#even just sharing this around helps emmensly

[thostrolot]

Hey there, I need some help!

Normally I don't do these sort of things because I have no need and I'm kind of a self kept person, but things are getting extra dicey and I need a place I feel would get spread around better on.

Gonna go ahead and warn you all ahead of time, this story contains mention of abuse in many different forms, so if these things trigger you, I'm sorry. I have to mention it.

I'm telling a story that isn't exactly mine, but it means more to me than I can say. I hope you all can believe me when I put this out, because it all sounds farfetched, but I couldn't make this up if I tried. I hope you all will listen.

My fiancé is a few states apart from me. We've known each other for about 12+ years, and have been dating for a few of those years.

In those years, he's had it really rough, being in a family that was either abusive, not present, or oppressive in some fashion (they were the "pray the gay away" types). Recently, the person who was taking care of him passed away of cancer, and he has been staying with a friend of his.

This family was good for a little bit, but the father was an alcoholic, very toxic and verbally abusive to everyone. His addiction is what eventually killed him, and he has left the family high and dry on money for anything.

There is a reason this is important information.

Throughout these years, he's had a cat, a Tortoise shell manx, about 6 years old. Her name is Kiki. She is rather feisty, yelling at the top of her little lungs if you so much as pat her rear-end wrong. She has been with him all this time.

As of recent, however, she has become sick. She has been found to have a rather large bladder stone and gets worse by the day. He doesn't have the ability to get it immediately taken care of.

I want to help him raise the money needed to help with surgery for her. Anything at all helps. It's much appreciated if you could share the story around as well. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day.

#please reblog this #please reblog #please help #gofundme #signal boost #cat #cat health #emergency #tw abuse #alcohol tw #alcohol mention #alcohol ment tw #abuse ment tw #abuse mention #animal sickness tw #long post #there's a lot im sorry #any help is appreciated #even just sharing this around helps emmensly

[adam-dumortains]

A Second Chance - Michael x MC (Gracie) Part 1.

Note: so at the minute I’m obsessed with Michael and MC. I thought I’d do a fanfic of their life after high school and a reunion. I know it’s not the best - I’ve written before but this is my first choices fanfiction. I hope you all enjoy part one and hopefully don’t make fun of me 😂 Part two will be coming soon.

A Second Chance (Part One)

“Gracie bear, are we all set?” He smiles wide, looking around the room. “It seems like yesterday we were moving you in here. You’ve done so well and I’m proud of you. Berry proud.” He winks.

“Dad! Are you ever going to stop embarrassing me? Also I left Berry High years ago. The pun is dead.” I laugh along with him. No matter how annoying he can be with his puns, he was honestly the greatest dad in the world.

I pick up the last of the boxes and load them into the car. Climbing into the front seat, surrounded by all my surroundings, I thought about home. I want to travel for a while to compensate for all the hard work in college, but I need to move back home for a year to save money to actually get on a plane. As the engine starts, my mind wanders to home, Cedar Clove. I’m interrupted by a small ping and vibration from my phone.

As I read the last message, my heart dropped and my fingers instantly touch the lucky clover charm that Michael had given me in high school. I still had it. Michael and I parted over a mutual, but still heartbreaking decision. I was moving away for college, he was taking up his skateboarding and becoming a activities leader in events. It suited him so well. He was always on his skateboard and living life for the thrill. We still loved each other emmensly, but it just didn’t work. My chest continued to have that horrible, drop feeling and my breathing quickened. Could I cancel? Maybe I should.

“You all right?” My dad looks over at me, with an eyebrow raised. I sigh.

“I’m meeting Maria and some of the rest tonight.” He smiles.

“That’s great, so why do you look like you’re about to cry?” I looked down. He knew then. “Oh. I’m guessing Michael is going.” I give him a small, sad nod. He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. That’s all I needed from him. Maybe I should cancel, pull a sickie. Either way, fake sick or not, I feel like I’m going to throw up.

I open my eyes and adjust to my surroundings, the sunlight blinding me until my eyes realise that I’m back home, about to park in the driveway. I help my dad take my boxes in and go straight to my room. I go to my desk, which I haven’t sat at in years, and pull out the drawer below. In there is a picture of Michael and I ice skating. Just where I left it. I smile, reminiscing about all the great times we had together and the love we shared. It was a young love, but it was a true one. I gently put the picture back in the drawer and close it over before hopping downstairs to spend some well needed time with my dad.

—————————————————————

After spending a few hours with my dad and getting ready for the get together, I look at myself in the mirror. My originally blonde locks were now a dark brown, curly and long. Luckily, puberty was kind to me and it only seemed to get better. I didn’t mind my appearance but tonight, I wanted to look good. I felt stupid - trying to look good for a boy I dated in high school who probably hasn’t even thought about me since. I shrug my shoulders and walk to my car, my deep red dress brushing against my thighs as I shove my leather jacket over me. I sit in the car for a minute or two, my knuckles going white after holding onto the steering wheel for so long out of nerves. Before I know it, I’m at the Golden Griddle. I peek through my window and see it’s only Maria here. Thank god that she’s still overly punctual.

