A submission to a current affairs blogger: “My mom is such a bitch. I’m never going home again. I usually work in Hangzhou. This Memorial Day, I took two days off of work to go back to my hometown. I arrived Wednesday, and was going to go back to work today. My brother had his girlfriend over night before last too. He’s home all the time, and his girlfriend comes over all the time too, but because I work in Hangzhou, this is my first time seeing her.
Yesterday, I slept until noon and got up to eat and sat down at my usual seat at the table. My mom said, “Why would you sit there?” And I was just confused. I said, “I always sit here?” And my mom paused and said that that’s my brother’s girlfriend’s seat. What does she mean? That I have to give up my seat to her? I’ve sat here for two decades, and now she says it’s my brother’s girlfriend’s seat? Once my brother has a date, I’m losing even my seat at the table? I got mad and asked how that’s any of my business. And then I bought tickets to return to Hangzhou right away. I told my mom I was never coming back again.
My mom kept apologising, but I was super mad. So I just gathered up my stuff and left. The whole time I was flying, I regretted not breaking that chair. I’ve blocked my mom on Wechat, and I’m really never going back, whether for Memorial Day or Chinese New Year. There’s no point.”
Comments encourage, “Make sure you break it off cleanly. Don’t go back to them the second they come to you crying.”
Someone reblogs a news article that with birth rates falling to 0.78, even the Korean pop idol industry is facing a lack of talent. Korea’s low birth rate problem only became obvious around 2001, and the various companies producing pop idols were one of the first to really feel it, because there was a rapid decline in the 10 to 20-year-old demographic, and that’s the top demographic for pop idol talent, and the top demographic for consumers of their products. Idol agencies have been complaining for several years now that they can’t get enough fresh blood.
An employee at one agency complains, “We’ve known for the problem for years. When we go scouting in schools for good potential, it’s visible how there are fewer and fewer students. Particularly male candidates, supply just isn’t keeping up with demand. It’s so hard to find anyone.”
In the last few years, the KPOP world is increasingly targeting overseas markets partially to solve this problem of a dry pool of talent. “All the big companies are scouting in all the major cities of America, Japan, Thailand, trying to find good talent for KPOP. Even countries that no one cares about like Vietnam and Indonesia have been getting more popular.”
As the youth population decreases, this will only worsen the situation for the pop idol industry. “If we can’t get domestic idols, then there’ll be more and more green card idols. And the pop idol consumer market in Korea is going to shrink, and Korean fans will becomes less and less important as a portion of the fanbase. In the future, KPOP is going to be designed for overseas tastes.”
Comments say, “They say that the best way for slaves to fight back is to stop producing slaves.”
An askreddit question, “Why are Chinese people so obsessed with government jobs, like if you don’t have tenured government work, you don’t have a sense of security?” The top voted reply is that, “My boss has once said something that makes more sense the longer I think about it. He said that once you get a government job, that’s when you really start to taste the fruits of communism.
My government workplace’s cafeteria is a buffet. For breakfast, there’s a northern Chinese section with various rice noodles, noodles, eggs, with a different kind of meat sauce every day. There’s a southern Chinese section with buns, steamed bread, Mandarin rolls, cornbread, and once a week, there’s dumplings or wontons. Not to mention all you can drink milk, soy milk, and veggie soup.
For lunch, there’s five types of stir fries, three with meat, two vegetarian. Four types of rice, normal rice, wild rice, Adlay rice, and corn rice. Two soups, one with meat, one vegetarian. Two types of potatoes, generally roast potatoes and roast sweet potatoes. Six types of breads, usually buns, steamed bread, rolls, cornbread, with cake or sliced bread or Chinese burgers or chive pocket pie, or fa gao (prosperity cake, a type of Cantonese sponge cake). Two types of seasonal fruits.
Dinner is a lot simpler, also five stir fries, three with meat, two vegetarian, with rice. One soup, four types of breads, and one seasonal fruit.
Each meal only costs one RMB.”
Comments say, “The four great literary works of China—the plot is literally about getting a government job in all four of them.”
A submission to a relationship blogger, “I guess this is Chinese style PUA-based parenting. I just got a new outfit and I think it’s awesome. I’m super into it. I happily took a photo and sent it to my mom and ask if it needs to be machine washed or hand washed. And then I get this reply. It’s like having a bucket of ice water thrown all over me. All my happiness disappeared. I’m so jealous of people with parents who’ll just say, “Oh wow, my daughter is so pretty!!””
