It is day 2 of the 16 day Owl of the Year tournament at !superbowl@lemmy.world if you still want to get in early on that. It’s our annual bracket tournament to determine the community mascots for the next year.

Otherwise you can learn about the near 250 species of owls through my research and personal experience.

Summit is peak!

I’m going to assume a few things, given the small amount of details provided, and see if I can be helpful, as I just got married this month myself, so I’ve spent much time reflecting on it.

You call yourself Indian, and not Indian-(insert other country) and are in an arranged marriage, so I will assume you both currently live in India and are at least traditional leaning in faith/culture if you’re both willingly in this marriage. The other replies seem pretty good for a Western marriage, but I wasn’t sure what exactly was considered appropriate for Indian marriage.

My only reference for anything close so far was reading a comic series about arranged marriages in nomadic groups around the Caspian, so I checked out the wiki for Marriage in Hinduism and Grihastha. The traditions and motivations sound fairly different between India and here in North America, but the goals sound very similar. I’m going to try to avoid touching on too much religious/cultural stuff, because I am 100% ignorant on that besides this reading, but I will give my basic takes on it.

Under the first article, we have:

In Hinduism, the four goals of life (Purusarthas) are regarded to be righteousness (dharma), wealth (artha), pleasure (kama), and liberation (moksha). Marriage is generally not considered necessary to fulfil these goals because following righteousness (dharma) applies to a person since birth and wealth (artha) and liberation (moksha) are again one’s personal goal as dharma and need not to be aligned with marriage as they can be practiced with or without it. The three goals of marriage include allowing a husband and a wife to fulfil their dharma, bearing progeny (praja), and experiencing pleasure (rati). Sexual intercourse between a husband and wife is regarded to be important in order to produce children, but is the least desirable purpose of marriage in traditional Hindu schools of thought.

Dharma sounds like being a righteous person. Do what it takes to lead an upstanding life and be someone worthy of respect. We tend to call that The Golden Rule, which usually boils down to “don’t be a jerk and treat people how you would like to be treated.” Treat your wife and her family how you would treat your own, and always be working to improve that. We all make mistakes or don’t live up to our potential, but we can always keep working at it.

Artha seems to be finding purpose for your life by learning an occupation that can provide a proper life for you, your wife, and any children. Worldly success while not doing something to violate dharma. It seems to be making the best of yourself at work so you don’t have to struggle to be and feel successful as a person and as a provider.

Kama looks to imply more than just sexual excitement, but the excitement of all senses. Work on becoming a good lover, which requires a lot of intimate communication. It is awkward to discuss these things, but every body works differently. You say you have had some prior experience, so I am sure you have seen some of your moves work differently on different people. Don’t focus on what you know how to do only. If she can’t communicate comfortably right away, try different things to see how she responds. Even small movements of where you are touching can make a huge difference, as you may understand from yourself. Eventually she may be more open about her desires and what she enjoys most. Some people are givers, some receivers, and some both. If she doesn’t like doing what you are into, give her time, or come to understand some things just dont give her pleasure or put her in a place where she is not having a good time. When you both come to the same enjoyment during activities, it will maximize both of your enjoyments.

In non-sexual things though, kama also looks to include enjoying arts, music, dance, etc. Learn what types of entertainment you both enjoy and find common ground to enjoy things together, and find ways to still appreciate things you don’t both enjoy. If you like concerts and she prefers gardening, find times where you can each pursue those things without frustration or jealousy. Don’t stifle each others’ individualities. You are united together and should learn to love each other for your unique qualities as well as those you share. In my example, if you did not like gardening but she does, enjoy how her work enhances the beauty and feelings of life it brings to your home even if you hate to do yard work.

Moksha sounds like a very interesting concept to me in a culture that doesn’t seem to have an equivalent. The second linked article sounds like this is more along the line of what those who don’t pursue marriage should start pursuing when they realize that. It seems like moksha is something you approach by practicing good dharma, artha, and kama, so as a married couple, it seems like something you should work on together. In the most general sense, it sounds like finding your rhythm in life, where you are able to let go of struggles as you become more proper beings. You better understand yourselves, each other, and your place in this world, and that can only be accomplished as you improve your lives together and explore inside yourselves and your relationship.

All-in-all, it sounds like being Indian doesn’t make marriage all as different as it can seem outwardly. We all strive to become better people, better spouses, and to live to the best of our abilities. The most important part now it to realize you are more than yourself. Where before, you were on your own or had your family, you are now in a union with this woman, who should be your equal partner in all things. You will experience both joy and sorrow together, and to function well and grow, you need to share all those experiences as one.

