Yeah, I hate when that happens. I stopped working on my comics last October, and my MoC's rarely stay alive long enough to reach BZP. And moms can be very annoying sometimes, every now and then I feel like she spies on me, waiting for me to do something wrong.

But hey, at least you're married.

You could try talking to your mother about it.

You think I haven't?

I talk to her about it all the time. Each time I talk to her I get a promise that she'll try to do better. Sure it will last for a week or two, but then we're back to the same old same old.

zomg that sucks. For starters, ignore your mom. the silent treatment usually works wonders. secondly, make sure you are perfect. if you do everything well, she can't criticize you. if she can't criticize you, she'll probably criticize your sister. that's what i call taking the spotlight off. also, you can go evil if you want to. i found that going evil and laughing "mhuhahahaha" worked great for me. i like going crazy. anyway, good luck.

If you need any help with Math, feel free to message me

As for yelling, try and argue with her over something you have the highground on.

Also nearly destroying the door to your room helps...

You guys don't get it. Listen and understand. she can't be bargained with, she can't be reasoned with. She doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear, and she absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until I am ground into the dust.

Or until I move off to college.

The best way to deal with it is to realize you still have stuff left to be glad about. I mean, you have a home, access to the computer/ internet, a collection of Bionicle stuff, you have a blog, And I'm sure quite a bit more to be grateful about.

And yes, I know math is annoyingly difficult, I can't do well on it either. At all.

But that's bothering you the most, is it?

You say you can't negotiate with your mother, so let's try to see if we can figure out why exactly she's like that. Don't be discouraged, there's some reason, illogical as it may be why she's constantly criticizing and annoying you.

I also think there's something that might help: Try to avoid contact with her; try to not be around her that much if possible. Then while she's more occupied with herself, maybe she'll take note of her own flaws, which might make her ashamed of herself, and possibly make her try to correct her flaws, but if not, then don't try to point them out to her, it will only make things much worse.

If that doesn't work, then think of the situation when you have time, in a calm, relaxed manner, by yourself, without any distraction. You should be able to think of something, and don't panic if nothing comes to mind immediately.

There's a way to get through this, you just have to be patient, and don't do anything disparate.

The main thing is to stop caring so much what other people think and trying to live up to their expectations, and start concentrating on yourself, your own goals and such. I'll go through advice for each thing you've posted.

Okay, math and mom. I'll come back to that.

Comics. Let me tell you from experience, the chances of any one comic to be popular among the huge sea that is Artwork III are phenomenally small. It's mostly about timing, a catchy title, and exposure. Update the comic right before the BZP busy hours (afternoon-evening). So make a comic the day before and post it right when you get home from school, so it'll be at the top of the page when the flood of members come pouring in. Next, do link exchanges with other comics for exposure. Make sure you have a banner or two supporting your comic in the first post for loyal fans to use that link to the topic. It helps if you yourself use one. You could even take your current one and add text to it, I suggest "Baka desu! This is what happens when you don't read my comics desu!" If you want, I could do it for you... I could even come review your comics for you if you want (I generally stay out of Art III unless I'm looking for something). I'll link 'em in my sig if I like 'em. You could also do a blog post whenever you update, your blog seems to be really popular.

Okay, MOCs. Haven't seen any of yours, so I'm gonna just pretend they're the quality of mine. Pretty much everything is the same for getting people to post, minus link exchanges and sigs. Now, if people are bashing them hard, report 'em. If they're giving constructive criticism, listen to them and use that knowledge in your next MOC. Also, generally, one who discourages number ratings gets a little more attention from the better builders.

RPing... I consider RPing a waste of time, actually, so I'll not give advice here.

Sucky routine. Well, routine at all sucks, but it is necessary. Make sure you have a fair bit of time to yourself in your daily routine, but make sure you get everything done also. At least you have a routine, that's better than I can say for myself.

School. I'll talk a bit later about PSAT stuff, but if you're still in school and haven't dropped out, that's enough for praise right there, regardless of grades. And if your grades haven't dropped from what you would consider your personal norm, then that's great too. As long as you're working hard on school, studying, and doing all your homework (even if you're homeschooled you're bound to have it), and doing your absolute best while taking advantage of every opportunity for help you can, then that's excellent and you're doing better than about 90% of high-school kids. This can be hard to do ith a job, and if you're juggling both well, you are among the elite. It's also good practice for college, where you have even more coursework and possibly a harder and/or more time-consuming job, and if you do that it will help tremendously when getting a full-time job once out of college. Oh, and don't even think about not going to college. If you want to be able to pay for the roof over your head and the food you eat, you need at least a... Is it a Bachelor's? Whatever the first one is... ...to get a good enough job that pays decent. Also, I recommend an out-of-state college so you can get away from your mom. Near anyone can get into a big-name college if they have the drive and the will to work hard. It has next-to-nothing to do with intelligence unless you're talking about the big-wig Universities, even though intelligence does make it quite a bit easier, I'll admit...

BTW, how the *bleep* are you in pre-calculus when you say you stink at math? Aren't you a sophomore? Only the math wizards are in pre-calculus when they're a sophomore... If you're a junior, my apologies... I doubt you're a senior...

Mom not complimenting you. Don't worry about what she says if everything coming out of her mouth is negative, because she loves you and wants the best for you, she just probably has some issues with herself that affect the way she does things... Don't try to change things with her, just learn to ignore it when you can. Only a couple years before you can get the heck away from it all.

