Blackrose321

Or maybe his mother could have unstapled the packet and brought out one page at a time. But not everyone is a problem solver I guess. Also, you kind of skipped the entire part about teachers no longer assigning homework after you specifically asked me to research it for you and provide a link. You kind of demonstrated why not assigning homework is a problem - most parents *don't* pick up the slack. They can't even commit to one page of kindergarten homework a day. No thanks. Plus, you ignored that the solution the parent opted for was one page of homework a month... there's definitely a societal problem at play which was the entire point of my original post. I specifically said not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Final thought lol - if ~94% of married fathers and ~72% of married mothers have jobs, who is checking in on the kids who aren't getting homework? What about the kids who get poor marks in school that aren't properly addressed AT school? My dad got home at 4:30 and fucked off the rest of the day. My mom got home at 9:40 after working 12 hours and picking up fast food for dinner before bed. Ain't nobody reading to us latchkey kids. 😅 (Sorry for making three posts in a row, I didn't want to overdo it in one. I'm trying to find info and formulate a response on my phone which I also hate doing...)

How many parents do we think read to their kids every day in place of homework? That line just completely threw me. Again, our reading comprehension as a country is too low so I don't know how that works out in the end. https://www.uscareerinstitute.edu/blog/which-countries-have-the-highest-and-lowest-literacy-rates https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2024-2025-where-we-are-now Like...yeah, I got graded in first grade, too. Why is that suddenly inhumane? I'm sure we can tweak things but throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a bit much given our current performance.

The link I posted was about test scores, not homework or parental reactions to it. There was a viral Tiktok video about opting out of homework and apparently the reaction from some number of parents was generally positive. I don't have Tiktok so I can't read the comments in full but here's an article about it: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/mother-teacher-email-homework-tiktok-b2610648.html If the 15-20 page packet was for an entire month, that's a max of one page a day, excluding weekends. And if we're being realistic, given the age of the child, there probably weren't that many questions per page. The kid fell behind and his mom apparently only tried to help him catch up at the end, ultimately deciding to opt him out of it entirely. Big wtf for me. She let him fall behind, thereby causing unnecessary stress. Also, if you search for info about homework loads, you'll find countless articles and opinion pieces on it from both sides. Additionally, you'll find teachers saying that their students can't read at level and giving them poor marks doesn't hold them back, they still pass without addressing the problem. You'll have to look for those videos and articles, they're interesting. Over 70% of Americans can't read beyond a middle school level as it is. I don't know how too much homework is to blame but I know it's still up for debate. I know COVID had an impact but poor reading comprehension has been a problem for a while now. I'm not opposed to only assigning meaningful homework or even less homework but I worry about the end result in a society where parents are already leaving too much to schools to handle, and education is being defunded. I don't believe for one second that the average parent is picking up that slack at home, especially not given our current test scores. I just see this as a total devaluation of education, and a dumbing down of the population. Teachers tried to point out that kids always hate and worry about school at first but you can't opt them out in week 4.

So, schools are apparently moving away from giving kids homework and parents are thrilled because it's just one more thing they can be neglectful about. And yet... https://www.npr.org/2023/06/21/1183445544/u-s-reading-and-math-scores-drop-to-lowest-level-in-decades Where do you send your kid that the academic culture surrounding them won't rot their brains? Homework is too hard? Wtf? I'm just so...confused by and disillusioned with everything right now. My husband and I were thinking of trying to start a family but this shit is concerning...

I find myself feeling irrationally angry that social media is most commonly used to put people down and stifle communication. It's had an immeasurably negative impact on society that we'll probably never overcome. Of course I knew this before today, it's just becoming harder to handle. I used to follow someone on Insta, mainly for the owner's animals. But today she decided to post a "clapback" video because she'd apparently received some feedback she didn't like on a different video. It was so uncomfortable to watch the toxic power of parasocial warfare in the hands of a brand new narcissist. The comments she was replying to weren't even that bad but she intentionally framed them as "coming for her"'. My sister...it's called communication. People say/write things, you hear/read them, you consider them, you reply, and, in an ideal world, one or both of you learn something. Why must everything be some self-righteous, narcissistic fight to the death? Watching this person turn their platform into the same bullshit that's already out there was too much. I unfollowed her and then just decided to delete the app altogether, I'm just so fed up with "influencers" and everything to do with them.

