1169 – Thoughts n Things

Notable Language:

• The Cusack Institute of Instituting
• The Venetian Blind Window
• Non-Rotary Generation

Notable Culture:

• Justin Timberlake
• Kohl’s
• “Raspberry Beret” – Prince

Notable Talking Points:

• Sand Toys: I See You
• A Conceptual Retail Experience
• Design Your Own Lampshade

Episode 1169 – Thoughts n Things

 

[START OF RECORDING]

 

SCOOTER: Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and any pets who happen to be listening…because I do hear a lot about…congratulations, pets. Pets, are you roll…? Do you…are you rolling your eyes at me? If you have the…or whatever the pet equivalent of that is. I can imagine for a lot of you it’s twitching your nose dismiss…are you twitching your nose dismissively? Are you waving your whiskers in a way that says, oh boy, not that podcast guy again? But maybe I help one of your human companions, and that’s an honor, 'cause it’s time for Sleep With Me, the podcast that’s here to keep you company while you fall asleep, to be your friend in the deep, dark night, because you deserve a good night’s sleep.

 

You deserve a bedtime you could look forward to, a bedtime you don’t have to dread anymore. Now, this show is very different. If you’re new, welcome. I’m so glad you’re here. When I say it’s different, it just takes a couple tries to get used to. This isn’t like a…this is like talking to a friend and a friend telling you a bedtime story that you don’t need to listen to but you could listen to, a friend that’s gonna be there to take your mind off of stuff and keep you company and say, hey, there’s no pressure to fall asleep, but if you do fall asleep, that’s great…a friend that’ll be here over an hour for you.

 

So, give it a few tries. See how it goes. Structurally what we got coming up here is we got the support — that’s how the show comes out free twice a week — then there will be a long, meandering intro meant to ease you into bedtime, and then there will be a nice little bedtime story about how great pets are or how great they could be at being there for you. So, it’s time for Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. Thanks for making it possible, my patron peeps.

 

INTRO: [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing? Trouble getting to sleep? Trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome. This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press Play. I’m gonna do the rest. What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake, whether it’s thoughts, things on your mind that you’re thinking about, thoughts; think…thoughts about the past, the present, the future, thoughts about things, things related to thoughts. I’ve never thought about this one, is…I always…I listen to Scriptnotes. That’s a podcast…well, I better…I’m already off topic. Thoughts…it could be feelings.

 

Thoughtnotes; things interesting to thoughts and…thinking thoughts and thoughts and things. Thoughts ‘N Things; that’s my store where you could get…if you wanted to buy gifts for your thoughts, which most of us probably don’t — no offense, thoughts — come on down to Thoughts ‘N Things. We have a companion podcast, Thoughtnotes. Each episode is 4,000 hours long because we get notes about Thoughtnotes from our thoughts. So, thoughts, it could be feelings, anything you’re experiencing emotionally…Thoughts ‘N Things; hopefully I’ll come back to that. That sounds like…I can see the font. It would be…come on down to Thoughts ‘N Things. We were open for four minutes. The store was open for four minutes. In total; yes.

 

Totally…we’re lucky enough to have the great council on retail come and say, and now your store is closed. The story of Thoughts ‘N Things has come to a close except in the intro of Sleep With Me, where Scooter can’t get it out of his brain. Isn’t there stores with ‘N Things? And Things? That could be our com…you say, someone started another store, Thoughts and Things? No, someone also started one with the & symbol, but there is a proposal to open another store called Thoughts and Things. What’s the name of my store? ‘Cause I thought it was Thoughts ‘N Things. Yeah, we did it with an N. Did you want us to do it with an & symbol? I guess at this point it doesn’t matter, 'cause I was trying to talk about feelings, anybody experiencing feelings related to thoughts or related to something else.

 

It could be physical sensations that are coming up for you, it could be changes in time, temperature, routine. You could have some…you could be anticipating something, getting over something, or going through something. Or a lot of times, it’s some of the above, all of the above. Whatever it is…and the only reason I list stuff out is because I want you to know you’re not alone. You may be…you may feel alone and you may…you say, well, this is just a podcast. I’d say, yeah, you’re right about that, but a lot of us know how it feels in the deep, dark night.

 

That’s why I make the show and that’s what a lot of regular listeners let me know about, is while I might not know…I can barely pronounce words, but while I might not know exactly what you’re going through, I can relate to how it feels, probably, and if I can’t, somebody else that’s listening can, because that’s why I call it the deep, dark night. Trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep. Trouble waking up; yeah, I’ve got…I’ve had some of those. So, that’s why I go through all that. The other thing…I said it before. I’ll say it again; and if you never listen to this show again, I just want you to know you do deserve a good night’s sleep.

 

You deserve a place you could rest, a bedtime you don’t have to dread, and enough sleep and rest so your life is more manageable, so you could be out there living your life, ideally getting out there on a regular basis getting the rest you need so you can flourish. So, those are the…really, the only…the important things about the show. But what I’ll do is…here is I’ll send my voice across the deep, dark night. I’m gonna use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents, which means I’ll get mixed up…you’ve already seen it. There will be something like Thoughts…I’ll say, well, maybe I want to go shopping at Thoughts ‘N Things. Come on down to Thoughts ‘N Things. I guess we know what this episode’s gonna be about, 'cause I gotta get through the intro.