It sounds hard to do as two people who are, in a way, still just getting to know each other. You may end up being a perfect match, or you may find troubles, but that is much the same as any relationship really. I was married once before, and after my first wife’s father passed away, she decided she wanted a different type of life than the one we had been living, and she no longer wanted to be with me. People change, and what can start good can end up poorly, or what starts hard may wind up being the best thing ever. No one can predict how it will go for you (or any other couple) long term, but if you both are open, honest, and do your best to love each other as you would want to be loved, you will stand the best chance of happiness possible in an imperfect and trying world.

I changed myself a lot before meeting my new wife. I tried to fix a lot of the areas I was lacking, and that helped me to support her as she was my girlfriend, who then had a long period of health problems, and my ongoing love and support has probably kept her from ending up in a very bad place. It was a lot of learning and patience I had to develop on my part, but I am committed to her and her happiness and our happiness together. Life will continue to throw things at us, but now I have her when I feel weak, and she has me, and when we have happiness, I get to experience my own joy along with hers, making it feel twice as great.

Keep working to make yourself proud, grow the kind of household and family that you picture when you imagine a beautiful home and a happy family, and expand your world while also bring the two of you closer to being one mind and body. Every day will present you with something new, but always remember you are now in it together.

Best of luck to the two of you, and I hope I spoke of relevant things to you with the care and respect intended from an outsider to what your life may or may not be like.

I spend a lot more time watching Forgotten Weapons and C&Rsenal than I do shooting these days. Still get the mechanical bits and history stuff and they don’t typically talk political stuff, which is probably good.

Karl of InRange does get political when I am in the mood for that, and he’s a good guest occasionally on Behind the Bastards as well.

It would be nice if local clubs could be more like that, but at least there are a few avenues left.

My parents and grandparents were into hunting and shooting sports, so I have always been around them and learned how to use them responsibly from an early age, so I used to think it was something everyone did.

I used to shoot 5-7 days a week. Ammo was dirt cheap so I have some guns that used to be really fun, but are now too expensive to use all that much, so I hunt one week a year and go skeet shooting a few times, and occasionally plink at targets with one of the 22s or 38 Specials that I have a pile of reloading stuff for.

It doesn’t excite me as much as it used to either, as gun ownership has become more politicized for everyone, so it’s also hard to find anyone I want to shoot with other than my brother. It used to be a fun hobby where people would just shoot the breeze more than the guns, but now clubs here are filled with MAGAs and plastered with Republican propaganda so I don’t feel as welcome as I used to.

Yup, you’re going to want at least a tiny keyboard at some point soon.

If too many controls is intimidating in your plugins, either try one but into the DAW like ReaSynth in Reaper which will be basic but still fairly powerful, or something like Decent Sampler which has knobs that do a bit of tweaking but are still most just preset sounds. Many will have ADSR and some basic effects and that’s it.

Make sure both people get tested before doing the deed.

Not one for spontaneity, eh? 😄

“I’ve had a great night, what do you say we keep this night going?”

“Sure, swab yourself here, here, and here and spit in this tube, and in a couple days, if all goes well, I will be so down for that!”

I got a vasectomy when I was already in for other surgery, but condoms were a mild annoyance with a more than acceptable tradeoff. They’re ready to go whenever, it’s a no-go for some if you won’t use one, and it’s as much for my own protection as it is for the other person. I wouldn’t necessarily expect someone to take my word on it that I got it done right off the bat either.

If you’re out dating, I think it’s just respectful to have them available. Different people have different comfort levels, so one should come prepared to accommodate.

The latex free ones aren’t a bad idea either if you need to keep some on hand. My partner has an allergy so I couldn’t use regular ones. They were more expensive, but I actually thought they were better, and it was still a low price to pay, considering what I got in return. She carried her own, but after we continued going out I wasn’t going to make her keep paying for them every time.

I’m with you. I’ve tried it a bunch of times since so many people seem to like cucumbers, cucumber water, cucumber in sushi, cucumber gin, and whatever else. I don’t like pickles either. I just cannot cuke.

I used to be about the slashers, but now I like stuff that makes you use your imagination. It’s hard to make something that will scare a large group of people, but if it gets you to engage your mind or feelings to fill in the gaps, it fills it in with things you do find scary.

I just watched Weapons last weekend. I wasn’t expecting much, it sounded like a simple plot, but it really created a disturbing vibe that was creepier to me than the on scene deaths. It kept my attention throughout and though the ending went gorey, I think it would have been just as good without showing the result.

I started One Piece about 3 years ago and have read all the manga and just recently caught up on the anime.

Some of the things I really enjoy about it:

The story progression ramps up nicely. Nobody is that OP from the get-go, and the stakes and power levels have increased steadily as the story goes on. There is definitely plot armor, but it’s not like every bad guy is on the same level as the previous one.

