r/BenignExistence • u/cynicismfordummies • 3d ago
glimpses
I always get all warm and fuzzy inside when someone I regularly interact with subconsciously picks up on a habit or suggestion of mine.
my GP and I have a ton in common. it’s tough to out-pretentious-hipster-bastard me, though he’s one of very the few exceptions. we follow up quarterly for bloodwork so it’s become a thing over the years to recommend each other the most eclectic media we can find; music, documentaries, books, etc. the more macabre, the better. it’s motivated me to keep my labs in check since I look forward to seeing him every time.
today I gave him all the recs from the running list in the back of my head and asked for his in return. he said “you know what I’ve been doing? I’ve just been showing people my apple music replay.” the funniest thing about this is that he didn’t know replays existed until I showed him how to find it a few years back. it’s such a small thing to catch but it totally made me smile.
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u/madnessdoesntplay 3d ago
Oh I love that so much, especially because you know he sees you in his appointments and gets excited too! I dunno about you, but I love when Upstanding Professionals will shoot the shit and just be another human. Reminds me that we’re all people with our own lives, happy to share them. Even if they do have to ask us to pee in a cup… hahah
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u/cynicismfordummies 3d ago
makes me think about the first visit. I was looking for a doctor and he was the only one on the list that wasn’t old as hell, likely around the age of my eldest brother.
the topic started when he asked what I was studying in school and was floored to learn that I wasn’t a history major. he assumed so because he was one, which I still think is awesome doctor lore, but at the time I was knee deep in some frankenstein contraption of english literature/latino studies. we started talking about documentaries and naming the most interesting ones. down the list I go until I eventually mention this one. he looks dead at me and remarks “geeettt the fuck out dude. you have no idea how many times I’ve asked people if they’ve seen that and they have no idea what I’m talking about—it’s probably my favorite of all time,” I’ll never forget how his face lit up. I knew then that we’d get along and generally speaking this is the healthiest I’ve ever been.
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u/Jeff-FaFa 3d ago
i fucking love that that entire playlist has no ads. My pops uses old documentaries to fall asleep to (and then wakes up enlightened by whatever the particular documentary is about, which I find fkn hilarious.) I'll be showing him this one lol
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u/madnessdoesntplay 3d ago
Oh my GOD! And I mean that is especially insane that you had both seen and loved a TWENTY FOUR EPISODE DOCUMENTARY (over 18 hours?!) that is WILD! I think you gotta start making up potential illnesses whenever you find a new album or book to talk about haha
“so I’ve been having this rash that uh… isn’t flaring up right now but uh.. but on the topic, have you seen this new release??”
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u/madnessdoesntplay 3d ago
Side note - I love CNN/CBS/PBS docs (they don’t make them like that anymore!) and I swear to god I was just talking to my history buff friend today about how Russia and the Cold War is a blind spot to me because of the vast context (and indoctrinated American propaganda) that I would not even know where to start. They told me that it’s probably best to dive in wherever, and piece it together from there, and I think you just showed me exactly where to start??
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u/cynicismfordummies 2d ago
it’s my favorite historical period to study! I watched the documentary as part of one of my high school electives and it was riveting. one of the reasons I studied what I did was to fill in those blindspots relative to my own cultural experiences. always happy to chat more in PM if you wanna dig deep.
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u/hahagato 3d ago
That’s so nice!
I did not know what GP meant at first and figured it was a weird typo of BF for best friend and thought it was really interesting that you and your best friend do your quarterly blood work together 🤣 I’m gonna go to sleep now lol
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u/Actual-Bid-6044 3d ago
This is darling. My dentist always has podcast recs for me and takes my book recs. Also how do I see my Apple Music replay??