Signs

Woke up this morning to learn I have my first follower on TikTok.

GREAT! Except, there’s nothing in my profile — no videos, no content whatsoever. I’m just a lurker, with no plans to be anything other than, so what is she following me for?

Weird, but you never know. It might be a sign.

I myself may one day be accosted by a Karen, or profiled yet again while shopping, and end up with a video to post and get rich because, as I understand how the platform works — if a video goes viral or you get a lot of followers, it’s like playing the lottery and winning.

Last week, I saw a thing on TikTok that suggested it would be fun if, while sitting alone and someone walks up to you and speaks, you are to look astonished and say, "You can see me?"

I thought it hilarious, found myself looking at the screen and LOL.

In telling Trainer about it, he didn’t get that it was like you’re an invisible person, a ghost maybe, and pretending to be surprised that someone sees you is designed to freak out the other person.

"Nope" said Trainer. He not only didn’t get it, he didn’t think it was funny. So I told him I was going test it out on the client that always comes in after me on Fridays.

"Nope" again said Trainer. "Won’t work on him. I know how he is, and he’s just gonna look at you like …. What’s that supposed to mean".

So, I’m quietly sitting there, all finished with my workout, when Client No 2 walks in, says hey to Trainer — who is on a bench right in front of the door, then looks over to the side, where I’m seated, and says hey to me.

"You can see me?" said I with feigned wide-eyed amazement.

Client No. 2 looks confused for about a nanosecond, then says “What that’s supposed to mean?”

Epic fail.

I’m not doing well on learning the dances either. One has to put in the time, work at it, and putting time in on learning TikTok dances is low on my list of priorities.

I like the things that make me laugh, like pet videos with voice overs, as though the pets are speaking, and there are some really interesting people I’m getting to know — like the young lady who, of necessity, was living in her car, but now has upgraded to a van.

Last night, I ran across a woman posting about her dealings with racist neighbors.

Listening to her stories about the situation, it occurred to me that TikTok videos, such as hers, are actually vlogs — verbal blogs.

The long winded posting of multiple three minute videos to get to the end of a story, as opposed to reading in short form on a blog, is not something I have the patience for, so I struggled to get through because I had to know the ending. Reading it on a blog would have been less taxing, but blogs don’t pay and her story was making bank for her on the web, so more power to her.

Since it’s still too hot to head out walking, goal for today was to strengthen my legs for walking by increasing my time on the indoor bike — from half an hour, to increments of five minutes over time to an hour … if my knees can handle it. Then cool down on the wearable hula hoop.

Done and done, but I only got up to 32 minutes on the bike before my butt gave out.

I've added a padded seat, but still it gets a bit ouch ouch after a while.

On the subject of mysterious ways … leaving the Pain Cave on Friday, a woman exiting the liquor store next door crossed my path and commented with a smile, "You doing that kickboxing?".

"I wish I could kickbox", said I. "I do strength training".

"Is it working?", asked she.

"Absolutely. At 75, I was totally weak, and had no upper body strength when I started almost two years ago. Now, I’m a lot stronger but, hard as I work out, can’t figure out why I haven’t lost any weight."

"Get you some limes and, in the morning, squeeze juice into a glass of water. Drink that before you eat anything, but be sure to drink it down, not sip it, because it can damage your teeth".

I don’t po po pashaw anything the Universe brings to my attention.

It's like that old story of the man who believed in God but, trapped on his roof, turned down being rescued by two different boats and a helicopter, because he had a preconceived notion as to how the answer to his predicament should come.

I stay open, I listen, because you just never know.

So, after research indicated it’s worth a try, yesterday was Day 1 on lime water.

It's touted as also good for the complexion, so time will tell if my metabolism reboots and my skin takes on a glow in the process.