#dropped out of high school and then dropped out of the online school i enrolled in afterwards

[marner2tavares]

cardigan series: the break up ❣️

cardigan series masterlist

Dating Jack had never been easy. He was wanted by everyone. Girls threw themselves at him, guys were constantly trying to plan hangouts, but even in the midst of high school kingdom, he had eyes only for you. You were his first love, and he yours. You never really saw one without the other for the back half of your high school years. You were together for it all. His games, your dance recitals and competitions, the first prom, the second prom, graduation, his draft. You never ever thought of a life without him, no matter how young you were. Everyone told you it would fade or crash and burn, but you truly thought it never would…until August 17, 2019.

“Have you decided what college you want to go to yet, baby?” You were sitting at the edge of his bed while he laid on it. You fingers close to your mouth so you could bite the nails that were already bitten. 

“I don't want to talk about it, Jack.” Jack sat up and scooched himself down the bed to sit next to you. 

“Well we have to talk about it soon. We gotta figure out what school you wanna go to. You’ll probably have to enroll late now. Hey! You could take online classes!” You closed your eyes and swallowed hard, taking a calming breath. Ever since Jack got drafted to the New Jersey Devils, he had been talking about taking you with him. He was excited for you to be out on your own together. 

“I did not work this hard this year to go to some community college, Jack.” You snapped and immediately wished you hadn’t. You looked over to assess the damage. You swore you watched Jack’s face fall.

“You don’t want to come with me?” And here it begins. The reason you didn’t want to talk about it. You let out a sigh and folded your hands in your lap. 

“I do, but I deserve better than a community college in New Jersey.” Your voice was quiet. Hoping if you said it softly it would hurt him less. It didn’t.

“Are you serious?” He sounded like he was in disbelief. How could you, his first real girlfriend, his first real everything, not want to go with him?

“Yeah I am” Jack let out a sigh and dropped his head a little before looking back up at you, trying to force the feelings and look of dread to the back of his mind.

“Where do you want to go?” 

“Colorado”

“Colorado?!” Jack stood up and took a few steps around his room before sitting back down.

“Yes, Jack. Colorado.”

“Seriously? What does that mean for us?” Your most dreaded question.

“I don't know, Jack” And his most dreaded answer. 

“But Jersey would be perfect, baby. You’re so close to New York City, and you wanna be a dancer! No better place to do that than New York City” He rambled, desperately trying to change your mind.

“I don't want New York City.'' His jaw dropped. He looked down at you with every hurt he was feeling shown on his face. 

“Do you want me?” He said it so quietly you almost missed it. You could barely look him in the face at this point. 

“What kind of question is that? Of course I want you” He looked down at you and you forced yourself to look back at him. He was reeling. You were reeling. Here it is, you thought. The crash and burn.

People had told you about it for the last year and a half of your relationship, “Young love never lasts” You heard it over and over again, but you never thought they would be right. You loved Jack. You truly loved Jack, but you were sure Colorado would be better for you than New Jersey.

“I just don't see why you’d want to go all the way to Colorado when your dreams are in New York.” He was getting frustrated now. Talking with his hands and shaking his head. Smiling to try to mask the pain. 

“Because I can’t take having to be a failure, Jack! You’re going to be living your dream and I'm gonna be some wannabe who’s not talented enough to make it!” You said it louder than you wanted to. Your heart broke when you saw Jack recoil a bit. 

“You’re never gonna know if you don't try” The tears that you were holding started to slip down your face. You couldn’t even imagine how Jack was feeling right now. You basically sprung it on him. He leaves for training camp in a month, you leave for Colorado in a week.

 “Do you still even want to be together?” The tears flowed silently at his question. You dropped your head towards your lap.

“No.” Lie.

“What?” Jack felt like he’d been shot. How could the love of his young life want to end it all just like that? Nearly two years down the drain.

“Because if we stay together and do long distance, you’re gonna cheat on me, and then I’m gonna hate you and Jack, I don't know what I would do if I had to hate you.” You rambled, tears running, distraught.

“You think I would cheat on you?” He sounded upset, not all the way to mad, but disgusted that you would even think like that. 

“You don't know what it's gonna be like, Jack.” You looked up at him, shaking your head as you spoke. Not even bothering to wipe your tears at this point. 

“I didn't cheat on you in high school, did I?” He raised his voice louder. You knew he couldn’t control his emotions right now. You couldn’t either, but the volume still made you flinch. “What's gonna be so different now?” 

“I wont be around.” You said quietly, not looking up at him. 

“You could be around, but you don't want to be!” He yelled. His voice even stunned himself. You stood up and started gathering your things. 

“I’m sorry, I just can't do this right now.” You started towards the door of his bedroom. You didn’t look back, the last thing he said to you: 

“Please don't leave.” You muttered another “I’m sorry” before walking down the stairs, rushing past his family that you loved so much, trying to not let them see you crying. Ellen tried to stop you, asking what was wrong. The last thing you heard was Ellen calling for Jack and rushing to his room as you walked out the front door, got in your car, started it, and drove. 

[kenziesimsblog]

SIMS 3 YOUTUBER LEGACY

SIMS 3 YOUTUBER LEGACY

FOR THIS LEGACY YOU CAN CHOOSE WHERE YOU LIVE BUT MUST BE A CITY CELEBRITY WORLD FOR GEN ONE PLEASE NOTE NOT ALL OF THIS INFORMATION OR TRAITS/GOALS FIT THE YOUTUBERS!

GEN 8 WAS A FILLER BECAUSE I COULDNT THINK OF ANYONE THEY HAPPENED TO POP UP ON MY RECOMMENED !

GENERATION 1- TARA YUMMY

you grew up in a rural town moving to the big city as soon as you got the chance , your confident with yourself and love to be social what does the city life hold for you?

STYLE PREFERENCE - Y2K

TRAITS - social butterfly, irresistible, party animal, dog lover and vegetarian

LIFETIME WISH- blog artist

GOALS

run a 5 star blog

get a partner have a few kids THEN BREAK UP no marriage yet

go clubbing every saturday night

adopt a dog -your a party animal throw birthday parties every weekend

throw parties for holidays sometimes -do not eat meat your a vegetarian

become a five star celebrity

when you reach 8 days before elder status get back with your ex and have a private wedding with your family

complete your lifetime wish then gen complete

OPTIONAL IF YOU HAVE THE MODELING MOD JOIN MODEL CAREER AND MASTER MODELING SKILL*

GENERATION 2- SAM AND COLBY

your parent was kinda of a party animal they never really grew up as soon as you reached young adult status you left.

STYLE PREFRENCE - DARK ACADEMIA

TRAITS- adventurous, night owl, rebellious, loves the outdoors and easily impressed

LIFETIME WISH- paranormal profiteer

GOALS

meet your best friend in high school and stay friends your whole life -pull pranks -when your first move out have atleast 2 roomies aside from your best friend

move out of roomie house with your best friend -join ghost hunting profession with bff

fall in love with co worker or bestie

get married fast

have as many kids as you want

must have triplets {can cheat this}

complete lifetime wish

GENERATION 3- STURNIOLO TRIPLETS

you and your triplets have always been close and its hard to move on

STYLE PREFERENCE - STREETWEAR

TRAITS (only give to main heir) - good sense of humor, friendly, schmoozer , excitable, and vehicle enthusiat

LIFETIME WISH- reach max influence with all social groups

CAREER- self employed

GOALS {follow with heir}

stay close to other triplets

you all move in together -you go to uni for fun ultimately dropping out

meet partner in uni

join any freelance career -only have one kid

be extremley close to child and partner

GENERATION 4- SIMPHORA (WRITTEN BY @simphoraa)

Name - Simphora °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𐦍༘⋆

Description - You like to call yourself the “Jack of All Trades”, and eh.. you may not be actually considered one. But, you have a lot of interests, passions, the undying urge to explore new things, and acquire more knowledge and skills. Go show the world what you’re truly capable of!

Aesthetic - Luxurious Baddie

Traits - Ambitious, Dramatic, Computer Whiz, Hopeless Romantic, Workaholic

Lifetime wish - Forensic Specialist: Dynamic DNA Profiler

Goals:

Enroll in University and major in Technology

Live off-Campus and have one roommate

Get the disliked relationship with your roommate, and then find a reason to kick them out

Earn the Technology Degree

Reach level 10 in the Law Enforcement Career (choose the forensic branch)

Master the Logic skill

Create a Online Dating Profile

Fall inlove quickly with someone from the Online Dating website

Play video games once a day

Become a streamer, and livestream every Friday night (this is optional because you need to download the streamer mod from ModtheSims)

Befriend some supporters

Have as many kids as you want

GENERATION 5 - FLORYDA (WRITTEN BY @florydaax)

your life was cozy you wanted it more!

