Claire

Until the past few years, I never really thought of myself as ugly or unapproachable, but the fact that I have recently turned 18 and have yet to receive male attention indicates to me that I am as such. To my knowledge, no guy has ever attempted to flirt with me, much less show interest in any sort of relationship. I'm not harassed or insulted either, though - honestly, it's as if I just weren't in the room. People look right through me.

I've become increasingly frustrated by this because I truly crave closeness, both physical and emotional. However, my experience thus far would indicate that this won't be happening any time soon. So, how do I come to terms with life as a lone wolf? Right now, I feel horrible about myself and my life, but I don't want to become any more jealous, cynical, bitter, etc. than I already am. How do I stop feeling sorry for myself and learn to accept and adapt to my fate? Can I turn this into one of those "I am ugly and I'm proud!" scenarios, like in that one episode of Spongebob?

Ich bin ja Ami und habe vor, in Deutschland zu studieren. Zur Zeit siehts so aus, als würde ich entweder VWL oder Germanistik als Hauptfach wählen. Bei einigen Unis (zB der Freien Uni Berlin und Uni Heidelberg) gilt der Punktestand meiner AP-Prüfung im Fach Deutsch als Nachweis meiner Deutschkenntnisse (ich bin keine Muttersprachlerin und lerne seit ca. 3 Jahren in der Schule). Aber wärs möglich, als Ausländerin ein Stipendium, das zu mir passt, zu finden? Die deutschen Unis sind zwar viel günstiger als die Amerikanischen, aber wahrscheinlich werde ich nicht in Deutschland arbeiten dürfen, und deswegen brauch ich Geld zum Studieren. :P

I'm supposed to factor the following:

(x^4) + 2(x^3) + (x^2) -1

I have to do that to find the partial fraction of

(4x-5)/[(x^4) + 2(x^3) + (x^2) -1]

I can't get it factored by grouping or the p/q method, so is there anything left that I can do?

I'm currently a junior in high school (large, competitive public high school in the suburbs of Chicago). My GPA is about a 4.5 weighted, 3.7 unweighted.

I haven't taken the SAT or ACT yet, but I did take a full-length practice ACT recently and I got a 33, so I'm expecting 32-34 range on the real one.

My extracurriculars include Girl Scouts (this is my tenth year), stage crew, art club, German club, school newspaper (all since freshman year), Model UN (since sophomore year), and starting this year, martial arts club. I'm going to try to get into NHS this year.

I have some volunteer hours through my youth group and Girl Scouts.

I've received academic awards in social science and German.

I want to study economics and German language/literature, and possibly go to business school after undergrad.

I'm a sophomore in high school, and I haven't taken the SAT/ACT yet, so I don't have a full list of qualifications, or anything, but I realized that I haven't really thought about safety school options for college for myself at all, and I'm asking for suggestions.

-I live in Illinois, and I can get in-state tuition at any UC school because my father works for a government lab company based in California.

-My weighted GPA is a 4.67, unweighted is 3.8-3.9.

-My class rank has changed a little bit over different semesters, but I'm in the top 5% of my class.

-I'm a thespian, I've done stage crew for five productions so far, I was a member of my school's Amnesty International club for a year, I'm a member of a church youth group that does community service, I'm a staff writer for the extracurricular school newspaper, I'm in art club, Model U.N., and German club, and I've been in Girl Scouts for ten years and have received the Silver Award (second highest in Girl Scouting). I volunteered as a counselor at sleepaway Girl Scout camp for a month.

-I've received academic awards in social science and foreign language.

-PLAN score: 30

-PSAT score: 204

-At the moment, I'm interested in majoring in something social science-related, perhaps with a minor in German.

What are some realistic ideas for me?

Last night, I was working on my Compaq Presario laptop, and it wasn't plugged in, but seemed to have a decent amount of battery life left. Suddenly, the computer crashed. I plugged it in and it turned back on, but upon logging in, I saw that my hard drive had been completely wiped My pictures, my music, my Word documents, even my desktop background - everything except most of the programs I have (Google Chrome, the browser I was using at the time of the crash, was the only one I noticed gone).

Is there anything I can do about this? I want my files back!

That's not to say it's completely disoperational. My Firefox browser works fine, but all my other browsers are no longer able to connect to the internet. This situation has come about since my computer was affected by a malaware anti-virus program that installed itself and cut off my access to all programs.

I used safe mode with networking to use my antivirus to quarantine the infected file, but Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, the iTunes store, my antivirus update systems, Skype, etc. still cannot connect to the internet.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Chrome, but to no avail. Perhaps Firefox still works because of its unique security. I'm not sure. I've tried to do a System Restore twice (two different restore points) and it has failed both times. I cannot do a complete operating system reinstall because I don't have the right disks (my laptop came preloaded with Windows Vista).

Maybe when this has been sorted out I'll be smart and upgrade to Windows 7.

When what it really needs to focus on is education reform? The US is commonly referred to as the least educated of the "first world" nations, and I've heard recently that 1 in every 3 American teenagers doesn't graduate high school. What is the reason behind the US government's obsession with healthcare reform when this seems to be a much greater issue?