 

I thought it was gonna be about some other thing, but turns out, that’s what we’ll talk about tonight. So, whatever it is that’s…oh, send my voice…multi…creaky…multi-dulcet tones, multi-creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, multi-meanders, superfluous…multiple superfluous tangents all to keep you company while you fall asleep. So, the show is just here to be here for you, for you not to listen to. That’s a couple things that are very different about the show. This is a podcast you just barely listen to or you can kinda listen, you can reflectively listen. How about empty listening? You know when you…before or after you move, you…or you’re in a empty room, there’s…the sound reflects in a different way, or reverberates. What if you…what if that’s a way to listen to Sleep With Me, empty listening?

 

I don't know why…I’m having trouble making a fully-formed metaphor for it, but I think you know what I’m talk…you say, just like on the inside of your head? One part of my brain just said that; like the inside of your head. Huh? Yeah, I get it. Like an empty room, huh? But if you’re…if you were talking in that room by yourself, the sounds would be bouncing off stuff, but you’re the only person there. You’d say…but if you were in…so, let’s just pretend you’re in a empty room and you’re going, uh-huh, uh-huh, mm-hm, mm-hm, and then it’s kinda echoing, that’s kinda how you could listen to Sleep With Me, is…but it’s not empty. If you’re not paying attention, that’s great. So, it’s the podcast…some people listen to me at a mumble, but some people are listening. This is a podcast you could listen to, but you don’t need to.

 

The same goes for falling asleep. I’m not here to put you to sleep; I’m here to be here while you fall asleep. So, you could fall asleep, but there’s no pressure to fall asleep. That’s why the shows are over an hour long, 'cause I’m here to keep you company to the very end. There’s people that can’t sleep that listen to this show, and I’m here for them to the very end, and I’m here for you to the very end whether you’re awake or asleep. So, you could just fall asleep whenever you want. I’m here to be your bore-friend, your bore-bae, your bore-sib, your bore-bud, your bore-bestie, your neigh-bore, your bore-bor, your bore-bruh, your bore-friend to keep you company and just ramble on and on and on. That’s it. I’m here…that’s what I’m here for. So, what else do you need to know?

 

Oh, most people don’t like this show on the first try. So, if that’s your reaction at first, that’s normal. Or you say, I’m not so sure about this. When’s it get sleepy? I say, well, this is as sleepy as it kinda gets. Going on down to Thoughts ‘N…could we get Justin Timberlake to sing for that? Maybe spin a sign for us? Bring it on down to Thoughts ‘N Things. I can hear him singing that. But so…oh, most people won't like the show on the first try because it’s different. You probably have tried a bunch of different stuff to put you to sleep, maybe paid a lot of money for that stuff, and maybe it’s worked once or twice. That’s been my experience with a lot of things, and it can be frustrating and it can make you skeptical because why wouldn’t it make you skeptical?

 

Or maybe you just started searching for stuff and it’s…where I was last night at about 2:00 AM trying to decide, should I get out of bed? Should I get my book out? What should I do? So, if you found the show that way and you’re frustrated, I understand, too. So, that’s normal. Just kinda see how it goes. But this is kind of a show you hold loosely, and…like sand going through one of those kids’ toys where you just…one of those sand things where you pour it in the top and then it’s supposed to do…those things you find abandoned on the beach after one or two uses, or you find it somewhere when you’re cleaning out the back of your garage or whatever, one of those sand toys. Underrated sand toys, by the way. You’re doing…sand toys, you’re doing a great job. Not an easy job, I know. Sand toys; I’d rather be in a sandbox.

 

I’d say, okay, well, not everybody has one, but I get…sand toys; I get it. I see you. Sand toys, I see you. I mean, I do. I see every…say, what…did somebody forget about that toy? But reality is, sand toys…not to take sides…you get to live on the beach, so there’s a plus side. But also, you’re covered in sand, and so, if people are not equipped for that, then they say, oh boy, then I gotta clean the car out? Oh, man. Sand toys; it’s not easy being a sand toy. It’s relatable. Sand toys; your feelings are relatable to people listening to Sleep With Me. So, yeah, this show takes a few tries to get used to. If you loathe me and the podcast, go to sleepwithmepodcast.com/nothankyou. It’s got tons of other stuff to try out on there, 'cause you still deserve a good night’s sleep. You don’t need to dunk on me.

 

It’s been…I’ve been dunked, so you could just check that stuff out. I mean, you can, it’s fine, but just check out some of the other sleep podcasts, 'cause then you’d at least be able to fall…maybe you find something that helps you fall asleep. So, what was I saying? Doesn’t need to work…oh, if you don’t like it…but for most regular listeners, people that pay for the podcast…they pay ten, twenty bucks a month. Most of those people have said at the first try…first two or three tries, I didn’t like the show or it didn’t work for me or I didn’t get it or it was frustrating. There’s even people that pay me ten or twenty bucks a month to support the show and get bonus stuff and ad-free stuff. That’s it; at first I loathed you, and then three years later I listened to the show and loved it. So, just give it a few tries and see how it goes.

 

The core of that message is the show is different, but after a while they realize, oh, oh yeah, the podcast…he wasn’t kidding when he was talking about sand toys. That was almost…it wasn’t…it was a metaphor but it wasn’t a metaphor, and I don't even get…he doesn’t know what he’s talking about and neither do…and I don't know what he’s talking…oh, okay, where you just go…your shoulders go slack. So, that’s a couple things about the show; don’t like it at first, no need to listen, no need to fall…oh, structure of the show. This also throws people off pretty strongly, so this is why I bring it up every episode. The show starts off with a greeting; friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, so you feel seen and welcome and you say, okay, I could check that show out.