TRAITS- bookworm, cat person , clumsy, loner and socially awkward

LIFETIME WISH- the cat herder

CAREER- Lawyer (custom career by missyhissy) or law enforcement

GOALS

Join the Ballet/Dance after school activity as a child

Get a parttime job at the supermarket as a teen -Go to university and get a degree

Have at least 2 cats -Get married to your first boyfriend/ partner

Have 2 kids

Buy and read books every week

Master the Social Networking and Writing skills -Complete the lifetime wish and reach the top of the career

GENERATION 6- MR BEAST

you had a good life and you want to make sure others do to even if yours goes downhill

STYLE PREFERENCE= COMFY/ CASUAL

TRAITS- good, lucky, nuturing, ambitious, and charismatic

LIFETIME WISH- leader of the free world

CAREER- political

GOALS

donate to a charirty every week -do any opportunity that earns money or relationships

you meet a partner in high school but they cheat on you

your single for a while, until you meet a single parent

become close to them and there child

adopt 2 strays

adopt a kid

play a lottery when you can

your partner suddenly dies take in there kid'

have atleast one kid with your partner before they die

never remarry

complete lifetime wish

never have a bad relationship or distant friends

GENERATION 7- CATALEAH

you love animals and want to save them all

STYLE PREFERENCE - COTTAGECORE

TRAITS- animal lover, eco friendly, loves the outdoors, socially awkward and green thumb

LIFETIME WISH- the ark builder

CAREER- horseman

GOALS

get your first animal as a gift from your parent

have two of each animal that lifetine wish says

farm animals optional

master gardening skill

have a "perfect" garden

go to equestrian lot

learn to ride horse

be close to every animal

meet another animal lover

be close to your kids you lost your parents

complete lifetime wish

GENERATION 8 - CARLO AND SARAH

you want the perfect love life

STYLE PREFERENCE- FANCY

TRAITS- hopeless romantic, family orenited ,artistic, friendly and neat

LIFETIME WISH - surronded by family

CAREER- FREELANCE ARTIST

GOALS

meet your best friend in high school

when you graduate go to france

find your partner there

they move to town you get married

have 5 kids

do a family activity every holiday

throw many parties

complete lifetime

DONE

TAG ME IN POST I WOULD LOVE TO SEE!

[augustvandyne]

OMG YOU WRITE OF GINNY AND GEORGIA! PLS IM BEGGING WRITE A MAX BAKER X FEM READER!

Sorry for the aggression… No one writes for her🥲

Maybe like R is Ginnys sister (different mom) but she never knew her mom bc she dropped her off at Zions w a note and a DNA test or something. Maybe she does online school bc she’s always travelling w Zion then she moves with him and goes over to see Ginny, Georgia and Austin bc Georgia was always basically her mom.

She then had her first day at school and meets Max and they both have gay panic and stutter bc yk gay.

Then later Ginny takes her to sit w her friends and Max is talking about this girl she ran into and swears she’s in love and R is just sitting next to Ginny on the end of the table waiting for her to notice she’s there. And she only notices when Ginny asks what the girl’s name was and Max is like, “CRAP! I WAS JUST RAMBLING AND NEVER ASKED HER NAME! SHE KNEW MINE BUT I WOULDN’T SHUT UP TO LEG HER SPEAK! Oh god🥲” and bangs her head on the lunch table and R is like, “My names y/n Miller btw” and Max just slowly lifts her head, and everyone is like ‘how did she not notice the person sitting right mf there! although very max’ then she’s like “I do enjoy the rambling though, it’s cute” then everyone is like ‘oh SHES the girl’ and start laughing at Max. R after saying this gets up and sees her friends from one of her classes and goes to max giving max her phone open on contacts so max can put in her number but she’s just broken. Abby snatches the phone and is like ‘sorry i think you broke her’ and outs in the number. R smirks and kisses Max’s cheek before going off with her other friends.

When she’s out of ear shot Max starts yelling at Ginny, “YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE RELATED TO A HOT, SAPPHIC MILK CHOCOLATE GODDESS😭 WTF GINNY! I LET UOU DATE MY BROTHER AND YOU DONT EVEN SAY ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR HOT SISTER!”

omg i actually love this. the aggression is very much needed! no one writes for our girl maxine.. she needs the love.

sorry this took me so long.. haha. don’t be afraid to request more. i promise not to take as long this time.

Gay Panic

When you found out you would be moving to Wellsbury for a while, you were through the roof excited.

You hadn’t seen Ginny, Georgia or Austin in a while, and you were beginning to miss your family! A few days after you’d arrived, your dad enrolled you in Wellsbury High School.

Ginny immediately introduced you to her friends. She introduced you to Abby, Norah, and a group of boys that you could care less about.

Your first class happened to be a drama class, where you met Maxine Baker. She drew you in with her vibrant colors and extroverted personality.

The teacher wanted to do an exercise to start out the class, in which the class paired up and acted out a scene of a play of their choice. Max loved the class, but she had no friends in it.

A new face had her intrigued and so she partnered with you.

You suggested Romeo and Juliet—because you can’t go wrong with it. Max stuttered and reluctantly agreed. She tried to get out that you should do the balcony scene, but it came out as a blubbering mess.

The first time you open your mouth, a similar things happen. Red tints your brown cheeks, as you make a fool of yourself.

Normally you can keep your cool around cute girls, but this girl is different. She’s confident and knows what she wants.

The two of you laugh off the stuttering and blushing Max grabs a book off the shelf so the two of you can act out the scene. You lean in close to her and can smell whatever perfume she decided to spray.

The close proximity has both of you blushing again.

Both of you mess up and stutter so much neither of you even finish the exercise before the teacher pulls everyone in to assign the work for the day.

The rest of your first morning is just as exciting. It’s followed by two other classes—art and study hall, where you meet some other girls. After study hall you follow Ginny to the cafeteria where you sit at a table filled with the same faces you saw this morning.

And Maxine.

You are surprised to see her at the table. But it makes sense. All the girls are more quiet than Max, which makes you believe she’s the leader.

Especially because she’s leading the conversation right now.

“So we are like acting the scene out, right, because I swear that our drama teacher hates me,” Max talks fast. “But anyway, we’re acting it out and I swear- I’m in love.”

“What happened to, uh, what’s her name?” Abby chews on a fry as she tries to come up with the name of the girl Max was all about the week before.

“Oh, I’m over her.”

“Already?” Norah barks out a laugh. “That was fast.”

Max glares at her.

“So this girl,” Brodie shrugs. “She hot or what?”

“Uh, gorgeous!” Max shakes her hands all around like she’s have a seizure. “She’s mixed, and kind of looks like Ginny. But she is the prettiest girl I’ve ever met. Like ever.”

“What was her name again?” Ginny rests her elbows on the table.

“Crap,” Max’s face falls. “I was rambling and stuttering and blushing so hard I forgot to ask her what her name was. I told her mine but I didn’t ask. Oh my God. I want to die now. I’m never going to speak to her again.”

As the girl bangs her head on the table, you reach your hand over Ginny and say, “I’m Y/N Miller, by the way.”

Abby’s mouth drops open and she laughs, “Max.. how did you not see her.”

Max is frozen in place. She isn’t blinking, talking, or breathing for that matter. She looks like she might cry.

“Um, are you okay?”

“Don’t worry, she does this all the time,” Ginny waves it off.

“What? Falls in love with girls she just meets?” You laugh awkwardly.

“Has gay panics,” Norah clarified.

“Ah,” You retreat your hand.

Jordan and Abby laugh at Max, whom is still frozen in place.

“Do you think if we nudge her she’ll tip over?” Abby jokes.

“Max, breathe,” Ginny places her hand on Max’s shoulder.

“Thank you for complimenting my looks,” You flash a bright smile. “And I enjoyed the rambling, it’s very cute.”

You see a few girls from your art class and get up to go say hi, stopping near Max, who then takes a deep breath and begins blinking again.

“Here,” you place your phone in her hand and she just blinks up at you. “Put your number in. Your cute. We should meet up some time.”

Abby leans across the table and puts the number in the contacts app, “I think you broke her.”

You smirk and grab your phone out of the redheads hand. You drop the phone into the back pocket of your jeans. Leaning down, you plop a kiss on Max’s cheek.

Max’s eyes widen and she waits for your to be out of earshot before grilling Ginny.

“Virginia Miller! How could you not tell me you were sisters with a hot, sapphic, greek god?!” Max starts freaking out. “What the F?! I let you date my brother and you gate-keep your beautifully gorgeous sister??”

Ginny just chuckles. “She has that effect on people.”

