Random Life Stories and Unpredictable Moments

I’m done with my life. The academic session began in April, and my exams are scheduled for the end of January. Right now, August is already halfway over—it’s the 20th today—and I feel like I’ve fallen far behind. Most of my classmates are ahead of me, while I struggle to understand anything in class. It feels as if I’ve been dropped into a higher grade where I don’t belong. Everything seems beyond my grasp.

It stings to see my peers following along with ease while I just sit there, staring at the blackboard in confusion. I was never like this before. For the first time in my life, I feel lost in class. This is 10th grade, and I feel trapped, unable to move forward, constantly pulled away by distractions.

My laptop, which should be helping me study, has become my biggest enemy. Social media, random motivational YouTube videos, anime content, Instagram scrolling, venting to strangers online for attention, even sleeping after school—these habits are dragging me down. I thought my relationship with a classmate was a distraction too, so I distanced myself from her. But even after cutting off contact, nothing changed. I can’t blame her anymore—this is my own battle.

I barely scraped through the first unit tests with poor grades, cramming the night before exams. If I’m honest, I haven’t properly finished a single chapter to the point where I could confidently answer questions from it. I’m still procrastinating every day. On top of that, I struggle with the habit of watching porn, which only makes me feel weaker and more paralyzed.

I know what’s happening to me, but I don’t act on it. It feels like I’m waiting for some dramatic “rock bottom” moment—like in movies where the main character suddenly rises to the top after hitting their lowest point. But in real life, that moment never comes. Time just keeps slipping away.

Part of me dreams of becoming the top student in class, but right now it feels more like a fantasy than a real possibility. Even if I somehow worked hard, gave my all, and fought through every distraction, I know people wouldn’t see the effort behind it. They’d assume I succeeded easily, because I’ve always been considered a “good student.” That’s why I sometimes feel the need to tell my classmates about my struggles, as if my poor marks in the first unit test are proof of where I really stand.

But the truth is, I’m still waiting for something outside of me to change my situation, even though I know nothing magical is going to happen. My parents keep scolding me and comparing me to others, which only makes me feel worse. I want to rise to the top of the class, but right now, it feels impossible.

I had a huge blackout that lasted almost an hour last month, and now I'm in the hospital, rotting on a bed. Professionals found out that I had an untreated anemia that had lasted for way too long and now it's actively ruining my organs because my body can't stock iron, causing me to be really tired all the time, my skin is really pale, I have difficulty to breath, sleep, eat and walk. My legs are shaking a lot when I'm on my feet and I'm always cold. To top it all, my periods are extremely painful and causes me to lose a lot of blood. Unfortunately, my body reacts really negatively to the various treatments, and now the nurses and doctors are stuck. They stay optimistic with me and my parents, but the look on their face each time they make tests with me, I'm starting to feel that my fate is sealed. I try to change my mind by reading and listening to music, even watching Youtube when I can but it doesn’t change the fact that I feel like I'm actively dying. I'm really scared, because I don't want to die without even reaching adulthood. I have all of my friends here, my dog, and my little brother. Everyone except my parents and my brother are already acting like I'm gone, even my friends, which doesn't help. The doctors try everything, but nothing seems to work out fine, or atleast it's not enough. I'm starting to lose hope. My mom cries a lot, because she thinks it's her fault, and my dad can't look me in the eye. My little brother is the only positive one, and I don't want to fail him by leaving him behind. Sorry, I sound like a whiny loser because anemia is not cancer or something serious like that, but it truly feels like I'm dying on this bed. I just needed to vent, because I don't want to worry my parents even more, and my little brother is too young to understand.

So, what would people have thought if they had seen this on a reality TV show? (I hope I did this right, I never used a site like this one before.)

So my ex and I broke up recently. It was his decision, and I thought it was amicable enough - I had hopes he didn't feel he could meet, and he felt overwhelmed by how much I can be sometimes (I do not dispute this, I'm A Lot.), and so while it hurt because I really thought we were getting through the rough patch, it was the right move to just be friends.

The thing is, he's not really acting like a friend now, and the way it's going I'm not entirely sure that's even truthfully what he wants.