 

I mean, maybe I lost every sand toy and I’m sorry about that, but you know what, sand toys? We’ll have…we’re always selling sand toys down at Thoughts ‘N Things, because you’re probably thinking like I am. Sand toys have their own section at Thoughts ‘N Things. There you go. Problem solved. But so, structure of the show…the greeting is so you feel seen and welcomed in. You say, okay, I could give that a listen. I could check that out. Then there’s support for the show so it can be free and come out twice a week. Then you say…it’s optional to support it or pay for it or whatever, and we have over 500 episodes for you to choose from, 'cause as you become a regular listener, people develop a taste around different episodes and stuff, or people like to make playlists in their podcast apps.

 

So, that’s kinda the flexibility. You say, okay, there’s tons of episodes to choose from. You could choose the ones that work best for you. Then after the support, the support for listeners and stuff, then there’s this intro, which we’ve…I’ve been going for like, twelve or thirteen minutes. It goes anywhere from ten to twenty minutes. But the intro is a big part of the show. Sometimes when people are frustrated with the support, for some reason they also lump it and the intro together, but they’re two separate things. The intro is a show within a show meant to introduce the podcast…now, not planned, but in the most ineffective way possible that just happened one day and I realized it worked.

 

I mean, I had already…I don't know how many episodes I made before we started these longer intros or before we got to this point where it’s like, okay, over twelve minutes, ideally under twenty, but we’ll see. I’d say…you’d say, Scoots, what’s the sweet spot? Today, I’d say seventeen minutes, but that’s just the number that popped in my head. So, the intro goes on and on and on, but it’s also not meant to just introduce new people to the show, but for everybody, it’s to ease you into bedtime, to be a separation between the evening and sleep time. Ideally it’s part of your wind down routine, and that can mean different things for different people.

 

You could be getting ready for bed listening, and then if you have an electric toothbrush, you’re probably like, I don't even know what you just said, but now you’re talking about Thoughts ‘N Things. I might buy a gift there. Do you have monogrammed bags? I’d say, let me think about it. Oh, boy. But so, you could be getting ready for bed, you could be doing some sort of other chill activity. Petting your pets is something I recommend…foam rolling, writing in a journal or something. But you could find your own stuff. You could be in bed getting comfortable. Some people are asleep. 2% of people skipped ahead to twenty minutes, but maybe they’re just catching this part. Maybe they skipped ahead to thirty minutes. Whatever.

 

How you wind down…it’s just that having a wind down routine…not only does it create something special to look forward to, but it kinda…I don't know, it’s just what’s been shown to work and worked for me not every time, but a lot of the time. So, the intro is just a part of that. It’s part of the wind down, the lowering of the volume, or the landing. Then there’s support between the intro and the show, and then there will be our bedtime story, which I thought was gonna be one thing, but tonight we’ll be doing something about Thoughts ‘N Things. I have no idea. Turns out, I own a store I’ve never been to and that was only open for four minutes. So, that’ll be exciting. Yeah, and then we’ll have some thank-yous at the end. So, that’s the structure of the show, that’s why I make the show.

 

I’m so glad you’re here, and it may not feel that way, and I totally get that. Whenever I feel…whenever…it’s like whatever that comedian said; when you welcome me, that’s when I’m in the worst mood. When you’re kind to me…so, it’s not always easy to feel welcome…oh, well, you should feel welcome here. It’s the welcome club. Say, what time does this end? ‘Cause I gotta get…I got stuff to worry…I gotta get home and…I got some pacing to do before I go to bed. So, how much welcoming are you gonna be do…? Well, first…now we’re gonna have ice cream sundaes.

 

Oh, okay. Well, that part’s interesting to me, but probably not the best 'cause it’s a week night, so maybe you could welcome me some other…maybe I’ll feel more welcomeable at some other point in my life and we could reconvene this, ‘cause also, I gotta finish this sleep podcast. So, I’m so glad you’re here. I yearn and I strive. I work really hard, so do a bunch of other people…work really hard on this show, because we all really want to help you fall asleep. So glad you’re here. Thanks again for coming by, and here’s a couple ways we’re able to do it for you for free twice a week.

 

Hello, hello everybody. My name is Lorraine Cusack. Welcome to Thoughts ‘N Things, pre…this is a premiere retail experience for brainbots and people looking to purchase things related to thoughts and thoughts…thoughts and things. That’s what we have; thoughts and things here. It is actually a premiere…did I say retail experience and concept that we’re working on here at the Cusack Institute of Instituting? I’m a member of the Cusack family. You may have worked with us before and heard from us, some of my siblings, including…Reginald Cusack, I think, is the one who’s appeared most times on this show, the most times. But I’ve been asked to talk about Thoughts ‘N Things. Also, Scooter said, mention what a brainbot is.

 

We don’t exclusively sell items for brainbots, but we are the only imaginary non-existent purveyor of things for brainbots that we know of, and we…so, I would call ourselves the Premiere Place as well, and especially that we’re not just a store; we’re a retail experience that doesn’t exist, and a concept. We don’t…we exist conceptually, but we’d also be presenting it as a concept and a retail experience, though I think we would use a different term, 'cause ‘retail experience’ just sounds a little clinical. Like you said, then there’s gonna be fluorescent lights, right? Oh, no, no, no, not there. In fact, maybe we would even have some sort of lamps. I don't know. Gas lamps have fallen back out of style, but that’s what I would have…even a month ago I would have said we’ll have gas lamps.

