Alright, so, my high school years are coming to a close and I may as well post some bullet points on here to help you not only through school, but to become a decent person.

Stay off of social media like Instagram or Snapchat. It will make you feel like shit. This is kind of an unpopular opinion because social media is great for communicating with others, but other times, it isn’t, especially when you are the lonely kid with not a lot of friends watching everybody party and have a good time doing something that you weren’t invited to. If you know what’s good for you, stay off of it as much as possible. Please trust me on this one. It will take a lot of pressure off of you.

Stay away from vaping, drugs, and alcohol as long as you can. It does nothing to help your problems. As a matter of fact, it makes your problems 10 times harder to deal with. See, this is how these things work: it fucks up your head so everything is all happy and laughy and shit except when you’re done, you end up more depressed than before. So what do you do? You start doing it more and more up until the point where you start doing it in the bathroom at school during your frees. Please for the love of god do not end up like my friend who became a pothead and wound up getting suspended from school for five days and got banned from going to senior prom and potentially her school of choice because of it.

Find a healthy way to deal with your problems. This is an addition to the last bullet point, if you want to find a healthy way to deal with your problems, go outside, read a book, draw, or get some exercise. If worst comes to worst, talk to a therapist about your problems so they can determine if you need anti-depressants. Anti-depressants are a safe and legal way to deal with depression and I know from experience that it works. You don’t need alcohol or weed to deal with your problems. All you need is to get through it and if necessary, be medicated.

Do not become a “savage”. You will be disliked by anybody with manners. A lot of kids nowadays (especially the girls from what I’ve seen) find it funny or cute to be mean and nasty to each other and to people who are just trying to be nice to them. Pettiness isn’t funny or cute once it starts happening to you. Just overall, don’t be a bitch.

Be courteous to other people around you and not just yourself. See somebody drop their books right in front of you? Help them pick them up. Hold the door open for people. If somebody looks sad, ask them what’s wrong and listen to them. Treat people the way you want to be treated. A relationship isn’t a one-way street. It’s two ways.

If a girl looks pretty, tell her. This one is what really got me to know the people I talk to now. Girls have the lowest self-esteem out of anyone because society pushes them to have completely unrealistic standards of beauty and lots of girls feel like they’re ugly and undesirable. So, if you see a girl wearing something pretty like a dress or a romper or her hair looks nice, grow a pair and tell her, even if you don’t know the girl. It will make her day and she will feel more confident in herself. Seriously, girls want to be told they’re pretty. Once you do this, their entire face just lights up in joy.

Say “good morning” and “thank you” to the bus driver. Seriously, they don’t get paid enough for having to deal with the amount of bullshit they put up with on a day-to-day basis, especially with the younger kids. A simple “thank you” would let the bus driver know that their service is appreciated by the people they serve.

Popularity is pointless. No really, it is. From what I’ve seen, it’s made up of the most wealthy, conventionally-attractive, athletic kids who all try to kiss up to each other and have little to no personality, as in you would not be able to hold an intelligent conversation with them for more than three seconds. Do not be the person begging for crumbs of acceptance like I did. It will destroy you in the end once they start turning on you. All those senior superlatives? Yeah, all popularity contest. Don’t worry, it means nothing. It doesn’t help you get a job or go to college. A big fat resume and/or a college degree does.

Drama is toxic. If the drama doesn’t involve you, stay away from it. It does nothing but hurt you and put you down. Stuff like who said what to who and everything else like that won’t matter once you put on your cap and gown at graduation.

Do not put anything in writing that you do not want getting back to you. I learned this the hard way. You never know who is screenshotting your text conversations or who is showing who what you said about someone. If you want to talk shit about someone (which I highly recommend you don’t), do it in person when nobody else but you and Person B are there.

Experiment with yourself. Don’t be afraid to dabble with different ideas, looks, and behaviors. It’s normal to have phases. I’ve dabbled with many different ideas such as being trans to my anime phase to my now Ariana-Grande-loving ass. If you find a you that you like, be that you and work hard to be that you. If that “you” is mean, however, please do not play with that idea, trash it immediately. Just be aware that it takes awhile to finally develop yourself, and don’t be afraid if you don’t know who you are as a person as most people really don’t. However, don’t be that person who trashes other people who have figured out who they are as a person because it makes you look insecure as fuck.

