Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with circles

Annoying sensual quirks filter: Why does he rub me the wrong way?

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:52:38 -0800

I'm female, just started seeing a guy, we're both in our thirties. We've made out a couple of times but are still fairly new to eachother physically. So far it's really nice, except for one thing: whenever, wherever he touches me, he does it in a repetitive circle. It never stops. And it makes me want to leap out of my skin and run screaming. Example: When we're standing and hugging, his arm will be around me, not just roving around like arms do, but rubbing his hand in a big circle on my back. ACK. Or, when we're laying down his hand will be moving over my shoulder in circles. Wax on, wax off. Or, his hand will be resting on my cheek, but his thumb will be rubbing my temple in incessant circles. As long as his hands are going from point A to point B on me it doesn't seem to happen. It's when they stop to rest that he starts boring a hole into me. I have tried nonchalantly putting my hand over his, but he keeps wiggling underneath it!

I have dated other guys with the same habit. Why do some people do this? I otherwise really enjoy his touch. How do I (kindly) ask him to for the love of god STOP what is for him probably a sub-conscious motor habit? And does this drive anyone else up the wall like me?

Dark circles under the eyes

page123 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:36:33 -0800

What is the best treatment for dark circles under the eyes specifically for southasian skin type?

I need a new social life, pronto.

als129 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:51:44 -0800

My social life is falling apart and I don't know what to do to fix it. A few months ago, a long-term relationship I was in ended. Right around that time, my best friend found a boyfriend and now all she wants to do is hang out with him. I get invites to come over for dinner and stuff, but they never want to go out or do anything "social." Another good friend I hang out with is moving five hours away in a few weeks. I have a few other friends, but they are at least an hour away and married, which I know shouldn't matter, but it freaking does.

I feel like I have to rebuild my entire social circle at once and I'm feeling overwhelmed and kind of depressed about it. Oh, and I'm completely single. There aren't even any possibilities currently on that front.

So, my question is, of course, how do I meet people? But more specifically -- how do I make a new social circle? Also, is there anything I can do to make myself more "attractive" to potential friends? The thought of having to initiate all these new friendships that I need is completely daunting.

Help me make sense (reading/writing)

unknowncommand — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:20:14 -0800

I have problems reading and writing in a linear fashion. For example, when I am reading, I literally move my eyes in a circle around the words. I also skip tons of words. I feel like I get the meaning, but then the overall style and "feel" of the text bugs the crap out of me. I am hypersensitive to the author's style. For the most part, I do not enjoy reading. This makes me really defensive, which I also do not enjoy.

I also strongly dislike writing in a linear way. If I set out to write something in an orderly fashion, inevitably I will forget half the words and need to make up new words. For example, if I were to write the way that I *wanted* to write, the sentence I wrote before this one would sound like this, "When directed in the way of orderly formality (writing/expression), inevitably/conseqencely/determination succeeds/fails to provide verbiage adequately/primarily/normally/stereotypically/prescriptively. New forms (neologisms) are requisite." Yes. I said, "consequencely." That makes no sense.

So yay! Bored, irritated circular reader. Nonsense writer. Which is actually fine, except in school. Most importantly, the graduate studies that I have recently begun. Yikes. I feel really dumb.

So. Fix me. Can I relearn this? It was never a problem when I was a kid. I loved reading and maxed out my library limit constantly. Is it the internet's fault? Or typing rather than script? I would like to enjoy these things.

No, I'm not tired...I look this way all the time

melissam — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:05:25 -0800

Has anyone successfully reduced or eliminated puffy eyes/dark circles? For me I know allergies are a factor, but looking at my family, it seems the general puffiness is genetic. I've tried everything from getting more sleep to a gluten-free diet. Has anyone with this problem on MF ever had any success reducing them?

In search of paper circle supplier.

probablysteve — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:40:09 -0800

Where can I buy large, paper circles? Must be suitable for drawing on with pen, marker and crayon. Large as in 30-32" in diameter. In largish quantities (100-1000 sheets). Bonus points: Although I will always need the blank circles, I may want to eventually buy circles with simple black-and-white graphics printed on them.

