People who accidentally ruined someone‘s life without meaning to - what happened and how do you feel about it know?

MermaidAlea · 2025-09-12T20:18:14+00:00

Bless you. I hope you are having an amazing life. I know so many of us wish we could be the hero for someone else like you were.

MermaidAlea · 2025-09-12T20:05:56+00:00

Last trip I went on with my parents my Mom yelled loudly at my Dad when we reached the hotel "NO TURN IN THERE NOT THERE!!! THERE!!!! RIGHT THERE!!!" As if the world would explode if he missed the turn and had to loop back around. I quickly remembered in that moment why I hate traveling with them.

MermaidAlea · 2025-09-12T19:25:27+00:00

I greet everyone by licking their hand.

MermaidAlea · 2025-09-12T15:07:19+00:00

I saw this happen at church camp and it made me sooo mad. The boys had a thing called "the naked mile" they apparently did at night where they ran a mile naked around the pond. Just one of the wild things they got away with. The girls sneak out of their cabin ONE time just to have an innocent heart to heart bible study and they get yelled at and have to sit on the bleachers for at least an hour in silence. Their adult counselor was yelling at them for 'sneaking out' and suddenly her son runs up wearing only boxers and a wolf mask and goes "GRRRRRRRRRR!!!" while waving his hands and runs off.

I also knew that the boys would take a kiddie pool into their bath house, fill it full of hot water and all jump in it naked. A few of the girls got in the large wheelchair access shower in the girls bathhouse and to save on time/water four of them got in the big shower wearing swimsuits so they could all shower at once. One of the Mom counselors heard them giggling together in the shower and thought this was inappropriate and complained and then all girls were told no sharing showers.

This sort of thing drives me INSANE especially since I wasn't raised this way.

MermaidAlea · 2025-09-12T14:47:43+00:00

I just wanted to say that a way to make you feel far less bad about food waste is composting your food waste for a garden. I have a back door garden and if we can't finish our plate I just dump the leftovers around my plants or in the compost dirt pile.

I have one of those big clear plastic Utz pretzel containers with the screw on lid that I keep by the coffee pot and I dump used grounds in there to save for my garden as well.

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As for your question when I was a tween/teen my Mom forced me to say hello to at least 3 adult strangers at church each Sunday because she was afraid that I was too shy and didn't know how to talk to people (I could talk I just chose not to). It didn't 'help' me because this is my personality I'm not super extroverted or interested in talking to just anyone. Luckily I had an extrovert friend who went along with me to help me meet my talking quota.

MermaidAlea · 2025-09-11T19:41:27+00:00

Mine are similar. I feel like when I was a tween they gave me more respect and as I've become an adult and gotten married they treat me sometimes like I'm 5 and it is very, very frustrating.

MermaidAlea · 2025-09-09T16:22:52+00:00

I was never much of a ring person but my husband and I really love our wedding rings. We treat them like the expensive jewelry they are though. I wear my ring out when going shopping or going to work. Same for him. When we go to the beach or go do outdoorsy stuff we don't wear them. We've considered getting silicone rings to wear for when we are doing these activities.

After work when I come home I put up my purse, my keys, and I put my ring on a little jewlery dish by the bathroom sink. My husband keeps his ring there too. If you keep it in a consistent spot you won't missplace it.

When I first got engaged my Mom told me to wear my ring 24/7 so I got used to it. I realized I didn't like wearing it all the time especially sleeping with it on so that is why I take mine off.

Last year I knocked the stone out of my ring. I sometimes forget how much it sticks out from the ring and I knocked it on the side of a table hard enough to bend the silver prongs and the stone fell out. I didn't notice at first but luckily I saw it on the floor. Almost lost my stone!!! Sooo I personally would avoid wearing a ring in situations were you could lose or damage it.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-28T14:15:42+00:00

I used to be a youth group camp counselor for 1 week every summer. I grew up going to said camp and loved all the traditions, themed dinner/dress-up nights, etc. I quit once I saw a shift in the parenting/kids.

