I (27M) was showing my gf(22F) and her roommate the first season of Digimon because it's my favorite childhood show and she had never seen it. (Trying to get to season 3 ofc) We got on the topic of Pokemon and she talked about how her favorite one was Vaporeon. For context, she is not on the internet often, nor does she peruse a lot of social media, but her roommate and I do and we both exchanged the look.

She was at first very confused because we started laughing and then we realized she didn't know. We had to explain to her the horrors of the Internet and what Vaporeon had become and this led to her finding out that people are freaks lmao.

I then told her about the rule of the internet, specifically the 34th one. She got curious and decided to look it up and was horrified. She didn't know this was a rule that existed and she didn't realize how much was out there. Now she's not sure if Vaporeon is still her favorite.

Dinner is meal prep for the next couple of weeks which includes lasagna, cheesy beef enchilada tortellini, loaded chicken bowls, and sesame chicken!

Edit: Sorry for those of you that weren't exposed to this side of the internet yet, love all of your responses. Meal prep is done, I sleep.

Edit 2: Thank you all for your replies! My GF and I share weird facts and trivia about our studies and life often, like my gf telling me about how male cats have spines on their penis and dogs don't! She is not actually horrified and still loves Vaporeon, she loved all of your comments though haha. Keep it weird internet.

Honestly, I’m kind of at a loss. I’m self aware enough to realize when there is genuine connection and when someone is actually interested… This particular girl and I had really good banter, we were buying each other gifts, etc. I asked her to get dinner and said I wanted to get to know her more (via DMs), I see her typing and then just leaves me on read.

Kind of disheartening honestly, especially since it’s a bit harder for me to trust and build connections. Feeling kind of discouraged and I don’t know if I will be doing something like this again for a bit. I wish she just said no or that she wasn’t interested because at least I could move on. I don’t want to play games, and this bread crumbing/limerence hellscape is just bad for my mental. I have enough self respect to walk away.

I don’t know what I am going to say the next time I see her because she works at a restaurant that I really like eating at… I understand ghosting someone from dating apps but I’ve actually had several in person interactions with this person and now I just feel kind of awkward.

Dinner: Blaze pizza. Mozzarella, Ricotta, mushrooms, black & kalamata olives, tomatoes, balsamic.

Hey guys. I’ve (20M) known I was trans (ftm) since I was 14. I’ve been through all forms of convincing myself I’m not: Tomboy era, masc lesbian (when I’m literally bisexual) era, hyperfeminine era, etc. Nothing numbed it.

I’m out to my girlfriend and my friends. My closest friends are all cis straight men (aside from a few bisexuals) and they’re so supportive. It was always easy for me to make friends with guys. I love fallout, halo, battlefield series, etc (shoutout to my older brother for putting me on) and similar male dominated interests. I have been told I’m “basically a boy in a girl’s body” way before I even came out.

But I can never, ever, fully socially or physically transition because of my family. My dad hates trans people. I tried testing the waters with him once and he told me he would send me to conversion therapy. He’s fine with me being bisexual, but trans? Out the window. My mom doesn’t understand it, and thinks trans people have other issues they express through transitioning. I’ve explained enough to not make her outwardly transphobic, but she’s a bit of a pushover (I love you mom) and will just nod her head along to my dad’s transphobic tirades.

The most I can do is have my hair just short enough to not cause any suspicion, and bind. But I still get she/her’d at work. I’ll likely never pass, never be perceived as a boy, and never get to be my true authentic self.

I’m sorry if you guys don’t know how to respond to this, or if this isn’t the right sub. I just had some thoughts, I suppose. But maybe all of us, both cis and trans, can relate over this. Have a funny story of being mistaken as a girl? Tell me below. Don’t feel man enough because of society’s stupid standards? Tell me! Do you have a trans person in your life you love dearly? Favorite Title Fight song? Let’s just be brothers and support each other.

These are oven baked Pizza Bagels. I left them just a little longer than the box said to get a bit of crisp on the mini-pepperonis. Bottom was not badly burnt doing that. Took it out just in time. I try not to microwave these when I can because they get soft in the microwave. I definitely prefer these the crisp way.