I'm not currently diagnosed with anything, but I do think I have some possible symptoms for OCD.

Intrusive Thoughts:

1. Killing myself and my loved ones

2. Sexual/homosexual acts

3. Shouting out inappropriate comments at inappropriate times (for example, I might feel an urge to start yelling obscenities while at school or church)

Obsessions:

1. Extreme religious preoccupations

2. I can't stop labeling myself and others and thinking about labels, which has made me a sort-of hypocritical anti-label

3. I'm very superstitious - I have lucky numbers and songs/objects that I constantly fear will make me sick

4. Mental disorders - this goes along with the labeling and is one of the reasons why I'm in this forum. I'm research them hours on end - I never seem to stop thinking about this possibility that I might have this or that disorder.

5. I have social phobias - I know it's irrational, but I'm so afraid of rejection that I can't bring myself to talk to strangers, even if it's just asking a clerk in a store where I can find something.

6. I have such an extreme phobia of vomit that I will run from a room if someone vomits and hyperventilate. If I feel like I am going to vomit, I hyperventilate and will often take more than the recommended dose of pepto bismol or tums. I haven't intentionally burped in years; I suppress my burps because I'm afraid they might make me more likely to vomit. I have a similar phobia of bodily wastes - I can't walk the family dog because I'm too scared that he will poop, etc.

7. I can't get over the idea that someone might be hearing what I'm thinking. Sometimes, I will talk to imagined telepaths and omnicients in my head.

8. I am excessively worried about the possibility that I might be a lesbian, even though I have only been attracted to guys in the past.

9. I am addicted to the internet. I hate the internet with a fiery passion; because of it, I waste all my time on the computer.

10. I have superiority/inferiority complexes that plague me. At times, I will be narcissistic. I will have trouble grasping the concept that everyone else is just as real and concrete as me. I will feel very detached from reality. At other times, I'll feel like I truly hate myself and that I have thought too highly of myself in the past.

11. I absolutely need to somehow justify every single thing I think, say, or do that bothers me, yet even old and minor memories will still occasionally haunt me.

Compulsions

1. To a mild extent, I hoard. I have trouble giving library books back and throwing out old papers.

2. When I get intrusive thoughts, I will often self-harm by clawing, scratching, slapping, or punching myself.

3. I can't seem to stop picking at my face. I'll probably have tons of acne scars in the future. I have scars already since I always pick off my scabs from cuts and bug bites.

4. I don't know if this counts, since I'm not sure if it's directly related to my obsessions, but I am a chronic procrastinator. It seems like a miracle that I ever get anything done.

I'm pretty sure that's it. I have this idea that all doors MUST be closed in my room at night, and I'll feel slightly bothered if I touch a dollar bill or a door handle or something and can't wash my hands afterwards, but I don't know if that has anything to do with my hypothetical OCD. Is it possible that this is OCD, or am I just angsty?

NOTE: Upon hearing stuff like this, people tend to tell me to see a cognitive behavior therapist or a psychologist or whatnot, but I am too afraid of those people to tell them how I feel (unless it's online and not a direct voice/face conversation), so it's probably not gonna happen. Heck, I'm too afraid to even ask my parents to take me to one of them.

I've been against labels and stereotypes ever since I learned that they can be harmful. I've spoken out publicly against them, in fact, in school newspapers and to friends during regular conversations, taking on the well-known "cans of soup" mentality.

However, this has not stopped me from labeling like crazy. I spoke out against the judgments I have made about myself and others as long as I can remember.

At first, the standard clique labels dominated my life - I did what I could to avoid the "populars," who I picked out of the crowd through looks and manner of speech without a second thought, while striving to become part of the "doom/gloom cookie" crowd. One or two people recognized and pointed out my hypocrisy, and I slowly began to abandon such labels.

Meanwhile, for some time now, I keep thinking there must be something wrong with me, due to dispositional problems and recognizing my own wrongdoings like never before. Every time something went wrong, I went on Google and Wikipedia and other websites and conducted in-depth research about possible problems that might have plagued me. I researched mental disorders based on every single symptom I had. WebMD became a frequently visited site of mine. When I began to get recurring upset stomachs and the doctors told me nothing was wrong after conducting tests, I refused to believe them and continued research on that subject, coming to the conclusion that I had irritable bowel syndrome. After all, I had to have SOMETHING.

Lately, I've been researching religions and political parties to no avail. I feel a need to call myself something; I need to find a religion and a political party (or even a mental disorder, because I still read about the disorders and take quizzes about them) that fits me perfectly, so I'll have one perfect name to call myself - Christian or Buddhist, Democrat or Libertarian, (bipolar or neurotic), etc. I only very recently realized that these are just further subconscious methods of labeling myself. I finally figured out why I always feel a twinge of happiness (or maybe satisfaction/pride might be better terminology) when someone tells me I might have X disorder, or that my self-diagnosis regarding the IBS might have been correct (although the IBS, or whatever it was, itself is irrelevant).

