I’m a baseball fan, have been all my life. I’ve been loving watching the Phillies in the World Series runup. But I don’t enjoy watching the games in crowded restaurants or bars. It’s so loud you can’t hear yourself think, it’s often standing room only which sucks for hours on end, it’s crowded and you’re often jammed together with strangers, and depending on where you go the food isn’t the best and beer options are limited (and you often end up nursing a warm beer for a while). I have a much better time ordering a couple of pizzas and wings and having a few friends over. There’s cold beers in the fridge, it’s comfortable, it’s not loud, and you can actually chat and hear yourself during commercial breaks.

Busses and trolleys are generally fine, I’ve never had an issue on either. However, I do think safety on the MFL and BSL and in the stations has gotten a lot worse since the pandemic. Pre-pandemic I didn’t have any problems on the BSL and the MFL really only felt sketchy to me up near Kensington. BSL is generally better than the El but there have been a couple of instances of rapes in the stations, but the trains themselves are generally ok. On the El there’s open drug use throughout the line, lots of homeless, mentally ill, and drug addicts hanging out and sleeping in the stations so they smell like unwashed bodies and human waste, and there’s been shootings, stabbings, muggings, rapes. A few months ago I was in the maze below City Hall station at like 9 am and turned a corner and saw two people having sex right out in the open, not at all bothered. I’ve gotten to the point where I won’t ride the train alone anymore even during the day. I’d rather pay for a Lyft than have to deal with everything.

Some of these have already passed, but you may find some events that interest you on this list: https://www.visitphilly.com/articles/philadelphia/top-halloween-events-and-activities-in-philadelphia/#hocus-pocus-the-circus-picture-show-at-the-cube

I honestly love grocery store sheet cakes and 9/10 times prefer them to bakery cakes. Especially the ones with the really light, whipped icing.

I work in children’s mental health (not a provider) so I’ve witnessed how distressing mental and behavioral issues can be for kids and parents and siblings. Sending lots of warm thoughts your way as you navigate getting your child the help he needs.

I’m not surprised that your pediatrician was dismissive or uninformed, GPs are generally vastly under informed in mental health issues and aren’t always the best in knowing how to handle situations where families come to them.

I second CHOP: https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/child-and-adolescent-psychiatry-and-behavioral-sciences

Also, just in case you find yourself in a crisis situation, here’s a link to the Children’s Crisis Response Center: https://www.philachildrenscrc.com

Also a Fairmount resident, also woken up by these assholes in the middle of the night. I’ve been sick so falling and staying asleep has been tough as is, I’m pretty pissed that I was woken from finally getting a good stretch of sleep because these guys wanted to be dicks. I was coming back home around 10 or so last night and saw ATVs on the parkway so I had a feeling that it might be one of those nights.

There’s an app specifically for gay women called Her but not sure how popular it is here since I’m not on any apps. Others like Tinder or Bumble have options where you set yourself as interested in women but there’s obviously a smaller pool and a surprising number are actually straight couples looking for a third who set their profile as being interested in women.

What are your interests? Sports teams are always a good bet if that’s something you like, I guarantee most teams will have a number of queer women on them especially if it’s an all female team or league, and ESPECIALLY if it’s a sport that leans queer like soccer or rugby. If you’re not into sports, hanging out at coffee shops, thrift shops, plant shops (not even kidding) are great ways to meet queer women. Also art classes could be an option. As for the apps, don’t know how popular Her is in the city but it’s all gay/bi women so may weed out the couples looking for a third.

Grindr is for gay men.

The entirety of my college’s women’s rugby team was queer, it’s a great way to meet fellow gay/bi women. Even if you aren’t gay they’re usually a fun and welcoming bunch. Same goes for soccer, my bet is a women’s soccer team would have a good amount of queer women on it.