Jordan:
Hi, I’m Jordan.
Lex:
I’m Lex.
Keely:
And I’m Keely.
Jordan:
And this is Or, Learn Parkour.
Lex:
It’s a podcast about ADHD usually done by just two people with ADHD but not this week.
Jordan:
Not today. Today, as you might have guessed, we have our wonderful friend Keely on the show. They are a friend of mine from Idaho and a very wonderful, delightful, talented human being, incredible sound designer and all around rad human being. So thanks for being on the show with us today, Keely.
Keely:
Well, thanks for having me. I’m really excited. I’m a long time listener.
Jordan:
So that’s always fun for us to hear.
Lex:
Welcome.
Jordan:
We’re excited to have you on the show.
Lex:
I always, you know, sorry, it starts early and it will be like this for the rest of this episode. So, buckle up. Do you like the show Parks and Recreation by chance?
Keely:
I do. I love it.
Lex:
Good. Good start. This is good. You know, the episode, I don’t remember which episode specifically, but Ben says something about starting to understand how April’s mind works. And then she goes, oh, well, then welcome to the Terror Dome. And that’s what I feel like whenever I welcome people onto our podcast.
Keely:
I seriously thought you were going to say something like, and then she said, well, I better change so that you don’t know how my mind works because that seems like something she would do and I think something she did do a different time.
Lex:
Yes. I’m pretty sure that that exchange and different iterations of it happened at least a couple of times probably.
Jordan:
Is that how we’re introducing the show now? Just welcome to the Terror Dome.
Lex:
I guess.
Keely:
Welcome to the Terror Dome, like the airport, you could you know, pitch shift them a little bit so they sound scarier, you know. The Terror Dome, this is gonna be a spooky.
Lex:
I’m real bad at, well, that’s not true. I’m not bad at audio horror, but so much of my conception of horror is visual. You know what I mean? That’s just me. But my first instinct would be like, how do we get a light pole on the side of the road in a podcast? Because I was like, what’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen?
Jordan:
Well, lucky for you. We do have probably the person who could answer that question best on the podcast. I don’t know if I told you this, Lex, but Keely, you are the person who taught me how to use Audacity.
Lex:
Nice.
Keely:
True.
Jordan:
So you are really kind of the reason this podcast can exist.
Keely:
Yes.
Lex:
10 out of 10.
Jordan:
So big thanks for that to start off with. Do you remember that at all?
Keely:
Oh, I remember, I mean, I remember teaching everybody Audition. And Audacity is the free version, so to speak. And a lot of the skills really transfer right over. So, it’s pretty nice.
Jordan:
Yeah. Totally understandable that you don’t remember because it was in the middle of the night on the floor of our dorms in Russia.
Keely:
No, that tracks, yeah. That tracks.
Jordan:
And I had come up with an over ambitious A2 to do and I was like, I am panicking and you just swooped in and saved the day and we’re like, you could probably do that in Audacity pretty easy, here. And I did, now we’re here.
Keely:
That’s awesome. To be honest. I love that. I miss kind of, I don’t do a lot of sound editing anymore and stuff like that, but I do miss it a lot because it’s just fun. It’s like a little mechanical toy. You can move bits and pieces around. It’s very physical, sound is very nerdy like that. I love it.
Jordan:
I’m so sad that you didn’t get to teach your sound design class more than once because all of the professors were sad that everyone liked your class more than theirs.
Keely:
They liked it too much. I’m too good.
Jordan:
It’s actually what happened, Lex, I cannot stress enough.
Lex:
I believe you. That’s incredible. 10 out of 10.
Keely:
I had so many actors sign up for my course. And they were like, oh, yeah, you can teach this, your little design class. I was a grad student. So, you know, it’s good practice and they thought maybe I’d get six people to sign up and I had like 22 students. It was awesome.
Jordan:
Everyone was so excited about it too.
Keely:
They were, yeah.
Jordan:
So what have you been up to lately? Fill us in, give us the overview.
Keely:
Ok. Yeah. So I finished school in Idaho. I got my design and technology degree in theater.
Jordan:
Congratulations.
Keely:
And I moved back to Iowa, which is where I’m originally from and where my family is. So my siblings were there and I was like, I’m going to move. You know, be close to family for a bit, get my bearings. Figure out what’s next. Have a mental breakdown. I mean, you know, the usual stuff that happens after you graduate.
Jordan:
As you do. Yeah.
Keely:
And now I live in Minnesota because I have slightly more rights.
Jordan:
Amazing.
Keely:
Yeah. And I have a nice day job that’s flexible because I kind of make my own hours in a sense, that’s remote work from home and all that stuff. So that’s kind of my main thing that I do, but then I get to still freelance on the side every once in a while doing theater stuff, mostly children’s theater because it’s a lot lower pressure.
Jordan:
Sure, yeah.
Keely:
But it’s also fun. So, yeah.
Lex:
Yeah, kids are fun.
Keely:
Kids are fun. They don’t really care about quality or budget. They just want to get out there and do some weird stuff on the stage.
Lex:
The kids just want to have fun. I remember one time when I was doing children’s theater, as a child, I got to wear a long sequin dress and sing some bible school iteration of a song by the Supremes or some shit. It was kind of problematic in hindsight. But as a child I got to be in the cool sequin dress and sing with a microphone.
Jordan:
With a microphone?
Lex:
Yes.
Jordan:
And look at you now.
Keely:
You really gave him the old razzle dazzle.
Lex:
Oh, yeah. I’ve always been like this.
Keely:
Razzly and dazzly.
Lex:
I can’t help it. Everything just has a little bit of seasoning.
Keely:
Spice.
Lex:
Just a little bit of spice.
Jordan:
But not sequins, those are two separate things. I wanna make that really clear for anybody listening to this right now. Do not eat sequins.
Lex:
Ok. Do you know what’s funny? I actually-
Jordan:
Did you eat sequins?
Lex:
I did as a child.
Jordan:
Lex, why?
Keely:
That can’t be good.
Lex:
Well, because-
Jordan:
Is that why you’re like this?
Lex:
No. So if you’ll recall, actually, when my mom just came to visit, she mentioned that I had a birthday party at the pool at the local university, which they would sometimes rent out, whatever. And it was like 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade, I don’t know, somewhere around there. And not only was it on Saint Patrick’s Day, so I got pinched because my swimsuit didn’t have any green in it, so I got pinched by all of my classmates and friends at the time. If you’re wondering, childhood was interesting for me, but it was at the pool. And then afterwards the cake was big and Scooby Doo themed, if I recall, and had lots of cool sprinkles on it. And then there was glitter and glitter sequins on the tables with the table cloths and everything because, you know, it’s a kid’s birthday party and some of the slightly older kids were putting sequins on parts of the cake. And I think I started eating them and then they told my mom and it felt like they had tattled on me and then in my little brain I was like, this is the worst day of my life, you know.
Keely:
But they’re not exactly chewable. How did that sort of go down?