How to gently get my mom to stop calling all the shots

slyboots421 — Fri, 11 May 2007 07:57:04 -0800

Any advice on how to cut the "apron strings" from my mother, who I love very much but have become a little resentful of? I know that this question will probably make me seem like a selfish, spoiled little brat, but I really hope it doesn't.
Here's me in a nutshell: 24, female, college graduate, full-time worker (and then some). I was my mom's first of two daughters, and all my life she has said there was no choice but for me to go to college. I had to become independent and there was no need to get married or any reason to even want to get married, since I should be able to sustain myself.
Basically, everything she didn't do - she got married young and had me young, and referred to that time a lot as a "mistake" - as in "Don't make the same mistakes I did." I know she loves me and we're incredibly close and I love her, but I couldn't help but feel she counted me as one of those "mistakes."
So fast forward, I go away to college even though I wasn't really ready. My parents get divorced. They both remarry. My mom's new husband is the owner/president of his own company. When I graduate college, my mom has taken over the management of an apartment building that my grandparents own, and an apartment opens up. So I move back to town, but am pretty much only given the option of living in this apartment, since I was clearly not welcome to move in with my mom and stepdad and my dad and his wife were pretty much not an option either. So, fine, I'll move into this apartment. So when the time comes to find a job, my stepdad tells me that the receptionist at his office will be out for 6 weeks so I could fill in for her, and look for a job while I did that. So (I've posted about this before so please bear with me) I live in Michigan, and our economy is not so good, and I've wanted to move out of state for at least the past four years. Instead, I'm still at my stepdad's company, over two years later, doing basically nothing and still searching for jobs. I somehow have no money saved, hardly any applicable experience in the field I want to get into (writing/publishing/editing) except for 9 months at a newspaper, and I managed to get myself into a fair amount of credit card debt. Due largely to my mom's urging and also some good advice I got the last time I posted about this, I got a second job waiting tables and now anticipate being done with my debt payoff at the end of this month.
I still want to move. My mom is telling me that I should keep working at this restaurant to save some money. While this makes sense, I'm physically exhausted. I work sometimes until 3 am and then have to be at the office at 8, and then work again the following night. I'm currently battling a really bad cold/sinus deal because my immune system is not running on all 8 cylinders, because of no sleep and physical exhaustion. My mom is insisting that I keep it up. Now, years ago, she worked at nights while my sister and I were young and my dad worked days, so someone was always there for us, but she throws it in my face like it's not reasonable for me to be tired. "Well, I did it, with two kids." But she didn't work 20 hour days (not that having kids around is a piece of cake, but still) and she had a husband to help her out. Meanwhile I'm being ridiculous if I wonder if I'll ever get married, because what's my hurry, be independent. Yet after she married my stepdad she doesn't work and will never have to again. Then she acts like she had to work really hard to get to where she is. I always want to say, Yes Mom, you did work really hard and we had a great and comfortable life because of all that you and Dad contributed. But you definitely didn't earn the position you're in now, which is basically that of a trophy wife. If she hadn't married my stepdad she'd be working the same kind of schedule I am. I feel like she's got both empty nest syndrome and is also trying to re-live her bartending days vicariously through me. I feel like my whole life is existent so she can repair her "mistakes." I feel like she doesn't think I can actually pack up and move, and maybe it's because I feel like she's a puppetmaster who has dictated my whole post-college life. I live where I live because of her. I work where I work because of her. I haven't done anything officially on my own except maintain both of these things and that really, really bothers me. Even though maybe I resent her insistence that I be independent, I really am. I don't have a boyfriend and never really have - I kill bugs, put in my own window AC units in the summer, fix things around my place, do whatever - "I don't need a man." So with all this independence I am still completely indebted to her. And I resent that. I know this sounds horribly selfish - not many people can say they left college and went right into a job or had their own place. But I feel like if I had never fallen into the cushion of having this job where no one expects much of me because everyone knows I plan on leaving, I'd be long gone by now and actually happy and productive. Instead I'm depressed, always tired and the past two years have zapped me of the motivation I used to feel. I now feel like I'm too dumb to do anything. I want to break this cycle and get out of this job, out of my apartment and out of this state, but my mom keeps pushing me to keep working at the bar at night and saving some money. Again, this makes sense, but I can't do it anymore. If I keep this up I'll be here for another year or more and get even more unhappy.
I want to basically stop being my mom's puppet, even though the things she does, she does out of love. (Then there's the part of me that hates to wonder if she does all this to "show up" my dad and say, See, look what we did for her, what have you done. Even though he's been a wonderful father and provider and I've never wanted for anything, from either of them, my whole life.)
If anyone has any advice, or tips, or similar experiences to share I'd be eternally grateful. I hope I don't come across as sounding selfish. I really just don't know how to get out of this tailspin.

What's the dryest great circle on Earth?

Wolfdog — Thu, 10 May 2007 19:12:31 -0800

Which great circle on the Earth has the largest proportion of its length lying on land (not water)?

A sixth of a pi?

Navelgazer — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:55:06 -0800

An out-of-left-field question for the mathematicians regarding the possible link between pi and the number 6 in geometry. If you take a group of seven identical (for all intents) objects with a circular base (try it with coins or bottles, for instance) you can arrange them most tightly by having six of the bottles or coins surround the central one, with each outer bottle also touching both adjacent outer bottles. Mathematically I can't understand why this would be the case with the number 6 specifically, and as I'm more of the right-brained-twinkie type, my background in math doesn't come anywhere near figuring it out. Can y'all help?

Why does your foot change direction when you draw the number 6?

moooshy — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 10:57:42 -0800

Why does this work? 1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. 2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right-hand. Your foot will change direction.