Dig if you will this picture; it's high school, chorus class, early 2000's. On Fridays, the students are allowed time for "free presentations."
One student asked the teacher if he could sing "The Pony Song." Yes, that pony song.
If you're not a fan of 2000's r&b you might, as the chorus teacher did, believe "The Pony Song" had anything to do with ponies. It does not.
It absolutely, positively, does not.
It does, however, feature a chorus that starts with the plead "If you're horny, let's do it. Ride it, my pony."
Thing is, this student was developmentally delayed and didn't understand why the song he selected, got approved, and performed with vigor and enthusiasm (he sang and danced, fam. passionately. he was lord of the dance for the briefest and most glorious of moments) was suddenly not appropriate.
His performance was cringey not just for the content, but for how poorly the teacher handled the meltdown that came from his legitimate inability to understand. She wasn't prepared to handle his needs. She wasn't ready with any tools or understanding of his condition or the way his mind worked.
The whole thing was such a "please stop" moment that one of the seniors who was a close neighbor and understood how to manage the students meltdowns had to step in. The teacher was obviously in way above her head, her lack of training caused some serious missteps, and unneeded stress on the student.
This story has a happy ending, though.
The teacher was so upset about unintentionally hurting that student by not understanding his needs that she went out of her way to study up and gather resources - way more than the school would provide. Fast forward a few years and she has left public education and is now one of the most successful and well-loved music therapists in her state.
All because of a love of Ginuwine, a love of education, and some "passionate" dance moves.
So when one reddit user asked:
What was the "please stop" school presentation that you witnessed?
That's what immediately came to mind. Digging through the responses had us cracking up, so we figured we would share a few with you.
Sorry to say, but none of them have as awesomely wholesome an ending as mine. There are, however, several songs. So we're thinking maybe it's best to just avoid singing in presentations. It's awkward for everyone.
Gatorade What?
Was in a video/film making class in high school. One group of guys did a parody of those Gatorade commercials where the athletes sweat is colored like Gatorade but it was a sweaty guy masturbating. Apparently there was a Gatorade money shot but the teacher just turned it off immediately before it got that far.
An Invented Example
GiphyIn high school a student died in a car accident where she was driving. There was no record that stated she was distracted by her phone or anything, but the school decided to have an assembly shortly after talking about distracted driving and using her as an example. They told the whole school she'd be alive if she was doing what she was supposed to.
- Orsus7
Hey Mister
For 8th grade talent show, 2 girls sang the "Mr. Bledel" song (Mr. Bledel was a good looking, recently college graduated teacher) that basically was about how cute they thought he was.
Even then, it was incredibly uncomfortable and I remember looking at the teachers face and he didn't seem very amused.
Porn Is Good
For a Public Speaking class in college, we had to give a persuasive speech. One kid did his speech about porn.
If he had had a legitimate argument, like "sex work is real work," or "porn has a negative affect on a person's self-image," the speech would have been fine - we were all mature adults. But all he did was list the different kinds of porn he liked - in detail, with visual aids.
I remember that he was into cartoon porn (but not hentai - I remember that his example was a Scooby Doo porn parody) and Asian porn (I remember that he showed a bunch of Tweets from Asa Akira).
The professor stopped him after a few minutes, and asked him to explain what he wanted to persuade the audience about. He answered: "Porn is good."
The Fear Boner
Once in college I was in my Spanish class and our desks were in a "U" shape, I was on the very end of the "U".
So some guy is giving a presentation, he is standing behind a podium. Gets a boner. I'm on the side and no one is opposite so I can see it.... dude just kept going on and on and on, I think he was trying to outlast the fear boner but his nerves just made it worse. He ended up getting it down before he had to sit down. Was like a 10 min presentation that only needed to be like 3 min though. In Spanish.
Poor guy.
They Heart Hitler
Presentation on WWII. Student had just discovered all the neat transitions you can use between slides and decided to use a different one each slide.
They used the flashing heart transition between a photo slide of a mass grave and a photo slide of Hitler.
In Blackface
In 1984, when I was in 6th grade, each class did a winter concert. The 8th grade football team sang "I'm dreaming of a black Christmas"
In. Blackface.
The teachers didn't stop them because the teachers were the ones who organized it as part of the holiday show. Green Bay Wisconsin, Bay View Middle School.
Tractors
GiphyGrade 12 advanced placement English. We were assigned books then had to do a presentation on a topic somehow related to it. The book I was assigned was "the Stranger" by Camus, so I presented on existentialism in literature.
One girl was assigned Animal Farm. She started her presentation on...
Kinds of tractors used in farming.
She hadn't read the book and assumed it was about actual animal husbandry.
It was a very long presentation. The teacher had to actually hide her face.
I Am The Cringe
It's me. I did this. I cringe about it to this day, nearly 20 years later.
I was 16 and in high school. My high school was going to do a spring talent show. I wanted to be in the talent show and show off my talents. The problem was, my actual talents are not ones that I could show off at a talent show. So I decided to try singing.
I have never sung in my life. I have never had voice lessons.
I was in my prime weeb stage and chose an anime song to sing. I didn't know any actual Japanese, I had just memorized the lyrics from hearing the song so many times.
Luckily I didn't make it past auditions, but several people saw an overweight girl in a Sailor Moon shirt try to sing 'Butterfly' despite having never done any singing or voice training ever in her life.
Nearly 20 years later, and remembering it keeps me awake at night.
Never Stop Praying
My elementary/primary school was a religious school. So one day when we had an assembly by the religious members of our school, they were explaining the importance of praying and all the discipline issues. While one of the members were saying stuff about faith or whatnot one of the other members interrupted him and started to say to never lose focus while praying.
She then went on to say that even if there is a house fire to not stop praying, the most "yikes" thing was when she said that even if your parents are dying and asking for help to not stop your prayer. I was completely shocked by this and couldn't believe what she said to the whole school of children ranging from (4th grade- 8th grade). I looked around to see the reaction of everyone but everyone seemed normal.
Coming out of the whole presentation. I told one of my friends how messed up that particular message was. Basically someone heard me saying that and like a little snitch went to tell that lady what I had said. I was called to meet her and she confronted me about saying bad stuff about her speech.
I told her that yes, I did because one of things she said didn't stick to me well and told her which one I disagreed on. She said "well that's how we are suppose to be when praying." I was lucky she didn't take my words too seriously and let me off the hook.
I thought it might've been a slip of the tongue kind of thing she must've said in the presentation, But by the end of the confrontation I was proved otherwise.
The Applause
One day a group of highschool girls wearing really...uh appealing clothes went to the stage at my school's talent show and started twerking thinking they were nailing it. Everyone cringed so much, and the people with the middle schoolers were super uncomfortable. When they finished the teacher presenting the show went to the microphone and said "Congratulations! You got the whole audience clapping!"
But no one was clapping.
The BEST Best Friend
GiphyWhen I was in tenth grade, the english honors teacher made us present projects in front of all of her classes. There was like 100 of us gather in the auditorium to watch this. One of the popular people connects her USB drive to the laptop, which is connected to a projector where a bunch of her nudes appear on the screen. It took them a couple of minutes to realize this happens and one of her friends had to jump in front of the projector.
Another Invented Example
My principal in high schools biggest beef with us kids, was that we all constantly skipped class. He held an assembly in which he told us that we wouldn't get anywhere if we kept skipping class and that we'd be stuck in a minimum wage job forever. Sounds like a normal, hardass principal speech, right?
Well the example he used to show this to us was a former student. She worked at McDonalds, was the oldest of 6 kids, and her single mother was an alcoholic. She had to drop out of school to take care of those kids. He said that she was to blame because she skipped school to go to work. She did what she had to to take care of her siblings, that shouldn't be ridiculed.
A Passion For Pokemon
Did a presentaion with a friend about Pokemon. We made a page for every gen (4th was new at the time) every Pokeball, type, a few selected Pokemon and other stuff that is important in the Pokemon games. In the middle of the presentation my friend took over and started to rush through. He told me that he realized that nobody (including the teacher) wanted to listen to that many details or Pokemon in generel. My teacher was happy that he finished fast and we didn't use up the whole time. Now I cringe thinking about me being so oblivious xD
- Domitaku
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.