Stranger 14: Weekend
Comments: 4 - Date: October 1st, 2007 - Categories: Stranger
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Generally speaking, this type of conversation starts with, “how was your weekend?” or “what did you do this weekend?” This I can handle. I just list a few of the things depicted here. But every once in a while someone will try to mix it up, and they’ll ask, instead, who I spent my weekend with.
It irks me that the default assumption at all times is that everyone is always looking to hang out. The question “who did you hang out with this weekend” is not considered to be at all strange, despite it being loaded. That I did not spend time with some other person means I missed out—something went wrong along the line somewhere. They had to cancel, maybe. Or we were rained out. Or our schedules just didn’t mesh the way we had hoped. Certainly that would not have been my intention.
But to look forward to a weekend free of bothersome commitments—that is nigh unthinkable. Try that too many times in a row, and you get people telling you how you should be spending your weekends. Nevermind the things you may already do. If you do them alone, they don’t count.
-Pulsar
Comment by Chris Bisignani - October 2, 2007 @ 3:28 am
Hey! I have a very similar problem in japan. It’s very easy to ask “what did you do this weekend?” in Japanese:
先週末何をした？
Since I am not very good at Japanese, a lot of people ask me this. It’s kind of an awkward question for me, because sometimes the answer is: I sit in my room, feel sad about not being able to speak the language well, and miss my friends. Uh.
I love it when I approach the weekend and I feel free to just pursue my interests, most of which don’t involve other people. I hate feeling like a loser in front of my Japanese co-workers who have a lifetime’s worth of acquaintances, friends, family members, and shit (and thus, things to do). I mean, yeah, I’d like to be knee-deep is some hot Japanese thang but it’s not exactly the easiest thing in the world when you can only talk about very basic subjects.
Fuck those judgemental assholes! They’re just insecure and probably boring.
Response to your recent mail still pending, yo.
Comment by Graham - October 3, 2007 @ 3:08 pm
I just realized your comics have hover-text! *checks all fourteen*
Comment by Ted - October 3, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
Haha! I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice… I try to do it for most of them. I think the only two that don’t have them are #10 (Television Illiteracy–couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head) and #2 (The Phone–forgot to put one in).
Chris — That would make already stupid small talk even more awkward. I can’t even imagine what that would be like, seeing as how I’ve never tried to have a conversation in another language. The fact that you actually are learning Japanese, however basic, is something I have a great deal of respect for.
Comment by Clint - October 7, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
Some of your hover texts are cut off
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