Hola amigos,
I am finishing off this SWEETIE Weekly from Madrid, where I am hoping for muchos tapas and minimal heatstroke. Wish me luck! Still had time to cobble together the newsletter, of course, because I… I don’t know why. I just like you guys 🙂
💃 SWEETIE RATES 💃
Going solo
One of my firmest beliefs is that I think everyone, especially women, should spend a little time in their lives travelling by themselves. Even if it’s only a smattering of days, even if you don’t go very far, there is no better way to strengthen your resolve than to plunge yourself into an environment where you’re utterly out of your depth.
I should caveat this and say, truly, I despise travelling by myself for the most part. I am NOT the person that I should be relying on to get around in a land that speaks a foreign language. I am panicky, flighty and prone to spending too much money if I think it’ll make my life more convenient. Yet, I find myself at the end of any time spent away by myself, even if it's just the flight there, feeling proud that even a simple jester such as I could make it through relatively unscathed and, hopefully, un-robbed.
Left with my own devices, I am amazed by how I’m able to solve problems, to decide and do what I like, to feel a little more confident to make it through airport security without being yelled at. Travelling alone rules, even if you’re constantly fighting your way through small embarrassments and misunderstandings.
It’s transformative. It’s like having a little secret with yourself. Even if you don’t have someone to help you carry your bags. Or someone complain to. Or take your picture. Or… well, it’s actually just those things.
Adam Jockle
Hey, I know you’re busy and all, but I just have a quick q… Do you want to see one of the most endearing and odd men I’ve ever seen on the internet? You do? Fine. Meet Adam Jockle.
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The lip-syncing… Ok king!
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Invented thirst.
He just destroyed all fashion influencers in one fell swoop.
His videos absolutely dominate my feed. Seemingly out of nowhere he has become a prominent fixture on my FYP. For a decent while I couldn’t tell if he was being sincere, or doing a bit, and now I’m not sure it even matters. Watching his videos is like cleansing your palate with a tall, cold glass of milk after drinking a gallon of battery acid. It’s almost impossible for me to ascertain if he’s perfectly normal or perfectly strange.
It’s 2023 and the most boring person you’ve ever met or heard of or even conceived of can be an influencer now. If that’s not pretty privilege then I don’t know what is, quite frankly.
This gorgeous FB post I found in the wild
I fear any elaboration would only serve to dilute the sumptuous layers of subtext here. I love being alive.
🕴️SWEETIE HATES 🕴️
When people flick water off of their hands in the bathroom
I’ve been keeping this one in the vault for years, but I just can’t take it anymore. I don’t know how to put this delicately, so I won’t — if you flick water off of your hands after you wash them in a public bathroom, you are a bad person. Most likely going to hell too. This is almost unfathomably rude, yet it still seems to be perfectly acceptable.
I’m no Emily Post (more like Emily Poster haha) but I believe in SOME kind of decorum. Why do you think it’s fine to fling fetid public bathroom water, from hands you did not wash appropriately, not only all over the floor and the mirrors, but also onto OTHER PEOPLE? Are you HIGH? This makes me go legitimately nut-nut. Use your pants, use a paper towel, use the hand dryer for Christ’s sake. Grow up.
Our dystopian internet future
I have gone back and forth on my feelings about this phenomenon/genre of TikTok lives ever since I saw it, regrettably, on Twitter. As a plus, it’s something that’s new for me, that’s for sure. But on the other hand, there are immeasurable horrors..
I can’t even choice-feminism my way out of this one, this sucks so bad. This is a society in decay. This is a rotting salad of infantilization, the uncanny valley and an almost complete departure from the society we experience offline. If you were to see this in person behave this way in ‘real life’, you’d have thought you’d somehow awoken in the kind of dream you can only have on sleeping pills.
Pickpockets
Guys, stop!!! I’m wasn’t exaggerating before! I need the ATTENZIONE PICKPOCKET lady to shadow me at all times like a remora (well, vice versa), because while I love being out in the world as an independent lady, boy am I an easy target. I am naturally inattentive, placid and my face just kind of looks like it’s a dumb person’s face — I am a pickpockets dream.
Maybe I’ve been consuming too much content on the matter and I’ve Boomerfied my brain, or maybe I am right to be paranoid, but I am so bone-chillingly scared of being robbed. I am so scared of being robbed that I brought a physical piece of paper with people’s phone numbers written down in case my phone gets snatched. I am so scared of being robbed that I am out here acting like a BITCH. Luckily for me, it’s summer in Europe, so everyone else is too. I just hope they get pickpocketed first…
Adios xxxxxx