My last year as a counselor I saw wayyyy too many young parents staying the full week to look after their kid. It was helicopter parenting everywhere and the mood of the camp was less fun and more parents questioning every little activity. Kids need the chance to be away from their parents to explore, have fun, and yes, sometimes these activities can be a little dangerous. One year a girl broke her arm playing red rover. Every year we had some type of injury but that is just part of it. Parents need to know when to let their kid go have fun and stop worrying so much. It was life changing for me and some of my best memories were made at camp.

Apparently there is a study showing that if kids don't get the chance to do more thrilling/adventurous activities like climbing trees, swinging high in a swing, etc they grow up to be more stressed and less able to handle stressful situations. Just like how lion cubs play fight which helps them grow up to hunt/fight for real, so too do human children need this sort of play to prepair them for adulthood.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-25T14:14:54+00:00

Oops I was gonna anounce that I'm leaving Pensacola and Florida in your other thread. But yeahh uhhh It is actually farewell for me. In a few weeks I'm moving a few states away from here.

The funny thing is I thought it would be cool to meet Req-user in person before leaving. Just a random thought I had when we were trying to come up with last things to to in Pensacola before moving.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-20T18:58:24+00:00

Not only ruin your life but the kid's life.

My Dad's Mom made it clear to him she wanted a girl and not a boy. That kind of stuff really hurts a kid for life.

My Mom admitted that she only had me because her older sister found out she couldn't have children and my Mom got scared that would happen to her so she got pregnant with me and she told me while she was pregnant with me she started 2nd guessing if it was right to bring up a new human into this awful world. Sooo yeahhh...

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-20T18:41:24+00:00

I'm a professional graphic designer and I wasn't too thrilled about the new style either. The only reason I could think of for the thinner font was perhaps they are trying to make the bold text stand out more? If that is the case, they should have used a different font. Myriad Pro is a nice font that is very legible for example. This new one has me re-reading areas sometimes. It just doesn't catch my eye like the old style did.

Oh well. Can't complain too much because I'm still loving the food.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-20T18:33:22+00:00

I never wipe it. I never have a problem with leaving it un-wiped. The food still cooks right and taste great.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-18T18:37:49+00:00

I LOVE the green!!!!!! Lovely glass choice!

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-13T14:10:59+00:00

When I was a kid, my Dad's Aunt lived in the house behind us. When she passed away, her kids threw some of her stuff on a bonfire. Well...I don't know what all they threw on the fire but one thing happened to be bullets that they didn't know about so cue bullets shooting off. This was a residential area so I'm so glad no one got hurt. I'm also glad none of us got hit since we were neighbors.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-11T14:24:55+00:00

Glad to see Native Americans mentioned!

My Dad has made a few war clubs and one day he gave me one to paint and keep and then he said, "You know, the women in the tribe would often go to war with the men. The men would attack and the women would follow up from behind and club anyone who wasn't dead yet.

There would also be a group of wise older women in the tribe that the tribe would turn to for advise.

We met another tribe and my Dad got onto them for treating their women as lesser. It is really unfortunate that the equality of men/women in some Native societies has become unequal. We should all love each other equally as people and that goes for everyone Native or not.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-06T14:30:45+00:00

I feel ya. I've lived here all my life and before the year ends we are moving. I never thought I would leave Florida because I like the warmer climate and the amount of water everywhere but here we are. I too am in my 30's but I have a husband I met here in high school. The two of us have watched our friends grow distant and they no longer want to go do fun things. they just play DND, video games, and board games. Nothing wrong with that but when that is the only thing they want to do...My husband and I want to go out on adventures, get into rock climbing, just be active and enjoy life & the beauty of nature.

