Whimsy Is Taking Over: Kelly & Don Debate Weird vs Wonderful

Is your inner child dead — or just buried under your to-do list? #hustleculture  #softlife  #dopaminedecor

In this episode of Two Awesome People, Kelly and Don debate whether "whimsy" is the antidote to burnout culture or just a nicer word for immaturity. 

From silly maxing to soft life to dopamine decor — this episode unpacks the biggest lifestyle shift nobody's talking about.

• Ottolenghi Simple cookbook: https://ottolenghi.co.uk/books/simple
• Dopamine decor explained: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/dopamine-decor

New episodes every Tuesday. Subscribe and come be awesome with us.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 — Cold Open: What Is Whimsy?
02:19 — Silly Maxing & The Whimsy Summer Trend
06:15 — Dopamine Decor vs. Sad Beige Interiors
10:17 — The Soft Life Movement: Anti-Hustle Culture
15:13 — Why Adults Are Craving Whimsy Right Now
18:56 — Whimsy or Weird? (Quiz)
22:06 — The Verdict: Does Whimsy Actually Matter?
23:56 — Predictions: Matcha Out, Ube In & LARP Explained
26:10 — One Last Thing: Ottolenghi Simple

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Channel About: 

Come be AWESOME with Kelly and Don.

Two Awesome People is a comedy and pop culture show where a married couple decodes the chaos of modern life. We are taking a look at the stuff our kids understand way too well, from viral TikTok trends and "Manosphere" deep dives to the bizarre world of speed puzzling and AI fruit dramas.

We are not here to give you parenting advice or marriage counseling; we are here to survive it with you. Join us every week as we break down the latest viral moments, share preschool teacher horror stories, and argue over whether "raw dogging" a flight is actually just meditation in disguise.

If you enjoy relatable laughs, middle-aged takes on weird internet subcultures, and honest conversations about life after 40, you have found your people.

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#whimsy #SillyMaxxing #WhimsySummer #BurnoutRecovery #AntiHustleCulture #CouplePodcast #TwoAwesomePeople

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Reach out to us directly : don.broida@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:01

I'm being whimsical, Kelly. Is this whimsy?

SPEAKER_01 0:03

I think it's depressed.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Do you know why you should be a little whimsical?

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Why, Dawn?

SPEAKER_02 0:07

It attracts the other sex.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Both ends, like a whimsical woman.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Literally increases a person's sexiness. So if you want to get laid, be a little whimsical.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Jesus, Dawn.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Your favorite coffee mug breaks. You A, order a replacement, or B, give it a little funeral. What do you do, Kelly? I would just use different mug. You're so unwimsical.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

That's not true. In many cases, I am.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

It's June. We already have a word of the year.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Whimsy. Whimsy.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Whimsy.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Taking over the lexicon.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Whimsy, whimsy, whimsy.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

What is whimsy?

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Whimsy is being crazy.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Playful.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Silly.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Childlike. It's bringing back childlike wonder.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Is this sweatshirt whimsy?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Rather whimsical, yeah. It's sort of like a nicer way of saying immature.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Well, a little bit saying childlike is sort of like immature.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

There's a big difference between the two words. So what is it?

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Whimsy is kind of a state of mind. People sort of try to enter into by way of fashion, home decor, hobbies, daily rituals.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Damn, Kelly, that was a great explanation. It's a state of mind.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

There's the shock that Dawn gets when I say something that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

You say it so eloquently and very precise.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Whimsy is people wanting to inject joy into their daily lives.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

I'm gonna be whimsical.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

I mean, I guess. Well, this is where I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Like what is whimsical? There's like this gray area of whimsy. Right now, what's trending is called whimsy summer, or another term is you know why?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Because it's almost summer.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

It's June. Happy summer, everybody. Happy summer.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

All right, was whimsy spring previously trending?

