacial Shards. You may simply freeze the DK the turn before your OTK and you will be fine.
   

So I have 3 kids. Currently in 3rd, 5th and 8th, the year has not ended in my area. Things were going on ok and then the pandemic started along with the schooling changes. So my 3rd grader started kindergarten at home online. Went back to school for 1st and by 2nd grade (2022-2023) something happened in the family that forced us to do online school again. So now on 3rd back to school again and probably for good now. Same thing happened with the now 5th grader. Finished 1st at home and 2nd online. 3rd went back to school, 4th at home online and now 5th in school. Same with the 8th grader finished 4th at home, 5th online, 6th at school, 7th at home online and now 8th at school and soon to go to high school.
Anyway, I wonder how much all of this affected them. We did our best that time when most kids were home too. But last year (22-23) the situation wasn't good in the family and it was the only option for them to be online. I feel like the year was wasted. Because of the family situation they didn't have much support with their schooling. Now that they are back we have asked their teachers how they are doing and they say they are doing fine. My 5th grader is doing well. Also this is a new school and district not the one they started at.
It's been a mess and sometimes I wonder if I should have pushed for them to be in school last year instead of online where they didn't do well. Maybe they would have learned more. This year they have gone on more field trips compared to their previous school. It's been a change in a lot of areas for us this year.
Sometimes I feel bad for their last year. Feel like they didn't learn much and that our family situation led them to miss out on stuff that they could have experienced and learned. I know it happened already and we can't go back, it was the best we could do then. But I still worry. I'm mostly talking about last year 22-23. This year 23-24 is better.
This summer I want them to do some reading and practice other things. But I am not a teacher so don't know what would be best. The teachers have not said they are behind or anything. But I am afraid they might be. What are some things they can do this summer? If they were behind would the teachers tell us?

Lonely Castle in the Mirror, by Mizuki Tsujimura
"Lonely Castle in the Mirror" is a genre-savvy portal fantasy about junior high students who get drawn into a mysterious castle when they're supposed to be in school. Kokoro had a terrible experience early in the school year that's made her terrified of facing her classmates, and develops some kind of (psychosomatic?) illness that prevents her from attending either the normal school or a special alternative school for students who need more support. Shortly after this, her bedroom mirror turns into a portal to the castle with six other students who are also not in school during the normal hours. The "Wolf Queen" in charge--an elementary school girl who enjoys allusions to "Little Red Riding Hood"--tells them all that there's a secret key in the castle that can grant one wish, and they have a year to find it and, potentially, use it. Also, if anyone is caught in the castle outside of the 9-5 school day timeframe, they'll all be eaten by a wolf.
So, these painfully shy students have the opportunity to make friends and have a non-terrifying experience with kids their own age, and they all enjoy bonding and playing video games and drinking tea together, and for the most part nobody cares about finding the key, because that would make the castle close and prematurely end their new friendship. For most of the book, the contrived quest stuff doesn't play into it. And then when it does, it kind of lampshades "oh yeah I have to do this on speedrun mode."
There are a lot of takes pointing out that books where "the magic goes away"/"everyone loses their memories"/"we just have to move on with our lives and pretend like the portal fantasy never happened" can be pretty messed up. In this book, however, I couldn't find myself relating to the characters because it felt like a perverse incentives situation. Yes, middle school is an emotionally volatile, turbulent, unpleasant environment full of many immature people. This is a pretty common experience, actually. Kokoro just can't handle it, and as a response, the infinitely patient teacher at the alternative school reassures her mother that she's battling really hard and it's not her fault, she just can't go to school, and then she gets to go through a portal into fantasy world with people who play video games and eat snacks all day...? I understand there's more to it than that, but something has to change about this situation because otherwise this really isn't the message you want to send. (Once we learn about the backgrounds and life situations of some of the other students, I can imagine how it was easier for people like Subaru and Aki to fall through the cracks, but it feels like, eg, Masamune and Ureshino's junior high situation should have had some kind of guidance counselor or adult in the room. The readers' guide in the back of the book describes Kokoro as a "futoko," and I understand this is more pervasive in Japan than elsewhere, but I have a hard time accepting that seventh graders staying home for months on end with no apparent homeschooling or tutoring gets such a shrug.)
The prose didn't really grab me, sometimes it felt awkward ("That day, Fuka apparently enjoyed the chocolates back home, for she faithfully reported to Kokoro that 'they were delicious.'") and there were a several parts with very. short. one. line. paragraphs.

Kokoro tried to convince herself that she hadn't been at home that day. Miori and the others had simply pounded on the door of an empty house, trampled over the patio, gone round and round over outside of the house. But nothing actually happened. Nothing at all. She never was about to be killed. And yet the next day, she said, "I have a stomachache." And she really did. It was no lie. And her mother chimed in: "You do look pale. Are you OK?" And that's when Kokoro stopped going to school.

A few paragraphs later:

Would she be able to protect herself?
The only place she could now go to freely from her bedroom was the castle.
If I'm in the castle, she started to think, then I'll be safe.
Only the castle beyond the mirror could offer her complete protection.

