This might be too soon for a bookshelf update but I made a major change to it, and wanted to share it as soon as possible. Also, honestly, I’m too lazy to write about anything else.
So for the top and middle of the shelf, everything pretty much stayed the same.
As you can see here.
And here.
Here, we have some minor changes. I cleared the “shelf of death,” and just added a few books that I kind of, sort of want to read but aren’t a huge priority. It feels empty, of course, but it’s nice having an empty space in a bookshelf.
Now, for the major change. I took out all the Gundam kits and just filled it with my miscellaneous books and books that I’m not planning on reading for a while. Having the Gundam kits on the bottom shelf bothered me for the longest time, but I didn’t have anywhere to put them at the time. I’ve found a space for them, and it makes me happy to see my bookshelf mostly full of books. 🙂
If you’ve read my blurb, you might wonder why 2004 is a significant year for me. It’s not really significant, really. It’s just the year that I graduated high school but, for reason, when I think of a year that’s nostalgic to me, I think of the year 2004.
Now, as much as I would to do a single post about the various things in pop culture in the year 2004 that I’m nostalgic for, no one has the time to go through 25 YouTube videos and a post that would most likely be 17 pages long. When I’m nostalgic for the past, I almost always think of TV. I’ve always been a fan of TV. I enjoy having flashbacks of me watching TV shows that no longer exist, so let’s focus on TV.
Veronica Mars A teenage girl is trying to solve the murder of her best friend while investigating various cases in her small town of Neptune, California.
Of all of the shows that premiered in 2004, Veronica Mars is perhaps the most influential and nostalgic. It didn’t get a movie and a fourth season a decade later for no reason, heh. Why and how did it become such a popular show? It’s just a standard procedural crime drama.
While it may be true that it’s just another “crime of the week” show,” it focuses on a bigger story line and highlights the characters and the relationships on the show. It makes the characters more relatable to the audience, despite the premise of the show not being realistic to everyday life.
Boston Legal Two eccentric lawyers take on cases while trying to balance their work and personal lives
Procedural law dramas are typically boring,dramatic and they all blend together. Well, Boston Legal is quite different. There are some serious moments, of course, but the general tone of the show is light-hearted, fun and a little bit ridiculous. And, in the end, it all balances out to a well-rounded procedural law drama that stands out in a sea of stuffy law dramas.
Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide A middle school student shares his tips on how to deal with every day situations and dilemmas every student faces.
Originally, I wanted to discuss this wonderful gem here.
But I thought it would be too obscure to discuss, and I don’t really know how to summarize the show other than, “It’s a show about a girl dealing with life.” But it’s a catchy theme song, at least.
Instead, I’m going to talk about Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, which I view as one of the most popular live action shows from a children’s network. It’s a show with a simple premise and is extremely relatable, even for an older audience. It was quirky. It was fun. It was light-hearted. It was even thought-provoking. It was the perfect combination for a TV show aimed toward kids.
This is the moment all of you have been waiting for. Yes, it’s the moment where I reveal that I’m a 19-year-old White girl pretending to be an obese Asian man in his early 30s. No, not really, but how exciting would that post be? It’s just another boring, uneventful bookshelf tour.
The bookshelf hasn’t changed that much from the last update, but the few changes I made really made a difference to how it looks.
The biggest change really is that I’ve since went on a book buying spree, and it looks a lot more like a bookshelf than a cluttered mess. The top shelf and the shelf below it holds fantasy and mystery books. I also took out the green pot and added my Dexter bobble head. Also just for fun, I added a Death Note clock. Even though I want to showcase mostly books, I do want to throw in a few other things as well.
The next shelf, remains largely unchanged. It just holds male coming-of-age YA novels, with a few random knickknacks. Hmm. I honest forgot the Stewie figure was there, heh.
The shelf below that, again, remains largely unchanged. I decided to split the books into hardcovers and paperbacks, then separated the by male and female protagonists. I then divided them by both color and genre, if possible. I know, it’s a complicated system but so far, it’s working. And, because I have a large selection of books with female Asian-American protagonists, I just added an Asian teacup just for a bit of fun.
The next shelf is more or less the same as the shelf above, but with adult books. The Lego police car is still there. but I also added a road sign.
Below that shelf is what I like to call the “shelf of death” I’ve just been putting books that I’ve either read before or don’t have a lot of interest in reading. And, I have some extra space just in case I need it. Well, let’s face it, I will need it soon. xD
For most of my updates, the bottom shelf has largely been left unchanged. In the last bookshelf update, Nancy kindly made the suggestion of piling the Gundam kits into two columns, instead of three, and it looks so much better now. I then put all of my miscellaneous books next to the kits, The boats more or less remained the same as they did last time.
Compared to other bookshef updates, I am quite happy with the result, and I don’t think I’m going to make any significant changes anytime soon. Small changes, however, well, yeah…I’ve already made some five seconds after I took the photos. I’m Asian. Sue me.
Yet again, I was planning on doing a bookshelf tour, but I’m quite lazy right now to not only take photos of my bookshelf, but to also edit them, since the photos are of such low quality. And, honestly, I need to get out a post now before an angry mob of Asian moms chase me with bamboo torches.
I’ve been wanting to do posts about YouTube channels and videos that I enjoy watching, but I’ve just never gotten to it. Yeah, sure. Let’s add yet another thing for me to do on the giant list of things I want to do but probably never will.
Like with everyone, there are certain videos that I bookmark for later use, whether it be for a blog post or to watch it repeatedly. Of course, with me, I’m lazy so when I “bookmark” YouTube videos, I just like them and it gets saved to my liked videos list. It’s sufficient enough.
I went through my list of liked videos and I’m just going to compare and contrast the different themes and video styles and share why I saved these videos to begin with. I am going to focus on user-created content, so no music videos of Michelle Branch.
The Traditional DIY Video
Back when I had TV, I would watch home decorating and renovation shows all the time. Now that I don’t, I enjoy watching various people doing renovations and smaller projects on their homes. This particular video I was drawn to because of the combination of the music, the voice over, the helpful visuals and and the clear instructions. The end result is a cute, helpful video that anyone can watch.
An Informational Video With Humor and/or Sass
Now, humor and dry wit isn’t for everyone, but I quite enjoy videos that I find both to be helpful and funny. It’s a rare combination that not a lot of people can achieve. You wouldn’t expect that from a video about knives, but thus guy pulls it off. It’s unexpected, and doesn’t come across as trying too hard. It’s natural, and it flows. Err, wait…that’s not the best way to put it, but you know what I mean.
Something Amazing Someone has Done that Takes a Lot of Time and Skill
Although I try to be, I’m not a very artistic person, so I am always amazed when someone creates an amazing piece of art. This guy for example creates figures and statues from polymer clay, and I can barely draw a circle, despite my large array of art supplies. I’m also captivated by his voice because it stands out and he is giving clear instructions and commentary while not being technical.
A Video you Never Thought Anyone Would Actually Make
Lets face it. There’s not a lot of originality these days. We’re all seeing the same twenty videos being made by thousands of YouTubers. Once in a while though, comes a video that stands out. This one happens to be about a guy reviewing an Amish romance novel. Yeah. That’s different from “10 YA novels you should read before you die!” We have enough lists.
I don’t know how I feel about change. I feel like I can adapt to change once it occurs but for the most part, I am comfortable with things staying the same, unless my preference changes over time. This is why I have not made any changes to Nostalgicism for over four years. Well, it’s time for some changes. Subtle ones, obviously. Hey, let’s not get too crazy here. I’m still Asian.
The first thing I did was change the image for my domain page. The typewriter was cute and all, but the image was kind of boring, and I needed something more interesting. After browsing through dozens of pictures of vintage computers, I pretty much randomly chose one that I like. Hey, it’s an image for my domain page. I don’t need perfection. I just need something different.
Speaking of striving for perfection, choosing a different color scheme was a different story. I knew I wanted to change the gray background to a blue background. What I didn’t know was that it would take me three days and about 100 shades of blue to find a color that I can live with without wanting to slit my wrists and cry in a room with no windows. Choosing a new color for the menu was less of an issue, but I think it was only because I felt so emotionally drained picking the background color that I lost all hope and desire to find the perfect color. So here we are. A color scheme that I don’t absolutely hate.
I also updated the links on the sidebar. A lot of the links were broken, and I needed to add a few people.
Eventually, I want to change the entire layout and add content. The layout would be more or less the same as my current one: something simple and nostalgic. For my content, though, I’m not entirely sure. I was originally thinking about putting up lists of things I want to do, read and watch, but that’s more or less what my blog is, and I’m not sure if anyone would actually want to see lists of various things I probably won’t do. OK, fine.. You’re probably used to it from me by now. :p Ugh, and this is why it’s taken four years for me to even make a small change to my Web site. Welcome to my life.
This post was originally supposed to be yet another bookshelf update video, but I am too lazy at the moment to take pictures, upload them to my computer, heavily edit them to make them look half-way decent and upload them to my Web site. And, let’s be honest here, I’m just going to make changes three days later anyway. So this will just be a random post of random things I’ve been doing in the past few months. Oddly enough, none of them involve crying, which is new for me.
Organizing
Now, this isn’t anything new, but I’ve been trying to be more organized, and I’m starting with rearranging my collections so it’s more functional for me. And I’ve also done a little decluttering, but I’ve just been putting things in “storage,” and by storage I mean certain areas of my house. I’m trying to figure out what to do with the items I don’t want which leads me to the next thing.
Selling on Ebay
I’ve always wanted to sell on Ebay, but I was hesistant because I do not have a printer. It turns out, not having a printer isn’t really an issue, especially for a casual seller like myself. I’m not going to be the Beyonce of Ebay Selling. I sold a handful of books and a DVD set, and it all went well. I didn’t make much, but the goal was more to get rid of stuff and not so much to make money, although the money is a bonus, obviously. I’m planning on selling my collectibles at some point, but right now I’m taking a small break from selling until I have time to go through my stuff and have a better idea of what I want to sell and for how much.
Working on Novel Outline
I have mentioned so many times that I consider myself a writer, even though I barely write. I’ve been slowly, very slowly, actually, been working on a novel outline for a novel I will probably never write. I know. I know. All of you are screaming, “Omg Kenny. Just write it. You don’t need an outline!” I don’t feel comfortable writing a 300 page plus novel without having a solid outline; otherwise, I’ll, you know, have a nervous breakdown and cry. I do that enough when I read.
The good thing is I’ve been making profess with the outline. The problem is finding a premise that I’m fully comfortable with and committing to certain details. Now I just have to, you know, write an actual story, heh.
Reading and Watching TV, the saga, part 12
I’m still continuing my quest to read and watch TV more often but, of course, not as much as I would like. Honestly, as long as I’m still reading and watching TV in some capacity, that’s progress in my books. Your life is officially sad if you want to watch more TV and failing. Ok. I lied. There’s a little bit of crying involved with this.
Learning American Sign Language
I’ve been wanting to learn another language for about half my life, but I haven’t made any significant progress. I took Spanish in high school and French and Mandarin Chinese in college. Yes, I’m Asian, but I don’t know much Chinese. I can understand a little of it, but other than that, I might as well be White.
I really had no interest in learning Spanish, despite it being the most practical. No, I wanted to learn a language that has little to no practical everyday use for me. I am Asian, after all. I tried learning French, German and ASL for the past 10 to 15 years with little to no success. About a month ago, on a whim, I decided to go back to learning ASL and while I still feel like I don’t know anything, I’m slowly progressing. Let’s hope I improve in the next 15 years.
I have always considered myself a reader but like with writing, I don’t read s often as I want to. I have since gotten much better with reading consistently lately and honestly, I’m just glad I’ve read more books this year than last year. Of course, this wasn’t a huge accomplishment, since I only read like three books last year but still, I’m happy because I’ve read more books this year than the last three combined. This year will be less sad than usual, so YAY.
So far, this year, I have not DNF’d a book. DNFing for those who do not know is simply not finishing a book and not having the intention of ever reading it again, even with the threat of rabid squirrels throwing acorns at you. Seriously, life is too short to read horrible books. Live your life, girl. :p
As a person who is not really an established reader, I have DNF’d quite a few books given the short amount of books I’ve read. In my life time, not including in a school setting, I’ve probably read 50-ish books and DNF’D probably around ten books. I don’t really have a specific genre that I read. I read whatever sounds interesting to me and sometimes, it turns out that, well, I’m not that into it.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn A woman goes missing under mysterious circumstances and her husband is highly suspected of foul play
I read Gone Girl shortly after the movie came out. At the time, both the book and movie was getting hyped up and there were mixed reviews about both. Still, I was interested in both reading the book and watching the movie. I started the book before I started the movie. I liked the movie but never finished it, but I’ve been wanting to watch it again. With the book, it was fine but it was very difficult for me to get through it. It’s over 400 pages and the text is tiny. Even though I liked it and wanted to finish, I just wasn’t interested enough in the story to pick it up again. I know the movie and book are slightly different but I would rather just watch the movie and not read the book. I’m not going to be heartbroken not knowing specifics of the book.
Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman A collection of essays heavily revolving around pop culture in the 90s and 2000s.
