Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and now we continue with our 11:00 AM to noon fundraising party that we're doing in the eleven o'clock hour during the drive. As I've said, it's round two of some of our most fun or interesting call-ins of 2023. We're repeating some of the ones that left a lot of callers hanging on because so many people had stories. Today, the question for you listeners is what's your guilty pleasure and what does it make you feel guilty about? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

What are the pleasurable things that you consume in your life that also give you grief? What's your guilty pleasure and what does it make you feel guilty about? When we asked our listeners this question the first time last month we had poet and essayist Hannah Louise Poston on with us because she explores this topic on her YouTube channel. Her guilty pleasure was shopping, and she feels guilty about being such a consumer in our over-materialized society. Here she is talking about it.

Hannah Louise Poston: My brain I think had become so accustomed to turning towards shopping, turning towards the anticipation of beautiful things as a way of turning away from the deeper issues of my life and avoiding the work I would have had to do in order to actually move the needle on my baseline state. I'd become so accustomed to shopping instead of starting down the path of that work that my brain had basically atrophied into a shopping brain.

Brian Lehrer: Her brain had atrophied into a shopping brain. Does that sound familiar? Hannah's guilty pleasure was luxury home goods, expensive home scents, smells, you know, and she said she turned toward beautiful things as a way to put deeper issues aside, personal issues and planetary issues. Part of her solution was to buy nothing for a whole year. She had a good story about that, nothing except food and other things she really needed.

How about you? What's your guilty pleasure and what does it make you feel guilty about and how do you get over it? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Some of the calls that came in the first time, a couple of people felt guilty about reading romance novels so much instead of substantive non-fiction books. Someone felt guilty about paying a big fee to have a concierge doctor in her life that most other people can't afford.

Someone called who feels guilty working from home while other people have to go in person and be more closely monitored by their boss. That was what they didn't like about going to the office, being more closely monitored by their boss, and they felt guilty about that. You get the idea? I don't know. We were just talking about arts and culture. Is junkie TV-- This is the one that didn't come up on the show that day but that other people were telling me about after the show, reality TV, whatever they consider junkie TV. Maybe that's what you feel is your guilty pleasure.

Shout out your guilty pleasure as round two in our 11:00 AM to noon fundraising party. What's your guilty pleasure and what does it make you feel guilty about and if you're doing anything about it? Like our guest who gave up shopping for a year, what are you doing about your guilty pleasure? What is your guilty pleasure? Maybe you don't have to do anything about a guilty pleasure in your opinion.

Some people don't believe in the whole idea. "No, I do the things I like. I shouldn't feel guilty about them." 212-433-WNYC if you want to say that. 212-433-9692. Here's one more example from a caller from the first round. It's Diana in Chatham, New Jersey.

Diana: My guilty pleasure is I cannot, after 50 years, resist going into knitting yarn stores. I have 50 years' worth of leftover yarn, and I'm trying to work through it, making beautiful double-walled hats which I give away or sell and give the proceeds to charity. I'm doing that, but when I go into a yarn store, especially if there's now all this beautiful, colorful Japanese yarn, I can't resist buying it. It's guilty because I think about all that yarn at home that I could be making into hats that will be of use to somebody, and I can't resist.

Brian Lehrer: That's such a simple guilty pleasure, one not to feel too guilty about, buying up a lot of really cool yarn. Diana in Chatham with her guilty pleasure. What's yours and what does it make you feel guilty about? 212-433-WNYC. Let's just shout out our guilty pleasures. 212-433-9692. We'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC in our 11:00 AM to noon fundraising party here on the last day of the membership drive. Now to round two of your guilty pleasures. Call in 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Shout out your guilty pleasure. Maybe you'll find that some other listeners have the same one. Maybe you'll make each other feel better about it. I don't know. Let's start with Shalise in South Carolina. Shalise, you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Shalise: Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: What's your guilty pleasure?

Shalise: Long-time listener, first-time caller. My guilty pleasure is Korean dramas and any kind of Korean television. I started watching them when I was home for the pandemic and it turns out that they are way better at television than we are or anybody else, and so that's all I watch now.

Brian Lehrer: Is there a reason to feel guilty about Korean dramas more than any other kind of television?

Shalise: Yes, there is. The episodes are about an hour long and the season is 16 episodes long, so it can be a little bit binge-worthy.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you for starting us off, Shalise. Really appreciate it. I thought South Carolina was south of where we're broadcasting from. Joyce in Boca Raton, Florida is up next. Hi, Joyce. Thanks for calling in.

Joyce: I'm really from Long Island, by the way, but I'm here now. I'm really from Suffolk County.

Brian Lehrer: I got you. What's your guilty pleasure?

Joyce: Right now it's that I'm reading Middlemarch. I have always wanted to read it, but it's 800 and something pages and I have a lot of things I'm supposed to be getting accomplished here. [chuckles] Still, I'm reading Middlemarch.

Brian Lehrer: Reading as a guilty pleasure. That means you have a very--

Joyce: Because it's-

Brian Lehrer: Go ahead.

