Do you like things to be 'sanitised' and vanilla/safe?
Discussion
Difficult question to ask without leading the question, but genuinely curious off the back of an office discussion about TV comedy wherein it was revealed that several people like things like Mrs Browns Boys and Miranda and so on. When challenged to explain the funny, their response was that it was "sort of nice, safe comedy like you used to get on the BBC that your grandmother watched. It's sort of background entertainment and I don't have to concentrate too hard..."
Basically, a sense that it was familiar, comfortable and safe somehow. And that was seen as a positive thing, rather than a reason to sack the writing team and the commissioning editors (as it would be in my world).
This lead onto a broader discussion around life in general where there seemed to be a fairly large majority of the office who actually prefer things to be quiet, gentle, safe etc vs a minority who prefer things to be a bit more challenging, volatile, risky and so on. Dangerous sports, holidays, food, cinema and music were all discussed and to my surprise most people when being honest seemed to prefer things 'vanilla' and just want a quiet life, not liking edgy cinema, fiery new foods, non-pop music etc etc.
Is this common?
Would you say the prospect of a boundary pushing, frenetic existence exhaust you or does the cloying treacle of familiarity suffocate you at every turn?
Genuinely not meant to be judgemental as I know where I sit on this scale but have been having a bit of an "oh, other people are actually different sometimes!" moment of realisation...
Basically, a sense that it was familiar, comfortable and safe somehow. And that was seen as a positive thing, rather than a reason to sack the writing team and the commissioning editors (as it would be in my world).
This lead onto a broader discussion around life in general where there seemed to be a fairly large majority of the office who actually prefer things to be quiet, gentle, safe etc vs a minority who prefer things to be a bit more challenging, volatile, risky and so on. Dangerous sports, holidays, food, cinema and music were all discussed and to my surprise most people when being honest seemed to prefer things 'vanilla' and just want a quiet life, not liking edgy cinema, fiery new foods, non-pop music etc etc.
Is this common?
Would you say the prospect of a boundary pushing, frenetic existence exhaust you or does the cloying treacle of familiarity suffocate you at every turn?
Genuinely not meant to be judgemental as I know where I sit on this scale but have been having a bit of an "oh, other people are actually different sometimes!" moment of realisation...
RizzoTheRat said:
A lot of people like to stay in their comfort zone and never be challenged, it's nice sometimes but must get boring.
Very much this. Obviously we all have stuff we are familiar with and we know we like, but so much exciting stuff happens when you step outside of your comfort zone, it always surprises me that so many people are unwilling to take that step and try something new.
The whole 'fear of the unknown' can be such a buzz!
I decided the best way to try and get over my fear of heights was to do a skydive. It didn't entirely work (the getting over my fear bit- the skydive worked fine), but for a few fleeting minutes I felt more alive than at any other point in recent memory!
That said, I do draw the line somewhere- there aren't enough worldly pleasures/material possessions on God's green earth that would persuade me to do a bungee jump for example. I'm not even a fan of hump-back bridges.
I actually agree on the bungee jumping.
I'm attracted to things that are dangerous but have an element of skill and control to them, so I can influence my outcome. Bungee jumping just relies on some dreadlocked stoner to have checked the kit correctly and given you the correct tension. For no real upside. No thanks.
But beyond life at the jagged edge, I just like things to be fresh and interesting. I quite often take 5 different routes to work in a given week, some days on the train, some days driving in, some days I'll get up early and walk etc etc. I just get really bored with routine I think.
I'm attracted to things that are dangerous but have an element of skill and control to them, so I can influence my outcome. Bungee jumping just relies on some dreadlocked stoner to have checked the kit correctly and given you the correct tension. For no real upside. No thanks.
But beyond life at the jagged edge, I just like things to be fresh and interesting. I quite often take 5 different routes to work in a given week, some days on the train, some days driving in, some days I'll get up early and walk etc etc. I just get really bored with routine I think.
I used to work with the most unadventurous person in the entire universe. Every lunch would be a mild cheddar sandwich on white bread. He would say he hated Indian food but had never tried it, his objection was that 'it was all brown'. He would eat Chinese food, so long as it was sweet and sour chicken, no rice. Wouldn't use salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard or any other condiment or flavouring. Wouldn't eat anything with any kind of gravy, sauce, jus or anything vaguely fluid.
Wouldn't and doesn't have sex. Used to browse Tindr but wouldn't even swipe right on people he liked because he didn't like talking to people. Would only on go on family holidays to Florida or skiing somewhere in Europe. Once went for a week on a lads holiday to Ibiza with his friends but came home after the second day because he didn't like drinking, clubbing, restaurants or people.
Goes to bed at 10pm every night without fail. Claims he doesn't operate properly without 10 hours sleep every evening. Doesn't spend money. Comes from a wealthy family and even received £200/month pocket money from his grandma up until he was 21. Parents more or less forced him to buy-to-let recently but he still lives at home. Has no desire to move out.
