Speedy's Cafe - General Chat about anything you like!

[Pseudonym]

Yup, I'm definitely more likely to go in somewhere if the menu is outside. 

 

Does everyone listen to a song on a repeat when they find a new one they love? At least I'm considerate enough to do it with headphones on or in my car, I had a flatmate once who listened to an Incubus song (far from my favourite band) on repeat so many times and so loudly I was on the verge of killing her. 

[T.o.b.y]

Yup, I'm definitely more likely to go in somewhere if the menu is outside.

 

Does everyone listen to a song on a repeat when they find a new one they love? At least I'm considerate enough to do it with headphones on or in my car, I had a flatmate once who listened to an Incubus song (far from my favourite band) on repeat so many times and so loudly I was on the verge of killing her.

No, I don't do that. I might listen to a song multiple times in one day if I am really in love with it but not on repeat.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I will do songs on repeat in my car or with headphones. And when in my car, it doesn't matter if I have someone else with me or not. Also, it doesn't happen often when in the car.

[Arcadia]

I did when I was a teenager. :( My parents were saints, they never said a word. Maybe they liked it?

 

Does anyone else listen to their music on shuffle (assuming you have that capability)? To me, that was the chief draw of getting an iPod, being able to hear songs at random, like a radio station. I was surprised to discover most people I know (who have iPods, and that's not actually that many) just play albums or a selected playlist. I'd be bored in 20 minutes if I did that. I have a pretty eclectic range of music on there, too; classical, hard rock, soft rock, progressive rock, blues, folk, African, salsa, etc. Even one or two country/western songs. No rap, though. I may learn to appreciate it some day, but today is not that day.

[Pseudonym]

Oh that's weird to me - I very rarely play albums or playlists, I'm pretty much always on shuffle on my phone and iPod. On my laptop I tend to just listen to the newest stuff though, I have iTunes sorted to newest first and just let it play from there. 

There are a few things that annoy me about shuffle though, despite how they say it's completely random and we only see patterns because as humans we're programmed to, there are certain songs it seems to choose to play excessively. I can pretty much guarantee certain songs will come up and it drives me nuts. Secondly, I have also have a very eclectic taste in music, and when I'm listening with headphones to something chilled followed by something very much not it sometimes scares the cr*p out of me. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think the no-menu-on-the-window restaurants are mostly the expensive ones anyhow, so phooey on 'em!

 

Some years back, I ran around with a crowd that favored a certain restaurant that was fortunately in another city, so we went there only now and then. Near as I could figure, the attraction was the fancy surroundings, the elaborate menu, and the attentive service. As I recall, we had the maitre de, then we had "our" waiter, plus the water guy, the wine guy, and the bread guy (who would all offer a discreet refill when your supply ran low). Plus the take-your-empty-plates-away guy. And probably a bunch of other guys that I've forgotten. There were of course a number of courses, mostly in French. But even though the food was good, I never thought the food was all *that* good, so I finally stopped going. I'd rather spend what I'd pay for just myself at that place and get a really tasty dinner for four at my favorite ethnic restaurant.

[Arcadia]

Oh that's weird to me - I very rarely play albums or playlists, I'm pretty much always on shuffle on my phone and iPod. On my laptop I tend to just listen to the newest stuff though, I have iTunes sorted to newest first and just let it play from there. 

There are a few things that annoy me about shuffle though, despite how they say it's completely random and we only see patterns because as humans we're programmed to, there are certain songs it seems to choose to play excessively. I can pretty much guarantee certain songs will come up and it drives me nuts. Secondly, I have also have a very eclectic taste in music, and when I'm listening with headphones to something chilled followed by something very much not it sometimes scares the cr*p out of me. 

I've noticed that too ... if I restart the shuffle each time. If I just continue from where I left off, though, it doesn't happen.

 

I figured I'd have trouble with some combinations of music, but apparently, even though I like different styles, there's some thread of similarity running through all of the songs I've bought, because I'm always pleasantly surprised at how they flow together. I suspect my playlist would bore most people to death. Although I did have one person go bonkers for Dead Can Dance because she heard them on my iPod. For some reason that made me soooooo happy.

