Like a horse and carriage
I love discussing celebrity/society/media gossip with my husband, because it gives me first-hand insight into the perspective of the general population (i.e., people who literally couldn't care less about such nonsense.)
Me: [Catching up on news on my laptop] Geez, everyone's announced pregnancies recently!
B: Oh really? Like, your friends?
Me: Well, no, I mean celebrities. There's Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson, Victoria Beckham...
B: [His face registers recognition of the first two names, but I lose him on the third]
Me: Victoria Beckham is Posh Spice? From the Spice Girls? She's married to David Beckham.
B: Oh, right! Well, that's nice.
Me: And also Ivanka Trump!
B: [Another blank look.]
Me: She's Donald Trump's daughter?
B: [Registering recognition, but still blank look as to why she, herself, is notable]
Me: You know, she married Jared Kushner?
B: [Face lights up] Oh, the guy from the Subway commercials?
Having met a few trust fund babies in my time...
...I'd like to offer some unsolicited advice to those readers who may wind up having more money than they know what to do with:
Do like Sting, 59, and Trudie Styler, 57, do for their six (count 'em, six) kids and spend it now.
"No one's sitting around waiting for the trust fund to kick in because there isn't one. I told them, 'There's no money left. Forget it.' Wry smile. 'We've spent the fucking lot.'"
--Sting in the February 2011 issue of Harper's Bazaar
The love you take
"I like combing through my friends' [Facebook] photos... but the empty idleness of it all is sinking in. What began as a social networking trend in 2004 has grown into the equivalent of the Israeli army-- you have to join for at least two years and most of it is lonely patrol duty. I've lost track of all the hours I've killed in entrenched solitary socializing."
--Holly Millea in the January 2011 issue of Elle Magazine
Two thoughts:
1. Writers like Holly Millea are the reason I continue to subscribe to Elle. Millea has ruffled feathers by writing frankly about her experiences with plastic surgery and the like, but I think she's hilarious and sharp and I always love her stuff.
2. I see where she's coming from here, and it's a feeling I've gotten a lot from social media websites. I now think there are two antidotes: either participate more, or stop looking at it entirely.
Since I've realized I probably won't be quitting Facebook any time soon, I've found the only way it doesn't make me feel totally crummy is if I spend roughly the same amount of time contributing to the site (via commenting, messaging, posting my blog entries) as I do passively reading it. If you're not willing to pitch in your own information, spending an hour reading everyone else's content is liable to make you feel lonely, idle, vaguely jealous, resentful-- just generally awful.
I've found that equating my production and consumption is a pretty good rule of thumb for avoiding the alienating aspects of most media-- and actually, life in general.
--Holly Millea in the January 2011 issue of Elle Magazine
Two thoughts:
1. Writers like Holly Millea are the reason I continue to subscribe to Elle. Millea has ruffled feathers by writing frankly about her experiences with plastic surgery and the like, but I think she's hilarious and sharp and I always love her stuff.
2. I see where she's coming from here, and it's a feeling I've gotten a lot from social media websites. I now think there are two antidotes: either participate more, or stop looking at it entirely.
Since I've realized I probably won't be quitting Facebook any time soon, I've found the only way it doesn't make me feel totally crummy is if I spend roughly the same amount of time contributing to the site (via commenting, messaging, posting my blog entries) as I do passively reading it. If you're not willing to pitch in your own information, spending an hour reading everyone else's content is liable to make you feel lonely, idle, vaguely jealous, resentful-- just generally awful.
I've found that equating my production and consumption is a pretty good rule of thumb for avoiding the alienating aspects of most media-- and actually, life in general.
Winter pet peeve
Umbrellas for little kids. When did they even start making these?
It's stressful enough to walk down a city street crowded with adults carrying umbrellas (especially now that some people think that golf umbrellas are appropriate for city use, which, NO they are NOT.) But in the past couple weeks I've seen a decent number of kids under the age of 6 "carrying" (more like swinging around haphazardly) their own child sized umbrellas downtown. Giving your kid a pointy thing that's exactly at adults' eye level in a crowded city setting = TERRIBLE idea, parents.
Everyone under the age of 12 should just stick with hooded rain slickers and galoshes, which are more fun for kids anyway, amirite? I mean, I'm pretty sure I didn't even own an umbrella until college.
