Endless Thread - Snacktime: A Refreshing Trend for Troubled Times

Episode Date: May 20, 2021

From daily walks to sourdough starters, many of us found new ways to have fun and stay sane during the pandemic. For some, a new trend has plenty of... appeal. In this Snacktime episode, Ben tells Amory about an internet trend mixing personal hygiene and your daily dose of Vitamin C. Then, listen to the story of how one Reddit user's overthinking ended up being just the right amount.

Support for endless thread comes from Mathworks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink Software, to design and develop engineered systems, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at Mathworks.com. Support for WBUR comes from Is Business Broken, a podcast from the Mayrotra Institute at Boston University that explores questions like, why is innovation in healthcare so hard? Is ESG just greenwashing? of course, is business broken? Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by the I-Lap at WBUR, Boston. Amory. Ben. Where during COVID has your happy place been? Like, what's the thing? Is it your morning oatmeal and green smoothie routine in the kitchen? Is it like your bun bun rumper room? What is it? Oh, man. I love the bun bun romper room, which is the room that belongs. to my rabbit for... It sounds like a weird thing,

but it's a normal thing. I mean, that's your term, but I like it and I'm going to go with it. No, it's the woods. It's the woods that's right at the end of my street. All right. Yeah.

Do you think other people have experienced something similar? Like, as we all start to come out of this thing in various ways, what are the alone together things that we've all been doing in your mind? Like, remember when everybody was making bread? And then, like,

we were all doing online shopping and then like some people were learning how to make clothes that was like a thing in my feeds Gwyneth Paltrow ate too much pasta apparently which I actually don't think we need to judge her for or judge her for saying that this was a struggle for her we all process in different ways. Yeah I mean I hope we've all found our doses of joy throughout I did not bake bread. I didn't know that I was supposed to be making my own clothes so I missed that memo but I think Yeah, I think we would all be actually crazy if we hadn't. So I wish that for everyone. So other than walking in the woods, you might say that you are not necessarily on trend. I'm never on trend. I've never been on trend in my life, so no.

Okay, so I am also not on trend when it comes to this next thing, and I bet you also don't know about this. But apparently a lot of us have been doing this during COVID alone together. All right. So just this week, I talked to a. purveyor of this new lifestyle that has resurged during COVID. Anecdotally, I don't have science on it. It just appears to be a thing that people are doing a lot.

This person's name is Janie. She's kind of big on TikTok, big-ish, a heck of a lot bigger than you and me. And we reached out to Janie because she had a TikTok that blew up recently because it was in line with this new trend. or maybe it's an old trend that's new again. So we wanted to talk to her. I'm going to play a bit of a guessing game with you here. Are you ready? Ooh, yeah.

Janie, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you as well. So this was a thing that was a thing a couple years ago. But it's grown over time and is it having a resurgence? I think it may be. So I did not know that it was a thing. I thought it was just something I did and my boyfriend and my girlfriend made fun of me for doing it. Really?

Yes. Be honest. Be honest. I had no idea. You didn't like discover this and put it on TikTok because you knew that it was going to pop off. I had no idea. Someone on TikTok commented and was like, you should follow the Reddit thread or subreddit. And I did not even have an account on Reddit at that time.

Okay. Okay. So I made an account. specifically to look at this subreddit because I was like, there's no way there's that many people who feel this passionately about. This is a very strange thing to find a community in. So I had to make a Reddit account, of course. And I found the subreddit and there are so many people. Wow, this is so, you got the bleeps and everything.

This is so sneaky. I recognize we haven't given you very much information to go on yet. But do you have any, any guesses? Like reinvented your wardrobe or something or redecorated? No, I really have, I don't know. I mean, it'd be a bit of a stretch, but one could imagine, one might be able to say that this is a new invention of your wardrobe because it does involve wearing something.

Oh. At least that's what the mythology of this trend involves. Once you undress a thing, you actually put it onto yourself. So I'll say that. You said reinvention of wardrobe. And what was the other thing you said? Like redecorated your house? Yeah, in a way you're kind of redecorating yourself too, again, if you follow all the specific instructions.

Okay, so I've given you a couple tiny hints here that are mostly unhelpful. but I did do this thing that Janie also did and that thousands of people are apparently doing right now. So I want you to listen to this next recording that I made and just react to it and see if you can guess it before I say it. Okay. Here is nothing. I'll say this.

It smells really good. Wow. And now... What do you hear? It sounds like a shower. Hmm. Hmm. A shower orange.

Wait, shower orange? Are you eating an orange in the shower? Yeah. I'm eating an orange in the shower. Why? You know, it's a good question. Are you into this as an idea? Have you ever eaten citrus in the shower?

Never have I ever eaten citrus in the shower. So it smells really nice to do. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And it's kind of delicious. It can be delicious because it's kind of cold, you know, but the shower's hot. Is the orange in the water? Are you submerged, not submerging, but... I mean, you do what you feel.

