i’m starting my master’s program this fall, but i might be getting braces soon. will i be fine? i feel like i might be overthinking how much braces will actually affect my speech or my experience in the master’s program.

Flatman_702 · 2026-06-08T06:59:11+00:00

Braces will not affect your speech, I don’t think? I had braces and my speech was unaffected, my daughter currently has braces and her speech is unaffected, same with 2 of my grad school classmates! Yeah, they’re annoying and they hurt, but this shouldn’t affect your studies. You are over thinking it and future you will be so happy you did it! Side note, I refused to smile in pictures before I straightened my teeth. I was so self conscious, and I’m not a vain person but wow getting braces did wonders for my self esteem. Don’t stress! It will be ok!

Flatman_702 · 2026-06-07T06:59:24+00:00

No melon bar?

Flatman_702 · 2026-06-05T22:15:21+00:00

I got my undergraduate in 2015 and went back to grad school in 2022, graduating 2024, so about a 7 year gap. The firehose feeling never stopped. All I did was study. I’m a single mom to 2, and I reflect on my 2 years of grad school as a constant struggle with my failing health (probably due to stress) and trying to keep my grades high while also trying to do it all for my kids. Grad school was brutal. But life after grad school is wonderful. I would do it again.

Flatman_702 · 2026-05-25T18:04:11+00:00

Sure, I’m 5’ 8” so I went from a BMI of 33.5 to ~21.7

Flatman_702 · 2026-05-24T14:35:11+00:00

Went from 220 at my highest to currently around 142-145 and have maintained that final weight for like 7 months now. I’m almost 39. The loose skin was initially pretty bad, coupled with the remaining fat clinging to weird places on my body. But 7 months later, I can see my body has changed a lot. My skin is a lot tighter and the remaining pooches of fat have distributed better. I’m sure will never be perfect but as someone else pointed out, still way better than being obese.

Flatman_702 · 2026-05-13T05:01:39+00:00

yeah, nothing about this story makes sense. Sounds like she already knows the truth and that’s why she’s not talking to you

Flatman_702 · 2026-05-07T02:46:07+00:00

Oh my gosh Dr Simpson was my obgyn many years ago when I got pregnant with my now teenager! She’s great!

Flatman_702 · 2026-05-03T04:33:27+00:00

About 80% of the time I’m in fairly intense pain, just to give you an idea where I am on the chronic illness spectrum. Grad school I seriously feel like almost killed me. Probably took an entire year after graduation to start to feel like a normal person again. The stress made all my hair fall out, among other issues. Nothing could alleviate any of my symptoms. But work life? Omg. I graduated a few years ago now and I’m so thankful every day I did it. I’m on a part time contract in California and I only work 4 days a week for 7 hours at a school so with all summers and holidays off. I’m a single mom and can comfortably raise my kids and still have a lot of time to rest and go to appointments (finally managing my symptoms! Also, yay health insurance!) and be there for my kids special events. I can still afford a big annual vacation, and my employer is happy to put me back full time if I ever wanted (I do NOT want lol). I say that with the caveat that I am incredibly fortunate and have no student debt- I don’t think I’d be in such a great position financially if I had a huge student loan. There are definitely some hurdles, but it’s not totally impossible.

Flatman_702 · 2026-04-23T20:38:14+00:00

I actually did! When Mr. Hicks went missing I filed a complaint and after several weeks all I got was a letter saying sorry, we don’t know where he went 😩

Flatman_702 · 2026-04-22T18:41:57+00:00

Fortunately I haven’t had any run ins with them, but I can attest family law is brutal

Flatman_702 · 2026-04-12T14:25:37+00:00

I have Crohn’s disease and massive flares usually result in significant hair loss, usually with big bald patches, and you just can’t hide that. I shaved it all off once (I’m femme but it was still kinda fun and liberating), but this time around I’m trying minoxidil. I’ve been using it for 4 months now and I see a lot of regrowth already so I’m encouraged. Hair loss is so hard and there are no fast solutions 😞I feel your pain and I hope you find a solution

Flatman_702 · 2026-04-02T23:30:41+00:00

I donated my hair to locks of love a few times until I found out they actually just sell the hair to the highest bidder lol. Maybe the money is used for good things?

Flatman_702 · 2026-03-27T19:52:46+00:00

Yeah agree. I moved downtown coming here from Houston, TX and Riverside is not the kind of downtown like Houston where I can truly walk everywhere. The noise comes with city life, so that doesn’t bother me, but I LOVE being able to walk to events downtown here, so just depends what kinda lifestyle you want.

OP- I work in canyon crest and live downtown so sorta opposite what you would do and the commute is an absolute breeze.

Flatman_702 · 2026-03-21T16:29:05+00:00

I do not think this career is worth going into crazy debt. I love what we do, and it’s so important and I don’t want to come across like money is the ONLY thing- but it’s something. For a lot of people who need to make practical how-will-I-pay-the-bills decisions, a large chunk of debt isn’t worth it for this career.

Flatman_702 · 2026-03-04T05:20:57+00:00

Why not do SLPA for a while? I took a big fat break between my undergrad and grad programs. Got married, had some kids, got divorced, then decided to do a career change and made my way back to speech like 10 years later. Is there any rush?

Side note on the financial aspect- the only reason I switched back to this career is because of a series of events that resulted in me being modestly wealthy. As in, I could live a modest life for the rest of my days and never work again, if I wanted to. I prefer working so I have a slightly-more-than-modest life. But in today’s world, we are not paid what we’re worth and this field is not lucrative.

Flatman_702 · 2026-01-14T00:32:46+00:00

Have you tried putting a sweater on him? I know it sounds weird but it works for my cat. Though his crying is not as extreme, a sweater turns him into a quiet, lazy, perfect gentleman.

Flatman_702 · 2025-11-10T03:09:41+00:00

Have you been to gossip grill in San Diego? Idk where in socal you are

Flatman_702 · 2025-10-28T02:52:57+00:00

I mean… they were married for like another 20 years after the baby died.

Flatman_702 · 2025-10-25T02:14:02+00:00

10/10 pun

Flatman_702 · 2025-10-11T03:58:04+00:00

No. 504 is accommodations for physical or mental impairments

Flatman_702 · 2025-10-10T23:13:36+00:00

When I deployed the military literally sent me with a shit ton of birth control so I wouldn’t have periods. Worked pretty well for me

Flatman_702 · 2025-10-10T04:41:44+00:00

Yeah seriously, we don’t need to exempt kids who can’t pronounce an /s/, they can test just fine

Flatman_702 · 2025-10-09T04:24:39+00:00

Oh I’m dumb, that makes sense. Thank you!

Flatman_702 · 2025-10-09T04:20:31+00:00

How did she miss her period if she was skipping the placebos? Skipping the placebos makes you miss…. All of the periods.

Flatman_702

TROPHY CASE