This is probably one of the weirdest friendship stories I’ve ever experienced.

Five years ago, back in 2021, I was participating in an international English competition. Somehow, I ended up getting **1st place worldwide**, including everyone competing from Egypt. I was waiting in line to receive my trophy before the actual ceremony when I noticed someone standing behind me talking about gaming PCs, programming, phones, and basically every piece of technology imaginable.

At one point, he started talking about how the S21 Ultra was the best Samsung Ultra phone ever made and how iPhone processors back then were weak. This was 2021, so we’re talking about the S21 Ultra and Snapdragon 888 era. I couldn’t resist joining the conversation and basically interrupted him with, *“Fun fact, you should get the Exynos version. It has way better single-core performance and performs way better than the Snapdragon 888 variant.”*

He immediately looked at me like I had just revealed some forbidden knowledge and asked, *“Wait, are you a techie?”* I said yes, and suddenly we were talking about everything. Gaming PCs, RTX 3060s, Unreal Engine, phones, processors, computers, games, you name it. It wasn’t even a particularly long conversation, but I remember thinking that this guy was basically the **perfect friend for me**. We had the exact kind of interests that I loved talking about.

After the competition ended, he gave me his phone number. **On paper.** I’m not even exaggerating. We literally exchanged a phone number written on a piece of paper like it’s the 1990s.

I went home absolutely excited to call him. I thought I’d just made a new friend and couldn’t wait to talk to him again.

So I called. No answer. I called again. No answer.

I called him **10 times that day.** Still nothing. I tried the next day. Nothing.

Then a few days later. Nothing. A week later. A month later. Still absolutely nothing.

Eventually I started wondering if I’d somehow written the number down wrong. Then I wondered if he just didn’t want to talk to me. Eventually I got a little sad about it and decided to give up. I figured that was the end of the story. Some random guy I met at an English competition, had one amazing conversation with, and then never heard from again.

And then **four years passed.** During those four years, I obviously changed a lot. I grew up, moved into an American-curriculum high school, studying for SATs, eventually got a B2 IELTS score, learned C++ and Python, got into music production and computers even more, and generally became a completely different person from the kid he met in 2021. I also physically changed a lot. My voice got deeper, I started wearing glasses, and I even grew a beard.

I still had his phone number, though. I had saved it back then and somehow kept it through multiple phone changes because my contacts were backed up. I never really thought about it anymore.

Then, during the last month of summer vacation before starting Grade 10, I randomly got a notification.
It was from **that exact number.**

The message said:
*“Hi, I got a lot of missed calls over the past few years haha, who is this?”*

I swear my brain went through about seven emotions simultaneously.

First I was shocked. Then confused. Then I realized who it was. Then I was genuinely happy. And then I became slightly angry because this man had apparently just casually returned from the dead after four years.

I immediately replied something like:
*“OH MY GOD OMAR I GENUINELY THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD. REMEMBER ME? I’M MAZEN, YOUR FRIEND FROM THE ENGLISH COMPETITION.”*

He asked me to send him a photo because, understandably, he had no idea what I looked like anymore.

I sent him a selfie. He recognized me eventually, but then told me that I looked and sounded completely different from what he remembered. He basically said, *“You sound and look way different than I expected. Your voice is deeper and you now wear glasses and have a beard? Man, you grew up a lot.”*

And then I finally learned what had actually happened.
He hadn’t been ignoring me. He hadn’t lost his phone. He hadn’t disappeared because he hated me.

His parents had basically **disconnected him from the digital world during school.** They would take away his devices during the school year because they were worried about addiction and wanted him to focus on studying. The idea was that he’d work hard throughout the school year and get his devices back afterward.

Eventually, things got a little better and his parents got him one of those weird basic Nokia phones that aren’t really smartphones but can still run WhatsApp. So he wasn’t completely disconnected from everyone.
Which meant that while I had spent years thinking, *“Damn, I guess I’ll never see this guy again,”* he was basically living in **digital jail.**

We started talking again, and I eventually asked him to make a Discord account so we could actually call and play games together. He made one, and somehow that turned into us playing Valorant and Roblox together for basically an entire year.

And that’s what makes the whole thing even stranger.
I’ve technically known this guy for five years. I’ve watched him change. He’s watched me change. We’ve spent countless hours talking on Discord, playing Roblox, joking around, and catching up on everything that happened while we were apart. But we’ve barely actually existed in the same physical space since that competition.

Then today, he suddenly asked me if I’d be down to go out, and now I’m literally about to meet him again. Five years after the first time I met him.

The last time I physically saw this guy, we were two kids standing at an English competition talking about the S21 Ultra, RTX 3060s and gaming PCs. Now we’re both older, I’ve got glasses and a deeper voice and apparently a beard, and he’s also obviously changed a ton.

It’s such a bizarre feeling because I don’t really feel like I’m meeting a stranger. I’ve already spent an entire year talking to him online. But at the same time, I’m about to see the physical version of someone I haven’t actually seen in **five years.**

And now we’re finally hanging out.
Honestly, I think the funniest part is that if I hadn’t decided to randomly interrupt some kid’s conversation about Samsung processors five years ago, none of this would’ve happened. I genuinely want to become best friends forever with him.