Twice a year, myself and the IT team I used to work with (of which he was one), meet up and go for a meal and get drunk, alternating between Nottingham and Cambridge. On the first 6 of these nights out we always gave-in to his limited tastes in food and had steak and chips. On the 7th we decided we wanted to go for a curry, so he refused to come. We've now stopped inviting him to these events.
He was grossly underpaid for what he did for quite a few years but was too shy to ask for a pay rise. It wasn't until I (way after I'd left the company) wrote a letter for him to give to his boss explaining why he should get a pay rise that something actually happened. It resulted in him getting an £8k increase. He didn't say thank you.
He enjoys playing cricket.
He is the most boring, unadventurous, socially retarded waste of flesh and organs on the planet. He was gifted an amazing start in life with the emotional and fiscal resources to do anything he wanted to and all he does is eat cheese sandwiches and sleep. F*cking infuriating.
Wouldn't and doesn't have sex. Used to browse Tindr but wouldn't even swipe right on people he liked because he didn't like talking to people. Would only on go on family holidays to Florida or skiing somewhere in Europe. Once went for a week on a lads holiday to Ibiza with his friends but came home after the second day because he didn't like drinking, clubbing, restaurants or people.
Goes to bed at 10pm every night without fail. Claims he doesn't operate properly without 10 hours sleep every evening. Doesn't spend money. Comes from a wealthy family and even received £200/month pocket money from his grandma up until he was 21. Parents more or less forced him to buy-to-let recently but he still lives at home. Has no desire to move out.
Twice a year, myself and the IT team I used to work with (of which he was one), meet up and go for a meal and get drunk, alternating between Nottingham and Cambridge. On the first 6 of these nights out we always gave-in to his limited tastes in food and had steak and chips. On the 7th we decided we wanted to go for a curry, so he refused to come. We've now stopped inviting him to these events.
He was grossly underpaid for what he did for quite a few years but was too shy to ask for a pay rise. It wasn't until I (way after I'd left the company) wrote a letter for him to give to his boss explaining why he should get a pay rise that something actually happened. It resulted in him getting an £8k increase. He didn't say thank you.
He enjoys playing cricket.
He is the most boring, unadventurous, socially retarded waste of flesh and organs on the planet. He was gifted an amazing start in life with the emotional and fiscal resources to do anything he wanted to and all he does is eat cheese sandwiches and sleep. F*cking infuriating.
I get very frustrated that I do the same things over and over again, but it's just me that makes the decision and I can't quite get myself to do different things unless there's some external thing that does it for me. It can be quite annoying to me, but as I also don't really get on much with many other people I don't imagine it annoys anyone else.
As some have already said, there are many who like to stick with what they know and don't go outside their comfort zone. A good example from my own experience would be with music. My last job had me working lots of night shifts, and during this time I would listen to late night radio, mainly BBC 6 Music, and would get to hear all sorts of new (to me at least) music of differing genres and I loved it. Now though my current job is just office hours so I don't get to listen to this late night music, so have to make do with the generic, safe stuff that is on daytime radio. I listen to Radio X mainly which caters to one of my favoured genres, and although they have a varied playlist after a year of listening there's little in the way of new music so I miss out on hearing the more adventurous, new stuff. I know I could go back to late night radio, but I'm normally in bed by that point these days!
Brigand said:
As some have already said, there are many who like to stick with what they know and don't go outside their comfort zone. A good example from my own experience would be with music. My last job had me working lots of night shifts, and during this time I would listen to late night radio, mainly BBC 6 Music, and would get to hear all sorts of new (to me at least) music of differing genres and I loved it. Now though my current job is just office hours so I don't get to listen to this late night music, so have to make do with the generic, safe stuff that is on daytime radio. I listen to Radio X mainly which caters to one of my favoured genres, and although they have a varied playlist after a year of listening there's little in the way of new music so I miss out on hearing the more adventurous, new stuff. I know I could go back to late night radio, but I'm normally in bed by that point these days!
I would go loopy if I had to listen to daytime radio all day every day. Luckily, although we have a radio on in our office (playing either Radio-1 / Commercial stations), I am able to have headphones in. This means I can listen to re-runs of all of the decent late-night radio shows, online stations, random soundcloud accounts, or DJ mixes etc. Or just playlists of my own stuff.It's not even that I have that much against a lot of the stuff on daytime radio (I'm also a wedding DJ so would be pretty crap at my job if I had a narrow taste in music!), it's simply the repetition. The same songs over and over again. Even those commercial stations that have 'no repeat guarantees' still play the same set of un-repeated tracks every single day!
So yeah, headphones on and different music every single day. Yesterday was largely spent listening to some of my favourite happy hardcore / jungle mixes from back in the day, so far today it's been 2 hours of a Pink Floyd playlist on Youtube.
It does also help with the DJing side of things too, as it enables me to listen to so much more (potentially new) music than listening to the radio all day. Not to mention saves me from wanting to cut my own ears off.
