Random List

Are You Pondering What I’m Pondering? 7 Random Things To Tell You On A Tuesday

/ Ally Bean / 239 Comments

“Brain, what are we going to do tonight?” “The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.”

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1 – I am well. Show of hands, who here ate some of the recalled Boar’s Head sliced meat and got food poisoning caused by an infection with listeria? Anyone, anyone, just me? I’m over it now but it was painful and disorienting. And because of it I am vowing to never eat sliced packaged deli meats again. Bleech!

2 –I am enjoying. I adored the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics, am still grooving on the history and quirkiness of the show. Since then I’ve discovered a new to the Olympics sport called Kayak Cross. If you’ve not seen this, and it is fascinating + hilarious, think of it as bumper cars for kayaks. What could go wrong‽

3 – I am entertained. A lecturer from the University of British Columbia who teaches about all things musical has put together a list ranking 114 Disney songs. Based on variables such “lyrics, music, vocals, plot integration and subjective enjoyment (‘vibes, basically’)” he scored each song. While #114 is one of my personal favorite songs providing the subtext to my approach to blogging* I won’t belabor the point and instead suggest this is a fun list.

4 – I am contemplating. Earlier this summer a friend surprised me when she confided that after decades on social media and reading personal blogs she’s no longer interested in the details of other people’s lives. She’s not mean-spirited, depressed, or uptight, she’s just tired of knowing so much about people. I’ve considered what she said, wondering how much is too much and too frequently when it comes to sharing socially online? No definitive conclusion, but I take her point.

5 – I am discouraged. One year ago we had 26 beautiful large boxwood bushes on our property. Then the blight came and we lost 13 bushes**. We had the diseased bushes professionally removed and have replaced them with a variety of small bushes, not boxwoods. This has changed the curb appeal of our house and while I understand why we did what we did, the house doesn’t look like my house. Yet.

6 – I am inspired. On my radar is the Cozy Cardio trend which I’m lead to believe started on TikTok. According to the Cleveland Clinic this is a gentle way to get active. I agree with the principles of the trend in reference to walking or pilates, but don’t consider jumping rope as a “gentle” exercise. The rest of the concept sounds doable, even to a sloth like me.

7 – I am relaxed. This blessing, or spell, or poem, or whatever you want to call it, speaks to me in a basic easy way. So in an attempt to parcel out good karma I’ll share a link to it HERE and end this list with a line I am taking to heart: “just for today, let gratitude be a balm I apply lovingly to my modern life.”

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QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

What’s your favorite sport in the Summer Olympics?

If you have one, which of the Disney songs is your favorite? Do you love this lecturer as much as I do?

When do you lose interest in someone online? Is it when they talk about themselves too much [as defined by you]? Is it when they do things differently than you? Some other reasons?

Assuming that you do, how do you spread good karma? Please share the deets.

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* Over the years I’ve revised the lyrics to this song as a rational way of explaining who I am as a blogger: We are Ally Bean if you please, We are Ally Bean if you don’t please. 🎶 

** Of the remaining 13 boxwood bushes 10 are struggling and will be replaced next spring, leaving us with 3 of the original ones assuming they don’t get sick between now and then.

Beep Beep! Roadrunner, The Coyote’s After You! 7 Random Things To Tell You On A Wednesday

/ Ally Bean / 203 Comments

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1. I am agreeing. Social connectedness can take on many forms. I read THIS article about lively front yards that include any items like, but not limited to, garden gnomes, porch swings, plastic flamingoes, little free libraries, and assorted other decorative stuff. The conclusion was that: “residents who expressed themselves with items in front of their house reported feeling a greater sense of place.” 

2. I am enthusiastic. What beach reading books are to summer, ‘Bunny Rabbit’ TV Shows are to your mental health. Bunny Rabbit TV shows aren’t literally about rabbits, they are shows that give you a lift, not requiring more from you than your willingness to be distracted in a lighthearted way from your woes. I grok this term, enjoyed the article and the comments that followed, and haven’t stop thinking about which TV shows to put on my list since I read about this idea.

3. I am ditzy. In my ongoing attempts at being mindful of water usage, I pour the end of our glasses of drinking water onto the houseplants. Welp, in a moment of *duh* I poured the remains of a flavored club soda [San Pellegrino Dark Morello Cherry & Pomegranate to be exact] onto a large pothos. And within days the plant turned yellow-ish and began dropping leaves. Yes, I murdered a plant.

4. I am laughing. According to my results from the Pottery Barn Style Finder Quiz my decorating style is Farmhouse: “rustic woods, hardworking metals, and sprinkles of barnyard whimsy.”  Me thinks not. While the metals around here may be hardworking [not sure what that even means] the wood is refined and there is NO barnyard whimsy here. As if.

5. I am enthralled. I’ve learned that after soccer, badminton is the most popular sport in the world. Who knew? As such there is scientific research about which shuttlecocks, also known as birdies, are best: ones with duck feathers or ones made of nylon. Learn more HERE about findings that “may represent a new arc in the history of the beloved sport.”

6. I am indulging. I decided that I NEEDED something sweet to eat, something devoid of nutritional value. So I scrounged around online and found this Strawberry Rice Krispie Treats recipe that adds freeze-dried strawberries to the classic recipe. Divinely delicious.

7. I am entertained. I stumbled over this website, MovieGrid.io, that offers a daily online challenge about movies. Titles of said. Dates premiered. Stars in movies. You have 9 chances to answer 9 questions correctly which, if you do, creates a completely filled-in grid of 9 movie posters, NOT like what you see immediately below.  

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QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

What gives you a sense of place? Is having one important to you?

What’s on your Bunny Rabbit TV Shows list?

If you take the PB style quiz, what style do they say you are? Do you agree with the results?