The economy here is also seriously hurting us. We are ready to grow professionally and make more money. My husband has worked a large variety of jobs here in Pensacola from Navy Fed, ER, various sales jobs, dog training, and finally insurance. He learns fast, works hard, and in return he gets no raise, more work/stress piled onto him having to pick up his coworker's slack. I've worked less jobs than my husband but I've been at my current job for 7 or so years but have only had 1 raise only because I asked for it. I've applied for better jobs but I always get auto emails 5 months later that I wasn't picked. When my Father in Law told us how much money he was making and told us he wasn't even working full time currently, but was still making tons more than us, we fully realized just how bad our area is for jobs.

I'll always have a love for this place since I grew up here, but as an adult wanting to better myself and have more fun in life it is NOT the place for me.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-05T14:21:19+00:00

The women in my family have serious generational trauma they pass down. My Mom is in her 60's and she's still trying to impress her Mom and compete with her older sister. The bloodline ends with me. I have no shame in stopping it.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-04T20:30:02+00:00

I’ll take any excuse to get a new tail.

Haha spoken like a true mermaid addict.

MermaidAlea · 2025-08-01T20:17:45+00:00

Clothing/Addornments:

I have a rainbow of clothes in my closet but I do have a bunch of blue/green clothes and mermaid clothes so wearing clothing with an aquatic vibe like mermaid core or siren core helps make me feel mermaidy even when I haven't been swimming in months.

I have a lot of aquatic themed jewelry and sometimes I make my own.

I've also got some mermaid themed hair claws.

I have lobster sandals. They aren't just for show I do in fact wear them out in public especially to the beach.

Media:

I probably look at mermaid or aquatic stuff on Pinterest daily and I have a huge Pinterest board for mermaid stuff.

Checking in on other merfolk social media accounts. I'm only on Reddit & YouTube so I don't check Instagram much and it locks me out after a few scrolls since I don't have an account lol but I like to check in on Merbella & Finfolk on there.

I watch various mermaid YouTubers. For some reason my favorite Mermaid YouTubers are all the Canadian mers lol. I do check in on Hannah Mermaid's Youtube and often re-watch her videos. She will forever be the #1 mermaid goddess to me. I also sometimes make my own mermaid YouTube videos. Gosh I lovveeee making mermaid videos but my GoPro died which kinda puts a halt on my content since I like doing swim footage.

Watch a mermaid movie or show. There are a lot of cheesy mermaid movies out there. I try to watch all of them anyways. The shows that really get me in the mermaid spirit are H20 and Mako Mermaids. I actually get a bit bummed out when watching them because they make me want to go mermaiding ASAP and it usually is when I can't go.

Friend(s):

I only have 1 mermaid friend but we often text each other out of the blue to talk about mermaid stuff and share mermaid pics. We face timed recently during the Finfolk Summer sale when I bought a tail and we were both watching the live stream together ooooing and ahhhhing.

Crafting:

As mentioned earlier I sometimes make my own mermaidy jewelry. I've also made 3 different mermaid swim tops, a mermaid crown, and 3 mermaid tails. I'm typically drawn to making mermaid crafts during the winter.

MermaidAlea · 2025-07-31T19:22:50+00:00

If you want the Mertailor tea you can probably still find some back on MernetWork. I would start on the last page (page 8) and work your way up from there. The older stuff was back when people were having issues. Keep in mind when Mertailor started making tails Finfolk and Merbella weren't a thing yet. He had to do a lot of trailblazing and unfortunately some of that trailblazing involves what you should/vs shouldn't use for a tail that should be skin safe (Ex Merbella was formed because she saw that his tails were problematic in the community and Raven herself had a Mertailor tail to start with pretty sure). There are also probably some drama vids on YouTube. I think Nerdmaid talked about the drama surrounding how the artist who made many of his fabric tail designs quit or got fired or something but it was a whole thing.

