Episode 43: Opinions - The Best & The Worst

In this episode, you'll hear a discussion about opinions on the best and worst of everyday life—from candy and coffee choices to household chores and vacation experiences.  Along the way, it becomes clear that Donielle and Khrystyna share many opinions… just not when it comes to candy.  It’s a relaxed, lighthearted conversation that shows how “best” and “worst” things really depend on who you ask. 

Show Notes

Transcript

D:          Welcome to Coffee and Conversation for ESL listening. I'm Donielle.

K:           And I’m Khrystyna, so grab a cup and join the conversation.

D:          Hello. Happy almost weekend.

K:           Yes, and happy your favorite holiday. Happy Halloween. 

D:          Yes, it's tomorrow. I mean, by the time this thing comes out, it'll probably be long gone, but you know.

K:           Well, you know.

D:          So, do you have any plans for Halloween? I assume Eli is going to do a costume and go trick or treating.

K:           Yes. This will be his third one this year already, Oh gosh. You know how it is here, like especially with kids, there's all these trick or treating things going on everywhere. So, the first one was at my husband's office. 

D:          okay 

K:           We drove all the way out there and everybody had bowls of candy and decorations and all that. So all the kids’ families came and did that. And then on Sunday we had trunk or treating at his school.

D:          Okay. You might want to explain what that is.

K:           That's a good idea. Yeah. So trunk or treat is when people, usually it's either school or church or sometimes business or organization. People drive out and park next to each other in like a circle or kind of line. And then they open their trunks and a lot of times they decorate it with different themes for Halloween, and then they usually have a bowl of candy. So then the kids come out and they go from trunk to trunk, trick or treat, and get candy so it's usually a lot of fun. And especially at his school, we just stand there with other parents and hang out and joke around and then all these kids come around and trick or treat. So, Yeah.

D:          That's pretty cool. Although I mean, I know some people do that instead of trick or treating, like they don't go to the houses and I am like, oh, that's kind of sad 'cause that's the fun part. I always loved going around to the houses.

K:           Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So tomorrow evening that's what we're doing. We're actually meeting with some of our friends and the boys will go together and trick or treat. But my husband, so his favorite part of Halloween is actually staying home and giving out candy.

D:          Oh yeah. That's fun. I like to do that too.

K:           Yeah, so he's going to be staying home tomorrow, wrangling the dog every time the doorbell rings.

D:          Yeah. Yeah. It's like my cats; they go flying whenever someone rings the doorbell.

K:           Yeah, of course. So it'll be fun. It is fun. I like Halloween plus all the decorations around town and all that is a lot of fun to see. Did you decorate your house and yard?

D:          Oh, yeah. Yeah. I decorated. I actually had a party on Saturday.

K:           Oh

D:          We have a group of…we play this game, and so there's like 12 people in the group, and well, what happens is, is that every month a different person hosts the party, and so this month I hosted it. And so of course, because it's October and you know me how crazy I am, we had to make it a Halloween theme, so yeah.

K:           Of course. Well, and you have another reason to host these things in October. It's also your birthday month, so you just had your birthday a few days ago.

D:          Yep. This Monday. Mm-hmm.

K:           Yeah, I can see why October is your favorite month. Probably. I think.

D:          Well, actually, that leads us into our topic. Yes, yes. We are going to talk about the best and the worst. Of course, this is opinions here, so…

K:           Oh yeah.

D:          So we're going to talk about the best and the worst of different topics and we'll see what we have to say about them.

K:           Alright. Sounds good.

D:          Alright... So, to go back a little bit, I was reading some stuff about some of those award ceremonies. You know, they’ve got like Academy awards or Oscars you know, different things like that. Well, there's also - I'm sure you've heard of this - there's also another one that’s called the Razzies, the Razzie Awards. Yes. And so I thought of that. They've got the Oscars for the best movie and then the Razzies are for the worst movies.

K:           and don't they get like a raspberry statue or something like that, as an award for that?

D:          Yeah, exactly. Yep.

K:           That’s kind of funny.

D:          So I thought, oh yeah, let's talk about the worst – the best and the worst things.

K:           Sounds good. Sounds like a fun topic.

D:          Yeah. And since we just talked about Halloween, it got me thinking about things that you get when you go trick or treating.