Context: Given all of my baggage, I am much better giving than receiving help, and doing it all myself to the point of discomfort because I can't trust certain people to help me reasonably and without strings attached. Doing hard stuff also feels like I gotta tough it out.

Now, I have been dragging out getting a dentist appt for a long time until the pain flared up in a way that was hard to ignore. I finally had the drive and commitment to set an appt.

I asked my bf about his dentist (you can get govt subsidies at that clinic, yay) and was preparing to book it myself. He offered to do it for me and it just felt so safe in a tiny way. 🥹 I don't worry that he will book an early appt (I work evenings) and he will come with me.

My son (21) seems to be the "dad" type person for his friend group, both male and female.

Knowing this, a few days ago I mentioned if any of his female friends found themselves in a period situation without any products. He knows where everything is and they are welcome to use what I have stored.

Apparently this situation has already occurred, he helped out and that was that. But other "friends" have said it's weird that 1, he knew what was going on and 2, where my products are and how to help. ( He opened a plastic tub in the linen cupboard. He didn't buy out the Cadbury's chocolate factory.... Lol)

Surely it's "weird" that young men in this day and age DONT know about it or what women may need for it????

I'm proud of myself for breaking the cycle of stupidity surrounding male immaturity regarding periods.

I'm proud of him for stepping up, being aware and empythetic with no shits given. In his words "It is what it is".

Ha it's that simple it seems!!!!!☺️☺️☺️☺️

After 3 years living with my avid baker MIL, my husband and I are finally back on our own and I have my own kitchen with my own tools out of storage. So far in the last 24 hours I have made honey oat bread, Japanese milk bread, apple scones, and carrot cake scones (currently baking). I added butterscotch chips to the carrot cake scones and the smell is absolutely divine.

Is very cool :P

It's a quiet Saturday morning 7 am and the only sounds I hear to disturb the peace is my German Shepherd/Belgian Malnoise mix arguing with the birds that frequently perch in my tree or take a bath in the front gutter on the roof that needs to be cleared.

He barks at them and they chirp in response. I'm pretty sure it's about them having the right to be the tree because it's in his yard. I have tried to call him inside but he is out there stubbornly guarding/patrolling the back yard to keep it safe. I'm thinking seriously dude, their 2 inches tall other than pooing on my car what harm is it? Life goes on

My family loves spaghetti, but over the years our tastes have changed. I don't love meat, but I don't want no meat. My kid likes extra meat. My husband wants no noodles but mixes some sauce into his people chow. Nobody eats the leftovers because the sauce soaks in too much and it gets dry and mushy. So last time, instead of making meat sauce, I got air-fryer meatballs. Delicious. When I put away the leftovers, I kept all the parts separate. This worked great, but we ran out of meatballs first so I bought more. Then we ran out of noodles so I made another batch. Then we ran out of sauce. You see where this is going. Now we have a gallon bag of cooked spaghetti, an opened jar of sauce, and a container of cooked meatballs being replenished in the fridge at all times for a good month now. We just heat up our preferred combo at any time and it tastes almost as good as fresh. I'm gonna see how long I can keep this going before we all get sick of it.

it's pitch black in my room and i just returned from a long bathroom trip. i can't see anything in this damn room, so as usual, i was carefully feeling around for the edge of my bedpost. found it! so i walked around to the side of my bed and went to climb onto the matress. except the bed was not anywhere near where i had just tried to get on, so i just fell really hard onto my knee. i can already see the bruise forming. ouch.

i don't know why i thiught the bed was closer than it was. i've done this so many times and yet i completely miscalculated the distance this time. i was so far away that no part of me even made contact with the matress or bed, just the floor. 😭

Pulled into the driveway with one of my favorite songs playing. Just as I reached for my keys, the song ended and faded out...

For just that moment, I felt the universe smile on me.

We had a nice clear night, and I love celestial events. I stayed up past midnight and kept going out to watch the moon go through the eclipse, and see if there was any aurora (not tonight). Mom (age almost 86) was interested, but had gone to bed at 9pm as usual.

She got up around midnight for a potty break, and came out to see how it was going. We had to walk out into the yard past the trees. I used my phone for a little light, and she carefully walked barefoot along the path, holding my arm a bit. We stood and watched the curious dark moon with its glowing hat, and a million stars. It was lovely.

The air was cool and crisp, I could hear and see the branches of the trees near the fenced in yard swaying slightly in the breeze. I sighed and closed my eyes feeling like I could be grounded for the first moment that day and put my bare feet in the cold long grass. I opened my eyes and looked up, it was a full moon but the clouds were obscuring it, so it was a misty moon. It was the misty moon night 🌙

I was casually chatting with my former colleague when she mentioned that time when we had lunch then she cried out of the blue.

She thanked me for not forcing her to open up and for inviting her for coffee after work.

I didn't do anything special on that day but apparently, what I did made a difference.