Girl, I know your mental health isn't the greatest, but we're talking about the place where people threatened you with being eaten alive by a wolf. ??? Sorry, my suspension of belief does not extend this far.
There's also a random red herring with a neighbor student whose father has an interest in researching fairy tales, and like, maybe that "real world" location/characters are related in some way to the portal world? No, it's just a fortuitous coincidence that helps Kokoro have access to more Western fairy tale info.
The good news is, about halfway through the characters start developing some genre-savviness and realizing what they have in common, and towards the end, things pick up significantly in terms of how and why some of the arbitrary fairy-tale logic came about. So it definitely sticks the landing in that way.
Bingo: Prologue/Epilogue, Author of Color, Book Club
Promise of the Flame, by Sylvia Louise Engdahl
At the end of "Stewards of the Flame," to which this book is a sequel, our heroes Jesse, Carla, and Peter had hijacked a spaceship and jumped to an uninhabited planet to set up a colony where humans could develop psionic powers free from the medical bureaucracy of Undine. Jesse's hyperspace jump was rushed and not perfectly calculated, so in order to ensure their oxygen supply makes it all the way to planet Maclairn (named after their late founder), the Group had to confront their deepest fear and brave the stasis boxes that had been Chekhov-gunned several times in the last section. As the existence of the sequel implies, the protagonists and most of their comrades survive stasis. But while, in "Stewards," the hyperspace navigation "error"/imperfection sets up the Group's ultimate test, here it casts a long shadow as Jesse keeps wondering, "could we have picked a better landing site if I hadn't screwed it up?"
The early days on Maclairn are a struggle. The first part of the book is a recurring cycle of "should we do things this way or that way? Well, we came here to set up a society fully founded on mind powers, we pretty much have to commit to the bit or else what's the point." Repeat ad infinitum. Later, this broadens somewhat to "we have to have psi powers coexist with modern technology to fulfill Ian [Maclairn]'s dream, otherwise what's the point." There are clear parallels to (Engdahl's older trilogy) "Children of the Star"; that society represents the endpoint if they go down a path of giving up on modern technology--and the burdens of agrarian, high-population-growth societies fall disproportionately on women. If "Stewards" had motifs of baptism, this is more of an Exodus story, with the characters sulking about "why did you bring us out of Undine just to starve in the wilderness, at least there we had enough to eat." "My God, came Carla’s thought, we’re homesick! Homesick for Undine! I never admitted that to myself, it was so foolish, I’d wanted so much to leave . . . I guess I just pushed it down inside, into a place I didn’t dare go. . . ."
The consequences of the hyperspace jump being off are a minor tonal retcon/change in perspective on the events of the first book. A more significant one, to me, involves love triangle dynamics. In "Stewards," we learn that Carla and Peter both previously had spouses who died under the authoritarian Undine government. Fortunately, Jesse shows up just when Carla is ready to love again, and their relationship brings him into the Group and thus enables their escape from Undine. "Promise" adds that Peter has been silently pining for Carla all along, but needed Jesse's starship skills too much to say anything. We're told the Group's adult recruits skew slightly female, but that isn't represented among the main characters, and you're telling me that none of them are Peter's type? All three of them sigh and angst about "oh, we're such great friends, we can't let this love triangle come between us," and at times it feels like it's setting up for a polygamy plotline (they're all highly powerful telepaths, they can't keep secrets from each other!) And then it just...goes nowhere. As in the first book, I can accept that sex is probably great among telepaths; I can't buy that every single person has to have sex in order to fully level up their telepathic sensitivity!
The best parts of "Promise" involve the culture clashes between Jesse, who grew up on Earth; the rest of the adult Group members, from Undine; and the Maclairn-born generation. Undine's environment is so tightly regulated, they don't even have insects or lizards, so the planet's "collective unconsciousness" doesn't have a fear of creepy-crawlies; Jesse's initial revulsion risks "contaminating" the psyche until everyone faces their fear.

“Horror vids involving animal life aren’t permitted on colony worlds,” Peter told him. “Haven’t you ever wondered why starship libraries don’t contain any? Earth has always banned their export as a measure to protect extraterrestrial lifeforms. It’s one of the few government trade regulations I think is wise.” Of course, Jesse realized. The average Earth citizen’s reaction would have been to kill the crawlies—if possible, to exterminate them. That hadn’t occurred to anyone yesterday. And horror vids often portrayed even intelligent aliens as repulsive; what kind of precedent would that set if similar ones were ever encountered?
Traditionally, said the knowledgebase, small farmers had chopped chickens’ heads off with a hatchet. Wringing their necks was said to be more humane, but nobody wanted to experiment on live, squawking chickens despite the specific instructions provided. These warned that the hardest part, in the physical sense, would be catching a grown chicken in the first place—a fact soon borne out by experience, as chickens are not devoid of telepathic sensitivity and the pursuers were unconsciously broadcasting their intent to kill.
Kel, like many of the Group’s other children, had been slow in learning to talk. It had taken awhile before it dawned on the adults that this was because the kids’ telepathic bonds with their parents had been so strongly encouraged that they felt no need to communicate vocally. Speech could not be allowed to die out in a psi-based culture; it was essential not only to reading but to the framing and communication of complex ideas. Now, everyone realized that like the skills for volitional control of the body, telepathic conveyance of concepts, as distinguished from emotions, must wait until the kids were older.

On the other hand, the scope of "this is dangerous, but we must, to commit to the psionic bit" and "well, we've come through a lot of tough situations before, but this time really is the end...jk never mind we got out of it" got repetitive. There was one scene towards the end where it's like "okay, we're almost done, I can see how telepathy might be used to enable a permanent self-sacrifice...nope, we're still going, huh," and even though some of the resolutions were nice callbacks/tying up foreshadowing, it was still a lot.
Like in James P. Hogan's "Voyage to Yesteryear," the kids who were raised outside of Earth and Undine's prejudices are, overall, a great step forward for humankind, but there can be some values dissonance. In both cases, the desire for lots of population growth leads to a much lower age of consent than Earthlings are used to. Justified somewhat more in Maclairn's case; telepathy means almost everyone wouldn't fathom hurting each other and of course sex is consensual, as well as amazing. On the other hand, in both cases, there's no prison infrastructure; if someone is determined to be evil and is posing a grave threat to others, you just have to kill them. "Promise" gets a little more philosophical about the problem of evil--if it's not nature and it's not nurture, what causes it? Free will? Sure, but it seems as if some people are also evil from day one even if their DNA is just fine.
There are a couple shoutouts to Lord of the Rings and Star Trek that fit in nicely. I found "it's just like using the Force, you know, like in that old vid, Star Wars" to be more of a distraction. Similarly, Engdahl's commitment to showing her work ("in the twentieth century on Earth, you know, people experimented with remote viewing!") got to be a distraction. But the exploration of "okay, let's try a rain dance, even if it fails we're learning something and pushing knowledge forward" was a great use of the "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" trope, which is what I come to Engdahl for anyway.
Some people, like Peter, tend to believe in an afterlife; others, like Jesse, are more skeptical. Earth religions don't transfer well to other planets because the interstellar gap is too big for the collective unconsciousness to bridge. Despite this, characters use the word "God" (like in a telepathic context of "Carla . . . oh, God, Carla, answer me!") approximately 144 times. Do you have no one else's name to take in vain???
Criticisms aside, I do think that this is less heavy-handed than "Stewards" and at least as good a starting point!
Bingo: Dreams, Prologues/Epilogues, Self-Published, Survival. One prominent character acquires a physical disability midway through the story. Jesse and Peter's Criminal record on Undine is not very important (since the entire book is set on or around Maclairn), but it becomes more prominent in the last section.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty
Once upon a time (1100s Indian Ocean) there was a notorious nakhudha (pirate captain) named Amina al-Sirafi. Ten years ago, she retired, and now she's a single mom with a bad knee and a leaky roof. However, a wealthy noblewoman who believes her granddaughter has been kidnapped by a Western European would-be sorcerer insists on having Amina rescue her, never mind Amina's own family responsibilities. So Amina has to put the band back together, staying one step ahead of the authorities while getting to the bottom of the mystery.
Amina and her crew are likable rogues. I found this easier to get into than Chakraborty's "City of Brass". That book focused more on a long-term conflict between two factions, neither of whom consistently seem like the "good guys"; maybe that's supposed to be sending a message about RL actually works, but I found it confusing at times. In contrast, the early sections of "Amina" are about tracking down individual allies, from a gay smuggler stuck in a prison in Aden, to a navigator and family man in Mogadishu, while researching the notorious Falco Palamenestra and speculating what he might be up to.
At first, Amina's Muslim identity comes through more in the ways characters talk, and some level of monster-fighting exorcism (like Catholicism in some horror movies), than actual practice. But gradually, we see more of how she's struggled to be a parent in her post-pirate life:

