Afternoon gents, it’s Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide here and happy summer! It’s around this time that my local school district lets their students out for their summer vacation, and in light of the season being upon us, I thought it would be fun to talk about more fun dates that you and your lady can partake in during the summer season! And if you’re wondering why I said more, I actually have another article about fun summer date ideas which you can check out right here! But in any case, here are four more things you can enjoy with the lucky lady while you’re off for summer!

1. Dancing/A dance class

In my hometown, there are multiple swing dance clubs that I’ve gotten to play music for, and seeing them dance makes it look like so much fun! Even just learning how to dance can be a great way to connect with your partner, plus it’ll be great exercise for the both of you. If you look online to try and find some local swing dance clubs or classes in your area, I’m sure you’ll be able to find something near you!

2. The beach

I’m surprised I didn’t mention this in my last article about this. Though to be fair, this one would be hard to do if you don’t live on the coast. Even so, spending an afternoon at the beach can be an incredibly fun time for you and your partner. Lying out together in the sun, splashing around in the shallow water, or even just walking on the sand can be a simple and fun way for you two bond. Bring some finger food and and a few drinks and you can turn it into a picnic!

3. Wine tasting

This one really only applies to those of you over 21 (if you’re reading this in the United States, that is), but it’s still a wonderfully romantic setting for the both of you. Sharing a few drinks, responsibly, and possibly making a road trip out of it with a wine tour can make it even better! Wine in and of itself can be very romantic, and who knows? Maybe you two can find your regular wine to have with dinner, or maybe even your wedding reception later on down the line.

4. Independence Day parade/fireworks

Apologies to any of you across the pond who are reading this, since this really only applies to anyone living in the United States. Of course, anyone who lives in the States knows how excited people get to celebrate their independence on the Fourth of July, and the pinnacle of all that excitements come in the form of either a parade, a fireworks display, or both. Taking your girl to see either of those displays can be great fun for both of you. Plus in my hometown, there’s a trope among the teens and young adults that they need a “fireworks kiss”, so it’d be nice to have that too.

So there you go! If you and your special are getting tired of the same old thing, maybe try some of these things out, or check out my last list if you need more ideas! If there’s anything I missed or if you have any more ideas, then leave a comment and let me know! In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. Please be sure to share the post, follow the blog, follow The Young Gentleman’s Guide on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and support us on Patreon. And on that note, this is Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide, and I’ll see you next time!

Afternoon gents, it’s Max from the Young Gentleman’s Guide here! Now we’ve all heard of it and I’m willing to bet more than a handful of you gents reading have been there before, I’m talking about the dreaded “friend zone.” For those of you who don’t know what that is, I think Ryan Reynolds in Just Friends puts it best: “When a girl decides that you’re her friend, you’re no longer a dating option. You become this complete non-sexual entity in her eyes, like her brother, or a lamp.” Essentially, the “friend zone” is a situation where one side wants to be involved romantically, while the other wants to just stay friends, usually with the guy wanting to take things further. While it is more common for this to happen to men, I’m sure it happens among women too, it just isn’t as frequent and/or talked about. In any case, this leads to an interesting question among those who are in that dreaded situation, can a man and a woman just be friends? So that’s what we’re setting out to answer today.

If the message of the movie When Harry Met Sally is to be believed, then no, it’s pretty much impossible for a man and a woman to be just friends. However, I feel like this movie takes a very simplistic look at the relationship between a man and a woman (which is in no way meant to talk ill about the movie, I love it a lot, and highly recommend you check it out). They make seem as if a man and woman will automatically think about each other romantically if they start to connect on a personal level. While this may be true for that certain person you happen to find attractive, you can still connect with that man or woman without thinking about them romantically or sexually. The most important thing here is communication. It obviously shouldn’t be right after meeting each other, but you should both let each other know early on what your intentions are before getting too involved. If you aren’t effective in stating what you want out of the relationship, this can obviously create a huge problem. In order to best explain this, I’ll have to tell you my “friend zone” story.

So when I was seventh grade, I was not very well-liked by about half the girls in the student body for reasons that aren’t really relevant to this story. In any case, there was one girl, we’ll call her M, who was one of the few girls who actually stood up for me and felt some sort of sympathy for what I was going through. Because of this, she and I quickly formed a connection. And I’m not joking when I say I actually fell in love her practically at first sight, but at the time, I didn’t know what that actually felt like. Despite not knowing how I felt, we continued to bond in friendship into high school, and I even ended up taking her to her first high school dance! She also invited me to her 16th birthday party, where there was in fact dancing, and M’s parents actually wanted me to share the first dance with her. It was during that first dance that I finally realized how I felt about her, but I didn’t have the nerve to tell her. We had been friends for so long, but I had no idea if she saw me in the same way I saw her, and I didn’t want to risk jeopardizing our friendship over that. So for the next few years, I was just stuck. I constantly was wanting more out of our relationship, but she just wanted to stay friends, and it was horrible. After years of keeping those emotions bottled up, I finally wrote a letter to her when we were both in college that spilled the beans. After finally telling her how I felt in that letter, that’s when the reality of the situation hit me. I finally came to the realization that she just didn’t see me in that way, and after talking to her a little bit more about that, I eventually came to accept it. Now M and I are now just friends and still talk every now and then.

