u/FreeLaughs4Life

I recently sat down and watched a bunch of funny clips for a try not to laugh challenge, and it made me realize how much internet comedy has changed.

Vine only gave people six seconds, so the joke had to hit almost immediately. Some of those videos were completely random and looked like somebody filmed them in ten minutes, but somehow people still quote them years later. TikTok videos usually look more planned now, with better editing, music, captions and people knowing exactly how to keep you watching.

But I am not sure that always makes them funnier. Sometimes the old Vine clips felt like somebody caught a genuinely weird moment instead of trying to create a viral one. Then again, maybe we have forgotten thousands of terrible Vines and only remember the classics.

Do you think Vine was actually funnier than TikTok, or are we just remembering the best ones? What old Vine or internet video can still make you laugh every single time?

How far would you make it before the slime hits? I made it to Round 13, but those final rounds got rough fast.

I grew up watching Nickelodeon game shows, and the messier they got, the better they seemed. Double Dare was always one of my favorites because a normal trivia question could suddenly turn into a physical challenge involving whipped cream, giant props, a messy obstacle course and somebody searching for an orange flag.

As a kid, I remember thinking the slime looked like the greatest prize on television. Most adults would probably see a bucket of green oatmeal pouring over someone’s head and immediately think about the cleanup. I just wanted to know where I could sign up.

That whole era of Nickelodeon had such a specific feeling. Double Dare, What Would You Do?, Wild & Crazy Kids, Nickelodeon GUTS, Legends of the Hidden Temple and later Figure It Out all made television feel more interactive. You could watch people answer questions, climb obstacles, get hit with pies or completely lose it while trying to finish some ridiculous challenge before the clock ran out.

There was something about those brightly colored sets, oversized props, loud audiences and hosts acting like getting covered in slime was a completely normal part of the day. Even the Silver Snakes, Blue Barracudas and the Aggro Crag felt important when you were watching them as a kid.

That nostalgia recently made me try creating my own food-based slime. I wanted something thick enough to pour, bright enough to look like old-school Nickelodeon slime and, most importantly, easy enough to wash out of hair afterward.

The recipe I used was:

• 4 cups vanilla pudding
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 3 cups applesauce
• 1 drop yellow food coloring
• 5 drops green food coloring

It worked surprisingly well. It was cold, thick and messy, although I may use slightly less oatmeal next time to make it smoother.

Looking back, I think those shows made being silly feel like something worth celebrating. They did not take themselves too seriously, and that was a big part of what made them memorable.

Did anyone else grow up wishing they could take the physical challenge, or did getting slimed look better from the safety of the living room?

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I tried answering some 90s movie and TV trivia out loud, and I learned the hard way that knowing something and remembering it on the spot are two totally different things.

A few were easy, like Titanic and Rugrats, but then I completely blanked on stuff I should have known, like Bayside High from Saved by the Bell and which pill Neo takes in The Matrix.

Also forgot how much 90s trivia has weird little facts attached to it. Good Burger started as a sketch on All That, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers used Japanese action footage mixed with American scenes, and Titanic was the first movie to hit a billion worldwide.

So here’s the game: which one would have gotten you?

1. Kevin’s last name in Home Alone
2. The floating head from Power Rangers
3. The dinosaur that spits at Dennis Nedry
4. The high school in Saved by the Bell
5. Red pill or blue pill in The Matrix

And what’s one 90s question you think sounds easy but would make people freeze?

90s Things You Hadn’t Thought About In Years Until Someone Mentions Them

Body:
I was thinking about random 90s stuff that instantly comes back once someone says the name.

Not necessarily forgotten forever, just buried somewhere in your brain until you hear it again.

For me, stuff like Yak Bak, Trapper Keepers, Sock’em Boppers, Mighty Max, Baby Bottle Pop, Pogs, and having to turn the TV to Channel 3 for a game system all hit that weird memory button.

What’s a 90s toy, snack, school item, commercial, or random childhood thing you hadn’t thought about in years until someone brought it up?

I visited Otherworld in Columbus Ohio and the outside really did not prepare me for it.

From the parking lot, it just looks like you are walking into an older shopping center. Then you get inside and it turns into this huge glowing maze of strange rooms, tunnels, mirrors, creatures, portals, hidden corners, and weird little spaces.

It is one of those places where every room feels completely different from the last one. Some parts were fun, some were a little creepy, and some were just so weird that I had to stop and look around for a minute.

