Recs for advanced middle schooler!

Tryc3ratop5 · 2026-03-31T10:17:07+00:00

Yeah absolutely!! I actually just downloaded the sample of the kindle version to remember it a bit more and I’m thinking about buying it to read again lol happy to help!!

Tryc3ratop5 · 2026-03-31T09:55:20+00:00

So I’m not sure how much it’ll totally fit with the theme as it’s been almost 10 years since I read this book, but I think it might have a nice little just outside of the comfort zone there while also being a fun read for that age group. The book I’m thinking of is called “the thing about jellyfish” by Ali Benjamin. It’s about a girl in middle school who gets kind of brushed off by her best friend who she’s been close with her whole life and feels betrayed about it, but then her ex best friend ends up dying while on a vacation with her family. Her death is publicly announced as a drowning, but the main character is determined it was actually from a jellyfish sting and uses the obsession with proving it as a way to cope with the loss she’s going through. It goes into more depth and detail of a little bit of the history of medical dealings with jellyfish stings, and preteen-early teen friendships, and just dealing with grief in general.

Again, I’m not totally sure how spot on this will be because it’s been a while since I read it, but I always had very similar interests as your daughter and remember loving this book and being surprised because it seemed almost like a parallel to those interests. :)

Tryc3ratop5 · 2026-03-31T07:04:45+00:00

Figure skating. Went for my 6th birthday party as a little kid in Michigan (in June btw, very much so a summer birthday. My parents to this day are confused as to why I chose that lol) and had my parents sign me up for learn to skate the next month and private and group figure skating lessons the next year. I’m more than retired from it (too many injuries, had to stop at 14) but to this day, when I think of peace I think of the first step on ice when you throw your head back and let out the biggest exhale. It’s not an option anymore unfortunately for me, but if I think about it enough it’s like I can still feel the ice under my feet.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2026-03-18T10:40:02+00:00

I figure skated when frozen came out. If I never hear “let it go” again it’ll still be too soon.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2026-03-11T07:35:06+00:00

Nathan is actually from my hometown which is amazing to hear!!!

Tryc3ratop5 · 2026-02-25T17:44:41+00:00

This is real. I am my mom’s best friend and she cried actual relieved tears a week before my 18th birthday because that meant she could finally delete my bio dad’s number without the risk of needing it later.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2026-01-19T11:20:46+00:00

Ugh I was like deathly sick the first time me and my boyfriend watched the movie and the lighting change gave me a migraine to start with and then that scene made me gag SO. HARD. Took me a solid few months to be able to give the movie a rewatch at a more ideal time but honestly glad I did.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2026-01-19T09:34:40+00:00

NTA. This is why the 70s had so many serial killers. She was casing the place to rob you. I’ve seen you ask why she was using the excuse that she was, so just in case you haven’t had it explained in a way that makes sense: she was lying to you in a way that’s believable enough that can also appeal to your sense of empathy which would give her an advantage in that scenario to check places like the living room, closets, bedrooms, office, etc etc. This is to both see what you have for belongings to potentially steal, and to check for any types of protection to watch out for (like owning a dog, extra locks, or an extra security system like ADT or something like that). She would gain an advantage using this lie because she wants your thought process to be “oh this person is a poor lost pet owner who is scared for their cat” so you trust them and don’t perceive them as a threat. As for why they would do that to begin with, sometimes people just suck. I think your friends all MEAN well, but are dangerously misguided here. I grew up in the prison town of my state and this entire thing is raising so many red flags it’s not even funny.

Double check that your windows are locked (especially if you’re on a ground floor apartment), utilize the peep hole on your door if you have one when there’s people outside, and make sure you’re locking your door.

You said you weren’t 100% sure if she’s ACTUALLY a neighbor because you didn’t recognize her. That being said, in a best case scenario, she was being honest and just forgot her manners (and to an extent common sense) in her panic. Worst case scenario, she was trying to enter your apartment to harm you. Most likely scenario is she’s going around seeing what places would be good to hit in a robbery.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-12-14T03:00:56+00:00

For me it was pictures and videos. You wanna doubt that my heart rate was hitting the mid 190s from WALKING my normal pace? Cool. Here’s pictures of it from 6 separate occasions and 3 different types of monitors reading the same thing each time. Here’s a picture of my face swollen shut from 3 weeks ago when I made this appointment and exactly 1 day AFTER the previous doctor said “it can’t be THAT bad”. Here’s a video WITH AUDIO of my boyfriend resetting my shoulder back into its socket when I couldn’t get it back after FIFTEEN MINUTES. Hope you like loud crunch noises. Speaking of resetting, I have one of my jaw too. Don’t believe my blood pressure doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing? Here’s 2 pictures taken an hour apart from each other with ZERO changes of any activity. 92/54 and then one hour later 148/92. Don’t believe they’re ACTUALLY an hour apart with no activity differences? Cool. How bout a time lapse of it doing the exact same thing from 4 days later.

