Stuff And Things

They’ve also gotten rid of GED’s.

I keep missing math class because I don’t wanna wake up at 6am. And I’m an adult. They shouldn’t be allowed to make me.

This somehow gets my adulthood revoked and I’m placed back into the custody of my biological parents.

ICE coming to kidnap my mom and/or clients.

Being forced to shoot and/or stab someone to survive/protect others.

My parents fighting and getting divorced.

Being forced to drive a high mixmaster freeway in a car with no doors or walls and no guardrails to the mixmasters, and losing control of the car or being forced to cling to my car and possibly be about to fall to my death.

Being attacked by some malevolent spirits or something/being possessed.

He asked somebody to raise their hand and ask him when we would use calculus in our everyday life. So one student rose their hand and asked, “When are we going to use this in our everyday life?”

“NEVER!!” the teacher exclaimed. “You will never use calculus in your normal, everyday life. In fact, very few of you will use it in your professional careers either.” Then he paused. “So would you like to know why should care?”

Several us nodded.

He picked out one of the varsity football players in the class. “You practice football a lot during the week, right Tim?” asked the teacher.

“Yeah,” replied Tim. “Almost every day.”

“Do you and your teammates ever lift weights during practice?”

“Yeah. Tuesdays and Thursdays we spend a lot of practice in the weight room.”

“But why?” asked the teacher. “Is there ever going to be a play your coach tells you use during a game that requires you to bench press the other team?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then why lift weights?”

“Because it makes us stronger,” said Tim.

“Bingo!!” said the teacher. “It’s the same thing with calculus. You’re not here because you’re going to use calculus in your everyday life. You’re here because calculus is weightlifting for your brain.”

When it’s taught right, learning math teaches you logic and how to organize your brain, how to take a problem one step at a time and make sure every step can bear weight before you move to the next one.  Most adults don’t need to know integrals, but goddamn if I don’t wish everyone making arguments on the internet understood geometric proofs.

Scientific concepts broaden our understanding of how the world is put together, which does not mean that most adults ever really understand how light is refracted through a lens or why spinning copper wire creates electricity–and they don’t need to.  But science classes in general are meant to teach the scientific method: how to make observations and use them to draw conclusions, how to test those conclusions, how to be wrong and grow stronger from it.

History isn’t about dates and names of battles, it’s about people, patterns, things we’ve tried before and ought to learn from.  It’s about how everything is linked, how changing one circumstance can lead to changes in fifty others, cascading infinitely.  Literature is about critical thinking, pattern recognition, learning to listen to what somebody is saying and decide what it means to you, how you feel about it, and what you want to do with it.

Some facts matter: every adult should know how to read a graph, how global warming works, some of the basic themes and symbols that crop up in every piece of fiction.  But ultimately, content is less important later in life than context.

Puppy needs a 30 minute break after 4 hours in a crate (and yes they should be getting crate trained from the moment you bring them home) and ideally wouldn't spend more than 8 hours total crated (not counting sleeping at night), but that can get pushed to 10 hours (with at least one break) if needed.

If you can get a week off that's awesome, otherwise try to bring them home right before your weekend if you can cause you'll both need time to acclimate to the new situation.

Working from home for the first X months is a terrible idea if that's not going to be a permanent routine for you. After the initial acclamation period you should immediately shift into whatever routine will be your expected day to day for the foreseeable future. Dogs like routines and when that changes suddenly after a lengthy period of stability it causes a lot of stress and usually results in behavioural issues. Begin as you mean to continue.

You should be spending 2-3 hours of quality time (this also includes spending time hanging out near each other while relaxing), 30-60 minutes of which should be exercise or play of some sort. It doesn't need to be in a single stretch of time either but at least one hour long chunk is helpful. Other than that? Provided you've got yourself a dog with a more independent personality they'll be just fine! Especially if they sleep in your room with you, and in their own crate near your bed is all you need for that.