He's always been kind of rude - he's socially awkward by his very nature and not at all an emotional guy - I'm very used to him being somewhat ignorant of the feelings of others, that's normal. He's not diagnosed autistic but most people he comes into contact with have their suspicions on him being on the spectrum. (This is not a bad thing or a sweeping armchair diagnosis, our whole friendgroup is autistic so it would not be a surprise and would of course be an explanation for his overall demeanor, but not an excuse for the behaviour that follows.)

Now though, it's not just 'socially awkward guy can be misconstrued as ruder than he intends to be', it's targeted. and usually targeted at me.

I tried to brush it off as me just being oversensitive in the aftermath of the breakup, because I know I can be hysterical and overdramatic, but it's become obvious in the week or so that it goes on that I'm not imagining it - he's being downright mean. And I never thought he was mean.

So I tried reaching out to him about it - I thought maybe he was being so odd because it was hurting him too and he wanted to talk about it, or he wanted to avoid giving me false hope by being deliberately meaner than usual for a bit, or maybe he was just enjoying the freedom from a relationship that he seems to think was controlling. All of the above would have been fine and I would have, to an extent, understood if any of those were his reasoning, but he denied acting out of character at all - told me that he'd be saying everything he's said for the past week with or without the circumstances.

I don't think that's true, because a lot of it seemed to come out of nowhere with no prompting from any outside source (so not a badly landed punchline to something else) and he's famously stoic and private to the point of paranoia, but I accepted it - it isn't my place to push him on that, if he says he's fine and he thinks it's normal then whatever, I suppose it must be for him.

Reaching out seemed to make it worse - today he decided to go vaguepost in a shared server about how people who talk about having a certain opinion are annoying - down to my exact wording of said opinion. This would not be so damning, if there were others in his group/life that had the same opinion. As it stands, it's only me, and everybody in our group knows that. So really, he's just publicly calling me annoying for no real reason, somewhere he knows I will see it.

I know I said he can be ignorant of the feelings of others, but I refuse to believe that as an incredibly smart grown man, it hasn't registered to him that if you insult someone, it's going to hurt their feelings. There is a huge difference between "being unable to read the room and making people uncomfortable by mistake" and "being unaware that knowingly insulting a friend is bad".

I've tried to be civil about it all.

I didn't blow up at him for breaking up with me knowing I was at work at the time, because I asked first and said I wouldn't break down, so that's on me.

I haven't gone and blamed him for the part where I got so upset and stressed about it all that I got physically sick, because it's not like he wanted that to happen to me either.

I wanted to comfort my friend if he was struggling, and I didn't want to make it a big deal that we broke up, and I didn't want to really bring it up at all, because I know he's bad with emotional stuff and I figured he'd like to just move right along, which was fine by me if it helped him.

It just feels like I've sacrificed and sacrificed and sacrificed to try and not blow up our lives over this, and I've denied myself the chance to actually grieve because it would inconvenience him, and all he can think to do is just...rub salt in the wound wherever possible and assume the worst of me at every turn.

And nobody else seems to notice beyond 'feeling like they missed something' how mean he's been lately, except for my one friend who has never really liked him all that much in the first place.

And that makes me wonder if this is actually new, or if this is just the rose glasses breaking - was he just always this awful, and I never saw it because I loved him?? Has anyone else had this sort of jekyll-hyde turn happen?

Like why tf couldn’t he just be taller 💔 wasted opportunity (not like anything actually gonna happen if he was tho 😭🙏)

I’m genuinely seeking some advice on a situation that persists at home, and I need an outsider’s perspective. My wife makes less money than I do, which is fine, but her default is to handcraft gifts for people. It’s a noble gesture for sure, but it becomes problematic when the recipient, like myself, would prefer something specific that isn't handmade.