Lex:
I’m assuming it was just coated in frosting and cake. I mean, you can ask Jordan, I eat pretty fast.
Jordan:
It’s true.
Lex:
Like a little raccoon trying to get as much as I can before the-
Jordan:
Thank you. Just killing it with the sound design already.
Lex:
Yes. Great foley work.
Jordan:
Thank you for coming in with that.
Keely:
I’m an excellent foley artist. Yeah. All the raccoon noises.
Lex:
But yeah, so I am assuming childhood me was no different and just snorted it all down.
Jordan:
Didn’t even notice.
Keely:
I’m sure they’re not growing more sequin dresses in your stomach or anything.
Lex:
I mean, it was quite a lot.
Jordan:
That would be an impressive side hustle.
Keely:
You know how, like how they said that in Rugrats.
Lex:
I can shit dresses.
Jordan:
Oh, yes.
Keely:
You know, like if you swallow a watermelon seed that you’d grow a watermelon in your stomach. That really fucked me up. I’m not gonna lie. I can’t eat seeded watermelons to this day.
Lex:
I’m real sorry that you said something really funny like that and I shouted over it, I’ll just shit out some dresses. I’m real sorry.
Keely:
You know, it’s valid though.
Jordan:
And then sell them on eBay to buy some seedless watermelon. Is that the grift here?
Lex:
Sure.
Jordan:
Ok.
Keely:
Well, I think you’ve got a seed sandwich going on then at that point. Or a shit sandwich. One of the two,
Jordan:
I think I’d prefer the first, but the second one sounds more correct.
Keely:
Yeah. Or watermelons in dresses, which is probably somebody’s baby gender reveal party plan.
Lex:
Oh no, hold on. Why am I envisioning that you smash open the watermelon to see what color’s inside? Is that the implication here?
Keely:
Well, it would be really fucked up if they did that when it was wearing a sequin dress because that kind of implies that was the child that’s smashed open.
Lex:
That’s what I’m asking.
Keely:
You know, I didn’t get that far in my metaphor. The amount that I didn’t think through this metaphor is pretty high.
Jordan:
We’re in it now though. What other color are watermelon, besides pink?
Lex:
I mean, I’d imagine.
Keely:
Pale.
Jordan:
Your assigned gender at birth is pale.
Lex:
I was gonna say, same. Oh bummer. Yeah. Fair enough. No, I mean I’m imagining an injection sort of situation, inject some juice.
Keely:
Well, you know, like botanists or whoever that grow things that are smart. They put coloring in the roots in the water that the plants drink sometimes and makes the colors of the flowers that color. So maybe they could do something similar and you could grow a rainbow watermelon.
Lex:
Assigned gay at birth. Love.
Keely:
The best way to be assigned birth, that’s the gay agenda. Rainbow watermelon in a sequin dress.
Lex:
Rainbow watermelon in a sequin dress.
Jordan:
Is that a Harry Styles lyric?
Lex:
Literally, I was like, why does this feel like something that would be in a seventies song? But you said Harry Styles.
Keely:
Quick, we gotta copyright it.
Jordan:
We said it out loud and this will be dated.
Lex:
Time stamps.
Jordan:
So I think we have a pretty solid copyright claim going here. It’s not trademarked, which might be the extra mile. But, you know, we have a record and that’s what’s important. So I’ll just make sure and email this to myself when we’re done with it and then we’ll be set. That’s as much as I know about copyright law. I am not a lawyer. None of us here are lawyers, cannot stress that enough.
Lex:
Yeah, we’re not doctors.
Keely:
Absolutely not.
Lex:
Well, to my knowledge, I guess we still need to actually let you talk about yourself, Keely. I apologize.
Keely:
Definitely not a doctor, can confirm.
Lex:
Ok. So definitely no doctors here, don’t take our advice. Ok. Or if you do take our advice, that’s your choice. It’s at your own risk.
Keely:
Yeah. And they just take some salt with it, you know, just carry your salt shaker around while you listen to this episode. Problem solved.
Jordan:
I mean, a little salt on watermelon is really good.
Lex:
Oh. Oh, my gosh.
Keely:
I have never tried that.
Lex:
I have been drinking this juice at work. It’s watermelon and lemon juice and that’s literally it. And it’s still got pieces of watermelon in it. Do you know what I mean? It’s almost like a slushy because it’s got so much watermelon pulp in it, or whatever. And then I’ve been putting it in the freezer and then in the fridge and then having a fucking watermelon slushy at work.
Keely:
Like a frozen smoothie from the gas station.
Lex:
So good.
Keely:
But it’s so cold outside.
Jordan:
Well, 50 here today. How is it there?
Keely:
Oh, it was like 40 today. So I guess it was. I did go outside without my coat like a true midwesterner.
Lex:
I was gonna say I was outside in my sweatshirt when I went to get said juice across the street at the grocery store.
Keely:
That’s fair. But I feel like my hand would definitely get the shivers by the time I got back.
Lex:
Yeah, I guess that’s fair. But I am a little weirdo in that I very rarely actually crave a hot bed.
Jordan:
You’re not a hot bed person. You’re not a hot fruit person. You’re a hot person.
Lex:
Thank you.
Jordan:
Yeah, everyone, you know, has their own preferences there.
Lex:
Yeah. I’ve been debating getting my own ice tray for the office because no one else likes ice. And so it’s just me who’s like, anyone else just really want some ice? And everyone’s just like, no, I like room temperature water and I’m like, are you-
Keely:
You can write on it in Sharpie, Lex’s ice.
Lex:
Yeah.
Jordan:
Make sure no one steals your ice.
Keely:
Do not touch, do not eat, drink, crush or otherwise smuggle away.
Lex:
Yeah, basically.
Jordan:
I mean, good news is you can’t really get far with it.
Lex:
Yeah. I mean, you’d have to walk past my desk. It melts.
Jordan:
True.
Keely:
Yeah, you can just follow the trail.
Lex:
Yeah, you’re right.
Keely:
They set you up very well. They can’t put it in their pocket. It would melt through their pocket.
Jordan:
It would. We’ve developed quite the caper here.
Keely:
Yeah, I know. This is the whodunit portion of the podcast.
Jordan:
Yeah. That we do every episode. Yeah. Thank you so much for-
Lex:
Goddamn it
Jordan:
Before moving on, I do have to know, what is your stance, Keely, on hot versus iced drinks?
Keely:
Oh, I like both, but I definitely prefer hot coffee. So I probably lean hot and then I like blended drinks, not iced coffee.
Jordan:
I do respect a blended drink.
Keely:
I don’t know why, it’s just something about it. Oh, and blended margaritas.
Lex:
Yeah, there is something about a slushy texture. There are various kinds of slushy textures and I like most of them. You got gas station like, ok, so you’re from Iowa. So, you know, probably the sweet taste, the nectar of the gods, of a speedway slushy.
Keely:
I don’t.
Lex:
What? Oh my gosh. Speedway gas stations have the best slushies just hands down. And they are one of the few places that still has the insulated cups that are big enough to have with the little domed lids and then it’s just great consistency and it takes a long time to melt and it is just the best slushy.