So if there’s anything you can take from that, it should be that you should be clear about your intentions when you enter into a friendship with a woman, especially if you want to take things further. Though to be fair, I think my situation was a bit more complicated since I didn’t even know how I felt at the time. In spite of all of this, however, something else I haven’t mentioned is that you can connect with a woman without being attracted to them sexually. Maybe you and this woman have things in common, but there may just be that thing that keeps you from being attracted to them in that way. That said, I am in no way the arbiter of what people are attracted to, that’s entirely up to you. Just listen to your gut and make the smartest decision. Also, in the vain of all of this, I think it’d be smart to answer a similar question: can you be friends with an ex? The short answer is yes you can! As long as your breakup wasn’t toxic and didn’t leave any negative air between the two of you, then by all means, continue to connect and be friends. I was in a relationship with someone for almost a year in high school, but after a while, we just started to drift apart and we decided to end it, but our breakup wasn’t anything toxic and was perfectly amicable. And to this day, we’re still good friends, and she’s in fact now married with a kid on the way!

So what exactly am I saying here? In a nutshell, yes, a man and a woman can just be friends, as long as both the people involved in the friendship are clear with each other about each other’s intentions. There may just be those people who may not be sexually attracted to you, and that’s perfectly fine. Developing connections and friendships is what helps humans survive, and it’s perfectly possible to develop those connections with the opposite sex without being attracted to them sexually. In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. Please be sure to share it, follow the blog, follow The Young Gentleman’s Guide on Facebook and Instagram, and support us on Patreon. And on that note, this is Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide, and I’ll see you next time!

Morning gents, Max here! A new post on The Classy Libertarian by yours truly just went up this morning. Please be sure to read it, share it, do whatever you need to do. Keep an eye out for a new article here on Saturday!

Evening gents, it’s Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide here! So today, we have yet another article inspired by a video from Prager University. In this video, entitled Love Needs Laughs, the famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff talks about how the biggest sign of happiness in any relationship is shared laughter. It’s a wonderful and rather heartwarming video that I highly recommend you check out. And with Smirnoff’s words in mind, I thought I would give you a few reasons why being able to make people laugh is such an important trait for any gentleman to have. So without any further delay, let’s check out the list!

1. It Helps People Stay Positive

There’s a reason one of the longest-running TV shows of all time is Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s South Park. While a lot of naysayers see it as just lowbrow, immature humor, the show, and more specifically Stone and Parker, have proven to be extremely clever and effective social satirists and commentators. And nowhere is that more apparent in the Season 5 episode “Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants.” The reason I mention this episode is because it clearly displays the importance of laughter in general. Most of what I’m about to say is actually credited to the popular YouTube film reviewer Nostalgia Critic, so I am not about to take credit for any of it. That being said, in the wake of 9/11 and the anthrax epidemic being sent through the mail in late 2001, the United States was in a state of abject fear. As a response to this, Matt Stone and Trey Parker released this South Park episode, making Osama bin Laden look like a completely pathetic tool. After this episode was released, the US’s spirits were collectively raised, as temporary as it may have been. The reason being that everyone just needed a good laugh at the entire situation. And that’s the power of laughter. It could be the most awful, distressful situation ever, like in the case of 9/11, being worried about the threat of terrorism. But if you’re able to find humor in that situation, and thus react to it, it can simply help lift people’s spirits and reduce the pain of the situation even just a little bit. And with so many dark things happening in our world today, being able to make people laugh seems more important now than ever. Also, in the case of 9/11, I think the Nostalgia Critic put it best: “Giuliani showed us we needed to be strong, Letterman showed us we needed to cry, South Park showed us we needed to laugh.”

2. It’s a great way to bond with people

People always say laughter is the best medicine, and there’s a lot of truth to that. Not only has laughter been proven to lower blood pressure and decrease stress hormones, but it can also just help people bond with each other. This can be especially helpful in a romantic situation. I’ve always said that one thing I always look for in a woman is someone who can laugh at me and make fun of me, but in a fun, loving way. I feel like that’s one of the most important things to do in any relationship, romantic or not. If you and your lady able to notice and, more importantly, laugh at each others’ flaws or missteps, it will only help both of you more clearly see what you both love about each other. Obviously, acknowledging what you love about each other will only strengthen your relationship, but it doesn’t just stop there. One point that Yakov Smirnoff makes in the PragerU video is that it’s not just laughter that strengthens a relationship, but shared laughter. If you and the people you care about can find laughter and enjoyment in similar things, that can strengthen your relationship with anybody, it could be a significant other, a friend, or a family member, because you find what you have in common. It would obviously be hard to bond with somebody you don’t have many things in common with, and of course, that can be the death of any relationship, especially a romantic one. And what we find funny and find enjoyment in is the clearest way of showing what we like and what we don’t like, and if someone we know also finds those things funny, that can be a sign of a great relationship. So if you’re spending time with someone and you aren’t laughing at or with each other, it may time to evaluate you’re relationship, especially if it’s romantic.