 

But we will have some sort of conceptual…conceptually, we have the concept of a gas lamp. But welcome. Oh, what’s a brainbot? That’s what I was supposed to cover first. What’s a Cusack family member? Oh, that’s so funny. I’m a member of the Cusack family. Now, not the same family as the famous Cus…we are the famous Cus…in sleep podcasting, I would say within the…well, within the sleep podcasting sub-niche of people that listen to Sleep With Me within the sub-niche of people that are familiar with episodes containing the Cusacks, I would say we’re some of the famous Cusacks. Not John or Joan. You could say that; you’re no Joan Cusack. I’d say, you’re right. I’m not. I’m Lorraine Cusack. I’m here to tell you about brainbots.

 

Oh, we develop things for Sleep With Me podcast or we work with Sleep With Me podcast on clothing lines and different things. We say, okay, well, we could make that sleepy, too. We’ll work with you, Scooter. It was not long ago…only recently that Scooter said, what about a place called Thoughts ‘N Things? We said, I love it. I mean, I did; I said, I…Thoughts ‘N Things. It has a certain ring to it, if you don’t mind…there’s a ring to Thoughts ‘N Things. Makes me want to sing or go ding-a-ling-a-ling. Hear Justin Timberlake say, bring it on down to Thoughts ‘N Things. But so, a brainbot, though, is Scooter’s…it’s a metaphor — but not just a metaphor — of the different parts of our minds, our bodies, our spirit, our feelings, our physical sensations that activate at bedtime, and they usually have…they’re uni-functional, typically, or that’s the best way to describe them.

 

So, you may have…to create to a super uni-function…what if there was a raincoat or a umbrella brainbot? You would think, conceptually, if we were designing in here…now…or if you were designing it at some other place, a normal retail store, not a premiere concept store…but even if we were designing it, you’d say, okay, so it’s a rain…it’s a brainbot that gets an alert about the weather, and when it rains, before you leave your home, it says, by the way, bring an umbrella or bring a raincoat or bring both. We already have an umbrella in the car, so don’t forget your raincoat or your galoshes or whatever it is. But that wouldn’t be a brainbot; that would be a daybot or something, or a reminder.

 

A brainbot would wait until you get into bed, probably…and most…more than likely in a non-rainy season, and it would start off in an inane way. You’d lie down…you’d also have other brainbots functioning at the same time, competing for your attention. But this rain brainbot…a brainbot named Rain would say, oh, do we have an umbrella? That’s how…usually they’re pretty good at opening stuff with a reasonable question. That’s one of the brainbot skills. Seems totally logical to ask you that as you’re trying to fall asleep in a non-rainy season. It could be rainy, though, again, but a lot of times, these brainbots, they activate…they may be…well, so, it says, hey, do we have any umbrellas? You say, I…hm, good question. Darn right it’s a good question. I don't think we have any umbrellas. Well, we might.

 

Okay, where exactly is the umbrella? Well, I think we got one on the shoe rack under…jammed underneath it. Then there’s one…it didn’t fit in the trunk, so I bent it so it would fit in the trunk. That might be there, and there’s probably a couple in the…most of them are broken, but they’re functional. They’re around. Oh, really? Then it still may have a next reasonable follow…well, I was just wondering what the top-rated umbrellas were, you know? Like top-rated on…I don't know, maybe we should open twelve tabs. We’ll start with a wire-cutter, consumer reports, and then see what else comes up in the search. I’ll tell you what; I can see by the way you’re looking at me…let’s just go to…we’ll just go five tabs deep. Not the top five after wire-cut…well, when we…we will search it, then we’ll pick out what looks good, maybe watch some YouTube videos on it.

 

That way, we have a good idea of with top…and maybe best…top-rated and best value. I don't know, maybe we should order some umbrellas, is what I’m thinking. Okay, but it’s like, 11:30. I gotta be up at…yeah, I mean, just trying to do you a favor. At some point it’ll rain. I don't know if you knew that. I don't know if you feel what I’m feeling, but imagine what it would feel like with a top-rated umbrella in your hand. Okay. Yeah, but it could…maybe I could do this tomorrow or something, 'cause…I mean, you could, but…I don't know if you remember this, but there’s been a lot of times you’ve been caught…let’s just say you need…what if you need an umbrella and you came across someone…there’s a lot of times where you needed…if you had the perfect umbrella, you’d have the perfect opportunity for the perfect umbrella.

 

Okay, but I’m just trying…and it would just be a shame, 'cause there’s…I think there’s even wind-proof ones. There’s probably pocket-size. Remember, we’ve got…there’s…the other thing we could check is…people were fans of the different people…writers or the travel writers, Craig that travels through Japan, I’m thinking of. Probably they have a umbrella list. I mean, I wonder what umbrella they…I wonder what research they do for their umbrellas. Okay, but…or could we do this tomorrow? ‘Cause I’ve got other thoughts going through my…well, I don't know. It’d be pretty…you know how it feels when you’re soaking wet, right? You say, okay…so, that’s what a brain…that’s a small brainbot, and that’s one without really any emotional juice behind it.

 

Most brainbots also have emotional juice created to the past or the future. This one may…I mean, I don't…maybe this one would be more of a future-based brainbot with its stakes, I would say. I’m just saying, if the love of your life crossed your path in a rain storm and you don’t have…and you’re…that’s fine. We just go to bed, then. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure the umbrellas you think you might have somewhere that may be functional…or a giant…maybe there’s some sort of opportunity. Maybe Meowolf does call you and they say, well, we do want to…I say…I mean, probably there would be…it’d be good to have an umbrella in that situation, if it was…just in case. But you can live your…you’re doing a great job so far. I’m just saying that it wouldn’t take long, and…then we wouldn’t have to…you would never have to think about it again until…I’m here to keep you alert about this stuff.

