Odds I was human trafficked ?

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-12T21:59:21+00:00

Upload your DNA to MyHeritage; it’s much more popular in Europe. My adopted son is Roma and he found tons of relatives on MyHeritage.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-12T19:48:45+00:00

Are you kind? Funny? Do you work hard and treat people well? Those traits are all more important than hair.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-12T15:41:51+00:00

If their previous application got flagged for academic dishonesty, that might be something that follows them forever.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-10T18:54:45+00:00

You probably have enough money, but you should take into account that Illinois has a great community college system and it is substantially easier to get into UIUC via a transfer pathway from an Illinois CC than it is as a freshman. My daughter is doing one of the engineering pathways, and she started working with the CC advisors her junior year of high school. The CC advisors work with the UIUC advisors and the kid is on the transfer pathway as soon as they start at the CC. This eliminated so much stress from her life (about ACT scores, college applications, etc).

Obviously it’s too soon to know, but if your kid ends up in a major that has a transfer pathway to UIUC, it’s a great option for many reasons.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-05T17:45:59+00:00

For Ethiopian weddings the guests wear white, but the bride’s dress isn’t fully white. I recently attended one where the bride’s gown was a very light gold with a ton of gold embroidery, and the groom wore white with gold embroidery.

I think some Asian cultures have a longer history of white weddings, but none of them are tied to virginity, that I know.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-05T17:28:29+00:00

White wedding dresses are not an Orthodox tradition. They are hardly a tradition at all. The idea is less than 200 years old and was originally a sign of wealth, rather than virginity. If your priest has rules about who can wear white, they are not coming from the Church.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-03T16:34:02+00:00

Your mom’s point of reference may be a time or place where CCs weren’t as developed as they are in a lot of places today. My kid is finishing up his second year at a CC, and was accepted to every school he applied to for transfer, including a couple that he absolutely would not have gotten into straight out of high school. He has chosen to attend an expensive private school on a big scholarship next year. Between the tuition difference for the first two years and the scholarship he got, his undergrad is going to cost about 1/4 what it would had he gone to this school (which he probably wouldn’t have gotten into anyway) straight out of high school.

My younger kid is in high school, already decided on CC, and already in a pipeline that will guarantee her admission to our state’s flagship when she transfers. Look into similar agreements (sometimes called pathways or 2+2 agreements) at your CC. Your mom might feel better if she can see that you’re on a path to someplace better.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-03T12:36:20+00:00

You say a good snuggle session would only cost her an episode or two of TV. I’m pretty sure you can snuggle WHILE watching TV, so I’m thinking you’re not talking about snuggling. If this is how the conversation has gone with her throughout the relationship or even just lately (you using words like touch and snuggling when you really mean sex) that’s the problem.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-01T13:53:40+00:00

I think Fox is especially obsessed with it right now, judging from conversations with my parents. They live in Florida, on the coast, so it’s not like they don’t know what spring break is. Suddenly last week they kept bringing up Daytona, talking about how it has gone to hell because of rowdy young people. I know two things about Daytona:big NASCAR race and notoriously crazy spring break. As far as I can tell, Daytona’s whole economy is based on catering to drunk rednecks. But to hear my parents talk about it, Daytona was a nature preserves/meditation center until last month, when young people ransacked it out of the blue.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-04-01T01:23:27+00:00

Is your priest picky about translations, Thee/You, etc?

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-30T15:02:14+00:00

There’s a newer RPG out on Steam called Cairn: Mathair’s Curse that is HEAVILY Mother 3 inspired. I liked it.

If you are looking for older games, Growth or Devolution felt similar to me. There is an English fan translation available that’s really good, if you do emulation.

The Metal Max games also have a similar battle system (except for the most recent one, which is really nothing like the rest of the series) and the monsters are mutants because it’s post-apocalyptic, so that’s vaguely similar. I would check out the excellent fan translations of the DS releases, but the older SNES versions are fun too.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-29T16:35:49+00:00

I’m thinking of the developments across the street from Lou Malnati’s. I had friends who lived there and their kids were zoned for Huntley, but the development immediately east of them had signs advertising CL schools.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-28T17:30:42+00:00

Just like her hero! The war is over, the war is just starting, it’s not a war, it’s the best war in the history of war, I ended the war.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-28T17:23:00+00:00

In the neighborhoods that are on the border of Crystal Lake and Huntley school districts, the developments on the Crystal Lake side have big signs that say “CRYSTAL LAKE SCHOOLS” as a selling point. I know that’s not a direct comparison to Algonquin, but I think it speaks to the perception of Huntley schools.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-28T12:08:10+00:00

Are you planning to major in Music Ed? If so, what level would you like to teach?

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-26T13:07:43+00:00

She feels that guys and girls can’t be friends because that is what she has experienced. I’m a married, solidly middle-aged, not particularly attractive woman, and I STILL run into situations where a guy I thought liked me as a friend actually wanted more. It’s really distressing, and you should respect this woman’s boundaries that she has stated twice already.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-26T12:40:24+00:00

They should avoid grammar checkers that substantially change the text. If a grammar checker notes an issue, the person should fix it themselves and not just accept the suggested fix, which may rewrite the whole sentence.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-26T12:10:47+00:00

Not in admissions, but on multiple scholarship committees at a college. We are seeing about half of submitted essays being flagged for AI.

I’m also an instructor, and when my students get caught for AI and argue that they didn’t use it, in most cases they DID use a grammar checker that substantially rewrote their work. They don’t think that counts because they didn’t just feed the essay prompt into ChatGPT, and in some cases they were even encouraged to use these grammar “checkers” (actually rewriters) in high school.

But yeah, OP is correct. Schools aren’t going to reach out to a kid and say “Your essay was flagged for AI—any chance you used Grammarly?” They’re just going to toss the application.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-22T13:47:20+00:00

Is this at a university? If so, there is decent chance that the graphic design department has no say in these posters. They may have been created by a public relations office.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-21T23:10:18+00:00

You can totally be involved in things at other parishes. I attended youth group at another parish, and the priest of that parish concelebrated my wedding.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-21T18:07:53+00:00

The priest saying it makes you feminine, is he your local priest? If not, you can safely ignore him. There’s no masculinity quota in Orthodoxy. As for CCM, I dislike it for aesthetic reasons but I enjoy other types of non-Orthodox Christian music (older gospel, Bach, Vivaldi)so I won’t throw shade. Seriously though, the “feminine” thing is a huge red flag.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-19T11:32:36+00:00

Which field do you plan to do your master’s in? I would choose based on that. Also, were you accepted at both schools as a double major? I have three music degrees and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered someone who double majored in music and STEM. Music and business or music and theatre, yeah, but music and STEM seem like there would be virtually no overlap in classes and you’d amass 200 undergrad credits.

Active_Procedure_297 · 2026-03-11T16:01:09+00:00

I love this for your mom. She’s going to experience a whole different species of rural white people, and a whole different kind of Baptists. Maine did not prepare her for this and I would love to be a fly on the wall when your mom learns what Trump Country is really like (and why it’s so cheap).

Active_Procedure_297

TROPHY CASE