GoT S1E3: Why does everyone make fun of Jon Snow?

In S1E3 of Game of Thrones, Jon Snow, played by actor Kit Harrington, joins the Night's Watch. It's a tough but honorable calling, or so he's been led to believe. When he arrives there he finds ( a disappointment... but also a higher purpose for his life )

So, what bugs me about this is how fandom treats Jon Snow. For years I've seen the GoT memes all about "You know nothing, Jon Snow" and "You don't know where to put it" (meaning he's sexually clueless).



In the first two episodes I could kind of see reason to scorn Jon. He was a hanger-on in the castle. Many in the story looked at him side-eye, or with outright scorn, because of his bastard birth. He was a misfit, and a bit of a sniveler, too. I can see why audiences would join in on the teasing.

But in this episode he starts to come into his own. He realizes that instead of looking down on people even more scorned than himself, he has a certain commonality with them. And that he can use the benefits of the privileges he grew up with— education, wealth, discipline, motivation— to make other people better. He's emerging as a natural leader. So why the jabs making fun of him?

*** Spoiler note: I'm still watching the series, so please don't chime in the comments with major spoilers beyond this episode ***

Woohoo! I'm Finally an Executive...

Woohoo! I'm finally an executive...



...member at Costco. 🤣

Hawk and I upgraded our membership a week ago. I just got the new card today. The store's printer was busted when we were shopping 10 days ago; I had to wait until my shopping trip earlier today to get one.

What does Costco Executive Membership get you? The main benefit is a 2% cash rebate on a year's purchases, paid at each anniversary. There are nominally other benefits, like special sales only for executive members, but I haven't seen people talking about specifics of those very much so I gather they're not that special.

Math Is (Not) Hard

The 2% rebate isn't free. The executive membership costs an extra $60 beyond the $60 regular membership (it's $120 total). Is it worth it? Fortunately it's not hard to figure the break-even point. At 2% back we'll save the $60 premium with $3,000 spend.

Three thousand dollars may sound like a lot but it's only $250 a month. On groceries. And all the miscellaneous stuff Costco sells. On just today's trip, for example, I spent $257. I'm already ahead for the month! I'm confident we'll total $3k in a year.

Ideally we would have upgraded to executive membership a while ago. When we first joined Costco several years ago we figured we weren't spending that level of money there so we turned down the upgrade. That was the right decision then.

When the pandemic started in March 2020, though, our shopping habits changed. Suddenly we were cooking at home frequently enough that it made sense to buy Costco's larger packages at lower unit prices. I guess it was out of a sense of optimism that the end of pandemic, and thus a return to life like "before", was only ever a few months away that I kept putting off the decision to upgrade.

Now I figure that even if the pandemic-turned-endemic does ultimately fade away— which seems unlikely; I've been saying for weeks already This Is The New Normal— we'll keep using Costco size packages because we've altered our habits to cook & eat at home way more often. I'll report back in 11½ months to check the score!