Keely:
Yeah. So, are these slushies the ones that are made out of soda or are these slushies the ones that are blue raspberry?
Lex:
There’s both. My personal favorite is Coke. But they have blue raspberry. They have a cherry and then usually a Mountain Dew and then some of them get funky and they have fancy red Mountain Dew or it’s very Icee. Like Icee E-E.
Jordan:
The polar bear.
Lex:
Yeah, like the polar bear. It’s very similar to that texture, I would say, but a little bit, just a little bit heavier.
Jordan:
Would it be in between an Icee and a slurpee?
Lex:
Yeah, I think that would be fair to say.
Keely:
Well, I think, you know, it’s probable that that’s where you get your ADHD from, is the highly dyed food dyed slushies. That was a joke.
Lex:
Don’t say that.
Keely:
That was a joke
Lex:
Because some people will believe that.
Keely:
I don’t personally believe that.
Jordan:
Is that just like you have inattentive or hyperactive ADHD or blue raspberry ADHD.
Keely:
That’s a combination. Combination mode. Definitely blue raspberry.
Lex:
I’ve got Coke ADHD just out here.
Jordan:
Actually, I’ve heard Coke calms you down if you have ADHD.
Lex:
I know that’s what I’m saying. It’s funny because of the fact that coke, like cocaine.
Keely:
Well, they’re both stimulants really.
Jordan:
Good point.
Lex:
So, yeah, give me one of those fat lines and let me take a nap.
Jordan:
I heard that in Washington State at 7-Eleven they have Jones soda Fufu Berry flavored ADHD. That one is my favorite.
Keely:
What is a Fufu Berry?
Lex:
Who’s to say?
Jordan:
Who’s to say?
Keely:
Is it a real berry that I’ve never heard of? Or is it just a goofy berry?
Jordan:
I think it’s in the same family as blue raspberries. I think it’s just a goof.
Keely:
Also don’t exist.
Jordan:
Yeah.
Keely:
Yeah, I knew that one.
Jordan:
That’s a soda flavor.
Keely:
They can put blue food coloring in the water and make the raspberries turn blue.
Lex:
Oh my gosh.
Keely:
We’ve discussed this. We’ve gone over this.
Jordan:
It all comes full circle.
Lex:
Speaking of full circle, the reason that we brought you here today.
Keely:
Is a circle.
Lex:
Friends. Audience. Bringing it back to the start here.
Jordan:
Oh yeah. The interview question.
Lex:
Yes.
Jordan:
Take it away, Lex.
Lex:
Ok. So just looking at the questions that Jordan sent to us that I’m CC’D on because I am admittedly not the most motivated or achieving student, we’ll say.
Jordan:
You’re an office manager in your 9 to 5 life. You don’t need to be an office manager after that.
Keely:
So there’s producer credits and there’s show runner credits and they’re just slightly different.
Jordan:
Yeah, that’s a great delineation. Thank you, Keely.
Lex:
So let’s just start right off the bat. Just swing right in with it out.
Jordan:
Whip it out.
Lex:
What has your journey with mental health and getting diagnosed with ADHD been like?
Keely:
Oh, that’s actually, I feel like for me it’s actually a little bit funny because I am non-binary but, you know, I was assigned female at birth and a lot of people who are AFAB tend to say like, you know, they were missed as children, diagnosis wise. Oh, dear, diagnosis wise, nailed it, and usually don’t get diagnosed until adulthood. And so for me, it’s funny because, technically, I didn’t get diagnosed until adulthood, but I was unofficially diagnosed when I was a kid. So, yeah, so I had a lot of inattentive signs. Honestly, I definitely am combination ADHD.
Lex:
Nice.
Keely:
But I was a very big daydreamer in elementary school. Huge daydreamer. The amount of times I would be, quote unquote, paying attention were slim to none. However, I would almost always get questions right if they called on me. So it was like my brain was still getting the info in, but it was also somewhere else 90% of the time. So I remember being told as a kid by authority figures, probably my parents, who were probably told this by, I don’t know, the school counselor or something, that they suspected that I had ADD, which is not a diagnosis anymore, but I wasn’t a hyperactive little boy, so to speak. So, you know, it looked different enough that they didn’t think and I was doing it well enough in school, grades wise that they didn’t think they needed to pursue anything. But they flat out told me when I was a kid, like, we think that you have ADD, but we’re not gonna get you diagnosed about it. Officially. So I unofficially just always kind of knew that I had ADD/ADHD and I just sort of thought it was a quirk that it wasn’t really affecting me. And that was underlying most of my childhood and growing up experience. So, yeah. So it’s pretty interesting and I didn’t really take it seriously as anything more than just like, oh, yeah, I probably have mild ADD or whatever you wanna call it until I was fully formed and out there in the world and doing my best.
Jordan:
So, what made you decide to, because you said you didn’t really put much stock in it or think it was that much of a thing until later in your life. What caused that switch in how you think about your ADHD?
Keely:
I wish I could remember specifically what kind of reasons it was. But it was after I moved here, which was in 2019 and after the start of the pandemic, which was very shortly after I moved here. I actually moved here, moved to Minnesota to use their state health insurance to get top surgery, which was great.
Lex:
Nice.
Keely:
But then I went into recovery mode and I was, you know, in home, just resting up and recovering and stuff. And then COVID came and then I was like, ok, I’ll just stay inside forever and meet nobody. But anyway, as most people I think did at the sort of start of the pandemic, we were all online a lot. And so probably TikTok and probably just being more chronically online than I used to be, helped me realize that maybe this is something that I could actually take seriously about myself. Yeah, if you’re like me and you also have things like anxiety or whatever, anxiety or whatever is my official diagnosis, then you might be more likely to downplay how it affects you. And I think I was doing that for a long time thinking like, well, it’s not bad enough for me to really pay attention or to really do anything about it. I’m not, you know, not that ADHD, I don’t need supports. I don’t need medication and blah, blah, blah. And it wasn’t even a bootstraps thing because at that point I’d been going to therapy for all my other issues and I’d been trying to better, you know, my overall health. It was just me gaslighting myself a little bit.
Jordan:
Oh jeez.
Keely:
But yeah, so basically I started listening to more and more things and going, oh yeah, that totally is me. That totally is me. Oh, ADHD can affect how tired you are during the day. It can make you more tired during the day. But that’s my biggest problem, is that I’m always tired during the day and I had tried everything. I tried, you know, treating my depression. I had tried, you know, mindfulness, ugh. Anyway. It just was, it was so much, but it was like the last step of things for me to actually try to take seriously to see if it helped my daily energy and fatigue and stuff and realizing that maybe this is affecting my quality of life more than I had wanted to admit. So, plus my younger brother had an official diagnosis and then people were all talking about how it’s genetic and then we started going ok, I put all the pieces together. So, yeah, it’s all coming together. It’s coming.