If the criminal past didn’t alert you, I have not always been a very good Muslim. Drinking and missing prayer were among my lesser sins, and if I tried to straighten myself up every year when Ramadan rolled around—a new life of piety easy to imagine while dazed with thirst and caught up in the communal joy of taraweeh—I typically lapsed into my usual behavior by the time the month of Shawwal had ended.
But then Marjana was born. And Asif was . . . lost. And if one of these events made me feel as though I had no right to ever call upon God again, the other filled with me a driving need I could not deny. So I keep my daily prayers, even if I feel unworthy the entire time.

To me, this rang true as a depiction of a complicated, realistic, person of faith.
This is a time and place that I knew very little about. For instance, one plotline involves the island of Socotra, an island off the coast of Somalia which is today part of Yemen. There are caves there with graffiti from sailors going back thousands of years, in Indian and Greek and Ethiopic scripts. This is a real place! I would not have been able to tell you anything about it before reading this book! So Chakraborty's vivid descriptions of places this, and of the diverse cultures and religious backgrounds of pirates who live and work alongside each other, is compelling. There's a danger in this as a reader, though, in that getting too caught up in the "worldbuilding" of the actual world can make it feel like its "foreignness" is what makes it speculative and fantastical, which is obviously inaccurate and beside the point. That's one reason why jumping in at the deep end with an honest-to-goodness sea monster in chapter one might have been a good choice, to remind us that there really are otherworldly things happening.
The themes of "rich people love to jerk poor people around" and "the male gaze sucks" are clear, but there's lots of quippy banter mixed in.

“That was you, was it not? The woman who poisoned the soldiers at the wali’s office, freed a crew of homicidal pirates, set a score of ships on fire, and fled the harbor in the middle of the night?” “I would never confirm such a thing and put you at risk of consorting with criminals. But it was two ships, not a score. I wouldn’t wish to encourage exaggeration.”
Sailing past its ancient breakwater—the stones said to have been set there by giants—you might feel as though you have entered a mythical port of magic from a sailor’s yarn. You would be sorely mistaken. Aden is where magic goes to be crushed by the muhtasib’s weights, and if wonder could be calculated, this city would require an ordinance taxing it.
“She knows you are a pirate?” “I am not a pirate,” Majed huffed. “I am a cartographer with a checkered past.” “Yes. A checkered past of piracy.”

The book contains a few chapters that are "in-universe documentation" or chronicles of the places and people in the main narrative. This is a trope I really enjoy at times. However, in this case, I didn't feel it added much, beyond underscoring the themes that "men feel threatened by powerful women, oh no."
The biggest issue for me was how all the diverse, sympathetic characters just kind of went along with developments that felt more reminiscent of 2020s Tumblr idiolect than 1100s Indian Ocean. How fortuitously convenient! (At least it got a Hugo nom.)
Smaller quibbles: the timeframe with Amina in her forties is appeSaling to the extent that it's a story about a working mother trying to follow her own dreams while also desperately missing her kid. But in order to make that work, the narrative sometimes withholds a lot of important information about the tragedies in Amina's past/her relationship with her child's father until it can be brought forward for dramatic effect, and it made me wonder what a story from the younger Amina's POV would look like without the artificial suspense problem.
More broadly, I felt like the second half's pace wasn't as crisp as the first--there's a dramatic near-death experience, then a bunch of fantastical creatures are introduced in quick succession as if to make up for the "worldbuilding via the actual world" stuff earlier, then we get a very contrived in-universe sequel hook, then we double back to a setting that had already been introduced. Whereas the first part was "we need to go to A to do B and then that gives us a clue that leads us to C."
Who wore it better?

“It is invalid!” I burst out. “Our nikah. It is not permissible for me to marry a non-Muslim.” Raksh frowned. “Is that why the man had me say all those words about God and prophets?” He returned to studying the contract. “Trust me, dear wife, I can be a vast number of things.” “But—but you are not a believer.” “Of course I am. Best to know the competition, yes?”

Compare "Alif the Unseen" (which is one of my favorites and I suspect I probably was harsh on "City of Brass" by comparison):

"But I told him I couldn't marry him even if I wanted to, because I can't marry an unbeliever. And he laughed and said he'd been a believer, 'for a the better part of a thousand years,' I believe were the exact words." "What?" said Alif. "Vikram? Vikram the madman who bites people?" "He might be those things," said the convert hastily, "but did you ever know him to do or say anything really blasphemous?" "I guess not."

Bingo: Alliterative Title, Criminals, Dreams, Reference Materials, Readalong! It's planned to be First in a Series but the sequels aren't out yet. (Statistics from last year just came out and this was the most popular book across all 2023 bingo cards, with ~200 reads!)
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik
When I read "Uprooted" and griped about the implausible romance and/or reactive plot, people's reactions were "try Spinning Silver, it's an improvement in some of those ways." And yeah, it is! I was aware that Spinning Silver was set in the same world as Uprooted, ~1700s Eastern Europe but with some fantasy elements, and that it was based on Rumplestiltskin.
But it's a lot more than a simple retelling. "Spinning Silver" teases out the individual trope elements of Rumplestiltskin--a mercenary father trying to get his daughter to marry up, the dead mother looming over the plot, a woman given the impossible task of making gold out of other elements, terrible bargains, aloof and unknowable beings from the fae world, the power of knowing someone's true name, the horror of a mother trading her child to inhuman creatures--and blows them all up, turning them inside-out, and creating something original.
It also does a lot with POV. For the first chunk, we have two young women from a small town who go back and forth telling the stories of their business dealings. But as the book goes on, we start jumping into more and more people's heads, and everyone's voice is very different. Sometimes this can be used for dramatic irony; we hear what character A thinks of their interaction with B, then we jump back and tell the same scene from B's POV and what was going through their head is very different than what A assumes. Once in a while, this makes the plot drag--there's a couple of scenes towards the end where we can't have any suspense about "oh no, will they find what they're looking for" because we've just seen the corresponding scene from another POV, and it would have been more effective to rearrange them--but overall, things are propelled forward much more intriguingly than "Uprooted."
Our POV characters are:

• Miryem, the daughter of the village moneylender. Miryem's family is Jewish, which means her father is one of the few people socially permitted to work as a moneylender--but he's more interested in currying favor with the neighbors than getting his debts repaid, so his family goes hungry. Miryem steps up, grows "cold" and "wintry," and takes on his job, to her parents' horror. But an offhand remark about "look, I can turn silver into gold" (metaphorically, because of, you know, capitalism) inadvertently catches the ear of the "Staryk," monstrous elven raiders who live in a parallel realm.
• Wanda, the daughter of an abusive alcoholic. Miryem is like "he can't pay off his debt because he's drunk everything away, I'll have them repay me by hiring Wanda to assist me with our work, I know this is cold and ruthless but I have to." Then when we see it from Wanda's POV she's like "you're giving me money to be out of the house and away from my father? And you'll even feed me? What an undeserved kindness!" Her reaction to "learning to manipulate numbers and do arithmetic is an amazing kind of magic!" felt cheesy and over-the-top, but the contrast between the literal phrasing of a royal decree and the way she "translates" it was more convincing.
• Irina, the daughter of the duke of Vysnia (Vilnius, Lithuania). Like Wanda, her mother is dead and her father is trying to arrange the most profitable marriage for her, never mind what she wants. When Miryem is compelled to turn magical Staryk silver into gold, she does so by having an acquaintance forge silver jewelry which the duke purchases--so when the gold takes on magical powers in the Staryk world, so does the silver with Irina, and brings her to the attention of a tsar. Despite her cold relationship with her father, she learns a lot from him and is a true politician, adept as anyone at cutting deals to keep her realm safe.
• Stepon, Wanda's younger brother. His narration is very simple and childlike (amazing cold open with "I like goats because I know what they will do.") It's possible he has some kind of sensory/mental health issues, or it's possible he's just eleven and overstimulated by unfamiliar crowds.
• Magreta, Irina's nurse/caretaker. She can be kind and supportive, but her casual antisemitism provides a contrast to how Miryem is treated by the villagers.
• Mirnatius, the tsar. For a while we mostly see him through Irina's POV ("this guy is so full of himself he requires a new outfit every day, that's no way to manage the economy"), but again, his narration provides a very different perspective on what's going on.

So I said the romance was better than "Uprooted," in that we didn't have the implausible "elderly magician berates young woman all the time but also they can't keep their hands off each other." In "Spinning Silver," both {Miryem and the Staryk king} and {Irina and Mirnatius} are paired off without much say-so on anybody's part, it's being manipulated by magic/higher-ups. So the timeframe of the book is mostly them all learning how to tolerate each other, and the romance is kind of left to your imagination in the future era.
The Staryk magic is kind of like...you can see their roads briefly if they make incursions in the human world, but as soon as they've disappeared, you start forgetting them and it really takes effort to remember. This means that if someone, like Miryem, disappears into the Staryk world, she's forgotten almost immediately except for little irregularities that don't seem right. These depictions were well-done. (Except that I was trying to remember if the Staryk were the same as the [jerk, mundane human] aristocrats in "Uprooted." They're not. I think I was half-remembering "Marek," the creepy prince, instead of "Staryk," the winter elves.)
There's a cool liminal space that sets up back-and-forth "communication" between the human and Staryk realms, and again, the multiple POVs are a good framework for this. On the other hand, there are some things, like, why do the Staryk want human gold, that are kind of chalked up to "magic idk" and not completely spelled out; for some of the confrontations at the end, again, it's better not to worry too much about hard magic systems and just go with the vibes. There's also an earlier plot that definitely plays the trope of "the less the audience knows about the plan, the more likely it is to succeed" trope straight.
Especially early on, it can be a very bleak "everyone sucks here" setting. Wanda and Stepon's father is horrific. Irina's father is mercenary and sets her up with Mirnatius, a dandy who abuses animals for fun. Nobody in the village respects Miryem's family, and when she tries to reclaim what she's due, her parents are horrified. The Staryk raid the village and carry off women and demand impossible tasks. There's a lot of "I have my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it" coming from all sides. Even though the plot is moving forward, it's hard to feel like there's anything to root for.
But cracks of light shine through. Miryem's mother, and her mother, defy the "dead moms" trope, and are able to be loving parental figures to Wanda, Stepon, and their brother Sergey. Miryem's grandfather is wise and conscientious, warning her of the risks that some of her choices pose not only to their family but to the Vysnia Jewish community as a whole, but still recognizing she's mature enough to make her own choices. They even make use of a real-world Jewish blessing for the first blossoming of trees in the spring. Even when people are trying to be cold, sometimes they're just too human!
Bingo: Alliterative Title, Under the Surface (not for most of the plot, but there is a secret tunnel that gets use), Multi-POV (and how!)
The Infinite Arena (edited by Terry Carr)
Anthology of SF short stories about sports, stumbled upon while browsing a used bookstore. I like sports and the first one was based on "Casey at the Bat," so okay, sold.
It's from 1977, and the stories were originally published in the 40s-70s timeframe. The sex ratio among writers appears to be nine men, zero women, which is pretty "impressive" considering there are only seven stories. Three of them are installments from series that feature the same recurring character(s), so maybe that explains some of the...paucity? I don't want to say they're "flat" or "shallow" or anything, most of the contemporary "deep" stuff isn't to my taste either, but it feels like there's "no 'there' there" for several of these. In some cases, it's like, "we have to raise the stakes by involving gambling/someone's fate being on the line"; in others, it's looking for parallels between sports and other aspects of life (warfare? weird alien insects?) that provide the impetus for two plots to intertwine.
-Joy in Mudville (Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson)--very impressionable and earnest teddy-bear-like alien species imprints on humans, and immediately become obsessed with baseball. One of the aliens names himself Mighty Casey, but unfortunately, opponents can rattle him by reminding him of how "Casey at the Bat" turned out. Fortunately, what poetry can break, poetry can also fix...