OK, to no one’s surprise, I was immediately drawn to not only the title but the cover as well. It just screams, “I might not be your type, but you know you want me.”
So, yeah, I read the first few essays, and I immediately knew the book just wasn’t for me because I felt I was a little bit too young for the pop culture references made in the book. Now, of course, I’m familiar with the pop culture references in question, like The Real World and The Sims, but I didn’t really experience either. I don’t play computer/video games and I really don’t watch realty TV. I like realty TV but more so realty TV competitions and to be honest, I was never really that interested in any of the realty TV shows on MTV in general.
I stopped reading after a few essays because I just couldn’t connect with the book. Oddly enough, I was listening to a podcast where someone strongly recommended the book and he’s only like three years older than me. I guess age isn’t really a factor, but I felt like I needed to be ten years older to understand the book.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky A shy and lonely teenager befriends two outgoing siblings and explores the aspects of life he’s been missing.
OK. OK. I know that this is a young adult classic that most people adore and respect, but it’s been difficult for me to get through it. There’s a lot of stream of consciousness in the book, and it’s difficult to follow the protagonist’s train of though. I just gave up reading it because it felt like a chore.
I don’t remember much of my childhood when it comes to interests and hobbies. There are the usual suspects of watching cartoons and reading books and magazines, but nothing much beyond that. I’m not joking. I literally had no music taste until well into my late teens and even then, I was listening to country at all times, which is no longer the case, surprisingly.
Yes, I’m a late bloomer when it comes to developing my tastes, interests and hobbies. I’m such a late bloomer that I often think I was a child in the early to mid-2000s because that’s when my likes, interests and tastes developed. Yeah…I was 14 in the year 2000 and legally an adult in the mid 2000s. Ugh. I’m sad. 🙁
One of the many, many things I am nostalgic for is the Disney Channel. I did not discover the Disney Channel until I was 13. As a child, I mostly relied on Fox, the WB and Nickelodeon for my cartoon watching. I didn’t move on to the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network until my teens.
Like with most TV channels, the Disney Channel is nowhere near as good as it used to be. I honestly can’t think of anything in pop culture that got better over the years. YA fiction books maybe? They’re not as sad and angsty as they used to be but, then again, that was the trend in the early to mid-2000s.
Now, people do still talk about old movies and TV shows from the Disney Channel but they’re, of course, going to be the more popular favorites like Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens, Kim Possible, That’s So Raven, Cheetah Girls and High School Musical. I am going to go on the opposite end of the spectrum and stick with shows and movies that are not talked about as often.
Mad Libs Based on the popular fill in the blank book series, teams of two go up against each other in wacky challenges in order to fill in the black of various incomplete passages.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, there were a countless number of children’s game shows. Most of them associated with Nickelodeon, of course. The Disney Channel only had a few, and it was only for a very period of time. Despite this, I still remembered Mad Libs as if it was a long-running game show. It was fun. It was wacky. And, most of all, it was entertaining.
So Weird A girl investigates the paranormal while traveling with her family.
Inspired by the X-Files, So Weird was completely different from any other show on Disney. It was one of the very few shows that had a more serious tone and explored topics that were not commonly found in children’s television. In this case, ghosts, aliens and clones. It’s a nice breath of fresh air to watch a serious children’s shows when most are comedic and light-hearted. It shows a different side to Disney. “Hey, we’re silly, but we can be serious when we want to be. Here’s an episode of a group of kid being kidnapped and trapped inside the Internet against their will. Have fun!”
Phil of the Future A family from the year 2121 is stuck in the 2000s when their time machine crashes.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Phil of the Future is an exaggerated version of a family sitcom. It has all the elements of a family sitcom: A loving family, awkward situations, heartfelt moments and some drama. There just also happens to be a broken-down time machine, futuristic gadgets and a caveman. It adds another level of humor that you don’t get with most family dramas with a more traditional premise.
Alley Cats Strike A group of misfits have to work together in order to beat a rival high school in a game of bowling
Back in the early late 90s and early 2000s, the Disney Channel would churn out Original Disney Channel movies pretty much every month. This is one of the most underrated and lesser known ones from that time period. It’s a simple movie. There is no flash. There are no gimmicks. No one is singing and dancing in a high school gymnasium. It’s just a simple good feel movie about a group of misfits trying to win a trophy for their town. How wholesome is that? And isn’t this a great prequel for a future Hallmark channel movie? The hero moves to the city to go to college, finds a job, is happy for a decade or so, but moves back home to take care of his dad’s bowling alley and reunites with his friend and his childhood love interest to battle once again for the trophy? Ugh. I’m a genius.