Here's an illustration from my own experiences. Over the last few years, every gift from her has been something she made. Regardless of what I explicitly ask for, whether it's inexpensive or not, I end up receiving a handmade present. Take last Christmas, for instance. I had my eye on a few gadgets, but I unwrapped a hand-knitted scarf instead. Don't get me wrong, her gifts are thoughtful, but it’s been the same every time. For her part, I always make sure I buy things that she lists.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was my recent birthday. I didn’t ask for much, just a single book worth about $25 and even sent her the direct link to buy it. Instead, I opened my gift to find homemade bookmarks. Not only were they not the kind of bookmarks I prefer (I like wooden ones and these were cloth), but it also felt like my requests were ignored.

I guess my disappointment was visible because she immediately asked what’s wrong. I confronted her directly this time, explaining how these weren't what I wanted at all—reminding her of our numerous discussions on this topic. I returned the bookmarks to her, a bit abruptly, perhaps, and went out to get the book myself.

Upon returning, we ended up in a big argument with her accusing me of being ungrateful and calling me names. I understand that she puts effort into these gifts, but I feel like my wishes aren’t being respected either.

Imagine such a scenario playing out in a reality show! Likely, the situation would be magnified. Viewers would be picking sides, with some sympathizing with the wife’s heartfelt creations while others might side with the husband’s desire for gifts that actually meet his tastes. Comments and debates would light up social media, maybe even spark a trending hashtag or two, as people chimed in on whether it’s the thought or the gift itself that counts more.

How do you think this would play out on a reality TV show?? Would people see me as demanding or would they understand where I’m coming from?

In a few weeks it's gonna be my final exams of 8th grade. Let me tell you, don't try to change me. I'm in the firm belief I'm fundamentally stupid. Last unit, which was Unit 2, I scored a 25/60 in maths and 22/60 in Hindi, and somehow my family got more mad at the fact I called myself stupid than the fact I failed. I scored that low, and I'm lucky it wasn't the last exam or else I would've been held back a year, since I also did pathetic in Science at 45.5 in which I should've scored higher since I'm good at science, I got 43/60 in Social Studies, 51/60 in English, but I failed. They got more angry I said I was stupid, I was! I'm dumb for trusting the math teacher to start on the hardest questions like she said. And mom said the weirdest thing, she asked how can I improve if I call myself a failure or stupid. I was, for even when I studied hard I forgot and I took too long to answer, because I'm slow like a slug and stupid. And if I fail this unit now, I'm gonna be held back. The maths teacher keeps threatening the class about it as a real thing. And I will fail because I'm fundamentally stupid. I don't feel like studying, and that's fine, because stupid people don't deserve privilege, just slog. If I succeed this exam, or at least score a decent 60-70% than last time in maths and half in Hindi, I'm cursed. What I'm saying is that means for every Unit 2 exam, I suck the worst. That happened in 7th, it happened in Unit 2 of 8th, and this is the final third one, and if I do slightly better, I'm cursed. I normally score decent in Unite 1, but I'm praying at least in math I score well, because screw Hindi, even my parents gave up the language for me cus they now why I struggle even with tuitions, it's too hard, even for them!

Now, you might say, "Make your own timetable!" or "Maybe practice time management", shut up! Shut up you fucking ugly bitches! I'll fail my own timed 3 hour exam, or even revision sheets timed, I'll fail at math which is one of the main subjects I need to pass to go ahead, and plus, one guy got held back and he's in 7th grade going to 8th when he should be going to 9th now like me. I'll be held back as well. My teacher may say in 9th she can shift Hindi to art, but it's impossible, in CBSE, you just can't. It would make my cosplay event not worth it then. Imagine how many other people failed that I'm not aware of, that got held back with no friends which is why I didn't know, that lost every opportunity to succeed because of this. I'll be one of them if I act too cocky and tell myself, "I can do this". I simply can't. Convince me and I'll find you, kill you, and bury your body in the ocean where nobody can find you. And in CBSE, no way they'd retake exams from 8th-9th. Why would they retake exams? I've not heard of that. You can't do that. You can't do that in CBSE. It's too much coddling, anyways.

