I'm on a really tight budget this year and I need something to do with my little cousin and sister. We have a deck in our backyard but no pool just sprinklers. And I am willing to use any dollar store summer fun ideas.

So I was talking with my friend and all of a sudden my friends complain about my microphone sounding very strange. My friend told me it sounds like I have my microphone in my mouth and talking. Can anyone give me advice to fix this problem?

I have a family friend who is exactly like me, except better than me in every way. She is prettier, smarter, wittier, kinder, more diligent, and far more sociable than I. I bear no grudge against her, because "there's always someone better than you" and I have relatively high self esteem. What gets me is that we also have very similar interests. We both love our pets and constantly post pictures of them, we both have nearly the exact same fashion sense, sense of humor, music taste, and hairstyle, and are pursuing similar careers. On multiple occasions family and family friends have commented on how I am remarkably like her, and it's really getting to me. It's not like I'm trying to emulate her, but everyone seems to think I'm trying to, and failing, because she does everything far better than I. It's starting to affect my behavior. I avoid foods I know she likes, I don't say things she would be likely to say, I don't buy clothes that she would wear, I make excuses to miss events I know she'll be attending, and I now avoid posting on social media so others can't compare us. I feel like I can't be myself because she is already out there being me but better.

My friend and I were help our other friend move some boxes. So I was carrying a big heavy box all by myself and my other friend was carrying a smaller box. So I put the heavy box down because my arms started hurting, and my friend says, (the one who was carrying the smaller box) "don't put that down on the ground. You're going to get the box all messed up." So I said, "instead of complaining, why don't you help me?" And she got mad at me. Was I wrong?

My friend and I left Florida last Saturday to stay the summer at my dad's house in Virginia. We've known each other since 7th grade so we've known each other for about 4 years now and we're really close. However since we've been here she has been really really homesick, but it only happens in the evening time, she also has anxiety so that doesn't help. She's been texting her dad and she's trying to get a plane ticket to fly back next week even though we were suppose to stay the whole summer here together, and I really don't want her to leave. We've tried identifying what she's homesick over but we can't figure it out, it's definitely not her family because she hates them, and we do pretty much the same things she did there here. I really don't want her to leave this soon but she says that she wants to stay but her mental health is suffering, but the thing is I might move in with my dad this school year, so I don't know if we'll ever see each other again, and I know whenever you move you can tell the best of friends to keep and touch and you will eventually fall apart from them because I've had that happen before and I don't want it to happen again, is there anyway that she can stop feeling homesick so she can stay all summer, or will she get over it over time? Please help me asap.

Summer just started for me and I don't want to spend it on the couch all summer like last year. The thing is, I don't have many friends and my family isn't close either. I only consider 1 person who Is my good friend. My familly doesn't have a good relationship so we don't go out and do family things and vacations like other people. We just mind our own business and never really talk. Yeah.. it sucks. Anyways, how can i make the most of it when i'm so limited of things to do and people to do it with?

I'm very conflicted. I've known her for a few years and as we've gotten older she's gotten into bad things. I won't go into details but nothing too major but my family does not like her. Especially because she doesn't have manners as she cusses and says vulgar things right in front of my mom or siblings, they think I must be a bad person if I enjoy her company so much. The thing is, I don't exactly like her personality at all. She's such a try hard and it's annoying. But she was kind of there for me when I was going through something so I just feel like I can trust her. Even though I don't even like her that much I still want to hang out with her because she was there for me and I don't know why I feel this way?? what to do?

My close friend is having a birthday party and one of the activities is a game where a person has to choose between two substances in a shotglass-- one good and one not-so-pleasant, so kind of like beanboozled, I guess. Since their family is not very strict at all (her sister does pot, etc), her dad suggested that one of the substance choices should be grape juice vs. wine. I really don't want to underage drink, even if it's just a shot glass, and I also hate the taste of alcohol (which I guess is why it's versus the grape juice). However, she would scorn me and tell me it's not a big deal because it's just a shot glass. What should I do?? (I'm fourteen, btw, and she's turning fifteen).

My little 9 year old cousin just kept begging me to download the app Musical.ly. It's way too over-hyped in my opinion. It seems like the app is filled with kids from elementary and middle school. Is this the age range that the app is supposed to cater to? I don't see the point of it to be honest... Like you just lip sync and pretend that you look good. No real talent or effort required.