SPEAKER_02 2:08

And then there's whimsy winter.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

So whimsy summer.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

There's whimsy summer. That's the trend going on, I guess. This is what I'm told by the little people.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

One's in your head. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

And then there's silly maxing. Have you heard of silly maxing?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

I haven't really heard of silly. That's just being stupid. I should say silly.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Stupid is different. There might be a fine line. Silly, silly maxing, you know, maxing.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

To the max.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

To the max. So we're gonna be silly to the max, but it is an actual trending thing. It is to cure overthinking and hyper optimization instead of obsessively grinding. It's about choosing goofy, unbothered, and playful. Silly maxing.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

I mean, if that's what people have to do to unwind.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Would you put sprinkles on your coffee?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I would not, but I did see that that's a thing. People are putting sprinkles on like everything.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Rainbow sprinkles? I think so. I have to admit, I love rainbow sprinkles. It just makes me happy. They're colorful and bright. Who doesn't like sprinkles?

SPEAKER_01 3:11

So rainbow sprinkles are also called like unicorn sprinkles, right? Yeah. That would be the most whimsical creature of them all.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

When we get into unicorns, it's a little far for me. That's the line.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

All right.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

What about naming your houseplant, Kelly? Would you name your houseplant?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

I would name a houseplant. Would you really? I would.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

That's Bert.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Are you kidding? Of course I would do that. That's also sort of similar to when we have like a fruit on the counter.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Like an orange. If you don't know what a fruit is, an orange.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

I will get googly eye stickers and put eyes on it and just leave it on the counter. The last time I did it, it annoyed the hell out of the boys. I think they've like progressed beyond finding that funny. But I think it's delightful to have like a bunch of bananas and one of them has googly eyes.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Mom, you're ridiculous. Is it cool if I do it though as a man? If I like start putting googly eyes like around, is it then a little I mean, I'm gonna go there and be effeminate? Do I lose my man card if I go do that?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

In our house, you wouldn't be able to do that because if you did that, it would automatically be assumed that I did that because I'm the wack-a-doo one.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

So when you came upon the googly eyes, you'd be like, Did I do that?

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Well, I blacked out for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yeah, I'm losing it.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Whimsy is when life gets a little magical for no productive reason.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

You could argue that it is for a productive reason because it's kind of like a recharge.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Whimsy is productive for your soul. That sounds so ridiculous. I mean, this is taking a lot for me over here.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Giving you a mental break, stepping away and having like a fun moment that is unrelated to social media or work or responsibilities, obligations. It's like just doing something fun for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

It's joy with no business plan.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Very much like self-care.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

I am a director, and in casting, we do something that's very whimsical. Oh, you were ahead of the time. I've been whimsical for years, Kelly.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

You're an OG, whimsy max.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

One of the things that I always have loved to do in casting is ask people to laugh like animals. How does a dolphin laugh, Kelly?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Oh, I can't even do a dolphin sound. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

What about an elephant?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

That was more like a horse. It would be more interesting if you did an animal that doesn't make a noise. You'd be like, how does a snail laugh? Yeah, that's how you should do it. You should do animals that don't make sounds and see how people interpret their laughter.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

But my snail laugh was pretty close.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Yeah, it's probably like that's sort of what like whimsical stuff is all about. Giving yourself a minute to be silly. You're injecting joy into their everyday, gone. Way to go.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

So in the home, is it the sad beige backlash?

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Yes, a hundred percent. Right. You know Marie Kondo, is that her name? The decluttering woman. Flavortail, flavortail, flavor tone. There was this woman who was very popular who would help people like clean out their closets and declutter and stuff. And whenever they would get to something that they didn't want anymore or didn't need, they would thank that object or that shirt for serving them and then they would get rid of it. And I think that Whimsy is basically appreciating everything that we have in the moment instead of like when you get rid of it.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

If I come home and you're silently thinking a shirt, I'm going to submit you to psychiatric testing. I love you. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Sort of like appreciating what you have and bringing it out.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Living, etc. magazine says Living, etc.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Is that just Living Magazine?

