I'm trying to decide what platform to attempt to create a local event listing website on. I have always hated Wordpress, but I have tried playing about with some plugins and themes to test some ideas, I just really do not have the patience for it. I search for ages for a good plugin, and some of them do seem good, only to realise it is not compatible with a theme i am actually able to customise the way i want.
I understand webflow is not praised for its' CMS, and it is quite limited in comparison. I am wondering if there are workarounds for what i am trying to achieve before i got paying for an account?
for example, the CMS does not have the option to add a location field. Yes I can add a text field and have a user type the location, but i feel the option to have a map would be expected these days.
Even the date field is very basic, no option to slect times.
Finsweet seem to have some good options for CMS filtering, are there any other useful apps? A calendar that could link to the CMS items would be great, but doesn't seem to exist?

Background: She dumped me 2 weeks ago cause she said she wasn’t ready for a relationship, wanted to get closer to God etc. She wrote me a long message that She still loves me and wants to fix herself up to shower me with love etc and will come back when she is ready.. she wanted to be friends and I said no. Anyway it was my birthday yesterday and she sent me this at 10:42pm:
Happy Birthday <<>>. I know this message comes a little later than most, but I couldn’t let this day pass without sending my wishes your way. Despite any distance or time between us, I still wanted to wish you a happy birthday. I hope this message finds you well and that God’s love continues to surround you, guiding you with wisdom and showering you with abundant blessings.
I do want her back but I feel she is a little toxic and has power in our relationship. It’s been 8hours (6:51am now) since the text… what do I respond?
Was thinking to just say “Thx” or “Thank you”

I am low-key running out of ideas of how to date, or rather find people who would at least give it a chance. Dating apps seem busted for average or even any level above average guys, cold approaching never worked for me yet (I ask only the ones that actually do spark my interest and the situation allows for it).
So I thought to message a girl I knew in high school, essentially it's around 10 years later, which might be weird I suppose, but I didn't have much chances with girls back then. I moved to the UK from an European country in 2013 (14 yo at the time) and I didn't know the language at all pretty much (just basic words). Due to this and other reasons I definitely missed out on dating back then, after high school I just focused on further education etc. I am 24 now, had some experiences, broke up with my last gf in November 2023 and I am ready to date again, so as alternative to all common approaches of dating, I wanted to text a girl which I remember was nice to me in high school (even if just friendly, she seems like a cool person even into adulthood, from what I can tell on social media).
Would it be really weird that I haven't talked to hear for basically 8-10 years and now I suddenly want to connect? Is that even worth a try? Also if you guys have advice relating to finding long-term partners, I am all ears as it is difficult out there.

im gonna go into full explicit detail about everything that happened from a-z. and i want opinions
i met this guy at a social event and we clicked instantly (as friends because i had another bf at the time and hes gonna become relevant in the story). lets just call the guy at the event john and lets call my ex alex. me and alex broke up about 3 days after i met john and i started to develop feelings for john. me and alex ended up trying to “talk things out” even tho i was just attached and wanted the attachment to wear off. so we were “talking” but we werent exclusive and had no boundaries and i knew i was eventually going to cut alex off because i didnt see a future with him, i just was attached because we had memories and he was my first ever boyfriend
me and john liked each other, on october 7th we kissed. and about 4 days later i met up with alex and “hooked up” which i later found out he sexually assaulted me
i was avoiding john because the entire situation was hard on me and i was tired of having to choose because i was the first girl john ever liked and i felt bad about kissing him and i DIDNT want a relationship (at the time) slowly, john blocked me because he had enough and thats when i realized i didnt want alex anymore. i cut alex off for john. john asked me if i met up with alex after me and him kissed and i said no because my god forsaken self fucking forgot, as much as it sounds like an excuse, its not. i had no memory of seeing alex after me and john kissed. and so me and john started to become exclusive after we met up and talked things out. i told him i didnt see alex after me and john kissed.
we dated and we were so happy until we broke up for a few days because he wasnt ready for a relationship, we got back together and we were happy.
theres the part where i start to fuck up. and i wont deny a single thing i did
theres a guy named eric, or at least we will call him that. i used to “like” eric, not even like i just thought he was cute. nothing too deep. im friends with his girlfriend and she trusts me enough because she knows i feel nothing for him, but she trusts me to come to me whenever they have issues in the relationship because she KNOWS its nothing like that
theres another guy named timmy, timmy and eric go to the same school so theyre in the same class. timmy is spreading shit rumors about me and its no fucking rumor anyone could ignore. it was a rumor where i had a “sex tape”, have 3 bodies, and had sex with john even tho non of it is fucking true. it was getting so bad my friends were getting dms saying “your little friend had sex with her boyfriend and i have proof”. it was so fucking bad. not to mention, im a minor and i live in a small fucking country shit gets spread so fast here. and so i would go to eric as ask him about timmy because i was gonna take legal action against timmy because it was going so fucking far. and john didnt like that. because he knew i used to “like” eric. which i fucking didnt and i just thought the dude was good looking lol
and so i would only speak to eric to ask about timmy and i would let john know about. except this one god forsaken time where i didnt show a fucking continuation of a conversation and he got so mad he started threatening to break up with me
keep in mind, im an anxious attachment and im pretty sure john is avoidant even tho in the relationship he was surely an anxious so i dont know cause we havent spoken in a fucking month lmao
we both are borderline by the way.
so this is a part where i fuck up
the reason why i use the name eric is because eric is like someone who associates himself with eric cartmen from south park, he makes him his entire personality and its just a joke between him and everyone 😭 as immature as it sounds, i dressed up as eric cartmen for characters day in school and i showed eric the outfit because i thought it was funny and didnt think anything of it. i didnt show john but i didnt hide it from him either because i know john would go through my phone and i didnt see anything wrong with what i did, until he went through my phone and saw the chat, keep in mind, i do delete chats with my friends sometimes because i dont want john to see some things because of privacy, not out relationship, but between me and a specific few girls he doesnt like and doesnt want me to be friends with
and so he saw the message and got upset, and i took the hint that this guy just doesnt want me to interact w eric at all and i understood but i understood him way too fucking late and he broke up with me
which for some reason my dumbass was shocked even tho he made it clear that he didnt want me speaking to john so this is where i realized i fucked up
i took it as a lesson and learned to not do it again but i was too late
me and john break up and i wanted him back badly. an hour after the breakup i started posting on my story about a random guy that i made up and acted like i liked him to piss off john and make him jealous which was a bad fucking idea
to me, the more someone doesnt want me, the more i want them. thats how i thought it was
and he found out and got pissed off. he ended up texting alex and found out i met up with alex after me and john kissed. but no one was aware that i was actually sexually assaulted by alex and i found out later because my friend went through the same thing. me and john stayed talking to see if we could work it out and i fucked up by telling him to stop basing our relationship over something from the past that happened over 8 months ago. he got pissed and blocked me
i later found out he followed back the girl he told me not worry about and said he didnt know why he was attracted to her but at same time would say “i dont know if shes actually pretty or if im trying to move on” (as in move on from me) i got so fucking pissed, i texted the girl w my friend we and told her that john was using her and a rebound. john found out, threatened to ruin my life and was so fucking mad over it, but i later then realized he just thought she was pretty and didnt want her like that. i ended up apologizing to john because i wanted him back but it didnt work because he was standing on business lmfao
during this time, my friend told me he would always consider going back to me and missed me and loved me so much. and john did love me. a LOT. he bought me flowers, a ring, everything. like he did everything for me and he did love me so deeply
and now we havent spoken over a month and its slowly killing me because my friend who was close with him said he was dead set with his decision n doesnt wanna get back with me. i dont know if this will change because right now he has new priorities like studies since hes graduating soon. but right now, he seems dead set with his decision even tho his biggest fear was losing me. i saw the way he would talk about me and we were so deeply in love.
but john thinks i cheated on him with what happened with alex. my friend told him he sexually assaulted me but it was very vague and he doesnt know the details.
i was johns first love. first EVERYTHING. we broke up march 18 and last spoke april 19 where he thought i was shit talking him and i proved i wasnt. he later said he was worried about me but right now he doesnt seem to care.
please dont tell me to “let him go”. if u have any other opinions on what u think will happen and if he will come back please let know because i really want him back. my family friend who is a psychic told me he was coming back if this helps lol.
let me know if u guys think hes coming back. this is all fresh but yea.

Just resolved an issue I was having with my hotspot. Tried to enable my hotspot but it wouldn't turn on. Just paid my bill less than a week ago so I know it's not already used up. Tried diagnosing the problem with the internet and everywhere I looked, the only solution was preforming a factory reset. Didn't like that idea so I just started trying literally anything until I figured it out. How I was able to get it to turn on was first, I rebooted my phone, making sure nothing was running besides the OS then I connected to my DSL gateway. After that, I pressed the hotspot button and my phone displayed a message reading "in order to activate your hotspot, you must be disconnected from your wifi, do you wish to continue?" I pressed continue and my wifi turned off and the hotspot turned on. Maybe I was lucky but hopefully this helps anyone with the same problem.

This happened in probably 2017/2028. I was a college student in Amherst, MA. One night my buddy and I headed to the McDonalds in Hadley, MA which takes less than 10mins without traffic. We headed there late in the e night so no traffic, we parked and walked in, ordered food and took it to a window seat start eating and chatting. When we entered the McDonalds there’s still people ordering, car parked in the lot, it’s near many colleges so kids go there for late night food a lot. After I sat down took few bites of the food, my gf text me asking how’s it going, when I’m going back etc. I told here it won’t be long, probably 30mins including the time to eat and chat. Then we just kept eating until we finish, I looked up, there’s no one in the restaurants anymore. At that point I don’t feel strange or anything just thought people just left. Then we walked out the McDonalds, there’s quite some fog. But that area has fog from time to time. And all the cars except for ours in the lot were gone too but I mean if people left, their car should leave too. So we got into our car, before we started the car, we saw an old early 2000s suv pulled into the lot with zero noise. No engine sound, I didn’t noticed the light until it pulled over to my right front spot. It kinda seemed it just slide in with no friction or anything. Still at that point, I didn’t have any unsettling feelings. My buddy started driving, and we somehow got into the lot across the street, which is a little mall area if I remember correctly. We went there quite often, and none of us realized we got into that parking lot road. The fog is still strong, we kept driving but couldn’t find the right exit. After few mins(in my memory), we saw a police car driving and decided to follow him, eventually led us out of the lot. Counting from leaving McDonalds, it didn’t seem to take longer than half an hour. Then when I got home, my gf got mad cuz she told me more than 3 hours just passed, she passed out on the couch and was waiting for me to come back. We compared the text message she sent while I was in the restaurant, that was from more than 3 hour ago already…… then we both went silent not knowing what to say. I’m still getting chills while writing this, if you have similar experience, please share and we can compare.

Dear Redditers, I am 28 M. I have had a crush on a girl 5 years back in University. We talked once or twice and after that there was no contact. 5 years later, I was scrolling through Instagram and her profile came as a suggestion. Instead of texting her directly, I involved a common friend and told her that I would want to marry the girl provided all the pieces fit in. Her insta profile was locked so I didn't see her photos. Now, this common friend presented my case to her that there is this guy and all that and he is interested in getting married so maybe you two should talk and see if you fit together.
So, she texted my through Insta over message request, I accepted the request and we talked for like 20 minutes and in the end I sent her the follow request which she accepted. I went through her photos and many things put me off.
For an average American family, this would be a common thing, but being in an Asian household, I feel like pretty choked up in between rejecting the girl without hurting her feelings or without making the common friend look bad as well.
I need a legit advise and guidance in how to cause the breakup, or maybe put her off by doing things that she reject me on her own. One more predicament is that the common friend has talked good about me and now I am sitting anxious what needs to be done.

First of all, these are the contact details to reach us for help any type of academic task of any subject:
MY CONTACT INFO:
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Call: +1 727 456 9641
Website: hiraedu. com
Email: [info@hiraedu](mailto:info@hiraedu). com
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MY MATH SUBJECTS OF EXPERTISE:
I am very knowledgeable and proficient in assisting students in a wide range of mathematics classes. I can help students complete their homework assignments and other projects get an A on quizzes, tests, and exams (including proctored assessments) answer online discussion posts write essays & papers in MLA APA Chicago format and provide general overall academic help in each math course listed below:

• Advanced Placement Honors High School Level Math
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STATISTICS HELP (MY BEST SUBJECT):

• I have a master's degree in Applied Statistics from a university in New Jersey, USA. As a result, I am very proficient in helping students with various types of Statistics courses including Biostatistics Business Statistics Elementary Statistics Probability & Statistics Psychology Statistics.
• I have extensive knowledge and skill with helping students get through various statistical concepts including all of the following in alphabetical order:
• ANOVA Bar Graph, Boxplot, Dot Plot, Histogram, Pie Chart Bias Binomial, Exponential, Poisson, Gamma, Uniform Distribution Central Limit Theorem Chi-Square Test Coefficient of Determination (R^2) Conditional & Relative Probability Confidence Interval Correlation Coefficient (r) Critical Region Critical Value Descriptive & Inferential Statistics Effect Size Expected Value Experiment vs Observation Goodness of Fit Test Hypothesis Testing Interpolation & Extrapolation Interquartile Range (IQR) Kurtosis Left, Negative, Right, Positive Skewed Distribution Logistic Regression Mean, Median, Mode, Midrange Multiple Regression Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, Ratio I Population Parameter Normal, Symmetric & Bell Shaped Distribution Null & Alternate Hypothesis One & Two Sample T-Test One & Two Sample Z-Test Ordinary Least Squares Outliers P-Value Pooled Variance (Equal Variances) Proportion R^2 Range Regression Regression Line Reject & Fail to Reject Ho Relative & Cumulative Frequency Distributions Relativity & Reliability Right, Left, One, Two Tailed Tailed Hypothesis Test Sample Statistics Sampling Methods (Convenience, Stratified, Simple, Cluster, Systematic) Significance Level (1%, 5%, 10%) Skewness Standard Deviation& Variance T-Score Test Statistic Time Series Type I & Type II Errors Unbiased Estimators Z-Score

ALGEBRA HELP:

• I am well-versed in helping students do well in Algebra 1 & 2 College Algebra Intermediate Algebra Pre-Algebra and I am very knowledgeable and proficient in the following algebra topics in alphabetical order:
• Absolute Values Circle Equation Domain Exponents Graphing Horizontal & Vertical Asymptotes Inequalities, Equations & Functions Inverse Functions Linear, Exponential, Logarithmic, Quadratic Equations Logarithms Maximum & Minimum Values of a Graph Number Lines One-to-One Functions Parallel & Perpendicular Lines Plotting Points & Ordered Pairs Point-Slope Form Polynomial Division Polynomials Radicals Range Rational & Irrational Expressions Rational Functions Real Roots Real Zeros Relations & Functions Slope Slope-Intercept Form Square Roots Standard Form of a Line System of Equations System of Inequalities Variables X and Y Intercepts

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• I am well-versed in helping students do well in Calculus I, II & III, Calculus 1, 2 & 3, Business Calculus, Multivariable Calculus, Vector Calculus and I am very knowledgeable and proficient in the following calculus topics in alphabetical order:
• Absolute & Local Maximum and Minimum Antiderivative Area & Volume Chain Rule Concavity Continuity Convergence Test Critical Points Curvature Curve of Rotation Curve Sketching Derivatives Divergence Test First & Second Derivative Test Fourier Series Implicit Differentiation Increasing / Decreasing Functions Infinite Series Integrals Integration by Parts Jacobian Matrix Limits L’Hopital’s Rule Maclaurin Series Mean Value Theorem Partial Derivative Product & Quotient Rule Reiman Sum Related Rates Simpson’s Rule Solid of Revolution Substitution Rule Taylor Series

ATTRIBUTES THAT SET ME APART FROM OTHER TUTORS:

• I firmly believe that I have many attributes and skills that set me apart from other tutors. Below is a list of qualities that makes me an ideal fit to help you master your coursework:

I CAN AID STUDENTS TAKING PROCTORED ASSESSMENTS:

• Proficient in CollegeBoard AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC & AP Statistics exams.
• Skilled with International Baccalaureate Math Exams: IB Maths HL & IB Maths SL
• Can intentionally answer a few problems incorrectly at the student's request.
• Can text solutions to the student while they are taking a proctored exam.
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I CAN VERIFY MY ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

• I have no problem with requests to solve sample problems upfront to prove my knowledge & proficiency of the course concepts.
• I can provide glowing references & strong examples of work done for past clients to verify my academic skills.
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I HAVE PAID ACCESS TO OVER 15 STUDY-HELP WEBSITES AND MATHEMATICAL SOFTWARE:

• I have multiple paid subscriptions to a wide range of academic tutoring resources, including Chegg, Quizlet, CourseHero, Brainly, Grammarly, Study. com, Bartleby, Slader, Transtutors, Slideshare, StudocU, Turnitin, Academia, SymboLab, WolframAlpha, and Scribd to help guide to solve exam & homework questions that I may not immediately know.
• However, I am smart enough not to blatantly plagiarize solutions online but instead write them in my own unique words, formatting, & mathematical terminology.
• I have access to a very sophisticated graphing calculator and various mathematical software that provides step-by-step solutions to complex mathematical problems within seconds, allowing me to provide exact solutions to the student in a timely manner.
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• However, be wary of so-called “tutors” who refuse to accept any phone calls or have a strict “text / email only” policy.
• These “text-only” / “email-only” tutors are usually located outside the U.S. and are afraid their foreign accent will expose their true nationality.

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• Approximately 98% of the time, I write all my texts & emails in grammatically correct U.S. English with proper punctuation and occasional typo.
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As of 2021, I have tutored and helped students enrolled at the following U.S. universities community colleges county & city colleges schools for-profit institutions listed below in alphabetical order:

• A - C: American Public University System (APUS) Arizona State Ashford Brigham Young Brown Broward California State (Fullerton) Capella Chamberlain (Illinois) Colorado Technical Columbia Columbia Southern Cornell
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• For other subjects, you can reach out to me, and I can connect you with one of my tutoring partners who can provide general academic assistance for the following subjects:
• Art & Design: Art History Design Film Studies
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Considering the fact that you found my contact information online, it’s understandable to be skeptical regarding the legitimacy of my services. Therefore, I’m willing to do all of the following to help you feel more secure in trusting me with your academic needs:

• 1) Speak with you on the phone and answer any questions you may have so that you have the opportunity to assess and analyze my tone, articulation, accent, diction, dialect, regionalisms, pitch, vocabulary, word choice, intonations, and inflections.
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CONCLUSION:

• I take my work as a tutor very seriously, and I always aim to do my best to help my students excel in school. I have a solid and sincere passion for academic achievement, and with my help, I am positive that I can help students obtain very high grades with minimal stress and effort.
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OCT 2021 UPDATE: I am currently offering discount deals for requests for assistance with completing a student's entire course for the Fall 2024 semester (14 - 20 week courses acceptable), as well as discounts for students seeking help with multiple exams and/or multiple classes for Fall 2024. My availability for the Autumn 2024 / Fall 2024 semester will likely become limited very quickly as I receive more and more academic requests. Therefore it would be very advantageous to reach out to me for academic assistance before my schedule becomes too full.
MY CONTACT INFO:
WhatsApp: +1 (213) 594-5657
Call: +1 727 456 9641
Website: hiraedu. com
Email: [info@hiraedu](mailto:info@hiraedu). com

I posted an image in ChatGPT and asked the AI to describe it, which it did.
But then I tried to post a second image, and I got a red response saying “You have reached our limits on messages”
I now can’t even post text… It’s been six hours and every time I try to chat it still says I’ve reached the message limit, text or images.

