Comments | fail_fandomanon: Personal Post, Off Topic, & Everything Else

sunnymodffa in fail_fandomanon

Personal Post, Off Topic, & Everything Else - Post 1

Jul 06, 2012 23:27

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Comments 5063

Jamaican nonnies, please help me say thank you. anonymous July 11 2012, 23:08:06 UTC

I live in Canada and I've got social anxiety. My neighbour is an older immigrant from Jamaica, and she's very big on neighbours helping each other and such. She also seems to be estranged from her son and a bit lonely. I'm not sure if this is all connected as I know zilch about Jamaican culture, and there is the problem.

She has very recently "adopted" me in terms that, well, when she's got left over food, she brings it over for me to eat. She's an amazing cook, and she gives me stuff to eat fairly often. I've paid her to cook for me once or twice, but this is in a different category, and I'd really like to know if anyone has a tactful way of expressing "thank you." I do know that I can buy her specific kinds of dresses if I find any (she's asked and I know her size) but, well.

I was hoping that someone could give me advice on other nice gestures? Or if it would be rude to do so? I've got little social experience to being with, and this is something I'm really not familiar with at all, and find pretty intimidating. :x

Re: Jamaican nonnies, please help me say thank you. anonymous July 12 2012, 00:50:03 UTC

My suggestion (not Jamaican, so I can't speak culturally specific here) is to give back what you can. If you're good at tech, give her tech support. If you're crafty, give her your crafty things. If you both like reading, give her some books. If you can bake, bake her some treats. Etc. As someone who really enjoys cooking for people, though, real sincere appreciation of my cooking is just as appreciated as anything else you might give.

It's pretty much never rude to give back to people who have given to you, especially if you're sincere about it. I would say give back what you can, and what you feel comfortable with, and generally someone who's as nice as your neighbor will take it in the spirit it's intended.

Simple, quick to make, (close to) foolproof, healthy(ish) recipes? anonymous July 12 2012, 01:19:37 UTC

Nonnies, can you offer any recipes for quick and easy to make (or just hard to fuck up), tasty dishes that are relatively healthy and don't require a lot of complicated tools or hard-to-get (in your area) ingredients?

Preferably portioned for one or two people. My bored with "pasta + sauce from a jar? salad? or cereal for dinner?" palate thanks you in advance.

Re: Simple, quick to make, (close to) foolproof, healthy(ish) recipes? anonymous July 12 2012, 01:35:08 UTC

This anon's go-to "WTF is for dinner/breakfast" dish is panfried cooked grain + egg + vegetables, with salt, pepper, and whatever kind of hot pepper I feel like putting in it. It's both fast (assuming you have either prepared or frozen grain) and good! Easily adaptable to appetite, not to mention whatever vegetables you have on hand, and even better with cheese. You can get frozen wheat berries and black barley at whole foods nowadays, which I heartily recommend, but I usually have rice or quinoa or barley cooked up in the fridge ( ... )

Re: Simple, quick to make, (close to) foolproof, healthy(ish) recipes? anonymous July 12 2012, 01:45:20 UTC

Chicken baked in parchment paper is one of the simplest things in the world to make, with umpteen bazillion possible variations and next to no mess to clean up afterwards. Here's the recipe that got me started, which calls for lemon slices and thyme, but feel free to experiment! http://busycooks.about.com/od/chickenrecipe1/r/chickenparchmen.htm

Re: Simple, quick to make, (close to) foolproof, healthy(ish) recipes? anonymous July 12 2012, 02:08:50 UTC

Everything here is extremely easy and can be prepared in 15 minutes or less. It may also be a bit boring (sorry!), but my partner and I make them frequently.

Tortellini Salad:

Ingredients: 1 Cucumber, 1-2 Bell Peppers (any color), 1-2 Tomatoes, 1/2 lb prepackaged tortellini

Dressing: ~1 tbsp olive oil, 2-3 tbsp rice vinegar, oregano, paprika, and cayenne pepper to taste

Chop veggies into bite size pieces while boiling water in a small pot. When water is ready, cook tortellini as per package directions and drain when finished. Throw it all in a bowl or tupperware container and add dressing ingredients on top. Mix until veggies are coated and serve hot or cold.

