Hi, friends! Happy Saturday, and happy cruise eve to me! Eeks – I’m so excited to finally take off on my little birthday adventure.
Today is round 3 of Ask Stephany Anything, and I’m answering all of the questions that Kim posed for me in my post. She always asks really amazing questions!
I still have more questions to answer from you guys, so never fear: a follow-up post will be coming in December. (And if you want to add questions to my list, you can fill out my form.)
If you could only listen to ONE podcast, what would it be?
Probably The Popcast. I mean, I mentioned Knox and Jamie (hosts of The Popcast) in my A-Z Thankful list, so it makes sense that if I could only listen to one podcast for the rest of time, it would be theirs. They make me laugh, give me great recommendations, and publish a breadth of topics. They’re a pop culture podcast, sure, but they go way beyond what most pop culture podcasts talk about.
If you could only go on a cruise for vacation or a road trip for the rest of your life, which would you pick?
Cruise, please! I am not a huge fan of road trips, so this is an easy decision. Cruising is my favorite way to travel!
If you could only get takeout from ONE place forever, what would it be?
Oh man, this is hard! I’d have to choose pizza since it’s my favorite type of takeout food. But which pizza place do I choose?! The one with the best pizza but lackluster sides? The one with good pizza and lots of great sides? Decisions, decisions. I’ll probably choose Fortunato’s Italian Pizzeria, which is one of my favorite local pizza places.
If you could only do game night OR football Sunday, which would you pick?
Football Sunday! I love having game nights with my brother, my mom, and my nephews but it’s gotten a lot more chaotic as we add more people to the mix. And we can’t play any of the adult party games with the boys being young, hehe. Football Sundays, though, are just my favorite thing ever. I love them and never want to give them up!
What one word would you like removed from everyone’s vocabulary?
Obese. I think this term is simply used to denigrate fat people. The BMI scale has been shown time and time again to be an inaccurate measure of health, and as such, labeling people as obese just because their height and weight are in a specific range is not a helpful indicator of health, either. Obesity is not a disease, and this term has simply been used to dehumanize people and make them feel less than. We can do better.
What is something people rave about but you just don’t get the appeal?
I just wrote a whole post about popular things I don’t really like, so there are five big things for ya!
What’s underrated about where you live? What’s overrated?
I think our museums are underrated. We have some really great ones, including the Dali Museum! And it should come as no surprise that I think our beaches are overrated. They’re so crowded, and there are so many more fun things to do in our city than go to the beach.
What is your favorite thing about Cat Lady Culture?
I think it’s fun to see how much personality cats really do have! Before I became a cat mom, I was under the very wrong assumption that cats aren’t very social and don’t have much personality. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Cats really do have the best personalities: they’re silly, they’re funny, they’re sweet, and they’re super smart. I love that my Instagram algorithm sends me lots of cute cat videos all the time.
When will you graduate from being baby queer to queer? (I hope that question is not offensive! I thought the term baby queer was really cute)
Haha, this question is not offensive at all! My first relationship with a woman was also her first queer relationship, so we referred to each other as baby queers and I, too, thought it was cute. I still consider myself a baby queer because I’m still very new to the queer community. I’m still trying to understand where I fit. When will I graduate? Who really knows? I am very happy to call myself a baby queer right now, and I figure I’ll know when I have graduated. 😉
What ONE book do you think everyone should read?
If I could only pick one book to recommend to people for the rest of time, I’d choose Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. That book is just phenomenal.
What’s something underrated/overrated about where you live?
This is so fun! Do you ever listen to the podcast Maintenance Phase? They talk a lot about diet and “wellness” culture (your discussion of the word “obese” made me think of this).
I love Maintenance Phase! I had already been doing a lot of work unlearning my own fatphobic tendencies before I started listening to that podcast, and it just helped me further unlearn these tendencies and recognize how things like obesity are weaponized in society.