There is great representation. There are people of different races. There are gay-coded, trans, and gender fluid characters, there are young and old people. And none of them are really played for laughs for those traits. All character types have heros, villians, comic relief, and serious characters. And none of the characters with real screen/page time are flat and one dimensional. This along with the power scaling, really makes the adventure feel important and like a fleshed out and lived in world that you are part of. I can only imagine this is even moreso true for people that have been fans since the late 90s.

At almost 1200 chapters, I feel like I understand this fictional world and how it works. There are macguffins and such, but nothing that feels out of place. Characters still behave how you would expect them to behave and the creator doesn’t just pull stuff out of nowhere. There is still great continuity with the earliest things that happened in the story. There are many familiar characters, but more still come and go, but not before becoming necessary parts of the full tale. It’s not like Star Wars where it feels there’s about 2 dozen characters with names in the whole universe.

And the last thing I’ll say is in spite of all this, it still does stuff just for laughs regularly. It knows it’s a story primarily for young boys, and despite being one of the best loved anime/manga ever, it doesn’t take itself all that seriously. It’s a damn fun time to read and watch almost every bit of it with few exceptions. The stuff coming out now is as good or better as it’s ever been.

Like anything else, it won’t be for ever single person out there, so if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. I saw a few random episodes on Toonami in the 90s and was WTF is this random stuff then. It is a weird thing to dive into the middle of, and a lot of it is outright silly. But I had people at work keep telling me I’d like it, I finally gave in, and I was hooked from the first chapter.

Taking away that spiraling feeling is the best thing they do for me.

I always tell people something along the lines of, they do nothing to make me happy, they just give me a chance to make myself happy.

I still get sad, angry, depressed, etc, but it’s manageable now and doesn’t have every inconvenience drag me down to my deepest depths and feeling like I’m stuck there.

Young me: triceratops all the way. A bulldozer with horns, plus it wouldn’t eat me. Not as over the top with horns as styracosaurus.

Current me: ankylosaurs. Always thought they were unique, but young me also found them weird looking. Now I see it as a giant armadillo with a massive club.

Shout out to ichthyosaurs and pterosaurs. Not dinos but very awesome and terrifying creatures. I feel much safer knowing neither is around anymore though. gh.

Very awesome animals, but I don’t think these are technically dinos.

Those limited Cokes keep breaking my heart. So many of them have been good. The Spice and the Rosalia have been my favs, but the space flavored one and the League of Legends ones were good too.

I also like the Pepsi and Mt Dew with real sugar when I can find them, and Cheerwine also needs wider distribution.

Despite what it sounds like, I don’t drink massive amounts of soda, I just like trying the new flavors and regional stuff as I find it.

Poop in a group is good 😄

Yes, I lost some really great people along the way. But I understand it perfectly now why they felt they had to move on from me.

I’m glad we can have conversations like this here. It feels really important to discuss this, and I hope the person I think that inspired you to make this post reads this and can turn his life around.

It isn’t always easy to publicly admit we used to be this way, but I feel it benefits the community as a whole.

I don’t like when people trash the OP in cases like this. Sometimes they are trolls or attention seekers, but at least at first, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. I appreciate you not crapping on him. He already has that covered, and more certainly isn’t going to fix him.

I only got out of my own mess because enough people were patient with me. If I can give some of that back, that’s just me passing some of that grace I was given forward.

Every day gives you another chance. It’s really freaking hard when you’re down in a hole like this. That’s why I said to check out that other post. Many of us have been in similar spots. We’re here to help, but we can’t give you answers cuz we aren’t you. You need to work every day to find what does work for you.

There’s no secret to being liked by women. It’s the same as being liked by anyone. You have to be someone likeable, not just fake likeable, and it starts with valuing yourself enough to lift yourself out of the mental place you are at. This is like anything else, you got to build from the bottom up with a strong foundation.

I don’t know your full story, but a skim through your posts makes it feel like you have some internal things you need to address, and I mean that in a helpful way.

You really sound like you would want to have a partner, but you seem to be chasing symptoms and not core issues.

I’d recommend reading some of today’s thread on overcoming incel-like behavior. I shared a bunch of my personal story on there in BodePlotHole’s reply, and reading that and some other comments in there might be of real value to you.

That’s about all the help any of these posts are going to get you, and most of it is not bad advice. There’s no quick-fix other than the stuff you’re already getting burnt out of trying. You’re going to have to put in real work and take yourself seriously if you want to get out of this hole you’re in and find a happier life.

Again, not here to lecture you, do what you want, but I think your solution is fixing you, not continuing to ignore things and smooth them over temporarily with prostitutes and substances.

Your first line of how it all seems stupidly obvious now is so true. But that’s the thing about being self-centered, that you can’t get any other perspective on it.

I’m glad you were able to get out of that cycle!