u/Nervous-Problem-8463

For context im 20F, full time student

I’ve been going to the gym since January consistently and seeing pretty good gains. I started out very skinny with the aim of gaining weight

However, now that I’m back at uni, I don’t have access to a free gym anymore and memberships can get a little pricey. Other reasons I might want to avoid an external gym is because working out at home can save significant time, I can workout whenever I want without having to deal with a crowded gym, etc

And so I’m considering getting adjustable dumbells and/or other affordable home equipment instead to continue my workouts. I looked at one that was 15kg x 2 max adjustable dumbells.

Do you think that this alone would be enough for me to continue gaining muscle mass? Or is it really worth getting a gym membership? My aim is to work towards looking significantly toned, as much as is possible for being 20f anyway

Honestly so far the only equipment I’ve been using in the gym other than dumbbells are cable extensions for triceps/ back, pulldown machine and leg extension. I use 7-9kg at the moment for most exercises so I feel like progress overload shouldn’t be much of an issue

How much is the uni gym membership price for the semester or full academic year?

Wanted to get an idea since it’s not yet on the website

Edit: forgot to mention that I’d probably prefer to get an off peak membership to save on cost

I look at myself in the mirror and think that I look amazing. I absolutely love the way I look in selfies that I take

And then someone takes a picture of me and boom I hate the way I look EXCEPT when I flip the picture and suddenly it looks kinda decent again

I can’t for the life of me understand why? Like I know obviously it’s going to look different when my face is flipped and I’m not used to it

But the crazy thing to me is everyone I ask says I look exactly the same in both?? To me it is two vastly different people

It makes me question whether I actually look good or not

So I decided pretty recently that I will be going back to Edinburgh for the fringe this year.

Is it too late for me to get a job, literally any kind (im open to flyering. FOH etc)

What websites/ facebook groups/ WhatsApp groups should I know about?

If anyone’s hiring or knows someone who’s hiring now please let me know!!

I haven’t used LinkedIn before but I want to use it now to possibly acquire an internship/ shadowing opportunity. How do I go about this?

Do I just directly send a message to the talent head/ hiring manager? If so, does anyone have a template? I study architecture if that is relevant.

Does this really work or should I be emailing companies or something else? Especially considering I don’t have connections on LinkedIn

I have been obsessed with Glass Animals and Twenty one pilots recently. But it’s time to expand my playlist

Can yall suggest similar bands/music? I like indie rock

I’m bored
I don’t have much to say but I can listen if anyone wants to vent

This is going to be a slightly long one so buckle up.

I have these two friends. They used to be my best friends a year ago. I mean the kind you tell everything, the kind whose house you go to crying. Except after I moved to another country, the friendship changed. They stopped calling or texting. I quite literally scrolled through the chat recently and came to the realisation that I’ve been texting first pretty much every single time. It got worse over time. For instance, I broke up with my long term boyfriend and received little to no consolation from them, let alone just regular texts.

I realise that friendships will fade with distance and at first took it to be a normal thing, even though I was deeply hurt.

Except they’re back to normal when we actually meet. They want to know every detail of my life and we’re back to discussing all things personal. So I guess everything’s good?

The thing is though, They’re super excited to see me and constantly making plans.. but also constantly cancelling them and making excuses. Now I don’t expect people to bend their life for me. But you can take a few minutes out of your day to message someone you care about once in a while or see them when they fly back no? This has been a problem since forever but it’s only now starting to piss me off seriously. I’ve spoken to them about it but they don’t seem to change

It’s like an on and off friendship and I despise it. I particularly despise it because Ive never really any other close friends. So I guess I keep expecting a lot from this one and it backfires constantly.

Flash forward to the present

I did receive recent text messages asking why I haven’t been in touch and if I’m mad at them to which I said no. This is important because it suggests they still think we’re on relatively close terms I guess?

I’ve also been severely struggling with my mental health right now. This may be affecting my decision on what to do as I keep feeling like I cannot deal with this right now and to just cut them out.

It has been a few weeks with no conversation since then and I am meeting them tomorrow.

I have two options at this point. Either I just accept it and act nice and just treat them like acquaintances, or I tell them the truth about how I feel and stop seeing them. On one hand I feel that it is right to be honest about the situation and cut them off for the most part rather than putting up a front. I do, after all, feel pretty hurt and upset about it still. This would also involve telling them that I’m struggling rn and they haven’t been there for me, but idk if I want to do that.

But I also feel like maybe it’s just easier (?) and maybe less messy to let it be and that I should just play it cool. Would I be out of line considering they’re not intentionally trying to hurt me anyway?

I did very ominously tell them I need to “speak to them” which in hindsight was kinda stupid of me and idk what to do now

I tried to articulate how I feel as best as I can but I’m really really confused.

I have a couple of books id like to swap for new reading material. Any bookstores (second hand too) that are willing to provide store credit for books?

Also recommendations of stores that sell cheap books in general would be appreciated, I’m on a budget and trying to find ways of not spending a fortune on new books.