#has anyone heard of this?

[ziekaramaik]

Okay, so... I was in this thrift store. I was browsing the used books sections. And something caught my attention because the author's name on the spine was "Katherine Applegate". It was book #2 of the "Making Waves" series, a YA romance book series.

And I was like... is it the same Katherine Applegate? K.A. Applegate?? THAT one???

I read the copyright page. It was dedicated to Michael. Yep, it's her all right.

I loved Animorphs as a kid. I haven't read every book by the same author(s), but I least had an awareness of them. We've all heard of Ever World, and Remnants, and The One and Only Ivan. I even vaguely heard something about some pre-animorphs book about basketball.

I NEVER heard of Making Waves. It's a series with at least 11 books that's APPARENTLY been around since 2001? Has anyone heard of this?? Was it dropped into the past via time travel??

[embrace-life1973]

If you have heard of anything like this, know what it's called, have experienced anything like this, or know of any solutions, please reply.

I don't even care if you have solutions, just knowing that I am not the only one who deals with this would be amazing.

I have very severe adhd, narcolepsy, and complex trauma. I know all 3 of these things work together to worsen each other. I am very medicated for the adhd and narcolepsy (same type of meds for both, I'm on the maximum available dose of 2 seperate stimulants and they only work until around 4pm if I'm lucky for the adhd, and 11am for the narcolepsy). I have achieved very significant burnout, and really only learned that willpower for the most part doesn't fix adhd symptoms after I already ran out of all of it. I can't take more medications, and it's not really safe for me to be on as much as I am and it's affecting my heart and my doctors are trying to figure out how to lower doses without causing other problems (During the day, my resting heart rate is usually between 100 and 120 bpm, some days with resting heart rate as high as 140 bpm, plus I have pre-POTS syndrome that is being encouraged by the high dose of meds to begin developing into full POTS).

For the most part, things I enjoy doing I can fairly easily get done and focus on without any issues, which is common for adhd.

I am a college student, and I am really struggling to get my brain to do assignments as what I've been told is a combo of adhd and narcolepsy symptoms will cause me to get completely stuck in distractions for several hours (I will recognize that I am distracted, but I can't seem to make my body and brain quit, with any attempts leading to full body muscle locking up). If I'm not stuck in a distraction I will get stuck trying to get my brain to do schoolwork, or really any productive thing, and my brain and body just won't and I will end up in a stare off between me and the work I'm trying to do, unable to move or switch to trying to do anything else because the second I try all my muscles will lock up and I physically won't be able to move. The record length for that has been 6 hours straight.

There is nothing I want to do more than to be able to get what I need to do done. I've researched everything I can and asked my doctors what to do, and I haven't found many answers that I haven't already tried to no avail before.

I get incredibly stressed out by the fact I can't move to get work done, which makes the problem worse and increases the locking-up. I am on anxiety meds to try and help to no avail, they just help with anxiety during all the other times of day. It's also very hard to explain to other people and get them to believe me, especially when it comes to most doctors and therapists and school admin and professors. This is made worse by the fact that I am academically extremely intelligent and usually can complete assignments in the few hours my brain is willing to work and have a 4.0 GPA.

My family and friends have tried to help as much as possible and have been as understanding as they can be given none of us have ever heard of something like this. When possible they will try to be in the room with me when I try to do work as that seems to help some, and I've tried to go to public places like coffee shops to help myself, but even that is slowly starting to not work anymore. Many things I've tried work for a short time, and then the effects wear off.

My room is in a state of disarray (I live with my parents and commute to college) in spite of my best efforts to keep it clean because I can't bring myself to clean most of the time. It's also hard for me to shower regularly because it is a sensory struggle for my brain, making it all the harder to get it to let me do. (I do have moderate to severe chronic pain, which also plays into some of this, although a lot is inability to bring myself to do things).

I also struggle to remember to consistently take medications outside of my adhd and narcolepsy meds, as I don't have any instant results if I don't take them (or even any result for a few days of forgetting), with the exception for my adhd and narcolepsy meds. I have tried alarms, reminders, notes, tying it to other habits, putting them where you would think I couldn't miss them, and even have had other people message me to try and help me remember.

I don't have depression, I've been tested many times and none of the times have come back saying I do, and even if I did, I can't go on SSRI medications as when I was on a very low dose of them for anxiety for a short time, I actually temporarily became depressed and anxiety actually increased, and later I found out that somehow I ended up with a genetic mutation that neither of my parents have that causes me to not respond well to those medications.

