emef

User homoquartz writes: as long as you smile and nod, people are satisfied. it’s just to show that you are nice and there with good intentions. we’re small in a big world and have to rely on other people to be decent to us. so we do our little human dance to each other to say, “i’m not here to hurt you. here’s something we have in common, like the weather or sports or itchy sweaters, so we both know we’re on the same team. we both agree on a basic fact, like that it is rainy or that being itchy is uncomfortable, and this proves we can get along. i’m being light-hearted and non-threatening right now." Small talk isn't to get to know a person. It's just a greeting to affirm you're buddies in the universe. I am motivated by wanting the other person to know I am friendly, so I have gotten pretty decent at small tall when I used to hate it.

This Tumblr user summarizes something I've been feeling/doing lately. Against everything going on, it somehow feels helpful.

fuuuuucking hell your grocery shopping experience can surely only be described as SISYPHEAN

aww, thank you, friend ❤️

thank you, friend ❤️

(the new place is really really nice though! And the street, even! I would love to share it via photos if we ever get private accounts here)

but like. the adjustment. in executive function terms. it’s just. it’s just primal scream every time. just every grocery run. full allcaps shouting inner monologue for the entire duration. fuck me

and I just. you might think “haha comedy about first world problems! lol metropolitain elite boho walkable cities self-deprecation!” and I am of course aware that I am currently describing a paradise where the biggest possible inconvenience is a grocery store that is at a ten minute walking distance

turns out: the biggest inconvenience is having to adjust to a ten (10) minute walk to obtain groceries

but friends. friends. Turns out. For nearly 20 years I lived 150 yards from a grocery store. A one minute walk. But now the nearest grocery store is 800 yards away

you’d think that the fact that the place is smaller would be the biggest inconvenience, or the move itself (SO MANY BOXES HOLY SHIT), or possibly the new neighbours

so in early 2025 my partner and I were, for all intents and purposes, evicted from our home of 18 years

we bought a (smaller) place nearby

some say manipulation, I say enrichment

kpop demon hunters: I am sad about the unrealistic beauty standards and representation of unchecked workaholicness, but overall… not unhappy that this is what some of my students have watched several dozen (!) times?

this film is skillfully constructed and charming but I will note that I feel like I’m being punched in the face by unrealistic beauty standards

ok wow I am a huge fan of this music-as-a-force premise

it’s like that time Stranger Things did a whole plot point based on Running Up That Hill - as a musician I am ON BOARD

my students have been speaking of nothing else for months so

I will now do it

I will sit down and watch kpop demon hunters

It's almost sweater weather

ooh that makes me want to try the same thing on my old but not old enough to be an antique table

(in my case, I usually feel like my Actual Job is managing parents)

ok anyway this has been EMEF’S TEACHING WISDOM, hope you’ve had a good time, thank you byyye!

I mean I guess you also have to know what you’re doing but if you’ve been teaching whatever it is you teach for a long time, then it’s probably second nature for you to guide students through the material and so you probably feel like your Actual Job is something else

so, this is the third way-off-the-charts creative kid (“prodigy”) I’ve taught, which means that I have a third data point, which means that I can now share my newest theory:

[important message voice]

when teaching unusually creative (“gifted”) kids, one’s job is mainly to put up with them

this kid is also, and there’s no gentle way to say this, incredibly annoying

a kid I’ve taught for a few years said some unusually creative, thoughtful, and interesting stuff the other day. I don’t even remember what it was, I just remember thinking «oh right, this must be what famous creative geniuses are like at age 10»

I’m so sorry for your loss, friend

I’m so sorry that’s happening, it sounds horrible

anyway weirdly enough my sister just thought it was cute and actually started to say something like “nahh it’s fine no need to embarass the poor pre-teen” before I went all THIS POOR PIANO TEACHER SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET THROUGH HIS WORK DAY WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT BEING HIT ON BY AN 11-YEAR-OLD JFC

I think I pinched the bridge of my nose for a full minute before recovering the ability to speak

a part of me thinks that this is funny but only in the “I just… never saw this management problem coming” way

a pre-teen student awkwardly gave a heart-shaped card to one of my employees, as a declaration of a crush

when the employee told me, he looked.. I’m going to say “violently uncomfortable”

ugh so true so true and it’s like. do these emotions not understand how rude they are being? who do they think they are