“You better text her,” Norah threatens. “Or I will.”

And Jordan doesn’t even protest.

[shattersstar]

hello!!! just wanted to send in a message that i have a meltdown every time I read one of your Jason pieces; so freaking good! its really special to find writers who can really get a feel for Jason without making him sound like a goofy caricature of a y/a trope or like. an incel LMAO. would love to see more of your thoughts or headcanons on Jason's opinion on college! I think he's expressed some sort of desire to attend university, but yk. the whole vigilante thing kinda screws with it. thanks again :)

college/university hcs + jason todd

a/n: aw tysm that’s so nice to hear <33 ive always wanted to know what ppl think of my take on jason bc yeah the fandoms consensus is not always. my fave. to say the least. dnejjfjdjd but im glad u enjoy it!! this was also a greatly timed ask bc im working on smth that has a section of robin jason talking abt his life n college so im gonna save some of my thoughts for when that comes out but…

—

i do think it’s definitely something jason’s always been interested even if his relationship with post secondary school has been fluid to say the least. sort of like: i might have a chance if i get a scholarship, to not even in school, to having a shot at going to any school, to missing out on that part of his life in favour of vigilantism and revenge

with his past briefly out of the way i definitely see jason being that person who just Attends lectures even if he isn’t enrolled. he’d go to classes with friends or someone he’s seeing if he had the time. but if anything, jason would take a course just because he finds it interesting. he’d sit in the back of the class and he 100% takes notes even if there’s no reason

if he is serious about going back to school i do stand with majority rule that he’d probably be an english/lit major.

i like to imagine jason did attempt to go to university after everything went down with bruce when he first came back though. a little scorned and confused about his place in everything. i could see him trying to play the part of someone normal and ordinary, what did people his age do again? oh yeah, go to school or leave the city.

i think he’d originally take something a bit more serious, respectable even. law, engineering, business, anything to emulate some version of himself bruce had expected jason to become. i think jason also knowing dick refused, finally agreed, then dropped out of uni would fuel him to go to spite his older brother and appease bruce even if it wasn’t conscious. like it’s an added bonus if jason really thought abt it (which he won’t ofc)

back to school: being forced to take those required liberal art courses would remind jason of what he loved in high school. he loved english class on whole and arguing with the history teacher and picked up languages surprisingly well that he did both spanish and french for a time. and while he really thought about switching majors he ultimately dropped out because he was still playing pretend and into the hands of a man his relationship was beyond complicated with.

i think jason would return when he was a few years older, a little less angry and less focused on his connection to bruce/batman. and this is when he’d major in english, im not enough of a lit baddie to pick a focus but im sure y’all can imagine <33

he’d start with night courses bc he’s already used to being awake so whats a 7-10pm lecture before patrol.

it only became an issue when courses jason’s wanted to take wouldn’t work with his nighttime plan. he started really feeling the burden of living a double life in those moments. and definitely gets antsy in class/studying when an important case is taking up his mind.

he was fortunate to take online classes that interested him greatly too but when school started becoming priority jason would have a moment with himself to decide if he wanted to spend a few years pursuing his degree with a bit more focus or go back to his life before.

and i cannot say what decision i think he’d make bc i know jason gains satisfaction from life by being red hood and cannot fully give it up but he’s also one of those people that is always dying to learn more, to know more and exercise his brain. it’s why his electives r insanely difficult mathematic courses or science labs bc everything interests him. the study of art just moves him a little more which is why he majors in it.

some other points:

- he’s not a fan of the education system and even if money is not a problem jason doesn’t rlly care abt going to elite schools and will gladly transfer around to take courses he wants or depending on where he’s currently is in the world. he’s done classes at most of gothams community colleges and at least one ivy league school

- jason’s doesn’t care how long it takes no finish school either, which works well with his vigilantism. he’s always had an unstable relationship with schooling and completing school in its expected time/format never appealed to him. jason will do it how it wants because he can :)

- he’s a handwritten notes kinda guy but understands that typing is more efficient

- will spend time at uni (and public) libraries just for funsies like he’ll b investigating new drug rings next to people studying for their midterms

- like most of us he really hates group assignments bc he’s too much of a control freak and will do all the work, hand it in and email the prof abt doing it alone without even contacting his group members bc he’s a little shit like that

- but will help in tutoring programs, be a note taker for certain courses and if jason’s fully dedicated to school he might just TA <3

[rubdown]

10 & 21!

10. what’s something you’re excited for? I'm going on a trip in May to visit my friends from online in Baltimore!!!!!! My excitement about this is deeply cut with hideous anxiety bc I haven't been on a plane in 10 years and I'm fat and I'm scared everyone on the plane is going to be SO mad at me for being fat. I hardly ever travel outside my beautiful home state of Michigan either... without my CAR???? Plus I'm nervous about my personality and visage... what if everyone hates me and thinks I'm too ugly?????? But I think once I'm off the airplane.... diva I will be Tracy Turnblad GOOD MORNING BALTIMORE 🗣️🗣️🗣️

21. if you could tell your past self one thing, what would it be? Go to public high school (I went to a Seventh-Day Adventist school for 8th-10th grade due to social based anxiety and attachment to only one friend then nearly dropped out then enrolled in adult alternative education for dropouts) ‼️ stop spending money ‼️ these things may have helped me the most

[mariacallous]

It’s natural for people to get stories wrong in crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. But we’re still getting key things wrong about COVID-19’s impact on schools after officially exiting the pandemic. Here, I describe three myths about the pandemic’s impact on public education. From my perspective, a combination of sensationalist headlines and political opportunism fuel the first two myths: namely, that public school enrollment has dropped precipitously and that public schools deserve the blame for learning loss. The third myth, in contrast, makes the post-COVID-19 situation in schools seem better than it is—that is, recent changes in test scores accurately reflect students’ pandemic losses.

Myth #1: There was a “seismic” decline in public school enrollment

The first myth is that COVID-19 has gutted public school enrollments. One New York Times headline indicated a “seismic shift” with a subtitle that the “pandemic has supercharged the decline in the nation’s public school system.”

Contrary to popular belief, COVID-19 has only caused a 2% drop in public school enrollments nationally. Some of the latest evidence also suggests no drop at all in cities like Detroit and New York City that were heavily criticized for staying remote so long. By comparison, there was a 15% decline during the mid-1970s-1980s without a pandemic (due mainly to demographic shifts). That’s a real seismic shift—seven times larger than the COVID-19 drop.

Projected enrollments will likely drop by more than two percent in the coming years due to declining birth rates and immigration. Looking at the trend line in district enrollments ten years from now, we may barely notice the COVID-19 years.

In fact, what’s most remarkable is how little COVID-19 altered public school enrollments. Every child in the country was forced out of their school buildings for a time. Parents became more familiar and experienced with the many online tools that allow students to learn from home, and some shopped around for alternatives. If ever there was a chance to reconsider, this was it. Yet, the best analyses suggest only 372,000 students switched to homeschooling or private schools—out of 50 million nationally.

Critics might argue that few switched schools due to a lack of good alternatives, but polls show high satisfaction with public schools during the pandemic. One poll showed 78% of families were satisfied with how public schools handled the pandemic; in another, the figure was 80%.

No, the public school enrollment drop was not seismic. The real concern ought to be that some students might have left, never to return to any form of schooling.

Myth #2: Learning loss was the fault of public schools and unions (and their push for remote learning)

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ educational progress are undeniable, particularly in public schools. Test score declines were largest where schools were closed the longest, and public schools were closed more and had less live interaction than private schools. Recent NAEP scores reinforce that scores did not drop as much in private schools as in public schools.

Do public school leaders bear responsibility for what happens in schools? To some extent, yes. People need to take responsibility for their actions. But during the pandemic, what exactly did public schools control?

One thing public schools don’t control is who walks in the door. Private schools have tuition and admission criteria that mean they serve more affluent families, whereas public schools must accept all children residing in their district. One study found that the educational level of private school parents is 1.5 years higher than public school parents. The income disparity is even more astounding—67% higher for private school families. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these differences mattered. We found that students’ race and family income were among the strongest predictors of schools’ instructional mode during the pandemic. One possible explanation is the large difference in COVID-19 vulnerability across groups. Black and Hispanic people had 70% and 100% higher death rates, respectively, than white people. This is reflected in polling data showing that people of color expressed more fear of the virus during the pandemic. It is also reflected in data showing that parents of color were more hesitant about sending their kids back to school in-person. All told, these data suggest that schools were mostly following the lead of parents whose pandemic experiences and preferences around school reopenings differed.

Differences in school staffing also made navigating the pandemic more challenging in public schools. For example, public schools rely more heavily on bus drivers and food service workers than private schools. Even one bus driver diagnosed with COVID-19 could upend an entire day of learning, leading public schools to lean more toward remote instruction.

Of course, a large part of the staffing story was about teachers. Teacher unions received a lot of blame—some of it deserved—for the pace of school reopenings. However, we found that community demographics and politics were more strongly predictive of the timing of school reopenings than the presence of a teachers union. We should remember, too, that unions’ concerns were rooted in a good cause: to protect their members. Over a million people lost their lives from COVID-19, and the majority of deaths occurred in 2021—even after protective equipment and vaccines became available.

So far, I’ve focused on how public schools and unions shaped decisions about instructional mode, but even this presumes that instructional mode was the main driver of learning loss. It certainly played a key role, but evidence also suggests that it was not the only factor at play. Student demographics strongly predicted learning loss even after accounting for instructional mode. And some students seemed to struggle more than usual, regardless of instructional mode. Students may have worried about the pandemic generally and the health of their parents and grandparents, or they may have had to chip in more to support their families during the economic downturn initially triggered by the pandemic. To chalk this all up to instructional mode is to ignore that children lived through an unprecedented social, economic, and health calamity.

It’s no wonder public schools stayed remote longer. They serve students who were at higher risk during the pandemic. Public schools also involve more complex staffing arrangements which were more brittle during the pandemic. Of course, we all could have done better in retrospect. Hindsight is 20:20, and with a once-in-a-century pandemic, foresight approaches blindness. But, no, we can’t blame the public school system and union leaders for student learning loss.

Why, then, are we still getting these stories wrong? I’d argue that we can thank politics—and, specifically, the right’s current focus on expanding private school choice via school vouchers. For example, one prominent voucher supporter acknowledged that they were trying to “build the best surfboard for parents. This [COVID] was the right wave.” In fact, they got two in one—Trump and COVID-19 converged into a single, massive wave. Even before COVID-19, Trump was a vocal critic of public schools, talked frequently about school choice, and appointed the nation’s chief voucher advocate, Betsy DeVos, as secretary of education. Trump plus COVID-19 amplified the drumbeat against public schools and for vouchers.

But not all the headlines were designed to make public schools look bad. One, perhaps accidentally, made them look better.

Myth #3 – The decline in test scores accurately captures the full educational loss

As bad as it seems, the data on student test scores understates what children lost educationally. This is the case for three reasons:

Most of the test results we see pertain only to students (regularly) attending public schools. Tests are generally only taken by students who are in school buildings. However, we know that some students permanently switched to virtual schooling, and that even students who stayed in brick-and-mortar schools are missing class–and perhaps missing sitting for standardized tests–twice as often as before. Since these groups learn at slower rates, this missing data problem is likely inflating average scores.

Test scores mostly capture the material students have learned recently, not over the full course of the pandemic. This is easiest to see with state standardized tests that are aligned to grade-specific standards. The 8th-grade math test, for example, is designed to cover the math that most students take in 8th grade. But, with COVID-19, students missed learning during three academic school years. While some of the lost learning in these three earlier grades will show up in 8th grade, not all of it will. So, when we compare tests in any given grade before and after COVID-19—which is essentially what all the learning loss studies do—we’re likely understating the extent of learning losses.

Test scores do not adequately capture declining mental health and lower value and expectations for education. Test scores provide a limited view of students’ well-being. In a survey we conducted of students in New Orleans before and after COVID-19 (2019 and 2022), we saw a trend toward students being more concerned about their emotional health, putting forth less academic effort, valuing education less, and having lower expectations of college attendance. These will likely have a more significant negative impact on children’s potential in the long run than what test scores are showing.

This understatement of the educational problem isn’t deliberate in the way the sensationalism and politicization of the first two myths appear to be, but the harm of this misrepresentation may be no less consequential.

We have an even bigger problem on our hands than we realize, and current efforts are falling woefully short. The influx of federal ESSER funds to schools, while well intentioned, has proven difficult to spend effectively, especially with ongoing labor shortages and the temporary nature of the funding. Even the most promising strategies, like tutoring, aren’t reaching many students and aren’t designed to address declining mental health and value and expectations for education. Vouchers, meanwhile, actually seem to make the academic problems worse.

I can’t say that I have a magic bullet, but, clearly, we have little chance of tackling these COVID-19-induced difficulties if we don’t better understand and communicate them first.

[actualalligator]

This ended up a much longer thing than expected, but I just needed to get it all out. Life woes under cut.

Sometimes, being asexual feels a little like a deal breaker. Being asexual as a lesbian felt even more so because so much of what I experienced trying to date women online was hypersexual, and I felt so out of place. Now I'm genderfluid/queer/something I'm still trying to figure out and potentially willing to date men, but not really willing to date anybody who isn't kinky because I'm in my thirties and I'm tired of trying to tell myself that I can live without it. What little sexual desire I do experience is so intrinsically tied to my kinks that I can not separate them. And that all kinda feels like a deal breaker, too.

I spent my 20s in school. Most of my peers got married and started lives. I feel like I made choices based on failed plans and simply having no idea what else to do. I got a PhD before I turned 30, what an accomplishment everybody says, but I'm working a job I only need a masters for with this looming drop in enrollment numbers that only further fucks my already tentative job security. Did I give my twenties for some expensive education and a career that's shaky at best because high school graduation numbers are going to peak in 2025? If I had known that in 2017, would I have stayed this fucking course?

I'm tired. I'm tired of not feeling secure in my career and in basic human needs like housing. I'm tired of doing it all alone while simultaneously feeling like I'm always going to be alone because the very core of who I would be as a romantic partner feels like a deal breaker.

There's no point to this. I'm just sick and sad and stressed about existing.

[jackhues]

i kinda imagine dilf aus getting with a girl later on who also has a kid, i feel like family is so important to him that it just makes sense.

what is mama like when p goes through a really clingy faze with aus??

okay actually, i love this sm!! i'm gonna do this under the cut: tw* mentions of pregnancy and birth

unlike mama, aus' new girl didn't have anyone during the pregnancy. her and her babydaddy weren't in contact, her parents kicked her out, and she was living in her friend's room. she was a teenager (16yo), and while her friend's parents were nice, they didn't know she was living with them and wouldn't allow her if they knew. she used to sneak in her friend's window with the help of her friend and stay in her room to sleep and basically whenever she wasn't working. she dropped out of school and began working whatever minimum wage jobs she could find to save up money. when her water broke, she walked all the way to the hospital bcz her friend was at school. she texted her later, but basically no one was there with her while she was giving birth. originally, she wanted to give the baby up for adoption and ask her parents to take her back in. but then, when the baby didn't cry immediately, she started freaking out -- literally felt her heart stop. and then he cried, and she was so relieved, she started crying too. she then decided that she wouldn't give her son up. she continued working (found a few good jobs that let you work from home/bring your kid), and took online classes to finish high school and basically worked her ass off to keep her son and keep him safe. she began renting some shitty apartment, but it was a start, and slowly, she was able to move them to a nicer area and even enroll her son in a nearby public school.

since they both have kids of their own, and they're both close with them, it makes them a little comfortable talking to the other. like aus accepts her son, and she accepts peanut, which is everything they could've asked for!

when p goes through a clingy faze, mama lets it happen. bcz she did the same with jack and quinn and even luke, and the phases come and go. it's not a big thing, and aus loves spending time with peanut. however, peanut doesn't see aus' new girl as a bad person, she acc rlly likes her, so peanut isn't mean or anything to her either.

[crimeronan]

You dropped out of high school???

yeah dude this is a commonly known fact about me. i talk about it frequently. i hated school both because it was actual torture for my neurodivergent brain and because i was a delinquent child who loved skipping class to smoke and do drugs. partway thru my junior year i dropped out entirely by refusing to go to class anymore bc i had a falling-out with a friend who i thought was going to actually bring a gun to school and kill me. my parents, who were at their wits' end with having a delinquent loser of a child, agreed to let me finish online (since in new hampshire you can't legally drop out of school til age 18). then i finished the rest of my junior year and did my whole senior year in less than two months but never filed the paperwork for my diploma because i Did Not Give A Shit.

now i self-study the topics that interest me like writing, critical analysis, the irish language, mythology, diaspora, eras of american history that i was never taught in school, etc. i have a handful of friends in academia now who will recommend me academic papers and discussions related to topics i'm independently researching, it's fabulous.

but i will Never enroll in a formal classroom environment again. or at least i'm highly unlikely to. because. it is bad for me!

[dove-da-birb]

For the Dove lore, When you were in school what was your favourite subject?

Art! I loved visual art! I also took it all through high school; drawing, painting, and ceramics. I took an art analysis/history course in college as well. But I also loved biology and took a biology class in my college program too.

