Athene

I was diagnosed with Tourette's when I was about six. It's been eleven years by now. Recently, however, I've been having muscle spasms that don't look like any of my usual tics.

Random muscles will flex by themselves, most often in my upper arms, eyelids, eyebrow, and upper calves. These don't hurt at all. The one that does pain me is the foot tenses. My foot muscles tighten, and if you touch where the muscle is tensed, it's rock solid. The tensing is very painful in the foot and can last up to a minute.

What could be the cause of this tensing? My last physical said I'm getting the right amount of vitamins and am relatively healthy.....

I love every person I meet, yet trust very few fully. I'm starting a relationship. He's a great guy, but I get the feeling he's cheated before. Either I need to learn to trust him, or keep myself from getting too emotionally attached until I can fully open my heart to him.

I decided to go with detachment. But.... I've never not cared about someone. I don't want to be hurt. How do I make my heart cold?

So..... How to begin? I don't like porn that much..... But the only porn that interests me (turn on) is lesbian porn.

However..... I've never liked a girl that way, and only date men. I would never consider having a relationship with a girl either.

I'm by no means a homophobe, I'm just confused about sexuality. Are there other women like me?

Long childhood explanation aside, I grew up in a family where young women get no say in anything. I never chose what to eat, what to wear, what school to go to, who to date........

And now I'm going to be on my own soon, and I'm afraid. I'm going to college, but I didn't even pick my own major. My parents did for me. The problem is.... I don't mind that I haven't made a significant life choice yet. If I was told I was going to be in an arranged marriage, that would be fine with me. I'm used so having someone else captain my ship.

But...... there won't always be someone around to steer me along. I need to learn to think for myself. Women in society like me won't make it very far.

I'm not sure if I have any special talents.... I can do well enough in almost anything you put me up to, but I've yet to find something I have a knack for.

What steps should I take to becoming independent? I love my family and don't want to cut them off, but I know I need to start thinking for myself.

Okay, I'm old enough. I know what's going to be stuck up me. I've got all the info on condoms, STDs, blah blah blah. But I'm missing one big piece of the puzzle.

What the fudge am I doing for all those hours? I mean, is it really just rubbing up against him and being sexy? For all that time? Sounds.... Boring.

Someone fill me in on what really happens over the time that I'm actually having sex?

As an agnostic, people often ask me why I'm on the fence, which is a fun question to answer.

However, I really want to know from you guys. Why do you believe or disbelieve? And don't spout off something stupid like "Cuz teh *insert religious text* is the true word!" or "Because Higgs-Boson is fact and Stephen Hawking said so!"

No, I want your personal, logical reason why you believe what you believe to be truth. What events changed you? Why do you want to tell others your belief? Who or what guided you to this ideal?

Okay, my dermatologist proclaimed that I must have personally angered the god of skin to get such an awful affliction.

I have keratosis, and severe eczema. To top it off, I'm allergic to almost any skin cream out there.

The keratosis is the lesser of two evils; it is just some "goosebump" stuff. Not worried.

The eczema, however, is giant hordes of penny sized dry, red, and flaky patches on my upper arms, upper and inner thighs, shoulders, and all over my back.

I'd love to rock a bikini again; do you guys know of any effective eczema treatments/creams/lifestyle choices to cope?

Many thanks for the help!

Hi, so I bred my Japanese scyther with my 'Murican skorupi. They had an egg.

I saved a step before it hatches, and baby Skorupi keeps coming out normal instead of shiny.

Will the egg in question always be non-shiny? Or if I keep resetting, will it hatch shiny?

Thanks for the help, and may the Shiny be with you.

Hi, so I bred my Japanese scyther with my 'Murican skorupi. They had an egg.

I saved a step before it hatches, and baby Skorupi keeps coming out normal instead of shiny.

Will the egg in question always be non-shiny? Or if I keep resetting, will it hatch shiny?

Thanks for the help, and may the Shiny be with you.

Hi,

So I've had this best friend (her name is Alice) for a few years now. I love her like a sister loves me back like a sister.

We're incredibly close.

But recently, I started to notice something. She's smart. Very smart. Like twenty IQ points above me. She takes AP classes and I do as well, just not so many.

She achieves where I fail.

Alice is remarkably elitist, and often comments she "deserves better" than her house, even though she's not bad off.

She also has a VERY high self esteem (yes, this is true, she's not self-concious) and frequently comments on how much she loves herself and how smart she is, how pretty she is.

I guess all this contributes to me feeling jelous. I do dearly care about my best friend, and feel disgusting for being jealous of her intelligence.

It's just hard to know you're behind someone, no matter how hard you work.

How can I swallow my pride?

Hi, I've recently just graduated and I'm looking for a state to live in that's perfect for a therapist (I am a therapist)

1) An area with historical background (as an example: Savannah, GA), with many very old homes (I'm fine with renovations)

2) A great education system (there are kids involved in my work and soon to be in my household)

3) Moderate pricing (at max, an area with the $400,000 range)

4) Any weather is fine.

5) United States, please.

6) At least twenty minutes between the city and the area

Do you have any suggestions on where to live? Thanks for the suggestions!

Is it possible on Etsy to email an artist and ask them to create me an item?

