Teen Corner

[Star...]

My younger brother is worrying about going through his school’s sex ed, and was being so cliché about it. He was like ew that’s so gross and my mom was like you’ll grow out of it.  And I was just sitting there thinking well no he actually might not. I didn’t really want to come out as ace then, so I didn’t say anything though

[SmallBean]

Kinda related but sorta unrelated, have any of you heard about the school shooting in California yesterday? I found out about it while I was in class and it really scared me, especially since I have a couple of online friends that I know live in California but I don't know exactly where. One of my friends lives less than 300 miles away from what happened and they were ok but it really freaked me out. The world is getting really crazy and this shouldn't be something I should have to be worrying about this kind of stuff when I'm 16. I don't know, what are your guys' thoughts on this?

[Pumpkins_and_penguins]

I think it is heartbreaking. It is incredibly sad that anyone feels that shooting at a school is something they want to do.

 

It's horrible that both students and teachers are being put in a position where they feel unsafe and have to defend themselves.

 

I feel privileged to live in the UK where gun violence is considerably less frequent than in the US. 

[Finch Koala]

It’s so sad, 😢my teacher talked about it today and he was very glad that we live so far from where most of the shootings are but he said that he legit, feared for our lives yesterday. He said, “I no longer fear death after battling and winning against cancer, but I fear for your lives. I want you to live your lives and be able to hear about all the amazing things you’ve accomplished.” My whole class just became kind of depressed for a minute until the bell ran. 

[SmallBean]

Exactly! I've wanted to be an elementary school teacher for a decent chunk of my life and now as more and more stories come up it's starting to freak me out to the point that I don't know if I even want to do it anymore. I don't think I can deal with the constant anxiety that would come with that job and I don't want to end up dying like that either

[Alawyn-Aebt]

What do I think about it? Well I think what I think everyone thinks: it is a horrendous event. But I can't say I wasn't semi-expecting it. School shootings continue to happen and since little effort is being made to decrease school shootings the fact that we continue to have them is not surprising. What's depressing is not just the murder itself, but also that despite the publicity that surround school shootings no one actually tries to reduce the risk.

4 hours ago, SmallBean said:

I've wanted to be an elementary school teacher for a decent chunk of my life and now as more and more stories come up it's starting to freak me out to the point that I don't know if I even want to do it anymore. I don't think I can deal with the constant anxiety that would come with that job and I don't want to end up dying like that either

All I can say is by the time you would become a teacher the problem would probably not be worse, it will probably be better or at least equally bad. And while sure being shot in a school shooting, either as a student or teacher, would not be a great way to die, statistically you are more likely to die driving than in a school shooting. Also, while it's not a great way to die, there are plenty of worse ways. (In case you couldn't tell I am trying to convince you not to give up on a dream simply because of the chance of death, I am probably doing a bad job though because I can't say I ever worry about death, so it is hard for me to relate to a fear of death. I will shut up now)

[iyote]

11 hours ago, SmallBean said:

Kinda related but sorta unrelated, have any of you heard about the school shooting in California yesterday? I found out about it while I was in class and it really scared me, especially since I have a couple of online friends that I know live in California but I don't know exactly where. One of my friends lives less than 300 miles away from what happened and they were ok but it really freaked me out. The world is getting really crazy and this shouldn't be something I should have to be worrying about this kind of stuff when I'm 16. I don't know, what are your guys' thoughts on this?

I have family less than 20 miles away from there.  Luckily not high-school age family, but terrifying nonetheless.  

I also live in CA, so my school had a special announcement about it.  The principal commented at the end that it was important not to get desensitized to this stuff, and at that point I looked around the class and realized that nobody had visibly reacted.  I hadn't either.  I just wasn't surprised at all.  Sad, but not surprised.  These shootings are so common.  

At school I sometimes look around for hiding places or make plans for how I'd react if a shooting occurred.  I've had dreams before of mass shootings.  Sure, I can look at the statistics and see that more people die here every year from lack of access to health care than from mass shootings or school shootings.  I can recognize that school shootings are statistically rare, but they're unpredictable, on the rise, and just highly traumatic events to hear about, so I can't help but feel unsafe sometimes at school.  

And yeah, nothing's being done at all - despite the fact that the vast majority of Americans support universal background checks and basic gun reform ideas.  Our system is so corrupt that on an issue that actually has a surprising amount of bipartisan consensus among civilians, in what's supposedly a democracy, STILL nothing gets done. 

[Morgenrot]

Okay, this is quite late, but whatever.

 

Personally hearing about another US school shooting was horrifying, even if it is -- sadly -- no longer surprising. Here in Germany we don't have school shootings. I've only heard of one happening once and right now I'm not even sure if that was even in my lifetime...