I was actually originally going to be a high school art teacher with a minor in history, but I enrolled during Covid; everything was online, so I dropped out.

I’ll be posting a few photos of some of the stuff I made in high school at some point, so keep your eye out for it!

[wwwurbunnygrldotcom]

FILE J.ONE - PT.1

(”I mean if you’re going to hack into my software might as well give me head first.”)

1 - 2 + UPDATE

WARNINGS- smut, mentions of pedophilia, porn, bad language, and over all not kid friendly writing!

Pairing- Han Jisung (Of StrayKids X OC/you)

Genre- Hacker AU, highschool AU, comedy, and romance.

WC- 2K

SUMMARY- 

Being a well experienced hacker and coder with too much time on your hands is an interesting hobby, especially interesting when you leave your computer in your school's robotics club and come back to a strange new malware taking over your system. Who in the robotics club is responsible? Who is trying to watch me? And why?

File title; Han Jisung. Age; 17, occupation; student enrolled at Seoul high school, alias; J.ONE.

Normal kid with a normal cyber background, seemingly there was nothing special about Jisung. Except for the alarming amount of porn he watches, although I didn't expect much coming from the vice president of Seoul high school’s robotics club. 

The entire robotics club was almost built like a mini nerd cult. They never spoke to anyone other than each other during break times, the only thing making them noticeable was the fact some of their members were drop dead gorgeous. The group consisted of 8 members, all of which I've done extensive cyber background checks on.

The president or leader of the robotics club was our school's valedictorian, Christopher “Chan” Bang. Most people called him Chan since he refused to ever hear his legal name, I wouldn't want to be called Christopher either. Online or during coding he used the name CB97. He started the robotics club back in his freshman year, now that he’s graduating he’s training Jisung to take his place for the younger members. I found that out after finding a file titled, “Jisung’s growing up:(“. Other than that I found basic coding cheats for password hacking and how to take down viruses, nothing any other coding lover wouldn't have. I only found him suspicious because in order to dig my way into his system I had to jump over two firewalls, for a second I was nervous the walls were used as distractions while viruses were being downloaded onto my software. Nope. That is what made Chan even then the more interesting, he’s not smart enough to program malware, but smart enough to hide something. 

Lee Minho took the cake for the most I had found out of any of the members, certainly not anything useful but enough to make my jaw drop just a little bit. Minho, also known as, Lee Know online, had a porn and gambling addiction at just 17. Thousands of dollars spent on cam girls in the past year not even noting how much was spent on online slot machines. Unlike Chan he had only one singular firewall setup and even so it wasn't the strongest, the basic kind of software you pay some DnD kid to install for you. I suppose a lot of people who find out about another person's addictions might actually want to use it for leverage, though blackmail isn't what I was looking for. I just wanted to know who the fuck installed this malware onto my computer. Lee Minho was off the hook, although I did make sure therapist’s will pop up in his recommendations throughout all of his social medias. I think he may need it. 

Seo Changbin, SPEARB, has one of the most boring files I have ever witnessed. Yes, he did partake in illegal activity but not to the degree Minho does. The only differentiating factor between the two was Changbin had a girlfriend, making his porn searches much lower than the rest. It wasn't hard to tell when I stumbled across the homemade porn videos uploaded to his iCloud of the two, she definitely was beautiful. Inside and out, if you know what I mean. His search history consists of lists of car parts and gym plans. Now, the only thing I can see Changbin doing behind the police’s back is back street car racing. Which for the record was something I truly did admire, so I spent a little bit extra time looking at pictures of his cars and all the mods he had changed on it. Based on this I think it was the only reason why he joined the robotics club to begin with, it gave him an opportunity to get ahold of the tools he needed without seeming strange. He wasn't the one I was looking for. 

Hwang Hyunjin was a different type of boy. He was so attractive it made me blush a little bit to go through his belongings, I got to see a different side to him and to say I wasn't a little giddy was a lie. I liked going through him the most because he was definitely more clever. His passwords were much larger and harder to decipher, meaning it took my software and little longer to get through. I knew Hyunjin was a ladies man, I mean we all did. You would have to be socially stupid to not see how women flock to him like sheep, and he was good at it too. He knew exactly how to get them wrapped around his finger. He had this sort of ego online, Jiniret. He would talk to women through online dating apps, pretending to be older or even sometimes someone he wasn't at all. Whatever type of men these women were looking for they could find in Hyunjin. He was so sly with his words these women would do anything for him, send him money, buy him clothing or food, these women were utterly in love with Jiniret. I think the worst thing I had found was recent searches of plastic surgery doctors for cheap prices in Seoul. Was he saving up the money he earned from these women to change his appearance? Fortunately, Jiniret was not the criminal I was looking for. 

Lee Felix for the most part was completely normal, for a long time Felix wasn't even on the list of suspects. The only reason I had even searched for him was because he was a part of Chan’s group, making him an associate. Though fortunately I found nothing, nothing besides a pile of gay porn and test anwers for every chemistry test he has taken so far. For now, I left Felix alone. Although for safe measures I kept in touch with his digital footprint. 

Min Seungmin or known as PuppyM, was also a suspect I was less worried about. Yet again another straight A student with a perfect school record. Seungmin had a very clear interest in coding, like he had joined the group for what Chan had intended it to be. That's what Seungmin wanted everyone to believe he was, PuppyM on the other hand was some sort of viglianti online. PuppyM finds pedoflies on all platforms and baits them as a 10 year old girl, once he becomes closer with these men he lures them into cyberattacks. He gains their IP address and all data proof of their crimes and anonymously sends them to law enforcement. PuppyM was well respected and admired in this community, which was such a difference from Seungmin. What was even more surprising was he had let the youngest member in on what he had been doing, something the others hadn't done. 

The youngest being Yang Jeongin, a freshman new to the club. He joined robotics a couple months ago, I found some searches in his Google history of coding basics, which then lead me to believe Jeongin was completely new to coding and just joined to make new friends. This led my attention away from Jeongin and towards the older members, that was until I found messages between Seungmin and himself. Only two months into their meeting, Seungmin had come clean about everything he had been doing in his free time, offering to recruit him and take him under his wing. Jeongin seemed nervous at first and thought that doing something as risky as this was simply too much for him. Everything in the span of a month had changed, he went from making small actions online to big movements. It started with only speaking to one man at a time to speaking to multiple and even running fake group chats for pedophiles. PuppyM and FoxI.Ny were the perfect duo to make the internet a cleaner place for children. 

Han Jisung. J.ONE. No one has ever sent me more in a loop than he has. Jisung was no criminal, or at least with anything I had found. Though, Jisung was more clever and protective than any of the boys had been. Jisungs passwords were extensive and detailed, a long series of numbers mixed in with symbols and letters. Behind the passwords were firewalls and traps to gain IP addresses of hackers. So not only was I not able to access as much as I had wanted, but when I got as far as his messages and search history there was nothing. Nothing. No strange texts, Google searches, no dating apps, only him and his dominatrix porn. I was angry with myself for not searching harder or not even knowing enough to get past his walls, but it was too much of a risk. I was ultimately stuck, with all of the boys I had come up with explanations for their behavior easily, though Jisung seemed too innocent. Why have an alias when you're committing no crimes? Why be so secretive when there's nothing to hide? But that was exactly it. There IS something to hide.  

The blue light on my computer was starting to strain my eyes after going over my notes of the boys over and over. I was trying my hardest to make the connections I hadn't seen the first time, but nothing. I felt a little helpless but I still had options left.

Last week I bought a computer from the pawnshop, one of those Microsoft surface computers. When I had initially bought the computer they let me know the motherboard was completely busted, the previous owner had brought it in because of the infamous “Blue Screen of Death”. I thought it would be a fun side project and something to keep my mind busy, all things I desperately needed. 

After further inspection I noticed there were partially connected cables, improperly seated components, and electrical spikes and power surges. All causes for a motherboard to crash easily. I thought this would be an easy fix, though the tool I needed most was the one I didn't have. 

After school yesterday I thought I’d take the computer to the robotics club, thinking out of everyone they would be able to help with what I needed. When I had initially walked in the room none of the members were present, so at first I felt a little awkward walking in and using their tools without permission. I stood around the door for a few seconds hoping someone would show up, but atlas no one did. In my panic I decided, “Who’s going to notice?”.

After placing my personal computer and backpack on the table I began searching for the labeled baskets with the metal rods. I found the right size and started my work fixing my new motherboard. As I’m thinking back and retracing my footsteps I’m quite angry for being so careless with something as precious as my computer. Because ultimately I misplaced my computer and left it on the desk I was occupying. I wasn't so nervous someone would try and steal it because I was lucky enough to have my name engraved on the bottom right hand corner. Nor was I nervous that someone would be able to get into my computer, because just as I am able to get into peoples files, I am able to protect my own.