SPEAKER_02 7:20

I think it is. When I looked it up, it was Living, etc. is one word. I was like, Living etc. Like I was like, wait, is that supposed to be two? Think Living Magazine. It's a very real trend right now. It's childlike design with maximalist, surrealist pieces, like a pigeon-shaped vase.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Voz.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Vase.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

This is so ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Yeah, this is a lot coming from you.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

Voz.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

So it's basically things shaped in silly ways. And also I would say, like those fairy gardens that are really fucking weird that people have.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Your sister used to give us glass fruit.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

But she did that as a joke.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

That is part of it, is that it's silly.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

I think that what's more interesting than the home decor is out in public what people do with whimsy. How they're presenting themselves and what they're wearing, like this.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Are you saying something is wrong with this, Kelly?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

No, I'm saying it's very whimsical.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Full of whimsy over here. Uh have you heard of cottage core?

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Yes, I have.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Cottage core is granny chic elements such as floral wallpapers, rustic wooden furniture.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Oily, wicker, lace.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

There's also what's called dopamine decor.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

What's that?

SPEAKER_02 8:39

I would like some dopamine decor right now.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Can you tell me what it is?

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Yeah, a trend focused on curating spaces with color, textures, and nostalgic items that trigger a release of dopamine. The feel-good hormone in your brain.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

I would argue that all decor should be dopamine decor then.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Well, no, I think there's calming. So like you could have calming. Kelly had uh this little kind of statues of the devil dancing with a woman, and it ruined me to my soul.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

I had to get rid of it.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

That did not cause dopamine. So, what object in our house brings you joy for absolutely no reason?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

The disco ball?

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Kelly puts a disco ball around the place, and um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Thanks for sharing that, Don.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Oops, boring, dully.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

A lot of our plants in the house bring me joy, actually.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Bert and Gertrude.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

What about you, Don?

SPEAKER_02 9:37

Uh I know one. Please share.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

That ceramic frog.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Yeah, I have a ceramic frog on my desk. It's so ugly. It's funny.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

So it has always lived on your desk because during work, you need that moment of whimsy, Don.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Uh, and my entire life.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

That's true. Yes. Because you live a very hard life. What the hell?

SPEAKER_02 9:58

This is totally untrue. My life is mostly defined by whimsy and completely not being serious. My brother is a firefighter. His job is very serious, and I have a lot of respect. My job is mostly hanging out by the pool and coming up with stupid ideas.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Well, he needs some whimsy.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

You said earlier that whimsy is immaturity. I'm gonna disagree. You I think you disagreed in the first place. Immature is not paying your bills.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

I thought that was whimsy when I don't pay the bills.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Try to tell that to the gas company.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yes, continue.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Men being whimsical, men wearing shit like this is seen as ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Yeah, I don't really know if if you're right about the appearance thing, because there are lots of guys who wear like kooky things, and that's their general vibe.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Yeah, I think you step outside of LA and New York and you start getting a lot different of a look. Usually green flag dating advice. Be whimsical because it attracts the other sex. Studies show.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, science.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

Science.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Probably has to do with the other person wanting to have that same sort of like escape from the monotony of life, of adulthood, in lieu of being whimsical or playful necessarily yourself, like maybe you just attach to somebody else to it.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

When you're whimsical, I become whimsical. Even if I'm having a bad day, if you do something funny, usually it will lighten my day.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Really? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

I like the googly eyes on fruit. I'm like, how creative, how funny. It's just a little moment of like, huh.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah, you walk in the kitchen and you're like, that banana's looking at me.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Isn't that crazy that it actually increases a person's sexual attractiveness? It reduces stress.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Yeah, it reduces stress, but I wonder if there's also an element of youthfulness to it. Maybe it makes people appear more youthful.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

Do I look like I'm 20 over here, Kelly?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

I'm just fitballing here.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

That's all. I'll do this. Now do I look even younger?