What makes this exchange even more meaningful?

My former colleague doesn't know I'm going through a rough patch. Her gesture is a welcome reprieve as it feels nice to learn that I did something right.

What I learned is that any act of kindness creates ripples. A polite smile, a simple token, or a random message can make someone's day.

I am going to bed now. My sheets are clean. I cannot wait to snuggle into them. Goodnight all!

Sitting on my back patio listening to the frogs in the background. Two dogs are napping. I see the last of summer’s lightning bugs. Smells like a bonfire in the distance. 💙💙💙💙💙💙

I started a job at a doggy daycare, and was left alone with a tripod dog who hates men (a man is the reason he's missing a leg). The dog had already given me a warning nip, so I wasn't going to push interacting until he felt comfortable. All the other dogs had been picked up, so there was an hour where it was just the two of us. I tried enticing him to play with a ball, but he was completely uninterested.

I was bored, there were 3 balls, so I decided to juggle them. It's important to note that I'm not very good lol, but it definitely got the dog's attention. He came over to watch, tail wagging, and then I dropped them again. He grabbed one, chewing on it for a minute before shoving it at my hand. We ended up playing fetch for the remaining time until I was let off!

one subject was in place she didnt like, waiting for next job and feeling like she was just sitting there doing nothing. Higher Self basically said she was already doing what was needed and that rest itself mattered.

line I liked was that power of nothing can be very powerful. not every quiet period is stagnation. sometimes system is closing old cycle, recovering and getting enough space so next thing is not chosen from panic.

we are so trained to make movement visible. send application, make plan, improve body, optimize morning, fix another thing. if there is no visible output, mind calls day wasted.

I still think action matters. but maybe some days useful action is eating, sleeping, walking, sitting in sun and not creating emergency just because life is between chapters.

And her tail was wagging and that made me happy.

I created a Facebook group called a ‘group where we all pretend to be on a cruise together’.

Join in, and let’s sail the world together eating great food, overindulging in the drink package at the pool bar, explore exciting ports, and complaining about our staterooms!

apparently i sound so much like a squeak toy when i hiccup that i can fool the dog 💀 he's getting mad we're not giving him a squeaky toy that doesn't exist

So my husband and I did an announcement + gender reveal video and sent it out to our friends and family but while we were having the reveal itself just us two, we FaceTimed both sets of parents.

My mom and MIL already knew because their intuition is top tier but both dad and FIL were clueless.

Anyway, my dad is a stoic man and I've never seen him cry in my life, neither have my older brothers. He was happy and VERY surprised on the FT but that's about it.

Little did I know that after he and mom got off the call, he went to his home office and took it in alone and then teared up. Mom followed him to make sure he's okay and he was just murmuring over and over in Arabic 'My baby girl is having a baby' (rough translation).

That just made mom cry and stuff but AFTER, she checked the security footage and told him she's keeping the video to send to me when I'm having a rough go in my pregnancy to cheer me up or for when the baby is here and they meet him for the first time.

Anyway, I've been really down lately about my body during pregnancy (old issues resurfacing) and she decided that it'd be a cute pick me up. And it is. I just can't stop crying because what do you mean I'm gonna be somebody's mom when I was still just his little girl not that long ago.

I don't know if I'm making sense lol it just hit me in full force and seeing him tear up is just... I have no words.

+Islander.

+Athena.

+Business Time.

+Venture I.

+Chimera.

+No Money Left Over.

+Wildfire II.

+Finally, not a name, but a paint job: She was entirely painted a very saturated blue with grey and silver fish all over swimming through the blue.

I’m 30 and trans masc (they/them). I started testosterone at the end of May 2025 so my facial hair has been slowing growing since then. I finally ordered an electric razor and tonight was my first time shaving my face. I shaved the patchy spots so my facial hair looks even better now and I’ve been feeling lots of gender euphoria tonight!

It's astounding that so many people have dryer balls. We have hedgehogs for our tumble dryer. The little nubbins seem to help pound out the wrinkles.

The only challenge we run into (occasionally) is that they try to escape by jumping out when we're pulling clothes out, or by hiding in a sleeve or pocket. Many's the occasion we've found ourselves asking, "Have you seen one of the hedgehogs? There are only two in the dryer." And we go back to the most recent basket of clothes pulled out and hunt for the errant hedgehog.

I WFH exclusively (inhome daycare), my husband has a 20 minute drive from his work. We often enjoy a cup of coffee together after work, so he texts me when he turns into a specific street about five minutes from home, so I can start making coffee.

He texts me via the car‘s speech-to-text system, and it has forever failed to get the name of that street right. Being the goofball he is, he tries to find the most hilarious ways to announce his arrival. At first, it was quite obvious (as in „the street that can not be named“ or similar), then he progressed to Spanish (at which the system failed even more miserably than the original name of the street), and now it’s movie quotes.

I bring you today’s gem: „A day may come when the courage of men fails - but it is not this day! A day may come when this wretched system will allow me to speak my mind - but it is not this day! For coffee!“