K:           Mm-hmm.

D:          The best and the worst. So what would you say is the best thing to get when you go trick or treating?

K:           Well, I mean, it has to be candy, right? That's the whole idea about going trick or treating…

D:          Generally.

K:           …candy. But I know that nowadays, I don't think it's just candy anymore that people give out because I've seen people give like little toys or bags of chips or pretzels or something that definitely doesn't have any nuts or peanuts in it.

D:          right, allergies.

K:           Also, yes. Yeah. But also, I heard that in some neighborhoods they give out money to kids.

D:          Oh, okay. Are we talking pennies? Are we talking about dollars? What are we talking about here? 

K:           Oh, like a dollar, $5 or something like that. Yeah.

D:          What? What kind of neighborhood you got over there?

K:           Well, you know, some people are crazy, but I would say for me, for Halloween, and again, Halloween is something that I did not grow up with, Halloween is something I started experiencing when I moved to the United States.

D:          So let's say, what would you steal from your son's trick-or-treat bag? What would be the best thing?

K:           Oh, full-size candy bars. I don't mess around with that.

D:          So you don't care what kind of candy bar.

K:           um, well, Snickers usually if it's a full-size candy bar.

D:          Funny.

K:           but I'm not too picky when it comes to chocolate. I do have a favorite one, but we'll leave that for later.

D:          Oh, okay. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Well, I'll tell you my favorite for trick or treating would be a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Yes.

K:           Oh,

D:          So do you have a worst?

K:           to get from trick or treating?

D:          Yeah.

K:           Yeah, probably like a bag of pretzels.

D:          Yeah.

K:           Who wants pretzels for Halloween? Come on. This is the only time you get to shove as much candy and chocolate in your mouth as you can. Who wants to have a pretzel?

D:          I don't know. I've seen them. You know at Sam's you get the big giant bags or boxes full of little pretzel bags, and I'm like, who's getting that for their kids? Come on, man.

K:           no thank you.

D:          But the crazy thing, have you heard about this trend? To me, this would be the worst, but there's a trend, and kids love this - is when you give them a potato.

K:           are you serious?

D:          I am absolutely serious.

K:           I have not heard of it. Is it an Alabama thing or…?

D:          I don't think so. But, I'll tell you, last year we were giving out candy and, you know, doing the thing. And then some kids, they were hanging around talking to us and one of them had said something like, at another house they'd gotten a potato. And I said, what - a potato? And she's like, yeah. And I was like, well, were you happy about that? She's like, yeah. Like, they think it's really cool to get a potato.

K:           So what do you think they do with it?

D:          I don't know.

K:           That's so odd.

D:          Yeah. I don't know. But look at kids nowadays. Their trends are really weird. So, who can keep up?

K:           That's true.

D:          All right. Moving on from, Halloween. What you got?

K:           Well, let's keep the candy theme going, right. Just in general, right? What is your favorite candy? Is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup your favorite candy, or is it just a Halloween candy for you?

D:          Uh, no. I would say…oh, man. Yeah. If I'm choosing one, it's probably going to be the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Yeah.

K:           Hmm. So funny thing, I was at the store today and getting some candy for work and there was [were] two other ladies, and we're all of us just standing there and staring at all these bags of candy in the candy aisle, right? And trying to figure out which price tag goes with which candy. And then somebody said, oh, but there's no Reese's peanut butter cups. Like those are the best. Those are everybody's favorite. And I looked at them. And they looked at me and they're like, well, I guess not everybody. So I'm like, mm-hmm.

D:          Oh yeah, those are the best.

K:           They're too sweet for me, honestly.

D:          Um, any of our candy is too sweet. Let's face it.

K:           Yeah. I mean, I, I mean, yeah. Um, so, you know, I've discovered lately that my favorite candy is Kinder Bueno.

D:          Oh, Okay.

K:           And, I think it's because it reminds me of the candy and the chocolate from my home, from Ukraine, but here's the thing: I can't control myself.

D:          Oh.

K:           We bought a bag of candy for my husband to take to work, and they had the fun sized Bueno there. And when he brought that bag home, I literally dug through the whole bag and picked every one of them in there. I don't have any left. 

D:          Well, I kind of guessed that.

