u/Current_Wealth_357

I’m a 19 year old from Texas wanting to make mini lampwork sculptures like the ones in this video:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH4coaoone-/?igsh=MWZtd3lnazExbGw2cw==

I have a very specific interest in this art form and really want to get into it. I’m willing to travel just about anywhere in Texas to learn, but I would prefer if it was located in Houston because I will be on vacation there for a month or two. I’ve never worked with flame or glass before so I’m a complete beginner.

Any advice on where to begin would be greatly appreciated

NSFW tag because of mentions of sex and mention of grooming

I (19m) am in a committed relationship of 6 years with my boyfriend (19m). As the title says, every night I have been having dreams of flirting with people who are not my partner. The dreams usually never go past flirting and the emotional stuff (no sex) and the people I flirt with in my dreams are not people I know in real life. Me and my partner had a rough first 4 years of our relationship, with him emotionally cheating on me twice and was very emotionally manipulative. We’ve worked through his and my problems for the past 2 years and now our relationship is stable so I don’t understand why I’m having these dreams all of a sudden. During the times where he was being an asshole to me I would have these dreams where I would cheat on him with another, more caring, version of him. This made sense considering the situation, but now I can’t seem to figure out what’s the reason behind the dreams I’m having. The dream I had last night particularly got to me and now I’m depressed and questioning everything. I had gotten really close to a professor (who looks nothing like any of my professors, but he did somewhat resemble a singer i find attractive) and he was very attractive and we started to really hit it off and I can’t stop thinking about how good it felt. The feeling of the way he held me is really messing with my head because it felt so passionate and I felt so cared for and we didn’t even have sex. This is driving me crazy because I’m in a committed monogamous relationship and i feel guilty. It’s not like my boyfriend doesn’t do that so why am I so hung up on this feeling I got from a dream?? This is also making me realize that I still have the same issues from my childhood of seeking validation and love from people older than me and have power over me (probably would’ve gotten groomed if it weren’t for dating my boyfriend at a young age). I know this is just a dream but it’s stirring up some real issues that I haven’t yet confronted and it’s making me wildly uncomfortable. What are yalls thoughts?

I’ve seen videos where self proclaimed “transgender men” say that they are born a woman and will always be a woman so there’s no point in transitioning. This makes no sense to me and even seems transphobic. The goal of transitioning isn’t to change your biology but to pass as the gender you identify with, and I’ve seen trans men who are indistinguishable from cis men. I’ve tried asking people with this mindset and I’m almost always met with “well I wouldn’t pass anyway” or “I will always have [insert female body part]”. I don’t understand this logic??? What type of mental gymnastics is this? Is it just transphobia???