I'll explain why and how the fight started. Please tell me if I am in the wrong or if I should apologise and get back together.
The story:
I took a break from working for like a couple months. Since I am "free", my partner wants me to spend time with them mostly and wants all my attention. We have been going out for almost a year now.
So, we hang out for like 8 hours a day (my partner works from home). Once I get back home, they will facetime me after dinner and we talk until we sleep. But I don't get to do anything I want to.
They usually don't like me spending time with my friends. We have gotten into a lot of arguments cuz I'm on call with my friends while they try to call.
The actual conflict:
My friend had her birthday a week ago. I don't hang out with my friends that often cuz I am always with my partner. So, my friends made this birthday party plan a month prior to get everyone on board. This plan wasn't even a full day plan. It was like a half day plan and we'd get home in the evening.
When we go out with friends, we usually don't know what we're gonna do. We make plans as we go. So, We didn't make a detailed plan. We just knew we're going to the beach. That's it.
So, I told my partner about this and they were okay. But on the day I was supposed to go to the party, they started asking me questions about where we are going, what we'll be doing and everything.
Them asking questions was not a problem for me. I answered everything. But they felt as if I did not want to share that information to them and that's why I didn't tell them myself.
When I told them we don't know what we'd be doing, they were like, "you just don't wanna share it with me. It's fine. You made the plan anyway right?". I did not make the plan. And when I tried to prove it to them that we did not have a solid plan that day. They did not even want to hear me out.
My partner clearly did not want me to go. So, I texted the birthday girl that I won't be joining them. She understood that my partner is that way.
Meanwhile, my partner and I started screaming at each other. One thing led to another and finally when they said "dont cancel your plans for me, go, be with your awesome friends".
I got fed up. My friends have been with me for over 10 years. They understand what type of situation I'm in. You still pull their leg in our fight?
I just told them "my friends are awesome whether you like it or not". That's it. They slammed a chair against the wall.
I was frustrated and was done with this shit. I just told them that we're breaking up and left.
I did not know where to go. I wanted to cry. My parents were at my home. I haven't told them about my partner. So, I called my friend and asked if could come over
She was getting ready to go out. I went there, cried for more than an hour. And my friend said "look, you have been crying for so long. They haven't tried to call or text you at all. They blocked you on insta. Enough is enough. Come with us"
So, I went with them to the beach. Meanwhile, my partner started calling me. I was with the friends of the birthday girl. So, I didn't answer the call cuz I know my partner would scream at me. And I was not ready for that call infront of strangers.
They kept calling me non stop and when I finally answered. They told me they were waiting outside my house. When I told them I came with my friends they started yelling, screaming, cursing.
I took my stance and told them it's over. But they still kept calling and told me that they are the only one fighting for this relationship. They started to self harm themselves and that made me leave my friends and book a cab to their place.
Even while I was on the cab they still called me names. Asked me not to come. They said " took you long enough to leave your awesome friends and look at me"
After a while I couldn't take it anymore and i just went straight home.
Then, they got even angry and pulled up outside my house. Remember, my parents came to visit. So, they were Standing outside. I asked them to come in and have a convo, they refused. My mom and dad came out and invited them in. They still refused.
They told me, "you went out to the beach with your friends right? I want you to come to the beach with me right now". (P.s. it was 10pm at the time)
I didn't go. And it made them even mad. They started cussing and said I prioritise my friends over them.
This fight happened for about 30 mins before they left. Then we didn't speak for a while.
After few days, we made up. They told me that I don't love them enough and constantly compared me to their ex's.
Yesterday, they found an insta reel that my friend posted of that day in the beach. I didn't tell them about it cuz I didn't want to start a fight again. We both knew that this topic brought conflict. My partner saw the reel and said "I was miserable that day and you had fun???"
I was miserable that day too. The girls at the party who I barely knew also were asking me if something was wrong or if they could help. I actually ruined their party. I was crying. Always on the phone with my partner cuz they kept on calling.
But my partner now thinks I have betrayed them while they stayed loyal cuz they've never been loyal to any of their ex's. They tell me I have never been grateful of them. That I was enjoying while they were miserable trying to hurt themself.
I did try to have a conversation about this. But they won't understand my side of the story.
And when I told them I can't keep coming to their place every single day cuz I need to take care of some stuff. They flip out saying "you be with your family. You be with your awesome friends. Don't ever come to me. Why do you need me anyway"
When I facetimed them today, they faced the camera to the wall and never spoke a word. And finally, they sent a text saying that they will stop everything they did for me. And left a good bye message.
Now, back to the question:
Please tell me if I am in the wrong or if I should apologise and get back together????

I am a 16 year old boy who has been texting this one girl(16) for months. We always had long conversations and it sounded like we had a nice healthy relationship even though we didnt meet in real life until.(Im in high school btw). So shes an extrovert and was very talkative and every reponse she gave sounded genuine and I was so happy I had someone like her to talk to. I felt like we were genuine friends. That is until. We met for the first time on a trip and I was the one to approach her. She seemed to see me but have no interest in talking to me, even when I was sitting on a bench alone she we would go about her way with her own trio.(I can understand wanting to be with your own friends over me. I totally get it) but come on not even a simple "hi" even though you know who I am and that weve talked for a long while. Everytime she saw me even when I made direct eye contact she wouldnt care. In fact on messages Im always the one starting the convo. The times she did start first was when she needs something from me. Like a temu or shein code.Hell one time when I asked her about possibly getting tickets to a show. She told me to take her with me if I get some and ditch my own relative for her.
That really struck a blow to my heart. Then it all ended when she no longer viewed my stories and even ghosted me even though she was active on insta. Heartbroken I decided to consulte my friends and they told me Im better off letting it go. And so I did. I didnt talk to her for a month and even straight up ignored and avoided her in the hallways cuz why am I bothering with someone who dosent care about me and possibly is just trying to use me. So I felt liberated and I was doing well until. I saw her again. I miss her. I miss talking to her so bad it hurts. I want to go back to how things were but at the same time Im just digging my own grave here. Should I reach out to her and tell her we havent talked in a while and hows things been and all? I dont even think she recognizes Im gone. (Shes at the very bottom of my dms list too btw) TLDR: I’ve grown attached to someone who dosent give a damn about me.

Like all my nsfw chats were fine, filter was on the damn deathbed at that point, you have no idea
But now it doesn't allow anything suddenly, like really sudden in every chat, I've tried deleting messages, changing sites and app but nothing works

You can make the case for weakened demand due to people who can afford EV's already having bought one and the sustained elevated interest rates hurting demand but there are a couple of factors that can affect the future stock price that are of varying degrees of likelihood of occurring but are positive catalysts for the stock.
take this information as you will and make your own financial decisions.
Positive Catalysts and likelihood of occurring
*Rivian has just completed their plant shutdown in order to streamline operations and promote productivity which should also impact profitability.
As this has already occurred the chance is 100% and unless they are complete idiots should in fact lead to greater productivity and in turn profitability aka less $ lost per vehicle, it remains to be seen how much impact this will have on operations
*Rivian has changed suppliers on certain things like sensors and cameras as they are doing a refresh on the current R1 lineup. Chances of occurring is 100% and based on what Wassym from Rivian has stated should lead to increased capability including self driving capability. May lead to increased demand.
*Rivian has access to the Tesla charging network and is currently in the proceess of sending out CCS to NACS adapters for free to current owners. Chance of occurring 100% as this has happened / is in progress. Some rivian owners have already bought their own adapters. This should solve the issue of the charging station woes and lead to reduced range anxiety for current and potential owners as road trips become basically a non issue. Just happened recently so should lead to increased demand going forward.
*EV tax credits are currently being looked at to be reworked in 2025 the details are still in flux, but as Rivians currently only qualify for $3750 tax credits to those who are under the income limits this is more likely to be a beneficial change to rivian than to hurt rivian. I'd say the chances of a rework to EV tax credit rules are 100% as the current EV tax credit rules are stupid and everyone knows it. The chance of it being beneficial to Rivian is currently unknown as they could increase the amount Rivian owners would qualify to receive or increase the amount of potential Rivian buyers who would be eligible. Worst case I could see no change for Rivian,
I dont see Rivian buyers less eligible or receiving less credit than they do now.
*Rivian becomes positive gross margin by Q4 on a per vehicle basis. This is what Rivian is pushing for and what they say they are striving for on their earning calls. For this to occur they would have to make great strides to profitability. Whether they meet their goal or just get close remains to be seen. I think this is both a potential positive catalyst if they meet this goal or get really close as it should greatly increase stock buyer sentiment. Conversely if they fall well short then this could be a very negative catalyst. its hard to assign a chance to this occurring with so many variables that could happen between here and there.
*Interest rates reducing. Interest rates haven't increased since July of 2023. As the rates have been sustained since then that may have weakened demand somewhat. However I believe it is more likely for interest rates to be reduced than to be increased further. If interest rates somehow increased I couldn't see how they could possibly sustain more than an additional .25 or .50 total increase from where they are now and even then I think those are unlikely. I think its more likely that interest rates are reduced at least .25 by the end of the year with further rate reductions likely in 2025. This should increase consumer sentiment toward both the stock and toward demand.
Can't predict the future but I think rate reductions or at least one by the end of the year is at least 65-70% likely in my opinion. The stock price at the time of the last rate hike was around a peak of $26-27 before dropping after that but staying around $17-23 til 2024.
*R2 model, if Rivian starts improving their financial situation and that they look like they will be able to stay in business to launch the more affordable R2 which there should be a robust preorder demand I think this will have a good impact on the stock price. They will probably releease preorder numbers at some point this year and if they do that will probably help the stock price on their own. I would estimate that there are 60k-100K R2 Preorders and as that is a much more affordable price point the closer we get to the 2026 projected launch the better rivians stock price should be.
My positions: 170 Shares and 21x $20 calls for January 2025 with plans to add another $10k worth of a mix of calls at varying strikes and shares in the near future. If you do your research and decide to buy calls/puts dated out in 2025 or beyond make sure to check the bid/ask and put in a limit order so you aren't burned by large bid/ask gaps. I also own a Rivian Quad R1T
I would like to address the apple partnership speculation last. This is all rumor based and should be taken as such and not as factual in any capacity. As to what validity to it I wouldn't care to guess but there are many options in which a partnership of some sort would make sense and a lot of different options as to how that would take shape.
*Apple could simply lease/sell the research from Project Titan to Rivian for cheap as they spent a lot of money on it and Rivian was asked on the Quarter 1 24 call how they plan to be able to fund future development of their driver+ software (self driving).
Apple spent a lot of money on project titan and it would be a waste if none of that data was useful or ever used.
*The rumors of the apple rivian partnership was credited to an unnamed supplier in Asia. This could be relevant because if Rivian is purchasing or looking into purchasing Apple chips (to power self driving AI assistants) or anything like sensors of the same kind that apple used on its test cars for project titan, could make the rumor a bit more credible. If any information comes out supporting that Rivian is buying apple related hardware this could impact the stock price upward.
*maybe this could simply be a planned implementation of Carplay with the new upcoming version of Carplay being added to R1 and future R2 lineups. Given that no one is going to refuse to buy a Rivian if it introduces the completely 100% optional carplay and that Rivian has a real issue with the lack of software in its vehicles (I can't name another vehicle that doesn't have integrated text messaging) I could only see this only helping demand as there are plenty of soccer moms who wouldn't buy a car without carplay.
*could be a partnership to build apple branded R1/R2/R3 vehicles. Rivian vehicles look good and have a good interior quality thats better than what you would expect. I could see apple badging and functionality being added to a Rivian vehicle to be sold as the apple car.
They could even throw an apple chip in there to run the center screen and it could basically be an IPAD and run all the ipad apps to instantly compete with tesla on functionality and breadth of media/games etc.
Think of like how Ford had an Eddie Bauer edition of their Expedition vehicle years ago. Makes way more sense than apple starting their own car manufacturing and Rivian makes a whole lot of sense for Apple to partner with due to quality of the vehicle.
Note I dont believe the chances are anything but low for most of the speculation about Apple above, but if there was a major or even minor partnership with apple, expect the stock to take off.
Even without any of the apple things above taking place, I think if Q4 profitability happens the Rivian stock price could be above $20 again in 2025. While there are chances of negative catalysts taking place such as dilution so that Rivian can raise cash and other negative things that could occur so take care to make your own informed decisions do the research and dont risk more than you can afford to lose.