“Maria!” I exclaim as I run up and give her a hug. I grin at her, she’s still exactly the same as she was in high school. She hugs back.

“Gracie! It’s so great to see you. How was college?”

“Great. But enough about me, how is law school?” We talk as we walk into the golden griddle, ordering a drink before everyone else arrives. I sit at the table opposite the door.

“Listen, I know you’re probably nervous about Mic-“

“Nope.” I cut her off and try to act as confident as possible. I doubt it’s working. Maria could always see through me. She gave me a small smile to let me know she’s there for me but she isn’t going to pester me, either. As the next hour rolls in, Emma and Caleb arrive. Emma was now an elementary school teacher and Caleb had made it pretty big in the NBA scene. It was nice to see everyone and catch up and all my worries had disappeared. Until I heard the bell on the door as it opened. I look up and see him. My heart stops. He’s still wearing a damn black shirt and jeans, a small smirk on his face as he spots me. And that’s when I realised...

I am still completely in love with Michael Harrison.

#michael x mc #mc x michael #michael harrison #high school story #hss #choices #pixelberry #fanfiction #mine #hss fanfic

[culturalpsychconnectionsbr]

post 1: Culture shapes our character in more ways than we think. The way we act, speak, learn, and behave are all influenced by the culture we pertain to. With tha being said, there are shared characteristics across all cultures, as we all evolved from the same being at one point. But the extent to how we are different revolves around the cultural influenes we are exposed to. This isn’t just clear cut definitons of how someone will behave just because of where there from. There are many variations within cultural groups also. For example, people from the East Coast of Canada act and talk differently than those from more Southern provinces. Although we are all from Canada and share some similarity, we differ emmensly. This can be broken down all the way to families or friend groups. These are some of the people you are closest with, and even then, there can be cultural differnces. This is all explained from how culture and the mind “make each other up”. The things we involve ourselves in can change how our “cultural brain” acts. Ones culture is unique to themself, but many qualaties are shared among others around them and across the world. 

Post 2: Studying cultural psychology can impose many challenges. To determine if variable X shapes variable Y. To determine if these are universal variables, if these variables translate from culture to culture, and many more contraints are required when performing cross-cultural studies. I myself have partaken in cultural studies, the MATCH study for instance is one i have been doing for years. It started in highscool andthey still get us to do it even through highschool. It asks about fitness, health/well-being, drugs and alcohol use, social interactions, and other cultural activties. They use this data to see how much variation there is between the years of the same sampled group and see if there any change in our cultural practices. In class we went over the difficulty in requirements to assess cross-cultural studies, and the importance of these studies when trying to understand behaviours. THis has showed me the importance of even within-culture studues and how much variation there is, compared to cross-cultrual studies. Its interesting to see how much variation there is even from within your own cultural groups. 

post 3: One of my favourite topics in cultural psycology is the idea of interdependant and independant views of self. Interdependant people keep their family and friends close, and when talking about themselves they generally involve the people theyre close to. Independant people withh talk about themselves, rather than saying “im a good brother” they will just say “im a good person”. Culture has a big influence on what category someone pertains to, the way they’re raised, where theyre raised, and the people they associate with. I myself am a very interdependant person. I don’t enjoy talking about myself, but will gladly talk positively those around me. My goal is to be as inclusive as possible and look out for others, especially those im close with. When i look at my friends, many share similar qualities, but there is still a difference of the level of interdependance and indepenace between us. We all grew up together, have been friends for years, but there is still a divide between us. It just makes me realize how much difference there is between people who still have so much in common. The reason I am an interdependant person is related to the way i was brought up. I was always taught that helping others before myself was a better reward than just helping yourself. Seeing others succeed that you involve youself with so closely is better than seeing yourself succeed sometimes. Obviously i still have goals and challenges for myself! But i will celebrate someone elses accomplishments more than my own. My mother is one of the most selfless people I have ever met, and she is who i try to resemble everyday.

Post 4: We looked at hooking up and the influences for why it occurs. The reasons stated for why it happens were pluarstic ignorance and evolution facilited by attracting males. Both these reasons had sufficient evidence provided by the articles. As a university student, this is seen everywheres. The persuit of engaging in hook ups exists in both the male and female population at the university. I mysef see it more from the males persuing the females, but there are females who also persue the males. The thing you don’t hear about as often is the reasoning for the persuit. Is it because thats whats been created as the new normal? Are people doing it to fit in? Are they doing it because it what they want to do? Or are they doing it hoping for more to come of it. The reasons are hard to know without specifically asking why. However, the evidenvce in the articles provide sufficient explainations for why some of it occurs. It is the new normal at universities, and is continuing to trend in to be more “normal”. I myself am not one who partakes or seeks hookups. So it is hard for me to give an explaination of why it happens. The requirement for approval from someone else? The desire for touch from someone else? The need for fitting in? All large possibilites that could result in this search for hookups. This is most apparent on nights out involving alcohol. Some feel as if their night was “unsuccessful” if they end up home alone, and this can lead to many issues. The “hookup” culture can develop into a dangerous thing, and hopefully it starts to decline, but I dont see that happening anytime soon.