Butter Noodle:Ingredients: 1 package dried egg noodles, 2 tomatoes, 1 "spoonful" of butter, grated parmesan cheese and black pepper to taste, raw or steamed veggies of your choice (optional ( ... )

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Women, Stop Men from Objectifying You! anonymous July 12 2012, 05:08:17 UTC

Sorry to spoil the mood here, but I just have to rant about this stupid article ( ... )

Re: Women, Stop Men from Objectifying You! anonymous July 12 2012, 07:23:27 UTC

Oops, wrong post. I'll be reposting it in the regular post.

Finding your drive anonymous July 12 2012, 17:27:32 UTC

Anons, help me.

I'm job-searching, but since I'm fairly limited in location (I can't leave the area I'm in, I can't even move house for various reasons) it's been slow going. To top it all off, I honestly have no idea what I want to do with my life.

I have a graduate degree and tbh at this point it almost feels like it was a waste of money because of how little I care about it. I'd honestly rather work retail and spend my free time planning a novel than going out and finding a regular 9-5 job, but I know that'll be a huge disappointment to my parents (especially since they paid for my tuition).

I know the only person who can really kick me into gear is myself, but I'm honestly at a loss at how I can get myself to care for anything.

Re: Finding your drive anonymous July 13 2012, 22:05:27 UTC

I think it's better for you to try and get a job, any job, even if it's 9-5 retail for now. Because if you're feeling unmotivated, being unemployed is usually a poison that makes it even worse.

Also, nothing has made me as motivated as actually getting a job worth my degree as a bit of retail work (well, ok, the telemarketing stint also helped).

So, my suggestion is, just try to make a schedule [5 days a week, apply for at least IX jobs] do your absolute best to stick to that and take whatever for the money. If you get your dream job? Spiff. If not, just do it so you can pay rent and have food, and try starting on your novel and figuring out your life. No work experience ever hurt anyone (unless it's a toxic enviroment or so, but in general ;) but nobody said that your first post-grad job has to be the one you stick with for life.

Good luck, nonnie!

Am I just weird? anonymous July 12 2012, 19:42:12 UTC

Are other people less bothered by having their childhood toys thrown out/given away? Not upset about all the toys, just a few special ones. I don't think I'm over having all my schoolwork thrown out. Everything I've ever done, like it was for nothing.

Re: Am I just weird? anonymous July 12 2012, 19:52:37 UTC

I have a few special childhood items left - a couple dolls, a blanket crocheted by a family friend, a sweater my mom gave me when I was 14 that she wore when she was that age, that sort of thing. And I'm pretty sure my mom has some keepsakes beyond that too. I also have a box of my old notebooks; if I ever feel the need to feel incredibly embarrassed by my teen-aged self, I look through them.

Everything else was pretty easy to get rid of. I decided that between having space to actually get into my closet and keeping my utterly wrecked Polly Pockets (we played hard) I wanted the closet space.

Re: Am I just weird? anonymous July 12 2012, 20:00:45 UTC

I'm entirely accustomed to shedding everything with little chance to look back, and told that's nearly a pathological level of detachment from my past. So to me, if there are some special things you really feel the loss of, you sound like what's supposed to be normal.

Re: Am I just weird? anonymous July 12 2012, 20:52:40 UTC

I don't think it's weird at all, I'm really attached to things that I've had for a while - even if I don't remember how I got them (though I usually do), I'll get sentimental about it. I don't think I'd mind if most of my old schoolwork was thrown out, but if anything happened to the art I made in elementary school, you'd probably hear me crying on the moon. It was my art! I'm even worse about stuffed animals, I've kept most of them and I won't even store them away in a closet, a lot of them live on my bed.

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