One Fun Thing

23: The Local Tooth Fairy

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 18:37:19 -0400

Tyler talks about the mental fortitude required for maintaining one's composure against an adversarial smoke detector, Amanda reveals some of the darndest things kids say at her summer job, and even treats listeners to a rare sample of her "teacher voice."

Tyler is excited about the "personal knowledge management" app Obsidian, but Amanda doesn't bite, so that might have to be a different show. Amanda's forged a genuine friendship, and Tyler started painting in the absence of any social plans last weekend, but he enjoyed the excuse to visit the local art store and put on some old, stained jeans.

Amanda's steadfast bravery continues into the after show.

(Recorded Monday, July 19, 2021)

22: Dunbar's Revenge

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 09:09:44 -0400

Your hosts are back from an unplanned break after Amanda wrapped up her busy semester and Tyler wrapped up his vaccinations and went outside. Amanda talks about the journals of a young girl in the 2000s, and Tyler muses that he should try to dictate personal logs in the format popularized in Star Trek.

There's a discussion on friendships and communities while your friends figure out how to get back into the world, but like that masterful XKCD comic presents, socializing was difficult before this mess, too.

Tyler rediscovers Junji Ito and he's very excited about it, and Amanda gets her feet cheese-grated by a professional.

(Recorded Thursday, May 27, 2021)

21: Goth Pockets

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Tyler's optimistism from the previous episode was short-lived, and he's crashed from his high rather spectacularly. Nevertheless, he collects himself enough to follow up about voice texts from episode 19, and then eagerly passes it off to his co-host for an update on the Bubble System and the anticipated list of Amanda's picks for springtime records. The latter topic sparks some reminiscince of past music experiences, through portable CD players, iPods, and mix CDs.

Amanda will eventually begin work on her "Sad Songs To Listen To In The Car When You're Crying" playlist.

(Recorded Wednesday, April 7, 2021)

20: Mega-Bunny

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Tyler had a good week, Amanda had a week. Spring is finally here though, and your hosts are 1/4 vaccinated.

Springtime records are discussed, Amanda has a new Macbook Air, and she's eager to share her new productivity system, "The Bubble System." It has sizes and colors.

(Recorded Thursday, March 24, 2021)

19: Mountain Day

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 06:00:00 -0400

One of your hosts tries to kick off the podcast with her cheeks stuffed with snacks, but we won’t tell you who.

Amanda has some ups and downs with the semester and some complications with recitals, Tyler talks about his strategies for staying in touch with people without social media, and shares some ways he stumbled into memorable conversations throughout the winter.

(Recorded Wednesday, March 10, 2021)

18: The Broccoli Of Fun Things

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 17:12:43 -0500

Amanda's been enjoying some treats, which prompts your hosts to talk a little bit about candy before crashing back into reality and discussing some pandemic-related challenges at the start of Amanda's second semester of grad school.

17: The Pancake Process

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 13:08:39 -0500

Your hosts are feeling a little cold, and instead of using the power of imagination to transport them to lush jungles or balmy beaches, they talk about the coldest they’ve ever felt indoors. This transitions to the heater Amanda has, and how loud it is. She just can’t win.

Amanda talks about her developing TikTok career and social media presence. She got her first sixteen likes, which was invigorating, but recording duets with other musicians has proven challenging.

Tyler talks about Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which he has enjoyed very much during the pandemic, and Amanda talks pancakes.

(Recorded on Saturday, January 23, 2021)

16: Your Shiny Pebble

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Your hosts are both feeling the weight of the tenth month of the pandemic, and everything feels exhausting all the time. While lamenting about that, there's some talk about consistent journaling and personal photography to both process and maintain a first-hand account of events through a very lonely and stressful era.

(Recorded on Saturday, January 16, 2021)

15: The Mess Is Perpetual

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 18:07:00 -0500

What a week. Your hosts are growing weary from living through historically significant events (and not the fun kind), but they spend an hour away from the real threats of the present to talk to each other about traveling, moving, and Amanda's lists.

Amanda gets to edit the show for the first time, and it should go really smoothly for her, as long as nobody tries to clip their nails during the recording 🤞🏻

(Recorded on Sunday, January 10, 2021)

14: Halloween Prime

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 05:04:00 -0500

There's some talk of regional foods from your hosts' home regions, and Tyler thinks you should really try salt potatoes sometime. Amanda chats about productivity and bullet journaling, and Tyler comes clean about being entirely devoid of holiday cheer and spirit.