Stuck in the Suburbs Two new friends go on an adventure when they realize that one of them accidentally switched phones with a well-known pop star.
This is clearly a movie that would mostly attract teenage girls. Or girls in general, rather. So why is a 33-year-old man nostalgic for a movie geared toward 13-year-old girls who love rainbows, cute puppies and One Direction? First , I like movies that are centered around friendships rather than love interests. While the protagonist has a crush on the pop star, it’s obviously nothing serious. The spotlight here is on the friendship between the two girls and how it evolves through a short period of time
I also enjoy the concept of a movie with a premise of two people, the protagonist and the pop star, and how much they have any impact on each other with not having met each other until the end of the movie. It’s not used frequently, but it’s an interesting concept.
It’s that time again. It’s time for me to show the changes I’ve made to my bookshelf. This has inadvertently turned into a series. I didn’t know that rearranging your bookshelves was apparently a hobby.
The number one thing that was bothering me about my bookshelf was that I had my memoirs on the shelf. Ideally, I wanted to separate my memoirs from my fiction because I felt it was wasted space to have them on the shelf. Before, I had various books I didn’t know what to do with in between some bookends on a nightstand next to the bookshelf. I took out the books that were in there, moved some things around and put in the memoirs that I was the most interested in and put the rest in storage. For added interest, I added a Kenny Plush (from South Park) and a framed photo of two people looking at the Empire State Building that I bought off of Etsy years ago.
I had most of my YA fantasy books on the top of the bookshelf, which was fine but it was getting a little too crowded for my liking. I decided to split them, putting some on the top of the shelf and the rest on the shelf below. To fill the space on the shelf below, I added my detective novels. The top of the shelf was looking a bit empty to me, so I just put a pot I got from Etsy ages ago to fill the space for now. Yes, I already sense a bookshelf update coming soon. xD
On the next shelf, I have two piles of YA novels, with themes of mental illness and the like and next to them are,well, random assortment of things I like.
The next two shelves pretty much did not change. I just added a Lego police car to one and a NYC tour bus to the other to balance it out.
The shelf below is a shelf I like to call the “Shelf of Death,” simply because I never know what to put there. I like the current setup though. There’s a handful of books I’ve read that I liked, books I’m currently reading and assorted zines, poetry books and bookmarks. I do like how it’s not empty anymore.
The bottom shelf stayed more or less the same. I just added more books. Oh, and I, um, got another Lego boat hull because I wanted one in green so, um, yeah. I’m a collector. Sue me. =p
Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of people wanting to simplify and organize their lives by going through their items, getting rid of the stuff they don’t need and re-organizing everything. While I could do with some re-organizing and some light decluttering, I could never be a minimalist. I like being surrounded by stuff. Of course, I can live in a space with no furniture or personal items if I had to but my life is not an episode of Burn Notice.
Over the years, I have regretted buying a countless number of things for one reason or another: the item broke shortly after I bought it, I lost interest in the item, etc. I’ve been trying to be more careful about what I buy. I’ve been happier with my purchases for the most part. There are, however, some purchases that I have been wanting to do for a while now, but I keep delaying them, mostly because of the cost, the fear of not liking what I’m liking and the strong possibility of it falling apart in my hands.
New Digital Camera
I have an old Canon digital camera several years ago that is fine, but the quality of the photos is so bad that I have to edit them in order for them to be decent.
I’ve been hesitating to buy a new camera though because I don’t take pictures often, and I’m honestly afraid that I’d get poor quality pictures anyway.
A Second Desk
I have a desk for my laptop and small tasks but for things that require more space, like craft projects, it’s not functional. I’ve been thinking of getting a second desk so not only do I have the space to do art projects and other things, I can just leave stuff on it without the need to put everything back right away. Perhaps some people might think this would just add to the clutter but, honestly, it would be nice just to leave a project there so I can come back to it when I have the time.
A Portable DVD Player
I can play DVDs on my laptop, but I’m often using my laptop so I can’t multi-task. A portable DVD player would allow me to do both. I did have one, but it broke mysteriously one day, so I’m hesitant to buy one.
If I had to make one purchase right now, I would lean toward the portable DVD player. It’s the cheapest of the three, and it would help me watch more TV, which is one of my goals. I know. I know. It’s sad that I had to make it a goal to watch more TV. Stop mocking me. D=
