Wii Are Not Amused During quarantine, my boyfriend started spending two or three hours a night playing video games. Not only do I think this is unhealthy (since video games apparently lead to violence and psychological problems), but I think gaming has become a coping mechanism/escape tool for him. How can I get him to […]
Amy Alkon
Posted inCulture
Shifty-Fifty & On Cloudy Nine
Shifty-FiftyOn Cloudy Nine
Shifty-Fifty A close friend and I spend a lot of time discussing her issues with her boyfriend. I’m always there for her, even late at night when she’s upset about something. However, when I bring up someone I’m interested in, she’ll cut me off or say she just can’t listen to me talk about the […]
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Liar Drill
If there were a class in “how to be a heterosexual man,” lesson one would be how to answer a woman’s questions about her appearance.
Liar Drill I’m a guy, and a female friend asked me to objectively rate her looks on a scale of 1 to 10. She has a very high opinion of her looks, but she insisted she wanted the truth, so I told her I’d put her at a 5.5 or 6. Afterward, she sent me […]
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Brawl Straps & Quarantine Wolf
Women fight sneaky-dirty with other women
Brawl Straps I’m a woman in my early 20s. The guy I’m dating brought me to meet his friends. His male friends were warm and friendly. The women were awful. One deliberately kept saying my name wrong (it’s not exactly exotic), and two others glared at my miniskirt. Another said something about how low-cut my […]
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Hollow Sheldon
Humility or insecurity?
Hollow Sheldon Call me old-fashioned, but I find humility attractive, and I’m disturbed by the lack of it in a guy I’ve been dating. He seems to need to keep telling me how desirable he is, like by mentioning he dated some Instagram model and saying, “I’m used to being the smartest guy in the […]
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Bond Scare & Haste Crime
Bond Scare My roommate and I are best friends, and we’ve lived together for four years. Recently, she got into a pretty serious relationship, and it seems her priorities have totally shifted. Is a best friend always second place to a boyfriend? Or are they both of equal value? —Hurt A female best friend can do […]
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Thin Line Between Love And Bait
We sometimes explain things to ourselves in ways that don’t so much lay out the facts as provide an airbag for our feelings
Thin Line Between Love And Bait My relationship with a man I’d been dating was getting serious. His previous relationship ended when his girlfriend dumped him. Last month, he ran into her and told her he was seeing me. She began crying and begged him to take her back. He was torn about what to […]
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When Hair Gel Met Sally & Brothel, Where Art Thou
If you aren’t yet ready, you should make that clear to men you date
When Hair Gel Met Sally I’m a 28-year-old woman. My boyfriend of three months is a great person, and I started to think he might be The One. However, he got a new haircut—one that had him using excessive gel. Looking at him, I felt a wave of revulsion and needed to get away…permanently. I […]
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They Blow Up So Fast
Anger seems to function as a bargaining tool to incentivize better treatment
They Blow Up So Fast I’m a man in my 30s, and I’m looking to settle down and start a family. I was falling in love with the woman I’ve been seeing for six months, who seems lovely, intelligent, and kind. Recently, I arrived at her place early and overheard her arguing with her mother […]
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Free Will Astrology—Week of July 1
Highlight desires that uplift you and downgrade desires that diminish you
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that when our rational minds are working at their best, they inspire us to cultivate our most interesting and enlivening passions. They also de-emphasize and suppress any energy-draining passions that might have a hold on us. I’m hoping you will take full advantage of this in the […]