To those who know JJBA, I'm dumb enough for someone like Fugo to crash out and go fucking batshit crazy. Seriously, Narancia sucks even worse than me at maths, and Fugo stabs him with a fork in Golden Wind. I'm sorry, what?! I know Golden Wind is freaky or weird as fuck, but nah, I need those high standards to pass. In fact, since I'm planning to dress up as Joseph Joestar for an event a month after my exams in March, Joseph won't look at me and won't call me dumb because he is dumb, but Caesar Zeppeli would and he'd also become an angry Italian like Fugo. Admit it, he hates stupid people! He's a hotheaded man who's strong, what I'm not. I'm stupid, see? I'm no good at cosplaying either, it's my first time. So the best thing is to just give up, maybe leave school, convince my family I can be homeschooled somehow, or just die since I'm too stupid to be alive. They won't give second chances, not anymore. This is my last dance, my final act before promotion, and until then, I won't pick my ass up if I convince myself I can do this. I can't. Impossible stays impossible. Those who believe in change are the retarded fags themselves. Fucking hell, just anyone, give me any 3 GOOD WAYS to just die, if I decide I'm worthless to everyone, my family, my brother, everyone, I won't miss them because they won't miss me. They'll move on. I still fail to understand why they get more mad when I call myself stupid when the truth is is bold letters...

I'M FUCKING STUPID AND AN UGLY BITCH WHORE OF A DAUGHTER YOU LITTLE SHITS

I remember when things were different between us. I remember the warmth in your eyes when you looked at me, how your voice would soften when you said my name, how your touch made me feel cherished. I used to believe with my whole heart that you truly cared about me and loved me. Now, I find myself questioning everything.It feels like your love has become conditional - as if I need to perform or give parts of myself away just to receive your attention. I've noticed that you respond when I offer my body, my time, my energy, my resources - but when I need emotional support, you seem to disappear. This pattern has left me feeling like an object rather than a partner. I feel like I must constantly earn your love rather than simply being worthy of it through who I am. The loneliness I feel even when we're together is overwhelming. I walk on eggshells around you, carefully measuring my words and actions, afraid that one wrong move will push you further away. Your love feels like it comes with fine print - conditions and clauses that I never agreed to but must somehow fulfill. Everything I worked so hard to build with us - the trust, the openness, the safety - seems to have vanished without explanation. When I try to express myself to you, it's as if my words evaporate before they reach you. You look at me, but you don't see me. You hear me, but you don't listen. The only time you seem truly engaged is when the conversation centers on things that make you feel good or validated. My pain, my concerns, my needs - these seem to be inconveniences to you rather than valid parts of our relationship that deserve attention.You say "I love you" with such ease, but those words ring hollow when not backed by action. Where is the affection that used to flow so naturally between us? Where are the small gestures that showed me I was on your mind? Where is the desire in your eyes that made me feel wanted? Your words and your actions tell two different stories, and the disconnect between them leaves me disoriented and questioning my own perceptions. Time after time, you claim you want to communicate and work through our issues. "Let's talk about it," you say. "I want us to work this out." But when the moment comes to actually do the hard work of relationship building, you check out. You offer surface-level responses or empty promises that things will improve. We both know the pattern by now - nothing changes. You go through the motions of caring without the substance of it. You create the illusion of effort without actually putting in any real work. Our nights have become a painful reminder of our disconnection. We go to bed with tension hanging in the air, issues unresolved, words unsaid. You turn away and fall asleep as if nothing is wrong, while I stare at the ceiling, replaying conversations and wondering what happened to us. Remember when we couldn't bear to end our days without hearing each other's voices? When falling asleep on the phone together was our ritual because we couldn't stand the separation? Now, days pass where we barely exchange meaningful words because you're always "too busy" for me. Yet somehow, in your supposedly packed schedule, you carve out time for her - the very person who betrayed our privacy by gossiping about our relationship. The same person you looked me in the eyes and promised you would distance yourself from. You hang out with her behind my back, constructing elaborate lies to cover your tracks, even though you know exactly how much this hurts me. It's as if my pain doesn't factor into your decisions at all. What cuts even deeper is how you deliberately bring her up in conversation, watching my reaction as if my discomfort provides some form of entertainment for you. When you casually mentioned that you used to have feelings for her, it was like a knife to my heart. That information serves no purpose except to make me feel insecure and question what's really happening between you two. Did you think about how that would affect me before you said it? Did you care? The contradiction between your words and actions has become impossible to ignore. You tell me I mean everything to you in one breath, and in the next, you treat me as if I'm nothing. You claim I'm a priority while consistently putting me last. You say you value our relationship while actively undermining it. I'm left wondering which version of you is real - the one who makes promises or the one who breaks them. I'm hurting in ways I never thought possible. There's an anger in me that burns alongside the sadness, a profound sense of betrayal that keeps me awake at night. What devastates me most is that you don't seem to notice or care about the pain you're causing. Or worse, perhaps you do notice and simply don't think it matters enough to change your behavior. I still remember how you used to look at me like I was the most precious thing in your world. How you would speak about our future with such certainty and joy. How your actions aligned perfectly with your words, creating a foundation of trust I thought would never break. Now I feel like an afterthought, something you step over or around on your way to what really matters to you. I need to know if what we had is real or if it was just an illusion. I need to understand if there's anything left to salvage or if I should stop pouring my heart into something that no longer exists. Most importantly, I need you to understand that love isn't just a word - it's a choice you make every day through your actions, your attention, and your priorities. Right now, your choices are speaking louder than any words you could say. I'm laying my heart bare because despite everything, I still care enough to fight for us. But I can't and won't fight alone. The question is: are you still in this with me, truly? Or have you already checked out while keeping me hanging on to false hope?