 

@SmallBean whilst I don't know your feelings or what exactly is going on the US, I still hope that you'll be able to be a teacher if that's what you want. I know that must be scary, but hopefully the situation will get better and you'll have less gun violence. And even so, nothing is ever completely safe. I mean, car crashes happen frequently, often with people dying, but you will still drive in a car, right? Therefor you should be able to not give up your dreams because of other people's actions. I wish you strenght and the best of luck!

[Carbon-12]

Kinda related to the school shooting discussion- a week or two ago my school had a hard lockdown for ~20 minutes. We didn't know this at the time, but it was an "activation error" (how does one accidentally activate a school-wide lockdown?). For those 20 minutes we genuinely thought something bad was happening.

We all knew that it wasn't a drill/planned because the people on the PA were not following a script. The PA also kept on coming on every 5-ish minutes and crackling, no voices or anything. Just static and background noises of people murmuring in the distance. It felt like a classic suspense trope. Also, at one point the administration turned on the PA, said, "I'm sorry," and then turned it back off. That was downright terrifying. Half of us thought there was a hostage situation or something going on. At least two people in my classroom were holding back tears. It was a scare. 

Police were doing a full sweep of the school, but we didn't know that, so whenever we heard any sound (of the police moving) we all tensed up.

Anyways, that's just how a false alarm affects students! No armed shooters were even present on campus, but the entire student body was completely shook for a day or two afterwards from those twenty minutes. School shootings shouldn't be a thing that teachers and students have to worry about. Statistically I know that yes, I have a really small chance of actually dying from a school shooting, but we shouldn't feel unsafe in what should be a safe space. 

 

edit;; for those in other countries/who don't know how hard lockdowns work- doors are locked and barricaded with desks, lights are turned off, and students sit huddled together on the floor in darkness. The teacher sits in a chair watching the door.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Carbon-12
clarifying how lockdowns work

[ColeHW34]

I had to brace for a storm in middle school once.

Basically a supercell was making it's way towards us and formed a F1 tornado south of us and we decided to go to a soft lockdown and get under our desks.

[Carbon-12]

A bit of a change of topic, but anyone have tips for surviving high school sex ed?

I know that it's important because hey, whatever it takes to prevent STDs and the accidental children that perpetuate the cycle of poverty, amirite? But it's just super uncomfortable for everyone regardless of sexuality. Not excited to spend forty minutes a day for three months discussing the hokey-pokey with my classmates. There's also my ranting monkey brain going, "Man, I can't believe we're gonna have to go through this even though it's totally useless for us!" 

Anyways, any ways to avoid marinating in discomfort? (ha, see what I did there?) I think my ace buddy is also in the same class as me so at least we'll be marinating in discomfort together... yippee?

[laokatok]

I know noone asked, but today was the day I did something so stupid I never thought I would ever do. I went and sort of invented having (had) a boyfriend... Don't even know why, I guess it was easier than having people judge me for not having a love life ._. I just hope it's forgotten really fast haha...

[Guest]

.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Guest

[Finch Koala]

That was one of my biggest problems when I was first debating coming out but I’ve kind of talked myself out of believing that and I’m just kind of living in the moment. It’s worked for me so far. 

[Ailepho]

Ever since 5th grade (middle school), I felt as though something was different between me and the rest of the kids in my grade. (It was a school with about 50 kids in each grade, so we all new each other by name and stuff). Everyone was obsessing over boys, their looks, etc. and I just knew that was not something I wanted. I new I liked people no matter their gender then, too, but since I knew I wasn’t lesbian or bi and there was no word to describe what exactly I’m feeling, I continued to tell myself I was just straight 🙄.

My sister, who’s in middle school, just came out to me yesterday. (Now I know both my siblings are bi). At first I was like, ok. Then I really thought about it and besides thinking wait, so you’re telling me that you feel sexual attraction toward people already!?? I remembered my experiences in middle school and knew that, yes, you are totally valid, lil sis!

I think that you’re never too young to know (even if you’re not yet in middle school). You’re valid and if your identity/label changes, that’s okay, too 💜.

[Finch Koala]

On 11/29/2019 at 4:18 PM, Earth and Moon said:

I think that you’re never too young to know (even if you’re not yet in middle school). You’re valid and if your identity/label changes, that’s okay, too 💜.

My sister isn’t even in middle school yet and she hasn’t exactly come out or hinted at what her orientation might be but I feel like she knows she’s not straight. There are crafts she’s done at school covered in rainbows and sayings on them like “love is love” and pictures of girls holding hands underneath giant hearts. I mean, you do you and all that but it’s kind of scary if I’m being honest. The worst part is that she doesn’t know what asexuality is and I’m too lazy (I gotta be honest) to explain what it is. I have ace posters and drawings hanging in my room, that I share with her, and she just looks at them, tilts her head in confusion, shrugs, and leaves.
That was kind of just a really badly phrased rant but whatever, I’m posting it anyway. 

