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Mary Schmich's “Wear Sunscreen”, which turned into an unlikely 90s hit (2019)

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Re: Mary Schmich's “Wear Sunscreen”, which turned into an unlikely 90s hit (2019)

#101
post #72
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While an EU citizen can at least roam in the EU fine, and a US citizen can roam the 50 states, seems that roaming outside of that would be exceedingly difficult and expensive to get appropiate visa (if they exist)

The "quiet part" you don't say out loud is you don't get work visas - you pretend you're a tourist and survive on those. However, an American could spend years just traveling the United States, and that doesn't even cover the possibility of the territories, etc.

> an American could spend years just traveling the United States

Yup. I actually imagine a Californian could probably spend a LIFETIME roaming California and still not see everything that's worth seeing. The late Huell Howser did just that, but he only scratched the surface of the amazing places to visit in CA.

Re: Mary Schmich's “Wear Sunscreen”, which turned into an unlikely 90s hit (2019)

#102
I first heard this on Radio 1 when they were playing it next to a similar modern song, Self Esteem's I Do This All The Time. Both of them are incredible.

"Getting married isn't the biggest day of your life, all the days that you get to have are big."

Re: Mary Schmich's “Wear Sunscreen”, which turned into an unlikely 90s hit (2019)

#103

Reminds me of ‘Fitter Happier’ by Radiohead. Some loose guide on how to succeed in life, although the Radiohead lyrics are more cynical. Here’s the lyrics: "Fitter Happier" Fitter, happier, more productive Comfortable (Not drinking too much) Regular exercise at the gym (Three days a week) Getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries At ease Eating well (No more microwave dinners and saturated fats) A…

Doesn't the final sentence suggest that the list is more than slightly cynical? To me it seems like Radiohead are sneering at this safe middle-road existence.

I've never caught the full lyrics before, but I've never thought it was meant as a guide in any way. Rather, it's a condemnation of mass modern life and complacency, people getting older and more boring and going through their lives like cattle until they die. It's mocking all the life advice our boring parents gave us when we were growing up. This is all delivered in a monotone, almost robotic text-to-speech voice with Radiohead's typical eerie music backing it.

(As a longtime fan I'm a bit biased, but I think it's worth a listen to understand the tone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4SzvsMFaek . The rest of the album also adds some context, as others have noted.)

Re: Mary Schmich's “Wear Sunscreen”, which turned into an unlikely 90s hit (2019)

#104
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you roam? What was the best place to be a digital nomad? How sustainable is that lifestyle?

While an EU citizen can at least roam in the EU fine, and a US citizen can roam the 50 states, seems that roaming outside of that would be exceedingly difficult and expensive to get appropiate visa (if they exist)

You can easily get year-long visas to Australia and New Zealand if you're young enough and from an "approved" country (look for working holliday visa).

I think countries like Thailand and Indonesia (Bali) also allow foreigners to stay quite a generous amount of time... South America is also an option for up to 6 months, I believe, without much hassle... if you fancy China, they also have not-so-difficult-to-get student visas from what I've seen (lots of Europeans were going to study there for some reason when I was a "traveller" myself, around a decade ago... and it can be to study silly things like dance or a language, nothing too serious) so that's pretty much most of the world already?

Re: Mary Schmich's “Wear Sunscreen”, which turned into an unlikely 90s hit (2019)

#106
post #48
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't let age slow you down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9iuSVnfisI

Christoph Strasser (born 1982) just won the Transcontinental, a bicycle race of 4000km across Europe. https://dotwatcher.cc/race/tcr-no8?post=34p4cOKwoPRSffwYwnBw...

Thanks for posting something positive here... the other comments are really depressing for someone who's in their early 40's :(

Re: Mary Schmich's “Wear Sunscreen”, which turned into an unlikely 90s hit (2019)

#107
Maybe don’t take this advice. Been a few recent discoveries of chemicals in sunscreen causing cancer.

- https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1553488459855167491?s=20&t...

- https://www.axios.com/2021/10/02/coppertone-sunscreen-recall...

coppertone and banana boat issuing recalls.

The advice of protecting skin is still valid, don't get burned.

Re: Mary Schmich's “Wear Sunscreen”, which turned into an unlikely 90s hit (2019)

#110
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "quiet part" you don't say out loud is you don't get work visas - you pretend you're a tourist and survive on those. However, an American could spend years just traveling the United States, and that doesn't even cover the possibility of the territories, etc.

What about the tax aspect of it? Or do you simply pay tax as resident of the place you last properly lived? Maybe this is a more relevant question for non-Americans, since most other countries don’t tax their citizens on their worldwide income. Eg UK definitely doesn’t. But often it requires the employer to be comfortable with the HR situation you put them in. Often easier to contract via a company (intermediary HR e…

Many places have tax treaties that allow you to pay taxes to your "home" nation (and/or state/province) as long as you don't stay there/away more than a certain number of days each year. That also assumes you have the right visa to work there legally, and I don't mean work for a local company... I mean do any work that you get paid for such as remote work.
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