Joyce: -such a long book and maybe not most people's taste, but it's wonderful. I want to do it even though I should be cleaning and packing and all that stuff.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Joyce. Thank you very much. Oh, I said some people might have certain TV-- We already had one with the Korean dramas. Certain TV is their guilty pleasures. I think Mary Ellen in Inwood might have a show like that. Hi, Mary Ellen.

Mary Ellen: Hi, Brian. I'm fine. This is so ridiculous because I know so many people listen to you and my friends. First of all, I love you so much. My guilty pleasure for years has been watching the Jersey Shore. It is completely ridiculous and the complete opposite of who I am. Every time I watch an episode, my jaw is just on the floor speechless. Hopefully, it brings some smiles to people's faces. Yes, that's what I do.

Brian Lehrer: Mary Ellen, thank you very much. We're going to go to Susan in Chatham, New Jersey. Susan, you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Susan: Oh, good. Hey, Brian. I seem to have a lot of guilty pleasures, but I'll zero in on this one. I really don't have the money for this, but about every three months, I spend close to $300 to get my hair looking the way I want it because actually, it lifts my spirits when I'm feeling down. At least if you think you look good, you feel good. I have no income. [laughs]

Brian Lehrer: You have no income. What else would you want to be spending that money on?

Susan: That much money, I don't know. I think I should-- I had a therapist that said every time you say the word should put $5 in a jar, maybe then I could afford the guilty pleasure. I believe I need to buy things that I need like food and a new decent pair of shoes or something or-

Brian Lehrer: Oh, gosh.

Susan: -stop complaining to my daughter that I have nothing to wear.

Brian Lehrer: I hope you have the money for those basics too, Susan. I had a therapist who said every time you use the word should, you should on yourself. Think about it.

[laughter]

Brian Lehrer: Yet there are some things we should judge ourselves for, right? Anyway, Susan, thank you very much. Nick in Corning, New York. Well, we had some Southerners call in. Now we're going north of the city to Corning. Hi, Nick, you're on WNYC.

Nick: Hey, Brian, can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: I can hear you. What's your guilty pleasure?

Nick: Great. I'm a second-time caller, by the way. I'm a daily listener every single day. Thank you for everything you do.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you.

Nick: My guilty pleasure is since the pandemic started, I moved from building personal computers to building keyboards for your computer and office stuff. I don't remember where I saw it, but somebody said, and it's similar to your last caller, said, if you're sitting in a workspace that feels comfortable and you feel proud and you feel productive there, and it sounds a little materialistic but you have equipment that you like using and it feels good to use, you'll be more productive there.

I ran too far with that, and financially, I feel extremely guilty on how much money and time I spend really custom building very elaborate keyboards, component by component really obsessing over them.

Brian Lehrer: Is it a guilty pleasure combined in a very, what's the word, creative pursuit?

Nick: Yes, it's very creative. It satisfies my obsessive-compulsive disorder. [chuckles] As somebody that has a full-time job and works, and I'm 33 years old, I probably should not have eight different keyboards that are worth, to be honest, thousands of dollars at this point. It's fun to use. I can get commission to build them for somebody else and just speak about them. In my line of work, I'm a material scientist, so using the different materials and observing how they play a role, I guess that comes into play too.

Brian Lehrer: A guilty pleasure but one that sounds pretty interesting. Thank you for checking in, Nick. We're going to go to Maria in the Flatiron District. Hi, Maria, you're on WNYC.

Maria: Good morning. My guilty pleasure isn't quite as much a pleasure as a fascination. I love watching people attempt to parallel park in the city. Now, when I took my driver's test at age 16, we had to learn to parallel park. I will stand back and just out of the corner of my eye just watch them. I'm like, "This is a mathematical thing. You should know how to parallel park." I just find it completely fascinating.

Brian Lehrer: That is so funny.

Maria: Do people have to learn that now in order to pass the driver's test?

Brian Lehrer: Now, let me ask you a follow-up question because, believe it or not, I never thought of it as a guilty pleasure, but I've had that moment of just looking out my apartment window at somebody trying to get into a spot on my block and half feeling sorry for them and half laughing at them. I was doing it from my apartment. They certainly couldn't see that I was watching them parallel park. Do you watch people from a place where they can see you?

Maria: No, I pull off to the side of the sidewalk and look at my phone or something. I have one eye on them and one eye on me and I'm thinking smugly like, "This is so easy. It's very easy to do if you learn how to do it." They'll try again and again and again. It's really hysterical in my opinion. I feel like a bad person for chuckling.

Brian Lehrer: I've never been on either side of this, but I would imagine that parallel parking is harder when you know someone's watching you.

Maria: [laughs] Probably, yes.

Brian Lehrer: One of those.

Maria: They should be focusing on the mechanics or-- I don't know what it's called, of knowing how to parallel park. It's actually pretty easy to know how to do it. They'll take this gigantic wide berth and they can't get a little Volkswagen in there. You know what I mean?

Brian Lehrer: Yes, if it's a gigantic wide berth and they have a little Volkswagen, but a lot of the spots in New York, well, you really have to learn some geometry, I guess, to get that angle just right. It could be tough. All right, Maria, thank you very much. We're going to end it there. Thank you all for calling up with your guilty pleasures. Our 11:00 AM to noon fundraising party continues with More Things to Do Around Here This Summer coming up next.

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