It was way bigger than I expected too. I thought it would be a quick walkthrough, but it felt more like wandering through a whole hidden world inside a regular-looking building.

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#Coreniabug

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I recently visited Otherworld in Columbus, Ohio, and this ended up being one of the strangest and coolest stops from our whole road trip.

Quick recap of the trip: we came up from North Carolina, did the New River Gorge Bridge Walk in West Virginia, stopped in Point Pleasant for the Mothman Museum, stayed at Ravenwood Castle in Ohio, did the Wildside Safari Tour at The Wilds, and then ended up at Otherworld in Columbus.

It was a lot of different stops packed into one trip, so by the time we got to Otherworld, I felt like we’d already seen a little bit of everything. Then we walked inside and it still surprised me.

The outside doesn’t really prepare you for it either. It’s in this older shopping complex, and from the parking lot you wouldn’t think you’re about to walk into a huge glowing maze of rooms, tunnels, creatures, portals, mirror rooms, puzzles, and weird little hidden areas.

Otherworld is a 32,000 square foot immersive art space built inside what used to be an abandoned retail space. It has 47 rooms, 54 projectors, and around 190,000 LEDs, so once you’re inside, it makes sense why everything feels so intense visually. It was also created by a big team of artists, and you can tell, because every room feels like it came from a different imagination.

Some parts felt futuristic, some felt like a video game, some were really pretty, and some had that slightly creepy feeling where you’re not totally sure what you just walked into. There were rooms that reminded me of sci-fi movies, a giant creature you can climb inside, glowing mushroom areas, a VHS tape room, mirror rooms that looked like a kaleidoscope, and even a black and white room that felt like stepping into an old cartoon.

The best part to me was that it didn’t feel like a normal attraction where you just follow a path and look at things. You wander. You turn a corner. You find another doorway. You crawl through a passageway. You mess with something interactive. Then suddenly you’re in a totally different room.

They say most people spend around 1 to 3 hours inside depending on how much they interact with everything, and I believe it. We were there for a while, and even when I thought we had seen everything, another room would pop up.

I also thought it was cool that the design started back in 2017, construction started in 2018, and it opened in spring 2019. After walking through it, that made sense, because it doesn’t feel like something thrown together quickly. There’s a ton of detail everywhere.

Even aside from filming it, this is one of those Ohio places I think more people should know about. It’s weird, colorful, trippy, and way bigger than I expected. It also fit perfectly at the end of the road trip because by that point we had already done bridges, Mothman, a castle, and a safari tour, and somehow Otherworld still felt completely different.

Has anyone else been to Otherworld in Columbus? I’m curious what room stood out to you the most, because I kept changing my favorite every few minutes, but I think it might be the last room I went to now, lol, old timey room 🤔 It's hard to say the I really do keep changing 😂

Sources for the size, room count, projector count, LED count, and abandoned retail space detail: Otherworld’s official site and Arts Midwest.

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I made my own mac and cheese called MaCorenia and Cheese for Friendsgiving, but this post is really about my personal mac and cheese rules.

First, shells are the superior noodle. They scoop up the cheese better and I just don’t think elbows do the same job.

Second, shred your own cheese. I know it takes longer, but the bagged shredded cheese usually has a coating on it to keep it from clumping, and for mac and cheese sauce I swear it just does not melt the same.

Third, I like my baked mac and cheese creamy. I do not want a dry mac and cheese brick. I still bake it, but I want that sauce to stay rich and cheesy.

Fourth, Ritz cracker crust on top. That is the part that makes it feel finished to me.

Mine had extra sharp cheddar, Cabot seriously sharp white cheddar, smoked paprika, and a buttery Ritz cracker crust. I also used my new whisk, lost a few noodles along the way, and had to take a moment of silence for the fallen ones.

I am not a professional chef, and this is in no way a perfect cooking tutorial, but this is the mac and cheese I make when I actually want people to get excited about the dish.

What is your favorite mac and cheese rule that you stand by?

Full recipe with measurements:
How to Make the World's Best Mac and Cheese

Here is a video of me making the tasty MaCorenia & Cheese ❤️

CLICK HERE TO WATCH * me make the famous MacCorenia & Cheese

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Finished MacCorenia & Cheese

I started going down a rabbit hole with 90s kids game shows, and honestly, the stats are kind of crazy.

This is not some perfect official top 10, because old kids cable ratings are not exactly easy to track down, but I tried to rank these by the best mix of stats I could actually find, episode count, reruns, and how much they are still burned into 90s kids brains.

1. Double Dare This has to be number one for me. It reportedly more than tripled Nickelodeon’s afternoon viewership and became one of the biggest original daily cable shows. You had Marc Summers, trivia, slime, messy physical challenges, and that obstacle course. This show basically taught kids that getting covered in random food was a dream.
2. Fun House This one surprised me because it had around 375 episodes. It was not Nickelodeon, but it had that same trivia plus obstacle course feeling. If you were a kid watching after school, this absolutely fit the same world.
3. Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? This ran for about 5 seasons and around 295 episodes on PBS, which is wild for an educational game show. Somehow they made geography, detectives, villains, the Chief, and Rockapella feel cooler than school ever did.
4. Finders Keepers This one had around 195 episodes, which is way more than I expected. Searching through crazy rooms for hidden objects was such a simple idea, but it had that perfect late 80s and early 90s kids TV energy.
5. Nickelodeon GUTS This had around 160 episodes, and it felt like the Olympics for kids. The Aggro Crag made every episode feel way bigger than it probably had any right to be. Every kid watching thought they could climb it, and most of us probably would have been destroyed.
6. Legends of the Hidden Temple This one only had around 120 episodes, but the impact was huge. Olmec, the temple guards, the teams, and that Shrine of the Silver Monkey panic made it unforgettable. I still think those temple guards scared kids more than half the horror movies from the 90s.
7. Figure It Out This came later in the 90s, but the slime made it impossible to forget. Plus, having Nickelodeon stars on the panel made it feel connected to the whole Nick universe. It felt like one of those shows where even losing could still get somebody covered in slime, so everybody won in a weird way.
8. What Would You Do? This one had around 90 episodes, but for pie nostalgia, this might be one of the most important ones. The Pie Pod alone made getting pied look like some kind of strange 90s honor. I swear that show made kids think a pie to the face was something to be proud of.
9. Nick Arcade This had around 84 episodes, and it might be one of the most aggressively 90s concepts ever. Kids getting pulled into a video game felt futuristic at the time, even if the technology looks hilarious now.
10. Wild & Crazy Kids This had fewer episodes than some of the others, but it still feels huge in my memory. It was basically outdoor games, messy challenges, parents getting dragged into it, and kids running around like summer camp got turned into a TV show.

Looking back at all of this, 90s kids game shows really made losing look almost as fun as winning. You could get slimed, pied, chased by temple guards, thrown into an obstacle course, or completely embarrassed on camera, and somehow every kid watching wanted to be there, including me, LOL. I'm sure other people feel the same way, but there was such a wholesome feeling in 90's.

That is what made me want to do my own 90s trivia pie challenge. If I was going to test my memory from that era, every wrong answer needed the most 90s punishment possible.

Which 90s kids game show would you have wanted to be on the most?

I started going down a rabbit hole with 90s kids game shows, and honestly, the stats are kind of crazy.

This is not some perfect official top 10, because old kids cable ratings are not exactly easy to track down, but I tried to rank these by the best mix of stats I could actually find, episode count, reruns, and how much they are still burned into 90s kids brains.

1. Double Dare This has to be number one for me. It reportedly more than tripled Nickelodeon’s afternoon viewership and became one of the biggest original daily cable shows. You had Marc Summers, trivia, slime, messy physical challenges, and that obstacle course. This show basically taught kids that getting covered in random food was a dream.
2. Fun House This one surprised me because it had around 375 episodes. It was not Nickelodeon, but it had that same trivia plus obstacle course feeling. If you were a kid watching after school, this absolutely fit the same world.
3. Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? This ran for about 5 seasons and around 295 episodes on PBS, which is wild for an educational game show. Somehow they made geography, detectives, villains, the Chief, and Rockapella feel cooler than school ever did.
4. Finders Keepers This one had around 195 episodes, which is way more than I expected. Searching through crazy rooms for hidden objects was such a simple idea, but it had that perfect late 80s and early 90s kids TV energy.
5. Nickelodeon GUTS This had around 160 episodes, and it felt like the Olympics for kids. The Aggro Crag made every episode feel way bigger than it probably had any right to be. Every kid watching thought they could climb it, and most of us probably would have been destroyed.
6. Legends of the Hidden Temple This one only had around 120 episodes, but the impact was huge. Olmec, the temple guards, the teams, and that Shrine of the Silver Monkey panic made it unforgettable. I still think those temple guards scared kids more than half the horror movies from the 90s.
7. Figure It Out This came later in the 90s, but the slime made it impossible to forget. Plus, having Nickelodeon stars on the panel made it feel connected to the whole Nick universe. It felt like one of those shows where even losing could still get somebody covered in slime, so everybody won in a weird way.
8. What Would You Do? This one had around 90 episodes, but for pie nostalgia, this might be one of the most important ones. The Pie Pod alone made getting pied look like some kind of strange 90s honor. I swear that show made kids think a pie to the face was something to be proud of.
9. Nick Arcade This had around 84 episodes, and it might be one of the most aggressively 90s concepts ever. Kids getting pulled into a video game felt futuristic at the time, even if the technology looks hilarious now.
10. Wild & Crazy Kids This had fewer episodes than some of the others, but it still feels huge in my memory. It was basically outdoor games, messy challenges, parents getting dragged into it, and kids running around like summer camp got turned into a TV show.