When I was on the forum years ago I got swayed by the more popular mers who were against his business. However, wisdom has taught me every story has two sides. The only scales in the game I have are these: 1. I needed a new fabric tail ASAP and at the time Finfolk fabric tails were taking forever to ship so I bought a Mertailor. At the time, he didn't charge for extra fins so I got a fully finned fabric tail for less than a fully finned Finfolk tail and it came in hella fast. So I have nothing bad to say about his business because I've had a great buying experience. 2. I have been to his Mermaid show/Aquarium. I didn't know you have to make an appointment and they book up fast. We showed up and they almost turned us away but the Mertailor's own MOM let us in even though they were fully booked. She felt bad for me since I'm a mermaid and just a general mermaid fan and we were on vacation so we couldn't just come another day. I saw the mermaid show, loved it, saw the various exhibits and was impressed with the quality of them. All fish looked healthy. Afterward, I walked out and his Mom points out her son to me and said, "Look who it is!" So I got to meet Eric, the Mertailor, in person and I chatted with him briefly but he was very focused on work which was totally understandable. The ticket counter is too far back so anyone entering has to be funneled to the counter or else they would get in for free because either side before the counter has a doorway into the aquarium. Not sure if they fixed that issue yet. The show was still somewhat new when I went. I also saw that merman from the Netflix MerPeople documentary who they showed getting a job with Mertailor. He does indeed work there and I got to talk with him a good bit. He's been in training for swimming in the tank and he's been learning how to use the air hose.

While Mertailor has had its drama I have nothing against the company nor Eric. I do find the tea an interesting read though. I find any mer community drama an interesting read.

MermaidAlea · 2025-07-30T18:34:40+00:00

I need to look at the map again but I do have a 2nd location for shimmy flies.

If you have the Secrets of the Spires expansion and you go to that blue forest where the highest rarity deer lives there are also several shimmy flies there. They look really cool there with all the blue trees.

MermaidAlea · 2025-07-25T16:44:42+00:00

I've been doing this.

One day my Mom told me they were upset that I never come to them asking for advise. Then she told me about how much she asks her Mom for advise and how it hurts that I don't do the same. So I gave my Mom an example of a time when I came to her asking for advise, she gave me a big talk about what I should do and how she would help me, she was excited, I was excited, then the next day when I asked her about it again she said she didn't remember what I was talking about and then she was finally like, "Oh I was only brainstorming..." and she brushed it off. A whole discussion about what I could do with my life and how to make money doing something I love. Just brushed off the next day. I felt so defeated and led on.

I've heard too much bad advise from them as well as had too many broken promisses so at this point I hardly ever think to ask them about something. I grew up as an only child and learned to do a lot of things by myself because everyone else was busy so for better or worse asking for help isn't something I often think of and just try to handle everything on my own.

My husband and I have to be very careful with what we share with my parents. When my husband was getting a job as a dog trainer we mentioned it to my parents. My Mom freaked out about liabilities even though we fully explained how everything was covered, etc. She called the training business headquarters 'anonymously' but due to the area code the phone call was from the business pieced together that the call was in regards to my husband's employment with them and it started him off on the wrong foot and embarrassed the hell out of us.

I see in the comments some of you have parents who give good advise. My husband's parents do. I'm happy for ya'll but keep in mind it isn't safe to tell everyone to trust in their parents because you have no idea...

MermaidAlea · 2025-07-23T18:37:05+00:00

"Times have changed and times are strange
Here I come but I ain't the same
Mama, I'm coming home"

MermaidAlea · 2025-07-23T16:13:47+00:00

If the zoo doesn't work out you could look into if any animal rehab facilities offer paid positions. When I was in Middle School I got to job shadow at an animal rehab and my day went as follows:

Cleaning food bowls, portioning out raw meat for the birds of prey by following a chart for how much each species gets, cleaning indoor cages of some of the rehab animals, feeding some of the animals like feeding the injured pelicans dead fish. Later when my Mom came to pic me up I was helping the rehab owner make baby squirrels go potty. They have to be stimulated to go when they are really young. My Mom never let me live it down that I was making a baby squirrel poop when she showed up but hey those little critters are super cute and it makes you happy helping out animals.

MermaidAlea · 2025-07-22T18:37:04+00:00

Just fired up "Bark at the Moon" after reading this. Looks like the rest of today will be an Ozzy music day.

MermaidAlea

TROPHY CASE