"You untentacled mammal! raged Ush Karuza. "You sslimeless conformation of bored flesh!" Alex had long ago discovered that mankind rarely reacts to insults couched in nonhuman terms. It did not offend him at all to be told that he was slimeless.

-Bullard Reflects (Malcolm Jameson)--Dazzle Dart is a sport played by bouncing light rays around with reflective gear and aiming for a goal at the opponents' end. Like American football, one team is designated on offense at a time, and the other is on defense, but you can "intercept" and score from on defense. In Dazzle Dart, this is worth bonus points. Except instead of normal goals and "turnover" goals being worth one and two points respectively, it's twenty-five and fifty. And you thought Quidditch was silly. (This is from 1941.)
-The Body Builders (Keith Laumer)--the best of the stories, in my opinion, in that it predicts both technological advancement and the social changes that will ensue in a clever way.

So it's a little artificial maybe--but what about the Orggies, riding around in custom-built cars that are nothing but substitute personalities, wearing padded shoulders, contact lenses, hearing aids, false teeth, cosmetics, elevator shoes, rugs to cover their bald domes? If you're going to wear false eyelashes, why not false eyes? Instead of a nose bob, why not bob the whole face? At least a fellow wearing a Servo is honest about it, which is more than you can say for an Orggie doll in a foam-rubber bra--not that Julie needed any help in that department.

-The Great Kladnar Race (Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett)--bored humans on an alien planet try introducing something like horse races that they can bet on. However, the aliens' concepts of sports and competition and betting don't necessarily align with the humans'.
-Mr. Meek Plays Polo (Clifford D. Simak)--guy who has only seen one space polo game in his life somehow accidentally stumbles into being the "expert" space polo coach, oops. Also there are weird alien bugs that are great at computation (a little like "The Circle").
-Sunjammer (Arthur C. Clarke, whose name is spelled wrong on the front cover)--a solar flare interrupts a solar sailboat race. Felt timely given the storm of a few days ago! (I did not get to see the aurora, alas.)
-Run to Starlight (George R. R. Martin)--short and slow but extremely muscular aliens enter an American football league and crush everyone, metaphorically and literally. However, the aliens' concepts of sports and competition don't necessarily align with the humans'. Too bad he never wrote anything else ;)
Bingo: 5+ short stories.

I work as a manager for after-school program (K-5th) and I would like form a club where students can create short films to express their creativity.
I have a filmmaking background, and a few 3-5th graders have successfully made a short film this semester (spring 2024). Due to large amount of positive feedback from parents, guardians, and students, I want to create a film festival next year where filmmakers present their mini movies, go through a Q & A session with the audience, win awards, movie poster, etc. I cannot do it all of it alone this time, so I plan to have my staff learn the basics of video making while I also continue to guide students making their movies.
For those of you who worked with elementary school students (K-5th grade) on video production, I need your help/ suggestions for the following:

• How long were each student's video?
• Were your students given a prompt or did they come up with their own story?
• Were your film festivals based on a theme?
• What genres do you recommend? I need to keep it kid friendly since I'm with K-5th grade.
• How did you make sure your students' script was kept short? Did you follow the 1 page = 1 minute rule?
• I currently have 1 camcorder (the cheap Amazon kind) and a few point-and-shoot digital cameras that shoot video. Do you recommend I budget for getting better cameras such as Canon?
• How did you divide the groups?
• How did you schedule which group shoots on which day?
• What projects did you facilitate for K-2nd grade?
• How did you give out awards at your festivals? Was it one per category or did you give award to all students regardless if any of them win or not?

Sorry for these questions. I really want to do this since I think it'll be fun and something new my after-school program has never done before at our end-of-the-year showcases. I enjoyed creating this short film with my students weeks ago and I would like to do something like this again but feature more student work this time. I run the after-school program, so these questions would help me plan ahead better.
Any ideas / suggestions would help. Thank you in advance!!

Sorry for the long post lol
Demographics:

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: Latinx, White
• Residence: South America, Argentina (international)
• Income: full-aid 💀
• Type of School: Non-elite jewish private school (but my family is non-religious and I’m a Christian so this gave me great essay topics lol)
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): none 😃
  
• Intended Major(s): Computer Engineering or CS + something mixed with social sciences if available.
  

Academics:

• GPA (UW/W): No weighted GPA. My school does on a 10.0 scale, and it was 10.0.
• Rank: 1 / 543
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: School didn’t offer (actually you couldn’t choose ANY clases but only “interest tracks,” and I chose electronics).
• Senior Year Course Load: Worth noting that out of 15 classes 7 were specialized in CS, Electronics and Project Management (same for sophomore and junior year).

Standardized Testing:

• SAT: 1550 (750 RW, 800 M)
• IELTS: 8.0 (9.0 R, 8.5 L, 7.5 S, 7.0 W)

Took them once (south american w/ no money lol). Super unexpected SAT result, literally jumped off my chair and when I got it.
Activities: (copy-pasted Common App, no way I’m going to describe these again 💀)

1. Team Captain @ Robotics Club: Independently created 4 mini-sumo competition robots. Competed w/university students & engineering professionals.
   
2. Elected Vice-president of MUN Club: Organized 6 MUNs for 6300 students, Conf. President 6x; Best Delegate 3x, Hon. Mention 2x, Del. of the People.
   
3. Competed in Technology Olympiads, Natn`l 4th place; Physics Olympiads, Natn’l 26th (2022) & 3rd prize (2023) in advanced level.
   
4. Building website & database to recover Shoa survivors' names w/ intn'l NGOs' involvement. Tour guide @ Holocaust Museum; Featured in 2024 book publication @ Anne Frank Center.
   
5. Organized 15 activities for 400+ 5-6th & 1000+ 10th graders on mechanics & electronics. Coordinator @ 3 expositions w/ 2000+ attendants.
   
6. Co-authored independent research paper on theater cooperatives in Buenos Aires' modern digital times. Placed 2nd @ Argentinian Research Olympiads, published by [UNI] as finalists.
   
7. Ministry Young Advisor: Discussed public policies, built official media campaigns (w/ 85k+ views), and co-developed a survey for city students w/ City Gov. representatives.
   