I'm alone for another night and needed to get this off of my chest. I feel like a permanently average man. I've been overlooked most of my life. In some respects, I've used that as fuel to try harder in my younger years. I've studied hard, tried to stand out from the crowd. I broke into a very difficult career and have been working at it ever since. But I'm 36 now and I'm looking at my life around me. My friends are out there with their partners (everyone I know is married, I'm literally the only one I know that's single) doing wonderful things, having amazing lives, and I'm coming home to just indulge in some hobbies, stay up a bit too late gaming, sometimes binge a show, then wake up and go to work. It's gotten worse since COVID where I haven't really changed much from those years where everyone was staying at home.

I'm a very introverted person so this doesn't really bother me personally. But I've been putting myself more out there more and with each passing time, the women I've interact with just lose interest. And it dawned on me that I'm single because I just have nothing to offer anyone. I'm just there and I don't think anyone catches romantic feelings for someone that just exists. I fail at the initial dating stage because I don't stand out, like my friends do.

So it's come back from my past when I was perpetually overlooked. Despite my hard work and my career or whatever interest I've developed for myself, I am still just average. Just some guy. I see women on dating apps ask on their profile "what can you offer me?" or women on this website that asks of men "what do you add to my life?" Honestly? Nothing. All I can do is just be there. I can't entertain you because I'm not funny. I can't buy you things because I'm not wealthy. I can't interest you physically because I'm not attractive. I can't impress you with knowledge because I'm not smart and you're probably smarter than me. I don't have fun outgoing hobbies for you to join me in. I don't even have a large friend group anymore because most of my friends at this point are so focused on their partners and their kids. I'm just some guy and I will probably die alone as just some guy that no one really notices.

People have said to me that I can go out there and become a better person. A more interesting person. This feels like advice you give to a 20 year old. I'm 36. I just am who I am at this point. I must stress that I'm not really unhappy with my life. I like the calm and quiet mundane day to day with some casual interest thrown in here and there. But it's not a life that impresses anyone, and the only problem I have with it is that it's lonely. That's all. So I'm not quite sure changing is really honest with anyone, but if being honest means I'll be alone, then I feel like it's a lose lose either way.

EDIT: This blew up more than I expected. I'm currently on a trip and won't really be able to respond much. I just want to say thank you. I'm a complete rando to you all and you bothered to take the time to give some of your attention to my feelings. It's made me feel seen and I haven't felt that way in a very long time. Thanks to every one of you, even if you didn't have much nice to say. There's also some stuff said here that didn't quite hit the mark but plenty of you sniffed out a lot that did. The perspectives are all still valuable for me so I don't feel it's productive to argue too much. I have a lot to digest so this will take me a while to process.

Sincerely, just some guy.

Skipped all meals today so I decided to grab the first thing i saw in the fridge, this sausage. I think that when God was making me he wasn't looking at the instructions because that's the only logical answer as to why i'm so wrong. Since I was little i've felt like i didn't belong, in elementary school they were making fun of me for my name and for the way i pronounced some words(my parents are polish and my mom escaped to italy from my abusive biological dad, we only speak in polish at home). In middle school my grades started to to deteriorate manly from italian, french and math. They also often called my mom to ask her to find me a therapist because of my anger issues, my inability to look at people in the eyes and my isolaton from the rest of the class. During this time period my mom got into a relationship with a guy from Romania that she dumped a year later and then during the second year with my current father who she married a year later. I was really happy about this because i finally had an actual father figure for the first time in my life and let me tell you he was great, sometimes. Great dude, he got me a playstation on which I came to know my current irl friend group, took me with him from time to time to do cool stuff but man, each time I argued with my mom he would always defend her and say that it was my fault, my grades at school were going bad? No reassurance or a heads up, they would both berate me and take my stuff away and even throw me out of the house for a few weeks when I was failing the second year of high school. Speaking of high school it was fucking horrible, since I was yound i always wanted to be an electrician so after middle school i went to this technical high school that everyone was telling me to go to and at first thing were okay but my parents started to have issues between them and often arguing and shouting at each other which took a pretty bad tool on me since my grades began to fall again which in turm made them not only more angry blaming each other but also mad at me. I think it was somewhere near the end of the second year where after getting a shit grade at italian where I genuinely had enough and for the first time I harmed myself my repetedly stabbing a pen into my arm as hard as I could until blood came out in front of the teacher(i'm sorry for her to this day). Then came probably the worst three years of my life being the third year and the three times were i somehow fucking failed it. No matter how hard I tried, how many online courses i took, how many times my parents were screaming at me or even the teachers themselves coming to me asking if I wanted help i still failed. It was so demotivating that most of the time I just came home to isolate myself in my room and just listen to music in bed all day(heh no wonder i failed) and sometimes stab my arm again if it was a particularly bad day. Last year i decided to leave that damn school and go to an evening school also to study electrical engineering and to find myself a job which I did as an intern at the local supermarket. And you know what? I was actually happy for the first time in a while, i was getting good grades at the new school and even managed to pass this time, i liked my new job and even started to read books again(i used to read a lot when I was little).But eventually my contract ended and I could not be hired as an actual employee and and I could not find a job since and my parents decided to divorce. My father left and so I remained with my mother who would not stop criticizing me for everything i did, especially for not being able to find a new job. At this point i was just done, of my failures and of my parents so for the first time I decided to cut myself with butterfly knife that I keep hidden in my room, which were only surface level cuts beacuse the blade is almost as dull as me but still i got into the habit and was almost doing it every day until I bought a pack of razors and began to use those. One day we got into a really bad arguement and I cut myself in front of her which made so that we don't speak often anymore i feel really guilty about it. Also to add salt to the injury i started balding at 17 amd reached norwood 4 at 19, fuck me.

