Cortney

I'm currently in sophomore year of high school and my parents have been divorced since 2006. My mom wants to change her last name back to her maiden name, but she said she'll only do it if I want to change my last name (she wants to be a family and not have a different last name than her children). I don't want my mom to feel as if she has to identify with my dad even though they've been divorced for the past 9/10 years, but at the same I've used my dad's last name for my entire life. I've already signed up for school and AP testing with my dad's last name so I'm scared if I change it there will be some problems when transferring my scores, grades, or whatever.

I just got my braces off yesterday and my orthodontist told me to wear my retainer 24/7 except for meals and brushing. I've been following the instructions and I wear my retainer basically all day long, but my teeth are shifting especially in the back??

Hi, I'm a freshmen in high school and I've been debating whether or not I should aim towards anthropology or computer engineering.

I enjoy both; I originally was starting with a social science pathway (I'm taking ap human geography), but now I heard that computer engineering is getting more "popular"? (Will it still be by the time I graduate high school in 2018?)

I checked out this online course called codecademy and I'm learning about HTML and CSS at the moment. Throughout each lesson, I've realized that I actually genuinely enjoy computer science.

I don't know which one I like better...

Help me choose?

Hello I'm 14 years old and tomorrow my mother is taking me to a double eyelid consultation.

I have a double eyelid right now, but one eyelid is slightly smaller than the other, and when I blink my eyelashes on the smaller eye sometimes get interlocked lol.

Should I get the surgery?

Hi! I recently bought some mouthwash (Crest 3D white--alcohol free) and ever since the first day I've used them, I've been getting swollen gums (no bleeding). I've used mouthwash before (the same product), and I've never had this reaction. Although, I AM trying something new with my current mouthwash. I read online that you're not supposed to rinse your mouth with water after mouthwash, so I stopped doing that. Could it be that my mouth isn't used to this? Idk.

There's one of my left ankle and one on my left calf and two on my right foot (one near my toes and one near my ankle).

They're a slightish pink color...maybe they'd be a darker red if I were a lighter skin tone but I'm really tan. In the middle there's this little circle/bubble which creates this weird clear fluid whenever I scratch it (oh yeah and it's kinda itchy).

My apartment neighbor recently got a dog from who knows where and I was wondering if my bites were caused my fleas? Or maybe I have a bed bug bite infestation?

This never happens to me when I'm having a good dream though. Only nightmares.

So this is what happens (it's been happening my whole life):

Sometimes, maybe once every other month, I would get an almost-nightmare. Weird right?

First, I'd be laying in bed, ready to go to sleep and I can feel my eyes go dark and I can hear a pounding in my ears (I don't know how to describe it). Then it feels like I'm falling into a dark place, but I feel like I'm still awake because the whole time my mind says "why am I feeling this way maybe I should wake up"

then I would get a nightmare..and I'm AWARE of it. But because I'm aware that I'm having a nightmare, I would always be like "um ok" and pull myself out of it SUPER easily, no matter how scary the nightmare was

It's not even a full nightmare, it's when I'm pulled into these I can see the objects/whatever is in there and I can infer that "oh wow this is a nightmare" so basically it's like a preview

This happens at least 4-5 times a year

Ex. This morning:

I woke up because my cat kept on tapping my face and meowing--so I got up and fed her

I went back to bed and I felt the dark sensation and the pounding in my ears and I "saw" some weird red guy with horns with a mallet and a steam engine behind him so in my mind I said "oh crap is this a nightmare??? Better not wait and see" and just pulled myself out of it EASILY

Is this normal or do I need some psycho help??

Long story short, we got into a stupid fight about my dad (they're divorced).

My mom kept on asking me a boat load of very personal questions, and it didn't feel like the right time to tell her how I feel so I said "I don't want to talk about it."

Then she got really mad at me and demanded why I don't want to talk about it, then I replied "I just DONT want to talk about it!!"

She hasn't spoken to me in three days now (I'm 14) and whenever I try to apologize for raising my voice she's like "Oh so NOW you want to talk huh???" And I feel really bad for trying to talk because I think I'm bothering her or something, so I walk away and hide in my room for the rest of the day, so I don't have to be in her way.

How do I make her talk to me again? I don't want to sound like a bother to her :(

Hello! I am an incoming freshmen and I was just wondering about any tips on high school ie. study habits or classes or what not

The reason why i'd like some tips is because I REALLY want to go to UC Berkeley and major in Anthropology.

I'm a straight A student and in freshmen year I'm taking English 1 Honors, Chemistry, AP Human Geography, Geometry Honors, and I'm going to try out for the school's volleyball team later on in early August.

So any tips on high school?

Ok, I am not the international student--my friend is.

I have a friend who was born in South Korea and moved to America when she was in 2nd to 3rd grade-ish. Ever since that, she's been living in California until she promoted from a public junior high school (8th grade). Now her parents are moving her to a private art school in Beijing. She's going to attend that school until she graduates from high school. She said her parents' plans are for her to attend college somewhere in Europe; they're not sure yet...

So now she's in Beijing...and I was just curious about if moving internationally so often would affect her later on in a bad way or a good way...maybe both? I don't know

Answers?

