When sounds bounce off of hard surfaces, they can create echoes, so your hardwood floors may be increasing the echoes in your room. Covering part of the floor with an area rug can often help to reduce echoes, since rugs absorb sound better than wood. Rugs can also add a nice decorative touch to your room. For instance, choose a colorful or patterned rug if your room is mainly dark and neutral. Purchase squares of acoustic foam online or in your local home supply store, and then fix them to your walls or ceiling with adhesive spray. This is a particularly good idea if you're using your room to record sound. Look for neutral colors like black and gray if you want them to be discreet. Choose more vibrant colors like red or pink if you want them to add touches of brightness to the room. Heavy curtains have great sound-dampening qualities. Install them over your walls in addition to your windows to use them to muffle echoes throughout your room. When shopping for curtains, ask a retail associate which ones have the best sound-muffling qualities. Choose colors or patterns that will go with the rest of the room.  When hanging curtains, you'll need to fix brackets to your wall that can hold curtain rods. You will need a drill, screws, brackets, and a rod. Alternatively, you can hire a professional to hang them. When purchasing your curtains, ask if the store offers installation packages. These can absorb sound while also livening up the room. Find pieces of art you like online or in a store. Large canvases and thick tapestries will absorb a fair amount of sound. To hang your painting, choose where you want to place it, anchor a sturdy nail into your wall, and then lay the hanging wire over the nail. There are a number of different ways to hang a tapestry. Commonly, you will use a rod, similar to the way you would hang curtains. If you're storing a lot of books in a different room, try moving them to the room that has trouble with echoes. The books give the room more material to absorb sounds and can help reduce echoes. Bookshelves that have back panels will be more effective than bookshelves that are open on the side that faces the wall. Upholstered couches, armchairs, and loveseats usually absorb sound better than furniture with leather or wood exteriors. Pick out a new upholstered couch or chair from a furniture store, have it delivered to your home, and place it in the room with the echo problem. Try rearranging your new furniture a few times to find the most effective arrangement for reducing echoes.
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One-sentence summary -- Add an area rug if you have hardwood floors. Apply acoustic foam to your walls and ceilings for a quick fix. Hang curtains over your walls for an option that's easy to remove. Hang tapestries or paintings on your walls. Move full bookshelves into the room if you have them. Get big furniture made with soft fabric.


Apart from the characters, you can often tell Chinese, Japanese, and Korean apart based on whether the script is written vertically or horizontally. You also may be able to tell which writing system you're looking at based on whether the script is read from right to left or from left to right.  If Japanese is written vertically, the columns are read from top to bottom starting at the top right-hand corner of the page. However, if Japanese is written horizontally, it is read from left to right, just like European languages.  Look for line spacing to figure out if the script is written vertically or horizontally. Horizontal text will have space between the lines, while vertical script will have space between columns. Japanese comic books and magazines use vertical writing, so they're read from right to left. This is why the spine of the book is on the right. Neither Chinese nor Japanese separate individual words with spaces as European languages do. However, Koreans have adopted this convention and put spaces between words. Even if you can't read the script, you should be able to identify characters blocked together into words. Think about how you would tell what were words if you were looking at written Greek or Russian. While Japanese has its own punctuation marks, Korean uses the same punctuation marks as European languages. If you see these punctuation marks, you're likely reading Korean. Occasionally, you'll see Chinese script with a question mark or an exclamation point. However, if you also see other punctuation marks, such as commas or periods, you're likely looking at Korean script.
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One-sentence summary -- Determine the orientation of the script. Look for spaces between words. Identify Western-style punctuation.


Talk about how much fun that you had with them towards the end of the date and how much you enjoyed it. This will make them less nervous and self-conscious about how the date went and will show them that you are interested in going out again. If you didn't enjoy the date at all, be honest and tell them that you're not sure if you'll see them again. Don't give them false hope if you didn't have fun. However, don’t be rude if this is the case. Be direct and tactful. If you enjoyed your time with them, you should ask them for a follow-up date. Make sure to get permission to text or call them occasionally. Make the follow-up date for a specific time in the future so that they can free up their schedule in advance. You can say something like, "I really had a lot of fun. I'd like to get together again, are you doing anything next weekend?" Watch their body language at the end of the date to see what is appropriate for you to do. If you both had a really good time, you should go in for a hug. If your date didn't seem to enjoy themselves or seemed uncomfortable and handshake will do. Lastly, if the date was very romantic and flirtatious, they may be open to a kiss. See if they are happy and smiling when you hug them. If they pull away, they do not want to kiss or hug you. Make sure that your date gets home safely by driving or walking home with them. Talk to your parents about giving them a ride home. Even if the date didn't go well, you should take it upon yourself to make sure that they get home safely. It is common to want to reflect on how the date went, but don’t replay every aspect of the date back to yourself and try to analyze it. Just move on with your day, even if you don’t think the date went well. You cannot change the past, so it’s best to just use the date as a learning experience and move forward.
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One-sentence summary --
Tell them about how much fun you had. Ask them for a follow-up date. Give them a hug. Get them back home safely. Avoid overanalyzing how the date went.