Yes. Thank you. A few people have asked me why I don't post more here, and this (plus that massive pile of ignorance that is the post two above it) is the main reason - y'all are some of the most negative sumbitches I've ever seen. Almost every thread turns into a total bitch-fest for you to whine about shit. I don't want to talk about the things I don't like. I don't like them. I have joy in my life, and I have it because I spend my time thinking about the things that bring joy to my life. In fact, the only reason I'm even bothering to post this is that I kind of miss that silly little hobby of checking in on a community of strangers who would often provide entertaining and intelligent conversation, even if it was generally a small nugget in a pile of idiocy. Y'all are some hateful motherfuckers. Obviously not all of you, but damn, there sure are a lot of you. So you know what I don't get? It's this. This need to come here and do nothing but piss all over anyone who is actually living their lives, anyone who has an actual passion for something, anyone who finds things to like about the world they've built for themselves, instead of looking around and having their fool heads filled with nothing but "faggot," and "stupid fucking Asian," and I'll be damned if I can even understand enough to quote some of the shit you morons say about women. Didn't your Mommies and Daddies love you when you were little?
I don't get what's so great about being loved and nurtured so that you won't grow up to be an emotional and psychological derelict. Go figure.
I agree that the vitriol spewed at people who have passion for things in some of the previous posts may be heavy-handed. However, I believe the intention of this thread was to shit on people who are overtly vocal or braggadocious about said passion. I am all for being passionate about food, or quidditch, or martial arts. Whatever floats your boat. If someone wants to share their knowledge of their interests with me, awesome. What I am not cool with, however, is if every time I see you, you insist on blathering on about the new headers you just got, or the bore of whatever rifle, or the california roll you just tried. Everything in moderation friends.
Fair and true. My point is that this thread is an excellent example of taking one of the most positive things there is about being a human, a passion for something - and searching for the negative aspects of it, and then spending time thinking of only that. Sure, some people can be a pain in the ass, and annoying as hell. But talking about them isn't interesting or entertaining. If I don't "get" being a foodie/gourmet, I'd love to hear someone who's truly passionate about it tell me what it is that turns them on about it. Think about it - you have two people who are really into something standing in front of you. One of them is a totally annoying prick who can't stop preaching about why you suck because you're not like him, and the other is someone who'd love to have a conversation where two people have open minds and can share the things that make their lives interesting with each other. Why the fuck would you even consider thinking about the first guy? The second one is so much more interesting, and I don't walk away feeling aggravated enough to go home and kick my dog.
Food tastes good? For some reason, where I live, it is fashionable (especially for women) to see themselves as a food connoisseur. However, it is primarily based on consumption - going to restaurants, whether it be a Thai food joint, a seafood place, a French restaurant with a 10 course degustation menu or somewhere that has been assigned "hats" (a restaurant guide here in Sydney has mimicking Michelin stars) seems to be what is done. But do you know what I've found a lot of foodies do? They bitch about where they go to eat. Yes, their bitching even surpasses the one paragraph I wrote about them. Eating a meal is less about enjoying eating the meal and more about judging it as though they are on Masterchef because owing a wallet and being able to move food from a plate to their mouths qualifies them to talk smack about a meal which is vastly superior to anything they would be able to dish up themselves. And that is what gets me - we should all be able to cook. I can cook a different meal each night for about a month before I run out of ideas and have to repeat myself. Cooking can be a lot of fun, as is eating in good company, but to emphasise the taste of the food (or the quality of the service at a restaurant or whatever) to a point where you're focused on it more than anything else strikes me as a misalignment of priorities. I tend to post lazy and stupid comments when I have a few beers in me - for that, I apologise. Alt Focus: I am a nerd when it comes to European history between the wars and the post-WW2 history of totalitarian regimes in Europe. Don't talk about it much to people though, as they usually say "that's interesting" while their eyes go blank. Or it is with people from the former Yugoslavia, and about the former republics of the federation, they get very political and it does not make for pleasant discussion.