Going to be in algebra II/Trig by sophomore year? I'm planning to take AP Physics B in soph then AP Bio in senior year...

For freshmen year for high school, I am taking the following classes:

English 1 Honors

French 2 Honors

AP Human Geography

Geometry Honors

Biology or Chemistry (what should I take?)

My friend told me that I have more class options for sophomore year if I take chem in freshmen year...

I am a straight A student but I don't know if chemistry will interfere with my AP class in terms of work

Long story short, I love my older brother. I love each and every aspect of him, despite his disabilities.

My dad left my mom when he found out Korey (my brother) was autistic. Yeah, I know. Harsh.

So now my mom works two jobs in order to support my brother and I

I am in eighth grade, going into ninth grade next year. My brother is a junior, going into senior year.

What do autistics do after graduating high school? I don't want to leave him at home all alone, plus my mom would have to make arrangements to care for him in between jobs.

Is there a program that will help my brother?

What about financial programs?

Currently I am in 8th grade and on going to 9th grade. I'm a honors kid; I get 4.0s

Next year these are the classes I'm going to take:

English 1 honors

Biology (or chemistry...help me choose please?)

Geometry honors

Pre-season volleyball for first semester

Frosh volleyball for second semester

French II Honors

AP Human Geography

(I'm going to take health class during the summer...it's a requirement to take one semester of health class during high school at my school)

are AP classes hard? Are my classes too hard? Should I not take an AP class during freshmen year?

So my class had an assignment to make a brochure about an original invention you created. So mine was a thing that let's you dream with other people (creepy I know ok). My friend waited until the last minute to finish hers, so she asked me to show her my brochure. I showed her by sending her a picture of my brochure (without the intention of her copying)

My teacher put the class' brochures on the wall for display, and i see that my friend's brochure looks very identical to mine (the actual writing in it too). What do I do? My teacher hasn't graded them yet, so should I tell my teacher Will I get a 0?

I'm from Southern California. I have a Valley Girl accent. Or at least I think I do.

People say I pronounce things weirdly, for example I honestly had no clue that "southern" was pronounced "suth-ern" instead of "south-ern" lol my friends tease me because of it...

Also I pronounce "egg" as "ayg" and "penguin" as "ping-gwin" ???

I traveled a lot when I was a baby...does that effect my pronunciation of words?

Just something I wanna know ^-^

Note: only SOME White Americans...the ones I've encountered are usually in the higher class...middle class white americans I've encountered are genuinely nice.

I was born in America. "No, but...where are you ACTUALLY from?

I don't eat dogs. "Don't be silly, all Asians eat dogs."

I don't like doing the peace sign pose. "Well, ALL the Asians I see do the peace sign."

I can see with these eyes. "Really? But they're so small and chinky."

No, I don't eat white rice everyday. It's bad for your health. "What about sushi?"

No, I can't say your name in 'Asian'. "Wouldn't it be 'Ching Chong Ling Long...?!"

Yes, I get fairly good grades. "LOL then do math for me."

I'm not good at math. "You're joking, you're Asian of course you're good at math."

I am not a submissive Asian girl.

I am one of the tallest people in my grade.

I do not know karate.

I have tan skin, not yellow.

Just because I'm not an Asian "fob" then I'm trying to act white?

My hair is not blonde, nor do I have blue eyes.

But still, I guess I'm a "Japanese or Chinese or Korean" person trying to be Ah-mare-eh-cen.

Just curious

Americans have the boob jobs

Koreans have eye "jobs"

But not based on population, who gets more?

And why is surgery so common for young Koreans?

The reason why I went to church in the first place was when I was about 7 years old, I had a friend who's parents kept on coming up to be and asking if I go to church. I always replied no, but they kept on insisting that I go. So I went, and I figured out that three of my friends go to the same exact church. Over the years, I only came to church because my friends were there (I was in elementary school...what do you expect?) now that I'm older, I realized, what am I doing here?

I feel like if I leave church, my friends aren't going to like me ever again. To people who ask"But they're Christian, they won't hate you..." Believe me, they excluded a "friend" of theirs because she was Hindu. In fact, one time I tried leaving church, and one of their PARENTS showed up at my doorstep and asked me what's wrong and if the devil has gotten to me...it was really awkward and sort of an invasion of privacy if you ask me (like come on).

Anyway, I guess the concepts that I believe in are against the bible. I believe that being a homosexual is a-ok, because love is love no matter what. I believe that you CAN get an abortion, even if you weren't raped. It's the woman's body, so it's her choice. I believe in evolution.

What I don't believe is that God created the universe, because I just don't see enough evidence besides "God said let there be light" then poof! Earth. I don't believe that if you aren't Christian, you are the spawn of Satan and that I have to keep away from you. I don't believe in asking everyone at my school to become a "fellow Christian" like me. And I absolutely don't believe that Christianity should be taught in public schools/be anywhere in the gov't...there's a reason why the Salem Witch Trials occurred.

I think I was never a Christian to begin with.

So how do I leave the church? Or should I?

How do I explain this to my friends so that they won't shun me at school?