Lex:
Yeah, it wasn’t until two years into this podcast that I once was having a chat with my dad last year and he was like, oh yeah, they diagnosed me with ADHD when I was a kid, but they just didn’t do much about it because I had good grades and I was like, Bob, Bob, you’ve been holding out on me. You just didn’t share this information at all? Anyway.
Keely:
It’s my medical history. It’s important.
Lex:
I know, I’m literally like ok, could have been useful, could have been helpful, but ok, thanks. It’s fine.
Keely:
And fast forward now to 2023 and all, so I have three siblings and all four of us have official diagnoses of ADHD and we all joke that we got our anxiety from mom and our ADHD from dad because it seems real clear now looking at them both that’s how that shook out. Genetics are great. So it’s funny, but a lot of camaraderie and having all of your siblings diagnosed with ADHD, I’ll say that.
Lex:
Yeah, I can see that. Yeah.
Jordan:
Where in the sibling order are you?
Keely:
I am the second of the four. So my sister, then me, then one of my brothers and the other brother. We’re decently close together in age too. My brother and I are four years apart. So that’s like the biggest age gap between any child. So, ok, pretty close.
Lex:
Yeah, well, we got the three major categories here. We got oldest child, youngest child and a middle child.
Keely:
Super middle child. I used to identify very strongly as middle child because back in the 90s and 2000s, everyone was like, your child syndrome. You know, you gotta identify with your child syndrome. And that was the zodiac of the time, I don’t know.
Jordan:
It was, that’s so true, it really was. Yeah. Wow.
Lex:
Also-
Jordan:
Go ahead.
Lex:
I was just going to segue into the next interview question, but if you had-
Jordan:
Knock yourself out.
Lex:
Oh, ok. So all that said, kind of along that line with what you’ve been saying, but maybe in a more direct question way, how do you think ADHD has impacted your life, or work, the most?
Keely:
I definitely see it the most, like I’ve mentioned, the fatigue. I think my energy just gets so easily drained. Whether it’s through overstimulation, taking in too much information that I just need a nap or not sleeping at night because brain go, you know, that’s the biggest one, I think, is the sleep at night thing. But those are, I think, the biggest ones and then I definitely in school saw a lot of struggle. I have a lot of struggle with deadlines and that actually led to a fear of commitment for future things. So actually, I tend to play it safe in terms of doing theater jobs and stuff because I’m always thinking like, what if I drop the ball? What if I can’t hold it all together long enough? Or what if I procrastinate to the last minute, get so stressed that I want to cry, you know, it’s great. So actually, that’s probably the biggest impact, is sort of the fears of the what ifs and then just being tired.
Jordan:
Yeah, that’s so fair. And I feel that 100% also doing theater stuff here, on top of the plenty of other things to be afraid of about being artistically vulnerable and committing to that kind of stuff. The ADHD fear of “am I going to fuck this up for everybody?” is so real.
Keely:
Yes, and this ties into the next question too, but as an artist and a lot of times I remember, especially in grad school, sitting in meetings or in rehearsals and it felt like everybody else was on the same page except I was not. I was missing something and I was too afraid to ask what it was because it was supposed to be the obvious artistic thing that I was just supposed to be getting it. And that was real. I don’t know if that, I feel like that is connected to my ADHD I don’t know if I can articulate how.
Jordan:
That makes sense, that makes sense. I mean, I feel like that can be a blessing and a curse that ADHD brands kind of go different directions. Yeah, but I’ve experienced that too.
Keely:
Yeah, I think it’s got, you know, we do that maze thing sometimes when we think where we go 1000 different places and then, I used to do math wrong, quote unquote, that way. I would maybe sometimes get the right answer, but I would show my work and they’d be like, what is this? This is not correct. And I’m like, how did I get the right answer, but not correctly do the work? It’s the same thing.
Jordan:
That is peak ADHD, honestly. No, that’s so real. Do you think though, whether it’s something that you bring to any room or something you’ve experienced with working with other neurodivergent people, do you ever find upsides in having that kind of thinking?
Keely:
I think I’m a really good brainstormer because of that. I think the popcorn thoughts or whatever you want to call them, the sort of lightning bolt zigzaggies. I think it’s really good when you’re bouncing off someone and you’re in the zone with them and you’re both hyper fixated on this, exciting. But you’re also dreaming. I have a lot of imagination. As a kid I was told I had an overactive imagination because I was always daydreaming, blah, blah, blah. Ok. Growing up. Ok. School sucked for me. Even though I did well, we’ll say that. But the teachers just, you know, it’s just the effect of being neurodivergent in a space that’s not built to support you with people who don’t have the resources and the knowledge. And yeah, I remember also being told, I’m sorry, this is totally off topic, kind of.
Jordan:
On the ADHD podcast? God forbid.
Keely:
Yeah, no, it is. It’s on topic and it’s off topic at the same time. But I just remembered that people used to say that I would fall out of my seat a lot because, I don’t know, it’s just like spacing out/not being careful with my body. And then I would just sort of slide to the floor. Slide to the floor, who does that? I don’t know. But, you know, I think I was a little bit fidgety-er than they realized too. I think that’s probably why.
Keely:
But anyway,
Lex:
I feel that.
Keely:
All that to say-
Lex:
I would always get yelled at for sitting weird in those school desks so I feel that.
Keely:
That’s what they say, there’s the gay sit, there’s the neurodivergent sit. I think they’re the same kind of sit. You just can’t sit normally in a chair. And that’s like the Venn diagram of those two groups, which, I mean, there’s a lot of other reasons why those two groups overlap, obviously.
Jordan:
This is true. Is it the same sit or is it like you would- I’m doing a hand gesture right now. That is not gonna make a lot of sense.
Keely:
Beautiful rolling waves.
Jordan:
In an audio medium, but when sound waves match up with each other and make it more intense. That’s a thing, right?
Keely:
Yeah, that’s kind of like resonation. Like resonating.
Jordan:
Is that what happens when you’re gay and neurodivergent and try and sit in a chair?
Lex:
Ups your vibes.
Keely:
Yeah. Just extreme. Well, we’re just, and I say this as part of both the queer community and the neurodivergent community, but we’re just two groups of people looking to do the same thing, which is sit weird, you know, possibly upside down, possibly backwards, just legs everywhere. It’s the best. It is. You got to be some kind of unique new pretzel. It’s a drive that’s built in.
Lex:
Yeah, on that note though, since we’re kind of in there already, what else inspires you as specifically a neurodivergent and queer artist or creator, you know what I mean?
Keely:
Well, a lot of stuff, I would say. So I’ve always been drawn to storytelling in all of its forms, pretty much. I think that you see a lot of other neurodivergent people in, I know you’ve had a whole episode on this, but tabletop RPG spaces, for example. So most of the people, I see myself reflected so often in people who are telling stories like that in a group setting and it’s very theatrical, but I love seeing my tendencies and stuff in people when I’m watching their live streams or whatever. So I kind of really love D&D for that reason.
Jordan:
Hell yeah.
Keely:
It’s also just a nice sort of theater outlet when I’m not doing as much theater. But I just love stories and that’s another reason why probably I watch a lot of TikTok. I once called it Micro Theater because that’s basically what a lot of videos on TikTok are now. Now it’s very diverse, I would say. There’s a lot of think pieces, there’s a lot of drama, but there’s a lot of really short and really goofy stories that are told. Yeah, I think you can just see that kind of imagination out in the wild a lot. I don’t know if that really answers that question.
Jordan:
No, totally. And I mean, it makes sense too to see the overlap between, like you mentioned earlier, how you saw a lot of people on TikTok with ADHD that helped you self reflect. So it makes sense that you would find similar groups of people in those spaces.
Keely:
Yeah. And again, I think that a lot of ADHD do end up in artistic positions or in these sort of very creative roles. And I think I’ve just always enjoyed that kind of stuff and it fuels my heart, you know, I just love all the creative stuff the most, even people who do visual art and video games and all kinds of things, just kind of following them and following their stories just as people is really fun. It’s dopamine for sure. It’s dopamine. And it makes me feel like I can just chill and be me too. One of the big things that I think I had to learn, and I think people modeled, is sometimes you see people achieving a lot. It’s something I really crashed and burned about after grad school because I was not doing what was expected, so to speak. But seeing people, especially on social medias, who are still participating in creative stuff, it’s not their day job or it’s not 100% all the time of their lives, but they’re just living and they’re making that joy happen for them at their own pace in their own time. And it’s ok for me to do that too. Letting that stuff filter into my brain, huge relief. Huge relief off of the pressure of needing to be something or someone that’s important and constantly producing and constantly outputting. So I think I just love to see that in all medias and especially on social media, is just little bits, little story bits. It’s nice.
Lex:
Yeah.
Jordan:
That’s really beautiful. Thank you for articulating that. I agree with you. That’s not a story of success that we see as much of.
Lex:
Yeah. Also, just emphasis on the eloquence. Jeez, really captured me there with your words, Keely.
Keely:
I do think that there’s something about being a storyteller that sort of calls ADHDers into the fold. And I don’t know, I’m not a scientist. I can’t prove it, but I just see so much of it or maybe I just see it because I see it myself and I recognize that, you know, maybe I just see it more because I know it. But I do think that we tend to be really good at performance storytelling, which I would say is different from day to day storytelling where you just wander forever. That’s a whole different kind of storytelling. And trust me, we do that too. Whenever my family, my siblings and I, are all together and my parents, if someone tries to tell a story, they do that thing where they start at point A and then they go to .3 and then they go to point C minus X squared and then they circle back around to A and then we forget and we talk about something completely different and then maybe we get to the end, maybe. And it’s great.
Jordan:
We never do that.
Keely:
It’s great. It’s actually endearing. I find it not annoying. It’s very funny that we do that. See, neurotypical people. We can be funny and not annoying. We’re just living our lives wandering around.
Jordan:
Neurotypical people, if you don’t get it, that’s kind of on you.
Keely:
It’s so on you. Listen, if you don’t think it’s funny that I can wander into the kitchen three times in a row trying to remember why. That’s just funny. I mean, come on. That’s just goofy.
Jordan:
That’s like rule of three.
Keely:
Come on. Exactly. Third time sometimes isn’t even in the charm. Maybe the next day is the charm. You know, you never know.
Jordan:
Just pulling the expectations rug out from under them. Come on.
Lex:
Get ‘em. That’s my phrase for the episode.
Jordan:
Get ‘em.
Keely:
Get ‘em.
Lex:
Sorry. It’s almost 8PM and it is close to our cast dinner time. So do we want to sort of wrap up the interview portion and move into Dopamine Trampoline?
Jordan:
We have one more very important question that we need to get to, which is, I will read it exactly as written in my notes document, haunted Jukebox. Question mark, question mark.
Keely:
Ok. So imagine, if you will.
Lex:
Ok.
Keely:
You are lying in bed attempting to fall into your blissful nightly slummer. The room is quiet. Ok. It’s almost too quiet. The distractions have all gone and your mind is left to entertain itself. And then you hear it. The theme song to Thomas the Tank Engine. No, it’s not coming out of a speaker. The call is coming from inside the house. You are the source of this train song. Yes. Endlessly on loop. That is the haunted Jukebox. Any hopes of this sweet, peaceful sleep have been dashed upon the tracks of Thomas the Tank Engine.
Jordan:
Is this just something that happens to you?
Keely:
Yes. So, what I refer to is my haunted Jukebox is the phenomenon of where things get stuck in your head, but they really get stuck in your head on loop and maybe it’s just a portion of a song, but it can come from anywhere. It can come from one day of your childhood. There was one, so this is my brain sticking to things is what it is? It’s like the bit, do you all know the John Mulaney Salt and Pepper diner bit? It’s older one. And I don’t know, it probably didn’t age great, but the idea that these kids are just playing What’s New Pussycat over and over. It’s the most annoying song, but it’s in your head and you cannot get rid of it. That is the haunted Jukebox. So, yeah.
Jordan:
Follow up question. Keely, how often for you is it specifically the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song?
Keely:
No, that one comes up way more than you think. It’s just on a general rotation, I would say monthly, maybe a monthly rotation. I’ve had some really funny ones though where and sometimes it’s just one line or one section of a song, you know, the fun part of the song or the dopamine part. Sometimes it’s the annoying part, you can’t control it. You’re not allowed to because it’s haunted. That’s the point.
Jordan:
That is truly, truly haunting.
Keely:
It’s like my brain is so bored that it just really reaches deep into those archives and it pulls out anything it’ll find. It’s Christian Bible camp songs, occasionally. Those are actually extra haunted, I would say, because of how they make me feel.
Jordan:
Some VeggieTales.
Keely:
VeggieTales or the ones that just spell words. I don’t know. I’m afraid to say them because they’ll get stuck in y’all’s heads. But turkey in the straw, I think one happened one time. Then there’s things like Boombastic by Shaggy. That’s a fun one. Basically anything that my brain is like, oh yes, I just want this to be stuck in my head for a long time and I have no control over it and it’s kind of a nightmare, but you call it the haunted Jukebox and all of a sudden it feels less like a personal attack and more like something that’s just kind of happening in the area. And you’re just there.
Jordan:
Just a conduit for the haunted Jukebox.
Keely:
Who turned on the haunted Jukebox again? I mean, there could be ghosts in my brain. ADHD could just be ghosts in your brain. You don’t know.
Jordan:
I think that was a predominant theory throughout the 1800s and they were like, yeah, do cocaine about it.
Keely:
Wandering uterus? No, ghost brain.
Jordan:
Ghost brain. I love it. No, that’s phenomenal though because the same thing does happen to me. And I think my brain is doing a thing right now where it’s very much, like, do not remember any of those things. But I know as soon as I leave the closet they’re all just going to come crashing in and it’s going to be like a really bizarre, VeggieTales, nineties music, really funny Tumblr tags.