Link to AO3
chapters 1&2
chapter 3
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 6
chapter 7
chapter 8
chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
The Academy looked normal enough from the distance but blew Gentry’s mind when she finally entered it. First of all, the way in lay through a massive winter garden full of the most luxurious botanical collection she’s ever seen. Not only that, but it seemed to be arranged in a way that offered spaces for hanging out as well as paths in and out. Here and there, G noticed little nooks with people’s voices coming from them and small murmuring streams gleamed in the sun that blazed through the transparent walls and roof. This place looked magical and invited to stay, enjoy the refreshing coolness and peace of mind. But Gentry had a good enough rest in her communal room the night before and was eager to start working on her first assignment that the System had spat out with a congratulating letter. Figuring out the controls of her new wristcomm was simple enough.
DEAR GENTRY!
WE ARE DELIGHTED TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU ARE THE FIRST CONTESTANT TO CLEAR ALL CHALLENGES AND OBTAIN THE STATUS OF AN ASHTAPADAN NEWCOMER! YOUR MEDICAL DATA HAS BEEN ANALYSED AND FOUND ACCEPTABLE.
IN THE ATTACHMENT TO THIS LETTER YOU WILL FIND A LIST OF RULES, RECOMMENDATIONS AND IDEAS THAT WILL DEFINITELY HELP YOU IN THE FIRST WEEKS IN OUR BEAUTIFUL CITY BUT WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND FINDING A BUDDY THAT WOULD BE YOUR MAIN GUIDE AND POTENTIALLY A NEW GREAT FRIEND! IT CAN BE ANY CITIZEN OR A MORE EXPERIENCED NEWCOMER.
YOUR CURRENT POINTS: 0
WHY NOT START EARNING SOME WITH YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT?
START ANY BEGINNER COURSE AT THE ACADEMY AND KEEP YOUR ATTENDANCE RATE OVER 80% — WORTH 50 POINTS
(OPTIONAL) FIND SOMEBODY WHO IS WILLING TO BECOME YOUR BUDDY — WORTH 20 POINTS
Without stopping to check if the vending machines offered anything good, G made her way through the dreamy garden and entered the inner yard that looked just like everything here: nothing too eye-catching at first glance but secrets hidden everywhere.
One thing she had already noticed was that most of the people had another piece of technology on their bodies besides the comm on their wrists: a sort of extendable visor that some of them kept engaged at all times. Those who were focused on the screen had a comical look on their faces, a thousand-mile stare, eyes wide even as they were talking to each other or going about their business. It was unclear yet why they would engage the screen for so long though. No one needed this much time to read a notification or check a map.
Take a group of young students by the fountain, for example. They seemed deep in conversation with each other yet their pupils didn’t focus on the person in front, but on the translucent screen over the top part of their faces. Was it some kind of virtual reality helmet?
If so, G needed one, too.
Perhaps she’d be able to make new friends this way.
There was something else that caught Gentry’s eye. Despite her initial disappointment about the severe lack of male hotness in the streets, people of both sexes seemed to really care about their appearance. Even those who probably weren’t naturally stunning were very interesting to look at not least because of the crazy fashion sense everyone here had. Never before had G seen so much variety in what everyone wore: countless variations on different national garments, some looking very traditional, like something one could see in a theatre, some — futuristic uniforms straight out of a sci-fi movie. It didn’t seem like anyone was concerned with gender norms here, too. At least in when it came to the outfits.
G hoped she didn’t look like a creepy stalker when her gaze lingered on a pair of very nicely shaped legs stretching from underneath a plaid skirt that belonged to a young man in the group sat by the edge of the water. A pair of snow-white knee-highs, flat loafers and neat raven hair with some blue streaks completed the image. His clothes fit him very well and weren’t inappropriate in the least: something an old money university student would wear.
A female student that is.
And he wasn’t alone. Here and there, among more conventionally dressed people, there were people wearing all sorts of things: a crazy mix of goth-like apparel but barefoot, men and women with heads covered with scarves, people in strange jewelery that looked like it weighed a ton and so on. Most importantly, no one seemed to care what the others looked like.
Was it paradise? Looks like the demo didn’t lie: it was heaven on earth.
The young man in the middle of the student gaggle caught her staring after all. With a dazzling smile, he waved in her direction as if they were great friends, and G waved back, face heating, hoping there wasn’t anyone behind her this tease was actually waving at. Thank god his shoes weren’t heeled, otherwise she would definitely have a heart attack right here, in the middle of the common area, on her first day.
Did he notice her ogling his legs? Judging by the giggles of his friend's entourage, they all did. The young flirt covered his mouth, eyes wide in mock indignation and pulled his knees in, as if hiding them from the improper attention, getting even more laughter from the rest of the company. G averted her eyes and tried to calm her breathing as she was on her way through the yard again, but before they all disappeared from her field of view, she noticed the coquette stretch his legs again and fall back on a friend of his, embracing the lucky man’s neck in an affectionate gesture, already forgetting G existed.
There was no way she wasn’t going to make some pretty boy do the same for her. Forget the assignment, put that in the list of her top priorities!
At first, Gentry was lost when she failed to find any kind of class schedule and there was no one to ask at the reception desk.
Why have a reception desk if nobody’s on duty?
Soon, however, it occurred to her that there was no schedule: each room within the wide marble corridors had a small display with a handwritten message scribbled on it.
Bachata for beginners
Product engineering (Tuesday class cancelled)
Colloidal chemistry (revision today)
None of these were the Communications course that Jey was talking about, but the variety definitely made G’s eyebrows go up.
Was she just supposed to barge into any class and sign up? Did she have to sign up later if she liked the subject? Was it ok to choose any?
After some wandering around, too scared to just walk in uninvited or ask others for directions, she finally stumbled across the door saying:
Communication & decision making course (Newcomers welcome)
With the desks arranged in a horseshoe and the people of various ages that were also apparently Newcomers, it all seemed comfortably casual. Everyone was chatting as she walked in, paying G no mind so she busied herself with the wristcomm that dinged at exactly the right time to save her the embarrassment of looking for a desk.
Would you like to enroll in this course? Scroll down to read the description.
Was this damn thing a spying device? Did it just know which room she was in? Jey didn’t joke when she said the little thing was going to be her primary aid!
“Are you looking for somewhere to sit?” called a young red-haired woman at one of the paired desks. “Here, this one is free.” She had the auglasses on, like everyone else, but they were off, showing her lively face and a pair of sharp green eyes.
“Thanks,” G said, gratefully taking the offer. “I’m new here, don’t know how things work yet.”
“It’s alright, the course is very engaging, you’ll love it.” — the woman held out a hand — “I’m Sereen, what’s your name?”
G shook the warm palm. “It’s Gentry. And by new I mean I’m new to Ashtapada, not just the course. Literally arrived yesterday.”
“Really?” — S looked surprised — “Everything must be very confusing!”
“You have no idea,” G smiled. “I’m glad someone understands. Everyone’s friendly but acts as if giant mechanical dogs in the streets and a moss garden in the lobby are the most normal things ever.”
“Don’t worry, I was just like you when I first arrived, you’ll get the hang of it soon.”
“Hope so! Is that the lecturer?”
“Shhh...”
Just like everything else in Ashtapada, the lecture started out normal enough only to unfold into something completely alien to how things were normally done.
Apparently, the Communications course involved learning rationality, debating, logic, etiquette and god knew what else. It was supposed to give the future citizens tools to, well, communicate. G was given a booklet with some ground rules for beginners that included entries that sounded like something Sun Tzu would say if he studied debating instead of warcraft.
“The purpose of any argument is not to win it and not to change the other disputant’s mind. It’s to find the truth.”
“Always argue in good faith.”
“Don’t attack your opponent.”
“If attacked, dismiss the attack as if it didn’t happen.”
Well, hopefully, it only meant verbal attacks! G knew too well that when it came to physical violence, it was hard to ignore it.
Most of the rules looked straightforward enough, some were confusing.
“Seek challenge to your convictions. Avoid echo chambers.”
“Don’t seek being right.”
“Be mindful of your audience including yourself.”
“Avoid “Empty arguments” that don’t bring everyone closer to the goal of finding the truth.”
The lecturer, a willowy man of about sixty that drowned in his tweed jacket, started the class with a bit of small talk with the regulars after distributing the booklets to all first-timers. He made sure to give it to G face down so that his photo under the “About the author” title didn’t go unnoticed. He also made most of the “talk” part himself.
“I never took part in a debate,” G told Sereen, who was patiently waiting for the class to begin. “And never seen anything like these rules. Is it actually useful?”
“Oh, believe me, professor Poe will be ecstatic to talk to you about them. He can’t not start discussing his subject at the slightest provocation. Look.” — she raised her hand — “Professor, how was your weekend?”
The man wearily smiled. “That might seem like a meaningless question, Sereen, but it’s actually very much related to the topic we are going to cover today.”
“See?” — S raised her eyebrows with a suppressed smile. G giggled. This promised to be interesting.
“Our friend Sereen is a very polite person, isn’t she?” — Poe smiled at the class but his eyes glided over everyone’s faces, gaze turned inwards like he was reading an invisible text written on the walls. “But as kind as she is, I don’t think she’s actually interested in how my weekend went. Small talk is just a social custom we engage in to strengthen our social relations. Why don’t we just start a day by saying “Hi! I value our relationship and would like to fulfill my societal role!” to everyone we know? I would definitely prefer THAT over the small talk! He-he!”
The audience laughed politely. The guy seemed alright.
“However, just as we use different tools to fulfill this role in different contexts, so can the context of a logical problem steer our thinking towards a rational, that is, right, and an irrational, that is, wrong, answer.”
“Well, that’s not a given,” Gentry mumbled under her breath but it went unnoticed by S, who was already immersed in the lecture.
“Consider the famous René Descartes’s quote "Cogito, ergo sum". Who can translate it from Latin?” — the board behind the thin, almost transparent man glowed, displaying the words.
“Is it really a Beginner’s course?” G asked Sereen in a low voice but her companion was already raising her hand, together with a dozen other students.
“I think, therefore I am,” she said after a curt nod of the lecturer’s permission.
“Very good,” he continued, pleased. “I taught you well. Those of you who attend my lectures regularly are familiar with the notion of solipsism, which states that the only thing we can be sure about is our own thoughts.”
Gentry looked at S with raised eyebrows.
If this is an introductory course, what was the advanced like?
Sereen didn’t seem to perplexed. She was fully following the thread.
“However,” professor Poe said. “I am going to challenge that notion by demonstrating that we can’t trust our own mind when it comes to perceiving reality.”
He looked at the audience with a quizzical eye, and pointed at Gentry with a long bony finger “You, new girl. I want you to close your eyes.”
Why her?
Gentry was only happy to hide behind her eyelids. No doubt the whole room was now staring at her.
Through the blood rushing in her ears, she heard the old man’s voice, “Who was sitting beside you before you closed your eyes?”
“My new friend Sereen,” G answered and heard a little gasp of appreciation from the woman.
“So you know she existed as long as you two were whispering behind my back. However, now that you can’t see or hear her. How do you know she exists?”
“Well, I can reach with my hand and touch her,” Gentry said, demonstrating.
“Yes, this is what most people answer,” Poe said. “You can open your eyes now. But let me ask you this: how would you know it was her, an not some other person that took her place?”
Gentry’s intuition was right: everyone was staring, as if waiting for her answer.
“Well, I suppose— ”
“Hush, it was a rhetorical question,” the professor cut her off. “The correct answer is that you can’t know that. We think we can trust our senses or at least our thoughts, but this is also false. Everyone, look out of the window.”
Everyone did.
The day was as fine as Gentry was annoyed.
What did this pops think of himself?
“I’d ask what you see, but I already know the answer,” he went on. “All of you would say “the sky”. And all of you would be wrong, because sky doesn’t exist. We only see the endless emptiness of the outer space, but perceive it as a blue dome. It’s an illusion, a phantom, born out of our collective unconscious.”
Sereen whispered, lost in the lecture, “Ah, yes, Carl Jung.”
What?
Was it supposed to be obvious?
“But listen to this,” he continued, voice booming like a demiurge’s in the completely silent room. “Listen to this. How many words is it? Listentothis. Our common sense says it’s three words while in reality it’s just a string of sounds I an producing with my mouth. I am literally making you hallucinate the spaces between the words I’m saying. With knowing that our perception is so flawed, how can we know that we even know how to think?”
“I’m sorry, professor, I disagr...” G started but got struck down by his serrated gaze.
“I’ll invite questions at the end, young miss,” he chopped out.
Sereen’s eyes were sympathetic. It looked like most if not all of professor Poe’s students had learned not to interrupt him.
He went on, “Anyway, the fact that you even understand what I am saying is in itself incredible and shouldn’t be possible.”
“But it IS possible, right?” G whispered to Sereen. “I mean, aren’t we understanding this as he speaks?”
“PLEASE refrain from talking unless asked!” professor Poe roared.
Impressive lung capacity for such a frail human being!
G begrudgingly did as she was told. The guy seemed to be enjoying this power trip a bit too much to her taste.
“Now, since most of you,” he put some emphasis on the word to shut up another pair of whispering students. “Most of you think you comprehend my words, you must know that there is a way to tell that something is real, even though we can’t rely on our senses for perception. I’m giving you a minute to discuss with your partners what it might be.”
G considered it. She and Sereen exchanged equally confused glances.
Like a dutiful student, S started summarising Poe’s arguments but Gentry listened with only half an ear. She felt that behind all this over-thinking was a clear and simple answer.
She watched the professor walk along the aisles, tuning into one or another conversation before leaving each with a smug head shake of disapproval.
What was there to think about? Even if they didn’t see the world precisely as it was, something was definitely real, right? The chair she felt under her buttocks, the air around, the low murmur of the students. The annoying professor that… looked a little too translucent.
Gentry waited for the man to approach their desks and tune into Sereen’s musings. As he came so near they could reach out and touch him, Gentry did just that.
To her utter shock, her hand went through the old jacket and sent a wave of static over the professor’s figure, his whole form glitching and flickering.
Professor Poe was a hologram!
Unable to help herself, Gentry said, “No wonder you don’t think anything is real, Professor, you are hardly real yourself!”
The whole roomful of people stared, transfixed, at the surreal scene of a student’s arm disappearing into the teacher’s abdomen.
Gentry looked back at Sereen in search of support.
Was it laughter in her eyes?
Poe’s blood drained from his face, the mouth slacked open, twitching as if trying to form some words, but none came out.
Sereen chimed in, “You never told us you were a simulation, Professor.”
“Out!” Poe gritted lowly so that no one really heard him.
“I’m sorry?” G asked, innocently.
“Out of my class!” he exploded, jumping out of Gentry’s reach with an enraged grimace. “I am as real as you are!”
G stood up and looked at her hand then back at Professor Poe.
How much rage could storm in those watery eyes?
Then, she winked at her new friend.
“Let’s go then, shall we?” she said.
Sereen looked lost for a second, her eyes darting pack and forth between Gentry and Poe. Then, her gaze seemed to cloud a little, as if she retreated into her own head, but when she resurfaced, she nodded with a mischievous smile.
Both young women left the room, the classmates’ sympathetic silence and Poe’s angry seething seeing them off.
***
“What a way to start my first day,” Gentry said. “My hands are still trembling a bit.”
She and S were calming their nerves in the green winter garden, the soothing sound of the little running streamlet at their feet a welcome distraction.
“Believe it or not, his course is actually quite useful,” Sereen laughed. “Who would have thought the old Poe is actually not human? I guess we never thought of poking him in the stomach before. This is going to be the talk of the Academy for the next month or so!”
“Is it? I feel bad now. I guess I’m not getting any points for attending this lecture, right?” — Gentry checked her wristcomm — “It says “zero progress” and something else… ad.. Honi… adhonim…”
Sereen laughed, “Yeah, you adhominem’ed good old Poe, no wonder you got zero credit!”
“What does it mean?”
“You’ve seen the rules of learning and discourse, right?” S said. “There are no-nos, things that aren’t allowed, especially when it comes to Rationality classes and the like. Ad Hominem means an attack on the speaker, not their argument. It isn’t exactly what you did, but I guess it’s the closest thing!”
“Ad Hominem, huh,” G said. “Well, I guess I deserve it then. Thanks for standing by me.”
If it wasn’t for Sereen, G wasn’t sure she would be going to return to the Academy any time soon!
“You just chose a wrong course as your first class, G,” — no doubt about that! — “But another lecturer who works here is much more open-minded and he also teaches Rationality. I think you’ll enjoy him more than our old Poe. His next class is in a couple of days. Wanna come?”
***
DEAR GENTRY!
CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING AN OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT! 20 POINTS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO YOUR STATUS COUNTER.

