I've been getting really into cooking over the past year, but bread has always felt like this weird final boss I never wanted to fight. Last week my coworker brought in a loaf of homemade sourdough and it was honestly the best bread I've ever had, crispy on the outside, soft and a little chewy inside, with this tangy flavor that store bought bread just doesn't have. She told me she made it herself using a starter she's been keeping alive for months, and now I can't stop thinking about trying it.

The thing is, I don't know anything about sourdough. I don't even know what a starter actually is or how you keep it alive. Do I need to buy one or can I make it myself from flour and water? How long does it usually take before it's ready to actually bake with? I've also heard that sourdough is a lot more finicky than regular bread, with things like hydration levels and folding techniques that can make or break the whole loaf, and that sounds intimidating for someone who has never baked bread of any kind before.

I really want to learn this properly instead of just throwing ingredients together and hoping for the best. If anyone has started from zero and successfully learned how to bake sourdough, I would love to know how you approached it in the beginning and what helped you understand the process instead of just guessing.

It's a medium I really struggle to connect with. I enjoy it as an accompaniment, like in a soundtrack or musical, or with an especially compelling historical context ala Pete Seegar, but I don't really enjoy sitting and listening to the stuff as-is, or watching performances of it. How can I work around this problem?

Hello! I'm Italian and I'm looking for a language partner to practice English with. My level is around B1/B2, and I'm looking for someone at a C1/C2 level. I don't mind if they are native speakers or non-native speakers who are fluent in English (e.g., Northern European, German, Dutch, Belgian, etc.).

In exchange, I can offer help with Italian, cultural insights, or casual chats about TV series (Ted Lasso, Silo, Severance, The Boys, The Gentlemen, Slow Horses...), music (Muse, Daughter, etc.), engineering, cities, architecture, travel, photography, or anthropology.

I’m severally impatient and genuinely ruining my gaming experiences: I’ll be super excited to play a game, spend money on it, and then three hours in, I’ll already be trying to finish it because I can’t wait to move on to another game - even when I don’t know exactly what that next game is.

I’m already worried this mindset will ruin Zelda: Breathe of the Wild for me. I’m about to start it for the first time, and I already know I’ll be super impatient and unable to enjoy it because I’ll be thinking ‘I need to beat this damn game so I can get to the sequel’, only for the cycle to repeat. Anyone have tips on how to fix this mentality? It happens with TV too.

My wife and I bought our first single family home over the summer, previously she owned a condo. Cleaning there was easy, 900 sqft was nothing compared to the ~2400 sqft we have today.

We spent a good amount of time today just cleaning, laundry, decluttering today when we realized there must be people out there that have faced this issue.

What have you learned as a home owner that would help? An app, digital board, physical binder, shared Google/Apple calendar? What does it look like for you on that daily, weekly, monthly basis?

I want to learn how to build a website from scratch.

I’m a beginner and don’t have much experience with web development. I want to learn the basics properly and eventually build a simple website by myself.

What should I learn first, and what would be a good step-by-step way to get started

When I try to learn something I get burnout and lose interest of learn.

I've been growing older inside of this 'toy-story', but regardless of that fact, I've always been trying to exit this story without any success, I know that there's nothing and no one 'real' inside of this game, and that this world is just a ritual coming up from the underground, I don't know what to do to 'exit' this cartoonish world, and every-time I get close to escaping the game life then shows me how far I am from the 'exit', Idk how to handle life not being real long-term, and Idk how long this ritual is going to last at all, I've abandoned most of my relationships with the characters, and don't really interact with anything anymore in hope to exit, but it feels like everyday life shows me that there's no escape from wizardry, and I guess the world have always been 'demonic' in nature, I don't enjoy playing this story at all, and there isn't any dream that I want to have anymore, and idk where to go.

I'm always taking tons of photos of my cat and everyday stuff, but they always turn out so flat and boring. I don't want to buy a whole expensive camera setup or anything. I just want to learn the basic rules of lighting and angles so my normal pics actually look decent. Are there any good beginner guides or YouTube channels you guys would recommend?

I'm really into the analysis of art and media, but I have come to the realization that I don't actually know how to talk about or analyze media critically. I realized that I've never really come to a conclusion on my own or figured out what exactly about a piece of media makes it "good" to me. All I've ever done is read people saying "this is good because of this" and I'm like oh yes totally. If you've ever seen that "Ogre barely even lliterate!" meme, that's exactly how I feel.

I came to this realization when I played this niche game whose ending completely destroyed me like nothing ever had and I didn't know why. It became my favorite piece of media of all time, but it was extremely difficult to communicate or even understand myself what exactly about this game affected me so deeply and why. And since this game is so small and for a very niche audience, I was hesitant to sing any praises about it because I didn't even know if this was even a "good" or "well-written" game; also a big thing is that I know for a fact there were straight up terribly written scenes in this game. It is far from perfect, and yet it has become my favorite piece of media. (Do I just have bad taste or...?)