I have tried alarms, reminders, timers, trying to trick my brain into liking what I need to do, rewarding myself for doing what I need to (although I struggle with impulsivity and stopping myself from rewarding myself before I get the reward because that requires willpower), utilizing other people when possible, trying to just do it, and lists. Exercise is one of those things that is very difficult for me given the chronic pain and that my brain won't do that either. I've also tried to do everything I could find on the internet on recovering from burnout with adhd, and even without adhd, but I have run into problems in that those solutions seem to require at least a little bit of willpower, of which I already had completely ran out of before I knew that I was burnt out.

Also, eliminating distractions doesn't work since I can still get stuck in the stare off with my work, and I will quite literally get distracted by a speck on the wall (I have been distracted by that very thing more times than I can count).

The worst part about it is, it often feels like I'm not trying hard enough and I could just will myself to do work, yet when I try, I can't. This is not even taking into consideration how many people (including most doctors and therapists i've tried) have told me things like "Just do it", "you aren't trying hard enough", and "why can't you just get it done so its over with?". There is nothing I want more than to do what I need to get done, and I have spent countless nights crying over that very thing.

If you have heard of anything like this, know what it's called, have experienced anything like this, or know of any solutions, please reply. I don't even care if you have solutions, just knowing that I am not the only one who deals with this would be amazing. I quite literally have no where else to turn to except for a few social media sites in the hopes that someone here knows what I'm dealing with or at least can confirm I'm not alone in this. Doctors and therapists have failed me over and over and over again, no one else knows what I'm talking about, and I've researched everything I know to research.

[herd-reject-arts]

So I'm leaving work and something darts in front of me, maybe 10ft away, too fast for me to see what it is. Peek around the tree blocking my path and I see this

Just like... a whole ass hawk. Dude's gotta be about 1.5ft tall. Massive fucking bird. And it's just staring me straight in my soul like this, even as I try to move ahead. It didn't budge. And there's only this path back to my car unless I want to walk on a busy highway. So I have the option of Death By Raptor or Death By Truck.

So I walk in the poison ivy filled patch off the sidewalk. Guy still isn't moving. Still staring me directly in the eyes. And I do this thing when animals are behaving strangely where I'll talk to them, so I'm just like, "Hey, man. I don't know you. You don't know me. This feels really threatening. I'm just trying to get to my car, dude. Can I get some space please? You're a big fucking bird. I see those claws. You could kill me right now, but I'd appreciate if you didn't, ok?"

It didn't move until I was about 2ft away. Again: I'm as far from it as I can be without walking into the street. It clearly wasn't going to budge. I walk past, thing flies up (silent, btw. Scary) and lands on a brick wall a little further ahead

Anyway. Weird guy. Nearly shit my pants when I noticed a bird big enough to carry off a fully grown cat was just... there, staring me in the face, unwilling to move away from me, a human, something it should see as a threat. I watched behind me the whole rest of the way to my car, just in case this bird decided to help me shed this mortal coil. 10/10 experience. Super cool guy.

[andthebeanstalk]

Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".

Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"

And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".

Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.

At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.

So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!

Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!

Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!

Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.

[starbuck]

reading and watching “classic” books and films is such an interesting experience because, before you get into them, when you only know them by name and maybe the vaguest plot outline, they’re intimidating and stuffy and up on a pedestal, but then you finally take the leap and check them out and realize that almost every story that’s achieved such a legendary level of popularity did so because something in its emotional core reached out and grabbed a lot of people by the throat and you are NOT immune.

[sollandan]

their models are like a muse to me

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Danny was...unnerved, which is unusual considering his upbringing as the child of mad scientists obsessed with the undead.

It had been a few weeks since he had moved into Wayne manor after a conflict between batman and his parents, which led to his home and his friends and family being blown up in a lab malfunction. Most of Amity Park was destroyed in the blasts, including Vlad and his mansion.

Usually Danny would be more suspicious of super rich dudes, but the sorrow in Bruce Wayne's eyes as he pleaded to let Danny take him in was genuine and well, Danny didn't exactly have anywhere else to go. Plus, Bruce looked weirdly guilty when danny told him none of this was his fault, which was weird. Jazz was in college and always looked exhausted on video calls, so he didn't want to bother her there.

The part that bothered him most wasn't that there was anything dangerous or bad happening, but rather the opposite.

