Jordana

I have a date today and we're going to see a late showing of a movie. The problem is that I usually take the bus everywhere and its snowy and very cold outside and the bus ride is very long, (about an hour). I want my date to drive me back home, which is kind of far from the place where the movies is. I feel bad about this since he is also paying for the movie. Should I offer him gas money, atleast dinner or a small gift?

I'm 17 and going into my senior year of highschool, I just recived my first paycheck ever of $459 dollars and I've already spent $300 hundred of it! I took care of the important things first. I bought myself a new backpack, school supplies and a year long microsoft office subscription. All of that was roughly 146$. Then I purchased new fall clothes as most of what I own are hand-me downs and from the goodwill so I wanted something new. I bought a pair of 73$ Dr. Martens, and spent $50 on 2 dresses, a set of earrings, a necklace, and a fall shirt. I really started to go into excess because I wanted to buy "fun things" and I ended up spending 20$ on a hookah pen. I've spent roughly 35$ on food in the past two weeks. Writing it down I never realized how much excess i've spent. I've put $100 dollars away in my checking account for this weeks check. I don't want to go crazy like this on my next pay check. This scares me becuase I know I'll be out in the real world soon and I need to know how to manage money. What are good ways to manage your money and how do you save up for important things?

I've been trying extremely hard to look for a job as I am now 17 years old and I feel that its time for me to start supporting myself. I have applied to atleast 20-35 different places these past 5 months and now that its summer its even harder. I got 4 job interviews at the start of my search and no one hired me. The first two interviews didn't go too well and I didnt expect to get a call back. However the last two went very well and still no one called back. I've tried practice interviews and everyone has told me that I come across as well-mannered and well-spoken. I bring my resume and two letters of reccomendation with me to turn in applications and for the interviews. I have done a tremendous amount of volunteer work and I have participated in many school clubs and activities. One interviewer looked at my resume and exclaimed "Holy Cow! You did a lot of volunteer work!" I feel that all that work is getting me no where. I'm starting to feel extremely hopeless, depressed and resentful. Some of my friends get jobs based solely on the fact that their parent works for a certain company or that their parent is the friends with a manager or business owner. A lot of them have little to no experience and haven't even participated in volunteer work and it makes me angry that a job is kind of just handed to them. What can I do to increase my chances of finding a job?

My boyfriend is extremely socially awkward and has very poor people skills. It doesn't help that i'm also awkward but to a much lesser degree than my boyfriend. Together our awkwardness increases and it makes the people around us uncomfortable. I've learned over the years to be more quiet and flow with conversations better albeit i'm still quite awkward. We seriously weird/creep people out. Not because we talk about weird/creepy things but because we are just socially odd. My boyfriend is painfully awkward and it really hurts me to say this but i'm ashamed and embarrassed of him when we go out in public. He can't pick up social cues and he irritates anyone he talks to but people try to deal with him to be nice. He's socially oblivious and to top it off very nerdy. He usually blames others for the awkwardness not realizing that they're becoming awkward in reaction to him. I try to cushion the blow so to speak by acting normal because he is my boyfriend and it hurts to let him see me embarrassed. It usually makes things more awkward for the people around us and it makes me look weird for acting like its normal out of kindness. I don't know what to do anymore. What can I do when he say's something awkward to make the situation not as bad? He's super sensitive, How do I tell him nicely that he's awkward and creeping people out? Also how can I help him improve his social skills?

It was my first time giving a hand job and his first time receiving one. I wanted to do it, I just didnt know what I was doing and I was really nervous. We were also pressed on time and had to be somewhere soon. I didn't understand the need for lube I thought the skin underneath the head just sort of moved up and down. He was moaning and he had a bit of pre-c*m on his stomach and shirt before I pulled him outside of his pants. After that it sort of went down hill. I didn't know what to do, I thought the skin around his p*nis was supposed to be loose and that it would be easy to just move it up and down. He showed me how he does it when he's alone so I tried it that way. I just sort of pumped up and down around right underneath the head, he was moaning and moved his shirt up a bit so he wouldn't get c*m on it but then I heard the door open and I got scared and stopped b/c his cousin was supposed to come over any minute, instead It was just the pet cat. I tried again and but it was taking a while for him to c*m we both got frustrated and I let him do it himself while I toyed with the head. He still couldn't ***. He was still hard but we just stopped because we were going to be late. He was really disappointed afterwards. He said it was ok but next time if we decided to do it we should finish it off. I feel really bad about not being able to do it. Does he have a right to be upset like this? Should I feel bad even?

I feel so uncomfortable around my bf when we go out on dates, or are around a large group of people. I turn cold and unresponsive and can be b*tchy even if he's not doing anything that bad. At his worst he's super awkward and dorky when interacting with people, which isn't even all that bad in comparison to whats good about him. He has a great personalty and treats me well. He's pretty unfashionable but its not that big of a deal. People stare at us because we're not the most common interracial couple. I'm black and he's Pakistani, ik its not the norm but the staring makes me uncomfortable none the less. Also my family is judgmental and old-fashioned, especially my mom and cousin. My mom said he was goofy and a loser and my cousin teases me relentlessly and has always been a bit of a bully to me. It was like this with my ex-bf too. I can't understand why it's impossible for me to be comfortable around a guy I like in public. For example my bf was lightly stroking my arm while we were watching a movie and I pulled away because my mom was there. I just turn cold and aloof around my bf in public and go mute. I wish I wouldn't do that, it makes me feel like a bad gf. My bf asked on one of our dates if he was embarrassing me, I said no but i think he saw through it. He says he likes my moody coldness. I like him so much idk why I get like this?

I've noticed that a lot of the artists I talk to have a thing against using reference photo's as if its pure evil or makes the person who draws from reference a shitty artist or something. I find it a bit annoying as I aspire to go to college to become an illustrator and I sometimes draw from reference just to get a pose down and I notice quite a few comic book artist use reference poses as well. Is there actually some type of truth behind it? I don't get what the big deal is as long as the artist isn't downright ripping a piece of artwork off. What's with that mind frame?

I've been with my boyfriend for just shy of two weeks and today is the first time we've gotten sexual with each other. We're both virgins, he's 18 and I'm 16. We've been seeing each other at school everyday and he met my parents on Sunday last week and I met his mom early this week. We have a free period right before lunch and my bf lives very close to the school so we usually walk over to his place and hang out for about 2 hours. We started off just talking, eating, acting goofy and a bit of cuddling. Today his mom wasn't home so we started cuddling and then kissing on the couch. I wanted to turn him on and ik he has a thing for legs; I have quite nice legs and I was wearing a short skirt w/ tights so I sort of lay my legs across his lap bridal style. We kissed a little, I let him feel my legs on the knee and a bit on the thigh. He got a ***** and I think he had his d*ck tucked into his waist band because I could see his erection on his stomach underneath his shirt. I was so turned on but I didn't want to directly touch him there so I just sort of let my hand rest near it/on it a little. I let him touch my butt a little and he started kissing my neck. It felt really good, but we stopped because we had to go back to class. Afterwards we felt a lot more intimate and close and we were both floating on cloud 9. We talked and we both mutually agreed that we didnt want to be too sexual this early even if we both liked it. How do I curb my libido its hard to control?

I feel like bashing my head into a brick wall, I cannot put effort into anything, everything feels too hard, I procrastinate and don't even feel like doing the things that I love and have a passion for. I'm doing poorly in all my classes and I know it's because I don't put in any work and when I try to crack open a book I have absolutely zero motivation so I give up. It feels like nothing matters to me at all, I dont care about anything. All I do is lay down and sleep all day. I feel so tired yet I can't sleep at night and I have to get up at 5:30 am which makes me extremely tired during the day. No matter how hard I try to sleep it just doesn't come to me and I could be laying in bed for hours on end. I dont have energy to put into anything. When i'm in class I can't focus, I'm constantly daydreaming and floating off far away from the class inside my head. I also have an extremely low tolerance for stress, just thinking about all the things I have to do in a day can bring me to tears so now I don't even want to put the effort into doing them I get so worked up. What's wrong with me? Why can't I handle everyday life just like everyone else? it feels like i'm in a catharses and I cant make myself move. How can I stop being so incredibly lazy.

I don't know what to do, how do I flirt and chat up my waiter. It's a bit awkward because it's a fast food joint and he only brings out our food and it's not like he's constantly checking in on us. We both have a very shy and quiet demeanor, what do I talk to him about without being awkward or creepy?

In my gender identity I feel female or androgynous and I think i'm leaning more towards androgynous. I'm born a girl but I've always been a tomboy, since I was a kid I read comic books and played video games. I liked proving I could do anything a guy could do and tried to hang tough around guys since most of my friends were guys in child-hood. It seems that as I grew older I became more aware of gender roles and since I was born female I just went with the flow and dressed like a girl. Everything flipped, now most of my friends are girls, and I have few male friends. I still have this neutral state of mind in terms of gender identity, but sometimes I go through periods where I feel extremely female and want to even be a house wife and others where I feel like this. I've always been sexually and romantically attracted to guys, but I'm sexually attracted to everyone, even transgender people but not romantically. I'm only attracted to guys romantically. Am I just confusing myself? I can't figure out what's up with me? What the heck am I?

So me and this guy like each other but we have never talked to each other before asides from a couple quick encounters. I figured out that he liked me pretty quickly, he stares at me a lot and his friends always do this sneaky type of laugh and smile when i'm around. We're in the same club but i'm extremely shy and I hate talking in large groups and unfortunately thats where he is most of the time. He's just as shy as me but seems to be better at coming out of his shell than me, even though he calls himself anti-social. We're both geeks but he's more of a computer nerd and i'm more into poetry and art. He's also very into video games and i'm an ex-gamer but I dont play as much anymore and i'm not up to date with current video game stuff. I know that everything seems set up to go the right way but I'm so shy I try to avoid him and I find myself at a loss about what to talk to him about even though we have a lot in common in terms of interest. I dont know his personality very well at all as I've only had a few shallow interactions with him. The first time I spoke to him I jokingly told him he had drawn the most beautiful weed leaf I had ever seen, the second time I walked up to him and randomly started caressing his hair... Yeah not the most deep or normal social interactions. Any way I need some advice on how to calm my nerves when talking to the guy I like and overcoming my shyness.

I think a guy likes me but he never says anything to me. I noticed he takes glances at me in a sneaky way or lingers around me a lot. When he's with his friends they seem to stare at me from a distance. As far as I have observed he never has much to say and is a quite guy. One member of his friend group tries to act very friendly towards me and she always brings up the guy who is crushing on me. I find this very odd because she is not exactly the nicest person and really isn't someone I would normally talk to nor am I someone who she would talk to on a regular basis. Today in gym I had on spandex yoga shorts ( stupid, I know) because I had no clean regular shorts and I had bent over to give the guy who I suspect is crushing on me friends the ball and they burst into laughter and one whispered to the other "ahaha! He was staring at her butt and looked away." Yeah kind of embarrassing for me... I suspect the guy crushing on me was checking me out cuz I was angled in his position... I'm not sure if i'm over analyzing every little thing but things have been pretty awkward between me and this guys group of friends since before the start of school. I had seen them all at the mall while doing school shopping, I already considered them snobs so it really didn't surprise me when they ignored me and gave me really hard stares... So entering the school year and having them act like we were going to be friends really weirds me out a bit. I don't know what to think, whats your opinion?

People are always saying that women have come so far but as a girl it still feels like a man's world. So many guys just want to use girls for sex and they treat them as if they are actually USING them as some sort of tool. The attitudes that some men bear when having casual sexual relationships with a woman are absolutely disgusting. They act as if they have superiority, power and control and that they can treat that woman like absolute garbage. I also hate all this "stop slut-shamming" garbage. I consider myself a feminist, however, I think as women we have to recognize that some of us are contributing to the problem when we don't demand respect for our bodies and put out so easily to men who treat women like crap. I believe that women and men can have casual sexual relationships that are based in respect and equality, but, as pathetic as it is, we have to demand to be respected as sad as it is that we aren't automatically treated as basic human equals. Also I feel that if you don't demand this kind of respect and just submit to being treated like **** you are of course going to be called a slut. I never understood why such a massive amount of girls are so desperate and unsatisfied with themselves that they become sluts to men. Why would you willingly give up self-respect to appeal to some dick-head?

I've never really gotten this but I always get treated very differently by guys compared to other girls at my school. A lot of the girls at my school have had sexual experiences and some have done drugs, gotten drunk, etc... They are some of the most popular girls and guys always go after them and act like they're so attractive and special. Sometimes it feels like guys are afraid to approach me or don't know how. A friend of mine mentioned that the guys at our school are used to getting girls by acting douchey so they dont know how to approach girls any other way. A lot of girls at our school wear crop tops and I've noticed that when I wear something similar guys always ask me "why?" and state that it doesn't seem like me. Its almost as if they are upset if I wear something "provocative". It feels like guys are always teasing me and toying with me as if I was a younger sibling. Some are even quite mean to me because I seem "easy" to pick on. My friends say that I come off as sort of "innocent" or somewhat oblivious in nature. Are innocent girls viewed as "harder" to get or do guys not know how to handle it or something? Why would they treat me differently just because I am innocent?

I just got my eyebrow pierced about a month and a half ago and my eyebrows are getting super messy. What are some ways i can make them look neater since plucking, threading and waxing aren't really an option right now. Do I just have to let my eyebrows be messy and wait for the piercing to heal?

It has always been my dream to have a career in the art field, I don't think I could really get into or be happy doing any other type of work. I'm about to go into my junior year of high school and I know I need to choose a definite path to follow within the next few years. I want to do concept art for video game characters, become a cartoon/comic book illustrator, or do 2D animation. I'm also interested in graphic design. I feel lost, over-whelmed and terrified by the possibilities for both success and utter failure. I really need help and guidance towards the path that will lead to the highest possibility for success. I really want a job that I can sustain myself on (30-50,000$ a year) and I know I want to work for a company. The college that I really want to go to is the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, as I live in the city and I do not have to leave the state I live in (Wisconsin). My parents keep pushing me towards nursing or business and I know those are good careers to enter but I simply couldn't derive any satisfaction from doing that every day of my life. If I had to choose a career not related to art I would be more interested in psychology or sociology. I just feel very foolish and lost. What is the best art career that would suit my needs? What courses should I take in college to prepare myself to go into that career? How can I prepare myself in advance? + any extra advice please.

There's this guy who I think has a crush on me. I'm 16 and I think he is 18. The thing is that he's one of several people who lead group activities and enforces the rules for this summer camp like program I signed up for. He stares at me a lot and always makes it a point to use my name in every little thing such as saying hi or thanks but really doesn't do that to anyone else. I know that seems very subtle but I have picked up on other things too. He's very lenient towards me when it comes to following rules. He also became very jealous of a male friend of mine. I was walking down the hall and had jokingly linked arms and started skipping with my guy friend, the guy crushing on me lost it for a second. He snapped at us "Hey! No contact! That's against the rules! Well technically it isn't, but still...". I laughed it off but it made me feel like he was being a bit possessive and controlling over me. A little bit later I asked a guy to pass a silly picture I had drew as a joke to my guy friend and the guy crushing on me had gave me this really intense stare. I've also noticed that he tries to make his presence more noticeable when i'm around. He talks a little louder and tries to be more humorous around me even though he comes off as quiet and serious. A friend visiting me joked that he looks thirsty for me but I should give him a chance. It feels like he's possessive and controlling and in a way enjoys his position of authority over me. Is this normal? Should I avoid him?

I'm a 16 year old girl and I feel like I cannot do anything by myself. My parents have to buy me everything and take me every where because I have no money or any way to get around. I dont know how to catch a bus and I have never ridden one alone. I still make stupid mistakes and I have rather poor socializing skills. I'm shy and awkward and my friend says I have a sort of **** off attitude to strangers who try to talk to me. I am bad at flirting even though I want to talk to guys. I have no clue as to what to talk to strangers about and being a social butterfly just doesn't come naturally to me. I need to grow out of this immediately, these are not good habits for the real world. I need help developing these skills as I am already behind my peers. What can I do to grow out of this and become less sheltered.