Entertainment
Who Are the Unexpected Friends in Your Life?
When my husband, our baby, and I first pulled into the driveway of our new house in our new neighborhood, we knew exactly two people…
Our next-door neighbor, who went to our church. Also, our realtor. Other than that? Zip.
For the first few months, I wasn’t too worried about not having close friends around. My mother-in-law came over twice a week to spend time with my daughter, Ella. She’d fill me in on all the latest family chisme. She also gave me space to talk about the highs and lows of being a new mom. When she pulled her Jeep out of the driveway and rolled down our dusty road, my heart and socialization tank would feel full.
But as time passed, I found myself wishing I knew someone else nearby. Someone who was around to chat over a cup of coffee. Or could come over to hang out in our garden. Or was free (and game) for us to stop by on the way home from the park.
Little did I know that I would find this kind of friendship with my 70-something neighbor, Jesse.
Jesse is over six feet tall, has kind eye crinkles, and lives in a uniform of gray tank tops, worn-in jeans, and work boots. He lives five houses down and is almost always working on something in his driveway. Our friendship began four years ago, when Ella and I were taking a walk. As we neared his house, we spotted him fixing up a lawn mower. We gave him a friendly wave and quick “hello!” — then repeated this whenever we passed by over the next few weeks. Then one day, when he saw us walking towards him, he quickly popped inside his garage, then came back out holding a box of fresh strawberries. “I figured the baby might like them,” he said.
One box of strawberries was all it took for this kind man to transition from a neighbor to a friend that our whole family cherishes. These days, Ella and Emiliano will yell “JESSEEEEE!!!” as soon as his house comes into view. They’ll run up for hugs and unapologetically ask for Ritz Crackers, which he picks up in bulk at Costco, specifically for them.
Over the years, Jesse and his wife Beverly have shown up for us many times, in such generous ways. Like surprising us with homemade strawberry tarts, or handing down a restored red Radio Flyer wagon to our kids. They invite us into their home and tell us tales of growing up in San Diego in the ’60s and visiting their family in Mexico. They’ve watched our family grow from having one sleepy baby to three busy kids — and they spoil them like their own grandkids. And when our weekly walks are interrupted by colds or hectic schedules, without fail, Jesse calls to check up on us.
One Christmas, Jesse surprised the kids with a homemade sleigh!
I’ve now also made friends with moms at the park, parents from Ella’s preschool, and friends of friends that we’ve met at get-togethers. Of course, I’m grateful for those relationships. But being Jesse’s friend reminds me that some of life’s warmest, longest-lasting friendships are forged with the people we least expect.
Now, I’d love to know, which unexpected but treasured friendships have you made? Please share in the comments!
P.S. A funny conversation starter for all ages and how to make friends as an adult.
(Photo by Ryan Tuttle/Stocksy.)
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for April 29, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
To admire.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
ADORE
Mashable Top Stories
Hurdle Word 2 hint
Heavy.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
HEFTY
Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today
Hurdle Word 3 hint
Two-legged.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
BIPED
Hurdle Word 4 hint
Hefty.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
HEAVY
Final Hurdle hint
Pointy.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
SHARP
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on April 29
It may appear full, but the Moon isn’t actually at 100% illumination yet. In fact, we’re still a couple of days away. But it’s still big and bright enough to do some moon gazing, so keep reading to find out what features you might be able to see tonight.
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Wednesday, April 29, the Moon phase is Waxing Gibbous. Tonight, 94% of the moon will be lit up, according to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide.
Without any visual aids, tonight you should be able to see the Mares Vaproum, Tranquillitatis, and Imbrium. With binoculars, you’ll see the Mare Frigoris, Clavius Crater, and the Alphonsus Crater. And, finally, with a telescope you’ll see all this plus the Apollo 17 landing spot, Rima Ariadaeus, and the Fra Mauro Highlands.
When is the next Full Moon?
The next Full Moon is predicted to take place on May 1, the first of two in May.
What are Moon phases?
According to NASA, the Moon takes roughly 29.5 days to circle Earth once, going through eight distinct phases in the process. Even though we always see the same side of the Moon, the amount of sunlight hitting it changes as it moves in its orbit. The shifting light creates the changing shapes we know as full, half, and crescent Moons. Altogether, there are eight main lunar phases.
New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).
Mashable Light Speed
Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.
Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.
Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)
Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.
Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.
Entertainment
The ASUS TUF Gaming F16 gaming laptop is down to a record-low price at Amazon — now $400 off
TL;DR: Amazon has the ASUS TUF Gaming F16 gaming laptop on sale for $899.99, down from its $1,299.99 list price. That saves you $400 on a 2025 gaming laptop with an Intel Core i5-13450HX processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 graphics, 16GB of DDR5 memory, and a 165Hz FHD+ display.
$899.99
at Amazon
$1,299.99
Save $400
Finding a current-gen gaming laptop in today’s economy for under $1,000 is already amazing, but Amazon’s latest ASUS deal is offering you an all-time low bargain.
As of April 28, the ASUS TUF Gaming F16 gaming laptop is on sale for $899.99 at Amazon, marked down from $1,299.99. Price tracker camelcamelcamel has confirmed that this is the lowest-ever price for this gaming laptop.
For that price, you’re getting the RTX 5050 and Intel Core i5 version of the TUF Gaming F16, which is built around an Intel Core i5-13450HX processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Laptop GPU. It also comes with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD, so it should be nicely suited for jumping between games, school work, everyday browsing, and plenty of tabs without causing your sessions to come to a sudden crash.
With those sorts of specs, this version of the ASUS TUF Gaming F16 lets you comfortably run games from the latest graphically demanding titles — including Crimson Desert, Cyberpunk 2077, Black Myth: Wukong, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Pragmata.
Mashable Deals
The 16-inch FHD+ display is a big part of the appeal, with ASUS’s fitted 165Hz 16:10 panel with 100% sRGB color giving you extra vertical space compared to a standard 16:9 screen while keeping motion smoother in fast-paced games like Fortnite and Counter-Strike 2. The handy Adaptive-Sync also helps cut down on stuttering and screen tearing when your frame rate starts shifting during intense firefights or brawls with lots of assets moving around at the same time.
Mashable Deals
The TUF Gaming F16 keeps the series’ usual more rugged angle, as well. ASUS has had the laptop tested to MIL-STD-810H standards, while its 2nd Gen Arc Flow Fans, full-width heatsink, and full-width vent are designed to help keep performance steady without making the machine unnecessarily loud.
If you’re after a laptop that’s more for work than gaming, Samsung’s ultra-sleek Galaxy Book5 Pro 360 just got a $450 price cut.
Report: WR Jauan Jennings visiting Vikings
Damon Jones agrees to plea deal in federal gambling case