K:           They're just addicting. I don't know what to do with myself.

D:          You know, I don't think I've had them before, and I know that's a European thing originally, like for a while we couldn't even get them here because there's a toy or something inside.

K:            Oh no. Well, no, no, no, no. Those are Kinder Surprise. They look like an egg. These are just like little wafer that's filled with light hazelnut cream, and then covered in chocolate.

D:          Oh, okay, that sounds good.

K:           And they're crispy, but light, but creamy and just everything. It's like your mouth is celebrating something really good. 

D:          Your mouth is just doing a dance over there.

K:           Yeah. Yes.

D:          A happy dance.

K:           Yeah. So what's the worst candy? What is something that you are like, I would not touch this one.

D:          Well, I don't know that I would say I would not touch it. I just probably wouldn't bother. I guess, you know, desperate times.

K:           Well…

D:          Maybe I would, but I would say Almond Joy. I know. 

K:           I love Almond Joy.

D:          Yeah, that's the coconut.

K:           You're not a big coconut fan. Okay Yeah.

D:          Yeah, not really. Well, what's your worst?

K:           Um, you know, Milk Duds.

D:          Oh, those are a dud.

K:           Yep.

D:          A dud means like, it's no good. yeah. 

K:           They stick to your teeth and then it's like, it's almost like this is too much work. Like I can't enjoy this candy. I'm trying to unstick it from my teeth and, no, no thank you.

D:          Yeah. I guess I was thinking of like candy bars, but yeah, you're right for Halloween candy and that kind of thing. Here's the one that I really hate is the Whoppers, those…

K:           How, how have I known you for this long, and the candy that I love you do not?  I didn’t know this. I love Whoppers.

D:          Oh my God, they're awful.

K:           I absolutely love them. You know, funny story, when…

D:          I'll send you all mine

K:           Please, I'll pay shipping.

D:          This year I didn't even get any, so that's fine.

K:           Oh, so the very first time when my husband came to visit me when we were still dating, he asked me what to bring - some sort of treats and stuff, and I said, can you bring me some Whoppers and peanut butter?

D:          Wow. I can't even imagine that's anyone's favorite, you know, 'cause we get these giant… we're going to stop talking about candy in a minute, don’t worry.

K:           I know, we have to.

D:          We are, I know we kind of got crazy here, but you buy these giant bags of mixed candy for the Halloween trick or treaters. And the one I usually get has Whoppers in there. And I make these little tiny bags. I put four or five different kinds of candy in it for each kid. And I always feel bad when I'm down to the Whoppers and I'm kind of like filling it up because I'm running out of stuff and I'm putting the Whoppers in at the end and I'm like, oh man, poor kids. I didn't think anybody liked those.

K:           No, you can just save them for me next time. I mean…

D:          Sure will. That's hilarious. 

K:           I love them.

D:          All right, everyone. Sorry about the overtalking about candy. So, on another topic here, let's find another best and worst. Okay? What is the best and the worst household chore? Now, to me, they're all horrible. But if you’ve got to pick…if you’ve got to pick a best.

K:           Okay. Yeah. I'm not a big fan of household chores and all that.

D:          But we must pick.

K:           but we must, yes. But I would say vacuuming. I feel like sometimes I even enjoy vacuuming. It's kind of relaxing, but it's satisfying because when you hear that noise, when vacuum picks up stuff, you're like 

D:          yeah, you’re like: success!

K:           yeah. Like, yeah, I cleaned the spot. So, I would say vacuuming for me. What about you?

D:          Okay. So for the best, I would say organizing, like if I have to organize my closet or the pantry. And not to say that I do it as much as I should, but once I get started, I get in a zone, and I can put my headphones on, I can listen to a podcast. And again, like you said, there's this sense of satisfaction that yeah, I really accomplished something.

K:           Yeah. Oh, I agree. Absolutely. I kind of feel like that when I fold towels and you just see them pile on and on. 

K:           That’s kind of nice.

D:          What's the worst?

K:           Okay, the worst. So I don't know why my chores revolve around floors because the best and the worst, I absolutely dislike mopping floors.

D:          That's mine too.