 

I think the no-menu-on-the-window restaurants are mostly the expensive ones anyhow, so phooey on 'em!

Hear hear! :d

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I will do shuffle if I have a mix of albums on a playlist. If I've sorted a playlist a certain way, it will not purposely get shuffled.

[T.o.b.y]

I like shuffle but I have my music sorted into thematic playlists so that a folk song won't be followed by Linkin Park for example. If I just let the phone choose out of all of my albums, it would be like listening to several totally different radio stations at once.

[Pseudonym]

Yea I can understand that, mine once jumped from Dolly Parton to Rammstein.

[Van Buren Supernova]

:D

 

I have same problem with shuffle, it seems like they play a lot of same songs while some of the rest never show up.

Anyway, eventually I'd cheat and skip into the song I want, so I just have playlists according to what I would like to hear for the occasion.

Like I'd choose the ones with good beats for jogging instead of moody song etc etc.

 

As for greeting, it depends on where you jog I guess. In some place everyone greets each other or at least smile, in other place we just ignore each other. It's normally just a quick morning/hallo without stopping. (I think it's nice, but I wouldn't like it if it's more than that) Normally I look at the other person first, but many times I'm also in my zone and forget to look at others, and there were times when I didn't return a smile or greeting until I passed them because I was trapped in my own mind, and I think that is not very nice. I didn't mean to be rude, but they didn't know that. In current place, people tend to be friendly to strangers but there are those who take advantage of it and approach you in the way they shouldn't. Those are sadly non locals who ruin the reputation of genuinely friendly local.

 

I remember when I was on holiday to another country, and it was the first time I went there. Everyone was nice and very friendly with us so we were of course being friendly too. It was fine until someone saw us smiling to other, he smiled to us too, walked to us and asked for money. We probably looked like giggling clueless ATM to them (he was with friends). We turned him down of course and switched to alert mode, and they left us alone.

So yah, it really depends.

 

 

Other topic, have you guys done/repeat doing something stupid eventhough you had tasted the consequences?

I always run my hand/fingers through knife. Either by washing them and the sponge slides, and it's my hand slicing through instead, or I'm generally clumsy and nonchalant around knives. Gardening, camping tools whatever, I always seem to fold it into dangerous position for it to snap on me or just carelessly cut things and not being extra careful with it. I don't seem to tell my brain to bother about it, I get cuts, some serious but yah, my hands are generally durable.

 

On similar note, not long ago, I lost my broom's handle. Not lost, actually, I plucked it off and threw it away. So the aluminium stick pipe came with plastic handle on top and it kept detaching itself until it pissed me off and fell into rubbish bin :P.

I continued using the broom, unaware that the now sharp end actually ground (grinded??) my wrist and just confused later about why I bled from the wrist. 

The bleeding lasted for quite awhile although it was not a big cut (probably quite deep) but it's quite painless.

 

Yah. My persistent stupidity.

 

[Pseudonym]

It's always disturbing when you realise your bleeding and don't immediately get why. Generally I'm pretty careful, but I was putting little solar powered lanterns in my garden a while back and instead of hammering the stakes in like would have been the sensible thing to do I decided to push them in by hand. A while later I'm wondering why there seems to be blood on things, door handle etc, and realise there is a perfect circle carved into the palm of my hand.

I've never cut myself on a knife washing it (and fingers crossed I won't!) but an old colleague of mine severed tendons in the bottom of his hand either with a knife or a broken glass whilst washing it. My sister did something horrible recently too - she wanted to break up some frozen sausages so had them on the counter, lay a knife between them and banged down with her hand to force the knife between sausages... only to discover the knife was upside down so the blade was facing upwards.

There are things that make me cringe every time I have to do them because it feels like a recipe for disaster - every time I use the bandsaw in work I'm paranoid I'll lose a finger. And some foods seem to be invented to cause accidents - I like swede, especially in the winter, but they are slightly too big for me to get my hand around so trying to chop one in half whilst it skids and rolls around is like a fight to the death - 'who's gunna get this knife, swede? It's you or me, this kitchen ain't big enough for the both of us.'

