u/ElliotW17

I messed up hardcore, entirely my fault and I failed a class. It wasn’t essential to my program, but it’s a really low grade and I’m struggling to get the courage to tell my friends and family. Last year was really rough, I dealt with a few very major deaths in the family, a stressful love life, and just horrible situations altogether. I failed a class that year too, ended up going into a mental breakdown and made everyone worried for me. I’m scared they’ll think I’m not trying hard enough, but it’s probably true. I feel like I self sabotaged and I don’t even know why.

It’s most likely way too late to beg the professor for help, which is also my fault. I just want to escape this situation you know? I feel like a mess. I just want to be able to say “hey, I messed up and I’m going to fix it next year” and not worry about the horrible disappointment from others. I do try, I just couldn’t handle it. I want to succeed in my program, but I just don’t know why I do this to myself. I know they’ll suspect it’s my mental health, that I’m about to breakdown again. I don’t know the repercussions of failing two classes academically so I am very stressed out though I ended up passing one.

My GPA is almost good enough for me to go onto applying to my masters eventually, but it’s just the social aspect of failing that’s got me spiralling. I want to be able to tell people when I fuck up, but I feel like I’m held to such a high standard that whenever I fall short, it’s so heavily dissected and makes it so much harder for me mentally. The grade is so bad it’s not even explainable other than “I didn’t do the work because I wouldn’t allow myself to”. I wanted to do therapy through school, but with taking a 6th course, I didn’t have time. Now I’ll have to do it all over again. I hate this, I just need advice and a place to vent anonymously.

I know this is a pretty privileged issue to have, but it’s tearing me apart. My parents keep asking if my grades are in and I just avoid it because I don’t know what to say.

So I’m renting a room in an older house for school. It’s my first time renting and taking care of my own space beyond what I was used to at home. I do know how to clean properly as I was taught as a kid. I have a cat here now and he’s pointed out two pretty big bugs in my room the past week. I keep my window open usually for the cat to look out the window and people watch, but it has a screen. There are some gaps between the floorboards and the trimming, so I’m worried there’s a way they’re getting in? If so, how do I go about keeping them out?

As far as I know, no one else in the house is experiencing this. Is it the window? I just fear that if these big ones are getting in, are there little ones in here too? I wash the floors and dust every week (though I do wash the floors closer to daily or once every two days due to my cat occasionally knocking his litter box over, or kicking up litter more aggressively than needed, the litter box is also cleaned every morning). I am terrified of bed bugs and don’t want to have that as a possibility in the future. I’ve checked my mattress already and it’s clear, but still, yuck. I also don’t keep dirty dishes in my room, or anywhere. All I have is usually a glass of water so there’s no way I’m leaving something out that’s attracting them. Is it maybe the smell of my candles or incense? I don’t know, I just don’t want to bother my landlord with this if it’s something I can fix alone. He’s super sweet and has never given me a reason to complain so if there’s anything I can do as a tenant I’d rather try that first than resorting to him paying a bunch of money for an exterminator just to find out it’s nothing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I had to drop him off at my partners place for Mother’s Day (she’s allergic), and today I brought him back to mine, but as a first time cat owner I’m not quite used to their antics. I knew the cage scared him so I thought I’d bring him without it, but now he’s under my drivers side seat. Is there any way to get him out without calling firefighters if he’s stuck? I just got my car back from the collision centre and really would like to avoid any potential damage to the car. I put a can of tuna where I think he got through, if he comes out I’ll edit the post but has anyone else been in this situation? Any recommendations?

Edit: he’s free!! He’s not fat at all, but very lanky. He curled up and made himself dense, got trapped between some plastic bits and some metal bars. Tuna didn’t coax him out so I knew he was trapped (he’s lean but a glutton). If anyone else needs advice, what I did was gently put the seat forward (VERY carefully in case it trapped him more), pushed his head and arms into one direction and very slowly pulled on his arms until he was able to slink out. He’s now enjoying the full can, safely secured in my bedroom. He had much to say to me lol. Thank you for those who responded so soon, he was realistically down there maybe 30 minutes but I was terrified. We both learned our lessons lol! And thank you to the person who said harness training, he’s got one coming in tomorrow, will definitely be getting him more situated with that. I’m also thinking of just sitting with him in the parked car every once in a while, give him treats and go for small, slow drives so he doesn’t get so scared in the car (same goes for the crate)!

So not my cat specifically I suppose. I’m taking care of one of my boyfriend’s cat for a while and we’re just winding down for bed for the first night. He was getting a little agitated I thought so I put on my calm playlist to drown out my roommates. An old slow song started to play and he loafed, closed his eyes and for the most part hasn’t moved since. I assume this is a good sign? I’ve never had a cat before so I’m still learning their behaviours, but he seems to enjoy it. I’m making a playlist of songs that seem to keep this mood up if anyone is interested in me sharing!

Also I have spent several months to almost a year bonding with both of his cats already so I have a pretty good read on them already I think, but I’ve never been one on one with a singular cat, so am still learning about their personalities when not accompanied by the other. My boyfriend and I usually listen to punk and rock music, and I’ve never really focused on how the cats respond to it before now. I just want the little guy to be happy.

Edit: he seems to be quite fond of Fleetwood Mac! My boy has good taste!