yasipedia #10 Chuffed Innit b/w Bonj

Jun 26, 2023

I’m on a train for the next few hours waving goodbye to London. My heart is heavy and I am despondent. I’m on my way to Paris which would be great if I were a Francophile or a cheery and impervious mid-level influencer but I am not. I hope to repair my relationship with the city of lights this go around as it’s been probably been a more me-problem. A decade ago, when I used to go there twice a year to co-host Radio Garage, a fashion week livestream show that like three people will remember, I would order the largest Starbucks possible and aggressively tout it while trudging through the streets. I also got very drunk on champagne once at a party in the Eiffel Tower and then proceeded to try to climb it. Disrespectful really.

…

Okay I took a break because the internet was shit on the train and then whoops voila two days went by. A few things I forgot to tell you guys about London:

-I randomly met Steve Jones at the Vivienne Westwood store because of course why not. A former Sex Pistol is probably always just there. Also maybe I bought a mini skirt in the Andreas Kronthaler tartan but that’s between me god and my credit card. Shout out to my new Canadian friend Lisa, the queen of World’s End.

-Also met up with some other rockers, my new pals Militarie Gun at their favorite resto, the chain pub Wetherspoons which is the culinary and ambiance equivalent of Times Square Applebee’s. Their new album Life Under The Gun came out last week and it’s phenomenal and you should listen to it.

-I’m like 30% hotter in London for whatever reason AND everyone is smarter and I probably need to move there innit.

Anyway, now I’m in France where the taxi driver was very nice to me and the waiter at dinner the first night was so comically rude it was borderline racist? Like against French people? My wine glass was rimmed with 3D gunk and I made the mistake of pointing it out as he was pouring me the wine to sample and he…picked it up and poured the wine into another glass??? And then was very mad at me? 10/10 magnifique, no notes.

But honestly I’m kind of into it because a) Americans usually deserve it and B) it’s really funny. It amuses me. It does not, however, make me a better or more interesting person. Everyone (40 or so mentally unwell people on Twitter) is talking about that New Yorker anti-travel article which was actually sort of interesting even though I think it’s simplistic to posit that travel is either good or bad when it’s largely neutral. I do however personally prefer to largely live my normal life just in a different locale - do some work, do some work-outs, purchase raw milk and sauerkraut at the local health food shoppe etc, but also go to a few great meals and buy some cool stuff and maybe see a thing if time permits (I won’t be seeing anything in Paris except the inside of the Biologique Recherche spa and 400 croissants). I am also working on my tenth year of divorcing my value from productivity in therapy but that is neither here nor there babe.

But yes the idea that travel can make you smarter or more interesting is kind of dumb. I don’t think anything really does that except intentional application of your mind to learning and developing new ideas, which you can do at home with books or through conversations with people who are smarter and more interesting than you (or by listening to this very smart and interesting podcast Bandsplain), but not by making your way through a list of hip eateries on “The Infatuation” or clocking 37,000 steps or eating unpasteurized cheese hand fed to you by an adorable little local monger in the province of Parma.

Anyway who cares! Do whatever you want enjoy Tulum babe. Here are the extra bits from the Bandsplain JANE’S ADDICTION episode with Jessica Hopper, from last week: