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On Schwarzfahren (Or: Exploits in Fare Evasion While Living in Berlin)
I was in Berlin for six weeks this summer, all my classmates got stopped multiple times and meanwhile I had never even seen a ticket inspection let alone been inspected. Finally in the last week of class I got ticket inspected. I was so sad! I always buy a ticket. This stems from studying abroad in Paris when on the first day of the month, my two friends hadn't renewed their monthly pass while I had. We were riding the tram and got ticket inspected and they each got an, I think, 80 euro fine - maybe even more. My only infraction is that I once jumped a turnstile to the CTA (in heels!) because it was super late at night and I was skimpily dressed and alone, the card reader wouldn't read my card and I could hear my train coming. Oh, also I once rode the trams in Zagreb for a week without a pass simply because I couldn't figure out where or how to buy one (at many stations, you can't). But after watching Kontroll, I'm terrified of ticket inspections. I do think riding for free on purpose is wrong. Also, Berlin public transit is the best ever.
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On 'She Sees Me Wield My White Privilege Like a Blunt Instrument'
@deepomega Wait, what? I am not really sure what you are responding to, or how you think I said that race has nothing to do with physical appearance or that racism doesn't affect self-image (I don't think I even touched on that issue in my comment).
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On 'She Sees Me Wield My White Privilege Like a Blunt Instrument'
I know this is totally beside the larger point about racism but it really pisses me off to read things like "she woke up 1:00 am with her hair back to normal: curly, gorgeous and alive." Or in the other blog post from Carrie, "And I think her hair is so beautiful in its natural state that I wonder why she wants it different." That is really patronizing. If she doesn't like the way her hair looks, WHY IMPLY THAT SHE'S WRONG TO FEEL THAT WAY? It just makes the problem worse because then you can have your kid feel bad about not being self-confident enough to appreciate her hair as is in addition to feeling bad about what it looks like. A woman in the comments does the same thing by saying that her niece is foolish to want to have straight hair when she has "amazing auburn & extremely curly hair. She has spent most of her life trying to minimize all this, while wishing for straight 'normal' hair. This, despite being brilliant and becoming an environmental engineer" like she's not smart enough to appreciate her own hair. I know that many more things are more important than appearance but it is really hurtful and frustrating to have preferences dismissed as not valid. I also know that these people are ostensibly blaming "patriarchal standards" set by "white European males" (or Disney, you know, whatever) but it also comes down to telling girls that they lack self confidence and that their preferences are wrong. Maybe I just fucking like the way it looks a certain way. The way I like Ilya Repin but not Picasso. Aren't we all entitled to our own aesthetic choices, about the world at large and our own appearance? Of course, there's a limit to this where it becomes unhealthy, but I think that limit is more like "90 lbs at 5'6", body dysmorphia, still thinks she's fat" than "I wish I had straight hair."
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On Do You Get Annual Checkups?
@polka dots vs stripes Sure, but those are problems most appropriately assessed without any regard to how frequently checkups should take place.
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On Do You Get Annual Checkups?
Wow - I truly never knew there were people who disliked going to the doctor for a checkup. Out of curiosity, why? Is it THAT much of a hassle to go once a year? To me, it's just one of those things humans do, like having your teeth cleaned, that you *can* live without and be "tough" about but is one of the many reasons it's better to live now than in the Middle Ages. I've had a lot of health problems this year so I've been to the doctor like once a month, so I admittedly am hugely biased, but the idea of not wanting to go as infrequently as once a year is crazy to me. Isn't it nice at least to get told that you're in great health? And if you're not, isn't it valuable to get that feedback so you can be proactive about it? Seriously, I'm really not a hypochondriac, but I cannot think of a single year in which I did not have at least one question I was glad to have the opportunity to ask my doctor.
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On Five Incidents of Tuning in to Money
If you think about the concept of it, stocks are actually a really cool financial instrument but it's totally stopped seeming cool by this point in time and by how they are used in society.
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On The Thing I Bought This Year with a Scary Price Tag
@P-Bomb But it sounds like it WAS a good idea. I could be way off base but it sounds like she does graphics/video stuff so the visual features are more valuable to her than those of a lesser performing model would be. There are actually a bunch of purchases I have felt near sick over making (I'm a nervous type of person, so this is actually all comparatively minor stuff not big ticket items) that turned out to be the greatest decision ever and things I've used for years to come. Obviously there's a correlation between anxiety about purchasing and regret for having purchased, but it's not always one to one.
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On Let’s All Throw Some Money at Our Problems: December Check-In
Here's a question. For those of you with student loan debt, does it "bother" you/do you think of it as "being in debt"? I have student loans I'm paying off, but I don't factor them into anything at all. Like, if you asked me if I were in debt, I'd say no. Almost everyone I know has student loans, I pay it every month, I went to college, and someday, theoretically, they will be paid off, but in the meantime I couldn't care less about it nor do I give it a second's thought except for the minutes in which I'm making the monthly payment. Should I be feeling anxious about the fact that I have student loans?
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On What to Get for a Person Who Wants Nothing for Christmas
@MuffyStJohn I have and love smartwool socks too! I have one or two pairs, sometimes they live in my parents' house and are worn by them, and sometimes I steal them (I usually do laundry at my parents' house, so it gets a bit confused). But given that they DO last forever, it's not something you need to get or give every year. I usually ask for useful stuff like razor blades and aftershave and face wash stuff which is pricey enough to appreciate as a gift, but will be used to the last drop, and one or two "special" things (this year it was long underwear to replace my well-worn pair with holes in them, and the book of my favorite Russian cartoon).
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On Places I've Lived: Some Okay Places, And Then The Eighth Circle of Hell
What up Hyde Park! I recognize your apartment building! Right by the liquor store. I lived 2 blocks from there my senior year of college and it was awesome. Hyde Park is really beautiful in the summer.