(Recorded on Saturday, December 26, 2020)

13: A Mighty Fine Beet

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 07:18:00 -0500

Tyler shares a metaphor for how the pandemic is going, then Amanda shares her grades for the semester and experiments with TikTok addiction. Your hosts then follow up about receiving gifts from their families, and Amanda gets into the holiday spirit in Animal Crossing.

(Recorded on Saturday, December 19, 2020)

12: A Mushy Carrot Kind Of Year

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 08:00:47 -0500

Amanda is very excited to tell you about her fun thing. Later.

She talks about calendar blocking, her plans to listen to more music next year, and then your hosts reminisce about the days when music was like, their whole lives, when they were teenagers.

Amanda's been making her Christmas list, and Tyler can't seem to help his mom understand that, despite her admirable intentions, it's important to him to not have her try to force gifts on him.

(Recorded on Saturday, December 12, 2020)

11: Academic Rap Battle

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 07:56:52 -0500

Amanda finishes the last of her scary exams and papers, and is now left with the scary expanse of open, unallocated time. Tyler talks about how doing monthly retrospectives has been helpful while shuffling multiple long-term projects and project ideas.

Amanda wants to listen to more music next year, and muses about getting speakers. Tyler loosely explains how he arrived at his current hi-fi setups, and his side of the conversation is occasionally even accompanied by the percussive sound of freezing rain hitting his window (he's sorry about that).

(Recorded on Saturday, December 5, 2020)

10: More Capers, Please

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 06:59:46 -0500

Amanda wraps up classes for her first semester of grad school, and she shares her refined method for writing papers as she begins final exams and projects.

Tyler takes advantage of some extra free time this week to return to some personal projects and squeeze in a few cartoons, the latter which prompts a discussion about some remembered cartoons from your hosts' pasts.

Tyler sets up his parents' retirement accounts for them after realizing no amount of carefully worded, bulleted emails were going to do it, and your hosts follow up on their social media conversation from the previous two episodes in an effort to identify some areas of optimism for the future of cultivating meaningful connections online.

(Recorded on Saturday, November 28, 2020)

9: Sorry, Grandma: You're Blocked

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 08:00:00 -0500

Amanda is celebrating (with an asterisk) after finishing classes for the semester, and now she has two weeks to finish papers and wrap up finals. She's clearly very excited about it, so please excuse all of the noise from her moving her mic while she's talking.

For the main topic, Tyler and Amanda follow up from last week to talk about posting on the internet, but this time about how it can be colored by professional motives or aspirations. We're all fed the marketer's list of how one "should" use the internet to look appealing to a more professional audience, but do we really want to do that? This segues into the computer science education both hosts received in high school by an eclectic series of teachers, most of whom never signed up to be CS teachers in the first place.

Lastly, we get to the fun things. Tyler talks about his experience playing some fighting games with a coworker, and Amanda details her celebration itinerary after finishing classes.

(Recorded on Monday, November 23, 2020)

8: An Internet My Family Can't See

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 00:52:00 -0500

Tyler wakes up from a surprise nap just in time to record, and your hosts share stories of falling asleep during class.

Amanda's grad school anxiety and COVID anxiety are peaking, but she's so close to the end of the semester. She shares an update on her family's health and both your hosts get frustrated with people not taking the pandemic seriously enough. It's kind of a bummer, so we put in chapter markers so you can skip ahead when you get too sad.

Amanda gets bashful and flattered after getting some surprise recognition and kindness on-air from the hosts of the Make Do podcast, and your hosts talk about their inner conflicts when contemplating using the internet for professional marketing or a space to be open and vulnerable.

(Recorded on Saturday, November 14, 2020)

7: A Soupçon Of Stillness

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 13:18:00 -0500

Amanda opens the show processing the news that her parents and older brother have all tested positive for COVID-19. There's a lot to talk about.

Tyler and Amanda both have a lot of feelings about the importance of libraries, and they repine that nothing feels like a worthy substitute during COVID times.

Tyler ammends his Halloween talk from last week because he forgot to mention some exciting and meaningful ways to get into the holiday that aren't scary, but are still a little kooky and spooky.

Amanda reveals if she had a Good October or a Bad October, and she shares the challenges of pursuing healthier coping mechanisms.

6: Briefcase Full Of Comic Books

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 13:15:00 -0500

It's a Halloween episode of One Fun Thing 🎃

Tyler shares his memories of Halloweens past and shares why Halloween is his favorite holiday. Amanda shares a very different experience with the holiday, and talks about how she's tried to redefine what it means to her as an adult.

