u/Glad-Description4534

I (17M) have realised that I don't need friends. I have had zero friends most of my life and am finally comfortable with that. But now I have had so many people come wanting to be friends with me and engaging in conversations. Probably because they have seen me sitting alone at recess. And I have realised that I don't like it. I have my brother and my dog with me and they're all the friends I need tbh.

I want to interact with people in my school/ other places i go, just don't want to be close to them. How I do I tell them this? How I indicate this to them?

I have tried leaving conversations that have gone on for too long with a smile and a goodbye as soon as I see a opening. Can this be rude?

I have noticed that women's singing abilities are judged by their vocal range, their abilities to do vocal runs and what not. While for men the defining criteria seems to be the vibes they give of. Nobody says a famous male singer can't actually sing because he doesn't hit a C5 while jumping up and down a stage in high heels (like many female performers are expected to do).

Why are men and women in popular singing held up to wildly different standards?

Why do so many people want to move to the US over other countries? If immigrating there is so hard and next to impossible for most people, then why does it have one of the highest rates of immigration?

I'm 17M from India and I want to immigrate to the United States one day. I like the country and the people there. I like the culture and the things that the people there care about (freedom, personal independence, their different definition of kindness and empathy, and tolerance of weird lifestyles, etc.) and I feel like I would belong there. I like the land and the weather, and I know its not the solution for many of my problems but I want to live there, more than anything else tbh. I am also gay, and I feel like I could be myself there and not be discriminated against.

So, what do I have to do to be an American? I am studying hard to be an engineer, but is it enough for me to be a good engineer to be able to immigrate to the US (or just about any more open country with a similar culture). What more can I do?

Also, what do you think the state of US immigration and the US in general be in like 5-10 years?

My (17M) grandmother is old, and I honestly don't know how long she has to live. When I was a kid, I used to feel like she was the only person in the world who loved me. But nowadays, I feel like we've grown apart and I don't really wanna talk to her, only really talking to her like once a week.

She wasn't really the best parent to my father (who hasn't been the best parent to me), and handed out the cruelest, literally evil, punishments to her children. She is homophobic (and I am gay) and has the worldview of a literal Nazi, and she talks about these alot when I call her. It's so uncomfortable and I feel like she's going to hate me when she finds out who I really am, and the kind of politics I believe in, etc.

I know I will regret not talking to her more alot when I grow up, but it's so exhausting for me to talk to her these days. My schedule doesn't allow much time for it either. I am in school/transportation for 8 hours a day and then am expected to study for 5 hours a day when I get back home.

AITAH for never picking up her calls when she calls and never really calling her back?

P.S. I also kind of in a way want to punish her for making my father the way he is and making my life what it is (directly or indirectly).

As child my father used to be discipline me during some very improper situations. I like to think that I was always a very well behaved child, and I don't know anyone complaining about my behaviour (much), except for my father.

I remember him punching me until I fell down because I accidentally hit a little girl who stood infront of me while I was swinging in a park. I hated myself for doing that and thought of myself as being stupid and "bad", but I now think it wasn't really my fault because that dad should've controlled his daughter better and there was no way I could've stopped my swing mid air as a 6-7 year old.

He used to me beat me and tell me I was weak, because some kids 5-6 years older than me would bully me into "giving" them my toys (i.e. they would steal and then tell my parents that I have it to them). He used to beat me because I wouldn't memorise multiplication tables of numbers upto 20.

I know all these things (i.e. him hitting) me were wrong and don't really need any validation about it. Just wanted to know what would you have done in these situations, if your kids did those things?

When do you think kids need discipline? When do 17-18 year olds need to be disciplined?

I am asking this because now that I am grown up, he regrets what he used to do to me as a kid very badly, and rarely ever punishes or even corrects me for the things I do wrong, so I kind of have to correct myself (and I believe I am old and smart enough to do that).