Eww, thanks for the warning. 

I don’t remember the details, but yeah, there was something about him behaving in an abusive/homophobic way towards Page on the set.  

Sure, there’s always side effects - I was unclear, but what I was thinking about more was when psych meds do more harm than good in terms of mental state. Like, when someone’s on the wrong drugs for them, I’ve seen meds cause suicidal thoughts, paranoia, aggression, etc.  For example, I know someone whose underlying…

The factors that led to him deciding to go off his meds should absolutely matter. Were they, themselves, causing bad side effects? Could any past incidents have led him to expect such an extreme manic episode? Did he go off them with the help/advice of a doctor, or just on his own accord?

Rachel Neumeier’s excellent YA book The Floating Islands is getting a sequel this month. She’s self-publishing, so there isn’t an exact release date, but she’s in the final stages of formatting the ebook, so any day now.

Tons! (We had lots of board game time during lockdown this summer) I mentioned Hoot Owl Hoot, Race to the Treasure, Max the Cat, and OutFoxed in another comment. Those are all really good and age-appropriate (my daughter’s in kindergarten). We also have fun playing some games that are aimed at slightly older age…

Oooh, I think the 5 year old is going to be a big fan of this - she loves all things princess, but most of the older Disney princess movies are too intense for her (she’s pretty easy to frighten). Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, etc all lose her at some point, and then the whole thing gets written…

Have you tried playing some cooperative games?  My daughter responded really well to them, and after she got used to them she also got more ok with losing traditional games.  

I didn’t want to have a battle every time we played a game, but also didn’t want to teach bad habits, so I sidestepped it by buying a lot of cooperative games, which has worked out really well. We love Hoot Owl Hoot, Max the Cat, OutFoxed, Race to the Treasure, etc.  

To LW1, if he’s not complaining/seems happy, then maybe he is - the whole global pandemic stress-fest might be decreasing his libido too. Or, he might be ok with going solo for now, since he sees how hard a time you’re having. But, you should be up front with him about what’s going on with you, and check in to make…

My husband and I do couple’s therapy, and we started right after the pandemic set in, so we had to find someone to do remote sessions with. It can be hard to find people who are taking new clients (especially now, when everyone’s feeling the hurt), so it might take a little hunting. And even then, if you do a couple…

Must be college years or something.  

I took that bit more to mean that mass vaccination will allow teachers to have a better read on things, teens to have more escape options, etc. I knew a couple people in high school who spent weeks or months couch surfing with different members of their friend group, to avoid nasty home situations. That sort of thing…

Which, I’ll point out, can be telehealth.  The Conways are even well off enough to be able to afford it, which is pretty rare, really.  

Yeah, it was the summer reading assignment between Jr and Sr years of high school; not exactly a light summer read. Then when the school year started the teacher followed it up with The Awakening and Madame Bovary.  At least those are short, but some pretty heavy stuff to be covering.  

So, a lot to unpack here, but the bit about English teachers not being in the profession of getting people to like reading is highly suspect. Maybe it’s not the main goal, but a *good* English teacher surely doesn’t want to make people hate reading? Can’t they pick good books and find ways to help students engage with…

I find Goodreads to be a really useful tool - I write reviews just for myself, mostly.  It’s generally pretty easy to remember if I liked something or not, but I often forget the why after a while, and it’s useful to know what turned me off a particular book, or what I liked about something.  That’s what reviews are…

This sounds like an incredibly bad idea - like you, I can’t really figure out how it’s supposed to work (which means it probably doesn’t)

I don’t understand why stacking things on a vertical block is a category - that’s not how the game is played.  I might be being too literal-minded about this, but hey, it’s a jenga world record.  Seems like the right place for it.  

For LW1, there’s also the thing where women are sort of conditioned that it’s our job to fix broken people, and that there’s something selfish about saying that you’re done with someone because of their problems. It’s one thing to be a partner with someone on their mental health journey, but that’s not what this is. Yo…