[c_hill]

Hi, I'm 17 and just joined AVEN. Nice to see other people around my age here

[Ailepho]

@c_hill Welcome!

[•◡•]

@c_hill, I love your profile picture. I don't know what it is but it looks really interesting. Welcome to the teen corner, I hope you enjoy your stay.

 

Have a cake:

[Comrade Kitty]

Welcome to AVEN! Have some cake! (saw you liked photography 😉)

[c_hill]

@•◡• Thanks! It's a psychedelic robot my friend made for me a while ago. I've used it for most of my profile pictures since then 😎

 

@AuraChicken Thanks, that's an awesome cake :)))

[Skycaptain]

@c_hill, welcome to AVEN 🎂 🎂 

[Miss_Bookworm]

is it just me or is school really hard this year😂😂

[Carbon-12]

Yeah- I guess school always gets harder every year but dang did this one catch me off guard! This sounds really silly when I actually type it out but I had to quit this online dragon pet sim game (Flight Rising) to keep up, lol. I got really attached to those dragons (I guess it's time to quit though, if you start getting deep emotional attachments to pixels)

 

On the plus side, there hasn't been any major conflicts in my friend group! As bad as schoolwork gets, social conflicts are 10x worse

[Celestial_Strawberry]

42 minutes ago, Carbon-12 said:

On the plus side, there hasn't been any major conflicts in my friend group! As bad as schoolwork gets, social conflicts are 10x worse

That's good! I used to have a really dramatic friend group, so I know how it feels to be constantly surrounded by drama. You're totally right, social stuff is so much worse than school work. But it feels so nice to be able to relax! I'm happy for you!

 

It's been a while since I've posted here. The past few months have been kind of hectic with the end of the semester and some family stuff going on. I hope everyone is doing well! ❤️ 

[Finch Koala]

I started high school this year and was fortunate enough to have a really easy first trimester. Sadly, that means that the rest of the year I'll be pounded with homework and projects and other things I don't want to do. 

 

I lost a life-long friend pretty recently but, and it pains me to say this, my friend group has had considerably less drama since she joined a different one. She wasn't even a drama queen at all, she was just a burden sometimes, constantly clue-less and extremely gullible on top of being oblivious to social cues and modern-day slang. But, I've managed to make it through and hopefully things will be less awkward between us as the year moves on. 

[PoeciMeta]

*Pokes head in thread*

I seem to be part of the ''you're too young to know'' team. I wish I knew they didn't know they're wrong. 

[TheTurtleMan]

I think i've peeked in here before, but its nice to have a constant place to vent if need be so i might be around more 😛

 

Ive never been particularly stressed with life, but i also never really thought about what I had to do after hs. Im just thinking now and it all seems to be coming so fast. I don't want to do it alone but i feel like i'm not super buddy-buddy with any of my friends to just follow them around where they go, and I want someone to maybe share more with but finding people to date is hard AF (and my brain doesn't make it any easier with how I overthink) I'm not sure what I should do for college or for my job, and I have to figure out where to live as well because my parents are moving out of state when I graduate   

 

why does life have to be so stressful.

[Nuit_38]

I'm finally back! I really missed AVEN.

College has been great so far, but that doesn't mean it's not stressful. I have a new roommate, and although I've been living with roommates since I started high school, no one has annoyed me as much as she does. She thinks being an art student is too easy and that I'm always having fun, even though I constantly sit in my room and work while she's hanging out with her friends. It's not a big deal, but sometimes it really spoils my mood

[Alawyn-Aebt]

1 hour ago, Nuit_38 said:

no one has annoyed me as much as she does [...] it really spoils my mood

Ah college roommates. I got lucky because my roommate moved out after two months, but I know exactly what you mean by the annoyance. My roommate snored up a storm, which wasn't great because I wake up at a cricket chirping. He was so loud headphones couldn't drown his snoring out. He would complain all the time about how hard college is, yet I was taking six more credits than he was. Yet despite his complaining he found plenty of time to go out with friends. I am an organized person, while his side of the room looked like a bomb went off (I thought my younger brother was messy, nothing compared to that was...). I love college and love learning, while he was clearly did not enjoy either of those things and was convinced Computer Science (what his major was) was hard while everything in the Humanities (what I specialize in) was easy.

Oh the joys of a roommate...

 

I got so lucky when he moved out. Hopefully next semester will be better for you roommate-wise!