I have a dumb bleg for advice that I'm overthinking. We throw a family party every spring. Our group of friends doesn't have any kids Ace's age, so last year I invited her best friend's family. We see them around a lot and they're a nice family.

Ace told me later that it put her in an awkward situation, because when it's the normal group, she can tag along with the older kids, which she loves, but now she felt like she had to tend to her friend.

This party could easily end up on social media because we hold it in a state park, and people like to snap photos of nature, kids, etc, and put it online afterwards.

How do I handle this? Like, if I don't invite the friend's family, should I say anything to explain it to them? Or do I need to invite them since I set a precedent? I feel bad either way.

It's not a precedent. Just don't invite them and feel bad about that instead of feeling bad about explaining it to them or feeling bad about Ace being in an awkward situation.

Plan another social event (sleepover with backyard camp out?) with the friend saying Ace felt bad she had to split her attention last year.

Plan another social event (sleepover with backyard camp out?) with the friend saying Ace felt bad she had to split her attention last year.

1: Sorry, but I don't understand what social media has to do with anything?

Still here. Doing fine overall. I feel bad about how weekends are usually more tiring than weekdays, but on weekends I have a kid around. I still have no idea how anyone with multiple kids survives. She's climbing the walls. Literally; she can press her hands and feet against a doorframe and climb up it. She has to demonstrate it every chance she gets.

5: Because they'll see that the party occurred without them attending.

3/4 might be the best way to go.

(It's tricky for yet another silly reason, which is that Ace's birthday is the week after the family party, because we take advantage of Good Friday for the family party. So the best friend is already going to be invited to that. But I think I can navigate that.)

Have you checked back on this with Ace? A year is a long time, especially for a kid, and their feelings on this point may have changed.

Yeah, I did. She was a hard "please, no."

Yeah, then definitely don't invite them. I don't think you need an explanation, so long as you're still friendly and invite them to other stuff. It's just not unusual to invite people to some things but not others, and if they're not a core part of this particular social circle then it's just not a big deal.

Did everybody already know about Ginni Thomas being in an actual cult before she met Clarence?

I did not know that! And it's not even a christian cult! (I did know about "human potential" movements because "est" features in later seasons of The Americans.)

I did not know that until now. I also just learned that she's a Omahaian and Creighton graduate.

Anyway, it looks like it's not really a cult and she wasn't really a member. She just took a course from a scam organization.

No, this is after law school.

I don't know; sounds like she was in a cult. https://twitter.com/cultexpert/status/1509602849763778561

I've gotten wordle in two guesses three out of the last four days. Is it on a run of easy words, am I getting better, or am I just lucky this week?

Sort of a delayed update, but COVID passed. Took me about 12 days before I started testing negative on the LFTs, though. It was fine, though.

We had my son's birthday party this weekend, followed by a lot of drinking in the pub with assorted parents and kids. I'm glad it's over, it worked out OK, but it cost a fortune and was a lot of mental effort. Generally, all administrative labour* falls on me and this was a hard week to be doing all of that for work reasons.

My son is now away with Cubs on a camp, which is the first time he's done that. He went from nervous to "who the fuck are you old people, and why are you cramping my style?" within about 30 seconds of us arriving at the venue to drop him off.

* booking things, paying people, buying things for presents or party bags, booking tables, ordering food, etc etc

Pebbles' birthday party was this weekend too! It was her first real birthday party as there really haven't been parties in the past two years. We invited the kindergarten class and wound up with around sixteen kids which was both great and exhausting.

1: I think it's not an issue - it's a family party with a guest for Ace. The Calabat had a friend for Pebbles' party but I don't think that now sets a precedent.

It doesn't make sense that someone who was once in a cult could be a massive Trump supporter.

Right, a true Trumper would never have left the cult.

she can press her hands and feet against a doorframe and climb up it. She has to demonstrate it every chance she gets.

I remember that phase with the Kraabnieces. Spiderkids!

Would anyone like to hear the stressful-but-boring non-resolution of my dilemma from 1?

The father texted me out of the blue today: "Hey there! The kids were asking if you guys were throwing your party campout again! If so, we'd be happy to help plan! We could even book some extra sites, since there are a lot of us."

(It's a big family, and no, there would not possibly be campsites left this close. But it's a nice gesture.)

You could just lie and say that one of the other families planned the trip this year and booked the campgrounds, so unfortunately it's just going to be a smaller group. (But Ace is super excited to see her friend at her real birthday party the following week, etc.)

It's mostly a day trip. Only a few families stay the night.

Moral of the story: never host social events other people enjoy.

Tell them it's a human potential campout now, Heebs.

Tell Ace that negotiating awkward social situations is an important skill, so you are putting her in one for her own good.