Looking back at all of this, 90s kids game shows really made losing look almost as fun as winning. You could get slimed, pied, chased by temple guards, thrown into an obstacle course, or completely embarrassed on camera, and somehow every kid watching wanted to be there, including me, LOL. I'm sure other people feel the same way, but there was such a wholesome feeling in 90's.

That is what made me want to do my own 90s trivia pie challenge. If I was going to test my memory from that era, every wrong answer needed the most 90s punishment possible.

Which 90s kids game show would you have wanted to be on the most?

I made a 90s trivia pie challenge recently, and while I was putting it together it made me think about how different kid shows and game shows felt back then.

I grew up with that messy Nickelodeon style where the whole point was not just winning. It was the energy, the crowd, the trivia, the challenges, and somebody usually getting slimed, pied, dumped on, or thrown into something ridiculous. Double Dare started in 1986, but that feeling carried so hard into the 90s.

Then What Would You Do? came along in the early 90s with Marc Summers, and I loved how much was always going on. It felt chaotic in the best way, and Marc Summers had that high energy that somehow made every pie, challenge, and crowd reaction feel even bigger.

There was also GUTS, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Figure It Out, Wild & Crazy Kids, and all those shows where everything felt colorful, loud, and fun. It did not feel overly polished. It felt like kids were actually having fun, screaming, guessing, running around, getting messy, and the audience was loving it.

So I wanted to make my own little version of that feeling. I did a 90s trivia challenge with old shows, movies, characters, toys, and random childhood stuff, and every wrong answer meant another pie. It reminded me how much random 90s stuff is still stuck in my brain, but also how quickly your mind goes blank when you know a pie is coming LMAO 😂

I know this is silly, but I really do miss when shows had that goofy, messy, anything could happen feeling. It was not trying to be perfect. It was just fun.

What 90s game show would you have wanted to be on? Double Dare, GUTS, Legends of the Hidden Temple, What Would You Do. Figure It Out, Wild & Crazy Kids, or something else?

I made a 90s trivia pie challenge where the rule is simple: guess the character or get pied in the face 😂🥧

The idea came from loving that old Nickelodeon game show energy. Shows like Double Dare, which started in 1986 but was still huge for 90s kids, and What Would You Do? from the Marc Summers era in the early 90s always had that perfect mix of trivia, goofy challenges, pies, slime, and contestants realizing they had made a hilarious mistake.

So I wanted to make a homemade version of that feeling, but with 90s characters from TV, movies, cartoons, and random childhood memories that are still burned into our brains.

This is the first one of three in this 90's Trivia. The questions and pie moments get messier as they go.

What 90s character, show, movie, or game show moment would you absolutely throw into a trivia round like this?

I live in a small one bedroom apartment about an hour from Charlotte, NC, and my rent is a little under $675 a month.

I know a lot of people treat renting like something you are supposed to “graduate” from, but with housing prices where they are right now, I still feel pretty good about staying where I am.

There are definitely downsides. It is a small space, storage is always a battle, and shared laundry can be annoying. I have to be careful about what I keep, and I cannot just pile up endless clothes, holiday decorations, keepsakes, or random things I swear I might use one day.

But financially, it is hard to ignore.

I am only about 3 to 5 minutes from work, close to downtown, near restaurants, grocery stores, the farmers market, and local events. If parking downtown is going to be annoying, I can just walk.

