04/19/23 - If my mom could've brainwashed me to be thin from childhood, I'd be a lot happier now.
A submission to a relationship blogger. “For the first time, I felt like my mother wasn’t that good of a mom. She’s born in the 70s, but she’s got a very 50s-era mindset, like kids will grow up by themselves, you don’t have to put too much effort in to it. Like, with this covid thing, we didn’t have any medicine at home. We had to buy everything last-minute at the pharmacy.
Thinking about it, the only medicine we ever kept around the house was iodine, peppermint rub, and band-aids. Literally less than five medicines. And they’re all from ages and ages ago.
I went to school out of state, and there were four people in my dorm. The other three all had cold medicine and health teas prepared by their mom, so whenever they feel sick, they take some pills and feel better right away. Whenever I get sick, I have to borrow their medicine. I had no idea what kind of over the counter medicines I should have on hand. I had to learn by myself what cold medicines were good that I should keep in stock.
My dad is kind of the same as my mom. When he doesn’t feel well, he just goes to the hospital, or goes to the pharmacy. He never keeps any medicine at home. I just don’t understand how parents can be so laissez faire.”
Comments ask, “So why don’t you stock some medicine for them?”
Someone posts photos that a fan had taken of Moon Bin at his concert just yesterday, where he was still excitedly screaming into the crowd. Now, twenty four hours later, the same fan is posting on the social media, “Is this news for real?” and “Love you. Cause love never ends.”
Comments say, “I’m not even a fan and I feel like I’m going to go crazy. How many times has it been now since 2017?”
Someone replies below, “I just researched and from 2005 to now, 41 K-Pop celebrities have committed suicide, all around 27 to 28 years old. God, that’s scary.”
A different blogger comments on the same news, “I wish this is fake. I have a friend who’s been a fan of him for five years, who was going to meet him the day after tomorrow. And all of a sudden, we get this news. I just got a call from her, where she’s crying too hard to breath. I have no idea how to deal with this situation at all. This is the first time in my life I didn’t know how to even begin comforting someone. All I could do was cry with her. I have no words for how I feel right now.”
A doctorate graduate (sci_accepted顺利毕业版) posts a short story, “A professor decides to take on a grad student to mentor. He puts the news out there, and a lot of people choose to study their doctorate degree under him. He chooses the best three from everyone who applied, but don’t know how to decide among them. So, he gave each of them ten thousand RMB and made them his assistants for a year, and told them that whoever gets the best results for the least money, he will take on as his student. So, all three students joined his lab, determined to do the best.
Student A used this money to buy the best and most economic nationally made test materials, got as many free test material samples as he could from suppliers and other students, and worked day and night. After a year, he finished a paper on cells and wrote a paper worth 3 to 5 points.
Student B used five thousand bucks to sign up for a biological data class, and used free, public data to do a bunch of analysis, and after a year, he wrote a paper on biological data analysis, worth 5-8 points.
Student C used two thousand bucks to get the student council to promote for him, in order to hire a bunch of undergrad students who want to gain lab experience. He taught them how to do experiments, and taught them how to apply for funding. A team of a dozen people managed to obtain another 70K to 80K of funding. After a year, together, they were able to create a very well-thought about paper that could be published in some of the best journals in the industry.
In the end, the professor accepted the headmaster’s son, and got three papers out of this to boot too. The next year, he releases the news that he would like to take on a student to mentor…”
A tiktok video posted, making fun of how large Pudong airport is in Shanghai, saying, if you get your boarding pass and you see that your gate starts with an H, start running. Run with all of your strength.
Comments contribute their own stories, “Last time I was with my daughter when we needed to go to the H gates. We walked for so long that my daughter asked, ‘Aren’t we flying to Shenzhen? Are we actually going to walk to Shenzhen?’”
“Other airports might tell you to come two hours early, and you can more or less safely ignore it. But if Pudong Airport tells you to come three hours early, you better go four hours early just in case.”
“Cool fact: Pudong Airport is larger in area than Macau.”
“For people who like to arrive juuuuust on time, Pudong Airport is going to teach you one hell of a lesson.”
“I walked 25,000 steps on my fitbit at Pudong Airport.”
And yes, I can confirm that Pudong Airport is, in fact, more than twice the size of the entirety of Macau.
Someone seeks advice, “I’m asking this on behalf of a relative’s kid. He’s been enlisted for 12 years, 31 years old now. He’s got two choices right one. One, he doesn’t take a job, they give him 850K up front, and he leaves. Two, they give him a tenured government job back in his hometown (second or third line city, basically think something like Indianapolis or Kansas City), but he’ll probably never be promoted, with a pay of 4500 RMB a month?”
Comments say, “Isn’t that up to what he’s looking for? If he wants to invest or start a business, take the money. If he wants stability, take the job.”
Someone asks for advice, “My boyfriend’s family’s in a different economic tier than mine. I went to eat at his house for Independence Day—do you think his family took me seriously?
I bought 1500+ RMB’s worth of gifts and saw his parents. But I’m kind of sitting here a little confused now and hoping for an outside perspective.
To my surprise, his mom was super good-tempered and quiet. His dad basically acted like his mom. They cooked six dishes. Since his mom is into Buddhism, they make a lot of vegetarian dishes. They do the same thing when my boyfriend is going home on his own, so I didn’t think too much about it.