28: "We don't want you to grow up to be the kind of person that has so much trouble with awkward social situations, that she finds herself asking advice from a bunch of reprobates on the internet"

Ok, on a different note: One of the high school coaches told Jammies that there was a video going around of one student giving another student head in his class. A coach has seen the video, but Jammies has not, and would rather drink bleach than see it, so he will not be verifying that it's actually in his classroom. He is pretty haunted by this whole idea.

We were trying to figure out if this could really happen. The student does actually bring a blanket to class a lot. We decided that there's no way it could have happened during proper classtime, and that it must have been before the bell (this being 1st period), when Jammies is out being a hall monitor. Still, horrifying!!

Bleach is so 2020. Horse de-worming medication is the thing now.

The student does actually bring a blanket to class a lot.

This, oddly, is the bit that is breaking my brain the most. A blanket? A comfort blanket, like Linus van Pelt? Or Leo Bloom in "The Producers"?

Do other students regularly bring blankets in? Only in winter? Is the school particularly chilly? Is this because they aren't allowed ponchos like Clint Eastwood in "Fistful of Dollars"?

It's because they like privacy for oral sex.

Except for the exhibitionists.

33: I assumed this was the answer, but then the video is a bit of a mystery.

The struggle between not-exhibitionists and voyeurs continues.

This, oddly, is the bit that is breaking my brain the most. A blanket? A comfort blanket, like Linus van Pelt? Or Leo Bloom in "The Producers"?

I'm guessing it's one of those cheap fleece numbers, maybe with a sports team or something. Probably half-because the building is over-airconditioned, and half-affect/cozy/a way to check out during class.

Was there a time when it was a fad for teens to go around with pacifiers in their mouth, or did I just dream that?

Yes. Raves/ectasy driven, right?

Something happens once, gets on the local news, and becomes the cliche "the kids these days" thing.

The intermediate step is it gets featured on a CSI or Law and Order episode.

Yesterday's rebel without a cause wore a leather jacket and white T-shirt, James Dean-style. Today's sucks a pacifier.

In the tradition of bobby sox, madras shirts or "X" hats, pacifiers are becoming the latest teen craze in some places. The pacifiers are worn on a string or chain around the neck and are traded like class rings or friendship bracelets.Some educators worry the baby accessory is really a way of advertising gang ties or drug use. Others see it as a harmless - and largely pointless - craze.

https://www.deseret.com/1993/1/5/19025208/fad-crazy-teenagers-are-suckers-for-pacifiers

I can kind of remember it as a TLC-era thing. Or it seems plausible at least.

It's for the sore/tense jaw you get from Ecstasy, right?

I wouldn't know. I heard it makes you feel friendly toward all other people, so I avoided it.

Anyway, I remember the pacifier fad too. But I never saw it in person and doubt it was common as say, flannel shirts and Doc Martens.

So many possible responses to Jammies' students. Why would a coach watch pr0n of high school (they are high school, right? Not middle school?) students? Why would he want others to watch it? At least no one's getting pregnant?

I assume it would be hard for either of the participants to record, so I guess there are three kids creating really inappropriate content either as a team or one is a voyeur? Or a tattletale?

Is it the recipient who carries the blanket? I hope it gets washed regularly. (I may need brain bleach to escape the phrase "cum blanket.") I'm also sort of in awe of the chutzpah of a classroom BJ under a blanket. At least movie theaters are low light.

Seems like there's a pretty decent chance that this is a video of someone pretending to give oral sex. Explains the coach being less freaked out than they should be and why there's a person videotaping, easy to do with the blanket and seems like the kind of weird joke that the blanket could have lead to. Plus it was April Fools Day this week.

48 isn't nearly as much fun as credulity.

Blow jobs in inappropriate places was really a 90s thing anyway.

So, the girl with the blanket already got sent to the juvi high school, at least for a little bit. (Kids spend different lengths of time there and cycle back.) Jammies thought it was for something else, but that could explain why this wasn't pursued.

80s but whatever

God I hope I'm getting inappropriate blowjobs in my 90s.

44: It's because amphetamines often make people grind their teeth, so it gives them something soft to chew on instead. Gum would do just as well, but would lack the desired aesthetic affect, I guess.

That was me.

Don't do amphetamines. There's no reason to be that alert.

Seriously, stick to pot.

"I'm also sort of in awe of the chutzpah of a classroom BJ under a blanket. At least movie theaters are low light."
Handjob in the back of a bus full of Boy Scouts in the 90s. (Not with a Boy Scout, to be clear)

Not with a Boy Scout, to be clear

...but with an entire busload. "I just got back from Scout camp and boy are my arms tired."

54, wincingly, to 50.

I laugh/winced at both 59 and 60.

I was the recipient so it wouldn't be my arms that were tired.