Same here, except I was in the “from underneath” camp since that’s how it always was growing up.
She finally convinced me she was right by buying toilet paper with printed swans…that were upside down my way.
I usually have to order it off-menu, but I’ve never found a place yet that won’t make it. Same with Larb, in Thai restaurants. Its often not on the menu, but they’ll make it if you request it.
Swans are so beautiful and graceful. What did they ever do to deserve such a final ending!
Give me some toilet paper with Trump’s face imprinted on it. Let me wipe that grimacing smile off his face!
Back on topic, we just got back from Italy (fantastic!) and now are discussing living in Florence for a year when we retire. We loved it there, and we only saw a fraction of it and Rome, and the other cities are very accessible by high-speed train. That’s been our topic of discussion. Pretty sure we can swing it as long as our health is good.
Wait’ll you crack open the war between standing-squat wipers and sitting-wipers in terms of toilet paper usage. Neither group has ever imagined that the other exists in most cases!
I suspect my partner was pretty relieved that I wound up walking from the Catholic church (she was raised a godless heathen, thank heavens–lol) freshman year of college, mostly out of laziness rather than existential angst. It had been an area of argument more than once in the two years leading up to that point, and wasn’t gonna get any better.
Mind, now we find ourselves both dodging questions about marriage and kids with my folks on the regular. One of these days, mom’s gonna figure out that my partner’s not gonna be popping out any baby Penblades and will probably just die on the spot from heartbreak.
This is fantastic to hear. I would love to be able to go back. And for what it’s worth, I lived there for two and a half years, but really only saw what I consider to be a fraction of what Italy had to offer. So much beauty and history there. Good luck on your journey if it takes you there, Mark.
I am not knowledgeable on what those differences are.They must be great?
I have argued previously on toilet paper use with prior girlfriends. I know better than to do so now. They use more toilet paper, but we sometimes leave the seat up. It’s a trade-off.
I have had the discussion on which way the roll unwinds though. The truce there is the person that changes it, gets to pick how they want it at the time.
Some folks wipe after #2 by squatting up off the seat a couple feet and going at it. Others just lift up a cheek and dip down and back. Both sides tend to view the other as completely bonkers.
Hell, then there’s the “wipe to the front” versus “wipe to the back” debate. . .
I dunno, maybe my friends and I just had an odd about of scatalogical discussions in HS.
Oh, I thought you were referring to the folks in the category of squat pooping, which is popular in countries where backsplash apparently isn’t a problem.
We are six years away from retirement at least, unless we just can’t take Trump’s America for that long. I would love to explore Europe by living there.
My thing with retirement is I have to have something to do. I get restless on the weekends if I don’t have anything going on. I need to work on a plan.
I was there for some mega reddit thread where this came up. It was awesome. So many people learned something completely new to them. It really is a foreign concept to most people that there are options to something like that.
The thing I learned in a reddit thread is how many people don’t wash their hands after going to the bathroom. And for any sort of going to the bathroom. My favorite rationalization was “poop smell is poop particles in the air, so you’re breathing in and basically bathing in my poop anyways. Why would I need to wash my hands?”
Needless to say, I run off to wash my hands now pretty much immediately after having to shake someone’s hand, and I’ve worked out various ways to avoid handshakes when possible as well.
My buddy told me a story about his dad, who’s pretty high up in the military and works here at CentCom. He is in the bathroom doing his thing when he notices a (some number, I can’t remember, but important)-star general walk straight out of a stall right past all of the sinks and out of the door. So he walks out and less than ten minutes later is a meet and greet between him and his staff and this general. The general starts to put out his hand to introduce himself and his dad just goes straight into a salute. A “General xxxxx, good to meet you, sir!” sort of thing. And so the general turns his hand up and salutes back instead.
I’m jealous. I haven’t been in several years though, so I’m unsure how their economy is doing. It certainly wasn’t cheap to live there for me at the time, but I was on a military salary, so it was different.
The small town I was in, at that time, had only one store that was 24-hours. It defined lazy, coastal town in every manner, and after getting through my initial culture shock, I loved it. Like stepping back in time.
Same here. As soon as I shake someone’s hand I think,“Don’t touch your face.” I was the same way after riding on the subway. I’m sure I’ve avoided illnesses that way.
It looks like you can rent apartments in Florence for 800+ euros. Our plan is to sell the house here and get a 1 year lease for an apartment for we hope no more than 1000 euros a month. We want two bedrooms so we can have visitors. If we don’t have to make a house payment we can easily swing it.
I thought the food was reasonable. I could go to the central market and get an expresso and a delicious chocolate croissant for 2 euros. There was a bar around the corner from us that had great pizza for 7 euros. The central market had everything you need to make delicious food – pasta made fresh daily, butcher counters with fresh meat (they seem to have a fondness for tripe), fresh vegetables, shops selling oils and herbs and spices, etc. It was a cool place, much more inviting than our grocery stores.
I had that same takeaway. Shopping was like how I imagined old methods were in the US years ago. You went to a market of stalls/stores. Butchers, bakers, fishermen, farmers, general grocers, etc. And things were well defined by craft. Your local baker might also provide the majority or restaurants in your area with the same fresh breads you enjoy at his storefront.
Haggling was usually a possibility. Socializing was expected. But holy shit if I didn’t have the best bread, sausages, wines, olive oils, produce, etc.
I miss it.
Yeah, that’s what it felt like. Everything looked super fresh. I felt like we could buy fresh made pasta, a scoop or two or fresh made pesto, some fresh seafood or meat, and then walk the half block back and cook and it would be like farm-to-table in our own apartment.
And it was fun. I’d get up before everyone else and go to the market and get my espresso from one of the stalls. It was an old couple working it. He had a picture of himself that looked like he was a coach or played for an Italian futbol team, and a pic of his grandson. They spoke as much English as I spoke Italian, but we made ourselves understood and I would have my espresso and smile back and forth. Other people working in the market would come up to get some kind of coffee and be greeted by a shout and a smile, and I felt like I was a tiny part of it all. It made me want to learn Italian.
I really just had a great time in Florence and the language wasn’t a big problem. Everyone was really nice.
(In Rome, though, I got some blowback about Trump. Thanks, Donald!)
They open up even more when you start conversing in Italian. Generally it seemed like a much more social society compared to our own. And also much more family oriented.
I think it took me over a month of trying before i felt comfortable ordering cappuccinos and cornettos for the group when we stopped by every weekday on the way to work. Each time the same old man would gently prod me with what I was trying to say and help me. The same at the places where we had lunches, dinners, beers, etc.
Re: Toilet Paper -
Apparently the inventor, according to the patent, believed it should be over as well. (I am also in the “over” camp.)
From this article.
Yeah, we’re LDS (Mormon) for our whole lives. I decided years ago it was fake, but she was raised hardcore and I was terrified she’d leave me. Which sounds crazy, but happens all the time with Mormons.
I finally decided I was done, let her know, and she was awesome about it. A year later and now she’s decided she’s on her way out as well. It’s huge because it’s a part of everything, families are into it, most of the people I work with are into it, our neighbors are into it, etc.
The inventor of the .GIF pronounces it correctly as “jiff” yet that doesn’t stop half the people from mangling its pronunciation!