SPEAKER_01 12:17

You're like Justin Bieber.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Would you rather wear a normal outfit forever or one accessory every day that makes people say, okay, what's going on there?

SPEAKER_01 12:27

I would probably say one normal outfit forever. Depends on what the accessory is, too.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

My accessory is my shine.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

You're so accessorized, Don. All right. So you have on here soft life.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Have you heard of soft life?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

I don't really think I have. I would imagine it's very soft.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

It is a way of living, soft life. And sounds lazy. The or the origins of soft life actually come from Nigerian women in 2020 and it caught on social media. That's the origin of the city.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

How does anything of Nigerian women cut okay? I have all right flavor town. So soft life is a lifestyle philosophy that rejects toxic hustle culture in favor of peace, ease, rest, and emotional well-being.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

To better understand it, it is now called the luxury aesthetic. It's turned into that. All those lavish wellness routines.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

We could do a whole other conversation about that.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Yeah, that'll be real boring.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Great. Stay tuned.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

I mean up next, the boring wellness episode. If I started calling Aaron's side quests.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Side quest? Correct. No. That wouldn't be okay with me.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

You could call it a quest. I'm going on a quest, Kelly. If you said you were going on a quest, I'd be like, where to? And you'd be like CVS, I'd be like, not a quest.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

It probably technically, according to the definition of a quest, is a quest. Why do you think Whimsy is popular right now, Don?

SPEAKER_02 14:04

I think it's always been popular in my world.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

You think it's always been popular?

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Well, um, I don't know. You broke Don over here.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

We need to stand firm in your opinion. I think that it's probably peaked in popularity right now because of backlash to social media and screens, the rise in analog activities or even nostalgia, just wanting to inject color. Yeah, like just have more fun with things in a light-hearted way as opposed to like a performative way.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

When I'm looking for locations for shooting, filming, whenever I walk into a white house, it's immediate no. Like I've walked into so many white houses that look exactly the same. Right. This is so boring.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Yes, I understand the appeal of it just exactly. And also sort of like modern feeling. Yes, and bright. Um, but there is something to just having more warmth around you, I think.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Have your house give you a hug.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Mine gives me hugs daily.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Words of wisdom for you all.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Whimsy is what happens when hull hustle culture has a breakdown.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Everybody's been hustling and now we're tired and we need a minute. So we're gonna put googly eyes on fruits and vegetables and bows in our hair and play hopscotch.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Adults are too tired of everything being optimized. You had said you wanted to wake up at 5 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

I know I did.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Those people drive me crazy. I wake up at 4 a.m. to have peace and quiet by myself so I can work out and do all this. I'm like, ugh.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

I respect it.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

I did this, this, this, and this all before 5 a.m. You know what I did before 5 a.m.? Have a freaking dream.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Yeah, I rolled over.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Good for you. Sorry, I'm not such a winner.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Just not the go-getters.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

We're the go-getters.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

But we go get during daylight hours.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

We go get between about 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. And at 2 p.m., we're done getting.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

No, we get past that. We go on and get.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Do you think I'm whimsical?

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Well, you built a tree house.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

I did with a zip line.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

And you like to have fun.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

Occasionally. Sometimes you're real serious.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Am I whimsical, Don?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

You definitely dress and create a space in our house that is very whimsical. But what about behavior? Uh, you can be. You have kids, and maybe at one point you were whimsical, but the kids are so damn whimsical. Your whimsy gets tucked and it gets buried. It gets put to sleep because you got these little crazy assholes running around that you can't be whimsical anymore because they're pulling it all out.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Well, and I would say also that sometimes it's actually tiring to be whimsical. Yeah. You have the hustle culture, and you need to be able to take that time to like have fun for yourself. And sometimes you're too tired from the hustle culture to do that.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

And then your kids are like, Mom, mom, come play, come play, come play, mom. Why are you sitting there? What are you doing? Let's play. And you're like, oh my God, my brain's gonna explode.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yeah, a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

