I love learning about other culture’s Houseguest Protocols but I hate hate hate when they don’t match up cause like
I (PNW Canadian, raised with etiquette from my old British great-grandparents) sleeping over: Can I help with dinner. Can I do the dishes. PLEASE let me do something useful. Im sorry I’m here. I can sleep on the floor it’s fine. You don’t need to cook for me I can go outside and drink pond water. Do you hate me
My friend (Indian, raised by entire extended family in Dubai) hosting me: Why won’t you let me feed you. Do you need more coffee. Am I doing something wrong. Do you have enough blankets? I will buy you warmer clothes. Here, you can sleep in my room, I’ll take the couch. Why are you crying? Oh God am I a bad host
ALT
“I shall now be a good host and take care of the dishes”
“I will be a good guest and wash the dishes myself”
“A good host would never make a guest wash dishes”
“A good host would accomodate a guest’s desire to be helpful”
Reading reviews for havdalah candles written by unsuspecting Christian housewives who bought them to use for dinner candles is my new passion. I’ll be laughing for an eternity.
😂
Imagine letting a candle burn that looks like this once lit:
For an hour.
Dude, get the wine!
Different havdalah candle, same guy.
Pls…
For my goyische followers: Havdalah is a service to mark the end of shabbat and the beginning of the week. The flame is big so that everyone at the service can see it. You also only have it lit for a few minutes before extinguishing it (traditionally in wine). They are not table candles. My guess is that these people bought them because they’re pretty and braided without knowing or caring what they’re used for.
For my Jewish followers: the goyim are at it again.
It needs to be multiple wicks, and I think a tall flame is just what happens in that situation
I didn’t know until the 90s that a big part of the marketing for the original series was that it was filmed and intended to be seen in color. TOS helped sell color televisions. I think that’s really cool.
when you’re younger you make fun of it because it seems boring but one of the best parts of getting older and maturing is recognizing how simply lovely all that cliche shit is. sunsets really are so endlessly satisfying. the hint of lilacs in the breeze really is soft and delicate and sweet. sometimes it feels good just to successfully clean the sink, to find an affordable appliance in the color you’ve been wanting, to try a new recipe, to finally get through that one television series like how you’ve been meaning.
it seemed stupid because they tell you - it’ll feel quick - but it does feel quick. when i was younger it was like time was molasses. i couldn’t get out of there fast enough. all the eras of my life stretched out into taffy. but then you are 29 on a walk with a friend and you both just stop to smell the lily of the valley at your feet. you are both standing there, quiet, enjoying the simple moment of peace.
they say it gets better a lot, which used to have no meaning to me. better for me was undefined and daunting. but here is one way it got better without me trying - a few days ago i was walking my dog and stopped to stand in a sunbeam, turning my cheeks up at the shaft of golden fairylights, the dustmotes in the wood all shivering their little dancing bodies. a stranger stopped and kind of cocked her head and said basking? and i laughed nervously, already moving to get out of her way. instead, she said can i bask with you? and we stood there, full adults, a soundless hum in our chest. when the clouds came back over the sun, we made that awkward small talk - yeah i didn’t expect it to be this chilly! and haha spring allergies are comin’.
and you pour yourself a cup of tea and are delighted when you measure the sugar ratio perfectly and you manage to parallel park correctly on the first time (probably because nobody was looking) and yoga really did help your lower back mobility and brown paper packages really do tug on your heartstrings and you love sweaters and furry blankets and watching your little potted plants grow one new and shining leaf and you want to find your younger self and say. yes, i am nostalgic for summers that bent like wheat and were buzzing with low energy and sleep. but darling. adulthood gets better because the time condenses into a prayerbook of your own psalms, these tender beautiful memories. it gets better because things become prettier, gentler, kinder to you - somehow. without you even noticing. you just get to the top of the hill and you realize - oh, this is the thing i’ve been missing.
ALT