Mrs Browns Boys isnt that "safe" and PC, I like it laughed loads in places, I'm surprised the jokes they get in on BBc Prime time, my nan loves it as well
Trouble is Ive seen plenty of stuff that is "edgey" and different yet not much content and ultimately dull
Take that new Naked dating show on Channel 4, one thinks ... ooooooohhhh that's edgy, naked bodies, the full shebang....willies, bums , axe wounds...the lot on 10pm TV..can it get more exciting and "edgy"...When in reality its bloody boring after 2 minutes as past the novelty of nakedness its just a boring dating show full of self obsessed contestants
Trouble is Ive seen plenty of stuff that is "edgey" and different yet not much content and ultimately dull
Take that new Naked dating show on Channel 4, one thinks ... ooooooohhhh that's edgy, naked bodies, the full shebang....willies, bums , axe wounds...the lot on 10pm TV..can it get more exciting and "edgy"...When in reality its bloody boring after 2 minutes as past the novelty of nakedness its just a boring dating show full of self obsessed contestants
When my father died someone put together a huge poster showing all the interests he had and the things he had done in his life and it really made me think that you only get 1 go around, make the bloody most of it.
My wife (a very patient person) thinks I am slightly nuts with some of the things I do/have done but there will be nothing worse when you get to your later years than regretting not having done something that you are now to old to try. They don't have to be mad extreme things but just things that interest you. My eldest son lives his life saying "i'll do it tomorrow", and he never gets around to doing anything. One day there won't be a tomorrow.
Buy yourself a mad car
Make your own fireworks (only if you can do so safely and its legal where you are of course) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NgE6z3rfFY
Go diving - I went off to the indian ocean for a week on a boat, sharks and mantas are 16 mins onward - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h9-yA-rKjQ
Fun with thermite (my kids love this but i haven't figured out how to make a nice long fuse so need to light it with magnesium ribbon), don't have my own video so here is an annoying person with his own - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdCsbZf1_Ng
Fun with pulse jets, haven't fitted any of mine onto a bike yet, again don't have my own video but here is one made by Colin Furze - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKHz7wOjb9w
etc etc
My wife (a very patient person) thinks I am slightly nuts with some of the things I do/have done but there will be nothing worse when you get to your later years than regretting not having done something that you are now to old to try. They don't have to be mad extreme things but just things that interest you. My eldest son lives his life saying "i'll do it tomorrow", and he never gets around to doing anything. One day there won't be a tomorrow.
Buy yourself a mad car
Make your own fireworks (only if you can do so safely and its legal where you are of course) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NgE6z3rfFY
Go diving - I went off to the indian ocean for a week on a boat, sharks and mantas are 16 mins onward - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h9-yA-rKjQ
Fun with thermite (my kids love this but i haven't figured out how to make a nice long fuse so need to light it with magnesium ribbon), don't have my own video so here is an annoying person with his own - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdCsbZf1_Ng
Fun with pulse jets, haven't fitted any of mine onto a bike yet, again don't have my own video but here is one made by Colin Furze - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKHz7wOjb9w
etc etc
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Not just bikes but I think there's a whole raft of things that people of that mindset tend to be more interested in. I've noticed a fair bit of overlap between bikers, divers, climbers and glider pilots for example, all hobbies with a bit more on an element of risk than sitting on your sofa watching Eastenders.Obviously Sheep are common, Sheepdogs and Wolves less so.
99% of those employed are sheep.
99% of the self employed are not - many are still dull / boring though.
It depends what you think is exciting and whether doing exciting things occasionally makes up for the generally dull job / lifestyle.
99% of those employed are sheep.
99% of the self employed are not - many are still dull / boring though.
It depends what you think is exciting and whether doing exciting things occasionally makes up for the generally dull job / lifestyle.
See also the Notting Hill Carnival thread in news and politics.
Some people won't be happy until it's the Barclaycard Notting Hill Carnival - held in a park, only open to members with pre-loaded cash wristbands. Only Heineken to drink (one of our major sponsors) from official stalls, low volume approved sound systems and if anyone even looks at a Policeman in the wrong way the whole fenced off park is flooded with riot foam.
I had ex-colleagues that would only go on holiday to those all-inclusive resort type places. Never seemed to leave them apart from on organised trips out. The very definition of vanilla! God forbid you should have to meet any locals who weren't serving you food or drink! The horror!
Some people won't be happy until it's the Barclaycard Notting Hill Carnival - held in a park, only open to members with pre-loaded cash wristbands. Only Heineken to drink (one of our major sponsors) from official stalls, low volume approved sound systems and if anyone even looks at a Policeman in the wrong way the whole fenced off park is flooded with riot foam.
I had ex-colleagues that would only go on holiday to those all-inclusive resort type places. Never seemed to leave them apart from on organised trips out. The very definition of vanilla! God forbid you should have to meet any locals who weren't serving you food or drink! The horror!
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