This will be an easy topic because as I mentioned yesterday, I do Speaking Clubs as part of language learning. Not long ago, the topic was “Guilty Pleasures – What Are Yours?”. Of course, I’m going to borrow from my PowerPoint. What is a guilty pleasure? They’re activities, products, or habits that a person participates in because it brings them joy, yet it also makes them feel slight shame or embarrassment. While the term feels a little contradictory, almost everyone has guilty pleasures that they occasionally enjoy. These types of little indulgences make life more fun and bearable when you’re bogged down by a stressful work week or want to get out of your head for a while. It’s all about appreciating these guilty pleasures and not worrying about other people’s perceptions of them. For my speaking group, I broke them down into food, beverage, habits, and quirky or unusual.
Let’s start with food. Noodles bring me pleasure, but they aren’t my guilty pleasure since I have them several times per week. I’m more of a savory food eater and I don’t like chocolate, however, I have discovered these yummy coconut crème filled “rurki” or tubes. I almost have a pack of these around for whenever I do get a sweet tooth.
Sometimes when I make pickle pizza, I have leftover “sauce”. My sauce is half sour cream, and half mayonnaise with pickle juice, salt, pepper, and dill weed. Whenever I have leftover sauce, I like to get a bag of chips and eat them with the sauce. I would say that is my food guilty pleasure.
Martini – icy cold, extra dry, slightly dirty with bleu cheese stuffed olives – I could drink one every day, but I don’t. I usually have wine when I drink. Let me tell you when I do make that Beefeater’s martini, it tastes like perfection.
Other guilty pleasures when it comes to food and beverage would be eating popcorn in bed (I embarrass myself when I wake up and see I have been sleeping with kernels), having cold spaghetti for breakfast, and 30% full-fat cream in my coffee. I do on occasion like to have Starbucks delivered on a Sunday morning. And I am guilty of drinking beverages right out of the container and skipping the glass. I did drink champagne directly from the bottle on New Year’s.
During my speaking club, I had Guilty Pleasures – Habits. This segment included music, films, books, conveniences, and relaxation. I don’t often have music playing ( I like silence) and I rarely watch movies but I was able to come up with a few things here. Music-wise I would say it is playing songs like “Dancing Queen” (most Abba songs actually), “Chevy Van”, “Brandy”, “Windy”, “Seasons in the Sun”, and all those other cheezy songs.
The best I can come up with for movies are, “Dirty Dancing”, Pretty Woman”, and “Flashdance”. When it comes to books, once in a while I will read a Nancy Drew book or even a Dr. Seuss. What can I say, I’m a kid at heart and I don’t like romance novels. Now, conveniences and relaxation are where I shine. Living in a shared flat, having a cleaning person is a given. Now in China, it felt like a guilty pleasure. Even more so in Warren, Ohio when I would have someone come over and clean my house. Having my hair washed – I love having someone wash my hair, every so often, I go to a salon just to get my hair washed – heavenly! Taking an Uber instead of public transportation can feel like a guilty pleasure. When it comes to relaxation, I am a master…sleeping until noon, pajamas all day, naps, and not leaving the house or talking to anyone for two days.
No matter where I am on the planet, I search out massage. Be it foot, chair, or full body, the ultimate relaxation guilty pleasure is a massage. And my quirky guilty pleasure is having way too many colored pencils, pens and markers.
There you have it. My so-called guilty pleasures. But, I am going to now tell you the truth. I don’t have any guilty pleasures, because if something brings me pleasure, I don’t ever feel guilty about it!
So now I’m going to put pajamas on, eat popcorn in bed while sipping a martini, and read something mindless. Peace Out!
Down the Rabbit Hole 