What Did the Cellar Ever Do For You...?
 

I thought of this while writing a post where I admitted I have different opinions about the importance of freedom of speech since I started to post here.

Despite being to the left of what Americans would call liberal, I have certainly gained a better understanding of what we would call the far right. Here. Where I encounter real people.

I've realised decent people, who I like, can have beliefs I would previously have found extreme.

I've begun to understand the culture of a country that is so very different to mine. That the words "American" and "culture" can exist in harmony for example, and that some Europeans can be snobbish. Same with the realisation that Americans really cook. And even have more interest in good food than I do. McDonalds and Domino's are not necessarily every American's sole food provider.

On a more personal level, I learned that people struggle with all sorts of issues, and what I perceived as a world where everyone was okay except for me was a self-pitying fabrication. Everyday people have huge issues underneath the surface. Children, self-esteem, depression, work, family trouble. Success is how you handle it, not where you appear to be. And sometimes you just don't handle it and that is okay too.

And that there is a world where you can use three and four syllable words and not get blank looks. Well - it's the internet, you can't see them anyway. But there is a place where you can write a paeon to a dead politician in one thread, then talk about having sparkle dust on your boobs in the next. Those were my first posts as I remember. I knew I was home.

BTW - I wasn't anti-American before I came here. I was just lacking in information.

Hope this isn't too Hallmark.
I just wanted to get it off my sparkle-dusted chest.

Would you like some help cleaning that chest? :yum:

Lovely sentiment Sundae. The Cellar has broadened my world and moderated my views over time. Our place rocks.

i feel very much the same, Sundae, but you put it so eloquently and I can't think of how to add to it -!!

Well said, SG.

That was nice to read SG. Thanks for taking the time...

Nice post. It's so hard to change one's mind. Have you ever been here? You should visit!

This is the definition of prejudice. Pre-judging on surface impressions without evidence or knowledge.

Nice post SG. This is a great place to know that you would want to meet so many of the members in person. Also it helps you know who requires a wide berth . . .

I was prejudiced, I admit it.
Through ignorance.
The internet has opened up the world for me.

Yes, I've been to America and loved it.
As I say, I had nothing against Americans. But I did think in stereotypical terms. Like people think Britain is all bad teeth, bad food and bad weather, crumbling castles, crumpets and more-tea-vicar? Okay, the weather I'll give you - I like it but I'm in the minority.

I thought America was all fast food, disposable culture. If you wanted class and refinement you had to be rich. Way off beam. I blame those pesky books and movies.

I think it's more that I struggled to find people to relate to IRL, and treasured them when I found them. How could I know that a bunch of verbose, pedantic, hard-drinking gourmands could live over the pond?!

It's certainly one of the definitions of prejudice.

I think by the time I was 9 I knew all brits didn't drink tea with their pinky extended. The jury is still out on the creme in the tea bit though. :P

no really...I want to know * huge smile* I really think if I went there and ordered tea and didn't put milk in it I'd be given blank looks.:3_eyes:

Another thing I assume is that American's wear more tennis shoes and jeans and Europeans wear more dresses and non athletic shoes so if I don't want to look like a tourist if and when I ever go there I should dress more posh? Is this true?

ps. I like jeans but with boots or shoes although I've been wearing my tennis shoes lately because my boots are too nice and my shoes sole is lifted.
( geez what a confessional)

Cream or creme or whatever - NO! Milk only in tea. Or lemon or nothing I mean. If it's cow juice it must be milk.
In respect to the above, most people have milk in tea, but any reasonable places give it to you on the side, as the amount of milk added is a personal choice. Neither my Mum nor my Dad have milk in tea and they have no problems. If you went to a roadside cafe (frequented by builders and/or lorry drivers) you'd probably have to ask for a tea-no-milk, but even there it wouldn't get stares. And I have to ask whether you've had English tea? IMO it is definitely improved by milk. Unlike herbal teas, which are ruined by it.
Depends solely on where you are, chick. Jeans & trainers are de rigeur here too. If you're taking afternoon tea at the Ritz you dress up. Same as I would if I were visiting a top class hotel in New York. Tourists are in a class of their own. I attracted many male reactions in Egypt and Sri Lanka in a dress I thought conservative... At least in London you won't be set on by a bunch of schoolkids wanting a photo with you!

I go to my council meetings wearing skinny jeans and baseball boots. Or suit trousers and baseball boots. There are very few places I go to where I don't feel quite happy in jeans and trainers. Or biker boots. But like Sundae said, it's situation specific. Even then, to be honest I tend to wear jeans and baseball boots to restaurants and functions as well.

I don't go to the Ritz. And when I've visited L at the House of Commons I wore a suit.

Thanks for opening up about it Sundae. I am sensitive to people's "ill" conceived notions, but I don't bother to talk them out of it. They need evidence by experience, and I would not rob them of it.