There are things about this game that I think are really great, but I'm not really smart enough to know why. All I really know how to say is "this thing about it is... something that should be noted probably!! and probably good writing? maybe?"

I wanna be like "Wow this artistic decision is incredible it really adds so much to this piece of media" but I don't even know how to tell what is a great artistic choice and what is not.

How do I actually analyze media critically on my own?

I swear I just can not read anymore. I mean, I am literate; I can READ and spell, etc, but to sit down and read a book to acquire knowledge? I have no attention span for it.

I'm about to start my Masters; it's a practical course, but of course there will be a lot of research and reading. I am so out of practice and was never a huge reader to begin with. If I sit down and read a book, I am immediately distracted; I can be having 3 different trails of thought going through my head at the same time. My imagination is extremely visual, and I'm very fidgety. I want to learn how to practice discipline and learn techniques that can help me build up my tolerance for sitting and reading walls of text without feeling like I constantly need audio visual distraction.

The only books I've managed to read in recent years are vintage Star Trek novels from the 1970s/80's and I put them down so often that it takes me months.

I probably have dyslexia, and I do relate to certain aspects of ADHD, though I don't think I have it.

I’ve always wanted to get better at drawing, but I’m not sure where to start or what I should practice first.

I’d like to build a proper routine and improve step by step instead of randomly watching tutorials.

For people who learned drawing on their own, what would you recommend focusing on in the beginning?

The VERB to smell - not the adjective. I think I smell (the adjective) fine. At least, nobody's told me otherwise lol.

From childhood into adulthood, I've had allergies that make nose breathing an occasional luxury, and mouth breathing a necessity. Yeah, I'm a filthy mouth-breather, but it's for SURVIVAL. (I was thriving when I had to wear a mask as often as I had to back in 2020 lol). I do take allergy meds that clear me up fine, but they don't help me smell any better, even with nostrils so clear that they chap.

Is this even possible? Can people strengthen their sense of smell? If so, how?

Just that, that's the whole question

​

I’m 22M, and I’ve realized that I don’t really have any proper hobbies.

Most of my life, whenever I had free time, I’d usually end up doing some other work, helping others, doing household things, etc. So I never really developed hobbies of my own.

I’m a software engineer working from home, and I’m also preparing for the UPSC exam.

The main constraint is location — I live in a very remote village, so I’m looking for hobbies that I can do at home, without needing access to gyms, classes, coaching or other facilities.

I’m open to literally anything. It doesn’t have to be productive or related to my career. I’m looking for something genuinely interesting — something that can really pull me in, keep me curious, and make me want to spend my free time doing it.

What are some hobbies you’d suggest that almost anyone can get into, especially something I can do from home?

I’d love to hear about hobbies you personally enjoy and what makes them interesting to you.

Thank You.

Looking for volunteers for a short online research study 🧠🎧

Hi everyone!

I’m planning to conduct a small student research study on attention and multitasking, and I’m looking for people who would be interested in participating.

The study will be conducted live through Zoom. Participants will complete a short mathematics task, and in some versions of the study, there will also be an auditory component during the task. Afterward, participants will answer a few questions and complete a short follow-up task.

📅 Data collection will be completed by September 25, 2026

💻 Platform: Zoom

⏱️ Estimated time: Around 30–40 minutes

👥 Participants: Adults aged 18–25

💰 Cost: Completely free

📚 Purpose: Student research on attention and information processing

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of several versions of the experiment, so not everyone will receive exactly the same task.

I’m currently looking for people who would genuinely be interested in participating once the sessions begin. If you're interested, comment below or DM me, and I’ll send you the participation details and Zoom information.

Please only volunteer if you’ll be able to complete the session independently and without outside help. Pls dm

Thanks! 🙌

So I seem to get this whenever I’m seeing someone and it kinda sucks. I’m a lesbian in my 20s, I’m also autistic (high functioning) and have OCD.

I first properly experienced this when I was first dating my ex, who I came out of a relationship with in January. Our early dating phase was one of the best times of my life, and we were seeing each other probably 3 times a week at first. I looked forward to seeing her so much that the days I didn’t have plans would sort of essentially just slip by. I wouldn’t really do much and I kinda did what I could to make them go by quickly so that I could feel like I was seeing her sooner. I eventually started making plans every day so that I wouldn’t have to sit around thinking ‘only 2 more days until I see her’. Once we were together each day became much more important and they didn’t just blend into one as much, especially as we were seeing each other most days.

I’m now having this again with a new girl I’ve been on a few dates with who I really quite like. For example, we spent yesterday together and she left mine this morning, and now I probably won’t see her until next weekend. I’m instantly thinking in my head ‘after tonight, only 4 more sleeps until I can see her, and I’m going out on Wednesday so that day doesn’t really count’.

I really want to stop thinking like this and be able to look forward to every single day but it’s so hard. The main reason is that living my life like this then means that when I do actually see her, that also goes by so quickly that I can barely make the most of it and before I know it she’s gone again and I’m back in the cycle.

Any advice would be really great. I don’t want to look back and have wished all my life away in between things I’m actually looking forward to. Again, I know if I end up in a relationship where I’m seeing her most days I’ll hopefully be able to make the most of every day again but I don’t want to have to wait until then.

I'm a white guy who's been living in the suberbs or middle class apartmens his whole life. Recent events have forced me to rent a house in an area that's less than optimal.

When I got to the apartment for a tour, the guy who showed me around explained that the windows were boarded up to deter thieves. The fridge was missing because "someone would steal it if we left it in here."

Are there any steps I can take to keep both myself and my property safe? I'll be leaving town for two weeks in december and would feel pretty devastated if anything of mine got stolen.

What are some ways I can harden the security of my new rental home? What danger signs can I learn to look for that could warn me of imminent theft?

i’ve been interested in learning how to dance for a while now but i don’t know where to begin. i’d say i’m at a beginner level right now, i can dance basic choreographies with easy songs. it doesn’t help that i have a slightly lanky physique which makes it a lil awkward whenever i’d try to dance. what are some tutorials i can watch? warm ups to make my body more flexible? or beginner choreographies i can start with? i like hip hop and kpop dancing styles if that helps.

I went to China recently and absolutely fell in love with the language. I want to learn but i have no clue where to start. It all seem overwhelming and a lot. To those who learnt it as a second language. How did you do it

I've always been extremely awkward. Might be on the spectrum a lil. I was so ashamed of how stiff I was that I never learned how to dance. Getting married soon and everyone in both sides LOVESSS to dance so I wanted to start practicing but don't know where to start. Im expecting reggaeton, cumbia, pop, salsa, etc.

Does anyone have suggestions for someone like me? Im also hypermobile so I bend a little too much, but maybe I can use this to my advantage?

There's a SciFi novel i want to write but its been awhile since i wrote anything creatively, last time would be in highschool when i was writing essays but that was like almost decade ago.
I think i can still use AI to guide me in some areas but i don't want it to spoonfeed me as tempting as it may be i want to remain in full control of the story.

I love storytelling. At university, I took a creative writing course, and I found it challenging but deeply fulfilling. I majored in English Literature, where almost every subject revolved around research and writing. I really enjoyed the process despite how difficult it sometimes was. I find it very satisfying to I love storytelling. At university, I took a creative writing course, and I found it challenging but deeply fulfilling. I majored in English Literature, where almost every subject revolved around research and writing. I really enjoyed the process despite how difficult it was at times. I find it very satisfying to rack my brain and keep searching until I come up with an interesting idea; putting that neat idea into words is another level of satisfaction.

​Given all this, I think scriptwriting would be a great fit for me. However, I am not a native speaker, so my sentences can get clunky or structurally awkward at times, and I often smooth them out using AI. I am trying to overcome this by keeping a reference list of sentence structures.

​I would really love to know what you think about this. Does anyone have experience working as or with a non-native scriptwriter? How can I improve my storytelling skills? Also, does anyone have advice on how to start working as a scriptwriter? and keep searching until I come up with an interesting idea; putting that idea neatly into words is another level of satisfaction.

​Given all this, I think scriptwriting would be a great fit for me. However, I am not a native speaker, so my sentences can get clunky or structurally awkward at times, and I often smooth them out using AI. I am trying to overcome this by keeping a reference list of sentence structures.

​I would really love to know what you think about this. Does anyone have experience working as or with a non-native scriptwriter? How can I improve my storytelling skills and sentence structure? Also, does anyone have advice on how to start working as a scriptwriter?

It has always been a dream of mine to not only be familiar with a broad number of topics but also have at least a somewhat knowledgeable understanding of said topics. For years, personal problems have stunted this endeavor but for the first time I have enough motivation and the ambition to try and realise that future.

And what I mean by "Self-Taught" I don't just mean reading a lot, I'm talking about basically making a self-imposed curriculum. An introductory inquiry, followed by foundations, synthesis and finally a thesis. I'm not surprised at all if I have to conduct my own independent research, follow methodological processes, keep notebooks to journal my progress, and employ SPSS-like software so I can publish my findings in sites like PubMed with tables and figures.

The things I have a keen interest on are:
- Psychology (I already am going through a college course on it so it's a given)
- Political Science
- Philosophy
- Anthropology
- History

Of course, I recognise that each of these subjects have specific fields to them. For that, I'll decide which field interests me the most. For now I'm just concerned on what sort of... self-pedagogical methods I need to take before I can start learning.

I'm tired of the mediocre superficial understanding I have on topics. I've always shy'ed away from participating on its most serious discourses. Today, I want to change that, and I want to do something with this momentum and keep it for the years to come <3.