I consult people online regularly (I'm too self-conscious and paranoid to speak to people in "real life" about my problems), and people give me good advice, yet I won't be satisfied with it because there won't be a label. Someone could give me the best advice in the world, and yet it wouldn't make me as happy as someone simply telling me I have x disorder, or y dispositional trait, a trait that makes me who I am, or that it's admirable or horrible that I'm a member of z political party. I psychoanalyze those around me and give them advice, yet I have always failed to follow such advice myself.

How can I stop labeling? I just can't seem to stop.

I have a 3g iPod nano set to "manually sync" on iTunes. I'm just about out of space on that iPod, so I would like to take some of the older music I no longer listen to off. How can I get rid of these specific songs without having to listen to all the code-named ones in the folders of the iPod accessed through My Computer or auto-syncing it to my full library?

I'm writing an article about how where one shops defines one's personality (e.g. people who shop mainly at department stores tend to like variety and convenience, people who shop at Hot Topic tend to be interested in individuality, etc.). I'm having trouble thinking of a headline for this article - does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

I have a Samsung Beat phone with T-Mobile as my carrier, and I have a micro-SD SIM card that goes in the phone and contains all the files that don't fit on the phone's internal memory.

Today, I plugged the phone into the computer and I entered the phone's removable disk folder (it was in USB mass storage mode) as my virus protection software was trying to restart the computer to delete an infected file. Since it was trying to turn off the computer, a few "end program" notices came up, and about then, My Computer and the phone's folder stopped responding and the computer froze.

I held down the power button to turn off the computer and I had no problems turning the computer on, and going into the My Computer folder was no problem either. However, when I plugged in my phone, no removable disk folder came up, even though the phone's plugged-in screen came up. I unplugged it and tried again, and after it still didn't work, I tried to open the SIM card through the phone, and though it usually opens into organized folders, now an "unrecognized file format" error came up and no memory card files would show on the phone. I tried removing the SIM card and replacing it in the phone several times, but this brought no change. Now, I keep getting text message notices that say the messages can't go through because the SIM card is full, but text messages are stored on the phone's internal memory by default (these messages come up whether or not the SIM card is plugged in).

Is there a way to fix this?

I've been having two different problems with two different friends of mine, and I'd appreciate any advice anyone might have.

1. I am a 14-year-old female, and last year, I was in a home ec class with a good friend and this one guy. In that home ec class, I developed a crush on the guy, but I never told anyone, though I was secretly delighted when I asked that good friend who I'd make a good couple with (Ha! I'm undateable) and she said it would be him. This year, my good friend has decided she likes the guy as well (I still haven't told her how I feel). I'm timid; far too shy to tell anyone of my crush, so I endure her googly eyes when she talks about him and all her giggles. However, it's getting hard because now she has tracked him down on myspace, told me that she's falling in love with him, made me talk to him regarding her, and sent him a note saying that she has a crush on him (he hasn't read it yet, apparently; he told me he lost her note before reading it when she made me talk to him). I'm not really sure what to do now; if he likes her back, it'll be hard to watch, as listening to her go on and on about him already is. I could never have him anyway, because even if I wasn't too ugly, nerdy, and young to date, I wouldn't want to hurt her in that way as it is. Some days I want to forget him, and others, I don't, and I know it'll be rough either way, but is there at least a nice way to tell her to shut up about all that "falling in love with him" crap so I can stop thinking about it?

2. I have another friend who is brutally honest. I appreciate her constructive criticism, but should I have drawn the line when she started calling me "fugly," a "weirdo," "a freak," "a reject," "horrible person," etc.? I can take a hit, and I usually counterattack her with a witty statement or another insult, but I've been taking some huge hits on my self esteem anyway, especially since a good deal of it is true in some way or another. Should I just hide behind my grin and my counterattack or tell her to stop?

I have Windows XP on my computer, and until a few days ago, iTunes worked fine. During my last use, I bought a song or two and closed the program (I didn't update my iPod at the time). Then, the next time I tried opening it, an hour glass appeared next to my cursor as if it was about to open, but then the hour glass disappeared and iTunes never opened (and I waited a good ten minutes). The same thing has happened every time I tried to open it since, and it didn't open when I plugged in my iPod either.

I tried upgrading my iTunes program and re-installing (without un-installing first), and that didn't help. I also tried creating a new computer account, and that didn't help either. I have Norton Antivirus which, according to Apple Support, could be the problem, but I haven't changed any of my settings there, and it's never been a problem before. So now, would it be a good idea to completely uninstall iTunes and then reinstall it? Will I lose my music library in the process?

I'm thirteen years old, and I've always been a big milk drinker, but lately, when I drink milk or eat eggs and cheesy stuff, I've noticed that I've had more gas, more stomach cramps, and more diarrhea than usual. I usually feel ok if I eat/drink very small amount of such foods or avoid them, but now if I ever eat too much of them, I get an upset stomach. This has never happened before. Does it sound like I'm becoming lactose intolerant? The symptoms seem to fit.