1/ So, what the heck, might as well tell you the story of how I learned to stop being obnoxious about things other people enjoy that I don't. Not my most flattering look, but here goes! https://twitter.com/abandonedameric/status/1249000181326110721

2/ When I was in my early 20s and thought I knew everything, as one does in that period, I was pretty judgey if other people liked things I thought were Not Cool. As in, you'd say "I like this thing!" and I'd list the reasons it was actually not that great. Terrible, I agree.

3/ So anyway, I lived in Santa Cruz with my gf, my best friend, and his gf. One thing they all liked to do was watch the show Friends, which was popular and thus, to me, Not Cool. They'd all sit and watch it in the one bedroom and I'd do other stuff, probably harumphing.

4/ I hated that stupid show. I hated the stupid music and the stupid characters and the stupid laugh track and the stupid jokes. I don't recall actively trying to ruin it or anything but I definitely thought it was beneath me.

5/ I'd poke my head in the room every now and again to ask them something periodically and as they went through the DVD set and as time went on I'd see a bit of the terrible show here and there. After a while a terrible, terrible thing started to happen.

6/ I'd find myself laughing at something someone said on it. Like, really laughing. And I got to know who the characters were and started getting curious about what was going on in a particular story. But I was proud! I resisted the urge to like it!

7/ Eventually though it was too much. The Friends brainwashing overcame me as I stayed in the room longer and longer or made up excuses to poke my head in for a few minutes and finally I caved and watched it with them. The whole damn series.

8/ I wish this story had a happy ending but it doesn't. I watched Friends and I enjoyed the hell out of it and laughed at the stupid jokes and got to like the stupid characters and had a really good stupid time. Awful. It worked out for the worst.

9/ I thought about it a lot afterwards. Nobody really had to say "In your face!" because I now couldn't deny I enjoyed it, I do that pretty well to myself. I had been an ass hat about it the whole time. I could have just been having fun from the beginning but I was Too Cool

10/ So I guess the Moral Of The Story here is that sometimes when you think something sucks, it's just because you haven't taken the time to figure out what makes other people appreciate it, and if you did maybe you'd like it too. That really stuck with me.

11/ At best you're really just missing out on something that could make you happy, and at worst you're ruining a joy for someone else - and that is a really crap thing to do because joys can be hard to come by. There's no win either way.

12/ Even if it's something you learned a bit about and STILL find how other people to like it utterly baffling, as long as it's not hurting anything, who cares? Let people be into it. Maybe their enjoyment will spark something in you one day and you'll discover something new.

13/ I didn't promise it was going to be a super exciting story but I still think about that EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. the subject comes up. And I do my best to not rob people of their fun, especially when I don't get why they like something. I try to listen and see it from their view.

14/ That's all I have for now. I just think it's extra important in tough times like the ones we're going through now. It also sort of makes me want to rewatch Friends since I haven't seen it for a great many years. I could use a laugh.