 

That’s just my job. Now, the other thing about the brainbots is they usually aren’t that a…that’s a pretty neutral one that I’m describing, 'cause it’s…obviously I’m…Scooter let me know; these people are gonna be trying to fall asleep. A lot of times, they’re making noise…what we would call emotional noises that you could describe as bleeps or blurps or droning. I think the term that I just invented may be apt; emotional klaxon…would say, most brainbots have the ability to amplify an emotional klaxon to let you know that you should be more concerned about this than you are. There seemed to be remnants…now, that one…you may say, well, what’s the…what would Freud say about a umbrella, brainbot? You’d say, okay, well, let’s not go there.

 

But you’d say, sure, I could see that maybe it’s linked to some other memory, or just the sense of…I don't know, is that a thing of wanting to be a provider or some sort of feeling of having some power and some control over the weather and fate…and then of course maybe a little emptiness to say well, having a top-rated umbrella in my hand, oh boy, is that gonna make me feel…now, you don’t usually get to this point where you say, well, that made me feel satisfied for one or two moments. So, that’s what a brainbot is. Now, Scooter has designed his podcast to be somewhat entertaining. Now, we don’t have anything bad to say about brainbots. That was just a description. Normally Scooter would then say, you’re doing…you know what? You’re doing a great job with these umbrellas.

 

I’m glad you brought this to my attention. But I’ve brought in a storyteller to talk about a…something that’s like a retail…a con…a retail concept experience, but we don’t have another word for it that’s flashier about…for things like you, like brainbots. It’s specially designed. It’s called Thoughts ‘N Things 'cause we know one thing about you brainbots; you’re good at…you’re good at connecting with feelings, emotions, physical sensations. You got that emotional klaxon that create…do you know how to spell ‘klaxon’? I don't think I do. K-L-A-X-O-N or something. But it connects…usually that has some somatic effects. We love it. But we’re here to present just to you, umbrella bot…you mind if I call you UB? UB, umbrella…Bella the ‘brella. We’re here to talk about Thoughts ‘N Things. I want you to come on in.

 

Welcome. You’re our…believe it or not, we have the pleasure of welcoming you in, Bella, to our brand-new, state-of-the-art…I don't know if you could call it mid-century modern or…but let’s just say, come in and see some mid-century modern…I think Scooter would say it would art nouveau. Oh boy, this is…from the outside you see in; you say, oh, I can’t wait to get in here. What do you have here in Thoughts ‘N Things? I’d say, well, we have sections. Let me take you over to a section I think you’re gonna like. Now, the biggest section we have…and you saw our window dedicated to…we have the windows, and currently we have one window dedicated to sand toys. We always do. I know…I could see you looking longingly. Now, it looks like that’s perpetual motion, but that is behind the scenes.

 

We could even show you how it works. We do have that sand that’s draining down, going through that funnel, then it goes through the whirly-bird-type…oh, Ferris wheel. Thank you, Bella. It looks like a Ferris wheel, then it goes through a circular swirly slide, then it goes through those water-wheel-type…water wheel thing, and then it drains down. Now, what you don’t see is there’s more sand on the bottom, but the sand drains down the bottom and then gets recycled back out the top. There’s other sand, yes, falling on the other sand toys, and the giant hand shaking back and forth with the shells and things.

 

But yeah, that’s our sand…but I want to take you to our section that I think you’re gonna like, because it’s…you know, when you think about…when I think about Bellas and ‘brellas, some…then I think about the Bellas from those films, but there’s no singing in sleep podcasts, so I can’t do that. But I thought…I think about…then we think about Tinkerballa from The Guild, but I also think about wind. Sometimes there’s wind and rain, and sometimes there’s wind, and sometimes there’s rain, and sometimes there’s something in-between. But when I think about…if I was in…if I was a brainbot that had such experience with rain and weather, I would think I’d want to take you to our kite section, because it’s a very interesting section here.

 

We have a lot of different kites, and this…but this kite, I think, is the kite…when I look at you, Bella, I think about a kite with a long tail. Not just a long tail; a tail that looks like…and like a lot of our products here in Thoughts ‘N Things, handmade. I don’t just mean handmade; I mean hand-crafted from concept to concept, 'cause it’s still in the concept phase. But as a brainbot, you know that’s where most of this happens, in-between the old ears, eh, Bella? So, I’m thinking of a kite. What I’m really thinking of is the tail of the kite for you, Bella, like a kite tail that looks like it’s either handkerchiefs or…not rags, but different pieces of fabric tied together to make a kite string, and every fabric is a different color, like this kite here.

 

Maybe we even do it ROYGBIV; so we have red first, then an orange, then a yellow, then a green, then a blue, then a indigo, then a violet, and then maybe even…then we have a clear one. You’re right, I don't know of any clear cloths, but we could…here at the institute, it’s conceptual. I’m no kite expert. I’ve heard of kites called box kites and I’ve seen kites that look like octopi and things. This will just be a simple kite that you could say…this kite contains…you could probably use this kite on a SAT or…if there was standardized tests — 'cause I’m sure there’s brainbots associated with standardized tests — this brainbot would contain multiple triangles, right? It’s a diamond pattern. So, just a simple, traditional kite. What’s your favorite color, Bella? No one’s ever asked you that, huh?

 

If you could pick…if you can make an umbrella a color for you…not for Scooter, but for you…oh, red. Okay. So, a bright red, huh? Okay. So, I’m thinking a bright red kite then, with that ROYGBIV rainbow tail coming off it. Oh boy, that is…and that’s what happens in our kite section. Now, you might be interested in some of our other sections. Oh, you also notice the other window…oh, the Venetian blind window. To be honest with you, Bella, I have no idea why they call then Venetian blinds. Now, someone in my family, I’m sure, does. They could say, well, it’s the history of…actually not Venice and Italy; it’s…they might say something like that, but I’m not a blind…I’m blind to the history of blinds. But I think you really enjoyed the display.