Hi, so im a 23m introvert have met a 23f at work and really hit it off, we decided to go workout together and we later came back to my place, she kinda felt disconnected to the hole thing, but I thought she was just shy, after a few times when we got to more serious manners, she told me she had a long distance relationship for a year and she didnt officially end it, so I told her we can't start anything till she is 100% single, gave her a week and a half, she told me she broke up with him so we met again a few days later, when she was at my place, her "ex" called her and she told him about us in a bad way "a friend from the gym invited me to dinner" so he went full maniac and started shouting at her to leave and she finished the call came back to me while I was preparing food for the both of us and she told me shes with him and that shes gotta go, I told her to pack up her shit and fuck out of my life immediately, ever since than she sent me hers and her "ex" texts and she broke up with him, now shes calls me a few times a day and sending multiple messages shes sorry about everything and blames her psychologist for giving her bad advice on trying to jiggle between me and her "ex", i told her i need time to think if i can forgive her, im really struggling, on the one hand I had an amazing time with her whenever we were together, she understands my humor and like the music I listen to, I also miss her but on the other hand she lied to me and that night when she left really hurt me, im not sure I can move past that, so I came to get some internet advice from people more knowledgeable in relationships :) thanks in advance

I (23F) am tired of asking my friend (23M) for the money he owes me. A little bit of background I met this friend at work and got close. We clicked through the same taste in music and an enjoyment of sports. He hasn't always been the best at managing his money. Some time around February/ March (not quite sure when the last round of tickets went on sale) we started talking about attending the Coachella Festival. I had gotten the tickets with the condition he was going to pay me his half of the tickets and if he did not pay me back i was going to keep the wristband since i made the payments on it, his half was $140. There were 4 total payment installments for the wristbands, i had to remind him to send the money but for the first three he was pretty good at sending the money. A little before the festival he was going through a rough patch, losing his car as he had not paid his tags or had insurance on the car after that he ended up losing his job in the office we both worked at. There came a point in which he asked me to sell the wrist band so he could cover all the fees to getting his car back. I had looked around to see if i could sell it to no avail. The day after the conversation he messaged me saying his friend had bought the wrist band from him and was letting him keep it. After that he would message nonstop asking if he could either pick it up or if i could drop it off. At this point I was unsure of how to tell him he still owed me money for the wristband. After work I went to his house and dropped it off, after a bit of small talk i brought up that he still owed me the money for the last payment, he seemed upset that i had brought it up but he did tell me he was going to pay me when his first unemployment check came in.
Come the festival we didn't up going together like planned but we both ended up going. Come the end of April and me going to both festival (Coachella and stagecoach), after stagecoach was over I had found out he has taken a trip to Vegas. I was very upset cuz he had obviously had money to take the trip but not pay me back. I did message his tell him not to forget he owed me, he told me when he received the next unemployment check he would pay me back
Up on till today I have no received anything from him, I have been texting him telling him to not forget, all that he tells me is he got paid x amount and is down to x amount. I have considered adding interest to the money he still owes me but i think that would be a bit cruel considering the circumstances he is in. I have spoke to a few friends that know and and the situation and they agree that I should add the interest. Any advise on how to proceed.
Sorry if its quite long, i wanted to be as detailed as possible

I struggled trying to get AI (with various models) to portray an AI Therapist in the way I imagined it, which is basically a human face (headshot) with some kind of interconnected faintly glowing electric wiring beneath the skin, especially around the forehead. What am I missing? Is this too abstract for the AI to be able to convert from text to image? Is the idea simply poor and so it 'fights' against the idea?
I want this image for my web app, an ai therapy service, but in the end I was forced to go with a kind of generic 'person meditating in peaceful nature' picture, which AI can produce very nicely.
I had to replace my previous AI generated image which was of a robot, that garnered lots of negative attention. Still unsure if the issue is my poor prompting, the idea itself, or the technology.
Thanks for listening, and would love to hear any insights from the crowd

Hey fellow entrepreneurs!
My co-founder and I were recently successful in acquiring 50 people to the private beta of our new consumer fitness/gaming app FitHero.ai so I figured I'd share what worked for us in case it helps others.
First, a little background...
The idea for FitHero.ai was born out of a desire to apply gamified techniques to the health and fitness journey.
Fitness can often feel like a grind, with progress taking time to become visible. We wanted to create an app that helps users see and feel improvements, even when they’re not immediately noticeable in real life.
Additionally, we wanted to leverage AI to provide a unique, interactive experience that benefits users’ fitness journeys.
I remember one day at the gym, feeling frustrated with my progress, and thinking, "There has to be a way to make this more fun and engaging."
That's when the idea of battling AI-driven villains as part of a fitness routine really clicked for me.
Actionable Step: Define Your Inspiration and Goal

• Identify the core problem your app solves and how it can uniquely benefit users. Understand the emotional and practical needs of your target audience to ensure your app resonates with them.

Defining Our Target Audience
As someone deeply involved in health and fitness, with notable achievements in CrossFit and a lifelong passion for gaming, I built FitHero.ai for people like me.
This approach ensured that the app met the needs of our initial user base effectively. I figured if it was something I would use and enjoy, there would be others out there just like me.
For consumer-focused startups, especially those being bootstrapped, I believe it’s essential for the founders to be the target audience. It allows you to move MUCH quicker and not be overly concerned with market research.
I tested this assumption by talking to friends at the gym and fellow gamers, asking if they would find an app like this useful and fun.
Actionable Step: Know Your Target Audience

• Build an app that you would use yourself. Leverage your own experiences and preferences to define the initial target audience. Conduct informal research through conversations with friends, family, and community members who share similar interests.