She has been trying to isolate me from everyone else. My other friends feel really left out. She always says things like I hate her, or insults herself (the only time we all shower her with compliments) Every time I pass notes with someone else, she reads it, and if not she cries saying its about her. A while ago she saw cuts on my wrist. She came to school with an oddly shaped mark on the top of her hand. When I ask her about it, she replies "Oh I hurt myself. I love it. I'm going to do it again and again" When we're alone she says things about how she wants to do it everyday, how amazing it feels and sometimes even tries to do it in front of me. Its all my fault.. She told me once her family was abusive. She never mentioned it again, and refuses to talk to anyone about it. Clearly she has a problem, but her younger sister seems fine. Maybe I am wrong. I wrote something for my mother-figure and later I pulled it out again in math. And that girl had a lot of nerve. " You know there's no point, she'll just throw it out, she'll never keep it." She sounded like a completely different person. Instead of the troubled, sweet and shy girl I know, she was like a bully. We've already talked to her many times, but she isn't listening. Please help, I don't want to cut all ties with her like someone suggested, because if she really is as troubled as she claims, I'd never forgive myself for adding to her problems. But if she's just a fake friend, I don't want to be near her. - Isla

I have a friend that has really long nails. Ever since she found out I'm very ticklish she has told me that she basically has a superpower against me. She claims that her nails give her super tickling power and if she were to tickle me it would be the worst tickling I've ever felt! I've never been tickled by someone with long nails, so I'm wondering if it is true, Does she really have super tickling powers or is she just trying to scare me for the fun of it? Any info would be helpful.

I have these 3 best friends, I ve known them since 7th grade and we re about to be juniors in high school. This summer the three of them are going camping together with one s family for like a month. I m trying really hard not to feel left out but they always talk about these memories they have without me and I feel terrible. I know they re going to make more on this camping trip and all get way closer and probably forget about me. I don t know what to do.

I was sick of being bullied all throughout middle school, so when I joined high school last fall, I decided to do something about it. There was a new boy in our neighborhood that had autism, he was homeschooled because his parents knew if he attended public school he woulf get bullied incessantly. He was the perfect bullied victim, so I came up with a plan, I craftily formed a fake friendship with him and convinced his mom to cancel his homeschooling. As he entered school, he indirectly shifted the target off of my back and plastered it onto himself. His parents cannot aford to get him back to the homeschooling program he was in, Thus, now he is forced to live a miserable high school life, and I am now spared from the abuse. I quickly bragged to my mom about how easily manipulative I was and she called me a "dirty coward" for what I did and told me to defend that kid the first thing the next day or I would get grounded. I didn't do it, but I escaped punishment through a stroke of pure luck due to that boy telling my parents that I defended him, in hopes that I would be his friend again. However, I did not become friends with him and said it was nothing personal, but if I was I would get bullied too. Everything ended so perfectly for me, someone else was forced to suffer the abuse in my place and I was spared.

Has anyone here had a friend who has a bf or gf who was so insecure they block you from social media?! This happened to me with a guy acquaintance ish friend of mine. The other day I go to text him and his gf asked who I was and I told her and then she said who she was and told me to leave him alone and that she deleted all the girl's numbers from his phone. Apparently she sees me as a threat. She blocked me yesterday from seeing his snap, IG and fb and also LinkedIn as we were connected on there. I am not sure if she blocked me on his phone from calling or texting there though. I know I am not blocked on Kik, Skype or a game he and I play. She accused me of purposely taking a screenshot of a selfie she posted to his snapchat. I didn't do it on purpose at all! I accidentally have taken screenshots of things a bunch of times. I also sent my friend a message on Kik telling him what's going on as well because I think he should know. I am not at all by any means trying to stop him from being with her. It's not right she's doing this and being controlling and possessive. If he still wants her even if he knows she's doing this that's all on him of course. I also stood up to her which is what I think also drove her to blocking me as well. I told her that I haven't talked to my friend in a while now and also asked what is with the chip on her shoulder and that I don't understand what her problem is. Then I said are you so insecure your bf can't have female friends?!