On Reddit, at least, this is a community of over 90,000 people, 90,000 accounts, I should say. Shower Orange? Yeah, shower orange. It's called shower orange. Yeah. And the point is to eat an orange. in the shower. Yeah, you're supposed to eat it.

Apparently, you're supposed to, if you're really sticking to the rules, you're supposed to wear the peel somehow. Where the peel? You know, you're just supposed to put it on yourself. Okay. And you're also supposed to eat the thing like an apple, kind of. Instead of an orange. After you remove the peel.

Well, some people do. Some people don't. It's, you know, it's up to the, it's up to whomever. You know, it's up to you. So some people eat the peel and some people? Some people eat the peel. Some people don't. People are posting photos of themselves. Uh-huh. In the shower eating oranges. Some people have made erotic fan art of this. There is a video, and this is proof that this was a huge trend, at least, that we both apparently missed. There's a video of Kelly Rippa doing the shower orange.

Now, where, how did this? Why did this? Who did this first? Unclear. Unclear. We don't really know. It's just a trend. Okay. They're like popped out of nowhere a couple years ago, at least as I understand it, and it's back now.

Why do you think this is a thing right now? Because everything is upside down and we are finding new ways to make each other laugh and to try and to try and. new things within our own four walls because there's only so many new things we can do. Yeah. So maybe you have an orange in the shower. So maybe you have yourself an orange in the shower. Maybe you have a banana on the toilet. I don't know.

I don't know about that. I feel like orange shower, shower orange versus banana toilet. Yeah. I don't know. We peaked at shower orange. Forget the banana. So I think there's something, it's something about the time we have, right? Like, you know, we have more time now kind of at home, right?

Like, and remember when I asked you what your happy place was? Mm-hmm. Like, one of my happy places, and I think this is maybe true of others, too, during COVID, this is certainly true as a dad, I will say, because the bathroom is one of the few places you actually kind of get to have to yourself. one of my happy places is the shower. And what could be more luxurious than actually eating citrus in the shower, you know? Yeah.

It's kind of like Kramer says in that Seinfeld episode where he starts preparing food and washing dishes in the shower. And he puts in like a garbage disposal, you know, that episode? You know? Hey, Jerry, guess where I'm calling from? World War I plane? Yes, I do. He's like, I was trying to get out of the shower, and then I asked myself why. I mean, this is where I want to be.

Yeah. Well, you know what is really nice about a shower orange is that, like, oranges are a difficult thing. You really need to set aside orange time. You can't multitask and eat an orange because your fingers are constantly an orangey, juicy, peely mess. I also asked Janie about this. I don't think there is one straightforward answer. For me, it's just like, I normally hate eating oranges because they get all over. And I feel like my hands are always sticky from them.

So a shower orange being in the shower gets rid of that complication. You just blew my mind. Right. I wasn't even thinking about that aspect of it, but that's so true. Oh, my God. I think I'm going to do, I think I'm going to be a shower great fruit person. Ooh, that's a good one. Because that's my big issue with grapefruits.

Like you can't just like tear into them. I'm told shower mango and shower coconut are really good as well. But I have not tried either of them. Shower coconut. Come on. That's just crazy. That seems complicated, right? It seems like it was way too complicated.

I'm in there with a hammer or something. I don't know. It seems complicated. But hey, to each their own, I guess which is the point of all of this. Okay, so sorry. So tell me more about the reasoning. for some of the moves. I mean, there's just something fun about playing with your food, right?

Like, you've never been allowed to. You've always been told all your life to stop playing with your food. And then you realize you can eat a shower in the orange because you're an adult now and you can do whatever you want. And you can eat the shower in the orange however you want to. So you can eat it like an apple if you want to. You can have fun with it and not worry about it being messy. And it smells really good like we already talked about.

And there's not like a good reason to eat a shower. orange like that. It's actually really inconvenient to eat an orange like an apple, but it's fun. And that's all that matters. Shower grapefruit is a great idea, Ben, because I don't know how you eat your grapefruit, but I do the slice in half and dig it out with a spoon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And not only does it still get all over your fingers sometimes, but it gets, it like shoots out in all directions. Yeah. So if it's shot out in all directions of your shower wall,

no problem. NBD. NBD. Yeah. And having fun is kind of all that matters, right? Like even though as restrictions get relaxed, we're all still in need of a little bit of fun, right? A little ridiculousness. So maybe shower oranges, shower grapefruit, shower coconut, you know, maybe these things will continue to grow in popularity even after the pandemic subsides. But we should all get low flow showerheads if we're going to do that. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Other than that, knock yourself out. Yeah. Have fun. Have fun. And maybe it'll keep growing. Delicious. Positively nutritious. Next, shower grapefruit.

Wow. You know, I feel like some people might listen to this and say, ah, kids these days, what will they think of next? But the rest of us are just going to be enjoying our fruits in a tidier, more enjoyable way. So screw the haters. Yeah. Yeah. All right. We'll be right back. At Radio Lab, we love nothing more than nerding out about science. Neuroscience, chemistry.