 

Now, to be honest with you, those are not actually blinds that are doing our Venetian blind display. They’re triangles rotating, because that’s how you saw…and one of them, actually, is…rotates to a video screen which created some of those special effects that maybe would draw people into the store…particularly the ones where we show action going on behind the imaginary blinds, then there’s ones that look like setting of the sun and the moon and stuff, and then there’s ones pretending…then instead of shadows, you’re actually seeing right through them. But that is one of our dis…our other display, which you’d say…it’s confusing to people. They say, Thoughts ‘N Things…you have a window with blinds, but it’s more of an experiential window, and then you have a window with sand toys.

 

I say, yeah, yeah, you’re right. You’re right about that, Bella. Holy cow, are you right. Now, what about this last window we have, which is one of my favorites…and one of the key concepts is…now, first you might not notice with the first two windows, because they don’t have awnings…believe it or not, it’s just city code, and that’s…you say, we’re in a conceptual city with a conceptual city code that prevents awnings on this particular street. But since we’re on a corner…we go around this corner here, and on this street you’re allowed awnings, and because…if you’re looking at the building, it’s not distracting because you can’t see the other two windows from here. So, it isn’t out of taste.

 

But this is our window that’s covered with a striped awning, and we’re particularly happy with those luminescent pink and white stripes we have for that awning. This display…yeah, you’re right. You’re really soaking it in, Bella. It is costumes…on the one side is people dressed as pets and pets dressed as people, which we thought was fun…because people do dress their pets up as people. So, we did start…we do like to ease people into it. So, in the foreground it is kinda simple. There’s a gentleman dressed as a cat, and…or a…these are…we do call these…now, that’s what you gotta stick really around for, Bella; these are animatronics and there’s an animatronic show. But this…yeah, that is a person dressed as a cat with a cat dressed as an astronaut.

 

Now, technically, if you really want to get into the backstory, that is an astronaut dressed as a cat, but…you know. Then on the side is a dog dressed as a cab driver, and…yeah, it’s pretend. It’s all pretend, but the dog is pretending to drive the car. Then a cab driver dressed as a dog in the back of the cab, and then in the back we have a bear dressed up as a trainer, and a trainer dressed up as a bear, and they’re about to do a show. Yeah, they’ll sing songs. We’re still working on the ideas, but Scooter said there has to be an animatronic show. So, that’s…those are our windows. I know you seemed very interested in that. Now, I want to take you into the back of the store. Just follow me along…and I want to show you a couple special sections.

 

Now, it wouldn’t be…we wouldn’t be in this city and we wouldn’t be ten years behind the times if we didn’t have a secret…it’s not a speakeasy, but a secret lounge. That’s one of the things that is popular. But we say…brainbots, one of the theories Scooter has about brainbots is that, hey, make them a part of…everybody wants to be a part of…brainbots are already good at being seen and heard, but they’re not…even though they’re around, no one puts their arms around them. So, we figured we’d design this lounge, which we just…you actually go through this old-fashioned television, which does…there is a couch here, and this is its own lounge. You could just sit here and watch these shows. It’s mostly…Scooter says that he’ll eventually one day pick what’s gonna be on…displaying on the television.

 

Probably old commercials and stuff like that. But you know, we just move this TV here, and you could come right in, and this is a nice little lounge. Not everybody imbibes in adult beverages, but Scooter loves having brainbot treats, you know? Candy, warm milk…what do you say, stuff with zinc or melatonin or whatever they…whatever the latest trend is. So, this will be where you could come and hang out, have a drink, have something to relax, maybe have a snack, use the restroom, and you will get credits…because you say, well, how does this work? You could come from the outside; there is a door that you can get entrance from the outside to just become part of the lounge and pay, but just like the famous Kohl's Cash that Scooter has talked about before…he modeled it after Kohl's Cash.

 

He says, that’s the cash…other than Disney Dollars, the other currency Scooter knows about is Kohl's Cash, and Scooter does…said it worked on him once or twice where you buy something and they say, this is some Kohl's Cash. It’s only good for…it’s not good today, but it’ll be good between, whatever, three days from now and fourteen days from now. But this stuff is good today. So, if you spend a certain amount of money, you get a certain amount of…I don't know what we’ll call them; maybe…what do you think about Brain Bucks? Brainbot Bucks. We could…would BB-88 be on one of them? But yeah, we’ll give these away with purchases, and we think it’ll be popular. We also have bean bags. Scooter insisted on that…or poofs. So, that’s another thing we have.

 

Now I want to take you over to another section which is, again…now, these are concepts, so this one is gonna be very different. But these are called…we’re calling them cauldrons, but some of them are bowls and there’s even a pond and a well, and cauldrons that you could just stare into. Now, these…you could take them home with you. But we found that doing some studies of brainbots and working with Scooter that sometimes not just Scooter can entrance brainbots, but staring at stuff can if it’s a generally…so, each of the surfaces of these cauldrons and each of these cauldrons…we’re gonna use that as a general term, 'cause I know some of these are bowls or ponds or other instruments with liquids in them.