After I said my greetings, the first thing his dad asked me is what I can cook. I startled for a bit and said that I can make a little bit of everything. His dad said, “It’s not just fried eggs, right?” A bit awkward, I reassured him that yeah, I can cook a lot of things. His dad never let up with the questions, to the point where I didn’t really know what to do with myself.
I kept praising his mom and dad. They showed me my boyfriend’s childhood pictures. And his mom asked me what I liked about him. I said that I liked that he had stable emotions, that he’s very serious about work, and he’s very honest. His mom said that her son has a lot of little problems though, and I said yeah, nobody’s perfect. The point of a relationship is two people learning to compromise with each other.
His dad said that his problems aren’t the sort of problems that you can deal with. But he just means that my boyfriend doesn’t like to do housework. I’ve been over to his place. I never tidied up for him though. If his parents ever visited and saw that his place was a lot tidier, they’d know that I’d been over. That’s not good since we’re not married.
I don’t think this is a huge issue. I’m happy to clean and organise. If he’s super busy, I don’t mind doing it by myself. Normally, when we hang out together, he cooks the food and does the dishes and does his own laundry too.
When I left, his dad gave me a red pocket of 1200 bucks, and told me to take some of my own fruit gifts with me to eat on the road.
And now I’m sitting here confused. Like, you can’t really say that they like me a lot. My boyfriend had told me that his mom had asked what kind of dishes I like, and she had cooked none of them. When I asked out of politeness if there’s anything I can help with in the kitchen, she said, “Of course yes! But you’re too dressed up to be of any help.” I don’t know if that was some kind of a joke or not. In the end, I just helped her carry the food to the table.
But you can’t really say that they hate me. They gave me the red pocket (though I don’t know what’s significant about the number 1200). They’ve lived in Guangdong for over a decade. My boyfriend only gets a couple dozen bucks for Chinese New Year.
I asked my boyfriend to ask his parents what they think, but he said it’d be weird and never asked. When we came back, his parents didn’t want to get in touch with me again and we didn’t add each other on wechat.
The only thing I’m pleased about is my boyfriend’s behaviour. The whole time I was talking with his dad, he was peeling grapes for me. His parents wanted us to help plant some flowers, and he didn’t let me do any work and finished it on his own. He even swept up afterwards, telling me to just sit and watch. He got me food at dinner and took on the dishes by himself, and even washed them extra fast so I wouldn’t be stuck alone with his parents.”
Comments say, “I would never treat even a regular guest this way. Sounds like they don’t really approve.”
A blogger posts screenshots of a tiktok conversation, asking, “Is it really necessary to train three-year-old bodies to be ectomorphs?”
In the thread, someone says, “It’s true. My daughter is only three, and I’ve always been telling her not to eat too much food. If she eats too much, she won’t be able to fit into her dresses. She’s already used to not eating snacks and only being half full at meals. Whatever other people might say, I’m doing this for her own good. I’m building a foundation for her to be an ectomorph in the future.”
Others reply, “This is healthier too. It’s better to be half full than to eat too much.”
“Is it really necessary to start involuting at three years old?”
“I think toddlers are better off a little chubby. It’s good for their health. You only have to start worrying about dieting at puberty. I was way too thin as a kid, and now I’ve got all kinds of health problems.”
“I think this is just being a responsible mother. Little kids don’t have a sense of beauty, and once you get fat, it’s hard to diet down again. I’ve got a friend with a kid who’s been chubby since childhood. All the other kids call him “Strongman”. It’s better for girls to learn how to control their weight. I know how much being fat from childhood to adulthood hurts a woman. If my mom could’ve brainwashed me to be thin from childhood, I’d be a lot happier now, instead of stressing about dieting all day.”
“Jesus Christ, whether you’re an ectomorph or endomorph is determined by genetics, no?”
Someone posts a PSA, “I’ve got a 17 month baby, and I’d made some porridge in the morning and put it on the table. Just as I turned to close the stove in the kitchen, the baby got up to the table and flipped over the bowl. The hot porridge landed on her face and chest. I hurried to wash off the porridge, and saw that her skin was already starting to blister. So I took her to the hospital right away, at which point her whole face was covered by blisters. I was so scared, I almost couldn’t stand. But she was such a good kid and didn’t cry, and has been giggling and playing all day. I guess it doesn’t hurt anymore. But to mommies taking care of their kiddo alone, you really need to be careful! Don’t let your eyes off your kid for even a second when there’s hot food nearby!
The doctor says with the prescribed ointments, she should recover just fine, by the way.”
Underneath this post, people are commenting, “Every time your child looks in the mirror, she hates you.”
“Yeah, this was entirely your fault.”
“God, how can you be so careless as a mother.”
“Where do you find the balls to post this? If it leaves scars, you’ve ruined her whole life! A proper parent would protect their child against anything that might hurt them!”
"41 K-Pop celebrities have committed suicide"
I know only 5 and I doubt that there are more. 2 active male idols and 2 former female idols plus a female singer.
Wow, that is so much vitriol for an accident that the mother clearly already learned a lesson from and won't repeat!