I also do not have to mow, do yard work, maintain a pool, replace a roof, fix a water heater, or suddenly come up with thousands of dollars because something major broke. The price is pretty predictable, and that gives me a lot of peace of mind.

The apartment complex is older, built in the 70s, and some neighbors have lived here for decades. It is not fancy, but it is quiet, familiar, and chill. Good neighbors make a huge difference when you are sharing walls.

I know owning a house makes sense for a lot of people, and maybe one day I will want that too. But right now, I do not love the idea of pouring all my money into a place I am not even excited about, then having no money left for travel, going out, or enjoying life a little.

For now, I would rather have a smaller place, lower rent, less maintenance, and more flexibility.

For people who have made a similar choice, what helped you feel confident renting instead of buying?

I live in a small one bedroom apartment about an hour from Charlotte, NC, and honestly, I still really like it.

A lot of people seem to treat renting like something you are supposed to “graduate” from, but I do not really feel that way right now. For where I am in life, a smaller apartment still makes sense.

It is not perfect. Storage is always a battle, shared laundry can be annoying, and I have to be careful about what I keep. I cannot pile up endless clothes, holiday decorations, keepsakes, or random things I swear I might use one day.

But that has actually been kind of good for me.

Living in a smaller space has forced me to be more selective. I have to think about what actually matters, what I actually use, and what is just taking up room because I feel guilty getting rid of it.

The older I get, the more I realize I do not really want a bigger place just to fill it with more stuff. I like having less to clean, less to maintain, and less to worry about.

I also love the flexibility. I am close to work, close to downtown, near restaurants, grocery stores, the farmers market, and local events. If parking downtown is annoying, I can just walk.

I do not have to mow, do yard work, maintain a pool, replace a roof, fix a water heater, or spend my weekends dealing with house projects I never wanted in the first place.

Maybe one day I will want a house, but right now I like having a cozy little place that works for my life. I like not feeling house poor. I like having more freedom to travel, go out, and enjoy things instead of pouring everything into a bigger space.

For anyone else who chooses simple living, did a smaller home or apartment make your life feel easier, or do you still feel pressure to keep moving toward something bigger?

I wanted to share this because my weight loss journey has definitely not been a perfect straight line.

At my heaviest, I was 250 lbs. College was a big part of it for me. I went to Western Carolina University, and the social thing always seemed to be “let’s go get food.” Study break? Food. Hanging out with friends? Food. The cafeteria had desserts, pizza, and all the good stuff, and the freshman 15 turned into more like the freshman 50.

I also grew up in the South, where fried chicken, country fried steak, fried okra, peach cobbler, biscuits and gravy, and comfort food were just normal. Delicious? Absolutely. Helpful for the waistline? Not exactly.

For a long time I was just the bigger girl, and I honestly did not have a great relationship with food or my body. I used to hear stuff like “you’re just big boned” or “it runs in the family,” and I know people were trying to make me feel better, but eventually I had to admit it was not my bones. It was the habits.

One of the biggest turning points was realizing I could not outwork a bad diet. I literally remember being on the treadmill thinking I needed to do another 30 minutes so I could “earn” a Snickers bar. My husband basically said, “What if you just don’t eat the Snickers?” and my brain was like wait, hold on, that is an option? 😂

I also remember trying to do my first push-up and completely flopping on the floor. Not one push-up. I cried because I felt so disappointed in myself. Then later, when I finally did my first real push-up, I cried again, but that time because I was proud. That feeling of getting stronger became addictive in a good way.

At one point I got into really good shape, especially around COVID when I had more time to work out. But then in 2023/2024, I fell off again. I got in a funk, started eating whatever I wanted, and worked my way back up to 212 lbs.

This year I got back into a better routine and lost 30 lbs in 2025. I’m still not exactly where I want to be, but I feel stronger, happier, and more like myself again.

What seems to work best for me now is more of an 80/20 mindset. Most of the time I try to eat higher protein, lower calorie, and more whole foods. I eat the broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, all the good stuff. But I still have pizza, cheeseburgers, and ice cream sometimes because I cannot see a life where I never enjoy those things again.

For me it is usually healthy on the weekdays and a little more fun on the weekends. Not perfect, but realistic.

I’m sharing this because gaining weight back can feel embarrassing, but starting again still counts. Falling off does not erase the progress you made before. It just means you have to decide whether you are going to stay there or get moving again.

Has anyone else lost weight, gained some back, and had to fight their way back into the routine again?