So I used to have this friend who I was really close with, but eventually we drifted apart. She just now randomly texted me saying hello and I don't know how to respond. I would love to be friends with her again but I don't know how to respond. Her text message said "Hi is this [name]? I'm [her name]. We haven't texted in literally forever!" How do I respond?

I'm a really shy girl at school to people I don't know but with my friends I am so comfortable. But I'm white and they're all Muslims. And If I say anything it offends them because they take it wrong. And they misunderstood a joke I said so now they all hate me and chat sh*t about me to everyone at school. What do I do?

So I recently fell out with my best friend. She just stopped inviting me out to things hanging out with me and talking to me in general. Luckily I have other great friends and although it was hard at the beginning i now think that my life is great without my (ex) best friend, we haven t talked properly for a couple of months now but today she asked if we could meet up and talk tomorrow. She honestly brough a lot of negativity into my life and abandoned me as a friend for no reason. I don t want to be on bad terms with her or act like a ***** but I don t think I can face the emotional drain of being friends with her again. I just don t know what to do ? I don t want to be a bad person and ignore her but I also don t want to go through the situation of losing a friend again

He's 20 and I'm 17. I would consider us friends but we're not super close. Some of my coworkers recently told me that he's depressed and attending therapy. He doesn't know that I know that, and I know it's none of my business, but I wanted to give him concert tickets to a show he told me he really wants to go to. I know it doesn't solve anything but I figure it couldn't hurt. Do you think that'd be weird/a bad idea?

Okay, so.. Either I have to stay at my school where I am now where my friends are, however it's an extremely bad school and I don't have the lesson I want to take for my future there.. or I can go to a new school and meet new friends (which an old friend is) and have a brighter future. It seems like the second one is a better choice. However. If I choose the second option and I dislike it, I can't go back. If I choose the first option, I will most likely have to go to college asap which won't be easy on money. Help??

I was texting a friend am wondering if asking them that was too personal of a question?

I asked my friend but she didn't know.

Hola lo que pasa es que ya no me siento comoda con mis amigas somos 4 y que cuando nos juntamos solo hablan entre ellas y luego ya no se de que hablan me siento aislada;Hasta una chica con la que llevo poco hablándole creo que me llevo mejor con ella que con mis"amigas" porque cuando hablan entre ellas la chica me llama y me dice ven a platicar conmigo. por favor denme consejos serios

My girlfriend just invited me to a party I really don t wanna go to. She doesn t organize parties like this, so its weird that she s doing it but I think she wants to loosen up, so its probably a little important for her to socialize more. I m really antisocial, socializing is SUCH A CHORE for me and I don t go out a lot with friends unless it s with my girlfriend herself, who I love hanging out with. She invited people that are just annoying and I don t like that much so my question is how can I survive the party? Alcohol isn t an option, we re only sophomores and I can t stand the taste of alcohol anyways. Thanks a lot

whenever I have a boyfriend she gets pissed for some reason. Last year when I was dating my ex whenever I told her about him she would give me attitude and be like "ok?" And she stopped hanging out with me on purpose and post pictures of these girls on her snapchat and be like "with my main ride or die friends" I know she was doing that to piss me off. Now I'm dating a new guy and I told her he's taking me out later and she was like "ok cool?" all giving me attitude it's so f*cking annoying... Why does she get like this

I left my mom's house at 18. Pretty much was my plan because when my dad was there, he always reminded me that I was going to be kicked out at 18, regardless of whether or not I was ready. So parents divorced, mom got new bf, I still planned to leave. I left while my mom was away, knowing she would cry. I really didn't want to see her sad. I left because of her boyfriend, never liked him. So I left, time goes by, now 27, helped best friend get a home near mine, he is 28. My cousin called me about going to help the family. My mom and her husband that I dislike are having trouble, need help. Rest of family wants me to assist because I am the most stable in life right now. However, my dad before raised me to fend for myself, and to be a "man". Reason why I feel uncomfortable being all lovey dovey to people. My best friend offered to go in my place. It's a 2 hour drive. My friend said he would request some days off and go help my mom's husband look for a job. And maybe help around. I'll give him money and all that, after all he is going there because of me. Just want to ask, what are possible consequences of my best friend going to handle the situation instead of me? I know one of them may be that my family will get mad at me for not going. Also, I was thinking like say my mom is depressed or something, I'll just have to suck it up and go. I am really lost, support has never been my thing. Suggestions?