She attaches a screenshot of texts from her mother, which read, “God, that’s ugly. Why the hell would you think that dress would look good on you? Who would wear something like this? It’s horrible. I can’t even look. If you were 10 cm taller, you couldn’t maybe tried. Honestly, it’s ugly as fuck.”
Here is the photo she took.
A tiktok video of a man is eating with his friends with his wife kicks the table over. “She doesn’t respect a single person at this table.”
Comments say, “I’d divorce her right away as soon as we got back home!”
A film reviewer posts a very popular bitch test on the internet. If you’re in this scenario, what’s the bitchiest thing you could say? The bitchier your answer, the more points you get. “You happen upon the guy you have a crush on at the cafeteria at work. You say to him that you got him a water. He replies, “Nah, no need. My girlfriend bought me a coke.” What do you say?”
Top comment is, “Coke reduces sperm count.”
A relationship blogger writes, “My kiddo was born a little over 5 pounds, entirely formula fed, eats whatever we give him, sleeps through the night, hardly cries. He’s less than 11 months right now and looks like a 3 year old. I really feel like there should be more marketing for kids who are so incredibly chill like this.”
The topics #is a good figure really important and #how do you feel about body shaming are trending, because an actress (Wang Ju) was noticed at a promotional event for a new movie for having a bit of a belly. The internet blew up over this, and she responded, “I think my belly is cute.” She’s the one in lime green in the photo attached.
This has sparked a lot of discussion over how important a perfect figure is.
Comments say, “Well, that really depends on whether or not you’re getting paid millions to be pretty and fit in with beauty standards.”
In response to the trending topic #experts say that young people are wrong for not having kids, a famous childrearing blogger says, “I suggest that experts shut the fuck up. As a mother of two, I want to say that how many kids one should have, whether or not one wants any kids at all, can only be a decision made by the people who know what financial and emotional situation they’re in. Anyone else can shut the fuck up.
What are the circumstances under which I was willing to have two kids? First, I’ve always wanted two kids. I grew up with a brother, and we talk about everything together. We help each other whenever anything comes up. I feel that’s very warm. I would never, ever consider having three kids.
Second, my financial situation can support two kids. Both me and my husband has an income. We can cover our expenses and ensure our kids can go to school. We can keep up with our nanny’s pay, and we have no mortgage or car loan (thank you, MIL). Remember, life is a tragedy if you’re poor. That’s not just a saying. If you have to think twice about buying a new shirt, if you’re pinching every penny, then you have no quality of life at all.
Third, we’ve got someone who can take the kids for us. This is super, super important. If no one can help you with the kids, then you have to take care of them yourself. Think this through. Because my in-laws are both working and my parents live out of state, my MIL has hired a nanny to help us since we had a second kid. That’s really reduced my stress level. If you have only yourself, then I don’t suggest you have two kids, because you’ll become super depressed and anxious, because your life will be nothing but kids and house work. You’ll have no personal time at all.
I get asked a lot what kind of life I’m living after my second kid and whether I regret it. For the last two years, I have had no social contact at all. I haven’t look at social media for two years because I just don’t have time. Only after I’ve made it through those two years, because the older one is going to preschool now, that I’m finally feeling some freedom.
The worst is when both kids are sick. The maddest I’ve gotten is when both kids are tantrumming. The most helpless I’ve felt is when I can’t count how many times I’ve gotten up at night to breastfeed because they keep crying. The happiest moment is when both babies are by my side, happily playing with each other, being cute as shit. I’ve been melted by them, I’ve been pissed off by them. I chose this myself, though, so I never regretted it.
Finally, I want to remind everyone: Don’t marry for the sake of being married. Don’t have kids for the sake of having kids. Don’t quickly marry yourself off just because everyone around you is married. Don’t hurry into kids because everyone around you has kids. Everything has to be built on a foundation of your enthusiastic willingness!”
I have never heard the term PUA-based parenting before but this explains so much and is perfect.
I'm trying to understand the first one. It seems so strange to me. Someone comes home rarely. Brother's girlfriend is integrated into the home and has a regular seat, presumably next to her boyfriend. Child flips out over this completely unintentional slight. Immediate apologies from the mother. And the comments are all supporting the child?