I just wanted to thank you guys for all of the support and love you’ve sent my way through this difficult time. I’ve had my week to spend with my family and had time to do through the many phases this difficult time brings, but I am now inspired and motivated more than ever to continue to move forward with TNTH.
Many of you guys had reached out to me personally and told me that the blog was a very honest representation of myself, and that’s all I really wanted my blog to be. I’m not ashamed or afraid to show a real representation of myself because I have nothing to hide. I am an actual functioning human being with actual feelings and emotions asides being a positive, bubbly person.
With that being said, here’s this week’s Self-Appreciation Saturday.
1998 is probably the earliest year that I can remember. I had just turned four years old, and the typical person starts to remember things when they turn four, and 1998 was that year for me. A lot of new and exciting things happened that year: I was now four, my aunt got married that summer, and I started Pre-K that September.
Momma Goose and her ducking: 4th Birthday.
I was one of those kids who loved going to school on my birthday. I used to love having my teachers and friends wish me a happy birthday, and we always used to have little classroom birthday parties. The best part of it all was the birthday kid use to get the birthday crown with their name on it. That night, I guess I wore it all day because I was that type of child.
Halloween 1998.
My family and I lived in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in a little house. It was a little house, but it was the first and only house that I lived in. My sister’s bedroom was connected to the living room, the kitchen and bathroom were small, and my mother’s room seemed huge to me. I don’t remember where I slept, but it was probably either on the couch or with my mother. We lived next door to a girl named Sara. She was a 12-year-old girl who was more of good friends with my older sister, who at the time was 8. Downstairs, another Asian family lived there, who had two kids around my sister’s age as well. My sister was the popular kid on the block. Their mother used to make the sickest BBQ chicken, and whenever she made them, I wasn’t to be found for hours. Literally my weakness.
Me, my sister, and my father.
We were genuinely a happy bunch. Of course I was too young to know if they were any problems or issues, but from my four-year old perspective, life was good. I like to describe my 4-year old self being the younger version of who I am now; I was bubbly, sassy, cute & innocent. I mean, despite me being 19 years older than my 4-year-old self. Although my friends were sometimes my friends, my sister Megan was truly my only friend. Like the little sister I was, I wanted to be just like her, play with her friends and do things like her. Like the older sister she was, she never liked it. It took awhile for her to accept me, but 19 years later me and my sister are closer than ever. I wouldn’t want anyone else to be my sister other than Megan.
Megan introduced me to the Spice Girls in 1998, and ever since I was obsessed. Me and my sister loved would beg my mother to go to Blockbuster to rent the VHS of their movie, Spice World, which was the greatest thing at that time. As I got older though, I realize just how weird the movie really was, but it’s still a classic. We used to record their televised concerts on VHS tape, every picture we took we threw up the “girl power peace sign”, and we had all the possible Spice Girls merch we were allowed to have.
If you look closely, you see me laughing in mid-picture.
Amanda was possibly Megan’s bestest friend out of her gang of neighborhood friends. Funny story, her and Amanda were friends for a couple of years, but Amanda had moved away before we moved later in 1999, and since then they never kept in touch. Four years ago in 2013, we went to Pennsylvania to see my grandparents, and we find out that Amanda lived about 10 minutes away from them. They reunited that night, and it was bittersweet just watching them catch-up and reminisce, and see her in complete shock when I wasn’t the 4-year-old girl she once knew. Things like that happen in movies, not in real life.
The only actual memory I remember happening in 1998 is the day that my aunt got married; July 11th, 1998. It was at some country club in Staten Island, and me and my sister were the flower girls and my mother was… I want to say the matron of honor. Yeah. I remember walking down the aisle with my sister during the ceremony. I also remember eating outside during cocktail hour. I also remember actually going inside the dance hall and dancing my ass off all night.
Me, my grandmother, & Megan.
Me, Megan, & my mother.
This has been the only wedding I’ve ever went to; I was too young to attend my Uncle’s wedding from my father’s side in… I want to say in 1997? As I got older and was able to understand more about life, I found out that my grandfather passed away a year before the wedding happened. I don’t know if anyone cried about not having him there walk his daughter down the aisle, but I can imagine some people did. I sometimes wish I was able to remember my grandfather, and sadly I have no memory of him. But I know he was great to me and Megan, and that’s all that matters.
It’s surreal to know that I can remember these little things that happened 19 years ago. I think that’s the importance of taking physical photographs; taking pictures on your phone can easily get deleted, and they aren’t something physical to keep around you for years on end. I’ve looked at some of these pictures for years, and I can sightly remember how life was like when that photograph was taken.
I’m so glad to have been a 90’s baby. I will forever loved how childhood was like in the 90’s.
Sorry if some of the photos are blurry and there’s only a few pictures; I’m still learning the pros and cons of the camera and this was just my first roll of film. On a positive note, this was so fun to do today, and I can’t wait to continue documenting my adventures and explorations through this newfound hobby. Thank you for following me along on this journey.
These weeks are just flying by already. January is about to end soon.
As I begin to prepare myself for yet another hectic semester of grad school, this week wasn’t that great to report back on. The closer we get back to the beginning of a new semester, the less that we do because we’re all trying to gather ourselves and get ready for our return. I know I certainly have.
Just like last week, I will be discussing some of my highlights for the week; the good, the bad, and the in between!
I definitely had my fair share of mood swings this week. TMI, but I only feel like distinctive mood swings when the time of the month begins to prepare itself to come. I just finished that part of the month, and the mood swings were real this week. Sometimes I find myself getting very uptight around this time of year because of the things coming my way such as a new semester, and sometimes I have to let myself freak out and get things ready. I don’t know, maybe it’s the Capricorn in me.
My belated birthday present arrived in the mail! I’ve expressed my interest in this Polaroid camera for months; I just missed having physical photos of memories and people in my hands. So, for my birthday gift, I got the Instax Mini 26, which in my opinion looks so much better than the overrated Mini 8 cameras. While this will definitely be a January favorite of mine, I’m just so excited to take pictures of my friends and family, and actually cherish them.
My post on the Importance of Mental Health received some of the greatest feedback I’ve gotten as a writer. That post holds a lot of sentimental value to me because it was the first time I ever wrote about it and made it public. It’s something I still am afraid to publicize because, well, people are always watching you whether you know it or not. My mental health story was the aftermath of what real people help caused, and I write about real people in there. Once I got the feedback that I did after posting it, I seriously felt so fearless. It really showed me that I shouldn’t apologize for telling my story and sharing it out with you guys and possibly to the world. This stuff happens to real people every single day, and I know that I can help those who are currently living it by writing down my story. Again, thank you so much for believing in me, and for listening to what I have to say.
Like usual, I spend a day of the weekend with the one and only. Fun fact about me: I’ve been seeing Obie every weekend for the past 5 years. My body does this thing where if I miss seeing him one weekend (like if mother nature is just too powerful to bare), the rest of my upcoming week is just serious trash. Something about seeing him helps me put that extra shimmer in my week ahead, and to this day it never fails to work.
My family and I had our annual “Christmas in January” celebration with out extended family. Due to the fact that we all live pretty far from each other, we decide to do a haul of things in January: we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate my birthday, we celebrate my cousin’s birthday, and we celebrate the new and upcoming year. Weekends in Jersey are always fun for me to go to, because something always tends to happen (we have a very dramatic Italian side of the family and I can only imagine how bringing around a guy would be in the future). Either way, my highlight most of time during these family gatherings is playing with my grandparent’s dog, Foxy, and eating a busload of food and goodies.
Here’s to the official last week of winter vacation! Let’s make the best of it!
Letters From Liz. 