Post 5: We covered racism in todays class. This will forever be a topic that baffles me, as people can be so hateful towards another based off of such insignifcant factors like their skin colour, where they were born, who they associate with or their cultural background. A ggod friend of mine the other day was discussing racism and had asked the question of “is it possible to be racist againt a white person”. The short answer is yes, people can can be racist towards white people, but then he asked us if we would be offended by any of the words someone could call us to be racist. Most of us said no. “What is the main cause of racism” is what he had asked us next. Our collective answer was oppression. Populations who have been oppressed in the past, recieve the most racism towards their group. Racism towards the white population generally stems from the fact that in the past, white people were the opressors. So, as a group, it is tied to us that we are “racist or oppressors”. Obviously not everyone thinks that, as not everyone is racist. But if I was to ever be called racist, jsut because i was white, I would be offended. So i can only imagine the pain of those who are discrimnated against daily, just because of the color of their skin ,cause by many wrongful years of oppression. Yes the majority of people who are classified as racists are white. But as theory goes, “a few bad apples” doesn’t account for everyone. This must be applied to every race. We need to stop generalizing as a species and evaluate people from their core values, not their apperance. 

Post 6: Self-enhancement and self-esteem is an important topic when looking at self-wellbeing. It is very important to maintain a high sense of yourself in order to retain a healthy lifestyle. I myself have what i would say to be a good self-esteem. I’m not hard on myself to the point of breaking, but i keep myself in check and stay on task. I have a good ego in the sense of i know what im capable of and what ive accomplished and can accomplish, without my ego being my entire personality. I would say I am a humble person (as ive been told multiple times by others). I dont enjoy talking about myself, or expressing to others how “good” I think I am. I am more of a “actions speak louder than words” type of person, so I will let others make those judgements of me rather than me saying it. The only time i get “egotistical” is if im challenged or being disrespected. Even then i wont go on a rant of how “good” i think i am. I will state accomplishments and then proceed to show that person why I am “good” at what i do. Im unsure of the reason for this. As ive been involved in sports for over 17 years. There are many egotistical people in the sport, its more common than not. So why I never expressed it and just let my performance speak for itself is a mystery. I would say its from my parents or coaches. Or just pure hatred of talking about myself, but that had to stem from somewhere. My thought is my internal self-esteem and ego were high enough to keep myself going, so I didn’t need to express it or hear it from others. 

Post 7: An earlier topic that was discussed in class was that people are becoming more individualstic and less collectivists. Social media is said to have us more connected than ever, but we are so disconnected from the real world. Social media has created the largest social divide in history. People dont know how to interact without it, and for some, their entire status is related to their social media representation. People are seeing this as a challenge to themselves. They need to be better than the other on social media, have more follower, more like, more retweets etc... This is the new normal, rather than having more actual friends. None of this matters, whether you have 1000 followers or 100 followers. People care so much about their social image that their actual social interaction is deteriorating and theyre more alone (or individualistic) than ever. We don’t need to be a collectivist society anymore if everything is online and we can achieve satisfaction from that. Access to the internet is also a reason for a more indivduialist society. We have access to everything at our fingertips. We no longer need to interact with people for information, as its all online. I see this everyday. People walking wiht their heads shoved in their phones, not paying attention to anyone else or whats around them to “stay in the loop” when the most important loop is right around them. 

Post 8: Our second position paper covered whether prosocial human behaviour is “in our genes” or learned (cultural). As stated in the position paper, i believe that we as humans are born with the innate sense of prosocial behaviour, but culture shapes how we act in a prosocial way as we get older. If it was strictly biological, everyone would act in the same way, but as we are social beings, it differs based off what we are taught and how we choose to act. Who i am is formed off of my parents. I am very much like my mother in the “help others and put them first” category. We both tend to go out of our way in order to help others, even if it is the smallest task. Sometimes its the little things that can have the largest impacts. A lot of people think that having money is the route to helping others. I think that giving someone a simple compliment or holding a door for someone, or helping them carry something, pick something up, anything small and easy, is more signifcant than giving someone money or a gift. I think people tend to remember a small act of kindness over a gift. But this also depends on the person. There are materialistic people, and act of kindness people. This stems from the culture and what they have surrounded themselves with. Both are great, but one of them is free and only requires human interaction.