I take pills which cause me to do stupid things to girls. When I'm trying to apologize to a girl and explain the situation she immediately blocks me. SOMETIMES they let me explain, but eventually they end up blocking me or ignoring me. Even girls who were my friends block me JUST BECAUSE MY PILLS MADE ME SAY SOMETHING GROSS/STUPID. When guys get drunk they're forgiven, why don't girls forgive me when I'm on pills that my doctor TELLS ME TO TAKE? It's not like I choose to let the pills affect me. I mean when a guy PURPOSELY gets wasted on alcohol and does something stupid, girls forgive him. WHY aren't I forgiven for simply taking pills that I'm supposed to? I also don't have anything posted on my facebook so maybe they think I'm a fake account. But they don't even try to be friends with me again, which is really sad, because I used to be friends with these girls in real life and now they don't care about my feelings anymore. I take pills which cause me to say* stupid things to girls on facebook

At work, I was assigned a project that required more time to finish than I had so a person from another department was assigned to help me. I am a single guy 26 years old. The other person was a beautiful girl about the same age. I thought I had hit the jackpot with my project partner but Ann told me after we had worked together a few days that she was gay. It was just my luck to strike out with her. However her being gay did not prevent us from becoming good friends. She introduced me to some other women at work but just my luck, they were gay also but I became friends with them also. I did not know it but there was a pending law suit against the company that claimed they discriminated against gay people by denying them promotions and pay raises. It came out in court that the company had a list of people they thought were gay and they were not to get a promotion and very small pay raises. Much to my surprise, I was on that list even thought I am not gay. My guess is I am on the list because I was friends with some gay employees. To settle the lawsuit, the company is going to pay each employee on their "gay list" $100,000 to drop the suit. I have argued with myself other whether I should take the money since I am not gay. What do you think I should do?

I am 15 years old. I have quite a few friends however, I feel that they are just acquaintances and we share similar interests but, not that much. I like reading, history, runway fashion, and philosophy. (the arts) but the friends I have are into Justin Beiber and pop culture or whatever is in the media. I feel weird talking about my interests to them How do I find peers my age that enjoy the same things as me? thank you for your time!

I have a gym buddy who has been overly flirtatious. She loves touching me and always has the big smile when she sees me. I find her quite appealing and would love to take her out. She's married though and I wouldn't want to disrespect her husband or her. Can I still take her out for drinks or is it crossing the line?

Well lately she has been finding any excuse to get angry at me and scream at me making feel not only bad about myself but lately I have even been kind of ignoring hor tantrums because i dont really care. It started when I got dismissed from college. I know I didnt perform as well as I should have and honestly I have been trying to prove it to her that I really care but she just always finds a way to make me feel irresponsible and guilty about what I did. I have been working on other college applications and she just gives me so much anger because she doesnt value my effort or my time. Lately I have started to see her with a type of disgust and honestly i dont even know what to do

I m a guy and my friend is a girl, we ve been close friends for the last two years or so... Lately we ve been fighting quite a bit, and now we had a big fight, we supposedly ended the friendship... Obviously I don t want this, I m not sure what she wants though. My question is what should I do? Should I try to fix it? I know this is no first world problem, I m just looking for some tips

So I m 16 and I consider myself a normal person. I have friends that are kind of "edgy" and on kik we usually just send **** to each other that s pretty vulgure. But my dad asked to borrow my phone and read my kik and saw messages between me and him and took my phone and told me that the **** I send is racist and sexist and that I m an *** even though u told him I was kidding what should I do to get him to not ruin summer for me.

I have no friends I never had since primary . I had friends in school I just talked to on break but was always left out of things on the weekend. I dropped out of school because of this . I am 17 and work part time on weekends now and I talk to a few girls in my job my age but they wouldn't be friends I hang around with outside so I'm quite lonely ! I'm talking to a boy maybe a boyfriend to be ! He is popular with many friends and he doesn't know how lonely I am.. It's so embarrassing help

I recently saw her mom when I was shopping. Should I confront my friend about this?

My friends told me she died :( How did she die? BTW I loved watching her on the voice, I always wanted her to win