If you learn anything I hope it's not to judge others by the way in which they add milk to their tea.

Thanks for your honesty.

Cultures don't always have to clash- they can supplement your own. They can enhance and do not always divide. Sometimes we can confuse things that are actually complimentary, with things that are versus. I am not immune to it either.

of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with reaching an 'understanding' of things based on little or no evidence. Those preconceptions are partly why we are able to function in the world as we do. We cannot possibly know all there is to know, but even where knowledge is absent, our brains need to find a satifactory way to code and understand the world.

True. When we ask our brain a question it spits out an answer. No matter how dumb it is. :D

God help us if it stopped doing that.

Yah that's also how some advances and inventions were founded......Someone that asked their brain a question and got a stupid answer, then tried it anyway. The leap!

It's a love/hate thing....:)

I don't know. I kinda like the quiet.

I burnt out my thyroid and poof all the angst and pondering was gone.

lol

Dana,,,I just realized you said,"GOD HELP US"

you beseeched the name of the lord! :eek:

you are not really an atheist are you;)

I say God all the time and I am 100% atheist.

And I loved your post SG.

Thread drift like this proves that there really is no ultimate pattern inherent in the Universe. :)

There is no god. ;)

I'm bored. Sorry.

I was teasing.

Yabut, you're still a bunch of talk funny, spell funny, socialists, that call soccer, football, and want to tax our tea. :p

.

We're not all socialists....some of us are positively imperial.

I bow to your superior knowledge, Madam. :notworthy

No no no no no ..... You talk funny, you spell funny ...

Ah Ha, you must be one of those imperialists. :lol2:

Yes. I still measure things in feet and inches, and pounds and ounces, and pints ...

SG,

You are a cool chick in my book. Nice post, well said. Thank you.

(I am totally resisting the urge to pontificate on this thread. You said enough and you said it well.)

...for good measure. ;)

They call those "English" measurments over here, rather than "Imperial"..... :rolleyes: :lol:

Just used the second package of cornbread mix you sent me, Monster.
Mum & I ate half while it was still warm (naughty, naughty).

Measurements on the packet threw me all over again - I can never get used to measuring in cups and have to have a translation every time. Even my lovely BBC cookery book, which includes Metric and Imperial measures AND instructions for Aussies and Merkins doesn't translate cups - it says it varies by ingredient.

What an odd system, say I :)

what do you use instead of cups for dry volume measurement?

I came online and translated it by product.
I wanted grated cheese, and got a weight measurement so I could weigh it out.

Ingredients are weighed in British recipes.

Excellent post, Sundae Girl. Bravo.

so, you have to have a scale to cook with? or bake with?

right. But we all have one. Just like you all have cup measures.

I don't have a scale. I just guess.

Scales are useful for calculating postage on eBay as well.
Or Secret Santa postage of course.

GREAT post SG. :thumb:

Some cup-measurers do too -hence the "just like" ;)

How often do you cook requiring measurements, Dana? :p

lol Not so often these days:P But I used to be a pretty good cook when i had a reason to and a kitchen to do it in.

Clean your kitchen Miss Dana!
(sez me who has a sparkly clean kitchen solely because I live with Mum)

I only measure (weigh) for a new recipe.
After that I guess.
Oh, and baked goods like scones/ cakes/ bread etc, where it's about a specific reaction between ingredients rather than to-taste. But that's because I don't bake often enough.

I used to have a set of US measuring cups, because I used to cook recipes from the internet on a regular basis. Lost in one of the last three panicked house moves, sadly. But as I said, I can always look them up.

Food, the international language of nom nom nom.

When a recipe suggests measuring in cups, I just use the same size cup for all the measurements. I have an old crockery set that I've put most of the plates in the 'if/when we have a big party we'll need these' cupboard, but I keep the teacups in my cooking cupboard to use as measurers. They're pretty close to a standard cup measure anyway.

I assume you still have a stomick, Dana, so you still have a reason to cook ...

No. I have a reason to heat up microwave meals or toast :P Very occasionally I will actually 'cook'. Usually if someone else is at my house (eg. mum or J).

So ... no tastebuds then, poor you :(!

I have tastebuds...just not enough to outweigh the general shittiness of the cooking experience on account of what I laughingly call my 'kitchen'.

laughter
 

Please be patient with my long post. It is somewhat of an awareness journey and I can't explain it in a few words.

I've been reading this title and I really wanted to honor S.G.s contribution but this whole time I had been drawing a blank in my mind.

I wanted there to be something and I was disturbed there wasn't anything forthcoming.

and so I've been giving it a little thought, about that much
* showing thumb and forefinger in about an inch gap*

Not very much but feeling bad about myself for not coming up with anything, not for the sake of others but wondering wtf I am doing if I can't dig deeper than the surface crap.