Making out in the hallways is gross. No seriously, like I don’t care if you’re straight, gay, or whatever it’s fucking gross and nobody wants to see that while going to class. Please for the love of god get a room.

High school relationships typically don’t last. Just know this before you finally set your heart on “the one”. People go their separate ways after graduation and they grow up. You start over with another group of people. If you know somebody who still has their high school sweetheart as their spouse, that’s great. Just know that it only happens to a very small part of the population.

Don’t be one of those loud ass boys who start screaming shit in the hallway. It’s not funny it’s really fucking annoying.

Skipping class is more than just “I don’t feel like going to class”. It says to the teacher “You know what, even though you probably work your ass off all day and barely get paid anything for your work, I’m just gonna skip your class because you’re boring as shit.” I don’t care whether you like the teacher or not, just so you know, your parents’ tax dollars are paying these teacher’s salaries. If you’re not gonna do it for the teacher, do it for your parents who have to spend their hard-earned money for you to get an education.

Try getting to know a person you haven’t met before. Cliques usually develop in middle school and high school, but if you see somebody outside of your clique that you would like to meet, don’t be afraid to try to get to know them. Like Star Butterfly says, sometimes strangers are just friends you haven’t met. I know that it’s normal human instinct to judge people, but just try to ignore that instinct and try getting to know the person. If they have people talking shit about them, try getting to know the person first before going off of somebody else’s judgement. One person might say that they are the biggest bitch in the world when really they are the kindest person you’ve ever met in your life.

Strive to get good grades in school. Why do I even have to say this, it should be common sense by now. Even if you don’t get the best grades, apply yourself the best you can. Don’t spend your time on here protesting the school system. Yes, there are a lot of flaws with it, but for now, just deal with it and get through it all. What will matter are those grades and they will determine what school you go to and how you’ll be spending the rest of your life.

"She helped the bird to come out of the closet"

UNiDAYS: School Shopping Made Cheap

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At some point during your university/college life, you’re bound to be broke. Tuition, books, rent, and food can really eat into your paychecks, even with a steady income. You may have heard of businesses offering student discounts, but first you need to know where to shop. Luckily UNiDAYS is here to save the day!

I accidentally found UNiDAYS last year when shopping for jeans at Pac Sun, and I’m still using it this school year! It’s simple, free, and easy to sign up, and your account is valid for a year. You’ll need to sign up with UNiDAYS through your school. I can’t speak for every school, but I use my student login/student portal to register and renew.

So, I made the decision to get ahead in school and take on a full-time course load this summer. Fortunately, many of the classes are online and I will only have to go to school two days a week. 

Not only is this giving me an opportunity to get ahead but I can also work. 

as much as you can, buy frozen.  fresh veggies are going to go bad faster than you can cook them.  buy steam-in-microwave bags, or just bags of broccoli florets, etc.  you can steam them in the microwave or on the stove, or simmer them in a pot, and you get your veggies.

buy frozen protein, or protein you can freeze.  I always have a bag of pre-cooked chicken strips, because you can put them in a pan while they’re frozen and they cook in like five minutes.  you can freeze chicken breasts, sausage, whatever you want

have a go-to easy seasoning.  No one wants to eat bland chicken strips.  I have a thing of cumin and a thing of oregano, a couple shakes of each and I get tons of flavor on boring chicken strips.  Keep a couple other things, too, so you don’t get bored

keep a stock of canned beans to make it interesting and add protein to your meal

cook more than you need, and store the rest.  I do this with pasta sauce (partially because I don’t know how to make one serving of my mom’s sauce)  I make a whole pot of it, put it in a bag, and freeze it flat in a baking dish.  Then, when I need some sauce, I just chisel off a square, and I can pop it in a pan with chicken or shrimp or sausage with no hassle.  believe me, there’ll be a day when you come home at midnight and need something to eat, and you find a little block of sauce you squirreled away and you’ll want to cry from joy

keep easy, long-lasting snacks.  i try to keep a jar of peanut butter around, because if nothing else, i can just eat it with a spoon when i have no energy to cook but i need some food.