Saturday Meme - Guilty Pleasures

I got this one from Alan's blog. 

And like Alan, I don't really do guilt.  If I like something I do it and I don't really feel remorseful about it.  I don't live my life to please anyone else - I live my life to make myself satisfied and while I often derive pleasure from the happiness of others, I don't choose to associate with people who have unreasonable expectations of me.  Well, on to the list.

1. Eating Out.  Sugar and I were deciding what to eat last night and our only criteria was that it had to be within walking distance.  We narrowed the choices to Malaysian, Chinese, or Greek.  Neither of us felt like gourmet Vietnamese, Burgers, Thai, Mexican, German, or Sushi.  That's what's within walking distance - all nice restaurants and none of them large chains; they're independently owned.  I love living here. 

  2. Arguing on the Internet.  I really do like it and it's not stressful for me.  On the contrary, composing a witty response and going on a righteous tirade lubricates my creativity.  Sometimes I get into a good political argument and then I go write - it's all in good fun.  I suppose that makes me a bad person and I suppose I've made people feel bad about themselves - but I refer you to the fact that I don't do guilt.

3. Television.  I don't turn the television on unless there's something I intend to watch and then I turn the television off after that show is over (usually - sometimes I just leave it on for background noise).  What I watch are shows I consider great stories.  You know some of them - Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, The Shield, Rescue Me, Deadwood, Rome, etc.  Most of the time I buy, rent, or download the shows so that I don't have to watch commercials. 

4. Audiobooks -   I love working and listening to books.  Sometimes I can go through three or four unabridged books a week that way.  It's relaxing, entertaining, and makes my job the most interesting job I've ever had.  Just last week I listened to Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, The Collected Short Stories of M. Sommerset Maugham, Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, and half of Saturday by Ian McEwan.

5. Games.  I like playing Risk, Scrabble, and Scramble on Facebook (I know they have different, stupid names on Facebook but that's what they are).  It's fun to log on and take my turns and then wait another few hours or a day and do it again.  I like playing Killer Bunnies or Settlers of Catan with my friends and family.  I like playing cards when Sugar's mother comes to town.  I like getting together with my friends on Sunday nights and playing D&D, and now that I'm DM again and spent most of yesterday reading up on different monsters, it's going to be even more fun.

What about you?

- rick, guiltless

And like Alan, I don't really do guilt.  If I like something I do it and I don't really feel remorseful about it.  I don't live my life to please anyone else - I live my life to make myself satisfied and while I often derive pleasure from the happiness of others, I don't choose to associate with people who have unreasonable expectations of me.  Well, on to the list.

1. Eating Out.  Sugar and I were deciding what to eat last night and our only criteria was that it had to be within walking distance.  We narrowed the choices to Malaysian, Chinese, or Greek.  Neither of us felt like gourmet Vietnamese, Burgers, Thai, Mexican, German, or Sushi.  That's what's within walking distance - all nice restaurants and none of them large chains; they're independently owned.  I love living here. 

  2. Arguing on the Internet.  I really do like it and it's not stressful for me.  On the contrary, composing a witty response and going on a righteous tirade lubricates my creativity.  Sometimes I get into a good political argument and then I go write - it's all in good fun.  I suppose that makes me a bad person and I suppose I've made people feel bad about themselves - but I refer you to the fact that I don't do guilt.

3. Television.  I don't turn the television on unless there's something I intend to watch and then I turn the television off after that show is over (usually - sometimes I just leave it on for background noise).  What I watch are shows I consider great stories.  You know some of them - Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, The Shield, Rescue Me, Deadwood, Rome, etc.  Most of the time I buy, rent, or download the shows so that I don't have to watch commercials. 

4. Audiobooks -   I love working and listening to books.  Sometimes I can go through three or four unabridged books a week that way.  It's relaxing, entertaining, and makes my job the most interesting job I've ever had.  Just last week I listened to Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, The Collected Short Stories of M. Sommerset Maugham, Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, and half of Saturday by Ian McEwan.

5. Games.  I like playing Risk, Scrabble, and Scramble on Facebook (I know they have different, stupid names on Facebook but that's what they are).  It's fun to log on and take my turns and then wait another few hours or a day and do it again.  I like playing Killer Bunnies or Settlers of Catan with my friends and family.  I like playing cards when Sugar's mother comes to town.  I like getting together with my friends on Sunday nights and playing D&D, and now that I'm DM again and spent most of yesterday reading up on different monsters, it's going to be even more fun.

What about you?

- rick, guiltless

Comments

[a rose is a rose]

like you, i don't really DO guilt. if i like to do something i do it. there are always exceptions though. a couple that come to mind are;
1) knitting. what's wrong with knitting? don't little old ladies with buns (actually i have a bun) sit in rockers and knit? yes, they do. why the guilt for me then? have you seen the cost of yarn? (the good news is i give most things i make away. more good news some of the yarns i use support women's cooperatives in places NOT like beverly hills

2) grocery shopping. shopping you say? we all have to eat, no? well yes. i spend far too much money in places like whole foods. i buy things i don't absolutely need - that are sometimes way too expensive.

i know i have more, but like i said, those two come right to mind.

[jane]

Just recently learned that having been raised Catholic, I probably DO do guilt, though I don't seem especially aware of it.

That said, I think of "guilty pleasure" as something more like secretly liking crappy music. Just yesterday in my office I listened to a couple of Belle & Sebastian songs, but very quietly b/c I figured my colleagues would give me shit.

Oh and smoking! I smoke cigarettes now and again, which is nuts b/c I am so healthy in so many ways... but I like having a cigarette sometimes!!! So I feel pleasure and guilt. Or at least something mildly bad, b/c in many contexts I don't mention or outright hide the fact that I smoke sometimes.

[CV Rick]

Rose, there's nothing wrong with knitting. I won't knit because I don't want to take the time to learn, but no guilt should be involved with making something - having a skill.

Jane, crappy music? Don't let Sugar know - she's most judgemental about my own crappy music loves.

[SillyNut]

Killer Bunnies? I'm going to have to look for that one....