Tyler discusses his experience navigating the horror genre from childhood to present trying to find what he likes.

This segues into the comic books Tyler checked out from his local library.

Amanda talks about how much she enjoyed experiencing Terminator 2 with no prior knowledge of the film, while excitedly spoiling many of the plot points for any of our listeners that may have hoped to do the same.

(Recorded on Saturday, October 31, 2020)

5: A Potentially Lethal Quesadilla

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 00:32:00 -0400

Amanda gets a “bad” grade and your hosts talk about comforting rituals they've each held to better endure intimidating milestones.

Also, there's talk of leftovers.

Amanda talks about an overwhelming workload, her university maybe deciding not to pay her this winter, and the emotional toll of reading about Beethoven’s gradual loss of hearing.

(Recorded on Saturday, October 24, 2020)

4: An Angel With Sharp Teeth

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 00:30:00 -0400

Amanda kicks off with some low-pressure news from her family about expectations surrounding family gatherings this year, and your hosts begin mentally preparing for another isolating winter ahead.

Amanda follows up on life with glasses, then life with an iPad. Conversation then turns to the design legacy of the iPod, which helped define the late teen years for both Tyler and Amanda.

Your hosts meander into a reflection on how well-intentioned gestures and gift giving can sometimes awkwardly reveal the limitations of someone's understanding of the "real" us.

Amanda also vents about some complicated feelings after walking into her old place of work and finding an uncanny Amanda doppelgänger at her post.

And if it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse, now Amanda has too many bell peppers.

Tyler talks about being made aware of so many wonderful foods in college, and how culinary exploration was a challenge in his early home life.

(Recorded on Saturday, October 17, 2020)

3: Grumble Grumble

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 00:09:00 -0400

After a brief indulgence in how good Indian food is, Amanda continues the conversation about the stresses of working while in grad school, and gets a brief reprieve from the everlasting nightmare by playing with her new Apple Pencil.

Amanda is trying to mark a clearer transition between work life and home life, but it’s a challenging endeavor while working constantly and feeling forever behind.

Your hosts then transition to talking about time traveling through the pandemic by listening to podcast episodes in reverse-chronological order, and meditating on moments captured in audio and pictures of a world that didn’t know what was next.

For their fun things, both Tyler and Amanda found fun in something food-related, and to wrap it up, Amanda talks about an Animal Crossing villager she had the pleasure of meeting over the weekend.

(Recorded on Saturday, October 10, 2020)

2: A Chorus Of Dying Ducks

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 00:05:00 -0400

What a week. Your hosts process news of the Rose Garden COVID-19 cases. Tyler finds an unexpected fun thing in staying up late and enjoying the brief jovial respite from years of political and social horrors as the Twitter community celebrated a tiny moment of cosmic comeuppance.

Amanda talks about early experiences with her new iPad, and Tyler explains his thought process for using Greg Pierce's wonderful Drafts app. There's also talk of vehicles and Tyler expresses his appreciation for never needing to drive anywhere.

(Recorded on Saturday, October 3, 2020)

1: Five-Second Dog

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 11:10:00 -0400

In the first episode of One Fun Thing, Amanda talks about the challenges of starting grad school during a pandemic. While holding down three jobs.

Amanda shares the story of "The Hello Song," Tyler talks about the third grade, and Amanda takes a break from social media.

(Recorded on Saturday, September 26, 2020)

One Fun Thing

23: The Local Tooth Fairy

Links:

22: Dunbar's Revenge

Links:

21: Goth Pockets

Links:

20: Mega-Bunny

Links:

19: Mountain Day

Links:

18: The Broccoli Of Fun Things

Links:

17: The Pancake Process

Links:

16: Your Shiny Pebble

Links:

15: The Mess Is Perpetual

14: Halloween Prime

Links:

13: A Mighty Fine Beet

Links:

12: A Mushy Carrot Kind Of Year

Links:

11: Academic Rap Battle

Links:

10: More Capers, Please

Links:

9: Sorry, Grandma: You're Blocked

Links:

8: An Internet My Family Can't See

Links:

7: A Soupçon Of Stillness

Links:

6: Briefcase Full Of Comic Books

Links:

5: A Potentially Lethal Quesadilla

Links:

4: An Angel With Sharp Teeth

Links:

3: Grumble Grumble

Links:

2: A Chorus Of Dying Ducks

Links:

1: Five-Second Dog

Links: