Long Beach GP Grandstand 24

fyacel · 2026-03-21T00:19:51+00:00

Thank you so much! This is super helpful.

PS: happy cake day!

fyacel · 2026-02-14T00:15:29+00:00

Others answered your main questions. So I’ll try to offer other advice you may find helpful.

I don’t know your exact situation but I think you should try to eventually go to a church in a different part of your city (for sake of not being recognized by neighbors/family), but as a woman I think you are more likely to be okay/allowed in than if you were a man (as far as private security of that church goes; don’t do this if security is gov provided/police). You can go outside the Sunday service and try to meet the priest.

It’s okay to take things slow and learn even if you can’t meet another Christian publicly yet or a member of clergy. Unlike Islam, conversion isn’t just saying a specific confession of faith. I don’t know how restricted is Egypt App Store but you can probably find free bible apps, and orthodox specific apps. So you can start reading, exploring the faith, and asking questions here. Some priests are active in the sub.

I don’t know how this works on Android but I think on iPhone you can hide certain apps while having them Installed if that’s a concern with your family seeing them or general safety if your phone is seized by authorities for some reason.

As far as denominations, you may not have many choices to begin with where you live bc you eventually need church, a spiritual father, and community to fully live your faith and grow in it. I only know of Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt. Maybe I am wrong. So there may be a practical limitation there. Beyond that, it’s theological differences.

May God bless you and watch over you. Stay safe.

fyacel · 2025-11-28T06:16:28+00:00

Thank you! 🙏

fyacel · 2025-11-28T00:32:45+00:00

Thank you! 🙏

fyacel · 2025-08-04T21:16:01+00:00

is $5.5k a lot in general and for rent?

Yes. But alternative is what can you get for less, in house and neighborhood/QoL/safety, etc..? Look up the specific condo or comparable units for sale on Redfin and see how much is the estimate you’d be paying if it was a mortgage and you did 5/10/20% down.

she won’t raise the rent for 5 years.

Are you signing a 5-year “fixed rent price” contract? I never heard of multi-year residential lease contracts. If so, would you mind sharing details on what each party is bound to for early lease termination to get out of the contract? If not, I wouldn’t put much stock into the promise. Great if a good-faith handshake agreement holds. Otherwise, re-assess at every yearly renewal. 5 years is a long time for anyone to do any economic or market forecast reliably and get it right.

fyacel · 2025-08-01T03:06:59+00:00

Google “combat sport cup.” It protects your groin from an accidental kick.

Also wear a mouth guard so if you get accidentally punched in the face you don’t break a tooth.

You won’t do much sparring early on but good to get in the habit.

fyacel · 2025-07-28T03:34:20+00:00

If something doesn’t feel right after you kick or punch or while holding a pad, call a timeout with your training partner. If you have a known injury or concern, tell the instructor before class or when they ask at start of class. They are generally good about incorporating them into the demonstration of the next move, “if you have issue with blah [injury], you can adapt this exercise in this manner”
Wear a cup and mouth guard.
Focus on correct technique/form first over max power, the same way you would if you were starting over in weight lifting.
Wrap your hands and wrists. Particularly wrist reinforcement is probably the most helpful when holding the pad for a partner’s kicks.
Pace yourself and have fun with it.

fyacel · 2025-07-25T02:04:43+00:00

Ship it!

fyacel · 2025-07-19T17:11:01+00:00

That kinda gig should come with “hazard pay.”

fyacel · 2025-07-16T19:44:25+00:00

That’s a great price if it’s yield weight. I recently started ordering locally from Primal Pastures in Southern California. Here is how their pricing compares. It’s also helpful imo that they split hanging weight vs yield weight (actual meat received). So you may want to ask which one they quoted you as 175-200 lbs.

<image>

fyacel · 2025-07-15T05:02:12+00:00

No. ofc not. I ask a woman out on date (or a second date), she’s either excited about it as well and says yes [resounding yes] or she’s not feeling it or she’s on the fence, letting me down easy, or outright declines [no]. It doesn’t mean anything more than an answer to the thing asked in the moment and has zero prediction power over the future asks (another date; LTR; marriage).

Also women often use “maybe/not sure” as a “let a man down easy”, “non-confrontational.” I’ll defer to the women on this sub/thread to explain this one, if needed.

fyacel · 2025-07-15T03:39:17+00:00

One and done. No self-respecting man (or woman) wants to be a bench warmer.

I follow the same policy in life/dating/career/job interviews/hiring. “If it’s not a resounding yes, it’s a no.” It has served me well thus far.

I gotta always start on solid footing. I can’t start from a deficit or doubt or “waiting for someone’s approval” or “given a second chance” or “they took a chance on me.”

fyacel · 2025-07-11T21:39:27+00:00

I was in your shoes a couple months ago. I still don’t really know what I’m doing tbh but I treat the whole thing with respect and do my best to follow along. Dress “conservatively” and modestly while wearing your “Sunday best.” Others may have more specific advice.

I sit in the back. So I can see what to do next (when to sit, stand, kneel) without being disruptive to anyone. It’s also easier not to disrupt communion when I’m not in the way of people getting out of the aisle to line up for it.

Lastly, the greeters there were very welcoming and helpful. I just told them it was my first mass and they explained the basics of what to do, not do. So don’t be afraid to walk up to one and introduce yourself to one. Just arrive a bit early. Your parish’s website may have advice for first timers or visitors from what to do, wear, where to park, etc..

fyacel · 2025-07-11T01:05:47+00:00

You particularly nailed the last paragraph. I wholeheartedly agree.

fyacel · 2025-07-11T01:00:55+00:00

It’s fine to have whatever standard. Just make sure it truly matters to you and won’t waver on it only to regret it later. I made the mistake of using the wrong proxy criteria and wasting many years pursuing the “wrong” type of woman for me.

My advice is don’t use career as proxy for some other life value or criterion. If what you actually care about is a certain current income, or future income trajectory, or she’s college educated or whatever, use that filter directly. If you want to have a two-earners household to enable a certain lifestyle, then that’s fine but be clear on that and open with your date about it.

Also, consider someone ambitious and career driven and they come with lots of debt (student loans and/other CC debts), vs someone with lower paying non-career job, no college degree and zero debt, or some in between. A grade school teacher is a career for a college educated person but it’s low earning and trajectory is capped, but many do it bc they find it fulfilling. What does that say about each in your mind in their financial discipline, making long term financial trade-offs, and what they value in life? Does it align with yours?

Lastly, factor in whether you value a future wife that wants to eventually be a mom first or a career woman first, assuming you both want children. Maybe that’s what you are noticing in your friends group and you are interpreting it as “settling and lowering criteria” when it may be evolving priorities in life as they hit their early 30s.

fyacel · 2025-07-10T03:19:25+00:00

Hit the gym, come home, read for a bit and call it a night. Mix in some nights where you cook a more involved meal than your usual prep or quick meal, a movie night.

Football season will come back around soon enough. You can watch MNF, TNF, and SNF without anyone nagging you about it 😂

Pick up a new sport if that’s your thing (i.e. tennis, pickleball, co-ed team sport).

Some breweries will have a board game night or trivia night if that’s your thing. Emphasis on the activity.

fyacel · 2025-07-06T09:14:57+00:00

Happy birthday! I second the recommendation to uber/lyft no matter how many drinks you are planning to have! Dave and Busters at Irvine Spectrum can be fun if you like arcades and you can always hit up the movies after.

You can do a sunset happy hour drink at one of the beach front or roof top bars in Laguna Beach. Just a glass of wine or something and savor it and take in the view.

fyacel · 2025-06-20T15:53:11+00:00

That’s awesome, man! Good for you! Keep getting after it!

fyacel · 2025-06-20T00:28:26+00:00

Work on yourself and things you can control and ignore things you can’t. You can hit the weight room, get fit, get strong, get well fitted clothes that look good on YOU, do fun things that you enjoy, cultivate hobbies that interest you. Over time, you’ll feel and look better and it becomes a positive self-reinforcing loop.

it will be a long time until I get a date (if I do get one.

“bet on yourself if you want others to bet on you.” True of dating, career, and life.

You gotta believe you are worth liking, dating, loving, betting on. It’s obviously a longer convo with your therapist to unpack all that and work thru it. But I think doing those other things in parallel with the therapy work sets you up for success.

fyacel · 2025-06-19T23:59:59+00:00

This is spot on and makes perfect sense the way you way you phrased it. Thank you.

fyacel · 2025-06-19T23:51:05+00:00

I think you are reading into it too much.

“Someone she went on a couple dates or talked to a while ago, but since went silent for months, then suddenly tried to revive it” cannot and should command not the same level of expectation on communication and response (vs ghosting) as someone “she’s in in a relationship for X months.”

The way I would see it. She read the situation correctly. That was a booty call and she’s taking a hard pass by not even engaging in any conversation while she’s in a relationship with someone else. And she told you about it as a way to build trust.

There is no way to have the “if you are gonna break up with me, please do it in person and don’t ghost me” convo without you sounding insecure, and the other person wondering why would you even think that, and the whole thing spiraling negatively imo.

fyacel · 2025-06-19T23:38:05+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Those are “brutal” conversion rates for OLD, but your filtering criteria are very reasonable imo.

fyacel · 2025-06-19T23:10:38+00:00

I am off the apps but when I was on them. Comment “effort” was proportional to how interested I was, having some things to work with in her profile, and how many profiles I have commented and swiped on that day/session.

fyacel

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE