Public figure pressures, posts that make you click, adjusting to Search Engine Optimization in the age of AI, sports we play(ed), loving Japan, and future plans
I also really appreciate the inside baseball of LG. We get used to free and now on the Internet and I do need the reminder that this is hours of mental labour, logistics and second guessing. I worked at a Renaissance festival and watched a guy make glass heads, at least 3 hours over glass meltingly hot flame and realized, your def deserve at least$25/hr to burn your body for unique pieces of art. Another lesson in value! I value this space! Hell yeah brother.
Thank you so much for the transparency and clarity in what goes on to make LaineyGossip so great! It’s wild to me this AI malarkey and what it’s done to internet search. It’s hard to find the truth quality reporting about gossip and it’s the reason I became a paying member.
Thank you for a glimpse of the mental and emotional toll of being in business with your spouse. It's complicated working with family (I'd been there and opted out) and it takes someone special to make it work.
Also, for what's it's worth, the topics that drive the most traffic to your site (TS, royals, etc) are the very least interesting to me and I tune out completely when those topics overtake these chats. So I for one really really appreciate your intentionality in not leaning in too hard on those, despite the obvious incentives.
Aaah! Emily I JUST got back from Japan as well, it's AMAZING how different the vibe is there, compared to here in the US. The quiet trains, the orderliness and cleanliness, as someone who appreciates order and clear rules, I was delighted. We loved Nara as well, the deer can be intimidating when you feed them (they are AGGRESSIVE), but once you get used to it, they are so charming! What a sight!
Kyoto was also a fave, but really, we found things to love about Tokyo, Osaka and Takayama as well. People are so, so nice and very helpful. I loved the trains (they are incredible and so efficient), and...the toilets! I'm now obsessed with Toto toilets (they must have a monopoly in Japan, I saw no other brands). I will be splurging for my house (I suspect they are much, much cheaper in Japan, the least expensive one I can find here is $2K). Everything we ate is good, I agree that finding veggies was tough, which surprised me.
I would go to Japan again in a heartbeat. Amazing country.
It's a chickadee! My dad is a big bird guy - since we're talking about birds today - and so am I because of him. Chickadees are one of my favourites. Sweet little guys.
i wanted to swim competitively starting from the time i learned to swim, but once i learned i would have to wear the one piece instead of my shorts, i passed on the whole thing. i was too young to be self-conscious (or at least know what that even meant), but the one piece bathing suit made me uncomfortable. i do wonder what it would have been like if i could have worn the modern body suits back then…alas!
i ended up playing inline hockey, which i did love and was good at. but i quit sometime during high school bc i kept getting stuck with the same abusive coach who sucked the joy out of playing for me. i had also developed boobs by then and sharing a locker room with a bunch of teenage boys stopped being something i wanted to do
I quit ballet because I was SO self conscious about my body type- precocious puberty is a bitch! I also quit basketball after 6th grade because I was self conscious in middle school about my twin and I being the only white girls on the team. Our dad was disappointed we didn’t want to play in middle school or high school but we both played in a tournament for the Sports & Entertainment Law Society in our mid 20s when I was in law school! It was still fun!
Thankfully we got less self conscious when we were in marching band because we probably only had 10 white people by our senior year of HS. I found much more belonging with band than I ever did in team sports.
Oooh loved this BTS and reading your answers to questions, Jacek and Emily!
Happy birthday, Lainey! Hope you are relaxing and/or painting the town red this weekend to celebrate.
QQ for @emily: When you said, “we stayed at two different places with private onsen since we both have tattoos. Most public onsen don’t allow tattoos.” Does this mean that lodging or cities in Japan don’t allow visitors who have tattoos?!? 🤯
I'm not sure about lodging - we didn't encounter that. I don't think they can be that strict, but in the public onsen, which are basically public hot tubs but better, most of them don't allow you in if you have visible tattoos. This is apparently "due to their historical association with Yakuza and criminal organizations". A private onsen was a lot sexier than a public one would have been, anyway.
Wow, I had never heard of that before—that is wild! But surely you had a lot more fun in the private hot TUB! (Cue Will Ferrell voice from the epic skit with Rachel Dratch 😆)
Emily - any long haul flight tips? I am going to the Philippines and I am so stressed about what to wear on the plane, what to bring on the plane! Argh! I have been to China but that was back in 2017 and that flight was 17 hours… this was is 26!