K:           Uh. I just don't know [what it is]. It’s not fun for me. It's not pleasant. I do not want to do it. I just, I don't know, and vacuuming is essentially the same concept, right? You're cleaning floors, but for some reason mopping, I was like, no…

D:          It's a little different. Well, I bought this thing that vacuums and mops at the same time, and I thought, okay, this is going to resolve my problem. It's going to be less work. No, because it's a hassle to fill the machine and to clean it. And I just find myself, I'm like, eh, I'll just do the Swiffer.

K:           that's what I do. Yeah. Well, the thing is that my husband finally, I mean, we've been married for 20 years, but he finally figured out how much I do not like mopping floors. So he would do them, right? When we do the cleaning of the house. 

D:          Oh that's nice.

K:           It is really sweet. The problem is that then I go back and fix the things that weren't mopped the way I want them to be mopped. I'm like, this is not right.

D:          Yeah, no it's not. You need to just say thank you, honey.

K:           I, do, I try like when he's somewhere not in the room, I'll be like…

D:          I was going to say never let him see you fix it. 

K:           oh no no 

D:          Oh my God. Okay. You have one for me?

K:           Alright, so I have a kind of a silly one. How about: the best and the worst wall color for your bedroom?

D:          Oh well, the best and the worst are probably pretty logical for me. A nice pretty shade of green for the best.

K:           I knew that!

D:          Of course, me my green, and for the worst, ugh, red. Oh my gosh. And that's another thing. I know you love red.

K:           You know, I like red on certain things.

D:          Yeah, I don't like it on anything.

K:           Yeah, I would agree with you that red bedroom would not be a good color

D:          You need something serene. You know, red is just …

K:           But you know what? I would say there's another color that's not a good color for the bedroom. And when we bought our house, the bedroom was painted black.

D:          ooh.

K:           And that was not something I would want to have in my bedroom. Not the color I would go for.

D:          What kind of people paint their bedroom black. Like the whole thing was black?

K:           No, the walls were…

D:          All the walls were black?

K:           Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of creepy. It's a little weird. 

D:          I could see me in my teenage years being like, ah, this is awesome. Black walls. Yeah!

K:           Yeah, but this was not teenagers, so… But I would say for the best color, I would agree. Some sort of a serene tone of green or a light cool gray.

D:          Yes.

K:           Or maybe like a light sky blue.

D:          Mm-hmm.

K:           Something like that, but nothing too intense, like red or black or even orange. I feel like sometimes orange can be wrong.

D:          Yeah. I mean, this is a place where you're trying to fall asleep, you know, and trying to relax. Because there's so much psychology to colors. One of these days we should have a talk about that too, because really interesting. You know, like how they say blue, we're getting off topic again, but you know, is it blue that's supposed to, um, stimulate the appetite or something [side note: actually it’s the opposite – it suppresses your appetite]

K:           Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

D:          I think that's the color. I haven't looked at it in a while.

K:           I then I must have blue color on all the walls. I'm surrounded, all the time.

D:          One of these days, we'll, we'll have talk on that 'cause I think the whole psychology of colors is super interesting.

K:           Yeah. absolutely. Okay.

D:          Let's talk about experiences now. The best and worst vacation you've ever taken.

K:           Oh, okay. There might be a different answer if I think too much about it, but I would…I'm going to go through like the recent ones, right? The best one will be Ireland.

D:          I thought so.

K:           There was just nothing like it. I would say the second best was San Francisco. The worst, unfortunately was Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

D:          Okay.

K:           Well, it wasn't a big vacation. It was kind of a few-day trip, but it wasn't even the city. The city was nice; it's on the lake and it's…

D:          Yeah, they got some cool stuff – especially in the summer, they’ve got that summer fest it. It's a cool city.

K:           But, it's just, some of the things we try to do there were crowded and the food wasn't great. And you know, for me when I vacation, you’ve got to have great food. And I got so sick one night that I wasn't sure if I needed to go to the hospital at that point 'cause I was so miserable, in so much pain, and I don't know. So it kind of left really not very pleasant memories.

D:          Oh yeah, absolutely not.

K:           But what about you?

D:          Well, so you're probably going to think, I'm going to say Italy was my favorite, but because I wasn't there long enough, I can't really, put it up there yet. You know, next time. I will say my favorite vacation was to Cuba.

K:           Oh, I remember you were telling me that.

