This sounded interesting.
Behold, the Caesar’s Bath meme! List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can’t really understand the fuss over. To use the words of Caesar (from History of the World Part I), “Nice. Nice. Not thrilling … but nice.”
Part of the problem is that my Circle of Friends is to a large degree centered around things that they and I are wild about. “Peer group” (say, the folks at the office) provides a lot more fodder.
- Shellfish – Nearly everyone I know (who’s not allergic) thinks that lobster and crab and crayfish are da bomb. I think they are giant bugs, which immediately gives the a strike in my book. No, shellfish is okay (I don’t mind some shrimp in my fried rice, for example), but as an object of culinary idolization, I just don’t get it.
(I’d add sushi as a separate line item here, except that (a) I can’t say, “Nice,” about it, and (b) I don’t want to overemphasize my own finicky tastes.)
- Professional Sports – I get a slight vicarious thrill watching a local team make it to the playoffs, and if there’s nothing else going on I don’t mind having a football game in the background. But I’ve just never quite gotten the Fever of pro sports, let alone fantasy sports.
- The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, American Idol, and other reality shows – For some people, based on their blogs, these shows are the centerpiece of their weekly TV experience. Of course, that’s a broad genre, and there are examples of the fair and foul within it (more of the latter than the former, I’d say), but none of them are something I’d set my TiVo to, or go out of my way to watch, let along blog extensively about. I just nod and FF past those posts.
- Scotch – My in-laws (wife included) are ga-ga over it. But while I have discovered some Scotches that don’t make me literally ill, at best they are kind of barely tolerable. I’ll go for an Irish or, better, a Canadian. Other spirits of that sort — from Bourbon to Brandy — most often simply don’t float my boat (I’ll confess to an acquired taste for Calvados, though). If I order a mixed drink, it’ll be a gin martini, and most of the time I’m into hard liquor I’d rather have something flavorful backed tastelessly with vodka or tequila to give it a kick.
- Skiing – Okay, so it’s not something my immediate circle of friends is into, but it’s certainly something plenty of folks at the office are (and it’s the question that everyone elsewhere who hears I’m from Denver asks about). I simply don’t understand, given the costs, the inevitable injuries, and the basic craziness of hurtling down an icy slope on waxed strips of fiberglass, why the appeal. Going up to the mountains and hanging out in a ski lodge drinking hot buttered rum? Sure. Marveling at folks doing incredible ski work on TV? Okay. Cross-country skiing? Done it, enjoyed it some. Downhill? I just can’t see it.
- (Honorable Mention) Vacationing in Vegas – Or Atlantic City. Or anywhere that’s designed to stay inside and throw money into slot machines and eat at the buffet. I’ve found my rare forays into gambling dens to be mildly amusing, but way, way, way down on the list of things I’d want to invest my vacation time and money into.
Note that I’ll be the first to say that there are any number of things I’m ga-ga over that most people either stare or shrug about. So don’t consider any of the above judgments to be more than simply my own aesthetic sense. To each his or her own, and there no accounting for tastes.
Note also that tastes can change, and I’d have put “online gaming” into this list not so very long ago …
(via Ed)
Would that gin martini be with an olive or an onion? I prefer mine with onion… and, of course, Bombay gin. I’m with you on nos. 4, 5 and 6 but being an East coast gal I’m way into no. 1, scallops and Alaska King crab being my personal faves. No. 2 works for me as I am an avid fan of pro boxing. And no. 3 is a guilty pleasure as The Contender (boxing) is a reality show and really not too bad compared to the others. Plus it has Sugar Ray Leonard… guycandy.
My list would be:
1. Rap and Hip Hop music – That noise drives me insane and so many of the local radio stations play way too much of it. I’ll stick with my NPR any day.
2. Truffles – the fungi not the candy. A lot of my friends are food snobs and think this stuff is crack for chefs. The taste is not bad. I just can’t see spending $2k per ounce for the ugly things.
3. Andrea Bocelli – He’s not at all hard on the eyes (more guycandy) and I love love love his music and but not enough to plop down over a grand for seats in the nose bleed section like many of my friends have.
4. Babies – Ok, call me cold or heartless but other people’s babies do nothing for me. I watch with amusement when my friends go all rubbery over them. I just don’t get it. I mean they’re all nice smelling (at first) but to me they all look like little old people with less wrinkles and no liver spots.
5. Camping – My idea of roughing it is really slow room service. Give me valet parking and concierge service any day. Picking bug floaters off the top of my coffee in the morning? No thank you. I prefer my protein in the form of brunch with mimosas.
Would that gin martini be with an olive or an onion?
With a twist. I should have added “olives” to my list, and I prefer my onions unpickled. I certainly can agree with the Bombay Sapphire, though.
I’m with you on #5; since my Boy Scout days, my only camping is the Huge Annual Family and Friends Camping Trip which can only be called camping because we do it at a group camp site and sleep in (very nice) tents. Any other aspect of it resembles a nice resort, including the food, the drink, and the entertainment possibilities.