[Arcadia]

What's a swede, praytell?
 
I had severe anxiety a few years back and became quite paranoid about knives, to the point where I would have to place a towel or something over them so I couldn't see them. I won't tell you what I thought might happen if I could see them, but it wasn't, er, very rational. Every once in a while, in moments of heightened stress, the paranoia starts to resurface and I have to give myself a stern talking to. So, no, I've never done any of those things you've described. I may be crazy, but I'm not that crazy. :P

[Carol the Dabbler]

Gah --don't remind me! I once lost track of my fingers while trying to hold a beet steady enough to slice it, and ended up slicing a finger instead. Wouldn't stop bleeding, had to have stitches. Don't think I've bought a beet since.

 

I once cut my hand while drying dishes. I had the dish towel draped over my hand in order to dry the inside of a glass. The glass broke and gave me a pretty deep (though short) gash -- yet there was no blood whatsoever on the nice white towel.

[Pseudonym]

You open beer with a knife?

[Van Buren Supernova]

You open beer with a knife?

Is that the meaning of swede?

Easier with spoon or nail.

Your sister story made me wince. Holy smoke.

My mother lost two fingers to a meat grinder. We had small home business and she was grinding when my younger brother cried. She turned her head to check on him but absentmindedly continued to push down and off, fingers gone. I was just a little kid and remember commotions, blood and bloody grinder, and my brother's screaming, it was horrifying. Lucky my dad was around because he wasn't home much since he was working overseas. Can't imagine if there was no one at home but us small kids.

Until now, I feel bad whenever I look at her missing fingers, that she had to work that hard for us because we had very difficult lives back then.

 

Eventually we kept the severed two fingers in out medicine cabinet (built into the wall/not easily seen) together with my tonsils. I have no idea why we kept them. When we moved out, those were left behind. I wonder how the next occupants reacted when they found the cabinet and the stuffs inside.

 

What's a swede, praytell?

 

I had severe anxiety a few years back and became quite paranoid about knives, to the point where I would have to place a towel or something over them so I couldn't see them. I won't tell you what I thought might happen if I could see them, but it wasn't, er, very rational. Every once in a while, in moments of heightened stress, the paranoia starts to resurface and I have to give myself a stern talking to. So, no, I've never done any of those things you've described. I may be crazy, but I'm not that crazy. :P

I'm not sure if your paranoia is the same with what is in my mind. I remember back then in primary/elementary school I was cutting fruits with knife and played it a bit, and my friend told me that according to her grandma, you shouldn't play with knife. The reason is because they have some kind of evil spirit that could influence you to harm yourself. I don't really buy that, the harms I experienced obviously caused by self-inflicted carelessness, however I remember that piece of advice and I only use knives when I need them, not for playing around or unnecessary contacts. Maybe somehow I'm influenced a bit.

[Pseudonym]

None of you have ever eaten a swede?!

 

 

Apparently, according to Google it's also called a rutabaga?

 

I open a bottle of beer with, er, a bottle opener. 

 

Yeesh, fingers. And you make your medicine cabinet sound like Sherlock's fridge, did you have eyeballs in the microwave too?

 

Another of my friends was an engineer and got sucked into a machine he was fixing. He was stuck with his arm in it for four hours and has a pretty mangled hand as a result. His thumb isn't really a thumb, more of a formless stumpy... appendage. But he can still use it to hold things so that's something. 

[Van Buren Supernova]

Wait...so where did you get "You open beer with knife" comes from? I thought you were answering Arcadia's question about swede.

Nope, not familiar with that, although it looks like many things I know but I definitely don't know the term swede or rutabaga.

 

Eyeballs in microwave nah, all of us in the family need both eyes, I tried others but when I made that request, people look at me funny. It's for experiment!!

Well, to be honest, I actually hate body parts, I hate seeing gory stuffs in real life. That's why I'd never want to be Sherlock's flatmate. Nasty.

 

Good god! Did your friend at least get some anesthetic during that four hours? Ouch ouch.

