TikTok

“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.

Because I’ll read just about anything that talks about color (names, descriptions, history), I read What Is TikTok’s ‘Unexpected Red’ Theory— and Why Should You Be Following It? which just happens to be the latest interior design trend within a demographic younger than I am.

Have you heard of this?

According to the above-referenced article: “The unexpected red theory is incredibly easy to implement, requiring only one small red object… big enough and central enough to catch the viewer’s eye, and it’s always best if the decor piece itself is also interesting to look at, whether that be because of its shape, function, or texture.”

EZPZ, right?

Thus armed with this knowledge, grasping for something to write about here, I grabbed my camera and wandered around the inside of our house to see if, by chance, I already had the unexpected red theory going on here at Chez Bean. It sounded familiar to me, like something not particularly new.

And by gosh and by golly I discovered that what I refer to as pops of spirited color is in fact what the young ones of today are touting as the unexpected red theory.

Thus I realized that this was a trend that might be less of a trend than more of a design principle, an attitude, a timeless way of adding energy into a room without overwhelming the room with too much saturated color.

Like people have been doing for decades.

So with that little bit of introduction I’ll share my ~~pops of spirited colo~~r examples of unexpected red that make this house a home and suggest that not all trends are as avant-garde as trendsetters may think.

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QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

Do you like the color red? If so do you have a particular favorite shade? [List of Crayola crayon colors, beginning with shades of red, found HERE.]

Do you feel, like I often do, that it’s best to ignore trends because someone somewhere is trying to do more than influence you, they’re trying to manipulate you? [Definition of + a bit of history about ‘manipulation’ HERE.]

Do you love the fact that tomorrow is an extra day, a rare 29th day in the month of February? Will you be celebrating it in some special way? If so, how? [List of possible Leap Day activities found HERE.]

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