As embarrassing as it is, I was completely confident nothing would happen until it did. The next morning when I went to claim my lost belongings I noticed a strange file that had not been there the day before. The file wasn’t edited to have a name, only titled the the files location. I knew I was fucked the moment I clicked it and the file was nothing besides a yoga program. I was fucked because I don't do yoga, I am the furthest away from active. Someone installed a Trojan virus. 

Trojan viruses are a type of malware that invade your computer disguised as real, operational programs. Once a trojan is inside your system, it can perform destructive actions before you even know it’s there. Once inside, some trojans sit idly on your computer and wait for further instructions from its host hacker, but others begin their malicious activity right from the start. So whoever the fuck did this, did it for a purpose. They need something from me and that’s exactly what I needed to figure out. 

The robotics club became the first line of suspects from the start. Not only are they the only ones that could have had the opportunity to do this, seeing as though they meet early before school, but also the skill. That’s what led me here. Analyzing each member as if I’m the FBI, because I’m about to rain cyber hell on whoever is responsible. 

DING.

HI, INDIGOBUNNY. HAVE YOU DECIDED WHICH ONE OF US DID IT?

BTW YOU LOOK INSATIONALLY PRETTY TONIGHT:)

Who the fuck?!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you guys liked the first chapter of this new mini series I’m starting!! I really love this one from the bottom of my heart. Stay healthy Buns, I love you! As always here is a little visual of Jisung during this fanfic!

[x-authorship-x]

For the ask game: 🗣️ I love reading your thought process, so that should be fun! (What would be the chances of the WIP being about Shisui...🤔🤔🤔/jk) Hope you have a good weekend! xoxo

Hey Nalyvia ~~~

Just for that, I'll pick an unconventional one! 🤭

*insert fifteen minutes of digging through docs* FOUND ONE

Okay so this is gonna be minimally edited (because it is so riddled with typos it's barely even coherent lmao) but this is a Naruto/BnHA fic where Obito and Shisui are brothers! I actually keep within Shisui's Canon age range by having him at 14 lmao, Obito is 19-20

ADVERSITY

Obito spontaneously remembers he has a heart and grabs shisui before Danzo can steal his eye. Shisui loses his shit, thinks Obito is trying to stop him from saving the Uchiha, and goes all mangekyou, dropping their asses in BNHA. They have a major freak out and run around like headless chickens through tokyo as they beat each other's asses and the truth comes out in bits and pieces; shisui with the coup and Tobi being his older brother Obito who was saved by crazy ass Madara, before their fight is interrupted by a villain-hero fight, which they drop kick and then disappear in the aftermath.

They track down a library, rob a bunch of people, and do some research before having another huge argument about winding up here - obito is furious at shisui for dumping them when theres no way to get back whilst shisui is still raging that obito fucked off for five years - and decide on a truce to survive. Shisui points out that if they use their chakra in public theyre gonna get arrested and experimented on real fast, if not locked in prison, so they should look into get licenses; obito is like fuck no. so they decide to cut the labour between them; Shisui is old enough to blitz through middle school graduation before applying to high school (novelty, delight and frustration all at once) whilst obito is gonna go digging about what villains do around here and see if theres any chakra or way back etc. they manage to forge papers with liberal sharingan usage and thievery and get an apartment. Obito makes a comment about shisui going back to the academy; Shisui dodges the argumentative tone and seriously asks why Obito let him think he was dead but obito clams right up.

Shisui enrolls in online classes at a local school and dreams about what nightmare he’s abandoned his family to; obito seems to sense his mood but refuses to talk about it. This gets tricky when he starts going out at night and making a name for himself; Shisui tells him to aim for vgiliante, so that if he does get arrested then the heroes wont immediately chuck him in prison, but grey-scale enough that he can talk to villains. Obito says hes not gonna get arrested and shows off his kamui skill; shisui wonders what theyre gonna do about their shared ‘quirks’ being recognised. Obito whips out the orange mask and says he’ll stick to intangibility and pretend his daylight persona - not that he plans to be out and about - just has the energy manipulation required for Shunshin etc since they can both do it; shisui’s quirk will be energy augmentation, which allows him to shunshin etc; theyre keeping their sharingan hidden as nothing but a latent family mutation in the pupil. Obito starts making a name for himself, although he regretfully fails to kill-shot anyone as thats a very serious crime to get caught committing; he meets  heroes and starts playing cat and mouse with them.

shisui, meanwhile, is having a breakdown over the internet and history here, an existential crisis about propaganda, locked in their shitty apartment with a stolen computer to use for class and research. He starts wandering the city in the afternoons, feeling like his whole life has been upended; when he speaks to obito about it, his brother starts mocking him about getting a reality check from being a brainwashed little tool; shisui screams at him about being loyal and looking after those he loves at least and runs out into the night; obito goes after him and tracks him down to the beach where he sighs and begrudgingly apologises. Shisui asks why obito never came back for him, why he let Shisui think his brother was dead; obito tells him that when Rin died, when Kakashi was the one to do it… he felt like he’d gone insane and he didnt want to go back to a village, one he’d been desperately holding onto despite the fact he’d been left to die in that landslide begging for death but somehow holding on for hours of agony, and it felt like nothing had been what he’d thought. Thered been an old man and a strange creature who’d cursed him back to health, whispering strange things in his ear whenever he regained consciousness, and obito hadnt wanted to be Obito after that; he was better off having died in that cave… so he became someone else. Shisui tells him about losing obito and then his entre genin team in the same month, about gaining his mangekyou and the way the elders had suddenly seemed to crawl all over him in interest; about itachi’s vacant, tragic eyes and sasuke’s reluctant attention and the weight of fugaku’s disappointed stare; about no one wanting to look at him, even speak to him, until after he’d forced himself into the spotlight at the chuunin exams when he killed everyone he came across, so skilled and talented and look at me look at me - about joining anbu and finally feeling seen even when he was in the shadow corps. About the coup and danzo and walking the wire for months, trying to save everyone even as they dug their graves deeper and deeper. Shisui bawls his eyes out, suddenly so terribly young, and obito, for the first time since he ‘died’, holds him.

Its three months later when obito meets endeavour. It goes about as well as expected when endeavour almost exploded an entire block trying to burn obito alive only for obito to flee without so much as a singe-mark….all the civilians are found dumped, unconscious, in an alleyway a safe distance away(he grabbed them and knocked them out with kamui). Obito is launched into the public eye after that. Shisui starts looking into quirk history and politics and current rankings; obito is both uninterested and intrigued when shisui points out certain heroes and he goes around trying to meet them (edgeshot is cool but definitely not a ninja… he looks too much like kakashi and obito flees that thought). As the entrance exam for UA approaches, obito finally meets eraserhead, scares the shit out of the man when his quirk doesnt make obito drop from the side of the building he’s crouched on, and we get a detective cut scene about ****Obito's vigiliante name***’s quirk. 

Entrance exam day; Shisui really hasnt been getting out much and he’s shocked by a lot of things, especially when the guy next to him tells people off (which is valid because dont these people understand respecting authority and shit, but also really he shouldn't be putting himself out there like tht...). He ends up in the physical exam with tokoyami and is impressed and regretful for the loss of his crow summons; he compliments tokoyami afterwards and gets to meet dark shadow, who clicks and whistles at him to tokyami’s bewilderment. Shisui legs it out of there; no surprise, he passes first in the exam. Obito, meanwhile, is approached in a bar by dabi who introduces him to kurogiri as they both presumably have ‘warping’ quirks. Obito has hit something big; dabi is both pissed and impressed by the idiot annoying his old man.

First day of UA: shisui is in 1-A and meets tenya again, slinking to his seat away from the attention; denki complains that between Shisui and shouto theyre not gonna get any girls to themselves; dark shadow and tokoyami greet shisui and momo interjects with interest when tokoyami compliments him again on his amazing showing in the exams; Shisui is put off by the open discussion of quirks, since its handing out their own weaknesses, but shrugs off the attention as having a simple speed-quirk. Aizawa finally calls out to the class and they go outside for their tests; shisui’s genin test was to find his old sensei in the middle of the village without being seen by civilians. This test is just fitness. He gets a lot of looks in the changing room and shisui is annoyed he didnt think to cover the scars; he foolishly though hero hopefuls would be more trained than this; he just says that hes been caught up in a few villain fights since he lives in a rough neoughbourhood and unwittingly makes everyone wonder if he’s a bit of a gang-type despite his politeness lmao

Aizawa calls Shisui up to do first ball throw, revealing that shisui came first in both parts of the exam (shisui is a jounin AND he used a sharingan for the test, c'mon people) and Midoriya steps up to do his tests , making aizawa use his quirk to stop him hurting himself. Shisui abruptly realises he’s going to have to fake being influenced by aizawa’s quirk and pay attention in the future so that no one can mae a connection between him and obito’s vigilante persona. Mineta is expelled, classes begin, and absolutely no one predicted that Shisui would be sitting with Bakugou of all people. Why? Everyone else is waaaaay too open, Bakugou is short tempered and angry but hes also so much more feral to succeed than most of them. There's a difference between trying hard in school and being absolutely devoted, Bakugou has been living and breathing his training since childhood (Todoroki is the same but shisui can smell the trauma and also this in endeavors kid, he doesn't want to risk Obito's cover) and shisui respects that even if he's increasingly annoyed with his temper and lashing out.

