u/InterestingFig758

So, here's the background:

I matched with this girl on Hinge maybe 5ish weeks ago. She was nice, smart, good looking. We messaged back and fourth abit before I asked for a date. We exchanged a few messages each day leading up the weekend of the date (only 6 days or so, neither of us went overboard before hand and it felt just right for me).

We met for coffee in her town. We spoke for about 2.5 hours... at the time I actually thought it went quite well. I hadn't been on a date in a long time as I've been getting my shit together (I mvoed city, bought a house, busy with all kinds of things... blabla personal life blabla). She was smart, interesting, had lots to say. We had a really good conversation, despite me sensing I had lost some social skills over the years lol, but anyway.

When I finally got home, I messaged her on Hinge (she didn't want to exchange numbers until after the first date as it's personal to her and I get that) to say I enjoyed meeting her and would love to meet again.

Then I got old "I didn't feel the connection I'm looking for to take things further"... she actually said abit more and was quite sweet and polite about it. I was quite disappointed but just responded with "thank you for being honest with me, I wish you the best and I hope you find what you're looking for" and that was it, then I unmatched (not sure if that's weird but what else are you meant to do lol).

Last week I made an Instagram for the first time, purely to track my own DIY projects. She then followed me on it. Despite us never exchanging socials, or numbers or anything outside of Hinge. My Insta is literally a profile pic and one photo of a clothes rail I put up lmao. I did Fb stalk her before the date a little so maybe that's enough for Insta to link it and recommend me. Anyway, it was kindof weird as I hadnt set it to private yet, so I had this Insta account, with a photo of a clothing rail, with a girl that rejected me as my only follower. I removed her as a follower and set to private. Not out of spite, it just semeed weird.

ANYWAY, fast forward to now. I made a fresh Hinge profile and she has just sent me a rose. Like WTF? can anybody please explain this. I am too socially and romantically dumb to understand it. Thank you! Also,what would you do? There was nothing bad about her or strange, other than some cultural differences as she's Eastern European. Am I down that bad if I follow up on it?

I (30M), bought my first house in the South West in March this year. It totally cleaned out many years of savings and then some with all the additional costs. It's a 3 bed, 2 doubles and 1 single.

I was hesitant about having lodgers as I've lived alone for most of my adult life and liked it that way. But after a lot of work and DIY it's become a really good experience for me.

Started out only taking temporary arrangements to trial whether it would work out befor enow progressing to having 2 long term lodgers as I figured if I'm goign to keep a revolving door of people back to back short term I may as well take some long term who I get on with.

So far I've had an Angolan studying English for a month, a Nigerian completing his law internship, and now an Indian paralegal and a Chinese uni student at the same time.

It's so nice having some life about the house. Non of us drink or are in each others pockets all the time. They are every pleasant and easy-going and I l to think I am too.

It's £1200 per month for the two of them extra income (minus the extra council tax and bills)... I wont do this forever but for now it's a good money maker while I'm single.

It also motivates me to look after the place which I never did where I rented before (that's another story). I've learned so much DIY stuff and home maintenance in a short time because it's important to me the lodgers feel like they caa ask me for anything and I want to provide good value. So far so good. Would highly recommend it if you are careful with who you choose. It's been a great learning experience.

I've only lived in Exeter for a few months and never been to Exmouth. I really fancy a beach day. I don't have a car right now so Exmouth seems easiest.

Is it rammed in this weather at weekends? Is it a nice beach/ worth it?

Thank you

I see alot of these projects where people make a dashboard out of some fictional csv about pizza sales or similar, and everything is crammed on to a single page "top selling product" etc.

I know you've got to start somewhere, but tbh I really don't think these are going to help anybody get hired. If you had a Real project, where the data is all over the place, kept in different systems and formats, and actually took time to get it together into something useful, and THEN you make dashboards. The analytics should be showing not only the data but stuff that would help real decisions be made, then that's of more value - because honestly anybody can use these tools to just draw a graph showing pizza sales per month or whatever. Not to discourage anybody, keep on going (I have no idea what entry level looks like but I would assume they look for a quantative degree at least?

I'm 31M. Sorry this is more of just a rant...

Over the last few years I've ended up with basically no real social life. It's not something I've been particularly upset about day to day. In fact, I've got so used to being alone that I've generally been fine with it.

When I was younger I had plenty of friends, but looking back, a lot of them were people I didn't actually respect that much. A lot of drinking, drugs, messing around, complaining about life, blaming everyone else and generally not really trying to better themselves. Others had pretty easy lives but still constantly complained about everything.

I realised I was often being a people pleaser. I'd get along with everyone on the surface while secretly judging a lot of them and wondering why I was even spending time with these people. Eventually I just got tired of it and withdrew.