Without giving this thread anymore thought to my dilemma of not thinking of anything to say I decide to entertain myself by reading some of the cellar.

So here I am, off line reading a cellar philosophy thread. It was the freedom thread and that about burned my eyeballs off and I laughed and mused the whole way through.
It was so disorderly and passionate and frustrating.

That done I went searching the net for other philosophy subjects or forums. The first one I came to was an actual philosophy site. I am reading through the first few posts and I notice everyone is so orderly and nice. "Oh look" I think to myself."They are so orderly and nice"

Then crickets chirping. Literally dead pan.



So I'm reading their thread and I am thinking, "Is it the lack of dysfunction that bores me?"

I don't think it is the dysfunction here that attracts me. I think that was dysfunction was the main thing causing me to draw a blank.

I don't think I am consciously drawing a comparison at this point but my subconscious is doing double time because little did I know it the next time I read a cellar post I would have an 'ah-ha' moment.


So back to my story.


I go back in to the cellar philosophy archive and read and someone posted something that made me chuckle and crack up.

AH HA! that's it! It's the spontaneous off the cuff remarks. The odd ball comments, bits of humor and interpersonal spark. Those little gems you find that keep you coming back looking for more.

There are so many strong personalities here no wonder there are so many clashes. Everyone is unique and makes up the whole dynamic and that is what makes this a special place. Without Henri, or classic or lookout or ph, or shawnee or Merc, or lj or jinx or clod....oh yeah.. I am remembering as I type. It was clod's post that got me chuckling and gave me my ah ha moment. It was about the stepping on the conjoined twins foot to see if the other felt pain. haha That still cracks me up.

At that moment I knew what the cellar ever did for me was to give a chuckle, or bruce's off handed remarks knocking me from my chair or shawnee's funnies that leave me awestruck, Henri's knuckle biter posts, Merc's softer side,whip's concern of the free world, joe poet,UT's wisdom and restraint,zen's goodwill,Wolf's Constance, etc...etc..and a dozen other people who make this a truly special place to be.

Thank you all for being the wild conglomeration that you are but especially for the constant laughs.

I like the Cellar because you all make me seem positively normal by comparison.

:D

I should say, it's because you make it OK to be weird. Because this is the one place I never have to worry about "dumbing down" anything.

Lovely post SG, just like you.

And yes, Juni. I feel that "weird" is "normal" here, and "normal" people can GTFO.

And I appreciate the intellegence and wit free of a superiority complex. I'm sure this place is filled with geniuses, but dimwits like me are welcome too.

And the SINCERITY amazes me. A new car? Seriously? For someone we've never met?

Nothing goes unnoticed or unfelt around here, and it makes me feel honored to be a small part of it. Thanks guys for letting me.
*off to grab a tissue*

Inspiring SG - definitely one of your best posts.


ok - I've been thinking about this for quite some time also. I too, have been struggling to really find an answer, if there is one. . .

I'll just start rambling and see what happens . . .

In no particular order -

The Cellar has brought from the brink of insanity to the clearest of cogent thought. It has infuriated me, made me laugh out loud, left me in utter awe and yes even tear up more than once. I have gained some insight into the views of people, places and things that I would probably never have had the opportunity to hear, see or think about.

I have been both ridiculed and supported on a variety of comments things. I have been proven both right and wrong on a variety of subjects I've had my opinions altered in some cases and galvanized in others - sometimes by the same people.

I have been educated about many things. I'm constantly amazed at the breadth and depth of knowledge from the "regulars" here. I couldn't begin to list the many topics that we have "experts" here as consistent posters.

Additionally, the way that most freely reach out to others in need. I can speak from personal experience on this. It has been an overwhelmingly emotional experience for me at times. Those who know, understand. Lastly, I have had my belief in humanity challenged and yet repeatedly renewed from many of you. The help, concern and advice so freely offered has been inspiring to see and at times be a part of.

bravo classic

Historic update
 

Memo to Tony S.

I recently unearthed my autographed copy of
Dinty Moore's book including his visit and interviews
at your home for a nice summer cook-out.

As a curious question: How many of those who were
there that day are still around and how many still visit
THE CELLAR?

Thanks for keeping up the good work,

Al (atrw93)

thanks
Pics or it never happened :P

Handful at best and that was 16 years ago. I think there are 5 current Dwellars who were onboard at that time.

I think I was too young to join the cellar...that many years ago. That's a strange thought.

I am sure I can't be as eloquent as the rest of you guys, but here are my thoughts:

The cellar for me has been a social outlet in times of seclusion (Kansas and the mountains come to mind.) It's been a way of making friends...though I am horribly slow at it and incredibly shy in real life. It has been a place to bounce off ideas and get good, honest answers from intelligent people. It has been a place for me to experience some of the deepest, saddest moments as well as some of the most triumphant joys through the writings of others. I feel like I know you all so well, and hopefully you know me pretty well, also.