Keely:
Tumblr music or Tumblr’s words. And then there’s TikTok’s audios. The other day I had the line from the history of the world. What’s it? Goofy YouTube videos that do the brief history of the whole world.
Jordan:
Yeah, like the cartoon ones.
Keely:
And I just had the Sun is a deadly laser on repeat in my head. It’s a classic line for sure. And the Sun is a deadly laser, but I’m not sure I had to repeat that many times in my brain, you know.
Lex:
That’s so fair. There’s this one AMV that I was obsessed with in middle school called Narutoned, people used to do toned, you know, Narutoned.
Jordan:
Yup. I got it.
Lex:
And that whole AMV is like a splice of a bunch of different songs and it has not aged well in certain areas, but various parts of that are generally just sort of not even on a haunted Jukebox necessarily, but like an implant in my brain. It’s just sort of in a low buzz at all times. It’s just sort of ready to come back up to the surface of my consciousness at any given moment.
Keely:
Well, there’s also mashups. There always can be mashups and I don’t know if you guys experience this.
Lex:
Oh, yes, actually, sorry, I have a very funny one. Continue.
Keely:
I was just gonna say when your brain just decides to start doing mash ups for you. But there’s always, for me there’s songs that I’ll listen to the first part of it and I have to transition into the other song that makes me think of at that certain point. Every time it’s like, I’m switching from this song to this song.
Jordan:
Now that has happened to me about four times already this week with, specifically, I’m so sorry, I have her slide into Cooper’s town on a bad bet into does your mother know? Because it has that section that’s like, does your husband know? And then it becomes, does your mother know? And it’s hell, actually.
Lex:
That’s so funny. Mine, one of the number one mashups that I have is the song Cheerleader. I remember that one. We all remember that one and instead of cheerleader, my brain always, when I get to that part of the chorus, supplies cheeseburger from the VeggieTales Silly songs to Larry, the Cheeseburger song.
Jordan:
Also top tier.
Keely:
So you think you found yourself a cheeseburger?
Lex:
Yeah.
Keely:
No, that’s good. It has really good potential. And I’m here for it.
Lex:
Straight up. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a lot.
Keely:
There’s the song Sleepwalking by All Time Low. Don’t know. I think it’s a newer one.
Jordan:
Didn’t they just come out with a new album?
Keely:
I think they did. Yeah. So many artists are just coming back with stuff and I’m just like, what year is it? But anyway.
Jordan:
Good for them.
Keely
The song All Time Low that goes, I’m at an all time low, low, low, low, low, those go together so you can sing All Time Low to a song by All Time Low. And it’s very funny in my head.
Jordan:
That actually kind of whips. I love that remix.
Keely:
It’s good. I have to, the thing is I have a compulsion to sing it when I hear the other song. I’m like, I got to sing along my way.
Jordan:
Yeah. Well, your way is better.
Keely:
It’s like haunted Jukebox adjacent though, I would say. It’s like mash up Jukebox.
Lex:
Haunted DJ.
Keely:
They’re not ghosts, they’re like poltergeists, you know, they have to manifest. Yeah. Yeah.
Lex:
Oh my God.
Jordan:
Incredible. Well, thank you for sharing that with us. I know in our Instagram conversation about making this happen that was a significant part of the topics that we discussed. So that was beyond my wildest dreams of what I thought the haunted Jukebox was going to be.
Keely:
It’s very low key, but it is like a constant part sometimes in certain people’s lives and I am one of those people. It is unfortunate.
Jordan:
Yeah. Very relatable. I for sure thought that that was going to be more literal. And I’m glad for everyone involved that it’s not, I think, for everyone’s safety.
Keely:
That’d be scary.
Jordan:
Thank you so much for that.
Lex:
Yeah. There’s enough true crime and supernatural horror podcasts. That’s not true, I would do one of those in a heartbeat.
Keely:
If I had a real proper ghost story, I’d tell you, I would not sleep at night ever. If something like that actually happened to me in real life, donesies. I’d be up all night staring at the wall waiting for something to come and take me.
Lex:
I’d like to think, and this is backed up, I have a pretty [inaudible] approach to everything.
Jordan:
I’m pretty like, ghost lore, I’m not sure if I believe in it, but I’m not gonna fuck with it.
Keely:
I want to pretend that I don’t believe in it, but my literal fear responses tell me otherwise. Logic cannot override the body’s fight or flight or freeze or fun. Although I’m not sure how I’d fawn at a ghost, I’ll be honest. Bargaining. Six stages of grief.
Lex:
Oh my God.
Jordan:
Like twirling your hair like, oh my God, hi. Do you live here all the time?
Keely:
Oh, I’m sorry. Is this not the right bathroom? I’ll just go.
Jordan:
This is my house, but I’ll just go. You can have it.
Lex:
Oh, No.
Jordan:
Well, I know it would be cheating to say that that was my Dopamine Trampoline, but that was delightful. And I’m gonna be calling that, when it happens to me very frequently, the haunted Jukebox forever now.
Keely:
Take it and run. It’s great.
Jordan:
Don’t have to tell me twice. But speaking of, I think it’s about time to hop on over to the Dopamine Trampoline.
Lex:
Hoppity, hop, hop, hop. Welcome to the Dopamine Trampoline. It’s a place where we talk about things that we like, things that are giving us dopamine, things that we’ve fixated on. Maybe even hyper fixated on.
Keely:
Yeah, it’s actually really comfy here. It’s nice. It’s a good spring in it.
Lex:
It’s got a great bounce. Just to get us kicked off here, Jordan.
Jordan:
Yes.
Lex:
Sorry. As soon as I started setting it up, I was like, oh, this sounds like I’m about to just be like, I’ll go first, but I was about to be.
Jordan:
Do you wanna go first?
Lex:
Well, no, I was about to suggest that you go first because, as you said, even though that was, and I concur, that was delightful, Keely, thank you, you said that wasn’t your Dopamine Trampoline. So I was going to be like, so what is? So, Jordan.
Jordan:
I was gonna offer to let our guest go first, but we could do a Keely sandwich situation if that would be-
Lex:
Keely sandwich.
Keely:
Yeah, I’m really good and I’m a really good condiment, probably.
Jordan:
I believe it. What kind of condiment would you be, do you think, if you were a condiment?
Keely:
Probably something adjacent to the ketchup. I don’t think I’m cool enough to be mustard. Definitely not spicy enough to be barbecue sauce.
Jordan:
I think you could be mustard.
Keely:
But ranch is just a hard no. I can’t. No, because even though I’m from the Midwest, I don’t identify with ranch. I don’t mind ranch, but I don’t identify as it.
Lex:
Very polarizing condiment.
Keely:
I identify not as ranch.
Lex:
Polarizing dressing.
Keely:
I identify as tired, as the great Hannah Gadsby would say. Shut up.
Jordan:
Mood. I’d say ketchup though because honestly, in my opinion, and I will die on this hill if necessary, Ketchup is the unsung hero of condiments. I know, especially in Chicago, it really gets shit on, but it is complex. It is sweet and tart. It is good on a lot of stuff. It is the backbone of my personal favorite condiment, fry sauce and all around crucial.