So there it is! I know this list wasn’t a very long one, but that’s really all I needed to get my point across. A man who can make people laugh can raise people’s spirits and foster many a strong friendship. To me, those are among the most important things a man should strive to accomplish in his life. Thank you all so much for reading today’s article! I know things with my schedule have been a little odd, but for those of you who read my updates article (link right here if you missed it), I should be back to a consistent schedule starting now. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for any content I have coming out on The Classy Libertarian In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. Please be sure to share it, follow the blog, follow The Young Gentleman’s Guide on Facebook and Instagram, and support us on Patreon. And on that note, this is Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide, and I’ll see you next time!

Resources

Prager University – Love Needs Laughs: https://youtu.be/4qfum5vc4Ew

StopDoingNothing:  stopdoingnothing.com/healthy-living/the-five-most-important-reasons-to-laugh/

Top 11 South Park Episodes – Nostalgia Critic: https://youtu.be/qyZacZPzOS8

Morning gents! It’s Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide here, and happy summer! Today was my local school district’s last day of school, so now all the students get two months of vacation and revelry before the next school year! Or if you’re like me, you spend months trying to find a real summer job, clearly not the most fun way to spend summer. And for any of you who happen to be dating, it’ll give you gents plenty of time to spend with your special lady! And with that in mind, I’m going to list out five (5) fun and creative Summer date ideas in case you two start to get bored of the same old thing! So without any further ado, let’s start the list!

1. Carnival or Fair

So I live in Ventura, California, where the Ventura County Fair is a pretty big deal every year, and rightfully so. Sure, it has all the regular fair things, like carnival rides, games, and enough funnel cake to give you a heart attack, but the Ventura County Fair is something special. We also have art and photo galleries, local vendors, animal shows, and a show stage for any and all performers, big and small to showcase their talents. Some big names we’ve had on the show stage in the past include the Beach Boys, Styx, Smash Mouth, and my personal favorite, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (about whom I’ve written an entirely separate post on, linked right here, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: The Perfect Model for Gentlemen, shameless plug ;D). But even if your local fair doesn’t have all of that, there are still plenty of fun things for you and your lady friend to enjoy at your local fair, so if you can find any fairs or carnivals nearby, it could make for a fun date with plenty of things to do and see for people of all ages!

2. A Picnic!

This should seem like a no-brainer! Summer is the sunniest time of the year (at least it is in the States), and if you don’t have an opportunity to soak up that summer sun at the beach, then why not go for a picnic? Take your lady, some sandwiches, and some other finger foods, lay out a blanket at your local park and just have some fun! It’s a lot cheaper than having to pay to go out for lunch, and it also lets you get some fresh summer air while also getting your grub on! So in short, I really don’t have any reasons not to go on a picnic! It’s fun, it’s delicious, it’s refreshing, and it just seems like a win for everybody!

3. A hike or campout

Are you feeling adventurous? Are you and your gal looking to get some exercise together? Than maybe you two should go on a hike together! This is also a pretty good follow-up to number 3. You can hike to a decent picnic spot, or if nothing else, it’s just an excuse to get outside with your lady. Plus, and this may sound rather strange, but hiking can also be a pretty good commitment exercise. Allow me to explain. Hiking requires a lot of vigilance, and demands that you periodically check on each other, making sure you’re both hydrated, properly fed, and that no one’s falling behind. It doesn’t matter how long or short the hike may be, that type of vigilance and observation is a constant requirement. So if you’re looking to get some fresh air, some decent exercise, or great commitment exercise, consider taking your lady on a hike!

4. Fly a kite

Anyone who’s watched Mary Poppins the whole way through has seen that flying a kite is a lot of fun! While it may sound childish, sometimes everyone needs to let out their inner child every now and then (in my opinion, that’s why you see so many adults at Disneyland). Plus, if it’s a big, heavy kite, it may require a lot of cooperation between you and your partner. There’s not really much else to say. It’s fun, enjoyably childish, and requires quite a bit of cooperation between the two of you. Moving on.

5. Drive-in movie

I decided to put this one at number 5 since drive-in movie theaters are a bit hard to come by these days. But if you’re looking for a fun evening date with your lady and are tired of the same old thing, a drive-in movie is the perfect trip down memory lane! There’s also just a romantic atmosphere about it, having the sun set around you while watching a classic movie, the scent of buttered popcorn wafting through the car, it just seems like something out of a 1950s teen paradise. So while they may be hard to come by, a drive-in movie can make for a very romantic evening for you and your lover.

So there it is! Five (5) fun and romantic summe date ideas, for any of you young gents who are getting bored of the same old thing. Any guy who takes their woman out to a date like any of these is sure to have a wonderful summer. Again, I would like to wish everyone a happy summer, and a sincere congratulations to any and all graduates, whether it’s elementary school, middle school, high school, college, or anything in between! In any case, thank you so much for reading today’s post from The Young Gentleman’s guide, and nothing would make me happier than if you shared this post with a friend, followed the blog, and checked out The Young Gentleman’s Guide on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And on that note, this is Max from The Young Gentleman’s Guide, and I’ll see you next time!