I think that kids both inject whimsy and also just suck it out.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Yeah, it kind of depends on the kid's age, but yes. I mean, I like doing like arts and crafts with Connor this weekend. I'm fully intending on doing some some little art projects on for yourself. For me, myself, and I.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

You know, I think that we get whimsy through our kids.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

That's kind of like what I was saying about the sexual attraction.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

You're tying kids in sexual attraction.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

No, I'm saying you get whimsy from another person. That's like whimsy by association.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

By osmosis. Yeah. You're my whimsy muse.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Except you're saying that I'm only whimsical in certain ways.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

I think that as you get adulting basically kills whimsy. So I think it's finding that middle ground of like, hey, here's how I can still be whimsical, yet be responsible. And so I'm going to wear a tie-eyed sweatshirt, yet ground my kids. What's the least whimsical place on earth?

SPEAKER_01 18:37

A bank.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Agreed. Okay, moving on.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

TSA.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

The DMV.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Restaurants with QR menus.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

That seems like totally different. That's how weird area.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

I think that I think I killed something. Things that take away my joy. Restaurants with QR menus.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Do you want to do a quiz, Don? I would love to. It's called whimsy or weird.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Bring it.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Your best friend says he wants to take up the unicycle.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

I love it. I'd do it with him. I'd be doing you and me both.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

That would be whimsy. That wouldn't be weird.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

No, I have no problem with that.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

A grown woman is wearing a giant mini mouse style bow in her hair.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

How big are we talking?

SPEAKER_01 19:20

I mean, as big as mini mouses.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

I would probably say I like.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

So you would find that whimsical too?

SPEAKER_02 19:26

I would find that fun. That's not weird to me. That's that's pretty good. I'm like, oh, it's a big bow in your hair. Cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

What if I start a collection of tiny frogs, similar to the frog on your desk that makes you smile, and I hid them all around the house for you to discover and give you joy?

SPEAKER_02 19:46

No, that would I would get probably pretty angry.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

That would be weird.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

It's not whimsical to hide shit from me.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

It'd be like an Easter egg hunt. I'm not hiding it from you. Okay, what if instead of coffee table books, we put out children's books?

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Nah. Not my style.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

This is a true whimsical act that is actually recommended online. I have an opinion on this one. I put a vase of flowers in the fridge just to give us a special surprise when we open it.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

Yeah, I like I like shit in the fridge.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

What the hell? I think that that's so weird and wasteful.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

It is a little wasteful, but I like fridge decor because I think it's like you open the fridge, it's like, oh, look, a little surprise.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

I am shocked. You don't seem to find anything weird.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

No, I think you hiding shit around the house is weird. I think you saying goodbye to like your clothes weird.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

What about this one? At school pickup, you see and hear a mom wearing tap shoes just for fun.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

No, that's weird. Tap shoes? Like weird.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

But it's also a little whimsical.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yeah, but that's like showing up in ski boots.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Okay. What if you were making plans to meet up with a friend? And instead of doing like a hike or coffee or lunch, your friend suggests an ice cream date.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

I love it. I'd be like, sweet. Can I get two scoops?

SPEAKER_01 21:18

I can't believe you don't think any of these are weird.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

The tap shoes were weird. Okay, that's true. You know, for a colleague of mine, we were meeting for business.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

And I invited him over to play ping pong.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

This is the last one. Your friend quits their run club and start a skipping club instead.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

I'm down for an occasional skip, but a skipping club.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Well, that would be like long distance skipping. Would you do long distance skipping?

SPEAKER_02 21:45

That sounds like a lot of work. I could see that existing, and I'm not gonna hate on it.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

You could start it, Don.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

You know what I'm gonna do? Start a crab walking club.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

That would be really hard.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

That would be even weirder. That would be this is Don's crab walking club. We're gonna crab walk for a mile.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Well, Don, that was my quiz. Whimsy or weird.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Whimsy or weird. All right. What's your verdict on whimsy? Do you think that whimsy matters?