(this seems like something extremely selective but the Advisory had a 100% acceptance rate of applicants, It’s just new and not very well-known)

1. Swimming, 13yrs (2yrs competitive); Handball, 2yrs; Volleyball, 2yr; Tennis, summer; Skiing, winter (120hs).

(Zero 0 none accomplishments here though. Not even a single swim race 💀. But had very much fun doing them)

1. Shared photos of DIY decofurniture in my bedroom to prove low-budget aesthetic interior design is possible. Reached 1.700.000+ views & ~60+ countries.
   
2. Built app to enhance small businesses' revenues & reduce food waste. Led team, pitched, & programmed front/back-end.
   

(Hesitated to include it because we still didn’t launch but idk)

• As you can see ECs were not extremely focused or spiked but really did what I found interesting and fun!

Honors and awards:

1. Natn'l Olympiads: Physics, 3rd prize; Technology, 4th place (2200 partic.); Historic Research, 2nd place (143 papers)
2. Natn'l Robotics League Mini-sumo category: Silver Medal @ [Location] & Bronze Medal @ [Location]
3. [Name] South American writing competition: 1 of 25 Intn'l publications (2146 submissions)
4. [Name] STEM Communication Awards: Intn'l winner + $400 scholarship
5. [human-rights related] Literary Competition: Natn'l winner (370+ participants)

Living in a region without that big of a fierce competition came in handy for this section 😘 #blessed
Letters of Recommendation:
I think these were pretty good but not too sure.

• Physics teacher: 8/10
• Jewish studies teacher: 9/10
• Headmaster of electronics track: 9.5/10
• Best friend: 9.5/10

Additional Information:
Everyone advised me to keep it VERY SIMPLE, but I really used it.

1. All my MUN awards (2 Intn’l, 2 natn’l, 1 regional and 1 school, all through 4 years), mentioned a merit-based full ride I got for one of my country’s best engineering unis, and an intn’l award from Oxford Climate Change Challenge.
2. Some programs and coding languages I experimented and/or worked with.
3. I mentioned 4 extra ECs: a year-long Data Analyst Professional Certificate from IBM (by completing 9 online courses that I did in just 5 weeks), founding the Debate club and a School Spirit/ Electronics club, attending a fully-funded international online AI summer school for two weeks (3% acc. rate) and being selected to make a Ted Talk on technology at school (2% acc. rate for seniors).
4. Some dotted descriptions of two independent engineering projects I made (technical stuff + objectives)
5. My Linkedin link (I am somewhat active there)
6. Clarified my Math level was Calc AB and that I worked on BC on Khan Academy for a bit.

Essays:
Personal Statement: 8.5/10. It took SUPER LONG but I actually loved it. Explored how I used writing and engineering to address the need to keep the memory of past Argentinian dictatorship kidnappings (which directly affected my family) and the Holocaust alive.
Supplementals: - 9/10: Princeton, Brown and NYU - 8/10: Notre Dame, Lehigh and Williams - 7/10: Amherst, Dartmouth and W&L - 6/10: Harvard - 5/10: JHU, UPenn and Bowdoin (mentioned wrong school name 💀💀💀) - 4/10: Columbia and Stanford
Interviews: TOO MANY

• Bowdoin: 5.5/10 - My first and yapped too much
• Stanford: 6/10 - Didn’t know a single thing about the school, but I was pretty happy with most of my answers.
• Princeton: 9/10 - I feel I really shined through and vibed with my interviewer.
• UPenn: 10/10 - Hands down the best conversation of my LIFE. Super interesting.
• Yale: 7.5/10 - Senior interview, could’ve been better but I was in vacay lol
• NYU: 8.5/10 - Short but super sweet
• Dartmouth: 8/10 - Started rough ended super good!
• W&L: 7/10 - Weird questions but felt I navigated them somewhat nicely

Decisions (REA/EA/ED/RD):
ACCEPTED :

• Washington and Lee + Johnson Scholar (full COA merit + 10k stipend)
• Bowdoin + Faculty Scholars (full COA finaid + 3k stipend)
  • NYU Abu Dhabi (85% COA finaid)

WAITLISTED:

• Princeton
• Dartmouth
• Brown
• Columbia
• UPenn
• Williams

REJECTIONS:

• Stanford REA
• Harvard
• Yale
• Notre Dame
• Lehigh
• Amherst
• Johns Hopkins
• Case Western Reserve

PRE-DECISION REFLECTION (only knowing about Stanford): I only applied to universities that would beat a full ride to my fav university in my country so pretty ambitious elections (no safeties or matches!). I decided to apply abroad pretty late for the standard I saw (April 2023), and involved a LOT of familiarization with the process. If I don’t get anywhere still I DONT REGRET IT FOR A SECOND: I learnt more english, to manage legal documents and resumes, contact people all over the world, enhanced writing skills, A LOT OF SELF DISCOVERY AND REFLECTION and controlling challenging deadlines. It also brought me a lot closer to God somehow, and I learnt to at least aim to put my worries in Jesus and trust that everything will go as it should!!! When I was rejected I thought about giving up applying anywhere else (not being even DEFFERED hit somewhat hard), but pretty happy that I continued!!! Now we’ll have to see, but I deeply believe any decision will be for the better.
POST-DECISION REFLECTION: I am honestly so surprised and happy with my decisions!!! I really realized how difficult it is for full-aid seeking internationals to even secure ONE university. I know 30+ EXTREMELY TALENTED PEOPLE (perfect GPA, valedictorians, 1450+ SAT, amazing ECs) from my country applying for full-rides in the U.S. and only ~5 got one. So I’m super grateful for the three opportunities and the waitlists!! I’m having a hard time choosing where to go, but honestly super blessed I even get to choose. And now I see how important it is to shotgun to 15+ places for aid seeking internationals!
[UPDATE] —> I chose Washington and Lee!! Go generals 💙

Edit: thank you everyone for reaffirming my decision. I wasn't sure how much the school system had changed since I went to school as skipping grades as a thing back then. I'm very much comforted by the thought of keeping my daughter in her current grade. I'm in no rush of her "growing up," and want her to thrive well.
It was a conversation that came up between her dad and I, and I wanted to explore all options.
Definitely did not consider the other age groups for what they would be into vs what she would be into by the time she got to her teenage year.
Definitely puts things into perspective.
I think ill just have a conversation with her teacher in regards to the gate program in the future.
The last thing I want to do is jeopardize my child. So again, thank you for sharing your insight. (:
Location - Brea
I'm asking parents of OC as a whole, but even better if your child is in the Brea Olinda District.
TLDR: For those of you who have had your child skip a grade, how did you make that final decision? At what grade/age did you do it at? (I know the younger the better, rather than later, and definitely before the new school year begins.)
The last thing I want to do is jeopardize her time at school, but if it's not doing anything for her, what are our options? How do we bring this up to her school? What were the impacts of your gifted children advancing in school or skipping a grade? What grade do you recommend to take action in this?
Also, I do my best not to compare her to other children (this is just a collective observation in the past), and I also balance letting her just to have fun and enjoy her childhood because adulthood aint all that great lol
I also don't single her out from the rest of her counterparts, I don't instill the mindset that anyone is better than the other, and I just allow her to be her most authentic self.
CONTEXT: Academically
I have a gifted 6 year old (she will be 7 in June). She is highly suspected for ADHD (I also have ADHD, and we are very similar), but in academic-wise, she doesn't need any "support" at school (we tried).
She goes to a magnet school and fairs pretty well in her classes. She is in the 1st grade, but her academic scores show that her reading level is that of a 3rd grade, her math is that of a 2nd/3rd grade level, and her phonics - she expressed is too easy (not sure about the grade level)
Having met her friends in her grade year, in language and motor skills, she is more advanced than they are. She began talking at the age of 2.5 and was able to carry a conversation level of her 1st grade counterparts by the time she was 3.5 years old. She also has good comprehension of real world topics down as well (appropriate to her ability level). All of her teachers from pre-school to now have always been impressed with being able to hold a stimulating conversation with her and often spoke very highly of her.
She uses the duolingo app at home to practice her japanese and korean for her dad's side of the family, so that's some stimulation, but it's not structured as in, I don't enforce it on her - it's there for her when she feels like doing it.
I do what I can to support her at home (which isn't much due to my inflexible schedule), and her magnet school keeps her in her 1st grade (2nd grade upcoming fall) class, but currently gives her material on the tablet for 2nd-3rd grade math level and 3rd grade reading level. She expressed to me that phonics is extremely easy for her. She learned how to write in pre-school and mastered it by Kindergarten. In her math, reading, and phonics, she expressed is pretty much a breeze for her while she waits for her peers to finish their tasks and often gets bored.
Emotional intelligence Development: Socially, she thrives well with many people her age. The older the better as she is an only child and is mostly around adults the majority of her life. However, the older kids and the 1st graders do not play with each other, but she gets to play with them during her after school program.
Emotionally, she is very mature for her age and she can process things fairly well. Logic and reasoning, etc. everything is more advanced.
Where we stand currently, goals moving forward:
My main focus is to keep her happy. As academics are important, her happiness is more important to me. I don't want to push her to learn more or overwhelm her, but I also don't want her bored in school and not feel stimulated enough.
As far as extracurricular activities, I don't have the luxury to put her into anything outside of after school program, mostly because things that are provided in the school that are at no cost for her, don't start until the 3rd grade, even though thats where a lot of her interest lie (choir, music/instruments, etc.). Additional classes are costly, and right now, it's not a feasible option for us financially to get her stimulated in that sense.
Outside of her keeping her 1st grade friends with her whom she has grown very fond of, there isn't anything else that is keeping her stimulated.
Her school is a magnet school, career focused school, and I appreciate that they have catered to her advanced skills in math and reading through tablets, but I don't know if remaining at this grade level or preparing for her 2nd grade is enough for her.
Any advice is great and appreciated. Thank you.

Hi all!
Hoping for some perspective. My son 2 years and 4.5 months old. He started school in the 2/3 year old class and is the baby of the class - he should technically be in a 1/2 year old class but since his dad and I work at the school (teacher and AP), they told us we could put him in the 2/3 year old class once he turned 2. He’s been doing amazing these last months but last week he hit (we were told non-aggressively) the same boy a few times.
His speech is pretty good, lots of words, but he’s working on putting together phrases. The kids also all speak Spanish (teachers as well) and he mainly knows English because that’s what Dad and I speak to him.
On Friday, the school counselor (whose background is aba therapy) told us she saw him hit the other kid and she told him to give a high five instead and my son smiled and didn’t want to high five, he just ran off to play. She says because of this she believes he is sensory seeking and recommends OT. She said he also sometimes plays with the leaves outside (the trees here let off tons of leaves, like it looks like fall outside. I’ve seen him do that with other toddlers in the class and so do most of my class of 2nd graders..). Those were the only 2 examples she had. The teachers say my son is great in the classroom, no issues. Sits for activities, circle time, plays with toys appropriately, no hitting in the classroom, follows directions.
I googled sensory seeking toddlers to educate myself and my son literally does not exhibit ANY of the behaviors listed. I assume she’s referring to the one that says “constantly touching people” but does a couple of incidents of hitting ONE child equal constant? This has only happened in the last week or so, never before.
I just want to know if I’m being ignorant or if the counselor is way off?
Thank you in advance!

Hi all! Hoping for some perspective. My son is a just turned 2 year old. He started school in the 2/3 year old class and is the baby of the class. He’s been doing amazing these last months but last week he hit (non-aggressively) the same boy a few times. His speech is pretty good, lots of words, but he’s working on putting together phrases. The kids also all speak Spanish and he mainly knows English. Yesterday, the school counselor (whose background is aba therapy) told us she saw him hit the other kid and she told him to give a high five instead and my son laughed and didn’t want to high five. She says because of this she believes he is sensory seeking and recommends OT. She said he also sometimes plays with the leaves outside (so does most of my class of 2nd graders..). Those were the only 2 examples she had. The teachers say my son is great in the classroom, no issues. I googled sensory seeking toddlers to educate myself and my son literally does not exhibit any of the behaviors listed. I just want to know if I’m being ignorant or if the counselor is way off? Thank you in advance!