Man, I gotta spill something. Like, I ran into my ex-wife just the other week, and it seriously messed with my head. You know how it is...went for a quick coffee and ended up in this weird emotional rollercoaster. Not that I didn't know she was still around, but spotting her after all this time was like seeing a ghost that still haunts the edges of your life. She seemed good and all, but that's not my thing anymore. Honestly, I was a bit all over the place for a day or two after. 🙄 Anyway, now I’m kind of hung up on this whole rebound relationship idea. You ever thought about it? They say jumping into something new after a breakup can help, but who's "they" anyway? Like, part of me says, "Yeah, go for it, bro!" but the other side is like, "Nah, maybe you're just trying to fill a hole and it’s not even gonna work out." You get me?

Been thinking about diming it back and not rushing into crap that doesn't even belong to me. Just cos my ex is doing alright doesn't mean I need to force myself into some setup with the next person who smiles at me. You ever feel like you’re in a race, but you’re not even sure it’s a race you wanna run? It's tricky. I mean, I’ve had times where I rebounded and times when I didn't bother, and looking back, well, I guess each had its pros and cons. Maybe some things just roll different for different people, you know? You'd think by now I'd have a concrete answer, but nah. Life's never that simple. Has anyone actually found their person on a rebound? Or do people just apply that idea like a Band-Aid, hoping it'll stick and do the trick?

And the truth is, when you're connected like I was with my ex for years, it doesn't just go away in a snap just because you meet someone new. But who am I kidding, right? People only see the surface and think you're all good. Soon as you’re not wrecked on the outside, everyone assumes you're ready to ride the dating train again. Reality check: it ain't that easy, at least not for everyone. For some, maybe it’s fine. Are rebounds basically like a relationship placebo or what? Fake it till you make it, or something like that?

I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want is to drag some poor girl into my half-baked healing process and end up making more of a mess. Just makes me wonder if it's worth it at all. I mean, does curing a broken heart with a temporary fix ever turn into something lasting? Like, damn, I don’t need to learn the hard way again. Trying to keep things chill and not dive head first into anything until I’m sure. That's just me being cautious or chicken??? pick your choice, whatever fits. ..

Bottom line, are rebounds the real deal, or are they just a lame Sunday afternoon hangover cure that never sticks 'cause it’s not addressing the real problem... just asking for a buddy, haha

I feel like people are seeing me as crazy at work when I'm not. I'm a perfectly sane person, but I feel that my personal situation can't be made public in any way. I'm there solely to go through stages of my life that I needed to go through, purely for that reason. I needed to complete certain phases of my life that I had personally abandoned before they caused future consequences, as happened with my family.

