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Remember Fat Rant, to which I don't have a link right now? It was a wonderful video made by a beautiful fat actress who was just fed up with all the stigma that go along with being fat. I saw it linked to absolutely everywhere.
Well, the actress is Joy Nash, and she really is as awesome and funny as she is in that video. She's made two sequels, and the most recent one premiered today. Fat Rant 3: Staircase Wit. Even for the non-fat, it's an entertaining view, and has some great inspiration for snappy comebacks when people say mean things to you, regardless of what they're saying.
(My favorite: Bystander: "Are you pregnant?" Fat girl: "No... but the night is young." *she sashays off*)
I wish I were as witty in real life as I am in writing, and by that I don't mean funny, I just mean good at thinking of the right phrase. I notice all these things about human interactions and then fail to apply them in real life. There's a fine art to the snappy comeback, walking the line between defusing the situation and being a doormat, or whipping it into an outright confrontation. Her witty lines danced along these lines. I'd write an essay about the difference, but I don't know it.
I frequently forget, at times like this when I haven't done much interacting with real humans on any grand scale in a few days, that I am really really bad at social interactions. I mean not really bad, but I misstep frequently, and not in the normal ways.
But I'm increasingly aware that most normal people are actually not that great at social interactions either. Like the jerks in the Fat Rant video, most of whom don't seem to actually understand why what they're saying is so painful. It is not natural to remember other people's perspective, to consider the feelings of others: it does not come easily to many people. Not that I am saying they should not try-- the continued effort is the only reason that society remains worthwhile-- but it is an effort, for almost everyone, at least some of the time. Which is why I loved her less-confrontational and more-funny comebacks, and also loved how well she generally matched the tone of her verbal assailants. (Snarky hipsters, she was rude to; small children, she was kind to.)
I want to think about this more but I don't really have the focus to muster.
It is Saturday morning, which means little to me except that it is also sunny, and Z, while he has to work this weekend, doesn't have to work a lot this weekend, and so he is in a good mood.
And while things are still tense vis a vis the derby league's governance issues, all is not as hopeless as it seemed Wednesday afternoon. The opposing faction remains incomprehensible to me, but a large number of persons not of my faction have spoken up with the same objections I have: but this doesn't make sense, to bring this up in this manner-- it is very clearly a matter under this other jurisdiction, etc.
So I can feel a little less paranoid and a little more assured that, whatever happens, at least it will possibly, perhaps, make sense, and it's amazing what a great comfort that is. Perhaps these people don't entirely agree with me, but at least I understand them and can understand that they also want the best for the group, at the cost of doing business the way it had previously been agreed upon within the group. Perhaps the process is cumbersome, but it is our process, and we voted that it be that way, and cannot simply discard it when it stands in the way of some of us having what we wanted.
I hope that does not come across as infuriatingly obscure or meaningless-- my point was just that the world is a less-frightening place at the moment because I understand what's going on.
Also it's sunny. I am going to go and work in the garden. I almost have strawberries-- big ones! Yay.
Well, the actress is Joy Nash, and she really is as awesome and funny as she is in that video. She's made two sequels, and the most recent one premiered today. Fat Rant 3: Staircase Wit. Even for the non-fat, it's an entertaining view, and has some great inspiration for snappy comebacks when people say mean things to you, regardless of what they're saying.
(My favorite: Bystander: "Are you pregnant?" Fat girl: "No... but the night is young." *she sashays off*)
I wish I were as witty in real life as I am in writing, and by that I don't mean funny, I just mean good at thinking of the right phrase. I notice all these things about human interactions and then fail to apply them in real life. There's a fine art to the snappy comeback, walking the line between defusing the situation and being a doormat, or whipping it into an outright confrontation. Her witty lines danced along these lines. I'd write an essay about the difference, but I don't know it.
I frequently forget, at times like this when I haven't done much interacting with real humans on any grand scale in a few days, that I am really really bad at social interactions. I mean not really bad, but I misstep frequently, and not in the normal ways.
But I'm increasingly aware that most normal people are actually not that great at social interactions either. Like the jerks in the Fat Rant video, most of whom don't seem to actually understand why what they're saying is so painful. It is not natural to remember other people's perspective, to consider the feelings of others: it does not come easily to many people. Not that I am saying they should not try-- the continued effort is the only reason that society remains worthwhile-- but it is an effort, for almost everyone, at least some of the time. Which is why I loved her less-confrontational and more-funny comebacks, and also loved how well she generally matched the tone of her verbal assailants. (Snarky hipsters, she was rude to; small children, she was kind to.)
I want to think about this more but I don't really have the focus to muster.
It is Saturday morning, which means little to me except that it is also sunny, and Z, while he has to work this weekend, doesn't have to work a lot this weekend, and so he is in a good mood.
And while things are still tense vis a vis the derby league's governance issues, all is not as hopeless as it seemed Wednesday afternoon. The opposing faction remains incomprehensible to me, but a large number of persons not of my faction have spoken up with the same objections I have: but this doesn't make sense, to bring this up in this manner-- it is very clearly a matter under this other jurisdiction, etc.
So I can feel a little less paranoid and a little more assured that, whatever happens, at least it will possibly, perhaps, make sense, and it's amazing what a great comfort that is. Perhaps these people don't entirely agree with me, but at least I understand them and can understand that they also want the best for the group, at the cost of doing business the way it had previously been agreed upon within the group. Perhaps the process is cumbersome, but it is our process, and we voted that it be that way, and cannot simply discard it when it stands in the way of some of us having what we wanted.
I hope that does not come across as infuriatingly obscure or meaningless-- my point was just that the world is a less-frightening place at the moment because I understand what's going on.
Also it's sunny. I am going to go and work in the garden. I almost have strawberries-- big ones! Yay.