Keely:
Yeah. And it’s got a little splash of color, which is fun and different. Mayo and ranch and all those are kind of one note, although mustard is very bright too. But anyway. Ketchup. Let’s go.
Jordan:
Hell yeah.
Keely:
Shade and some sugar.
Jordan:
Love it.
Lex:
What’s yours?
Jordan:
Me?
Lex:
Yeah.
Jordan:
Oh, gosh. Well, I feel like I have to say fry sauce. It’s either fry sauce or balsamic vinegar. I think I’ll have to say balsamic vinegar because as much as I love fry sauce, I feel like balsamic vinegar is a little bit more sweet. But also, some people think it’s too sweet. Some people think it’s too sour, but it goes really well with vanilla ice cream.
Keely:
What?
Jordan:
Me and a bowl of vanilla ice cream are also a great pair.
Keely:
I’m sorry. You put balsamic vinegar on ice cream. Is that what I’m hearing?
Jordan:
Yes.
Keely:
Is that a common thing or is it a Jordan thing?
Lex:
It’s a Jordan thing.
Keely:
I’m just excited to know. I’m not judging.
Lex:
I don’t know these tastes that Jordan is speaking of. Devilish, witchcraft tastes.
Jordan:
It freezes a little bit. And so it adds just a little tartness into the creaminess. It was first recommended to me at an oil and vinegar store. And it was with a raspberry balsamic vinegar. So it was a little bit more traditionally sweet adjacent. But the Rawlings family is hardcore. We just went straight for good old fashioned balsamic ice cream.
Keely:
Balsamic ice cream. And all right. Now, I’m a little intrigued. Fancy.
Jordan:
I feel like this is a great segue though that we’re talking about food because my Dopamine Trampoline this week is the Maillard reaction.
Keely:
The what?
Jordan:
A great question, Keely. I’m so glad you asked. We’re going to throw it back to the Jordan is in third grade and doesn’t go outside enough because she’s watching Good Eats Days and I am going to give you all a quick overview of the Maillard reaction, which many of you may know as the process of browning when you cook things and they turn golden brown and delicious. Yes, the Maillard reaction is who we have to thank for that. It is, just to dispel any rumors right off the bat, just to beat the allegations, not the same thing as caramelization. Caramelization occurs when sugar is cooked. It’s called a nonenzymatic browning reaction because that does much what it says on the tin. Apples turning brown is a classic enzymatic browning situation. Caramelization is sugar and heat. Maillard reaction is different because it very crucially involves proteins, specifically amino acids. So that’s why it’s beyond caramelization. It’s also grill marks on meat, Maillard reaction. Toast.
Lex:
Toast
Jordan:
Maillard reaction. Frying things, Maillard reaction,
Keely:
You know it, you love it.
Jordan:
So she does the most for us. The Maillard reaction is named after the French chemist Louis Camille Maillard who first described it in 1912 when he was just doing some browning for science reasons.
Keely:
Cooking for science.
Jordan:
As you do. Yeah. It’s funny because I feel like there’s a lot of instances where people accidentally cook for science and then they accidentally do science for cooking and I’m sure that there are brilliant food scientists across the world who do cook on purpose for science. But it’s amazing how often it’s an accident. For example, microwaves. Did you know that we only discovered that microwaves could be used to cook food when a scientist who was working on them, whose name I’m blanking on at the moment. But he worked for Raytheon Corporation and had a, as the kind of urban legend goes, a Mars bar in his pocket, he walked past a Magnetron tube and it melted the chocolate bar in his pocket and probably also destroyed his body a little bit. But that was how they found out that microwaves could be used to heat food. And that’s why we have microwave ovens today.
Keely:
Honestly, that’s wild and I love it.
Jordan:
Isn’t that wild?
Keely:
A food in your pocket just got nuked and you’re like, oh, I could capitalize on this. That’s great. Innovation.
Jordan:
Innovation, truly. But back to our beloved Maillard. The Maillard reaction is responsible for, like I said, grilling meat, the browning and umami flavor in caramelized and fried onions. It’s what makes coffee roasting possible. Condensed milk and dulce de leche, Maillard reaction. And also caramelization, I believe they happen at different temperatures if I remember correctly, but I can’t remember caramelization off the top of my head, but the Maillard reaction generally occurs, I think it starts in the mid 200s. Usually past the boiling point because the water generally has to evaporate off the surface of foods before it can actually make contact and begin browning up to about 330 degrees, after that that’s just burning. But the Maillard reaction is when heat affects these sugars and amino acids at the same time. And it’s actually a chemical reaction where those break into the flavoring compounds that I can’t pronounce any of the names of because I got a theater degree, but it’s actually the creation of those flavoring compounds. And we can see that Maillard reaction is happening because of the appearance change, because of the color change, because of the golden brown and delicious. However, it is technically scientifically referring to the creation of the flavor compounds.
Keely:
Which is really cool because sometimes people say like, oh it’s the same if you microwave it versus if you make it on the stove, but basically you’re justifying saying it tastes different.
Jordan:
Yes, it does.
Keely:
The flavor changes literally.
Jordan:
It literally does.
Keely:
It’s not just the texture. Yeah.
Jordan:
Different chemicals are created on this food. And interestingly, I am just now learning this because I’m looking at the Wikipedia page to make sure I’m getting my numbers right. Different process, different thing. But there’s also a Maillard process in archaeology and that’s when bodies are preserved in peat bogs.
Keely:
Oh, I thought we were going somewhere else with the bodies.
Lex:
I was wondering. I shit you not, I’ve been sitting here this whole time being like, why does that sound like something I’ve learned about? But this is not what I learned about. And then you just said that about the peat.
Keely:
Was it the same guy?
Lex:
I hope not. Jesus.
Jordan:
Oh god.
Keely:
I hope he washed his hands in the middle is all I’m saying.
Lex:
Yeah, for real. Shit, Jordo.
Jordan:
Yeah. Thank you for bringing that comparison up, Keely. I’m done talking about food now.
Keely:
Oh no.
Lex:
LOL.
Jordan:
What’s yours? What’s your Dopamine Trampoline, Keely?
Keely:
Well, so I have one honorable mention, which I have to say, it has to be my Dopamine Trampoline, at least honorably. This is not very in depth, but it’s the sky cowboy screaming man from the song Big Enough. I feel like you know who I’m talking about, but very big meme back when the song came out, I think it was all over Tumblr and it’s just this cowboy guy, this older cowboy guy, the clouds in the sky, you know, like Mufasa-style, screaming. But to this song. Well, in our household, in my circles, we’ve been listening to this whole song and it’s just a bop. But the screaming cowboy man is the best part for sure, hands down. He just puts his whole cowboy into it. And I love that. I love that for him. So we stay in the sky, cowboy man. I can’t remember the artist’s name. Kirin something. But anyway, everyone should go listen to it. Kirin Callinan, Big Enough, but you got to watch the video. And so my real one is going to be actually gardening, which is probably the only thing.