Passing your classes. Well, health is just something required to pass high school, nobody cares how you did in health when you're applying for college, with the possible exception of pre-med programs. Try your hardest, and if all you do is pass, that's fine, no worries. If you fail, you probably can't graduate from high school, and will either half to take a summer course or repeat a year, and I'm sure you don't want to live with your mom any more than you have to. Pre-calculus, on the other hand, is a VERY important class. All of the advanced maths are. Get as much help as you can if math isn't your strong point. If it gets down to where it's necessary, just Google whatever topic you're currently studying along with "homework help," there's tons of websites that can explain things to you and show you how to do specific types of problems, and with all the different ones there's bound to be one that'll explain it in a way you'll understand. And once again, don't do something aiming for praise, do something aiming for success.

Alright, the biggy. Math and PSAT prep. I'm a senior in Pre-Calculus and I've taken the PSAT, and did good enough that I've gotten over a hundred brochures and application letters from colleges all over the country, and I plan on majoring in Psychology/Psychiatry (counseling), so I'm pretty sure I can help you. They send you the whole text booklet, your answer sheet, and the right answers back to you after you take it, so I really think we should get in touch, I have example questions and stuff. All my contact info is in my profile, I prefer YIM but it's your choice, I'll let you reach out and make first contact when you're comfortable, I'm available pretty much the whole time I'm not sleeping/at school. And then again, I don't sleep every night (unhealthy, I know, but I don't care right now, I need the extra time to get everything done), so I'm available a LOT. Get in touch with me, please, I can be of great assistance.

~ Tomi

RPing... I consider RPing a waste of time, actually, so I'll not give advice here.

~ Tomi

Around here, mabey...

Sorry, don't have any advice. I'm more the type that could use it, really.

To those who said avoid her: I can't. In case you don't know, I'm homeschooled. I don't really have much of a choice. She pretty much teaches me all of my subjects.

Comics. Let me tell you from experience, the chances of any one comic to be popular among the huge sea that is Artwork III are phenomenally small. It's mostly about timing, a catchy title, and exposure. Update the comic right before the BZP busy hours (afternoon-evening). So make a comic the day before and post it right when you get home from school, so it'll be at the top of the page when the flood of members come pouring in. Next, do link exchanges with other comics for exposure. Make sure you have a banner or two supporting your comic in the first post for loyal fans to use that link to the topic. It helps if you yourself use one. You could even take your current one and add text to it, I suggest "Baka desu! This is what happens when you don't read my comics desu!" If you want, I could do it for you... I could even come review your comics for you if you want (I generally stay out of Art III unless I'm looking for something). I'll link 'em in my sig if I like 'em. You could also do a blog post whenever you update, your blog seems to be really popular.

Let me rephrase what I said, my comics are fairly popular. However, I have a rule where I update every single day. Now I'm only updating three or four times a week. I feel bad because I know I need to update, but I never find the time to.

Okay, MOCs. Haven't seen any of yours, so I'm gonna just pretend they're the quality of mine. Pretty much everything is the same for getting people to post, minus link exchanges and sigs. Now, if people are bashing them hard, report 'em. If they're giving constructive criticism, listen to them and use that knowledge in your next MOC. Also, generally, one who discourages number ratings gets a little more attention from the better builders.

It's not really the fact that they bash the MOC, it's just that the first person comes in and posts, and then almost every single person after him restates what the first response say. It's discouraging to get 10 or so replies merely stating the same thing and throwing out a number rating.

BTW, how the *bleep* are you in pre-calculus when you say you stink at math? Aren't you a sophomore? Only the math wizards are in pre-calculus when they're a sophomore... If you're a junior, my apologies... I doubt you're a senior...

I'm a junior. I turn seventeen Deceber, 29th.

Thanks a bunch Tomiku-San. You made my day a whole lot better.

OK......in that case, just ignore her ranting. My philosophy is, if you no longer care about something, it will not affect you.(In other words, just say 'Whatever' inside your heart when she criticizes you.)

Try thinking. That always works for Blim.

<->B L I M<->

Hmm.

Well, what's your goal in life? Dreams? Purpose? It's always easier to get motivated to climb a tower if you know what you're climbing it for.

First, I sorta know how you feel. Two years ago I felt my life was pointless. I considered taking a kitchen knife and...you know. Turns out an overactive thyroid and too little Iron were causing it. I now take a medicine I need six months two weeks and three days more of for my thyroid, and eat more iron-filled food. Now I enjoy life and don't think too much about death.

But back on topic, find something you enjoy that relieves stress and another thing that you enjoy. For example, no matter how bad they are(Except for General Grievous and Clone Wars style star wars stuff.), making my sketches relieves my stress, and I enjoy playing my guitar, and those two hobbies have really brightened my life. I plan on acting in a video podcast soon with friends, and soon I'll have a semi-decent laptop with good battery life that can run most of my games. Wonder if I could sell some General Grievous sketches as "One-of-a-kind art cells" on eBay...

But all you need to do is

1. Check to see if your depression is caused by a medical condition like mine. If so, take medication for it as prescribed.

2. Get a hobby(Or hobbies if you need two like me,) that both relieves stress and you enjoy.

3. Get a laptop you can carry with a decent GPU if you don't have one already so you can have entertainment whenever you need it. Then again, you already have the one I gave you as a wedding gift...