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Recruit new talent. Reach new audiences. whatever your goal, we can help. Discover how the magic is made at WBUR.org slash creative studio. All right, Amory. Yes. All right, now that we've talked to shower orange, I get another, you know, potentially summary story for you. Okay.

More fruit? We got vegetables? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. I think what you want to say is what's the dill. What's the dill? I'm just kidding.

I don't know if any of these things were involved, but they might have been. Okay. So this is a story that was in reaction to people asking about overthinkers. And I think, Emery, and I mean this in the best way, I think I'm kind of an underthinker. Mm-hmm. And you maybe sometimes are a bit of an overthinker. And I think this is in part why we are a good combo. Hmm. Okay.

What do you think about that? Yeah, I might be an overthinker. I'm overthinking whether or not I'm an overthinker. She'll be back in 20 minutes, folks. Let me get back to you guys about that. All right. This is a story about an overthinker. I'm reading it to you.

Okay. When my wife and I were getting married and looking at, for a place for ceremony, we have found this beautiful but quite remote garden. We were signing the contract for the event, and I kept thinking that it was quite remote. So I asked, how much time does it take for the ambulance to get here? This is already a worst case scenario kind of thinker, and I appreciate that. Same. I became the laughing stock of both families, my then-future mother-in-law, who was present at the meeting, literally fell down from the chair laughing.

The wedding organizer remembered it for weeks. My dad ended every sentence with, but maybe you need an ambulance for that. My wife was making siren noises when I was saying something we disagreed on. Every family dinner, all the aunts and uncles were checking if the ambulance was present,

you name it, the entire package. These are the people who jinxed the whole thing, just for the record. Still, I couldn't get rid of this weird feeling. It would have taken over an hour for the ambulance to get to the garden. After a few weeks, I ended up paying a private ambulance to be present at the wedding. Fast forward to the ceremony, as my wife literally walks down the aisle, at the back of the garden, I see two paramedics running with a stretcher, and my dad's squeezing my hand whispering,

That's none of your goddamn business. Let them take care of it. What happened was that one of the older guests got a heart attack and almost died at the ceremony. They were saved by the private ambulance. Ever since then, when my wife tells me that I'm overthinking, I just do the siren noise. Oh, man.

I was hoping that it was a prank that they were pulling on this person. Yeah, that would be almost a better, yeah. Oh, no. Yeah, and then you start wondering, because I am an overthinker, like, oh, man, if he hadn't gotten the ambulance, would the person have had the heart attack, you know? Or did the heart attack happen just so the stars would align? Because he overthought, yeah. Right, right. Did he, it, was it not magical thinking?

Did he bring it into being? Did he manifest it? He manifested the heart attack. Right. He is to blame. Do you want to hear the update? Absolutely. Thanks for the awards, everyone. Glad you liked that story.

I promise you that I was tired of winning after that. They never heard the end of it, but all the laughs were in good spirit. I apologize to the guy's kids for ruining their inheritance plans. And he was saying that the service was so boring that he preferred to take his chances with the heart attack. So we had a few more laughs in trolling. Some of you are asking how much did the ambulance cost? I don't remember, as it was many years ago, and I may not be from your country.

But does it matter? Can one really put a price on the I told you so that you can use any time you want with your mother-in-law? No. No, no one cannot. So this is from a Reddit poster. I did reach out to them to see if they would talk with me and tell me more about their story. Uh-huh.

Do you want to hear their response? Yeah. Hi, Ben. Thank you for reaching out to me. I'm flattered by your proposal, pun intended. However, I am something of a public figure in my country. While I do have some crazy stories

from my military service, my travels around the world, and my personal life, I enjoy sharing them under the veil of anonymity on Reddit. Wow. Somewhat of a public figure. Maybe related to their military service.

Is this a president? A general? A general maybe. Yeah. Well, Reddit user writer, R-Y-T-U-R. Whoever you are. Whoever you are. I want you running something in my world.

world in my life. Yeah, I did the sense of humor, right? Like, this person is both an overthinker. So that's good. You want that in a leader. We have good planning. Yeah. Good planning instincts. And a good sense of humor about themselves and everyone else. Yeah. So, right, or if you want to, you know, let us know what the emigration policies are and you're part of the world. And if things get too bad here in the U.S., we'll head your way. Be right there. Well, thanks, Ben. Yeah.

Those are my two little tales for you. I like your two little tales. We got fruit. We got safety. Those are two of my favorite things. And some are weddings. And summer weddings. We're hitting the season.

Mazel tov. Be safe and mazeltoff. And eat your fruit. And eat your fruit. In the shower if you have to. also be efficient in the shower. Yeah. Save that water.

Low flow. Low flow. Thanks, by the way, to writer for their story about their wedding and to listener and Reddit user Mac and Mello for hipping us to the shower orange resurgence. Mac and Mello has also been sleuthing the true origin of shower orange, and we will share some of that information on our subreddit. That's R slash endless thread. We can keep those weirdo tips coming while we're on break, guys.

We love them. We love you. Okay. Bye.