D:          Yes. I spent two weeks there, so I had a chance to really, see and do things, so I really enjoyed it. That was an amazing trip. Definitely loved that. My worst trip was—and it's nothing to do with the place; it was kind of the company—when I went to Spain and France, it was… yeah, it was too short, number one. And there was some drama with the people that made it not as enjoyable as it should have and could have been, so…

K:           That's too bad because such beautiful countries and…

D:          I know! So that just means I need to go back again and really enjoy myself.

K:           Absolutely.

D:          Yeah.

K:           Yes. Oh, cool. Okay,

D:          So, what you got?

K:           So how about this? I think everybody knows by now. I don't know if our name gives it away or not here

D:          Coffee?

K:           But how about… yes. How about the best and the worst things you could put in your coffee?

D:          Oh, my goodness.

K:           I have the silly ones here.

D:          I just don't even know because I don't want to put anything in my coffee. I want black coffee.

K:           Well, what do you think would make your coffee taste. Better or good? Not better, but I guess taste well [good].

D:          Um, maybe like some chocolate. 

K:           Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Mocha,

D:          Have, you heard, that some people put actual butter in their coffee?

K:           Yes, I have. What do you think about that?

D:          Well, again, I don't put anything in my coffee, so it's all gross to me. But if you think about it, what is butter but just cream that's been churned?

K:           Yes,

D:          You know? So, I could kind of see that it would work, but yuck.

K:           I'm trying to think if I actually tried it…

D:          You’ll have to try it and let us know.

K:           Yeah. I agree it is dairy, right? 'cause that's usually what we put in coffee, but it just doesn't, I don't know. So would that be the worst thing you would put in coffee or do you think you have some other ideas?

D:          Well, I mean there's a lot of terrible things you could put in it. But would you? I don't know. I also don't like  when you put things like liquor in coffee or I don't want that flavor in like my chocolate or coffee or anything like that. Ugh. That would just ruin it for me.

K:           I agree. I'm not a big fan of that either. No.

D:          I'll take the butter before I put the liquor in there.

K:           So I don't like my coffee black for the most part. I have to have a little bit of sweetener and I have to have some sort of milk in it. So I think the best thing to put in coffee is [sweetened] condensed milk.

D:          Yeah, I remember that.

K:           Because it gives you sugar and milk at the same time.

D:          Yeah.

K:           It makes it sweet and milky. But this one time, I tried coffee with lemon juice in it.

D:          Oh my God.

K:           And I thought this is going to be the weirdest tasting thing in the world, and it was actually good.

D:          Oh, I think you talked about that once and wasn't there another one with orange or something that you did also?

K:           Oh, the, oh yes. Yeah, the orange flavor, like the orange rind when they dipped it that was really good flavor combination, but it had milk and all that. But this was just a little bit of lemon juice. And when you think of it, it makes sense because coffee has citrus notes in it.

D:          Yeah.

K:           Because it's acidic so it makes sense that it would taste good.

D:          Yeah. I guess so. It doesn’t sound horrible.

K:           Now, I wouldn't drink it every day that way, but not too bad.

D:          Yeah. But yeah, I'll stick to my black coffee though, you know? Okay. Um, oh, here's a good one. What are the best and worst things, and we may want to start with the worst - the best and worst things about getting older.

K:           Oh, that's a good one. I really need to think about this one. You know, 'cause it's not easy, but I would say the best thing is probably depending where you are in your life, I feel like getting older helps you get more opportunities, experience and all that. So sometimes being older means you're more financially stable.

D:          Sure. Oh, I know I'm better than I was in my twenties.

K:           Uh oh, absolutely.

D:          I was so poor.

K:           Yeah, I feel like that gives you more opportunities to do what you want to do, like traveling and trying things and all that right? Or helping others or, you know, you're in a position where you could do these things. Now, the worst thing about getting older: wrinkles.

D:          Um yeah.

K:           And, and aches and pains.

D:          Yeah. 

K:           Ugh 

D:          I didn't say you could have two answers there, but

K:           Well, you can take one if you want.

D:          Well, actually that was my worst. Yeah, like there's always something going wrong with you. I don't even know if I told you this. I think I did about my back. How, like I kept messing up my back, doing literally nothing. Literally nothing. And I hurt my back so badly that I almost had to cancel a trip. It was ridiculous. And how did it happen? Like I turned.