 

Each of them has different liquids and different things are happening, but it’s always going to be somewhat kinetic. So, we have stuff like…I mean, have you ever thought about…what if…if you’re looking at that one, it’s kind of like a lava lamp, but you’re looking at it from above. Now, if you step back and press a button, yeah, the cauldron goes from cauldron-colored to transparent. So, now it’s a clear cauldron and it’s…so, it’s not technically a lava lamp; it’s a lava cauld…not actual lava, obviously, Bella. But yeah, and then we have other ones. So, there may be other clientele, right, that come in and they just say, man…but you could take this home, so we’re hoping that maybe they’ll…what is that, man? It’s a lava cauldron. I pass my time looking at it, man.

 

But it is not just for people that are celebrating the fourth hour and the twentieth minute or the fourth month and the twentieth day, but people that are…they’re just…say, I like to stare slack-jawed at things. We’ve just found that that’s one of the Venn diagrams with Thoughts ‘N Things. It’s strangely…strange enough, if you’re staring at something that’s not that interesting, sometimes your brainbots and your thoughts go quiet. Yeah, so, we have other ones…now, some of these we’ve tested out. We don’t have all of them down, but hopefully there will be non-repetitive interesting things to look at. You’re right, Bella; like music visualizations of the…in the aughts. Was that the greatest time for staring at visualized music on your monitor? It may have been. It may have been, huh? Oh, I see you looking over here.

 

Yeah, this is a interesting section. It is a bit…now, these are…there’s a couple different things here. Now, these…again, based on Scooter’s speculations, but again…and maybe we just charge for you to come in. So, these are, yes, different types of telephones. Yeah, even tin-can phones. Those are the ones I saw you looking at. Now, what’s exciting about this is our ability…now, we would like to, at least on the tin-can phone, have it be able to connect to someone live. Also, one of the phones will connect back to the lounge, and the person working…running…making the drinks and preparing the food will answer, and you could place an order with them…but just over the phone, and they will talk to you.

 

But there’s other phones that have different recordings, but we could also make this into somewhat of a interactive game. But this was because we…Scooter said, let’s grab…get a bunch of phones. So, there’s rotary phones…and one of the other things we’re thinking about is a teen phone challenge. That’s why we have this phone booth here with a rotary phone in it, and there’s a high…this is actually also a photo booth, so it is based on a vintage phone booth, but it has a photo booth built into it, or you could take selfies. But so, you could bring someone that’s from a non-rotary generation, which to be honest, is most people. But, you say, oh, brainbots don’t always…you’re mostly bots. But we think that would be fun, to try to use a rotary phone.

 

Maybe…I was just thinking out loud; that would be the only way you could order…if you were able to do so many numbers in a row and get ahold of the operator, then you could connect to the lounge and place a free order. But we could call it the Phone Zone, huh? That would be fun; the Phone Zone. So, this is another section that’s interesting. Yeah, this is a whole ‘nother room. Welcome. Again, based on what we’ve learned about brainbots and staring at stuff…and this is…we call it Laundry on a Line. This is our Laundry on a Line section. There’s chairs…actually, on the other side of the laundry, which you can’t see…and we don’t…you’re right; we don’t just have laundry on…there’s laundry on a line, but there’s laundry on that spinning-around thing. We do have…yeah, this is one of those indoor/outdoor areas.

 

We have the fake sky. Now, that looks like a fake farmhouse with a porch. You can sit there, but that’s actually our…one of our restaurants, and you could sit there and order a lemonade or an ice tea or another drink and just look at the laundry. But again, Scooter would say that the laundry maybe would put on its own show, eventually. Have you ever…he said, I think this is gonna be groundbreaking; have you ever heard of singing animatronic laundry? We said, well, that’s…what Scooter wants…Scooter said, brainbots are gonna like it. He said, what about laundry…is there any laundry-based illusions? We always…there is a thing with Scooter of laughing with him and laughing around him. We said, tell us more about these…he said, is there a laundry illusionist? We said, not that we’ve heard of, but it’s possible.

 

So, you’re saying a shirt turns into a skirt? He’s saying…I’m saying that exactly. Saying, okay…so, the brainbots would sit here and look at laundry drying. He’d say, for a while, but then the…then other things may occur, random…but not at any…he said, I don't know. Let me think about it. But yeah, we do have…this is meant to be evocative, of course. There’s a picket fence over there and…he even thought about, well, would…what if people want…he goes, did…he goes, I don’t remember reading those books, but I remember that didn’t Huck Finn or Tom, whatever, paint a fence or something? We said, so you want people to be able to paint a fence, Scooter? He said, maybe. The brainbots would like that. We said, okay, it’s possible.

 

So, then, beyond…now, beyond that…now, we’re still in the indoor/outdoor section, and this is what he calls his piece de resistance. This is another thing about the laundry, because you may be taking laundry or leaving laundry, because this is the bog beyond there, the mud bog. This mud bog is based…and I said, Scooter, are these brainbots mechanical or electronic? He said, they’re conceptual. I said, okay, so tell me more about your bog concept, then. This is based on his great…one of the greatest…you think people live full lives and they have their ups and downs and their priorities in order. Scooter said one of his biggest disappointments in life was the only mud bath he ever took, which was not a mud bath like the Bradys took in the Brady Bunch or whatever.

 

I said, there was a Brady Bunch where they took mud baths? He said, that’s not my point. My point is I took a mud bath at a place that had mud baths, and it was a bark bath. I said, are you sure you didn’t take a bark bath, Scooter? He said, it was a mud bath. First of all, it was a couples thing, and they separate you and you just go…you go…they have separate lock…the whole experience is separate. He said, secondly, you get in a thing…and he goes, it was warm, but it was a bark…it was not a mud bath. It was mostly bark-like material. I said, so you don’t want…?