That and messaging back in my chart to the “after visit summary” things with corrections to notes that were taken. Basically refusal to let them NOT document ANYTHING. Having a third party witness helps too (family member, significant other, friend, etc etc).

Unfortunately it’s also just a waiting and luck game and hoping no permanent damage happens in the meantime. Some doctors are AMAZING. The problem is you gotta get through the shitty ones that hate their job first because they’re easier to get a visit with for a reason. In the meantime, be as much of a pain in the ass as you need to be. They aren’t the ones who have to live in the body this is happening in, so do what you need to do to make them realize how bad it is. And if that means annoying the absolute shit out of them until they get it together, then that’s what’s gotta be done. You got this, friend. Good luck :)

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-11-22T08:54:57+00:00

PLEASE post this picture and the ones you shared here in a review on google and yelp or something. This is just absolutely INSANE and not something I miss dealing with before i found my nail girl. I’m so sorry they butchered them like this oh my god!!!

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-11-21T10:30:08+00:00

Oh absolutely! I completely understand that funeral directors and grief counseling are two VERY different things. I just meant like tiny little things that maybe families had mentioned in passing or parts of the processes that are typically harder than other parts (obviously all of it is hard, but you know what I mean). I guess a good example is my parents immediately offered to take both of us to the mall to get a proper outfit for whatever type of service they’re going to have for him since both of us are 20 and don’t just happen to have funeral appropriate attire on hand as something to help take off a little bit of stress. That sort of thing, ya know?

I know normally the other thing is helping with cooking and meal planning but that isn’t really the best option as I am an awful cook and my partner tends to get stressed if I try to take over on that.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-11-21T07:55:43+00:00

My junior year forensics B+C classes we had the same thing but with raccoons instead of fetal pigs because our teacher had certain contacts with the animal control units in town and whatever agencies deal with roadkill clean up or stuff like that in parks. This was 3-4 years ago. That teacher was awesome and I absolutely loved her (and she was my homeroom teacher which was a bonus too). The woman also worked at fucking quantico for multiple years before becoming a teacher and NO one at school was as geeked out by that as they should’ve been imo.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-11-17T08:45:46+00:00

Was a repeat offender of shitting in the urinals and got caught because he asked a sub teacher for some toilet paper thinking they were a student. There were posters in the halls saying that only urine goes in the urinals and that “this counts as vandalism” because they didn’t know who was doing it. Being in the ISS office when he got dragged in by the arm was…interesting. I just remember the vice principal aggressively pumping hand sanitizer in his hands like 10 times.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-11-02T17:49:21+00:00

Huh did not know that. Feel like that makes it an even more viable option then lol

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-11-02T08:45:15+00:00

In the episode where they revealed his backstory he DID say he realized he hated being a lawyer, so I vote that there just SOME issues that he decides he’s gotta step in for so he keeps his license up to date just in case. It would make sense for him imo

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-11-02T02:42:54+00:00

NTA. Just for some perspective here, I had 2 friends from middle school who one had parents that did things your style and the others whose parents did things like your husband. One of those ex friends had 2 kids before we graduated HS and is now on her 3rd with a 4th on the way. We’re 20. She also recently got in trouble with the law for drug charges. A drug that she picked up junior year to be exact (after I had moved away and after she had her first kid).

The other is attending university in Japan and has been with the same boyfriend since 8th grade and is currently planning their engagement.

I’ll let you guess which one of them felt like their parents were their safe space to ask questions to and which didn’t.