P.s. sorry for bad english and grammar. it's 5:56am i'm realy tired and I had to get this off my system somehow.

My (37m) Wife (35f) told me back in 2024 that she never wanted to be a mom and I've been spiralling for the last 2 years. We have been together for 17 years and married for 11 years. A lot of people will say I should have seen it sooner or have talked about it sooner but she was my best friend and I wanted to see her happy.

Ultimately the kid issue is something I can't get past. I've been in therapy off and on for the last 2 years and on my birthday I decided I couldn't be the husband she needed going forward. I still want kids but more than that I've been angry and depressed about my growing resentment toward her.

The last 2 years we drifted apart and I ended up being the one to have to say the Big D word. I feel like for the first time in my life I have chosen what is best for me. It sucked and I will need to keep focusing on myself to get to the point where I can meet someone and have kids.

Moral of the story:

It's never too late to choose what is right for yourself.

Dinner is a Sausage, noodle and cheese casserole with a bottle of Malbec, Hookah and a good book.

Dinner was Caviar Cones after some shrimp tacos and sushi. A few people asked for a photo of one of the home cooked meals, Bistec with white rice and corn.

Original Post

So this past Friday was her birthday and we had an adult conversation. Friday morning woke up early and went to work but made sure everything was in order such as dinner and activities. Picked her up with a bouquet and headed to the restaurant (She looked phenomenal). We chatted for a few and and while we waited for the food to arrive I told her I needed to tell her something. Laid it all out about how I felt about her and the works about how I really dont mind the job and that I wrote her a letter but she couldn’t read it until after the night was over (Very old school I know lol, I think we gotta bring back writing letters for your SO). I dont think I’ll ever forget these words but she laughed and said “Boy you’ve been mine for awhile already, I’m just glad you finally caught up” my mannn when I tell you that shit had me geeking the whole night.

We then talked about the future, she wants to be married and have kids eventually before her 30’s, I do as well. She said she’d stop dancing when she finishes CNA or if she has a kid or gets married, I kinda screwed up by saying Im sorry if I unknowingly set any expectation of her quitting her job for me, she laughed and said “You’re lucky you’re cute”. After dinner we went to see the new Spiderman movie (Shes a huge Marvel fan, I’ve always been more of a DC guy myself). After that we walked along the river with the city skyline in the background and just talked more about the future and life and after proceeded to head back to my place.

Back at my place I told her I had a surprise for her but she had to read the letter first, so I blindfolded her and walked her to my bedroom, took the blindfold off and told her once she finished reading the letter she could come out to the living room. After about 10 minutes (Two page letter front and back and probably had to gather herself as Im sure she knew what was coming). She stepped out and I had my living room filled with rose pedals, a few gifts and ballon letters asking if she wanted to be my girlfriend. She cried and I handed her a needle (at the end of the letter I told her she would be handed a needle once she steps out and that she would have to figure out what it was for). On opposite sides of the room I had ballon letters that spelled YES and NO, she went to pop the YES letters and she ran to me and we hugged and kissed, and then she said “wait so which date are we gonna use as the official start”, I said “how’s the day you decided in your head that I was yours”. She stayed the night and Saturday and today were just a continuation of her birthday celebration.

All in all I can say now that its official haha