Obito joins the League to dig deeper into the underworld. Bakugou warms up to shisui when he realises that shisui isn't interested in petty childish egos and is professionally fixated on getting his license, which also helps Bakugou stop focusing on how others are doing. Shisui flunks the sports festival, because revealing his fighting style and 'quirk' on tv is a hard NO and Bakugou almost loses it when he see that shisui is 'whimping out' and they have a bad argument. Shisui avoids endeavor, Obito catches the Hero Killer for the clout, Bakugou is kidnapped by the league and broken out by shisui, realising that Shisuis 'rough neighbourhood' backstory might be even more gang-related than even Kaminari was gossiping about...

Shisui/Bakugou, Obito/Dabi

And that's all I had! I just copy pasted it 😅 maybe this reveals a bit about how I plan a fic?

This was fun, thanks for playing! Have a great weekend too ✨✨

[theaussieway]

From A Design Teacher To An Entrepreneur: A Billon Dollar Story Of “Canva”

The term “entrepreneur” is widely understood in the year 2022, and universities all around the world offer courses in it to help students hone their entrepreneurial talents. Some people even like the word. But, when young “Melanie Perkins” decided to start selling handmade scarves at markets around Perth two decades ago, it was not a popular practice.

However, Perkins has always been enthusiastic about business and got enough support to build a business. As she says, “I never forgot the freedom and excitement of being able to build a business.” That was one of the driving forces that led me to launch what would evolve to be Canva. ”

Melanie Perkins was born in 1988 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. She was born to multicultural parents: her father is a Malaysian of Filipino and Sri Lankan origin, and her mother was born in Australia. Her father works as an engineer, while her mother is a teacher.

Family and early life

Perkins had already shown an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age. She started her first business when she was 14 years old. She aspired to be a professional skater, even getting up at 4:30 a.m. daily for training sessions. She spent the majority of her childhood at Sacred Heart College before enrolling in college at the University of Western Australia.

Perkins studied communications, psychology, and commerce at the University of Western Australia. As part of her major, she also taught pupils the fundamentals of computer design. After seeing her pupils struggle with Adobe Photoshop and other sophisticated design platforms, she was inspired to create an easier and more efficient graphic design platform. Perkins dropped out of college at the age of 19 to pursue a career in business.

Career

Perkins and her future husband Cliff Obrecht co-founded Fusion Books in 2007. Fusion Books is a platform that enables students to create their own school yearbooks using a drag-and-drop interface and a collection of design templates that includes images, artwork, and fonts. Despite the fact that she had meant to work on her original project, insufficient resources forced her to convert to another, yet Fusion Books nevertheless achieved substantial success.

Perkins began designing Fusion Books at her mother’s house, with her parents assisting with yearbook production. Meanwhile, Obrecht would contact colleges and universities in an attempt to attract new clients for the company. Fusion Books would develop to become Australia’s largest yearbook company in a matter of years, later expanding to France and New Zealand.

The idea of “Canva”

She developed an idea while teaching fellow students basic computer design as part of her communications and business courses. In the age of the internet, the process of designing and publishing a poster or a flyer—composing it in Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Word, converting it to the correct size and storing it as a PDF, and taking it to a business like Staples to print—seemed time-consuming. Isn’t it much easier to do everything in one spot with one online tool?

“The first concept was to make design incredibly simple,” she explains.

Perkins was afraid that if she waited too long, someone else would solve the problem first. So she hired freelancers to create a Flash website to target one area she identified as consistent and underserved: school yearbooks, which are traditionally handled by student volunteers. Fusion Books, Obrecht and Perkins’ venture, found a market almost immediately. Perkins paused her studies with one semester left in college. Perkins’ mother fed the printers ink overnight during high season. Obrecht cold-called potential customers. Obrecht merely lowered his voice when schools wanted to speak with a manager. The company soon expanded to 400 schools, with licensees as far away as France. It was a beginning. But Perkins couldn’t go much further without venture capital, which was difficult to come by in Perth, a city focused on mining and petrochemicals.

A taste of disappointment

Perkins and Cliff Obrecht wanted to expand on what they’d done with Fusion Books in 2011. Canva’s concept was simple: empower users to make any design they wanted. Wedding invitations, business cards, social media posts, eBooks, and other materials were included (without needing a degree in graphic design).

The online digital design platform was template-based and simple to use, which solved a significant problem for anyone who needed to design something but had the necessary skills. Canva altered the standards for producing high-quality designs by making this service available for free.

However, investors were not convinced. Perkins and Obrecht were dismissed more than 100 times. “Rejection is painful, but failure was never an option… For better or worse, I don’t give up easy when I set my mind to something. “Being rejected a lot in our early stages only meant I had to work harder and tweak my strategy,” Perkins said in a speech about failure and how to grow from it hosted by Blackbird Ventures.

Melanie Perkins refuses to give up despite the frequent rejection. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to help her company succeed, even learning to kitesurf. Read Full Article: From A Design Teacher To An Entrepreneur: A Billon Dollar Story Of “Canva”

[chidoroki]

My Hero Academia S5 OVAs

aka: if you laugh you’re out

HLB:

Such a weird giddy feeling to hear the last season’s OP once again.

Aw man, Edgeshot asked Kamui and Mt Lady to help out Gang Orca but my dude himself ain’t here? Bummer.

Tamaki is already nervous and so done with the game. I love him. Hang in there buddy!

Orca hit that ball with ease.. they’ll definitely lose more to home runs but I’m wondering how many bats they’ll go through. Sure this one didn’t break but some have to, right? With all the power they’re using?

I..don’t remember the class B students names well, so Mindz, yeah, he’s quite the pitcher, which is unfortunate for Kaminari.

Even with three bats Shoji couldn’t land a hit.

I certainly wasn’t expecting that kind of scream from Shoji when Orca threw him either, oh my god.

Bro what? You can just bind people from actually swinging the bat? What a cheap trick, Kamui.

I’m kinda surprised that Shishido is capable of breaking all of Kamui’s attacks with just a bat. Definitely has some power to him but again, these bats are like indestructible or something.

“Cellophane was crushed by an unconscious Mt Lady” Nah bro he’s fucking dead.

At least Jiro was able to think of something to get a hit off of Mindz. And she didn’t get tossed by Orca so that’s a plus.

Tamaki is still shuddering in fear. Someone save him.

Ohh nooo, my poor boy got knocked out! All he wanted was to go home!

Even Fatgum became too skinny. People are dropping left and right.

Pfftt I wasn’t expecting Jiro to take Shoji’s advice and just faint like that but that was hilarious.

Both teams almost lost all their players and it’s only bottom of the third inning.. how the hell do games last til 9 with this intensity?

Oh, they actually took a break from the match to take care of a nearby robbery. How nice of them.

There we go, a bat finally breaks.

Hello hello, I forgot how nice Mt Lady looks without the costume. Fatgum too.

Tetsutetsu has been stuck in the ground the whole time, oops.

Laugh! As If You Are In Hell:

“It’s been almost ten months since I, Izuku Midoriya, enrolled in U.A. High School,” and yet so much has already happened.

So Mr. Smiley and Ms. Joke sorta kinda have the same quirk? Making people laugh?

To hear Endeavor and Bakugo laugh like that is quite something.

Oh, so the quirk has a range but the dude has items he can toss to show his face anyways..smart.

Aw come on, I was hoping to hear Todoroki burst into laughter too but he’s holding himself back so well.

Laughing for two hours straight has to be so annoying though, and hurt.

“His quirk worked even through an image. If he were to get on tv, it’d be a disaster.” Oh I didn’t even think of that possibility.

I certainly wasn’t expecting Hatsume to show up! But makes sense that the quirk would be ineffective against robots.. at least I hope so.

Okay, well, nevermind that.

Poor Midoriya always hurting his head whenever he gets hit by this quirk too.

