The curative power of stupid

[pjthompson]

1. “Stupid is not to be underestimated,” I told my friend J. “Stupid things can save your sanity when life is out of your control.” And it’s true. An hour or two of doing something silly and mundane and all yours is a precious thing. My most fervent hope for this evening is that I get to spend an hour alone in my sitting room watching a new episode of Ghost Hunters. If that happens, I will not think the day a total loss. If it doesn’t happen, then I will watch the tape during some other precious hour, and having DVR’d it, the day will not be a total loss. One has to stay flexible.

2. And speaking of flexible, I’ve lost roughly 30 pounds in the last month. (My God, has it only been a month? Feels like several weeks more than that.) I say roughly 30 pounds because I made a decision some time back to live without a scale, so that’s based on the last time I stepped on a doctor’s scale. I may have lost a bit of that before the current month, but I’ve definitely dropped a lot of weight since September 14. What do you know? Eating less and running around a lot do help you lose weight. Fewer aches and pains, too. I haven’t got time for them, so they’ve been banished to the aethyr.

3. I poked at my novel, The Numberless Stars yesterday. I don’t know if I have the energy/time to write new prose again, though. I thought of revising something already written, but I didn’t have the stomach for that. Sustained focus is difficult these days.

4. My mother decided to make mini cheese cakes because a friend is coming to dinner tomorrow. Mom has always been someone who loved feeding people—and overfeeding people. I encourage her to do things like this because it makes her feel better about herself, and stronger. I thought she’d make her usual dozen, but when I got home from work last night, she’d made three dozen and was in the process of making another two. “What??” I asked. “I decided to make some for the girls at the dialysis center, and some to send home with L. and some to send with you to work.” We didn’t finish up until about 9:30 last night. I’m glad she’s feeling better. It was not how I’d planned my evening, however. Flexible!

5. J. and I were just discussing the strange culture of tipping. I am usually a 20% straight across the board tipper. Service is hard work and I want people who do work for me/serve me to know that I appreciate that. (Plus, 20% is so much easier to calculate than, say, 18%.) I realize not everyone feels this way and some are scandalized at tipping over 15%, but these days that seems a little on the low side to me. I say this even though I am feeling something of an economic pinch these days myself. If I can’t afford the tip, I should not expect the service.

J. was saying how the first time he went to his barber it was Thanksgiving, so he gave him a larger tip than he otherwise would. The second time was Christmas, so again he gave a larger tip. Now he feels like he’s always got to give that same tip or risk insulting/hurting the man’s feelings. “If you’ve got a barber you like,” I said, “best not to make him mad.” J. concurred.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Comments

[frigg.livejournal.com]

And tipping across the world. For a looong time I wondered why people found my character Louis Wallace so awful, and just recently I realised it was because he decided not to tip the waitress, which would be perfectly okay here in Denmark, but not in the U.S. :)

Similarly when we were in France last year, the waiter seemed really pleased with the tip we gave him, and we later found out from mnfaure that we had unknowingly given him a very generous tip.

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

I know! The custom is so different even in subcultures here in the US, let alone around the world.

[i-amsherlocked.livejournal.com]

When I was in Finland, I was surprised to be told not to tip. I don't mind tipping, but back in the day I held jobs as a waitress and a bartender and a pizza-delivery girl, so I have an appreciation of the service jobs. The explanation I was given is that if you pay a waiter or other service person what their worth to begin with, a tip is unnecessary. I don't really agree with that, but knowing that the barrista was paid better than American barristas helped.

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

I should hope they're paid better to make up for the lack of tips!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

No. 4. You're a champion ♥ Flexibility is hard. Bless you for going with the flow. Seriously, makes my cup runneth over and all that.

I do 20 percent too, which is why I don't eat out much (ever).

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

Flexibility is hard, and I won't pretend I don't do it with some internal grumbling, but it made her feel so good, so...

Lately, I've been getting deliveries if anything at all. But not too much until the paycheck is healthy again.

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

Or really, any barber. Who's working on you.

I would have taken some of those cheesecakes, yum!

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

They were a big hit at the dialysis center.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

And the curative power of flexibility. Been practicing yoga much? :D

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

Ha! I'd love to take it back up if I had the time. I'll have to make due with yoga of the mind. :-D

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised 2 and 4 can coexist in the same post. Congratulations on the healthier living, though!

I try to tip 20%, but at the same time, I want it to means something. So if service was seriously lacking, I don't feel bad about only leaving 10%. There's a difference between someone who isn't as pleasant as I'd like and someone just not giving a crap, of course. If I'm not sure, then they get the whole deal.

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised 2 and 4 can coexist in the same post. Congratulations on the healthier living, though!

Me, too, but I didn't actually eat many.

So if service was seriously lacking, I don't feel bad about only leaving 10%.

Definitely. There have been times (okay, only twice) where I left no tip at all as the service was so egregious.