K:           Yeah. yeah.

D:          I turned and looked at something.

K:           Yeah, you get out of bed and you just don't put your foot the right way and then here we go.

D:          I know. It's so crazy. So yeah, that's not pleasant. But the best thing I would say is that the older you get, you don't care about stupid stuff anymore. You know what I mean? Like, you don't care what somebody thinks about you, what somebody says. You're just like, yeah, whatever.

K:           You know, I would agree with that 'cause I feel like I have calmed down over the years about that kind of stuff. But I think it also, depends on the personality 'cause when I'm thinking about my mom, until the last day, she always had this thing, well, what are people going to think about this?

D:          Yeah. Well, you're right. The personality, well, for me, I don't care.

K:           I know, and that's the thing. I feel like I'm the same way. 'cause I kept telling my mom, I was like, ah, who cares?

D:          Yeah. And, and you think back to when you were younger and how you were just worried about stupid things like, you know, what do people think or how does this look? And, and now you're like, why did I waste my energy worrying about that?

K:           Right. I agree. I agree. Okay. Do we have time for one more maybe?

D:          Yeah, let's do one more.

K:           All right. What is the best and the worst car feature?

D:          Like that exists?

K:           Yes.

D:          Ooh!

K:           Something in your car that some sort of a feature, a function or something that you think is the best thing ever invented or, gosh, I wish we didn't have that.

D:          Huh? Well, I can definitely think of the best. I don't even think I could drive anymore without my backup camera.

K:           Oh yeah! 

D:          And, and not just the backup camera, but the camera was on the top and the front, and it's like, woo. I’ve got A 360-degree view of everything. So that is absolutely the best. Um, as far as the worst, probably…It's not really a feature, it's just the fact that so many things can go wrong with it because of all the electronics. I mean, they're great, but then something goes wrong and you're like…

K:           And then you're…yeah. 

D:          Can't think of a feature though. What do you have for that?

K:           So for the worst, that I still have to drive it.

D:          Oh, well, yeah. Silly me. I should have thought of that.

K:           Come on. At this day and age, I mean, we know there are self-driving cars out there. Can we kind of share the wealth here in technology? 

D:          Let's get on with this. I know. Yeah. I can't believe I didn't think of that because you know, I hate to drive, so Yeah. That is the worst part about it.

K:           Yeah, but that's probably because I rode in self-driving cars and it's like, oh, this is kind of nice. The first ride kind of makes you nervous until you see how much that car follows directions. I'm like, oh, this is cool. But, you know, mine is kind of funny because the best feature: heated and cooling seats and steering wheel. There's an extra comfort in it for me. Especially in the winter when you come in and you sit down and it's like this nice warm feeling, and then you don't have to have your frozen finger touching that steering window. Yeah. You don't know what that feels like.

D:          I was going to say, you poor thing. I don't even remember what that's like.

K:           Gosh. But…

D:          I never have to get into a car like that.

K:           Uh, it's really nice. But then also cooling seats in the summer when you—especially if you have leather seats and you get in the car and you stick to those seats 'cause you're so hot and sweaty and sticky, having that nice cooling feeling when you sit and drive. Oh, it's so nice. I don't know. Do you have cooling seats in your car?

D:          No, I have heated seats and… 

K:           But you don't need them.

D:          I rarely use them. Occasionally we do. We don't have cooling seats, but I don't feel like I really need that at all. My car cools off quite quickly and I don't get hot the way other people do, so…

K:           Yeah, so that would be…

D:          You know me. Oh, my goodness. I had so many things on this list and we're already, you know. Yeah. Wow.

K:           Already coming up on time.

D:          Well this was kind of a fun conversation. Something different.

K:           Yeah. Yeah. I enjoyed it,

D:          We always have fun no matter crazy thing we're talking about. Right?

K:           I hope our listeners will find it fun too.

D:          Hopefully. Yes, and hopefully you learn something, which by the way, I always forget to say it nowadays. Don't forget to check the show notes. All right. Well, this was fun. So, until next time, here's to good coffee, good vibes, and great conversations.

K:           Cheers.

D:          Cheers.