I confess that I feel like a complete fraud, a situation I myself have perpetuated by claiming to be in some kind of special condition when that's not the case. In fact, I don't know who said that or why it was made public if I said it wasn't true. I feel like others are assuming I'm something I'm not, and I'm afraid that this will have consequences for me. I feel like I'm even taking advantage of it to do things, I confess, of course, nothing that results in any irresponsibility; in fact, it allows me to express my true self. Perhaps within a certain context, it constitutes a special situation; I've never experienced anything like this before, yet it has all the same symptoms. Yes, I have to confess, I feel special, and in fact, I feel like this is the treatment I've always deserved from others. It hurts because there's someone who isn't being treated appropriately and has acted unpleasantly towards me because of it, even though I've tried to help her. However, I can't do anything for her; I've just realized that.

I wish I could treat her differently than everyone else does, but I can't, and selling myself isn't something I'm willing to do. In fact, I feel like this person wants to take advantage of my situation and my attraction to her, and that's what I'm trying to prevent at all costs. I don't want to be with this person under these conditions; I absolutely refuse to give myself to her. I find it incredibly narcissistic that she acted kindly when she was ignoring me completely and even told me, after I'd been doing this for a while, not to worry. I can't give myself over any further, because it's going to reach a point where I'll go too far, and we're at work, which is precisely what I've been trying to avoid in order to be able to engage in dialogue. However, we're already reaching the point where it's impossible for our paths to continue aligning, something that might even be beneficial for the person. Since I've been involved with this person on a deeper level, I feel like it's been a desperate attempt to prove that I feel something for them, somehow, to expose my condition, even though it's definitely present. It's been an attempt, that's how I've felt, to prove that I'm abusing it, surely as this person has. Of course, this person carries a particular condition, and in fact, they are abusing it.

I feel that there's no love whatsoever between this person and me, not in any way. Instead, there's an attempt to make me fall into the very thing they've always avoided at all costs, and it hurts to be with them. I went all the way with him just to give him the illusion that he had me in his clutches, only to then leave him immediately. I don't want to think what would have become of me if I had gone so far as to truly express my feelings, only to have it lead to some kind of generalized victimhood. I wouldn't have liked that at all.

Now, why did I have to go to this extreme with someone? I don't understand. I didn't mess with this person at all; she messed with me. I feel like she was trying every trick in the book to make me fall for her, obsessively determined to succeed. Perhaps to escape the guilt of having to be involved with me in some way, given the pressure she's under. All this time we were going our separate ways, but now, seeing what I was doing with her makes me want to run away in terror. Part of it is seeing how he takes advantage of people by manipulating their ability to confuse things and then abandoning them, keeping them out of the loop, of course, just as he does with her. More than pretending to have a romantic relationship with this character, it was about protecting my life. I didn't think I was doing that until now, because while things were happening, I was on a completely different wavelength. I thought we were involved, when in reality we weren't. Instead, we were engaged in a hidden struggle, one that no one could see but him and me.

I can't believe I'm discovering this now, and it hurts. I never imagined this would happen to me, and it makes me feel deeply disappointed, with absolutely no desire to ever see him again. I'm not even interested in hearing any explanations from him. I thought we were headed toward something beautiful, something wonderful, but no.

I have two kids with my wife. When they were young, my parents generously set up education funds for both of them.

My wife and I always expected our kids to go to college and then grad school, just like we did. I have a PhD and my wife has a master’s degree. Because of this, we decided not to use the funds for their undergrad degrees and didn’t tell them about the money.

My daughter has always been into liberal arts, while my son is more of a STEM guy. We worried about her job prospects, but she insisted on studying music and film in college. She got into some top schools and chose an expensive one, but she had scholarships covering almost all tuition. Everything else, plus living expenses, was her responsibility. She lived in a tiny apartment shared with friends in a rough area far from campus, but she managed and learned to budget effectively. After graduating, she found a job she enjoys, though it doesn’t pay much, and gave up on grad school.

My son decided on engineering and also didn’t want to go to grad school. We were disappointed but accepted it since he’s lined up for a great job after school. He didn’t get as many scholarships as his sister, so we used his education fund for his tuition and living expenses. He got a large, nice apartment close to school, which is important given his demanding classes.