Hello, I hope everyone is well. This is absolutely not my area of knowledge, any info or guidance is greatly appreciated. This is a bit lengthy so thank you for your time-
A no tax increase bond proposal was brought to our community voting ballot awhile back (about 1-2yrs ago) for our school district. The terms of the bond included plans to rezone the school district to have the student population more evenly distributed among the elementary schools and have the elementary schools filter into the middle school (there's 2 middle schools) that's in closest proximity to the students' home. Our community has had a lot of quick housing/sub division developments go up so it makes sense to rezone the district. In addition to this decreased travel time to and from school was also a term listed in the bond proposal. We have a bus system and some kids are on the bus for 30-45+ min in the morning and afternoon. This a long with school building expansion and building improvements were sent out in a written letter to families and voters in the school district.The bond passed by less than 200 votes.
Since the bond passed the school board decided to do a 180. Over the past couple months multiple meetings have been held to explain the changes and new plans to parents. Their new plan is to have all the 5th and 6th graders go to one middle and all the 7th and 8th graders go the other middle school. In addition to this their current travel plan is that all 4 grades will be bussed all at the same time, on the same bus to each building (the bus will make 2 stops). However, there will be enough of a staggered start/dismissal time for parents who drive their children to be able to make punctual drop off and pick up. In theory, according to the school board, if one has a child in 5th grade and a child in 8th grade they will be able to drop off/pick up each student on time based on the staggered start/dismissal times. This plan was NOT on the original proposal. I'm confident in saying if it was on the original proposal it would not have passed a vote. The most recent school board meeting the board members discussed how important and beneficial this move is. Again, this was not presented when the original vote took place but suddenly it's the main focus. A petition with 400+ signatures was presented in opposition of this plan yet the board still approved it in a 5-2 vote.
My question is how is this not considered fraudulent? There was no binding contract but a written summary of the plan was distributed before voting took place and it did not include anything in the 2nd paragraph. Again, if this was the proposed plan I'm confident in saying it would not have passed.
How would one appeal this with the school board to revise this plan?
The school board claims this is the best option and, as of now, there is not a plan B.
If you've read this far it's appreciated, thank you for your time.

first off thank you all for another year and what you all do for our children - you don’t get the acknowledgement you deserve!
I figured this would be the best place to ask. I have a 2nd grader & preschooler, what end of year gifts do you think their teachers would want/use/need?

I see a lot do these type of issues discussed here, from popular.
So I thought, let me share my two cents on it.
Bit of a background here, my father has founded 2 schools by himself (with some trustees giving finances). Has also helped other alternative education organisations to be built up from zero by being an advisor. And he is a senior journalist who is interested in history. And I have been lucky to learn so much through this. (And he has also written dozens of books published by 3rd parties.)
So many problems have lead to this. What's even crazier is that the problems are similar across the world.

1. Originally, schools were institutes meant to create clerks. Lowest grade of skill as we would consider it today. But back then, 10 years in school would set you up for life. Of course, most people wouldn't even go past 4th grade.

Now, maybe, masters will set you up for life? I don't know what people's minimum expectations are, because they always keep increasing after they achieve one goal. Satisfaction isn't a thing.
But I digress, one of the problem stems from saturation. Not everyone used to study. If only skilled people are studying, they don't need to study for too long. As such, they can directly be given jobs after they are done with their short studies.

1. Before, livelyhood had nothing to do with studies. It was something you did just for learning! So, you failed in 4th grade? No problem. Just start working in your generational/traditional job or as a worker somewhere. Work will teach you.

Now you failed in 4th grade? Your life is probably destroyed. Right? For the general people, it probably would be.
Parents wouldn't like when their children fail, so they blame teachers that they are bad. Easy solution: just give them free marks. It makes parents feel good. 15 years later, they will be given a piece of paper. Again, feels good. Oh, but that paper doesn't give a job anymore, so search for more papers with more years.
Because failing in school = failing in life. The consequences are too much for teachers to be bearing.
A side example to this. When my mother took on as a teacher of "insert my native language" in the school we ran. One of the weirdest problem arose. Since English medium schools are now mainstream,(have been for more than 2 decades) native languages get shafted into a corner. So she was teaching 4th graders. But their level was worse than 1st graders. (Mind you, it's not like their English was good either. It's pretty hard for people to learn a language that's not theirs) So she gave them bad marks and failed them in monthly exams.
Parents were furious. They said, how dare you fail them! They used to get "insert high number" in their last school. They did not even care, to learn what the problem was. Learning is not a focus for parents either. Marks is.

1. Members of this sub might not like this, but "you" are also part of the problem. But, it's not something you are to be blamed for.

Because you have also been through this same system, it's not like you fell from sky.
For years, my father's focus was on kids in elementary standards.
When my brother became a teacher (independently off of my father) in a high school, we got taste of reality through him. As you all know, it was bad. But what was even worse, was that within 5 something years, he was burnt out. He isn't the same energetic person anymore.
The important point here, is that he hadn't even studied in a similar way as all of you. He was home schooled. Had insane levels of confidence, charisma and skill. It was all wasted by the system when he entered it, not as a student, but as a teacher.
3.1 Back in the day, schools used to have authors, poets and other type of experts in teaching positions. It was a position of respect, where cream of the crop did not have a shame in entering.
Nowadays, (no disrespect but truth we saw while running schools) people who didn't have prospect in the higher fields, just chose to go to schools as teachers. It was their 2nd or 3rd or 4th choice.
This further increases the problem. People who don't want to teach, people who don't have the inherent teaching skill, and people who aren't at a skilled level; are in the teaching field.

1. Money. Everything that matters in life, can be ruined by greed. Because education became privatised, taking money from people became the focal point; Instead of trying to give the best education.
   
2. Schools by design have a structure, that's impossible to actually learn (or teach) in.
   

a. Different students have different requirements.
b. Disturbance from people who don't want to learn.
c. Curiosity is suppressed and asking questions is banned.
d. Too many students in a class to handle.
e. Bullying and other issues.
f. Subjects being taught in the most boring way.
g. Even though the actual goal is to earn money through it, none of the stuff taught can help earn money.
If anyone is interested, books like "Danger: School!" could be a good read on why schools just don't work.
Books like "Summerhill" by a.s. Neil portray one of those alternative method.
Then a book called "Totto Chan" portrays one of the ideal environments for children to truly grow.
People have realised the fundamental issues with them and have been creating alternatives for decades.
To summarise:

1. Saturation.
   
2. Learning tied to livelihood, and lack of interest in actual learning from everyone involved.
   
3. Teachers not being as good as they should be.
   
4. Money
   
5. Fundamental flaws with school.
   

Where have we reached? A world, where Phd doesn't mean anything And a lot of them are dumb people in real life. A world where stacking degrees doesn't give you a job anymore. A world where failure after going through schools is becoming a norm. Instead of failing inside a school, they fail after leaving it.
What can you do for this? Nothing. Sad truth.
That's the real reason neither me or my brother were sent to schools and were homeschooled and later taken direct exams for degree.
Extra trivia:
The future of schooling will entail a super teacher that will teach everyone from a video and the "teachers" will become caretakers of children. Who will keep them in line. Not that it will fix anything. But just something to brew over in your mind.
This is actually going to happen soon, as laws in my country, around schooling are going through massive changes. Your country won't be far away.