[Pseudonym]

I was answering Carol - in my half asleep befuddled state I misread beet as beer. Well, shows where my mind was!

 

For my mate, nope, he was just stuck in it whilst emergency services tried to free him. I don't even know if they gave him any painkillers until he got to the hospital, they must have done I suppose. The nurses told him he'd have to have his hand amputated, but then a consultant swooped in and proclaimed he could salvage it. 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

In the US we have rutabaga. A nice hearty root vegetable great for winter storage if you have the right set up. Good way to cut any large-ish round vegetable or fruit is to stab the center of the food with the point of the knife then bring the rest of the blade down as if the point of the knife was the fulcrum of a lever. I've done that in several occasions and it helps prevent the rolling as the other hand is able to hold the food in place better.

[Pseudonym]

That's what I do, but I've still had it skid away sometimes because the other hand still needs to span it properly to hold it steady. When we were doing our veggies for Christmas dinner my father did the swede since he could actually hold it properly.

[Arcadia]

I love this forum, it's funny even if you crazies don't mean it to be. XD

 

 

You open beer with a knife?

Is that the meaning of swede?

Easier with spoon or nail.

Your sister story made me wince. Holy smoke.

My mother lost two fingers to a meat grinder. We had small home business and she was grinding when my younger brother cried. She turned her head to check on him but absentmindedly continued to push down and off, fingers gone. I was just a little kid and remember commotions, blood and bloody grinder, and my brother's screaming, it was horrifying. Lucky my dad was around because he wasn't home much since he was working overseas. Can't imagine if there was no one at home but us small kids.

Until now, I feel bad whenever I look at her missing fingers, that she had to work that hard for us because we had very difficult lives back then.

 

Eventually we kept the severed two fingers in out medicine cabinet (built into the wall/not easily seen) together with my tonsils. I have no idea why we kept them. When we moved out, those were left behind. I wonder how the next occupants reacted when they found the cabinet and the stuffs inside.

 

Good God. No wonder you turned out the way you did. :P

 

 

What's a swede, praytell?

 

I had severe anxiety a few years back and became quite paranoid about knives, to the point where I would have to place a towel or something over them so I couldn't see them. I won't tell you what I thought might happen if I could see them, but it wasn't, er, very rational. Every once in a while, in moments of heightened stress, the paranoia starts to resurface and I have to give myself a stern talking to. So, no, I've never done any of those things you've described. I may be crazy, but I'm not that crazy. :P

I'm not sure if your paranoia is the same with what is in my mind. I remember back then in primary/elementary school I was cutting fruits with knife and played it a bit, and my friend told me that according to her grandma, you shouldn't play with knife. The reason is because they have some kind of evil spirit that could influence you to harm yourself. I don't really buy that, the harms I experienced obviously caused by self-inflicted carelessness, however I remember that piece of advice and I only use knives when I need them, not for playing around or unnecessary contacts. Maybe somehow I'm influenced a bit.

 

Maybe you're influenced by the severed body parts in the cabinet.

 

Mine was a little like that ... not evil spirits, just a sense that some bad things might happen if the knife got in my hand. It was weird. From a clinical point of view, anxiety was rather interesting. Being a victim of it was sheer hell, though. I really thought I was losing my mind a few times. I'd drive past billboards and think they contained secret messages of doom meant specifically for me, things like that. Ugh.

 

 

In the US we have rutabaga. A nice hearty root vegetable great for winter storage if you have the right set up. Good way to cut any large-ish round vegetable or fruit is to stab the center of the food with the point of the knife then bring the rest of the blade down as if the point of the knife was the fulcrum of a lever. I've done that in several occasions and it helps prevent the rolling as the other hand is able to hold the food in place better.

Excellent advice! I will try to remember that. Although after this conversation I may not go near a knife again for awhile....

[Pseudonym]

Yea that whole beer conversation really went down the rabbit hole!

[Arcadia]

That's where all the fun stuff is. Lucky rabbits.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Yea that whole beer conversation really went down the rabbit hole!

That's where all the fun stuff is. Lucky rabbits.

Just like Alice's adventures in Wonderland ;)