My daughter was confused about how he could afford this and he told her about the education fund. She called us, upset, asking why she didn’t get one. We told her she did, but we saved it hoping she’d go to grad school. She seemed hurt and asked if she could have the money now. We explained there’d be a fee to withdraw the money for non-education uses, and if we did that, it would go back to her grandparents for their use. Since then, she’s been short in her texts and hasn’t answered our calls. I know it seems unfair to her, but it’s not really her money and she’s not in college anymore. Her brother got it for educational purposes only. Am I wrong?

How would people react if this situation was on a reality show? Would viewers side with my daughter or understand my perspective and the importance of using the funds as intended?

My parents keep discouraging me and telling me I have no future if I keep drawing, along with giving me threats that they would just let me die and disown me. Then they proceed to ask why I never tell them fucking anything like isn't it obvious? I wanna just kill myself at this point. What's even the point in life when im gonna die in the end anyways.

I am sixteen years old. I am a woman. I am writing this becuase I need to get it out, and IIWIARS is the only place that does not pretend to care. This happened at school, in a hallway that smells like cleaner and boredom. A guy I liked said I was an ugly fat girl. He did not whisper. He did not laugh. He said it like a fact, like he was reading attendance. I stood there and nodded, which still annoys me. I went to class and took notes. I underlined dates. I answered questions. Inside, something cracked and stayed cracked. I am not here to beg for comfort. I am here to state what happened and what it did. Words are not harmless. They sit on you. They weigh more than backpacks. 😐

I liked him in a quiet way. I watched how he spoke to teachers and how he tapped his pencil. I imagined conversations that never happened. That part is on me. The part where he decided my body was public property is on him. He looked me up and down, slow and lazy, and then said it. Ugly. Fat. Girl. Three words, clean and sharp. People nearby heard it and pretended not to. That is how school works. Silence is the dress code. I walked away without crying. That seems brave, but it was just shock. I cried later, alone, and felt stupid for doing it. Do you know how fast confidence leaves when someone names you like that?

I am not pretending to be neutral about it. I am angry. I am also tired. I am aware of my body. I live in it. I know its shape, its limits, its hunger. I am not blind. I am also not broken. His comment did not reveal a truth. It revealed his need to feel larger. People say boys are immature, like that excuses anything. It does not. At sixteen, you know enough to be kind or cruel. He chose cruel. I chose silence. I am still deciding if that was a mistake. It is wierd how one sentence can replay itself all day, louder each time. 😡

I am writing this in a formal way on purpose. Clear sentences help me breathe. This is not a dramatic story. It is common. It happens alot. Girls learn early that their value is negotiable. Boys learn early that opinions can be weapons. Teachers say ignore it. Friends say he is insecure. Both statements can be true and still useless. I did not ask for advice. I did not ask for approval. I am stating that being called ugly and fat changes how you walk into rooms. It changes mirrors. It changes lunch. It changes how you hear laughter behind you. I am definately not pretending it rolled off me. 💔

If you are reading this, ask yourself something simple. Have you ever reduced someone to a label just to feel powerful? Have you ever stayed quiet when you could have spoken? I am sixteen. I am a woman. I am learning how to exist in an enviroment that judges before it listens. I do not hate him. I do not forgive him either. I am balanced enough to say both. This is not a victory speech. It is a record. Ugly fat was what he said. This is what I say back, calmly and clearly, in my own words.

I don't know if this is the right place to talk about something like this but I need to get it off my chest and I don't want to emotioanlly burden my other friends by talking about this - as I've already talked to them about this and I don't know what to do about it.

Since December I've noticed one of my group of friends getting into really bad habits; more specifically with alcohol and marajuana (even more specifically, weed pens/vapes). I'm fully aware that I'm not one to throw too many stones in a glass house (not sure if I'm using that correctly) as I've tackled the same sort of problems they're experiencing, but have reached a place where I am able to do it recreationally and have a healthy relationship with it.

Where I'm from, THC and HHC have been banned, so now smoke shops are selling weed pens with really strange chemicals - I think the one my friends buy are called HHZ or HHX?? And alcohol is, of course, very easily available in most shops. Because of this accessability, my friends are buying weed vapes tri-weekly and drinking on weekdays alone. They seem to have no problem with this.