Bro let me hear Todoroki laugh darn it!! I know it would be outta character but I need it!

“Kaminari’s good with computers, so I had him teach me,” Midoriya made an gallery for him to display his artwork online instead.

Wait, can he undo his quirk’s effect this whole time and he just chose not to?

Rest in peace Bakugo.

Mr. Smiley can be helpful when needed.

OH NO! Don’t interview him! Everyone is gonna laugh their asses off!

Yup, there they go..

[whisperingintoavoid]

Bₗₒg ₄₋₁₃₋₂₀₂₄

I have decided to make my post pretty sometimes, as a treat. I cannot promise that I will always do this, but I'm feelin' pretty alright right now and I feel like doing it, so I'm doing it!

I think I'm not going to hold myself to any standard with this blog aside from my tags to help my future self find past entries. The main thing I want this blog to be is an outlet. I don't want to end up avoiding posting here because I don't feel up to making the post look or sound good, ya know?

Anyway, I don't know if I have much to write about today. At least, what I feel like writing about.

I went to Nashville with my boyfriend a few weeks ago to meet his parents for the first time. I have mixed feelings about it. They're lovely people and I especially like his mom.

But I noticed that during the whole trip, he was masking in front of them. And at the end of the day, when we were alone in our room, he seemed exhausted from having to put up that front of being "normal" all day. And that just really sucks. It honestly hurt. It hurt me to see that because I love him. I love him so much. I love who he is, I love that he's kinda quirky and weird. I love his interests and how he infodumps and the way he paces constantly when he talks. But he felt like he had to hide that from his parents and that makes me so sad.

I wish they loved him the way I love him; unconditionally.

There's a whole other complicated situation regarding him and his parents and I have my own feelings about that, but I don't feel at liberty to write about it here. I feel like it's more his business than mine, so I won't write about it out of respect for his privacy. But suffice to say, I feel for him. My heart hurts for what he's going through.

On a brighter note, I just took my official GED social studies test and passed! I took it on Thursday and found I passed about 10-15 minutes after I finished. This was my first time taking an official GED test!

There are four tests you have to take to get your GED. Social studies, science, math, and reading. So I'm one quarter of the way to getting my GED! This is the closest I've ever been and I'm honestly so proud of myself. I can hardly believe it, to be honest.

High school was extremely hard for me. I was battling extreme academic anxiety, depression, and had undiagnosed ADHD. School was unbearable for me. I dreaded waking up everyday, just the thought of opening my backpack to start homework was enough to send me into an anxiety attack, I openly talked about wanting to kill myself every single day.

My grades were only good enough to scrape me by. In some classes, I even outright failed. Namely, chemistry and algebra in 10th grade. Math was always my hardest subject. It just never clicked with me. I didn't pay attention in most of my classes. I never really did projects or papers. The only class I thrived in was English. I've always been good with reading and writing and I've always been proud of that. I was also pretty okay at Spanish. Lowest grade I ever got in that class was probably a C.

Anyway, I was also attending a dual high school/college program from 9th-10th grade. We took real college classes alongside our high school ones and earned college credits. When we graduated, we also earned an Associate's Degree.

I dropped out after 10th grade; the pressure was too much. The anxiety was too much. I felt like I could never breathe.

After I dropped out, I enrolled in an online school instead. I thought that, if I didn't have to wake up at a certain time and get ready and go to a physical place and interact with people all day, that maybe that would help.

It didn't.

Still, the thought of even opening the laptop and logging into class would hit me with a wave of anxiety that would make me nauseous. I was always avoiding school.

When you're in an online school, you need to log in a minimum amount of hours in the school year to be able to pass and continue to the next grade, regardless of how well you're doing. At some point toward the end of the school year, my mother got a call from my school, telling her that I hadn't logged in enough during the year and that there wasn't enough time left in the school year for me to make up the time - I got expelled.

So I had to repeat my junior year. 11th grade, I tried a new online school.

To be honest with you, I don't think I would've passed that year either. I still barely logged in. Still barely did my work.

But it never got that far because the school I was attending was literally shut down in the middle of the year.

So... I was kind of just left floating. I could either put myself through more personal hell by enrolling in a fourth school, or I could just call it quits and get my GED instead. I was 17 going on 18 at this point.

School was torment for me. I knew what I was going to do.

But, unfortunately for me, I was an anomaly that no one knew what to do with. When I turned 18, I started trying to get my GED. Well, I was aiming to take the HiSet test, but it's basically the same thing. However, in order to be able to get your high school equivalency, the state needs proof that you dropped out of high school. You're not legally allowed to have a high school diploma and a high school equivalency and the state is very strict about this. I don't know why anyone would go through the trouble of getting a GED if they already have a high school diploma (seriously, it's a HASSLE trying to get this fucking thing) and I don't know why it would even matter if someone did. Regardless, they're extremely strict about this rule. However, because my school shut down and literally did not exist anymore, I couldn't contact anyone to get official paperwork saying that I dropped out.

Eventually, I just had to write something myself explaining the situation.

But that wasn't the only hurdle! Of course it wasn't! Because this is my life we're talking about!

Whenever I would go online to try to schedule my test, the website would give me an error and tell me that I wasn't old enough to take the fucking test!!!!!!!!

This was something that could not be bypassed!

I tried. I fucking TRIED to get my GED when I was 18 fucking years old. I wanted to. I tried to. But time after time, I was a victim of circumstance.

Do you understand how it feels to know that the world views you as lazy and unintelligent and aloof when you know that isn't true? It feels like having a labelled stamped on your forehead and no one takes the time to listen to what you have to say to explain yourself after they read what you are. You get shoved in with a group of people that are looked down upon, that are considered less than. It feels like screaming at a brick wall.

So now I'm 23, going on 24, and I passed my first quarter of the GED test.

So much has happened in my life that has taken my attention away from education. And really, I just felt like it wasn't for me. My brain didn't work the right way. I'm not compatible with the way school works.

I think I'm starting to feel differently now that I'm medicated. I'm not certain. I'm still very hesitant about it because of the fact that school was my own personal hell for so long and I wish I were exaggerating. But I've been going to math classes twice a week to study for the math quarter of the test and surprisingly I'm the student in the class that the teacher has to say "Let someone else answer," to. Almost everything just clicks and makes sense? I don't know why math is suddenly kind of easy for me. I fear even saying that out loud because I might jinx it.

Math used to feel like reading a language I'd never seen before. But it doesn't feel like that anymore and I don't know why. It's actually kind of scary? I'm scared I'll lose it.

Anyway, I have two more tests scheduled already. Science and reading. I'm not worried about reading, I could pass that in my sleep. I didn't even bother taking the practice test. Science I was worried about initially, but apparently it's the test with the highest passing rate, and I did really well on the practice test, so I shouldn't have anything to worry about, really.

I'm gonna walk that fuckin' stage in July if it kills me! '24, baby!

[caffeinatedkylie]

Diary 006

14th March 2024

Finished my session, and I’m officially on a break until summer classes start in May!

I have 64 days to get myself ready for full time study, and honestly, it's going to be a challenge. For a little background, I’m a fairly classic gifted-kid-late-ADHD-diagnosis story: coasted through high school on relatively little effort, learned no study skills, got into an extremely rigorous university and found myself in way over my head. I was not equipped to learn how to be a student and how to be an adult at the same time and completely fell apart, dropped out/tried again numerous times, and have dealt with depression and anxiety in varying degrees for my entire adult life. Got diagnosed after 30 and finally started meds last year!

So all of that said, when I transferred to my current university (fully online, paid for by my employer), I was initially deferred to an earned enrollment program (also free) and had to complete 12 credit hours with a B average, which I did last week! But that program was super unstructured— most of my classes did not have a discussion post requirement/participation component, and all but one had “suggested” deadlines, where I just had to complete the coursework by the end of the session. (Sidebar, my semesters are split into A/B sessions, so I take two classes at a time for about 8 weeks.)

The program I was admitted to is much more traditional in format: most courses have weekly due dates, participation requirements, and live office hours. The lack of structure in the courses I just finished was problematic for me, so on the one hand, I’m excited to be operating within a clear schedule; deadlines are good for me. But I do also work full time, and the ability to get behind in a class and then log a couple long weekend days and catch up without penalty means I still haven’t totally sorted out balancing work and life with my academic demands.

I want to do everything that I can across these next two months to set myself up for success. I’m being intentional with my time and energy and focusing on my wellness and routines, and I’m making the time off count. (And I’m logging it here!) I’m nervous, but I’m really eager to make this time different, and I feel good about it.

Freshly showered now and off to sleep that good Benadryl sleep, because I’m on the force-resetting-my-sleep-schedule grind 😤