Danny was used to dodging his home security system when it randomly targeted him. He was used to ghosts popping up out of nowhere to suckerpunch him. He was used to danger.

And now that there was none, he was jumping at shadows.

Things got better when he met Psaro. He was in the process of being either mugged or kidnapped, he wasn't sure, when this angry goth teen with silver hair and ruby eyes literally came in swinging a steel chair. After the beat down and subsequent rescue, Danny offered to buy them some food. Psaro tried to reject the offer until his stomach suddenly growled, making him blush, and Danny dragged the older goth teen to a restaurant.

They've been best friends since. Psaro later introduced him to his friends Rose and Toilen, explaining that they weren't from this world and that Rose was an elf and Toilen was a Teran from a planet called Terrestria. Danny assumed that Psaro was an elf like Rose due to them both having long pointed ears and mostly focused on Toilen thanks to the "other planet" bit.

Meanwhile, the bats have been keeping an eye out on Danny (aka stalking him) and his new, obviously magical friends.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Average Drama Enjoyer observes some peak drama.

[cheryl-williams]

ASH WILLIAMS and BETH BIXLER THE EVIL DEAD (1981) dir. SAM RAIMI EVIL DEAD 2 (1987) dir. SAM RAIMI ARMY OF DARKNESS (1992) dir. SAM RAIMI EVIL DEAD RISE (2023) dir. LEE CRONIN

[nelkcats]

Ember's Music Emporium

When he became King, Danny had not banned the ghosts from earth but asked them to be discreet, so instead of giving concerts that were extremely flashy, Ember decided to open a music store.

It was complicated to find a good location since she wanted to go far away from Amity, but she was aware that not all cities would accept strangers and it could be dangerous for her if they found out she was a ghost.

Money was not so difficult, Ember had collected several things during her unofficial concerts, among them: cash (besides, Danny was willing to sponsor her if that wasn't enough), and musical instruments were even easier to find as Skulker loved to build them and wanted to help her.

In the end, her little music store set up in Gotham (rusty laws, natural ecto, crazies everywhere and lots of people who looked extremely colorful, she assumed they would take her as one).

She and Skulker worked very hard at turning the dusty place they bought into something nice where everyone was welcome; they also made it a sort of temporary home, seeing as they couldn't go to the Infinite Realms every day.

And everything was a success until someone tried to attack their little business; naturally the ghosts protected it and very soon, a rare scarecrow was hit by one of Skulker's bombs.

It didn't cause much damage but it definitely drew attention. Many tried to attack after this and they kept responding (Skulker much more excited than she was about the whole thing).

But Ember was determined to not call Danny, she was sure they would get scolded about attacking people and not going unnoticed as they promised (although the rude people attacked them first and none of them were dead, or Danny would have come).

When some weird guys in bat costumes started trying to sneak into her humble music store (and they didn't even bother to pretend to be customers like the nice guy in the red helmet), she decided that maybe it was time to call the halfa. Things had gotten a little out of hand.

[bakudekublogblog]

y'all i know kacchan dying like that must have been traumatizing for the bkdk shippers, but like.... he also died in the gayest way humanly possible.... like i can't even imagine going through that bc on one hand it's like my special boy is dead, but on the other he was so love interest coded, shiggy killed him specifically bc of izuku's intense feelings about him, the fucking yearning for izuku as he died, and then the reveal he carries the little all might card he got with izuku around with him like. i cannot stress enough just how gay his death was. like i just know the shippers had to be a little conflicted

[essektheylyss]

You know what's hilarious, if Ludinus was indeed a young man being traumatized by the end of the Calamity. Deirta Thelyss is almost certainly older than he is.

This is not relevant but I think Essek should bring this up, just to be a bitch about it.

[rice-x2]

no.i , the imaginary unit

[tewiwewi]

can someone watch over my cat while i put the pizza in the oven

[pseudophan]

israel doing the absolute most to try and win eurovision is so baffling to me. they seem to think that would be good pr but it's so clearly the opposite? if israel wins, and that is very likely at least the public vote, it's only going to strengthen the outrage and will be an unbelievably bad look for both israel and eurovision as a whole. you're slaughtering an entire people while winning a fuckass music competition? that you're spending a ton of money on begging people to vote for you in? that's literally just going to make people so much angrier. i truly don't get how on earth they think this is a good move. and eurovision as a whole will be even more of a joke than it already is.

[turquoisemagpie]

Appreciate the little things.

Not to ignorantly deny all of the big bad things in the world, but to survive them.