I also really appreciate the inside baseball of LG. We get used to free and now on the Internet and I do need the reminder that this is hours of mental labour, logistics and second guessing. I worked at a Renaissance festival and watched a guy make glass heads, at least 3 hours over glass meltingly hot flame and realized, your def deserve at least$25/hr to burn your body for unique pieces of art. Another lesson in value! I value this space! Hell yeah brother.
Thank you so much for the transparency and clarity in what goes on to make LaineyGossip so great! It’s wild to me this AI malarkey and what it’s done to internet search. It’s hard to find the truth quality reporting about gossip and it’s the reason I became a paying member.
Thank you for a glimpse of the mental and emotional toll of being in business with your spouse. It's complicated working with family (I'd been there and opted out) and it takes someone special to make it work.
Also, for what's it's worth, the topics that drive the most traffic to your site (TS, royals, etc) are the very least interesting to me and I tune out completely when those topics overtake these chats. So I for one really really appreciate your intentionality in not leaning in too hard on those, despite the obvious incentives.
Aaah! Emily I JUST got back from Japan as well, it's AMAZING how different the vibe is there, compared to here in the US. The quiet trains, the orderliness and cleanliness, as someone who appreciates order and clear rules, I was delighted. We loved Nara as well, the deer can be intimidating when you feed them (they are AGGRESSIVE), but once you get used to it, they are so charming! What a sight!
Kyoto was also a fave, but really, we found things to love about Tokyo, Osaka and Takayama as well. People are so, so nice and very helpful. I loved the trains (they are incredible and so efficient), and...the toilets! I'm now obsessed with Toto toilets (they must have a monopoly in Japan, I saw no other brands). I will be splurging for my house (I suspect they are much, much cheaper in Japan, the least expensive one I can find here is $2K). Everything we ate is good, I agree that finding veggies was tough, which surprised me.
I would go to Japan again in a heartbeat. Amazing country.
So many people get those toilets after going to Japan!
Also, Lainey actually used the public washrooms especially at the Shinkanzen stations so you KNOW their washrooms are clean if even she uses them.
Emily! Tattoo question - on your right arm, the bird standing in a hand, is that a raven?
It's a chickadee! My dad is a big bird guy - since we're talking about birds today - and so am I because of him. Chickadees are one of my favourites. Sweet little guys.
Actually, I'm looking at the photos now and you might be seeing my orca tattoo. 🤗
i wanted to swim competitively starting from the time i learned to swim, but once i learned i would have to wear the one piece instead of my shorts, i passed on the whole thing. i was too young to be self-conscious (or at least know what that even meant), but the one piece bathing suit made me uncomfortable. i do wonder what it would have been like if i could have worn the modern body suits back then…alas!
i ended up playing inline hockey, which i did love and was good at. but i quit sometime during high school bc i kept getting stuck with the same abusive coach who sucked the joy out of playing for me. i had also developed boobs by then and sharing a locker room with a bunch of teenage boys stopped being something i wanted to do
I quit ballet because I was SO self conscious about my body type- precocious puberty is a bitch! I also quit basketball after 6th grade because I was self conscious in middle school about my twin and I being the only white girls on the team. Our dad was disappointed we didn’t want to play in middle school or high school but we both played in a tournament for the Sports & Entertainment Law Society in our mid 20s when I was in law school! It was still fun!
Thankfully we got less self conscious when we were in marching band because we probably only had 10 white people by our senior year of HS. I found much more belonging with band than I ever did in team sports.
Oooh loved this BTS and reading your answers to questions, Jacek and Emily!
Happy birthday, Lainey! Hope you are relaxing and/or painting the town red this weekend to celebrate.
QQ for @emily: When you said, “we stayed at two different places with private onsen since we both have tattoos. Most public onsen don’t allow tattoos.” Does this mean that lodging or cities in Japan don’t allow visitors who have tattoos?!? 🤯
I'm not sure about lodging - we didn't encounter that. I don't think they can be that strict, but in the public onsen, which are basically public hot tubs but better, most of them don't allow you in if you have visible tattoos. This is apparently "due to their historical association with Yakuza and criminal organizations". A private onsen was a lot sexier than a public one would have been, anyway.
Wow, I had never heard of that before—that is wild! But surely you had a lot more fun in the private hot TUB! (Cue Will Ferrell voice from the epic skit with Rachel Dratch 😆)
Thank you Jacek and Emily!
Happy birthday Lainey!
LOVE the inside baseball! Keep it coming!
Emily - any long haul flight tips? I am going to the Philippines and I am so stressed about what to wear on the plane, what to bring on the plane! Argh! I have been to China but that was back in 2017 and that flight was 17 hours… this was is 26!