Early Marketing and User Acquisition
Initially, we needed to validate that the primary engagement loop was, well engaging 🙂.
We started by reaching out to friends in various fitness communities who also had an interest in gaming - literally DMing them and asking them to give our alpha a shot. Here was one of the initial messages:

Yo D! Would love your help in Alpha testing FitHero.ai. Here's the link to download the app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fithero-ai/id6449763830
The invite code is "alpha" (all lower case)
The alpha will last 2 weeks and have two surveys to fill out. If you can hang with the app and fill out both surveys will hook you up with a free shirt
The alpha is SUPER limited in features. Basically we're testing:

• Do people "get it" (kind like D&D it's a little complicated)
  
• What bugs exist?
  
• Is the primary game-play loop enjoyable? (battling villains, influenced by your exercise)
  

This approach helped us secure the first 15 to 20 users.
To hit our goal of 50 for our beta, we capitalized on the timing by releasing it at the beginning of the year (new years resolutions and whatnot), leveraging my social media presence to invite more people to try the app.
The timing, coupled with the growing interest in AI, helped us reach our goal of 50 users.
I vividly remember posting about our private beta on Facebook, hoping for a few responses, and waking up to dozens of messages from people eager to try it out. It was a thrilling moment that showed me there was real interest in what we were building.
Actionable Step: Validate with Friends and Community

• Use your network to gather the first group of users. Reach out to friends, family, and community members even if they don't fit your target audience profile. Ensure that these early users are willing to provide feedback and engage with the app.
• Limit the length of time for the beta. It helps people feel like they don't have to commit for a long period of time

Effective Strategies and Platforms
One effective strategy was limiting the number of users who could join the private beta, creating a sense of urgency.
Facebook was the primary platform for user acquisition, given its algorithm and the personal connection it offers.
We also created a Facebook group for FitHero.ai, which allowed us to collect feedback, share updates, and engage with users in a private community. This approach fostered a sense of exclusivity and community among early adopters.
People love to feel like they're part of something exclusive, and this really drove engagement.
Actionable Step: Leverage Timing and Social Media

• Launch your app or a private beta at a strategic time. Use your social media presence to spread the word and invite users.
• Create a Sense of Urgency: Create a private beta with limited spots to drive urgency and make users feel special for being early adopters.

Engaging with Early Users
Engaging with early users primarily through the Facebook group was highly effective for us.
In particular, polls were excellent ways of gathering valuable feedback. Most posts to the group didn't get a ton of engagement, but when I posted a poll, it was easy for people to give feedback.
Actionable Step: Utilize Social Media Groups

• Create a Facebook group or similar community space for your app. Use this space to collect feedback, share updates, and build a sense of community. Engage users with polls to gather valuable insights.

Acquiring your first 50 users can definitely be challenging, but through a combination of timing, value-proposition and putting ourselves out there, we were able to do it and gather great feedback along the way.
Hopefully this helps some of you get your initial users!

LONG POST WARNING
Hello everyone,
My partner (24F) and I (25M) returned home from our 3-week Japan trip last week and due to us using this sub a lot during our planning I thought it would be helpful for other current planners to upload a trip report.
Our main interests are Japanese traditions and history, street style/culture, and food so keep reading if these interests are mutual. Read to the bottom to see how much we spent plus some tips and disappointments.
Prelude
We were caught up in the madness at Dubai airport during our layover. Long story short; Airport (and the rest of Dubai) flooded and caused all the flights to be cancelled. What was meant to be a 5-hour layover turned into a torturous 36 hour wait. No staff to be seen, crowds of people arguing, fighting, and crying. We queued for 12 hours to get a new boarding pass for the next flight to Japan. We were meant to fly to Haneda but settled for Narita as we needed to get out of that place as soon as possible but still ended up missing our first day in Tokyo (should have had 5 days). We can’t complain too much as some of the people I spoke to on emirates were in the airport for up to 5 days before getting a flight back to their departure destination. Oh, and our baggage was missing with us only receiving our checked in bags on day 19. Cheers Emirates.
Day 1
Arrived in Shinjuku around midnight. We went straight to Don Quiojte to buy some replacement cosmetics and clothes. The combination of no good-quality sleep for 48 hours and the stimulating nature of the store was very intense! We then started to walk back towards the hostel and passed a Ichiran, so dropped in for some 2am ramen. Not the best ramen I’ve ever had but was still very good for the price.
Steps: 21,643 (includes some airport steps)
Day 2
Woke up and ate the free breakfast at the hostel (this turned out to be a really good money saver for the whole trip as we are not huge eaters in the morning anyway, but it was good to get something light in us before a long day walking). We then walked through the Shinjuku Gyoen Garden – saw some late blooming cheery blossoms and overall, it was a really beautiful botanical garden.
The next stop was Meji Shrine and a walk through Yoyogi park. The shrine was cool to see, especially as it was our first one in Japan. Saw a middle-aged man wearing denim hotpants so short that his balls were hanging out?!?!
Walked to Shibuya to see the scramble. This was cool but also felt it was a bit underwhelming at ground level but the view from Shibuya station walkway was wicked. Lunch was at a conveyor belt sushi place on the top floor of this department store right next to the scramble. This would be higher than average quality sushi in Europe, so it blew our minds that it was available on the top floor of a department store and for so cheap.
Shimokitazawa – We picked up some bargains at 2^nd street and I treated myself some Japanese jeans from a small Demin shop called Bears. The guy in the shop was super helpful and friendly and even tailored the trousers to exactly my size.
In the evening, we first had a poke around Golden Gai and then headed towards Shibuya and stopped in a cool bar where the owner was mixing vinyl while he mixed your drinks (think it was called Q Bar).
We had previously bought tickets to a gig at Circus for one of my fav rappers who I’d been wanting to see for a while. Also really enjoyed seeing the local Japanese warm up acts. Stayed until 5am and then go the train straight to the Tsukiji outer fish market. Was there way too early and had to wait roughly an hour for thing to open. Went to chill by a bench for a bit and by the time we went back to the market it was rammed! Went to bed around 8:30am.
Steps: 32,159
Day 3
We woke up at 2:30pm, got ready, and headed to the Bunkyo civic centre for the free observation deck. We heard it wasn’t meant to be the best Tokyo skyline view but for a free attraction we thought it was very good! Jimbocho book town was also very cool to see. We had a peak into a couple adult movie/magazine stores where I don’t think the owner appreciated our presence as western tourists.
In the evening, we first went for Ramen at Motenashi Kuraki in Asakusa Bashi. Honestly probably the best Ramen I’ve had to date. I ordered the Black Pepper Shio special, and it blew my mind. Even though the staff didn’t speak English they were very accommodating for my partner who doesn’t eat meat (pescetarian but will brave a meaty broth).
We then had a stroll around Akihabara and played some dance mat games in the arcades before heading back for an earlyish night.
Steps: 28,680
Day 4
I couldn’t sleep so got up around 3am and did some admin stuff to try and get our bags back to us ASAP. Chatted to people in the hostel for a few hours.
We arrived at Senso-ji for around 8am. Wasn’t too busy at this time and the temple was impressive. Went for a coffee down the road and had a chill for about an hour before heading into Asakusa. Got admission to the Drum museum which was wicked. Only 400 yen each and had the whole place to ourselves to smack some big fucking drums and make as much noise as we wanted.
We then started to head towards Ueno but made a slight detour to Kappabashi Dougu street to peruse the Japanese chef knives and other cookware. Grabbed lunch from a 7/11 and went and sat in Ueno park which was super busy. There was some food market event on which loads of food stalls had set up. There was also a stage with some J-pop performers and people dressed as ninjas dancing in the crowd. Weird to say the least. By mid-afternoon we were pretty tired so headed back to the hostel for a nap.
In the evening, we headed down to Harajuku and stopped by Big Love records. My partner is really into vinyl, so this was definitely a highlight for her. She picked up Wu Tang 36 chambers in case you were wondering. We then went for food at Afuri as my partner wanted to try the Vegan ramen to which she said it was ok but nothing special. My cold dipping noodle dish was very tasty, however. We then stumbled across this vinyl listening bar called Bar Music on the 5^th floor of this pokey building on the outskirts of Shibuya for a few drinks before bed. There was such a good vibe in there and the cocktails were super good for the price. If you’re looking for a romantic spot, then this is the place to go.
Steps: 31,818
Day 5
Today we headed to Kyoto on the shinkansen around midday after a slow morning chilling in and around the hostel and catching up on some sleep. Checked in to the hostel and had a walk around downtown Kyoto, stopping at 2^nd Street to buy some more clothes.
In the evening, we headed to Kodai-Ji to see the shrine lit up at night. We couldn’t believe how few people were there as it was stunning and truly magical place to be at night. It also has a bamboo grove (much better than Arashiyama, see below). The bar for Kyoto shrines/temples had been set very high.
Walked down Pontocho alley and stopped at a yakitori restaurant which was just ok. We knew it was going to be average when we looked around the restaurant and it was just western tourists dining.
Steps: 25,255
Day 6
First thing in the morning we rented bikes and cycled across the city to Arashiyama. Parked the bikes at the train station and walked up through Arashiyama. We were expecting it to be busy but there were so many people it was almost impossible to move. Had a look around the bamboo grove and was slightly underwhelmed after our visit to Kodai-Ji so we took the tram and then bus up to Kosan-Ji. This was very much worth the 45-minute journey as there was only one other group there and the temple nestled between the trees overlooking the river was breath-taking. On the whole, Arashiyama was way too packed during peak times to enjoy and with everything else Kyoto has to offer we wouldn’t say it was a must see.
We then picked up the bikes from the train station and cycled back across Kyoto taking the long route to explore and get lost. Once we dropped off the bikes, we went for another explore and this time went into WeGo for more clothes shopping. At this point we’d pretty much matched the amount of clothing that we had packed in our checked-in luggage that was still stuck in Dubai.
After a nap we walked towards the metro and stopped at a Katsu restaurant as we wanted to try something different, and it was pretty good. For the price of 1300 yen each we got so much food/sake and left stuffed.
Fushimi Inari in the evening. Like Kodai-Ji, we would recommend visiting Fushimi Inari at night. Firstly, to help avoid the crowds (we got there around 9pm and there was hardly anybody there) and secondly as seeing it lit up at night is a nice change. It was however slightly creepy at night, especially as it was lightly raining. My partner started to get a bit scared once we saw the signs to be careful of the wild boar and monkeys haha. We didn’t make it to the top of Mt Inari as the rain started to get heavy but still very much enjoyed walking through the hundreds of tori gates, stopping off at the shrines and soaking up the history.
Steps: 23,686
Day 7
Today was a late start as even after 8 hours sleep the 25k plus steps a day was starting to catch up with us.
We took the metro to Shimogamo Shrine in north Kyoto. It was very peaceful and quiet however temple fatigue had definitely set in at this point. We then walked through Kyoto to the beginning of Philosophers path. We had seen on this sub that people recommend skipping it unless its Sakura season however we disagree. The path along the river is so pretty and atmospheric, along with the fish gently swimming along in the river.
Kyoto Hand Crafts Centre – if you have the money then this is a great place to pick up souvenirs.
Pre-booked Sushi Iwa for a 15 course Omakase. The food was amazing, but it came to an eye watering 28k yen each. The difference for our western palettes between mid-range sushi and exceptional sushi is negligible. Nonetheless it was a good experience and I’m glad that we did it.
Steps: 23,751
Day 8
Today was an empty day in terms of things we wanted to do, so used it to walk the city and explore.
We checked out the Nishiki market and ate various fried foods on sticks which were all pretty tasty. We then walked northwards, stopping for coffee before reaching the imperial palace. By this point we were very much bored of temples and structures of similar architecture, but we actually ended up enjoying walking the palace grounds and seeing the buildings more than we thought and would recommend it to those who find themselves in north Kyoto.
A leisurely walk back down towards downtown Kyoto, stopping off at a wicked standing soba joint. Forgotten the name but their curry soba was delicious.
Chao Chao gyozas (only veggie gyoza place we could find) for our evening meal before a night cap at the bar across the road before bed.
Steps: 23,304
Day 9
Shinkansen to Hiroshima arriving around 11am.
Checked into hostel and then went straight to the A-dome, peace memorial and museum. We thought the museum was very moving and captured the horror of the events that unfolded very well. A must see for sure.
Okonomiyaki at Okonomimura and then some vintage clothes shopping in Hondori.
Went back out for food in the evening and ended up getting Okonomiyaki again. This time it we enjoyed it a lot more than we did at lunch (probably because we got it covered in cheese). There are a few streets by Hiroshima station with lots of bars and restaurants on top of each other, much like Golden Gai in Shinjuku, however they are not super touristy and has a more laid-back feel to them.
We then went to some bars in the city centre. The best one we stumbled across was called Tropical Bar Revolucion. It was on the 8^th floor and the smoking balcony overlooked the city. Plus, the beers in there tasted so good and I’m not sure why.
Steps: 23,299
Day 10
A hungover morning. Headed to the Hiroshima National Gardens. Going to some gardens is my go-to hangover activity as its low effort, relaxing, and feels productive. These gardens in particular were great and we really appreciated the signs explaining the history behind the space. Overall, we enjoyed this more than the national gardens in Shinjuku.
Public baths near Dobashi in the afternoon. If you’re feeling brave enough to get your kit off in front of 10s of strangers, then this is a good experience. Male and female baths are separate. Can’t go wrong for 400 yen.
Went for a drink at Bar Pretty and then realised the effect of golden week on trying to get a table walking into a restaurant. Walked around for about an hour with no success so settled for food from a department store food court. Sounds miserable but the food was pretty good for the price, and it was busy in there, so it still had an atmosphere.
Steps: 29,487
Day 11
Miyajima Day. Took the ferry to the island arriving at 10:30am. The Ryokan staff met us at the port and collected our bags to take back to the hotel.
Had a mooch around the port area before doing the hike up Mt Misen. The climb to the top on a hot day is not to be underestimated. Sweating buckets, but the route and the view from the top was amazing and one of the standout highlights of the whole trip.
After descending Mt Misen, we bought some beers, oysters and, ice cream and sat along the beach wall and chilled in the sun for a couple hours. The hotel staff then picked us up from the ferry terminal, we checked in and went straight to the Onsen for a couple hours before dinner. Dinner was a traditional kaiseki meal (with more courses than I can remember) served in the banquet hall with the other guests.
While the staff converted our retro ryokan room and set up the futons we had a few more beers before bed.
Steps: 20,803
Day 12
Today we had a chilled morning on the island, having a stroll and stopping for some coffees. We then took the ferry back to Hiroshima, stopping for Okonomiyaki one more time, before taking the shinkansen to Osaka.
Checked into our hostel near Namba and went out for a walk around 8pm. When looking for somewhere to eat we walked past a sign for a vegetarian Indian restaurant called Shama. After nearly two weeks of pure Japanese food we were craving some variety so decided to head in. Located on the basement floor of a particularly run down looking building the restaurant was not the most glamorous. Barely enough space for 10 people, it was hot in there. A constant stream of people was coming in and out of the restaurant and we were lucky enough to walk in when there were two spaces available. From sitting down at the table to receiving our food we waited just under an hour. This would be enough to put most people off but fuck me the food was good when it did finally arrive. We got a selection of 4 different curries, naan breads and samosa. We left stuffed. If you’re in the area this is definitely a place worth checking out.
Steps: 25,502
Day 13
Our first stop of the day was the Umeda Sky Building. Not suitable if you are scared of heights as the glass elevator made our stomachs drop slightly. The views were impressive but we thought the price was a bit steep at 1500 yen each.
We then spent the afternoon wondering about near Namba and Shinsujibashi dropping into shops and picking up some food.
For dinner we made a reservation for a Mexican restaurant near Dotonbori. Massive margheritas, nachos and enchiladas. The food was great, and it shows by how busy the place was still at 10pm. It had been open since the late 70’s with the décor to match and it had a great atmosphere.
Steps: 27,290
Day 14
Checked out Tsuruhashi and Korea Town. Loved the market – dimly lit maze of numerous food and clothing vendors. Stopped to have some Korean stew and pancakes and it was delicious. One of the best meals of the trip.
Shinsekai in the evening. What I can describe as the armpit of Osaka. We loved it. Dirty? Yes. Rowdy? Yes. Rough around the edges with a red light district to top it all off. We had Kushikatsu to finish the evening off. Fried stuff on a stick – of course it going to be tasty but it wasn’t exactly flavour town.
Steps: 23,777
Day 15
Took the train to Minoh and hiked up the trail to see the waterfall. Hike was easy in comparison to Mt Misen and the waterfall was very cool to see. Had a wonder around Minoh stopping for some lunch at a Ramen bar.
We went to the Team lab botanical gardens in the evening. It was very awe inspiring seeing all the installations lit up.
After sampling Japanese McDonalds (I had a burger where the buns were made out of rice) we went for some drinks at Zerro. We liked this bar a lot, the guys working there were very friendly and it had a good vibe.
We then sat and watched the skaters at triangle park with some beers from the konbini before going to see Dj Masda at Circus until around 4am. This area of Osaka was such a vibe and came back here a few times over our 6 days here. Overall, a very fun evening.
Steps: 26,130
Day 16
Woke up chronically hungover but powered on and went to see a baseball game. You’re allowed to bring food and drink into the stadium (as long as alcohol is in plastic/paper cups) so we grabbed some beers and snacks from family mart. We had no idea what was happening but the atmosphere was electric and we enjoyed getting pissed and cheering.
Had a nap and then went to Hafez for middle eastern food. The food was good but not amazing, nothing in comparison to my local middle eastern restaurant back home. Chilled around the Namba park/Big step area. Loved this area so much, we are big into street fashion and culture so this place really ticked some boxes. Lots of skaters and street wear stores concentrated around here. Got an early night watching Battle Royale back at the hostel.
Steps: 22,065
Day 17
Today we went to the Umeda area. Popped into some shopping centres and had Omurice for lunch. It was tasty but not something I will crave when back home. Good experience trying it though. We then walked through Yodoyobashi along the rivers and got gelato and sat in the rose garden. The sun was beating down and we enjoyed just chilling in the sun eating our ice cream.
Compufunk Records were holding a party in their store. Decent gaff with some very welcoming and kind people to party with until the early hours.
Steps: 21,267
Day 18
We reluctantly left Osaka for Hakone today. Very sad to go but onwards to the next adventure. Took the shinkansen to Odawara and then the Hakone romance car to Gora. Checked into our Ryokan and relaxed in the Onsen for a few hours.
Went for a walk around Gora and had dinner at the Ryokan before watching Predator in bed.
Steps: 16,926
Day 19
Today we did the Hakone Loop, starting early in Gora.
Started with the Open-air museum and it was great. We loved the installation and ended up spending 3 hours slowly making our way round. Got some cool photos as well for the gram.
Ropeway to Lake Ashi. This was absolutely terrifying. You have to swap cable cars 3 times on the way over and the warnings of the service being suspended due to the wind was announced at each stop. I’m not going to ruin the surprise, but one section made me literally freeze in terror due to the winds outside so try to do it on a calm weather day.
We then took the pirate boat (bit underwhelming) across the Lake and stopped for some soba noodles and a wander around. Unfortunately it was way too cloudy to even get a chance at seeing Mt Fuji.
Train to Kamakura and checked into our super cute traditional hostel near the beach.
Dinner at an Izakaya from the hostel owners recommendation. Food great and beers slipped down a treat. First time I tried Yuzu Kosho as well – I’m now addicted to the stuff and literally cover all my food with it.
Steps: 19,512
Day 20
A slow start to the morning. Weather was pretty bad but we still managed to hit all the main sights in Kamakura. Big Buddha was a refreshing sight from the temples. Did some shopping up Komachi Dori. Highlight of the day was Hukokaji temple. It was so peaceful and zen in the rain with its very own matcha tea ceremony backdropped by bamboo forest. This turned out to be our second favourite temple/shrine we visited, just being beaten by Kodaji.
In the evening we went for Sushi at a conveyor belt place. Figured this would probably be my last Japanese sushi of the trip so devoured 7000 yen worth of sushi and beer. Went back to the hostel and invited some of the other guests to drink with us. The owner of the hostel had some bayberry homebrew, so we got stuck into that.
Steps: 20,494
Day 21
Enoshima Island is just a 25 min train from Kamakura. Started off the day by walking to the top of the island to get French toast and a beer with a lovely view across the bay. We then headed up the Sea candle to check out the observation deck, still the illusive Mt Fuji hides behind the clouds.
We then bought admission to the caves beneath the island which was pretty cool. I won’t ruin the surprise but there’s something waiting for you at the end of one of the caves.
Had an explore around the rockpools near the caves and took some cool photos. We then had a pizza with fish on which was pretty crazy. Walked around the island a little bit more and I picked up some more Japanese denim which wasn’t the cheapest but the quality of the trousers are great and will last me a lifetime.
Back to Tokyo in the evening.
Went for Izakaya around Asakusa and popped into a couple bars. One was called Not Suspicious and the whole bar was covered in handwritten notes by patrons. Very touristy but quite cool at the same time. Our favourite was a drawing of Mario saying It’s a Me Muthafucka.
Steps: 25,903
Day 22
First stop was Don Quiojte to pick up some Yuzu Kosho (if you know you know) and weird flavoured KitKats.
Kappabashi Dougu street to purchase a fine Japanese carbon stell Santoku. Honestly in love with this knife so much. The people at the store were very happy to hear exactly what I was looking for and even let me try before you buy on some daikon radish.
While in Asakusa I had to return to the place where I put the best thing in my mouth in Japan. Motenashi Kuroki. Switched it up this time and had their classic Shio ramen plus the duck rice as a side. Honestly this place is amazing, and you have to go there if you have time. They aren’t veggie/pescy friendly so my partner went for one last round of sushi round the corner. We met up at a massage chair parlour and spent 30 mins relaxing in the chairs.
We had a bright idea to watch the sunset one last time so headed over to the rooftop park on a department store in Shibuya. Sipping on an ice cold Kirin, the sun slowly dropped behind the distant mountains and we knew our trip had come to an end. How symbolic.
Flight at 11pm from Haneda.
Steps: 23,187
On reflection:
I honestly think this trip was almost perfect in terms of hitting our interests and travel style. There was a good balance of doing the typical first time visit to Japan sights and activities while still exploring and seeing what we came across in the moment.
It hard to pinpoint exact highlights of the trip as everywhere we visited had so much going for it in different ways. We loved the rugged and trendy vibe to Osaka, and I think this would be the city I would most want to live in for a considerable amount of time (If I had to choose). Miyajima was also stunning and a great overnight trip with the Ryokan experience. We also underestimated how much we would enjoy Kamakura with its laid-back surfer vibe and access to Enoshima Island.
One random memorable moment that has stuck with me was when we landed at Narita airport, we took the limo bus to Shinjuku. As the driver pulled away, all the staff at the station turned and bowed in unison. It felt so special to first observe a culture totally opposite to the one I grew up with and was at this point I knew I had embarked on the trip of a lifetime.
If I could go back and change something I would probably miss out Hakone and do an extra day in one of the major cities. This isn’t because we didn’t enjoy Hakone, but we feel like it’s a place that needs more time to soak in what’s going on around you (plus the weather was bad when we were there). This being said the Open-Air Museum was amazing and we enjoyed it more than the Teamlab botanical gardens so the trip up the mountains was worth it just for that.
So, how much did we spend per person (not inc flights)?
Accommodation - £765pp
Given that we spent a couple nights in Ryokans raising the average price slightly, we were pretty happy with the accommodation costs. We stayed in a mix of private room and shared dorm hostels and pretty much all of them were spot on. Travelling as a couple meant that anywhere with a private room split the price between 2. The only hostel we didn’t like was the one in Hiroshima, there wasn’t anything in particularly wrong with it, there was just a really bad vibe from the owner and other guests.
Transport - £344pp
This includes shinkansen to and from all the major cities as well as our suica top ups for metros and buses. Unless your itinerary is something like 3 days Tokyo, 2 days Osaka 2 days Kyoto then there really isn’t any point getting the JR pass now that the price has increased.
Activities – £280pp
It is hard to give an exact amount for activities and food as 1) I didn’t track what we spent our cash on and 2) my partner and I would take in turns paying for things like temple admission. That being said I’ve allocated 25% of the cash we spent to activities such as temple admission. Activities includes our baseball tickets plus club entries as well as temple and museum admissions etc.
Food – £962pp
As above, its hard to give an exact amount for food. On the whole we tried to eat cheap with possible, especially at the start of our trip. There were a few expensive meals peppered in plus we ate out twice a day towards the end of our trip as we realised we were under budget.
The total is a bit skewed as this includes all the alcohol we bought in bars as well as the konbini trips for beers and cigarettes. I estimate that booze accounts for around a third of the total per person. If you would like to do Japan on a budget, reducing the booze will make a big difference.
Shopping/Souvenirs/Gifts – £607 (just me)
We went hard with the shopping. We didn’t actually receive our checked in luggage until day 19 so we had to buy all new clothes and cosmetics. If this wasn’t the case, then I don’t think I would have spent so much (airline is comping us for the additional clothing bought anyway). I also bought a fairly expensive chef knife and Japanese denim pieces, plus lots of gifts for friends and family. Obviously, this number could theoretically 0 if you are on a serious budget and did no shopping but I really underestimated Japanese shopping, especially thrifting. Also, given our cheap choices when it came to accommodation we could afford to splurge. However just to note my partner spent less than half than I did on shopping.
Total: £2958 (582,628 yen at time of writing)
I kept within my budget of £3000. I definitely got a bit frivolous with the cash in the last few days or so, if being as careful as I was towards the start of the trip, I think the total would be closer to £2500.
Disappointments
Takoyaki. We thought it was going to be all about the octopus but were disappointed with our balls of sloppy goo surrounding tiny chewy pieces of octopus. We tried it twice and couldn’t get behind it. Sorry Takoyaki fans.
Arashiyama. Way too busy, especially around the main station and bamboo grove. If it’s the bamboo you are going to see, then Kodaji is a much better spot.
Dotonburi. Albeit we were there in golden week, and it was pretty busy. However, I get the feeling this area has fallen to the past its golden days title and has become a bit of a cash cow for places selling spiralised potatoes on a stick. The area around Namba park was a better option for us.
Tips
Konbini. Absolute life saver for snacks and drinks on the go. The food quality for a convenience store is higher than most other countries so we had no problem with grabbing a meal from one to help keep within our budget.
Don’t over pack – even though we didn’t get our checked in bags, I still packed light so had plenty of space to bring stuff back. Emirates give you your allowance by weight rather than number of baggage so we could check in additional bags on the way back.
Don’t be scared of hostels. If you don’t want to brave the shared dorms, then most hostels offer private rooms with just the shower and toilet shared. Obviously, it’s cheaper if there are two people sharing a room.
Don’t stress about cash. Most places take debit/credit card and if they don’t, you’re never more than 5 minutes from a konbini ATM.
For us, golden week didn’t seem that big of an issue. No problems booking shinkansen around GW. We spent most of GW in Osaka, as such it was going to be busy anyway so maybe we didn’t see much of a difference from normal numbers in the spring.