When you want something sweet to eat that is devoid of nutritional value, what do you turn to? Are you on Team Rice Krispie Treats with me?

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Implausible But True: Learning About Gnus & Answering 10 Questions

/ Ally Bean / 256 Comments

Subtitled: A Look At How Seamlessly One Thing Can Lead To Another

Photo of a gnu by titiamatta via Pixabay

“In Scrabble putting the GNU in the wrong place won’t get you the points you need,” said I.

I’d lost to Zen-Den in a close game and I felt like explaining myself, assessing where I’d gone wrong. He, however, burst out laughing, finding my statement hilarious, resulting in a question.

“Do you even know what a gnu is?” 

“No, not really,”  said I.

So off I went to research GNUS because I like to learn and because I thought this topic might be decent blog post fodder.

And it was, just not in the way I’d anticipated.

• 😜 •

So first here’s what I learned about GNUS, using bullet points to summarize the information in this article. Then I’ll share the surprising place where I ended up.

  • Gnus are the largest of all antelopes and live in Africa, the largest herds being in Tanzania and Kenya.
  • Gnus are also known as Wildebeests.
  • Gnus is pronounced like “news” making the ‘G’ as useless as the ‘G’ in lasagne.
  • There are two species: the black, also called white-tailed, and the blue, also called common.
  • Baby gnus, called calves, arrive in February and March so we’re in gnu birthing season right now and how exciting is that?
  • Gnus are herbivores who can become dinner for spotted hyenas, lions, cheetahs and African wild dogs.
  • A group of gnus is an implausibility according to James Lipton known to many from Inside the Actors Studio fame.

• 🤓 •

Well once I learned this last point of about gnus I had an epiphany. I knew I had to find Lipton’s famous questions based the Bernard Pivot adaptation of the Proust Questionnaire.

Then, of course, I had to answer Lipton’s 10 questions because to a personal blogger a list of questions is manna from heaven. The questions are as follows with my answers immediately after each one:

1.  What is your favorite word?  

Snazzy

2.  What is your least favorite word?  

Should

3.  What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Going for a walk, seeing what I see, letting my mind wander, quietly pondering what’s really going on around and within me

4.  What turns you off?

Hypocrisy

5.  What is your favorite curse word?

Fu@k

 6.  What sound or noise do you love?

The sound leaves make when the wind blows through the trees, resulting in a quiet rustle that is the epitome of mellow

7.  What sound or noise do you hate?

The high-pitched whirring of a poorly maintained machine that is the aural manifestation of anxiety

8.  What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Interior design

9.  What profession would you not like to do?

Trash collector

10.  If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Welcome! Your favorite table is waiting over here on the deck with a good view of the ocean. Now, are you still drinking Sauvignon Blanc? Will you need to see a menu today?

• 😇 •

Questions Of The Day

When’s the last time you played Scrabble? Did you win?

What’s the last subject you researched? If you write a blog, did you share what you learned?

Back in the day did you ever watch Inside the Actors Studio?

Will you be answering Lipton’s 10 questions?

• 🤔 •

Jane! Stop This Crazy Thing! 7 Random Things To Tell You On A Wednesday

/ Ally Bean / 268 Comments

The Jetsons predicted the future more accurately than we ever could have imagined.

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1. I am nuts.  I woke up remembering that in my dream an arrogant man told me I was a condescending cannoli. Where the heck did that thought come from? It makes no sense, I’m not a cannoli. However I admit I am tempted to start a new blog with that title, just to see who’d show up to read what a haughty Italian pastry had to say.

2. I am delighted.  I stumbled over this website that features 25 rarely seen photos from The Sound of Music film set. If you are able to look at these photos, snapped in Austria, and not start singing “Doe, a deer, a female deer | Ray,  a drop of golden sun…” then you’re AI, not human.

3. I am laughing.  I follow a few humorous accounts on Instagram [that I believe might also be available on other social media]. I’m entertained by: Call Me Kristen Marie who gently mocks her Boomer mother; Peaches ‘n Diesel who does a brilliant send-up of the fashion industry; and Lisa Pedace whose uptight sketch comedy characters are spot on. Never say I don’t share the best with you, my bloggy friends.

4. I am encouraged.  Over the years I’ve read numerous articles and books about how to be a better writer. Usually I shrug off the advice, not because I’m so accomplished but because the advice seems dithery and vague. However this article, a simple list of 40 things, spoke to me because it got to the point and as such may help me.

5. I am flummoxed.  A friend whose opinion I respect told me that she’s noticed that I’m less snarky than I used to be, that I seem to be, of all things, nicer than I once was. Putting aside the fact that I dislike the word “nice” I’m sorry to say I fear she’s right. I don’t know how this has happened, but I feel I owe an apology to anyone who started reading this blog because I was sassy.

6. I am watching.  We started watching Death and Other Details on Hulu. It isn’t the most compelling TV mystery show I’ve ever seen [Endeavour, the prequel to the Inspector Morse series, might win that prize], but if you like brain candy and enjoy seeing lavish sets, in this case on a Mediterrean ocean liner, this could be the show for you.

7.  I am agreeing.  As we slowly make our way to the end of winter here in the northern hemisphere, my soul is tired and this idea resonates loudly with me. Nature. Magic. Truth. Yes, more of these, please.

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QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

So what do you think, have I gotten too nice here? Should I lean into being more snarky again, bring back the sass? Go full on condescending cannoli, whatever that means?

Do you like to watch movies that are musicals? Do you watch TV mystery series? If so to either question, what do you recommend we watch next?

In general do you appreciate writing advice? It’s everywhere anymore with about a zillion books/websites available on the topic, yet I still wonder if all advice is equally useful or if some of it is self-absorbed gibberish?

How’s your soul doing? Need a little pick-me-up like mine?

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