Jordan:
Real quick, sorry. I think I need just one more second to process the phrase cowbosy, cowboyosy, what was it?
Keely:
He put his whole cowboysy into it.
Lex:
Yeah. Soak it up.
Keely:
Cowboysy. Yeehaw.
Jordan:
Great, great. I’m sorry, go ahead.
Lex:
Yee-fucking-haw.
Jordan:
Yee-fucking-haw. Gardening. Continue please.
Keely:
Gardening. Yeah. So my real Dopamine Trampoline is gardening. It’s something I’m very new to. I live in an apartment so I don’t actually have a space of my own to garden, but I rent a plot for very cheap at the community garden that is basically across the street from my apartment building.
Jordan:
Oh wow.
Lex:
Fuck yes.
Keely:
So in the spring, I get to actually garden and I went all in last year, learning how to plant things and, literally, it was totally one of those hyper fixation things, but it lasted all season. It got me out of the house, it got me in the sunlight. It was great. I was just living my little farmer Keely life. And now this year I’ve started doing seed starting, indoors. So I have the lights and I have herbs downstairs and I have these tiny little sprouts that just came up recently of Pepper plants and chamomile and I just feel so cool and dorky at the same time. And I’m just learning everything I can about growing plants and specifically growing edible plants. I don’t really fuck with hostas and stuff. No, I don’t understand the point. They just sit in your house and taunt your cats. So I don’t have time for that. So, yeah. So gardening, that’s my thing.
Jordan:
That’s delightful.
Keely:
I got overalls and I got this lovely straw hat. You know, I so look like I stepped out of Stardew Valley. It’s great.
Lex:
Fuck yeah.
Jordan:
I’m so happy for you.
Keely:
It’s literally like living your best life kind of a situation. I wish it was all season, all year round. Winter’s been rough, but these little seeds, they’re getting me through it.
Jordan:
Hell yes. What do you got started? What little seedlings do you got this year?
Keely:
I planted tomatoes that haven’t sprouted yet, but they live in a dark box until they do. I guess it’s liketime out. And I got chamomile to sprout, which I had tried three times prior. So fourth time’s the charm. And then I’ve got three varieties of bell peppers because I fucking love them. And then I tried to plant some snapdragon seeds from my garden last year, but I’m not super confident in my ability to harvest the seeds yet. So I don’t think they’re gonna grow. But yeah, other than that, I have a baisley and a parsley. A baisley? Basil and parsley.
Jordan:
Some new botany.
Keely:
Yeah, they’re just buddies. They don’t live together, but they could be Baisley. I ship it. Basil and parsley.
Lex:
There’s definitely some fan fake about baisley.
Keely:
It’s actually kind of a cute name.
Jordan:
It’s a good ship name.
Keely:
I would name my future dog Baisley in a heartbeat.
Jordan:
Well, wonderful. Congratulations on the seedlings. Hope you have a great rest of the gardening season. Keep us posted.
Keely:
I’m gonna try to grow a watermelon. So I’ll let you know if that happens. Just one.
Lex:
Put it in a dress.
Jordan:
Tell us what color it is.
Keely:
I will. Actually this is the moon and stars variety. So, what’s it called, the husk? It’s dark green and then it just has splotches, it looks like paint splatter in bright yellow and then there’s always one big one that’s like the moon. It’s really cool. So, we’ll see.
Jordan:
Wow. I didn’t even know that was a kind of watermelon, blows this whole thing wide open.
Keely:
And it’s heirloom, which means you can save the seeds from it, which is great because as we know, I’m afraid of the seeds and will not eat them. So, gotta do something with them.
Lex:
Best use them somewhere else.
Jordan:
Works out perfectly.
Lex:
Nice. Love it.
Jordan:
Well, thank you so much. Yeah, please keep us posted on that.
Lex:
Love plants.
Keely:
They’re great.
Jordan:
What else do you love, Lex? What’s your Dopamine Trampoline today?
Lex:
Oh, yeah. This is a real quick and, well, not dirty, but there’s a real quick and easy one. I was thinking about how we’re coming up on spring and summer. And I was just thinking about how much I love to float in the water, and when I say float on the water, like, yeah, I love getting a floaty with a little drink and hanging out in the pool or whatever. But, I mean, taking the boat out to the middle of the lake, just jumping in the water, no life vests, no swimmies, nothing and just laying back and floating.
Lex:
Human buoyancy.
Lex:
And just letting my ears go down so that I can only hear underwater, but then I can only see just the sky above me. I was just thinking about how excited I am to do that and even just the thought of the fact that it’s warming up enough to do that has gotten me through the past couple of days. So that’s mine.
Keely:
We gotta get you to the waters ASAP.
Kex:
I know, right. It’s like we’re right at the end of Pisces season.
Keely:
Yay, Pisces.
Lex:
I’m drying up.
Jordan:
Well, we’ll make it through Aries season and then hopefully it’ll be.
Keely:
No more winter, please. Sincerely, Keely, I signed it, signed, sealed, delivered.
Jordan:
Seconded.
Lex:
Well, you know what else is signed, sealed and delivered?
Jordan:
What?
Jordan:
This episode.
Lex:
It is. Thank you so very, very much for joining us today. Keely. It’s been a goddamn delight.
Lex:
Thank you so much.
Keely:
I’m so glad.
Lex:
A wordsmith.
Jordan:
Truly. We’ll go ahead and sign this one out so you can get back to tending your little seedlings babies actually.
Keely:
And feeding cats, which all of us, I think, have to do.
Lex:
Yes.
Jordan:
So, cool beans. Are you ready, Lex?
Lex:
Yes.
Jordan:
All right. This has been Or, Learn Parkour from Wholehearted Production Company.
Lex:
You can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and YouTube now, lots of different cool places. Pretty much anywhere that you could potentially find a podcast, you can find us.
Jordan:
And then some. Special thanks to Krizia Perito for our cover art design. You can find her at Petalhop. That’s P-E-T-A-L-H-O-P on Instagram, Twitter and Etsy.
Lex:
Thank you as well to Tom Rosenthal for our intro and outro song. There is a Dark Place off of the album Keep a Private Room Behind the Shop.
Jordan:
You can follow us on the soshe meeds @orlearnparkour on Instagram and on our website, wearewpc.com.
Lex:
You can find those links as well as links to our transcripts and sources in the episode description.
Jordan:
You know what else you can find in the episode description? A link to our Buzzsprout affiliate thing. If you start a podcast with them, you get some perks, we get some perks. It’s a good time.
Lex:
If that’s too much effort, you could just follow us. That’s cool too. Or you could leave us a review, share us with a friend, family, foe or give us some money
Jordan:
Or you could give us some money. That is always an option. Link to that is in our Instagram, link in bio and on our website. I’m Jordan.
Lex:
I’m Lex.
Keely:
I’m Keely.
Jordan:
This has been Or, Learn Parkour. We’ll see you in two weeks.
Lex:
Bye.