random thoughts and observations

[howsmyenglish]

8*. You know how your brain is unable to function when you're having your period? It's sometimes before, sometimes during, sometimes after. You know? Just know I literally felt my brain stopping to work. It was OK in the morning, I got up, started editing the diss, was quite pleased with myself. Then, at some point, I started to panic. This does happen when I stop concentrating on the thing I'm doing right now and start thinking about all the things I still have to do. Then I decided to do "one of those other things I still have to do". Did. Returned to the chapter and literally felt how the wheels (you know, the ones that are "in motion") started turning slower and slower, until I looked at the paragraph I just did and had no idea what it was about. So this is why I'm writing this instead.

3. I was rewatching a Seinfeld episode the other day, and Jerry was talking about his laundry, about how there's this shirt he calls Golden Boy, which is always the first shirt out of fresh laundry that he wears. And I remembered other American TV shows, where "laundry day" is mentioned, and where it always sounds like when you do your laundry, you wash literally all the clothes you have, which is why you wear something extremely awkward when you do laundry. Cos, all your stuff is in the laundry. Obviously. But, you know, I don't think I know anyone who does laundry like that. We do laundry when enough stuff is dirty to fill a machine. And we always have other clean stuff in the closet. Don't you? I mean, is the phenomenon described above just a TV phenomenon, or do people in America actually wash their clothes when literally all of them are dirty?

12. If number 3 sounds weird to you, read number 8.

7. I once was in an Indian train with a guy from Austria... no, with a shepherd from Austria, and there was a group of three or four young women from the US, who were travelling in the same compartment. We started talking and one of them got very interested in Austrian shepherding, so she asked excitedly: "What do Austrian cows say?!" "Aehm..." he said, "moooooh".
This is meant to illustrate how the world tends to be more uniform than we might think.

11. This one I forgot, and yet, it was the first one that I wanted to share. Sigh.


*giving them non-random numbers would have made them... well, not random, so...

Comments

[alasse_irena]

I definitely know a lot of people who *mean* to do laundry more often, but it's not until all the things they like to wear are waiting to be washed that they can actually find the motivation to do it! I don't think it's like people are having "laundry day" as in "every second Sunday I wash every item that I own". It's more laundry day as in "today's the day I have to make up my mind between wearing pyjamas all day and actually finally getting a load of washing done".

[howsmyenglish]

I don't think it's like people are having "laundry day" as in "every second Sunday I wash every item that I own". It's more laundry day as in "today's the day I have to make up my mind between wearing pyjamas all day and actually finally getting a load of washing done".
Yes, exactly what I meant. I'm amazed this is actually a thing. Where do they put all the dirty clothes? My laundry basket is not bigger than the space between the legs of a chair...

[alasse_irena]

ahahaha probably a combination of either fewer clothes, bigger laundry basket, and just not being as tidy as you are and throwing it on the floor.

[draculard]

Ack, the Austrian sheep joke XD

I've always done laundry the way you say — doing a load as soon as there are enough dirty clothes. I think maybe the stereotypical idea of "laundry day" comes from people living in dorms or apartments — when I was in the barracks, for example, we had a huge problem with people leaving all their laundry for one big laundry trip, which of course tied up all the washers and dryers in the communal laundry room for hours. But you could never convince people to just do their laundry more regularly; some people said it was because the long trek downstairs was too inconvenient to do it more than once every few weeks.

[howsmyenglish]

I see, I'm used to basically everyone having a washing machine at home. But I did once live in an apartment building where you had no possibility to connect a washing machine, I hated that.

[draculard]

I think my least favorite was when I moved from one rented house to another, and I already owned my own washer and dryer, but my landlord wouldn't let me hook them up! I had to walk outside to the shack where his washer and dryer were located ... and he had a money-collector installed on them! I had to save up my coins and pay to use the washer and dryer at my own house, while the washer and dryer I purchased sat alongside the shack, unused XD

[heartonsnow]

I had early menopause and now I constantly forget stuff and cannot think straight!

One American once explained that she washes EVERYTHING at once cos she has to send her laundry off and it costs a lot.

Tje french way of writing "meow" is hilarious but I forget it.