Hi Reddit, I’m a lesbian woman who is also incredibly blind when it comes to signs that someone is into me.
So I am not sure where to start. I suppose with the fact that I am confused and that I would appreciate people’s insight.
I (30F) met (let’s call her) Gwen (46F) a few years ago. However, we only started really chatting every and then when we ran into each other again Jan 2023. We would sometimes spend 30mins or so talking. We arranged a coffee a couple of months later which went well. Summer 2023 was when we started getting closer. She out of nowhere dropped me a message whether I would be up for going over to hers. I cooked for us, we had wine and it was just nice. Slowly we started spending more time together. Sometimes from about 3pm to 1am. Just talking. I would always cooks for us etc etc. it became a routine and very comfortable. From once a week I would be at hers almost every day. All day. It got to the point that we started doing diy house stuff together as well lol. It feels homey? We literally talk about everything. She cares about my opinion and I care about hers. Although she doesn’t like to message, she does message me daily. Her friends know me and so do her parents. They often ask about me. She remembers things about me that I literally don’t remember as well as she always remembers anything important happening in my life. Now, my friends or acquaintances that saw us interact all think that we are together. When I ask them why, they say: “It’s the way she looks at you.” “It’s the way she interacts with you.” “She is so focused when you talk.” “When she laugh she looks at you.” “It’s the vibes.”
Now, I understand where they are coming from. Even I, the most useless of people (when it comes to picking up on things) noticed some signs. However, I don’t like to assume + I value the connection we have and I might be scared of rejection ahhah. Once I asked her whether she has ever had a thing for a woman and she said no. So that to me just indicates that she is straight and this is all friendly. It’s just a bit confusing I suppose? I mean not every friendship is the same, right? But then she looks at me ‘that way’, she picks up on the slightest change in my mood, she started buying types of food I enjoy or gets more of others because she noticed I like them, she teases me A LOT, etc etc.
I have no idea whether this even makes sense. This is a very short and rushed summary of the events. Anyways, thank you for reading haha

There's one thing I've felt and realised that no matter how many friends we surround ourselves with in real life, there are moments when loneliness can still creep in and take hold. That's when this wonderful world of internet comes in handy, and I guess it's finally the time for me to give this a try.
I'm a 22 year old Indian guy who is currently pursuing his masters degree in Italy. And being in an entirely different country on my own sometimes takes me to that loneliness territory. I'm a 6'1" tall guy (if that matters to you) and I crave those funny & deep conversation that are something more than just being shallow. You know the conversation, where every text makes you more elevated, and you can't help but just cherish that wonderful moment. The conversation flows naturally, and you keep on talking to each other irrespective of the time that has passed.
Love is one of the most exquisite things in this world, and it can hold different meanings for different people. But love for me, is all about care and affection that you show to your partner, that rock-solid assurance that no matter what, you've always got their back. It's when you eagerly anticipate their texts and feel like the luckiest person once it pops on your screen, when their presence, whether online or in person, gives you the reason to start your day with a huge smile. And I've seen my own shares of ups and down in my love life, but that doesn't make me lose any hope, and hopefully I'll soon find my ONE.
A little more about me: I mostly spend my free time analyzing or studying the movies, shows or music. I appreciate this world of entertainment a lot because they are like my escape from this reality. So, if you're the same, then we can nerd over our favorite movies & music. I also like to write about stuff sometimes, mostly about entertainment or some story/thought that popped into my mind.
But recently, I have been reading a lot of true crime stories. So, if you have some recommendations or insights into this genre, then you better hit me up, I'm always open to know more about this.
What am I looking for: I'm looking for a like-minded lady who is around my age (20-24 years old) and shares my passion for meaningful conversations. I'm interested in getting to know someone who enjoys talking about their day, what have they been up to, their dreams, their ambition, basically everything they feel comfortable sharing. If you're looking for a partner who is genuine, respectful, and eager to build a meaningful connection, then let's start talking! We can begin with a conversation on Reddit and if we both feel comfortable enough, let's move to some other platform and see where this takes us.
What can you expect from me: You can expect a genuine and understanding guy who is truly interested in getting to know you. You can also expect a funny and deep conversation, I'm a good listener and enjoy hearing different perspectives, so feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with me.
I can be a bit flirty sometimes if I feel like we have a genuine connection, so I hope you wouldn't mind that. I believe that a little bit of banter and humor can go a long way in building a connection, so don't be surprised if I try to make you laugh or catch your attention with a cheesy joke or two. However, I also respect boundaries and will never push beyond what makes you feel comfortable.
I'm a private person, so I'm NOT much inclined towards sharing pictures right away. I like to make sure that we both have trust and confidence in each other, and once we have established that, then we can definitely exchange photos and more.
Oh damn, I've just realized that this has become a very long post, so if you've read this in its entirety, give yourself a pat on the back. Out of so many things you could have read in this time, you chose to read my paragraph, and I already appreciate you for that. So, if any of these loong lines makes sense to you, please message me, and let's have some great conversation. I'll be waiting, and I hope you have a wonderful day. You deserve that.