Then one of my friends died from an overdose. That really shook me. It made me think how easily that could have been any of us, and I started looking at my whole social life differently. I didn't want to keep living like that.

Since then I've focused a lot more on my own life. I've achieved a fair bit, bought a house, built a career, etc., but socially I've basically ended up with nobody.

The weird thing is that I don't necessarily miss my old social life. I don't want to go back to being surrounded by people I don't like just for the sake of having friends. But I also don't really know how to make friendships anymore, or what a healthy friendship is supposed to look like for me. When there is somebody who comes into my life I feel myself keeping them at arms length as I just don't know how to keep conversations going and just kindof want to be alone again, even with family who I love.

It became particularly noticeable recently because my 21-year-old lodger was talking about how he's going to see loads of his university friends again when they all return in September. He casually asked me when I see my friends and whether I know many people locally. Nothing he said was rude or judgmental, but I suddenly felt quite embarrassed having to admit that I basically don't.

I'm also single and currently have no romantic prospects, so sometimes it feels like I've accidentally opted out of a whole part of normal life.

I don't necessarily feel desperate to change everything. I think I'm genuinely quite comfortable on my own. But being reminded of how different my life is from other people's can make me wonder whether I've just convinced myself I'm fine with it because I've got so used to it.

Has anyone else ended up in a similar position? Especially people who deliberately walked away from a social circle because they didn't like the people or lifestyle anymore, then realised afterwards that they didn't really know how to build a new one?

Sorry this has probs been asked many times, or similar.

I (31M) have a maths degree, a masters, worked 6 years in a commercial tech role for a big company, now one year dedicated software dev. I sit at a laptop all day and I don't really give a fuck about any of it and I'm a shit employee because of it - though I am very capable. AI trivialises pretty much everything - makes my job easy but I'd rather be learning actual skills.

I was never a big DIY person until recently. Due to my last 7 years, I now own my own house and rent a couple of rooms to lodgers - so money is decent. I've been tackling a long list of jobs to do in the house, lots of youtube, trial and error and talking to friends/ neighbours who are in the trades. I am far from a pro in anything and I know it.

I have this dream recently of just fucking it all off and gradually being able to go full time as a handyman. I'd like to build a solid portfolio using my own house projects, start doing it on the side for others in evenings and weekends before I'm busy enough for that to me my main income.

Is it feasible, long-term? Here's the growing list of stuff I've doen successfully so far;

• Kitchen tap replacement, including valves and connectors.
• Toilet fill/flush valve repair
• Bathroom/bath resealing and silicone work
• Plaster ceiling patching and repairs after a leak
• Painting/decorating/touch-ups
• Shelves fitted
• Curtains/blinds and rails fitted
• Door handles/locks fitted/repaired
• Door/frame repairs
• Light switch replacement
• Garden clear-up/maintenance
• Cupboard doors/hinges
• Furniture/flat-pack assembly
• Picture hanging
• Clothing rail install

I know it's all basic stuff, but can a boy really dream?

I (30M) went on a Hinge date 1 month ago. It was good, nice girl, thought it went well - then after messaging later saying I would like to meet again she said something like "I've been thinking about it all, you're genuinely kind, intelligent blabla... but I didn't feel the connection Im looking for to take things further"... so, fair enough, she was very pleasant and life moves on.

Now, I made an Instagram for the first time ever a couple days ago (honestly it was just ot message a guy for weed, though never did int he end as I'm on a sober thing atm, but anyway).... she has started following me on there.

The weird thing is, we never exchanged numbers outside of Hinge, we never added on any other platforms like Facebook, my profile is literally a display picture and nothing else. My name wasn't even a real name, no following or followers or anything.

Is this weird? Or is that normal for people who are more into social media? I'm not interested in her at this point but just wondering if anybody else thinks that's strange. Maybe I'm just not hip at all as I don't use socials at all.

I'm going to Kenya and Tanzania in a few months. Would love to hit the dancefloor. I cannot dance at all lol. Any advice/ youtubers on where to start, please?

Thinking of doing an East Africa trip. Of ccourse, safari comes up a lot. To be honest im abit synical - is it actually worth it? I say that as I did one in India and you could tell the animals must see 100 jeeps per day as they didnt give a shit hahs. Like we pulled up next to a grouo of antelope and they just sat there. They must be so used to people it didnt feel wild at all, more like a giant zoo. In the UK a deer will run aeay if youte anywhere near it. Or would you say its a good experience?

As title says. I have a lodger staying with me in the summer literally just for June only. Is that enough to mean I lose the 25% discount? Not trying to hide it or anything just wondering if I should bother telling council as I'm.not sure if this counts as their "main home" for that period or if there's some other technicality. Are they just a guest? Any help appreciated.