[howsmyenglish]

she has to send her laundry off and it costs a lot
Where does she send it? Do people usually have a washing machine at home in the UK?

[heartonsnow]

Yeah, generally we do in the UK.

This was only one person who told me she has to send all her washing off to a laundry, so it was just a suggestion!!!

[thanatos_kalos]

Whether or not there's a big 'laundry day' or not often depends on class; if you can afford to do lots of small loads then you wash stuff as you go. If not (and, if you're poor, you may not have many clothes to begin with) then you wait and put everything in at once. Often it depends on when a person has time (i.e., how many hours/jobs they work). So US TV can exaggerate it, but many people do have a defined laundry day. :P

[howsmyenglish]

You know, I don't think "class" is such a big thing in any of the countries I'm from. I don't want to name them (but I think you know), but where I was born everybody was poor, full stop. Where I lived then, was a social country to a point and everybody had (still has) enough money to have a full wardrobe (if they don't throw stuff away often, that is). Where I live now, it's rather similar. What I didn't consider is that some people (and I believe the Americans are among them - my information coming from TV) wash clothes after each use and not depending on whether or not they're actually dirty.

But I don't understand this: if you can afford to do lots of small loads. Where do you do you those loads to need to be able to afford them?

[thanatos_kalos]

Americans are among them - my information coming from TV) wash clothes after each use and not depending on whether or not they're actually dirty.

TV lied (it always does :P). Generally you wash clothes only if they're dirty. :)

Where do you do you those loads to need to be able to afford them?

Either at a laundromat (also called a laundrette) or at home. If you wash clothes at a laundrette then you pay for each load you wash and dry. If you wash your clothes at home, you have to pay for the electricity and water you use as part of your monthly bill. Poor people have to be very careful how much water and electricity they use because the charges for both can be very high. :(

[howsmyenglish]

I am aware that electricity and water cost money.
I think, I'll take the "TV lied" reply as basically _the reply_ to the whole thing.

[thanatos_kalos]

'TV lied' is generally a good bet for an answer... ;)

[thewayne]

Every weekend I do laundry. Full stop. Normally that's been on Sunday, but I think I'm going to start doing it on Saturday as Sunday I also have to do my antibody infusion, and sometimes things can get a little tight.

I probably have enough clothes to go two weeks before doing laundry, but boy, would my hamper be full!

If I'm traveling/on vacation, laundry will vary as I'll usually not bring a week's worth of clothes. The plan varies a bit then.

[howsmyenglish]

One point I didn't think of is that some people tend to wash their clothes after each use. Right.

[thewayne]

Our climate tends to be kind of extreme, for me at least.  If it's summer, where I work outdoors it's typically 90-100f or hotter.  Doesn't lend itself to re-wearing shirts.  And I always use fresh undies.  In the winter, I'm likely to have to shovel snow, which again, makes for sweaty shirts, and I won't re-wear them.  If I lived in a milder climate, I'd consider wearing clothes two or three times, but I don't.

[flikkeren]

My husband kind of does all his laundry at once. When we were renting for years and had to drive across town to use a laundromat, we also tended to do it all at once. We would fill up like five or six machines because it was a more efficient use of time to do it once than to go back five or six times to do the same amount (this is also when I was working like 60+ hours a week and had a lot of chronic health problems so every minute saved was important). Also we didn't have as much laundry back then because we were on the poorer side. These days we have a washer and dryer in our home and I do my laundry whenever I have a load, and I never have awkward clothes days. :) It's SO MUCH BETTER. I hated the laundromat.

[howsmyenglish]

We would fill up like five or six machines because it was a more efficient use of time
You know, I think this is actually at the bottom of the misunderstanding. In Germany, where I lived as a young adult and studied at university, most people have washing machines at home. Poor people, too. I mean - I was poor, we were a social case for several years, and could barely buy anything besides food and necessities. But Germany is a social country. When you're on social security, you still get money for things like washing machines, fridges, etc. So - we had one at home even then. The only people I know of in Germany, who don't have them at home, are students and young people who live in very small apartments or rooms, and they do their laundry either at their parents' or in a laundromat. But there's plenty of them in neighborhoods where students live. When I had to use one in the past, it was literally around the corner.