 

He goes, no, this is a opportunity to make mud pies, to sit in the mud, to lay in the mud, or…he goes, it looks like a bog, but over there, that’s the actual mud hot tub, where it’s the type of mud…which we’ve had to design, of course, because…but we worked hard at it, and it’s just a concept. But it’s idealized mud and it is a mud tub that you could sit in, and we’re still exploring all the…what we’re gonna need to make it work. But you could sit, finally, and…getting the right temperature and everything. But you could come over to this section and hang in the mud tub, build a mud pie, play with the mud. Now, we won't have mud…where you could toss mud at one another, but that’s another thing if you were renting this out for a birthday party or something.

 

I know what you’re thinking to yourself, Bella; how does this…we say, thoughts…this does not seem like the store I would expect at Thoughts ‘N Things. I understand that. Now, let me take you up to one more section that’s really exciting. Like I said, there is a restaurant there. Now, we have another restaurant which will be rotating, which I don't have time to show you right now because it’s not ready, but that will be like a K-Mart cafeteria. But it’ll be restaurants that don’t exist…this will be like a pop-up, in some sense, a past pop-up where it’ll be like a K-Mart restaurant or Bob’s Big Boys or whatever it is.

 

But initially, it’ll be based on menus at the K-Mart that…but up here, another thing…now, we are in the city here, and this is…so, we have a great spot for you to sit on the second floor, and we have…now, on the corner and on both sides…and we’re designing different types of sitting areas where you could people-watch, but also do other things, like waving. Scooter’s a big fan of standing up on places and waving at people and…he says, that’s when I’m most extroverted, when I’m far away and I’m people-watching and it’s strange to have a stranger waving at them, but it’s also an environment where it’s okay. So, we’ll have a waving area and…did he ever tell you about the time…or were you there, actually? ‘Cause you would have been handy.

 

I think he was at Pinocchio Village House and he was trying to get people…so, there’s a window at Pinocchio Village House that looks out at the…what’s that called? It’s a Small World. He was trying to get people to kiss their biceps. I know he was trying to get them to do something else, too, but he would…so, every boat, he would see how many people he could get to kiss their…he would kiss his biceps and then he would see if anyone on the boat would also kiss their biceps, or a bicep. So, we’re hoping for a section like that. We don’t have It’s a Small World here. It’ll just be the city. But this would be expected behavior. Again, you could maybe earn a wooden coin, Bicep Kisser, if you were kissing your biceps. Now, I know you’ll say to me, I don't have biceps; I’m a brainbot. You do. Trust me on…you have biceps on the inside.

 

If you’re kissing your bicep on the inside, Bella, we’ll know it. They’ll know it. I don't know if that’s a spiritual bicep, but it might be. Another thing we have that we’re excited about…and a lot of people would say, how did no one think of this already? Because this is an idea that’s been around, something similar, but never in this way of utility. This is, again, a section you’ll be able to rent out individually. But Scooter says this is perfect for brainbots, too. Now, you’ve heard of things like…I don't know what they’re called. Paint a ceramic frog or a statuette or a holiday ornament or drink a bunch of wine and paint paintings; those are different activities for children or adults that you do at a shopping center or a mall or even here in the city.

 

This one is a…design your own lampshade or paint…now, maybe painting the lampshade is one thing. We also have lampshades that you can do that have some wax on them and you can do wax scratching. We have lampshades you could make with perforated metal. We have a 3D printer for lampshades. So, very, very custom…and you wear a lampshade hat while you’re here. We think this is gonna be the hottest thing within this…where we are. There’s also…we also have…we’re gonna be purchasing used lampshades, so the decorations of the room, as you could see within your mind, are…we have so much variety of lampshades covering the walls and the ceilings.

 

Lampshades, chandeliers…we also have retrofitting kits so you could make your lampshade work, and…because we feel like…talk about a missed opportunity. Lampshades; there’s a missed opportunity, huh? So, what an opportunity to redirect your energy and say, well, there’s so much more I could be doing with lampshades in my personal areas that I would have never thought of, and now I’m designing a lampshade for my nana. Now, we normally don’t recommend…now, we do have pretty decent pricing, so if you wanted to make a paper painted lampshade that says ‘I love you nana’, you could. But we also sell lampshade covers so then nana could cover it in a more…or you could also do a separate lampshade that’s a little bit more of nana’s style. Now, I think that’s kind of it for our tour today, Bella.

 

It’s really been exciting. This is just some of the things we have here. I did want to give you a beret, though, as official…first…our first official customer. You’ll have…actually, you’ll have to pay for the beret to be our first official customer, but you could just pay me in future reminders of needing an umbrella at the appropriate time. During the day would be great. But that you take this beret and use it…'cause I say…now, this beret’s made from wool, so while it is not 100% waterproof or rainproof, it is good for the rain because it’ll retain your heat, it will wash some water off of it, but I think it’s an excellent opportunity for you to…it’s a beautiful color; it’s a beautiful red, just like you said with the kite. Oh, you would prefer the kite over a beret. Well, okay.

 

Well, let me look into that, because we had this beret…it even has…on the inside it says, ‘Bella’s beret’. It’s not…I told Scooter this is not raspberry-colored, so he cannot…and then he said, what about…could we get the rights to that song for the animatronics? I said, Scooter, there’s no chance of that. So, that’s a little bit…now, this is a ever-expanding concept, so maybe one day you could return here, Bella. But it’s a store designed just for…it’s Thoughts ‘N Things. I’m glad you came and visited Thoughts ‘N Things and that I could take you through some of our ideas that we have here for the future. So, thanks for a visit at Thoughts ‘N Things, and goodnight, everybody.

 

[END OF RECORDING]

(Transcribed by Leah Hervoly)