On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 15:42:20 GMT, "Claire Petersky"
<cpetersky@mouse-potato.com> posted the following:

>Stuff people would never criticize you for in Seattle were constant targets
>in Japan. What I hung up on my laundry line, when I took out my garbage, who
>my friends were, and when they came to visit. Clothes? Man, people let me
>know all the time if what I was wearing was out of line. People let me know
>that I was out of line about things I had no control over. I was too tall to
>be acceptable to the rest of society. I'd be naked in the public bath and my
>neighbors would let me know I was too hairy. It seemed the whole concept of
>"just leave me alone" was completely unknown. I could go on and on.

I don't encounter this all that much, but last week I was surprised
that some people who came over to my house launched into a very
detailed critique of the blankets on my bed and how they would result
in me getting a cold (i.e. I use an electric blanket, I use sheets, I
have too many blankets).

-CHris