I was wanting a large messenger bag with the title screen of Link to the Past on the front, the game map on the back. (In case an artist finds this). And I'd be willing to pay about $75 for a really good bag.

If you can't answer this, then at leasty original question. How do I email an Etsy artist?

Hi,

So my brother is an Atheist. My parents are Catholic. I'm fifteen.

So, my parents refuse me the privellage of talking to my brother; because they think he'll change my belief. I haven't seen him in two years because my parents won't tell me his address or phone number.

Sure, he did try to convert me (to no effect). He's my best friend and I miss him very much. I'm not allowed a social networking site account, so I can't find him that way.

I love my brother more than anybody on the planet. I don't care who has the right religious idea. I want to see him again.

What can I do to see him again? Is there a way to find him? I don't even know what state he lives in.

Hello,

So my eyes have a ton of the bubble things floating around in my vision. I assume these are fluid cysts.

It is very annoying to deal with, as whenever I focus on a page of writing, I can start to see the "bubbles" moving.

Is there a way to deal with them? They're remarkably distracting.

I've had these since I was six, and have never had glasses.

I appreciate the help!

"Bark bark bark bark!" is the sound that greets us at 2 am. I take my dog out every night around 10-11, but she has developed a nasty habit of getting up in the early morning. She has to pee and poop at this 2 am range.

What should I do so my dog will stop barking, and the inhabitants of my house can get some much needed rest?

Okay, before we begin, I'd like to give fair warning to any atheist with issue: This contains Catholocism and church ideals. If you're not going to want to read this, please don't fill up the answers page with "God isn't real!" dreck. Same goes to any theist as well, this is me asking how I can forgive my father, not a debate of Church ideals.

Anyways, I was raised in a Catholic family, an though I myself am not Catholic, I do follow many of the traditional values (try to be a good person) growing up, my dad had a profound and good effect on me.

He always taught me to be my best and love others. And I believed him, knowing he was an intelligent and caring guy, a good father.

That was until I found The Box.

The box contained files of letters written in his own hand from years before. And.... My dad was a horrible person. His first wife.... He treated her awfully, and didn't fight to keep my older half-brother as hard as he could have. To top that off, he committed adultery, a big sin in the Church and one of my core values to never commit such a sin.

The woman he committed adultery with was my mother. I was a result.

He never told me any of this. He didn't chose to reveal any part of this.

I understand it's his past, but I'm apart of it too. He's never kept secrets from me.

When I confronted him, he called me "childish" for opening the box, "presumptuous" for asking for and explanation, and "it was my fault that I caused a rift in our relationship".

He refused to talk about anything I learned, other than admit yes, I was a child of adultery.

I can't understand why he reverted back to such a state, and is treating me like a child (I am no such thing).

I loved my father very much, but by hiding this from me, he's hurt me very much. He refuses to apologize, so I suppose I have to be the bigger person. I know I wouldn't be alive if it were not for my dad cheating on his wife, but it still hurts he raised me on lies.

How do I find it in my heart to forgive?

So I have a couple guys who like me. Need to get that off my list immediately. Don't worry, these guys are most definantly NOT people you'd want to date.

So how do you friend zone a guy super-hardcore? Like " OH GOD IT BURNS TO BE THIS FRIEND ZONED" kind of friend zone. The Tartarus of friend zones.

Guys, how do girls do this to you? Girls, how do you do it?

Many thanks for the feedback!

So I really, really, hate shooters. I played Mass Effect with biotics, Deus Ex with pretty much only martial arts kills, Dirge of Cerberus with the hand claw thingies.

I just don't see why Halo and Call of Duty are so attractive! Is it because I'm a girl? Okay, well I will admit using the headset and talking is basically impossible, considering that most guys seem to like my voice....

Long story aside, the closest thing to a shooter I've liked is Portal. What are some storyline shooters that do NOT have an online community, and have some creativity/tact that a girl could appreciate?

Many thanks for your answers :)!

Okay, I hate to sound ungrateful, or shallow. But several guys like me. Some for my personality, some for my body. I don't like any of them back. They all have my number.

Aaaaan they love texting me 24/7. I can't be that attractive or interesting, right? I dont mean this in a conceited fashion. I just don't like talking on the phone a lot (weird, considering I'm a teenager). I may be social, but I love peace and quiet.

I'm starting to think this is common among guys who like you, when they text you every five seconds. Am I wrong?

I don't want to be a doucheballoon and ignore them, or worse, tell them to f off.

Do all guys do this? Or is it just because I keep getting the weird ones?

Thanks for the help!

Hi,

So I recently traveled to San Diego, California. Went to an organic market. Bought many, many snow peas. And.... THEY TASTED AMAZING!!!!!! So fresh! Crisp and flavorful, just like they are supposed to be! Oh my god I've never tasted anything so good!

But.... I live on the East Coast. Organic food here is basically moldy strawberries, and the local produce tastes like chemicals.

How do I get that godly quality of vegetable, with a similar flavor? I don't have enough money to fly to California whenever, so is there some way I can prepare or cook snow peas from Giant Eagle so they taste more fresh?

Also, how do I prepare edamame to give it a fresh flavor? Many thanks for your help, stranger.