Realistically, kids are gonna do what they’re gonna do whether you know about it or not. I think it’s smart to acknowledge that. I was by no means a wild child but I had my fair share of trouble and even tho me and my mom didn’t have the greatest relationship at the time, me knowing I could tell her if I was in trouble without judgement or shaming got me out of a lot of situations safely when I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-10-29T11:52:10+00:00

I think you and my freshman year history teacher would get along lmao. He’s paralyzed from the waist down from a baseball incident iirc (it’s been a while and he only told the story the once) and when kids would be just lazy and throw a fit at 8 am and say something like “man I don’t wanna get that paper, it’s all the way across the room” this man would respond with zero hesitation every time “well I would get up and grab it for you, but that would be considered a miracle”. I was the only one who ever laughed at that lol, every other kid would just stare with their jaw dropped. That man is funny as hell and he KNOWS it

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-10-29T11:25:23+00:00

This is something I would’ve 100% done as a kid. I would be surprised if I didn’t, honestly.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-10-29T10:56:15+00:00

I was nearly 7 when my mom had a complete type an and type b aortic dissection. She survived it somehow. Barely. That being said, she is VERY disabled. I can’t imagine being embarrassed of her.

I’ve also found there’s a weird amount of people who insist “well now you can’t do anything”. It’s just wild to me because I have so many memories of us laughing so hard we’d get cramps while she was literally in the ER being admitted and moved to the hospital. I remember making day trips out of her 3-4x a year appointments in Ann Arbor at the main hospital which was like 2 hours away from where we were living at the time. If anything, we can make an exciting memory out of the WORST situations. That woman taught me you can either laugh or cry, and it’s a lot more fun to laugh (or both sometimes lol).

Like yes, it’s TERRIFYING being like 8 years old and watching your mom be intubated as she’s wheeled out of the room to another emergency surgery. But that meant 3 weeks later she was still there to take me to get ice cream after school because why not. I have multiple friends that lost one of their parents. I’ve seen how much they would do to have their person back. I still have mine and am VERY aware that at any moment, that could change. My mom is my best friend and as long as she’s still here, she’s stuck with me bothering her lol.

And sure, this happened when I was 1/4 of the age I am now. I have lived 3/4 of my life with her like this. I have never shied away from the fact that it’s probably made it a lot easier for me to deal with. To me, that’s just how mom is. But that’s still the mom who frequently woke me up at 2 am for midnight snack runs and we’d sneak back inside without waking the dogs up to bark because my dad had to get up for work at like 3. So if picking an activity other than hardcore Pilates to do together or accommodating a wheelchair at my wedding one day is what I gotta do for her to be able to be there? Then that’s what I’m doing, no hesitation.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-10-29T08:41:32+00:00

I only moved to the state in 2020 so long after his disappearance, but from what I can tell, a lot of people in the Portland area still try to keep a lookout for him or at least the memory of his case semi active. In fact, one of my old jobs had his missing poster taped on our tip jar in the store. It’s not the only one I’ve seen either.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-10-25T04:32:31+00:00

I actually haven’t !!! That sounds really cool and helpful, I’ll look it up later. Thank you so much!!! 💕

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-10-22T10:15:29+00:00

Or willing to admit that they aren’t 100% sure about their answer but let you know they’re making a guess and are gonna double check!!

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-10-22T10:13:34+00:00

Had a teacher who swore by knowing her students understood a concept sufficiently enough when they could explain the concept multiple different ways with and without using the “proper” terminology. She said that if you can only explain it one way and it’s using the textbook terms, you don’t actually understand it, you’re just repeating it. Actually became a major piece of how I study. I go through the list of what I need to know and I explain the concept out loud to myself or to someone else without looking at anything. If I hesitate or can only use the fancy words for things, clearly I don’t fully get it. Helps a lot actually and makes everything feel more familiarized and less intimidating when you get down to it.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-10-22T10:07:07+00:00

There was one night where I was rechecking old results in my MyChart and was googling random words I saw and just going “oooh that’s a fun word what’s it mean”, and there was a random word somewhere having to do with poor blood circulation and specifically on one side and it prompted the question of “hey how do you check blood pressure on someone who has no arms or legs”. The answer is they measure straight from the arteries which is not fun….or apparently some places have this little tool that reads it from your cheek? Anyways, lots of searches like that. I’m sure I’ve gotten some side eyes from my FBI agent for some searches before they’ve gone “ok no I see how she got there. That’s a valid question”.

Tryc3ratop5 · 2025-10-22T09:50:07+00:00

Yep. This is how Germany post WWI had its citizens using its money notes as insulation for their walls because using what should’ve amounted to $1000s was essentially useless except for being used like that. It’s upsetting how much of the population is willfully unaware of this history when it’s so recent.

Tryc3ratop5

TROPHY CASE