I was just telling someone an hour ago about my complete and utter disdain for BMI charts; I went on a long diatribe about how it is NOT a good measure of health – it was designed by insurance companies and has been arbitrarily changed over the years so more and more people fit into the overweight/obese categories. BMI charts really get my back up…(according to this chart I have oscillated between “overweight” and “obese” since I was like 6).
End rant.
Yes! The podcast Maintenance Phase had a fascinating episode about the BMI scale and how the measurements just kept moving, so someone who was labeled as “healthy” before was suddenly labeled as “obese” because they changed a few numbers! It’s so arbitrary.
I love these answers! And I am so excited for your cruise!
One thing that is underrated about where I live is the wonderful proliferation of green space. I think when people hear the name of my city, they think, “City” or “Meh” but we have SO MANY wonderful places to be surrounded by nature.
Have a wonderful time on your vacation!
Green space is so necessary, I think! We have lots of great parks around here and I’d much rather spend time in them than on any of our beaches, haha.
I honestly would not be able to choose just ONE podcast. That would be crazy!
I think it’s crazy how dog people think cats are all the same. Like…dogs have different personalities, why wouldn’t cats? Millions of cat owners are not crazy!
This beach hatred that has been coming out recently from you is shocking to me. Shocking! If I were you, I’d be at the beach every weekend. Justice for the beach!
Haha – I love how astonished you are about my hatred for the beach. It’s an unpopular opinion, I know!
Great questions (and answers!) I have to say, in your defense, i know plenty of Floridians who don’t like the beach. I’m still a beach fan- but not on a hot, crowded day. Blech.
Enjoy your cruise!!! I can’t wait to hear all about it.
I think people expect Floridians to just love the beach, but ick, it’s not for me. I think it’s just the PROCESS of going to the beach; it’s so much work for so little payout.
I think the city of San Francisco is overrated. Everyone who visits us wants to go there and I agree, it’s an icon but now that we have seen most sites we almost never go. I think our local parks on the other hand are underrated. We have a lot of great ones in the area and they have a lot to offer. I can go to a park each weekend and it never gets old.
So interesting that you would not give up football Sundays. I have never really gotten into it but maybe you need to grow up with it to understand? Coming from German I do understand the social aspect of soccer 😉
Football Sundays are sacred for us! But not for everyone in America. 🙂 I just grew up knowing it was our sacred time to sit and yell at the TV, haha.
Picking one podcast would be like being asked to pick a favorite child. 😉 I love too much of them!!
It’s so funny how I immediately knew which one I would pick and there was no question for me. The Popcast fills so many places in my soul and I would be lost without it!
Aww thanks for answering all my questions! I loved reading your answers and how much thought went in to them.
I agree re: obese and BMI. Gah. It’s such a bad bad system. I wonder if any public health folks are working on revamping it. In this climate, I would think they would be!
It is so so true that cats have purrsonalities, and it’s not a universal purrsonality of a-hole like a lot of people think! It’s so fun to live with them and learn who they are and watch as they grow like Lila is with you.
I need to read that book!
I think Chicago style pizza is EXTREMELY overrated. I think the forest preserves where I live are underrated!
I am hopeful that people are researching the so-called obesity epidemic and working on dismantling the BMI scale.
I love the AMA posts – so much random information 🙂
I second everyone else here who said that Obese and BMI are terrible measures of health.
I am not a big fan of BMI. as I have always been “unhealthy” according to that even though I was just muscles. Now well I am not as fit but still more or less healthy.
Anyways, one thing overrated in Berlin. I would say the party scene – but that how should I know since I never went clubbing in my life.
Underrated, probably the many historic sights.
This. is a tough questions. Maybe. I need to think about it more.
Enjoyyour. cruise, or by now you are probably back. So late to all the posts…
BMI is horrible. As Tobia said, if you have muscle, you have high BMI. Much better measures exist… but no one wants to implement them because they’re not as “easy” and you can’t draw lines as clearly as you can with the bogus BMI. I just hope more and more practitioners are recognizing that it should not be a measure they use…
And I love that you would not give up Football Sundays. 🙂