As a general rule the Japanese don't mind waiting in line if they think the place is worth it.  So quality places see their lines get longer and longer and are a sign a place is good.

I don't believe friendzoning is as much of a thing as people like to say it is, and I think women in particular are open to dating a friend because it's generally safer.  BUT, they are also afraid of ruining a friendship by letting feelings get involved and the perceived risk is high when they value their friendship with you, which seems to be your situation as a person who gets along with women well.

Like another commenter said, ultimately you'll have to learn to express your desire, but you'll also need to learn how to communicate it both verbally and physically in a way that conveys safety and low-risk.  And the real hard part is that you'll have to be totally cool when they reject you and be able to maintain the friendship unchanged.  If you can be all those things comfortably, many will probably be able to sense that safety in you.

The paradox is, the safety can often come with a certain unseriousness on your part.  If you're obviously too into them the risk is higher.  For example maybe express your interest more like curiosity (ie hey have you ever thought of us being together?) as opposed to committed desire (ie I've been dreaming of being with you for years!). 

That dog looks so friggin earnest and sweet lol

It often feels like the same people who talk big about being a strong independent alpha or some crap are the ones overly paranoid about how 'real men' behave and get all twisted up about others doing something insignificant like wearing flip flops.

I'd lose my mind being concerned about it 24/7 like that. So much time and energy wasted.

I can speak for myself and for many men I know: by far the hottest sexual thing in a woman is comfort in their own body, no matter how they look. Them being excited to share their body with you. It is intoxicating like nothing else.

I know it's a tall order to be essentially saying 'get over it and get down with your bod' since we all suffer from image issues that are stubborn and nagging. But the truth is, a lot of it really is in our own heads.

I mean if you look at world history, the arrangement the three currently have is pretty much as close to being a single unit as you can reasonably expect.

Osaka is traditionally considered the cultural and culinary capital of Japan, even though it's overshadowed by Tokyo.

i personally prefer it to Tokyo and find the people there more relaxed and easy going.  Plus Kyoto is right nearby.

There's a saying that goes "Osaka kuidaore, Kyoto kidaore" which roughly translates to "go bankrupt buying food in Osaka and buying clothes in Kyoto".

Happiness is a Warm Gun in my fave from that album. Really interesting progression that fits nicely together and the lyrics are classic Beatles satire.

I probably like Abbey Road a bit more, but the White album is up there for me. Maybe it's 'bloated', but you don't see albums like that anymore so for me it's kind of nostalgic.

It really depends on what 'meltdown' means in this context.

I typically interpret 'meltdown' as being an intense uncontrolled and unpredictable emotional breakdown, where you're at the brink of doing something irrational. I wouldn't consider it healthy. Based on OP's post though, I don't think he meant that.

I'm pretty sure in the TNG episode Lower Decks they beam a cardassian on board and Crusher says to Ogawa that they need to synthesize some blood for him.  Not 100% sure though.

This is the main reason people are against it and say stuff like don't shit in your backyard or where you eat or whatnot.  But it presumes you're going to inevitably break up and then "take a shit".  Be emotionally mature and treat ex partners with respect and it wouldn't be a problem.  Based on experience this does happen, but it isnt as common as it should be and so people make blanket statements about not sleeping with friends.  But it's not entirely accurate.

People make fun of friend groups where everyone sleeps with each other but if they're still friends, honestly I would think they're actually pretty emotionally stable people.

It's a way to stand out and set yourself apart from a cohort.  You see it all the time in all sorts of contexts.  It's also a sneaky way to make you seem self-deptecating when you're actually being a bit arrogant.  The worst instances of this are like when people actively try to be "one of the good ones" in a racial context, but it can happen with really trivial things too.

The boy and the heron was inspired by a number of paintings/artists among other things.

Brett's Sherlock is unparalleled. Also Edward Hardwicke- he played such a sympathetic and kind Watson, one that complemented Brett's manic Sherlock so well. David Burke was alright, but he was less personable. I absolutely loved the production of the old BBC Granada series.

Edit: Fixed typo. Thanks u/pbetc

This all seems like a recipe for disaster to me. As AIs get more human-like, affable and knowledgeable about human interaction, they're going to have more and more of an air of authority and truth to them. But they're essentially black boxes where the only potentially transparent aspects of their development are the decisions by the small number of people who train them. And right now it's not transparent at all.

For now it's probably better to assume any AI is merely a mouthpiece for those who build them, and this definitely includes Elon Musk. They're more appropriate as companions than mentors.

It's great, I do work for some boutique California companies and the label styles are like the wild west down there. None of the austere French tradition of fancy script on a cream background... one of my clients literally had a fever dream involving duck astronauts and then asked me to illustrate it for a label. So fun

It seems a bit unfair that Picard has experienced multiple lifetimes that no one else is even aware of- His life on Kataan, his alternate life where he wasn't stabbed in the heart, and this one jumping around in time to an elderly and younger version of himself. He has seen some shit.

I've been a designer for 20 years and it's not bad.  But it's like a lot of jobs, especially if you're freelance- You have to invest a lot of attention into your client base for years in order to establish yourself in fields that are more interesting.   

I do a lot of music and arts festivals and things like wine & spirits labels which can be very creative.  The flipside to this is when you're uninspired and facing a deadline, it can be really challenging to come up with something.

I don't think she was necessarily a toxic person since we don't really know what her situation was. But she should have given you an explanation, which she didn't, which means you weren't as close as you thought you were.

Heartbreak sucks and there's really no way around it. It's not entirely a terrible thing to be mad at the person and think they're toxic even if you know in reality they may not be, if only to get over them more easily. You need to protect yourself to some degree here, for you and your future relationships.

Sailing. My wife spent part of her childhood sailing with her parents around North America and the Caribbean. I've joined them for many winters now over the last 20 years, but we finally bought our own first boat this year and will be launching it soon!

I think the problem is multi-faceted, but one of issues is that we don't model positive masculine behaviour in the public sphere nearly enough. We don't allow for people to make mistakes and then redeem themselves in a genuine way, for example. With my kids I realized that it's counter-productive to present yourself as a morally flawless authority to them constantly, even though as a parent you feel it's a responsibility to be as ideal as you can in front of them. But then they never see you make a mistake, admit to it, and go through the hard process of making up for it, both to yourself and to others involved. That's the lesson boys need to see to become more empathetic and to direct their aggressive energies constructively.

The public space is far more unforgiving, and we've become so vindictive and dismissive- a person who is otherwise a net positive socially could make a mistake and then be raked over the coals for it and not be allowed to redeem themselves. Instead the attractive course of action is to double-down and be rebellious because it both makes you seem cool and gets you attention from the opposite political side in this insanely polarized environment. Apologies are simply not valued.

This isn't a partisan diatribe on wokeness or cancel culture since I think everyone is in this boat now, and people still need to be called out for their bad behaviour. In fact one of the problems is that an apology from a wealthy figure can be disingenuous since they aren't facing *enough* consequences, and simply riding the current scandal out is a good strategy to get back to their lives. Nonetheless as a society we somehow need to get back to a point where we encourage apologies and forgiveness without simply being played by bad faith actors.

I won't claim to have any answers or that I'm even framing the above perfectly, but that's what came to mind.

Haha, no, I've been a trek fan since the 80s. But I decided to give TNG the good ol rewatch again. The Barclay episodes were just as problematic but at least his holo addiction was the main focus, in particular the negative effects of his behaviour so there was a better message overall.

Geordi is also a perpetual bachelor but his character is portrayed as more responsible and more pro-social given that he's the chief engineer so I felt it was very jarring, especially because Brahms rather incredibly comes around to liking him right after his outburst.

I just watched both of these episodes last week. The whole thing was definitely a bit creepy and I thought the way Geordi became angry at her treatment of him was out of line and gaslighty.

But it made me wonder about the broader context some more. Why aren't there any safeties in the holodeck around the representation of existing real people? It feels very against Trek ethics for someone to be able to portray anyone they want in any manner they want in secret.

As a plot vehicle for exploring the rights and wrongs of virtual simulations though, it's very relevant and interesting, so at least I applaud the writers for trying.... even if their reasoning feels rather outdated now.

Wow that is A LOT of food you made exploring a new country's cuisine. Do you always feed the same lucky people?

Being alone but healthy and self-relfective at 55 isn't the crippling failure you may be convinced it is.  There are tons of people, especially at that age, who are looking for meaningful connection and are past the age of social posturing and pretending.  But you're definitely going to have to follow your own advice.