SPEAKER_01 22:12

I do think whimsy matters because it kind of goes back to my initial explanation of what whimsy is. And I think that it's sort of like a state of mind. And I think that the fact that it's so popular indicates that it's a state of mind that people need to have, like they crave it right now.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Preach on, preacher.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Does that mean that you agree?

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Yeah, I think it's hugely important. I think that mostly what's important is that we can be playful and still be manly. We can be silly but be responsible, fun yet serious.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

This is like one of those affirmation signs that people could have in their house about what should we see what the Claude has to say? Yeah, what are you asking Claude?

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Does Whimsy matter? I think I'm gonna go with Chat GPT because ChatGPT is just more whimsical. This is Don and Kelly versus the AI.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

That was so whimsical of me to make that sound.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Does whimsy matter? And ChatGPT says, yes, probably more than most people admit. Whimsy is one of the ways humans test reality without committing to it. It's intellectual play, emotional ventilation, social signaling, and creativity rehearsal all at once. A civilization without whimsy becomes efficient but brittle. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Well, we didn't say any of those things, but it did generally agree. The answer was yes, it matters.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

That makes it sound like all humanity is going to fail without whimsy. We all need fairy wings. A world with no whimsy would still function, but it would feel less human.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Because humans are inherently a little silly. Do you want to discuss predictions, Don? Should we talk about what to give time to?

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Let's do our predictions. Give it time, Kelly.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Okay. I have a pretty weird one.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Is it whimsical?

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Kind of. So matcha is everywhere right now. In part, I would argue, because it's whimsical to hold a cup that looks like a shamrock shake and be like, I got my matcha this morning. It's a whole look, okay? So I'm predicting that the matcha trend is going to phase out just a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Bye-bye matcha.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

And I was seeing that. Is it pronounced ube?

SPEAKER_02 24:39

I pronounce it ube. UB.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

It's UB? No, I do not.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Ubay.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

And it makes a purple drink. So everybody's going to want to have a purple drink instead of their green drink.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Green is out, purple is in. Was that a totes?

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Yeah. Give it time, and everybody's going to be drinking purple drinks, and the green drinks are out. What do you think we should all give time to, Don?

SPEAKER_02 25:07

All right. Give it time. Uh, my son, 14-year-old, just shared a new term with me, a Gen Z term called a LARP. A LARP is uh originally somebody that would do live action role-playing, somebody that would play Dungeon and Dragons out there. Well, it has now come to mean a poser. It is an insult, somebody pretending to be something they are not. They're called a LARP.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Could you be a whimsical LARP?

SPEAKER_02 25:39

A fake whimsy.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Well, maybe I'm a LARP.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Wait a LARP, Don. You are LARPing hardcore.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

You're LARP maxing. Oh my God. We're so like hip, Kelly.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

No, we are by definition LARPers right now. Oh. I disagree.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

We have a 14-year-old, so we understand this through this.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

They have a translator.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

My give it time is you are going to hear LARP and LARP instead of poser a lot more.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

I can't wait. What do you want to recommend to the fine people?

SPEAKER_02 26:15

I have a recommendation. Let me introduce you to Autolingi. If you don't know who Audilingi is, he is a British uh chef with several cookbooks, and his cookbooks are fantastic. It's mostly Middle Eastern food. And the one specifically I recommend is Autolingi Simple. It's not a new cookbook, but it's a fantastic cookbook that I have enjoyed for many years.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

That was quite a recommendation, Don.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

I brought it.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Oh, way to bring it. Yeah. I'll just end on that one.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Thank you for chatting with me, Kelly. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Thank you for bringing your whimsy to this podcast, Don.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

I hope that we continue to grow in whimsy and it never dies. Whimsy on. Thank you very much for watching. If you enjoyed this, please share it, like it, subscribe. That stuff really matters. Leave a review. It makes a difference to us. It helps.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

You can stop talking now. All right. Bye, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

See you next week.