I was today years old when I finally got my first orthopedic boot. This really helps my social awkwardness and feelings of insecurity.

That is such a shitty way to treat a friend who helped get you a job, I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Are you guys still friends? In my case, my friend actually referred me for the job after insisting she would be okay with having to answer to me. I'm not her boss but I'm in charge of keeping her on track and she's not making it easy. I think she has trouble setting boundaries, so other clients take up a ton of her time. She's a nice person so she doesn't mean any harm but, without meaning to, she's kind of taken advantage of our boss's patience, because her other employers are more demanding. She missed two of our meetings last week because she let a previous meeting run over by one hour - why is it more acceptable to blow off our meeting than it is to contain that one? I don't think she's realized what kind of message she may be sending without meaning to. I also think she gets overwhelmed and procrastinates as a result. We had two weeks to build, one week to test. I think it's likely that she didn't use that first week and tried to shove everything into the second week and the testing week. I think she sees "three weeks" and doesn't follow the precise plan for those three weeks, figuring she can get it done even if she starts late...even though she usually doesn't. The procrastinating, extra long meetings, and missing deadlines all combine to make her more stressed and therefore more likely to continue procrastinating, taking long meetings, and missing deadlines...I'm trying to get her to stop, even just for her own mental health and happiness, but it's hard. So this time I've insisted on having a meeting to discuss why we were late - I want her to reflect on it. Did she use all three weeks correctly? Did she run into an issue and, if so, why didn't she communicate that? Was the timeline too short to begin with, should we build in more time in future projects or will she waste any additional time we try to add anyways? We really gotta nail this down, we've got big things to get done and this has been a major roadblock in getting them done.

Ugh, I hate having to get tough with my friend when she doesn't finish her work on time and won't answer messages. It gives me so much anxiety but I'm supposed to keep things on track and she's making is so damn hard.

I don't give one flipping, flying fuck who supports Emily Armstrong joining Linkin Park—it's bullshit. Scientology is dangerous and should never be normalized, no matter how many braindead "fans" think it should be, because questioning it has suddenly become too inconvenient for them. It's a grifter's fever dream, shat out by a fiction writer while he floated around on a yacht, high on pills. The fact that Chester Bennington's widow supports this doesn't lend any credibility to the decision. Danny Masterson still has buddies; is he a great guy now? Armstrong allegedly showed up at his trial, so I guess he must be! In my opinion, Talinda's support of this bullshit, given Chester's mental health struggles, makes me wonder what was actually going on in their household. I would never, ever support someone whose beliefs were so thoroughly at odds with my husband's experiences, struggles, and needs. Never. What could she, or anyone, possibly know about a cult member that would change the fact that they're in a cult? No thank you—I'll hang onto my moral compass. It actually works, whether it's convenient or not.

Happy birthday!

We're driving back to the emergency vet to say goodbye. He was having a hard time breathing while lightly sedated last night so sedating him for a full diagnosis would potentially result in him dying on the table. If he did survive, surgery would carry the same risk - only worse - and chemo would leave him vulnerable to infection. Both options would only give him 2-4 months max. Even if we did get him through diagnosis, if it turned out to be an infection instead, his prognosis would be even worse than it would be for cancer. I'm so tired. I can't sleep but I'm not totally "here" either. I'm glad that my friend is coming to say goodbye, he loves her and I'm glad he'll be with people who love him. At least this time I feel more certain, I had time to spoil him and try my best. With my other dog it was so sudden that I was filled with both grief and doubt. This is pretty clear, even if it breaks my heart to pieces.