It also seems to me now, that every time I hang out with this group of friends we always end up drinking and it is exhausting. My house is also used as our main 'drinking spot,' which is putting a strain on me and my father, whomst I live with and does not appreciate the company when he has work the next day. Last week really broke me. We have a groupchat and one of them asked if 2 of them could come over to my house after they had watched a movie in the cinema to drink at 11pm. Are you fucking kidding me? I wasn't even invited to the fucking cinema and now you want to come over to my house just to drink? Am I a fucking dive bar??? Fuck you!

I never really had a problem with the weed pens either until the new HHX/Z shit came about. I myself used to smoke weed pens when they were still HHC/THC, but stopped because I was noticing that I wasn't right mentally and figured I should stop for my wellbeing. I'm worried that this is going to hurt them in the long run, especially since one of them that smokes them is in a difficult major in college and I'm worried about their performance.

Also, this seems relevant enough to throw in here, their humour and perspective on things has 'devolved' for lack of a better word. The way they talk about certain things just seems so childish and I normally wouldn't mind but sometimes it really bugs me, I don't know. And I can never talk about things that I'm interested in, and I fear that I'd get laughed at if I suggested something like "Hey, let's go to an art gallery/exhibition" or "Let's go to a jazz bar" even though that's a completely normal thing to do once in a while that doesn't involve liver damage or whatever. I know this because whenever I try to plan something new for us to try, a recent example being us going to a variety of new upcoming artists in the city, the plans always seem to conventiently fall through. But it's ok! Because there always conventiently time to go to the same fucking bar we always go to instead that have cheap drinks that get you drunk quick because why bother with something new and exciting when you can just get shitfaced!?

I feel guilty for facilitating this, but I don't know what to do. I've always had a hard time saying no but despite that I try my best to set boundaries, telling them 'no' straight-up when they ask to come over just to drink. I fear that if I voice my opinion, it will come off as a sort of 'mightier-than-thou,' since I've made it known that I've cut back on my marajuana and alcohol use over the past year after a particularly nasty bout of substance abuse following a break-up. I've talked to other people about this, but they've never given me any advice to remedy the situation - and I feel bad if I go to them for the hundredth (hyperbole) time with the same issue. I don't know. It's nice to scream into the void here instead of bothering anyone, but maybe that's just me.

There I was, part of my dear friend Julie's bridal party. Julie has always had a bit of a tough time with money, but despite this, she's in the midst of planning her dream wedding.

Initially, she requested that we, the bridesmaids, cover the cost of our dresses. We agreed without hesitation. However, the financial asks didn't stop there; next was the bouquets. Eager to assist, I didn’t object until I learned they would cost a whopping $130 each! It turned out that Julie had her heart set on the most lavish bouquets available. I even proposed putting together the bouquets myself to cut costs, but she was adamant about getting the ones she had selected.

Among the bridesmaids, I'm the youngest, just stepping into my 20s, and perhaps because of this, I felt the financial pinch more sharply. Although a few others also seemed displeased with the escalating costs, I was the lone voice that addressed our concerns with Julie. I approached her gently, explaining my financial constraints and questioning the rationale behind spending so much on flowers that would only last the day.

To my dismay, my input wasn’t received well. Julie decided to exclude me from the bridal party altogether, relegating me to just the “after party” guest list before eventually withdrawing that invitation too. Now, I'm left bewildered by the turn of events, questioning if I was unreasonable.

Imagine if this scenario unfolded on a reality TV show! The cameras would zoom in on the dramatic split between once-close friends over wedding expenses, capturing every heated exchange and tearful confession. Viewers would likely be split, some sympathizing with my financial caution and others siding with the bride’s vision for her special day. Reality TV thrives on such conflict, and this situation could easily be a pivotal episode, sparking debates and discussions across social media platforms.

I'm left wondering, was I really being unreasonable, or just mindful of my own financial limits?

Sorry but she looks like a bridezilla here...

I'm just genuinely sick of everything