After another restless night, we've decided to take a chance and drive to the emergency vet where his October appointment is. It's a 2 hour drive plus a 3-4 hour wait so we'll be there all day. I still have a bad feeling about all this but I'd rather fight it until it's clear that we can't or shouldn't. At the very least, his symptoms are on their emergent list so I'm hopeful that they'll see him. Update: We got here at 12:45 and they took him back right away to check his vitals. They didn't bring him back out like other pets so they must be working to stabilize him. I'm glad they have him, I'm at least hopeful that they will be able to ease his suffering while we wait. Update 2: They said he's unwell enough to admit him so that's what we did. It's expensive but the alternative is bringing him home to suffer without knowing whether he could be saved. This way, his October 22 appointment gets moved to tomorrow morning and they'll do their best to keep him comfortable. Listening to him suffer all night was breaking my heart.

Our oncology appointment is still scheduled for October 22, which I fear we will not make it to at this rate. He was grumbling a lot last night, an indicator that he was in pain and/or nauseous. He kept gagging all throughout the night and since I didn't feel well either, I was up to hear it until nearly 4am. I feel so helpless. We took him back to the vet today and his white blood cell count is even higher. He has bacteria in his urine, but no white blood cells so now we're worried that the cancer is spreading and causing other issues. But the place we want to take him to will still likely consider him "stable" and therefore not an emergency, which is fucking baffling because why wait until a dog is nearly fucking dead to treat him? What the fuck is the point? They're sending him home with meds for pain and nausea, plus antibiotics. I'm hoping we can at least make him more comfortable. He's usually a happy camper at the vet, but today he slept. I can tell by the vet's voice that we're winding down. I cannot believe this is happening again. I'm so sorry for always posting such depressing stuff...

Pizza. I really shouldn't have but it's been a hell of a week.

BK Chicken Fingers w/ BBQ sauce and a Honey Mustard Chicken Wrap. I've been a bit lazy about taking care of myself while my husband is away, I've been too stressed. But at least this is the only time I've ordered fast food.

We have a consult with an oncologist scheduled but it's not until October 22. That's too long. I have to call his vet tomorrow to ask if there are any other places but I fear there won't be. The one we have scheduled is already 2 hours away.

The radiologist thinks it's cancer. The vet said we could take him to an oncologist or just keep him comfortable. We're waiting to ask how much the oncologist would cost, I don't want him to be sick. 😭

My oldest dog caught Kennel Cough in April. A few months later, he started coughing/gagging. We took him to the vet but nothing really stood out to them, I guess. Last week he threw up twice, so I scheduled another appointment. We opted to upgrade our monthly Banfield package to a special one they have that's good for senior dogs. That allowed us to do another round of bloodwork, as well as x-rays. They called to say that his white blood cell count is really high, which could mean it's an infection or cancer. One of his lungs is also "compressed" a little? I'm hoping it's just an infection but I've been crying off and on for hours. This week was already going kind of poorly, and of course we still miss our other dog terribly. Even just walking out today without my dog made me cry, because it reminded me of walking out and leaving the other behind for good. I feel so deflated and tired. My heart is just always in some state of "broken" these days.

No, why?

Getting a doctor's appointment around here is such a hassle. Dermatologist? One month wait, but now I have a conflict and the appointment was pushed out to October. Podiatrist for injured ankle that won't heal? One month wait. Medication management - it's taken months. I tried finding a GP and the good ones are all booked. WTF is going on...

My plan to workout 4 times a week, Saturday morning being one of the four, has already hit a snag. I hate mornings.

I am tentatively communicating with my parents again. I'm trying to take it moment by moment because they are emotionally imbalanced. Anyways, I finally told them I got my first tattoo in May and my mom reiterated her opinion that they look ridiculous when you get older and your skin changes. I, again, pointed out that my tits will be on the floor one day so what does it matter? We'll never stop having this conversation, it's already been 20+ years...

I am in the wrong thread...and the same song is still stuck in my head anyways...

Aww thank you, you guys are the best! I did manage to pick myself up enough to go out to dinner and buy some books. And then we went to the Ren Faire (again) the following day. =)